SHPA President Professor Michael Dooley presents School of Rural Health lecturer Anne Leversha with a certificate of appreciation after she steps down from her role as inaugural Rural Adviser with the organisation.

School of Rural Health lecturer Anne Leversha has been honoured as a ‘champion of rural health’.

Anne has stepped down from her role with the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia (SHPA) as its inaugural National Rural Adviser, a role she has filled for 18 years.

SPHA recently acknowledged Anne’s substantial contribution to rural health at its annual general meeting, presenting her with a certificate of appreciation. (more…)

Dr Cathy Haigh from the School of Rural Health Latrobe Valley & West Gippsland attended this year’s Australian New Zealand Association for Health Professional Educators (ANZAHPE) conference on the Gold Coast. She gave an oral presentation on “Effects of Structuring Clinical Handover to Support Learning in Medical Students and Junior Doctors”.

“My presentation was scheduled in the last session of the last day, but was surprisingly well attended and generated a lively debate about the differences in education across different health professional groups,” she said.

“The intention is to continue this research to develop a teaching resource to support students learning from real clinical interactions, and that will vertically integrate clinical placements across Years 3B and 5D, in particular, and link these to postgraduate medical education.”

This year the conference was held at Griffith Health Centre at the Gold Coast campus of Griffith University. The $150 million facility operates in conjunction with the new 750-bed University Hospital and houses all health programs for the university on the one campus. It is certainly an impressive site both in terms of education and service delivery.

The pre-conference workshop on ‘Aligning Learning Experiences for Healthcare Students and Practitioners with Particular Learning Outcomes’ explored the challenges of learning in the workplace. Facilitated by Professor Stephen Billett, who was also a keynote speaker, it was a consideration that is very relevant for those of us coordinating curriculum delivery and supporting students during their clinical placement years, 3B, 4C and 5D.

Another keynote speaker, Dr Sarah Yardley, reported on her research with students learning in situ, describing the theory-to-practice gap and the frequently reported observation ‘that’s not how it works in the real world’. This disconnect can be a cause for concern for School of Rural Health students and is an issue that we would like to describe and address by further strengthening the links between the communities of practice (healthcare and academia) at our sites.

“The majority of the themes – innovation in health professional education, assessment, competencies and evidence, and theory-to-practice – very much resonated with me,” said Cathy.  “These areas are where we are directing our efforts in terms of medical education curriculum development and delivery, eg the Continuous Clinical Skills Curriculum initiative and local delivery of patient safety teaching and establishing and extending our research profile.”

Lewis John Coates

Little Lewis John Coates arrived safely on time at 11.24 am on Monday 20 October weighing 3050 gm (7lbs and 14ozs) to the delight of his mother, Dr Cathy Coates, her family, colleagues and friends.

Cathy was the Clinical Dean for Year 4C and a consultant paediatrician at Latrobe Regional Hospital. Dr Coates taught in the Children’s Health program and also assisted in supervising Year 4C students on clinical placement at Latrobe Regional Hospital

Baby John and mother Cathy are both doing very well. All SRH staff congratulate Cathy.

Asra Bechez welcomes back Dr Evelyn Chan.

A former School of Rural Health medical student, Dr Evelyn Chan, dropped in to her old school for a visit recently.

Evelyn was one of Warragul’s 3B students in 2006 and also did a component of her 4C program at Warragul and Traralgon in 2007.

She received a Rhodes Scholarship in 2011, spending two years in Oxford undertaking research. She is profiled on the Rhodes Project website.

Since returning to Australia and Melbourne, Evelyn has worked at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Paediatrics and is currently completing a paediatric rotation at Latrobe Regional Hospital.

School staff said it was wonderful to catch up with Evelyn and to hear that she retains fond memories of her time at Warragul while completing her undergraduate studies, and very good to catch up on all her news and that of her 3B Warragul cohort.

Staff and students from the School of Rural Health Latrobe Valley & West Gippsland enjoyed an end of year celebration recently.

Everyone enjoyed dinner and entertainment in the form of several rounds of trivia including a round in which all those who attended received a prize. Director, Associate Professor Dr Joseph Tam, was especially chuffed with his colourful, long striped socks; while GP Dr Paul Brougham was delighted with his plunger.

At the end of the evening, scores were tallied and in a nail-biting finish, Team Tam was declared the winner with each member receiving a movie pack prize that included popcorn, lollies, soft drink, chips and movie tickets.

Students are now back into the books, studying hard for their end of year exams. SRH staff wished them well.

Year 2 students started their day with a visit to a dairy farm.

Year 2 students were immersed in everything rural over two weeks including a jam-packed program of activities on Thursday 11 September.

Alda Dunlop put together a full program for the recent Year 2 student rural placement with the School of Rural Health East & South Gippsland.

With a focus on health and safety for all sessions, Alda scheduled a range of activities with the assistance of Maria Rose, the Dairy Extension Officer with the local Department of Environment and Primary Industries (DEPI).

A 6am start (yes 6am on a cool Gippsland morning) saw the students arrive at a Tinamba dairy farm to view the milking and discuss dairy farm related health issues. The farmer, Hans van Wees, is an active dairy industry representative who took the students through the milking process while Mark Jago, from Murray Goulburn Maffra, facilitated discussion around services provided to the farmers on a daily basis.

Followed by a visit to the Maffra Motor Museum

Then it was off to the Maffra Motor Museum. A tour of the current vehicle display was something the students found fascinating, many of the vehicles being somewhat older than the students themselves! With students armed with material safety data sheets, Jane Rhodes, the leading Chemical Standards Officer with DEPI Maffra, spoke to the students on the hazards (many often not recognised) relating to a rural enterprise.

A delicious morning tea gave the students a short break and refreshed to move on to the next activity – still only 10am.

A visit to the Gippsland Water Treatment Plant included discussion about public health issues and the updated processes used to minimise these. Facilitated by Chris Wood from Gippsland Water, students found this session most informative giving many of them a new perspective on the importance of good quality and reliable supply of water for rural communities.

They talked to vegetable farmers.

Vegetable farming in Gippsland is a major primary industry and employer of local and visiting workers. During a visit to the booming Boisdale vegetable farm operation, Farms Manager Steve Hibberson discussed potential health and related injury issues in the industry.

And finished the day with a trip to Glenmaggie Weir and a privileged look inside the wall.

The next stop was Glenmaggie Weir. This body of water is well known for its recreational activities: water skiing, fishing and a general holiday spot for many visitors throughout the year. However, the weir plays a vital role in the water supply for Gippsland and surrounding areas. Students were fortunate to tour the weir wall, something restricted to those directly involved in the running of the weir operations by Southern Rural Water.

Following the tour and talk by guest speaker Rick Ziarkowski, the students relaxed in the area surrounding the weir for lunch and reflected on what was a busy, informative and interactive day.

Thanks to Maria for her invaluable assistance in organising a rural experience with such variety for the visiting medical students while at the same time, maintaining relevance to their curriculum.

Graduates: Kendall Livingstone, Judi Lawless, Tracey Minster and Jo Kingsley successfully completed their accounting studies.

A number of dedicated School of Rural Health personnel recently celebrated an impressive professional development achievement.

Kendall Livingstone from SRH Mildura, along with Tracey Minster,  Judi Lawless and Jo Kingsley all based in Gippsland, completed their Certificate IV of Accounting and Diploma of Accounting.

The women celebrated with their classmates at a graduation ceremony and afternoon tea on 10 September at Monash University’s Caulfield campus.

All four had attended 12 workshops and finished 12 intensive assignments as well as four Recognised Prior Learning (RPL) modules while juggling busy work and home lives.

Congratulations also to Michelle Ryan who completed her Certificate IV in Bookkeeping.

The women chose to undertake this study to build on their existing skills and knowledge of finance and accounting. Their enhanced expertise in all facets of financial reporting, budgeting and the legal context of accounting is expected to deliver genuine benefits to SRH.

Recovery: Year 4C medical student Kim congratulates these budding young doctors on the miraculous recovery of a “very sick” little dog.

Sick teddies and dolls made a quick recovery much to the delight of youngsters who visited the special “toy hospital” set up by the School of Rural Health Latrobe Valley & West Gippsland as part of the Latrobe Regional Hospital Open Day.

SRH staff and students had a constant stream of young traffic, helping bandaging cuts to the toys, using stethoscopes to check their “hearts” and even getting to don a surgeon’s cap.

The simulation room proved popular however some smaller children were left wondering about the very still and compliant  “patients” lying on their beds.

School director Dr Joseph Tam said it was a great day, with young visitors in particular keen to try some of the equipment. “It also allowed us to show off our facilities to the public and give them an idea of the work we do in training medical students,” he said.

Dr Tam praised staff and students who assisted on the day.

Best wishes: Julie admires her farwell cake.

Colleagues at MUDRIH sadly said goodbye to Julie Irvine who starts a 12 month secondment to SRH Latrobe Valley & West Gippsland on 1 September.

Julie is filling in for Michelle Ryan while she is on maternity leave and will be greatly missed at MUDRIH. Staff wished both Julie and Michelle well.

Informative: medical students George Tsihlis and harmee Kavr (left) with Associate Professor Joseph Tam and consultant physicianm Dr Megan Brown at the recent careers night.

A team of experienced physicians and specialists gave Gippsland-based medical students an insight into studying, training and working in regional areas at an engaging and informative evening recently.

In a first for the region, 11 clinicians covering a diverse range of fields spoke to a packed auditorium at Latrobe Regional Hospital (LRH) in Traralgon last week. The third, fourth and fifth year medical students are studying medicine with the School of Rural Health Latrobe Valley & West Gippsland

The event was organised by the director of the local clinical teaching site, Associate Professor Joseph Tam, also a well-known local paediatrician.

Associate Professor Tam said the careers night was in keeping with the School of Rural Health’s philosophy of vertical education and training for students. He praised senior medical staff who “overwhelmingly” agreed to help with advice on training requirements, pathways and working in the Gippsland region.

“All speakers have a passion for their profession and acknowledge the importance of having these services available to regional and rural areas,” he said. “Our major regional hospitals and general practices are doing outstanding work.”

Associate Professor Tam hopes the information imparted by the doctors will “help and inspire” students in selecting their field of practice. (more…)