For East Gippsland Regional Clinical School student Lauren Tanzen, working in the High Country in a rural GP environment was an unexpected high point. Here is her story.

The GP component of Year 4, primarily at Omeo and Swifts Creek, has not simply been a matter of another year down, attendance ticked off and signatures gathered for the log books.

I’ve found it rather difficult to leave.

To provide an overview of the area and access to health care, Omeo, Swifts Creek and Ensay have a population catchment of around 2,100 across 5,500 km² in East Gippsland, Victoria.  This population is served by one of six rotating, very busy Consultant GPs.  The Doctor on duty provides a 24 hour service at any given time from Sunday afternoon to noon the following Friday. It is no ‘sleepy hollow’. (more…)

Jackie Fankhauser

The opportunity to be involved in a world first neurolinguistic case – while still a medical student at the Gippsland Regional Clinical School – has culminated in Jackie Fankhauser being cited as co-author of an article in the prestigious ‘Journal of Neurolinguistics.’

The case relates to a West Gippsland woman who was diagnosed with Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS), a baffling disorder where a person afflicted starts to speak with what sounds like a foreign accent. (more…)

Gippsland Medical School staff took time out for a celebratory lunch with the students after their final PBL session and Ann Dettrick kindly invited GMS staff to lunch at her place in the beautiful Jeeralangs.

AND THEN……the OSCEs!

Monday 19^th, Tuesday 20^th and Thursday 22^nd saw staff from EGRCS, GRCS, MUDRIH and GMS combine to run the Year 4C and Year A OSCEs at the GMS.  It was a massive job well done – not only on the actual days but in the lead up with contacting examiners and simulated patients and setting up the stations.

With the OSCEs just around the corner we thought it appropriate to publish this poem penned last year by Gillian Fallon from the Bendigo Regional Clinical School as an ode to the OSCEs.

All is quiet
The air is tight
Fingernails are there
To bite

Heads in hands
Toes a-tapping
Furrowed brows
Jaws firmly clenched
Waiting, waiting
For the OSCE
To commence.

Bell has rung
Move to station
Frantic read
Scribble notes
And seek
Inspiration

Again the bell
Take the plunge
Open the door
Your consult
Has begun

Minds a-scrambling
Pulses racing
Breathe in deeply
Yes, take a breath
Relax…

Slow the speech
Talk succinctly
Listen to the patient
Be calm, keep cool.

The bell peals out
The consult ends
What’s done is done
Move on.

The OSCE’s have
Just begun.

A cold night in a tent, brightened up by...

...a gorgeous snow landscape that appeared overnight

Three Year 3B students at East Gippsland Regional Clinical School decided on an unusual preparation for their exams – a trip to the mountains and the snow.

Kane Treble, Lizzie Duffett and Meri Salmon Krone took it upon themselves to conquer the might of the Alpine National Park, with intentions to head up to Mt Howitt (1742m) and show it who was boss. This is their story of their trip, the snow and their sunburn!

Unfortunately, only a few kilometres up Howitt Road our efforts to come, see and conquer were almost thwarted by a rather sturdy looking padlock in the middle of the road. While this usually wouldn’t be an issue, the large (some would say sturdier) gate that it secured was. (more…)

Medical student and well-known and successful showing rider, Prue Chamberlain, took fourth place in the strong class for Owner/Rider Hack (photo by Julie Wilson)

Prue Chamberlain, a current Year A student at Gippsland Medical School, has demonstrated her skills in another arena, competing recently in the Adelaide Royal Equestrian Show.

Prue, who owns horses herself and in conjunction with her mother, finished fourth in the Owner/Rider class, a good result in a tough class of about 25 horses.  Her horse, Ritchie, was very good and worked very well.

The pair received positive comments from some well regarded people.

Prue also finished sixth in the Open class and sixth in the Rider class (21-30 years) as well as reaching the finals for 2 other classes.

Prue was understandably very satisfied with her performance at the Show after being out of the Royal circuit for three years. She said that can be quite tough to get back into the finals, let alone placing, after time away.

Prue’s sporting endeavours are being supported by the University’s Elite Student Athlete Support program.

Gippsland Year 4B student Sarah Simon enjoyed attending a conference on rural obstetric care and is urging other students with an interest in this area to put their hand up for next year’s meeting, which will be in Mildura. Here is her report on this year’s event.

I was fortunate to be sponsored by RAMUS to attend the RANZCOG (Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology) Provincial Fellows Meeting Annual Scientific Meeting in Mackay, Queensland.

By attending this conference I was able to meet rural General Practitioners and Obstetricians and discuss issues pertaining to rural obstetric care. Over the course of three days we had lectures and teaching about topics including obstetric emergencies, contraception, transport of women in labour to tertiary hospitals, workforce shortage and current areas of research from trainees.

As a year 4C student this experience was very valuable for me. All of the topics were relevant to my current study of women’s health, especially considering my placement in Gippsland.

I would thoroughly recommend any Year 4C students with an interest in women’s health to apply to attend this conference next year in Mildura.

Interested students can go to the RANZCOG website for more information.

–        Sarah Simon, Year 4B Gippsland

Year 4C East Gippsland student Kate Wilson has recently returned from an exchange to New Zealand, where she enjoyed a range of different experiences including a chance to join the Mobile Surgical Bus.

Here is Kate’s record of a chilly but diverse program.

The swap I was lucky enough to take part in was my placement in Lakes Entrance for two weeks in rural New Zealand. I was placed in Balclutha, a farming town with about 5000 inhabitants, located an hour south of Dunedin.

I stayed with two of the local University of Otago students, Neal and Sally, who did a wonderful job of looking after me and making sure that their rather soft Australian exchange student didn’t freeze! Coming from a rather mild Victorian winter, it was definitely a shock to suddenly find myself in sub-zero temperatures. I began the placement by being late to clinic my first morning due to uncertainty as to what to do when my car froze over!

The two weeks I spent on placement were very varied, and I was privileged to experience the wide range of health services available in Balclutha. It was interesting to see how a small rural hospital with an attached GP clinic functioned. I spent time consulting with several of the Balclutha GPs, and also fitted in a day at a GP clinic in the nearby town of Milton.

I found the role of a rural GP in Balclutha significantly different to that of a GP in rural Australia. With the major city Dunedin so close, it was much easier to refer patients to specialist services than it is in rural Australia, where much greater travel distances are often involved.

I was also surprised to learn that New Zealand does not have GP obstetricians, anaesthetists, or surgeons. Instead, all uncomplicated rural obstetrics is performed by midwives, with less straightforward cases being referred to obstetricians in larger centres.

A particularly interesting aspect of my visit was the chance to assist with surgery on the Mobile Surgical Bus. Due to the lack of GP anaesthetists, surgery is no longer performed in rural New Zealand hospitals.

The New Zealand Surgical bus.

The surgical bus is a fully equipped, mobile operating theatre that travels between rural hospitals, thereby providing rural communities with access to minor surgery. The bus itself was very spacious inside, and, at times I almost forgot that I was not in a normal operating theatre!

I also spent time in various other areas of Clutha Health First, including a few days on the inpatient ward, an afternoon with the physiotherapists, and an afternoon in an adolescent sexual health clinic.

But of course it wasn’t all work and no play! A highlight of my time in New Zealand was a weekend trip to beautiful Queenstown with the Balclutha medical students. We spent an eventful weekend night-skiing, trying the famous Queenstown burgers, and walking a section of the stunning Routeburn Track.

Overall, I gained a great deal from my experiences in New Zealand. It was excellent to experience a different health system and a different model of medical education, while having the opportunity to form friendships with medical students in another country. Thank you again to the staff in both New Zealand and Australia who made this possible, and to the New Zealand students who looked after me and made sure that I had such an enjoyable time.

–        Kate Wilson, Year 4C EGRCS student, Bairnsdale campus

The Mobile Surgical Services web site has more information about the service.

Pictured with Olympian Richard Hamilton, left, and Paralympian Stuart Tripp, third from left, are Terence Ting, Dr Paul Brougham, Bernadette Cranswick and Tiro Ottiomile.

Gippsland students were able to wind down after their recent practice OSCEs with some food and a couple of excellent guest speakers.

Australian Stuart Tripp, who has just returned from the London Paralympics, was joined by Richard Hamilton who was in Great Britain’s men’s rowing 8 at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.

Both told the students about their experiences and journey to being an elite athlete and the dedication required to get there.

Stuart’s story is particularly inspiring. In 1994, as a 24-year-old, he was involved in a car accident and after weeks in a coma, woke to discover his right leg had been amputated and had also suffered head trauma and his kidney damage.

On what was at times an emotional physical journey of recovery, Stuart took up hand-cycling and channeled all of his positive energy into the sport. He managed this so successfully that he finished in the top ten in both of his events at the London Games early last month.

For the students, the stories told by both men put in perspective some of their anxieties about undertaking the practice OSCEs!

East Gippsland students warm up for their tilt at the Pat Farry Cup

One evening recently the students gathered, one group sitting in East Gippsland and the other a couple of thousand kilometres away in New Zealand, to lock horns in the annual Trans Tasman Challenge and the right to take home the Pat Farry Memorial Trophy Cup.

The videoconference link up with Otago University Medical School students provided teams the opportunity to observe, and to pick up any added advantages (aka study, also aka as cheating) during the 25 questions quiz.

The challenge opened with the New Zealand students, in a change from the traditional Haka, singing something resembling their National Anthem! East Gippsland students followed with a rendition of a clever variation of the Australian National Anthem written by David Campbell.

Scores ran evenly throughout the first two rounds with the third round of  “beat the buzzer” seeing some rather questionable tactics! In the end an amiable draw was agreed upon thus ensuring the Cup remains in Australia for another year.

The Trans Tasman Challenge is an important event on the East Gippsland Regional Clinical School calendar and has become a tradition which continues to foster the friendly rivalry between ANZAC nations.