AMA VICDOC Winter 2025 - Magazine - Page 43
IN OUR CURRENT HEALTHCARE SYSTEM,
SUPERVISORS ARE UNDER-RECOGNISED.
BUT THEY’RE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT –
NOW, AND FOR THE FUTURE OF
AUSTRALIAN HEALTHCARE.
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Good supervisors who supervise well
represent an investment in quality health
care provision. When we make that
investment, that there will be multiple
positive outcomes, including students and
junior doctors giving quality care to their
patients and communities. Good doctors
think about the individual person they’re
treating and the context of their condition
or concern and the complicated interplay
of factors that inform health outcomes
– not just what the blood test looks like
or whatever the presenting medical issue
is. There are people out there who are
enthusiastic about supervising, but for
various valid reasons can’t or won’t do it.
We need to find ways to support those
people to supervise.
TO BETTER SUPPORT WOMEN IN
HEALTHCARE THERE NEEDS TO BE A GEAR
SHIFT IN CULTURE AND PEOPLE.
And so, part of what I need to do is help
them get what they need and support
them in finding, honing and using their
voices.
SEEING STUDENTS COME AND LEARN AND
GROW AND THEN TURN INTO REALLY GOOD
DOCTORS WHO THE PATIENTS LOVE?
THAT’S HUGELY REWARDING.
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We’ve got a few doctors here now who
came as placement students. They’ve come
through the Deakin University system, and
they’ve adopted Portland as their home.
They’ve decided this is where they want
to live and practice so they’ve bought real
estate here; they’re making their families
here. That’s what I did, but I don’t love it
because it’s what I did; I love it because
they’re sharing the same feeling of being
able to make a positive impact in a rural
community. I went into general practice
because I didn’t want to do anything else.
I’d come out of the city where the culture
of specialist training just drove me away,
and I knew that I’d be educated in a safe
environment in general practice. We’re all
here because we want to make a difference.
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Our healthcare system is enormously
complex. Change is needed across all
levels, including from the ground up.
That’s where I’m most active. I consider
part of my job is to advocate for female
students and junior doctors, because they
might not feel that they have a voice.
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