Former student and soon-to-be sessional staff member at Warragul, Cara Malzinskas, has settled back in the area and was married recently.

Now Dr Baillie, Cara completed Year 3 with the Gippsland Regional Clinical School in 2006 and came back to West Gippsland Healthcare last year to undertake a paediatric rotation.

It has been a busy year already for Cara, who is currently based at Royal Children’s Hospital.

As well as marrying Chris Baillie, she is studying for her Paediatric clinical exam after passing the written in February this year.

The year is about to get busier still, with Cara to join the Clinical School in Warragul as a sessional staff member in Semester 2.

Cara and Chris have settled in Lang Lang, a small town between West Gippsland and Westernport Bay.

Cara and Chris Baillie on their wedding day.

Two Gippslanders have featured in the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences Prize list for 2012, which were presented in May.

Dr Denise Bullen, who studied at the Gippsland Regional Clinical School, won the South East Palliative Care Dr Ruth Redpath prize for years 1A to 5D, awarded to a student enrolled in the Central or Gippsland programs of the Monash MBBS who writes the best essay about an aspect of palliative care.

One of the two Year 3B Faculty Prizes was awarded to Lukas Sahhar, who is studying in the metro area but is originally from Warragul where his father Dr Cleo Sahhar runs a medical clinic.

There are some 50 prizes open each year to Monash MBBS students. The prizes reward students who excel in particular units, across their year level or in prize-specific exams or essays.

The award ceremony was held The Edge at Federation Square in Melbourne.

School of Rural Health lecturer and a long term Pharmacist at Latrobe Regional Hospital, Anne Leversha, has recorded her thoughts on pharmacy and changes to the industry as part of Pharmacy History Week.

The interview was one of four recorded by the Society of Hospital Pharmacies of Australia (SHPA), which spoke to a number of its members about how things are different these days.

Anne is a senior lecturer at Monash University and was an obvious choice to take part, as she is one of the first clinical pharmacists to hold an academic position in an Australian medical faculty. She also brings a non-metropolitan perspective as the SHPA’s Rural Advisor.

Anne’s half hour discussion can be heard by going to the following link: https://soundcloud.com/shpa-1/anne-leversha

Checking the movements to ensure they are being performed correctly

A real-time, remote system using avatars to help people undertake rehabilitation in their own home is being developed by Monash University’s School of Rural Health for a Gippsland municipality.

Bill Haigh, who works on E-learning, research and innovations at the School of Rural Health’s Gippsland Regional Clinical School, along with Associate Professor Helen McBurney, is undertaking the project commissioned by Baw Baw Shire in West Gippsland as part of the Victorian Government’s Transport Connections Program.

Baw Baw Transport Connections Facilitator, Stephen Pykett, has worked with Mr Haig in bringing the concept to reality for residents of Baw Baw Shire who will be able to access rehabilitation services and overcome transport disadvantage.

It is a kinetic program delivered on computer in the home. The client undergoing rehabilitation watches a series of exercises delivered by the avatar that mimic movement. The client then follows the avatar movement to perform relevant exercises. (more…)

Podiatry student Cameron Chaplin (middle) and Year 3B Gippsland Regional Clinical School student Steve Xu at right, with simulation patient 'Sharon'. The year-long program is based at Warragul hospital.

West Gippsland-based students are taking part in the Gippsland Regional Interprofessional Partnership in Simulation (GRIPS) as part of their learning and communication skills unit.

The program is being run by the West Gippsland Healthcare Group, working with Monash University to run the 12 month program. Health Workforce Australia (HWA) funds the program to help train healthcare students in five selected Gippsland sites.

It is an interprofessional learning process, with medical students paired with a student from another discipline such as physiotherapy or podiatry. Together they develop a care plan for a simulated patient and provide input based on their own fields of study.

The students carry out their initial interview with a person who plays the role of a real client of West Gippsland Healthcare Group. The experience means students can practice interviewing skills with complex clients in a safe environment without any negative consequences for the client.

By sharing the interview with a student from another discipline, medical students are able to collaborate in collecting the client’s social and medical information, work out a care plan for the client, and advise the client on possible referrals to other services.  Working closely with a student from another discipline helps both students know more about the roles and responsibilities of the other profession.

The feedback from the sessions has been enthusiastic, with one student in the West Gippsland program commenting that the scenarios were quite challenging but thought provoking and that it was good working with a student from a different discipline.

Overall the GRIPS program aims to improve healthcare students’ communication, collaboration and co-operation with clients/families and colleagues. This helps to improve client/family care.

Thomas Wilhelm

One of the Gippsland Regional Clinical School’s former staff member, Ace Wilhelm, and his wife Nicole are celebrating the birth of a son.

Thomas Gordon Wilhelm, a brother for Sophie, was born on Tuesday 2 April, weighing 10 pound 4 ounces (4.6 kg), length 52 cm.

Mother, son and Dad are all doing well!

Ace worked with the IT group for a number of years and is well known across the School of Rural Health.  He now works with an I.T. firm that contracts to Latrobe Regional Hospital.

The annual ‘get to know you’ good old Aussie-style barbie was again a hit in Warragul.

Held in mid-March in the public barbecue area near the Warragul tennis courts, the informal evening attracted students from Years 3, 4 and 5 and also some East Gippsland students who were in West Gippsland for a few days.

A number of tutors and staff made it along, some with their children, so it turned into a lovely family evening.

The aim was for all students at each year level and tutors to gather in an informal setting, and get to know each other socially at the start of another busy year.

It achieved its aim!

Students check out the local playground near the barbecue area

Dr Megan Brown, a former Dux of the Monash University Medical Faculty, has returned home to West Gippsland Hospital as part of the next step in her medical career.

Dr Brown, nee Megan Farmer, will spend ten weeks as a medical registrar at the West Gippsland Healthcare Group, in the area where she grew up and completed much of her medical studies.

Dr Brown is from Drouin and went to secondary school in Warragul, gaining a place at Monash University to study medicine. She took advantage of the Monash University School of Rural Health program, completing her Year 3 studies at the Warragul Campus of the Gippsland Regional Clinical School as well undertaking a number of Year 4 rotations at Traralgon, South Gippsland and Warragul.

Her ability and knowledge was recognised when she graduated as equal Dux of the Monash University medical faculty for 2010. “This is a testament to the wonderful support I had from the local community, God, my church and Gippsland Regional Clinical School,” Dr Brown said.

She added that she is enjoying her time back in Warragul.

“Working at West Gippsland really does feel like coming home,” Dr Brown said. “More than that it is a great team to work with and provides fantastic learning opportunities. I trust that in my short time here I can give something back to the community which has supported me so much over the years.”

The role of the Monash University School of Rural Health program includes providing opportunities for local people to undertake medicine and also encouraging medical students to consider their long term opportunities in regional areas.

Dr Brown is currently undertaking studies as a basic physician trainee, which will equip her to do further specialist training including hopefully becoming a hospital specialist in Internal Medicine. She has an interest in rural and regional General Medicine which she attributes largely to her study and work here in Warragul.

Dr Megan Brown (right) pictured at her graduation when she was announced Dux of Monash Medical faculty, with Warragul's Dr Jenny Eury.

 

Monash University Year 4C medical student, Caroline Shipley, has earned a scholarship to assist in her studies with the School of Rural Health in Gippsland.

Caroline, who is studying at the Warragul Campus of Gippsland Regional Clinical School, is the recipient of this year’s ‘Walter and Eliza Hall Trust Opportunity Scholarship – Physical Disability.’

The scholarship is a boost for Caroline, who has already achieved remarkable things to pursue her medical studies.

Caroline had a stroke at age 26 after she had a rare brain tumour removed, which has left her with some residual problems like balance and easy fatigue.  Caroline also has arthritis and required knee surgery last year following a fall on a ward round.

Despite these issues and the obstacles involved as a single parent of a child with special needs, Caroline is continuing her studies.

“Whilst I’m still very much engrossed in the study, fascinated by the human body (and how much we still don’t understand, particularly in the fields of genetic and immunology) I’ve reached that point in a medical student’s career where it’s very clear how little I actually know and how long and difficult this journey is.

“Would I still do it knowing then what I do now?  Absolutely, but I might have deferred a year or two and spent more time at home with my child whilst he was still little. And had a really good holiday somewhere nice first, because I haven’t had time to have one since I started!”

Caroline’s commitment has been commended by all at the Gippsland Regional Clinical School.

Caroline Shipley

The skeletons of learning desks wait to be taken away as the Roger Strasser Auditorium is stripped to make way for refurbishment.

There has been plenty of movement at Gippsland Regional Clinical School in the last few weeks, with office re-allocation taking place following refurbishment and extensions.

Some staff have moved to the new offices upstairs in what used to be the accommodation area and is now shared space with Latrobe Regional Hospital and Monash University School of Nursing. It includes two state-of-the-art simulation suites with new simulation mannequins.

In the downstairs area, a new large breakout area has been completed and work is now underway on refurbishment of the Roger Strasser Auditorium at Latrobe Regional Hospital. The first and messy part of the job was to clear out the existing furniture and fittings to make way for the new improved auditorium.