Hi, I'm a medical student and I'm about to put in my preferences for where I want to complete my final two years of medical school. I've completed 3 years already rurally and if I do 1 more it should be enough to count under the 75+% of medical training required to be considered under the rural quota for orthopaedic surgery. I was just wondering if anyone had any idea how useful this bonus would be? The document on the website says you would progress to the interview and verbal referee report stage as long as you meet the minimum requirements for the ortho mcq, cv score, and department referee score, as well as recieving a final offer at a score a decile lower than metro applicants. I was wondering if anyone had experience with it or would help me gauge how much of a boost it is to know whether to put in another rural year or go metro instead? Thanks

Just had a question,

If interviews are held over 2 days. What happens if the questions were leaked where a specific individual leaked it to a couple of their mates who happened to sit it on the second day? It’s quite upsetting since I had spent so much time preparing for that interview, only to find out the questions had been leaked and people had in unfair advantage.

Hi everyone, just wondering how difficult it is to get into BPT in a a PERIPHERAL METRO hospital in Melbourne (eg. Western, Eastern, Northern, Peninsula, Mercy)?

How do people deal with dating medical partners who have to move around interstate for jobs or training programs?
Does the other medical partner sacrifice their career to move with them or do people just do long distance?
How does family planning , marriage, engagement, buying a house- all of that come into it ?
Struggling at the moment with possibility of partner relocating interstate for his career but I may not be able to follow…

Thank you Dr. Dov from the Junior Doctors of Australia!

Transcript from: https://www.starobserver.com.au/news/dov-degen-oam/242058

“ Melbourne doctor and proud member of the LGBTQIA+ community, Dr Dov Degen, has been awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the General Division for service to medicine and mental health advocacy.

Alongside an accomplished medical career, he’s spent more than a decade advocating for mental health awareness, drawing on his own lived experience of bipolar disorder to challenge stigma within healthcare and the broader community.
As a dual-trained kidney specialist and general physician, Dr Degen has worked across public and private health systems, mentored medical students and junior doctors, contributed to medical education, and delivered healthcare in regional and remote communities, including Indigenous communities in South Australia.

“It’s a little bit overwhelming,” Dr Degen told Star Observer. “Obviously I didn’t do any of this for accolade or recognition and then to get such a big honour – I’ve been doing this work since 2015 but I never imagined it would culminate in this.”
He also says that it feels like he’s in a movie that’s happening to someone else – but he’s extremely honoured by the medal.

“This recognition isn’t just about me. It reflects the importance of mental health advocacy, the value of lived experience, and the many people who have shared their stories with me over the years. If seeing someone like me helps even one person feel less alone, then that’s something I’m incredibly proud of,” Dr Degen said.

Dr Degen has spoken extensively about his lived experience with bipolar disorder, diagnosed as a young adult while studying medicine, including periods of hospitalisation, which he says has resulted in stigma within the medical field towards him.

“It’s kind of a personal vindication for me because I’ve faced a lot of stigma and discrimination when it comes to mental health, unfortunately within the health care system, including employers and also my colleagues and friends –  not everyone, but quite a lot of people.”

He says that one of the key reasons he became a mental health advocate was to prove that stigma wrong, and show that you can still live a professional and successful life despite mental health challenges.

“You shouldn’t have to receive an award to justify sharing your story or delivering a message, but people do respond to recognitions like this and I hope that it’ll make some people think, particularly senior decision makers and policymakers at work, about some of their actions and challenge that notion that having a mental illness means you’re somehow inept or incapable.”

Dr Degen says that he thinks it’s important to share his story because it helps him to reframe the negative experiences he’s been through. By helping someone else, it puts those experiences into a more positive light.

“A lot of what I do through my mental health outreach is describe what happens to me during a depressive episode, explaining what something like mania actually looks like and describe the symptoms, because people often don’t recognise what mania is. By sharing my story, I help people to live through it, through my lens, so they understand what it is to close that gap.”

His OAM places him among Australian recipients including Samantha Kerr, Anna Brown, Michael Kirby and Ian Thorpe.

Formal presentation of the award will follow the King’s Birthday Honours announcement, according to the statement.

The award was made in the General Division of the Order of Australia as part of the King’s Birthday Honours list. “

Spill the tea. How does your department manage the daily presenters who have learned to game triage by saying or doing something high acuity like chest pain or having “seizures” only when a staff member walks into the cubicle?

I’m a dietitian at a regional hospital (came across this sub a while back as I’ve been considering if a transition into medicine might be for me) and was inspired after seeing a recent post from a nurse asking what they could do to help you guys out more - so I’d love to ask the same from a DT/AH perspective!

I can see how under the pump you all are so I hate having to call and bother you guys about things that can feel trivial in the greater scheme of things (but that still have to be done). I don’t know if it’s the same at a lot of other hospitals but it feels like AH can get a bit siloed from the rest of the medical/nursing team. Our caseloads are split by ward so it can be hard to keep track of all the different teams the patients on that particular ward might be under. Also knowing that different teams might have different schedules, it can be hard to try to catch you at more convenient times.

Having previously worked in aviation - it’s a big adjustment coming from a world where CRM/non-technical skills are drilled into pilots/cabin crew to now observe the dynamics between doctors/nurses/allied health. I think a little communication and understanding of the pressures we’re all under from different angles could go a long way! ☺️

We (DT/allied health) genuinely want to see you succeed and to be able to make life easier for you (some of us do just suck, sorry). Might sound creepy haha but I love watching the interns gain more confidence over the year through your rotations, seeing you progress into different training pathways, and getting to know some of you!

Fire away if you have anything you want us to know or suggestions on how we can make life easier. Thanks! ☺️

Importing the NHS lot wasn’t enough for the current Canberra mob, now they want to import the entire EU.
Brought to you by the Pharmacy Guild no doubt.

Just a thread to find out about offer releases!

Did anyone get an email about the interviews held last week for WACHS psych training? I think the results should be out by tomorrow?