Five new medical interns started work at the North West Hospital and Health Service (NWHHS) this week, all fresh out of university, and all rural generalists.
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On Monday, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk welcomed 749 medical interns to Queensland Health.
“In the North West region, five new doctors are embarking on what I’m sure will be long and rewarding careers in medicine,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“The Mount Isa Hospital is an excellent training ground where they can learn from very capable and respected clinicians.
Executive Director of Medical Services and Clinical Governance for the NWHHS, Associate Professor Alan Sandford, said this fresh intake would hopefully help with the doctor maldistribution between cities, and rural and remote regions.
“This maldistribution is a federal problem; it’s not at all new, but it is gratifying that we are fully recruited for our interns, in fact we were oversubscribed, and we have a fantastic retention rate thanks to our focus on creating pathways for these young interns.
“All five of our last year’s interns have elected to stay on in Mount Isa to continue their training,” Professor Sandford said.
He praised the work of James Cook University (JCU)’s Generalist Medical Training team, who work with the interns, ensuring the right people with the right skills are put in the right place.
“JCU is definitely helping the hospital and health services to change the maldistribution.
“For our part we maintain our focus on constantly giving our junior doctors options that are attractive and meet their needs and the needs of our community.”
Medical Education Officer for the NWHHS, Sabine Orda, said Mount Isa Hospital was the ideal training ground for those interns interested in training as rural generalists.
“We are rural and remote, but big enough to provide them with the teaching, training and supervision they need,” Ms Orda said.
Each new intern is participating in a week-long orientation program to familiarise themselves with the hospital, its services and clinical practice and procedures.
They will then begin rotations through a variety of units that may include general medicine, surgery, emergency medicine and additional elective terms in other specialised areas.
An intern training year usually comprises five 10 week terms, during which interns are required to complete placements in five different clinical areas.
Mount Isa Hospital’s five interns will be allocated one each initially to the areas of emergency, surgical, medical, paediatric and obstetrics and gynaecology for their first 10 week term.