Plenty of rest was required for the ankles, although Kendall managed to keep smiling even in hospital.

Regional Office Manager at Mildura Regional Clinical School, Kendall Livingstone, really jumped in the year with a bang, albeit with an unpleasant consequence – one broken ankle and the other badly sprained.

A trip to Mildura Base Hospital tested the preparedness of the local health services.

Kendall was not partying hard to celebrate the New Year, but rather visiting a neighbour and took a tumble down their balcony stairs.

The injury fortunately did not require surgery, although a plate or two had been suggested early in the piece.

After a week of rest in which the family stepped up on the home front and Kendall soldiered on doing what she could via iPad / email, she is back to hobbling around the office for a few hours each day.

Congratulations go to Marita Chisholm for her successful application to the Alzheimer’s Australia Dementia Research Foundation PhD Top Up Scholarships.

Based in Bendigo, Marita is a PhD student with the Centre of Research Excellence in Rural and Remote Primary Health Care. Her application was entitled ‘Access to dementia care and support services in rural Victorian communities.’

Well done, Marita!

Congratulations to Rachel Tham who has been awarded a three-year National Health and Medical Research Council postgraduate scholarship to commence her full-time PhD studies this year.

Her research topic is in environmental epidemiology. She will focus on the combined role of outdoor fungal spores, air pollution and respiratory viruses on child asthma hospitalisations.

Coomealla High School Students, from left, Matthew Mathieson, Bailey Catterton, Lauren Fraser, Sophie Stephens, Rhianna Duncan, Holly Lush, Abbey Henderson, Beth Darby, Shanae Tilley, Mikaela Fraser, Emily Smith, Dylan Watson and Shae McDonnell. They all had great fun working with mannequin SimMan3G.

Coomealla High School Students, keen on nursing, from left Megan Clothier, Beth Darby, Shae McDonnell and Nikita Dalzell. All enjoyed working with one of the school's mannequins, SimNewB.

In collaboration with Broken Hill University’s Department of Rural Health, Mildura Regional Clinical School facilitated two Academy Days late last year for 30 students enthusiastic about pursuing a career in Medicine or Nursing.

The clinically-practical and action-packed days were a huge success as the students, from Coomealla High School in Dareton NSW,  enjoyed demonstrations of current medical skills and thrived on the multitude of hands-on experiences. Read the rest of this entry »

The School of Rural Health Research Committee has updated the guidelines for the Conference Support Fund, so as to allow applications to be received throughout the year.

A summary of the support available as well as full guidelines and application form can be found on the school’s intranet.

Please email Cathy Ward if you have any questions.

Participants at the Rural Health Research Retreat

Over two days in mid-January, 41 staff gathered in Melbourne to determine the future research direction for the School of Rural Health, with recommendations from the retreat to provide a key platform for the future research program.

Professor Ian Smith, Pro Vice-Chancellor Research and Research Infrastructure, and Professor Ross Coppel, Deputy Dean Research – Faculty, joined Professor Judi Walker and Leigh Kinsman in presenting the current research direction and activities at the University, Faculty and School levels.

Working groups then considered various topics related to the School’s strategic plan and developed recommendations for the way forward.

A report will be presented to the School’s Executive meeting this month (February) with an implementation plan for recommendations and actions identified by the attendees.

Attendees commented that the retreat had provided plenty of opportunities to present thoughts on the School’s research plan with the atmosphere allowing in-depth and interactive discussions.

The three local students, now doctors, who attended Kurnai College just down the road from Gippsland Medical School, are pictured at the graduation with Mr Geoff Booth (Co-Principal, Kurnai College). They are Dr Danielle Winkelman, Dr Andrew Thomas and Dr Carly Jennings.

The Gippsland Medical School welcomed 82 Year A students last week, the School’s sixth intake.  The first week included a number of highlights as part of the introductory activities.

The new cohort was addressed by Professor Robin Pollard, Vice Chancellor and President, Gippsland Campus; Professor Judi Walker, Head of School of Rural Health; Professor Ben Canny, Deputy Dean, MBBS & Head of Program, Central MBBS; and Professor Shane Bullock, Acting Director Gippsland Medical School.

The winner of the Academic Excellence for he Highest Achiever in Year A 2012 is Jamie Croft.

The presentation was followed by a musical interlude by Associate Professor Brian Chapman.

On the following day, the students attended a team building day run by the Clinical Skills Team involving many hands-on activities, including a simulated bus creash.

Dr David Iser, a well-respected general practitioner from Foster, gave the ‘Inspirational Speakers’ address on Friday, 1 February.

The GMS graduating group from 2012

The 75 students who began their studies in 2009 have graduated as the second cohort from Gippsland Medical School after completing their course in 2012.

Among the graduating students, six are from overseas, 13 are from interstate and seven have either lived or worked in the Gippsland area prior to becoming medical students.

The School is especially pleased that the graduating class includes three students from a secondary school situated less than five minutes’ walk from the Gippsland Medical School itself. They are Dr Danielle Winkelman, Dr Andrew Thomas and Dr Carly Jennings.

Everyone at the School of Rural Health wish the graduates all the best for their internships in 2013.

Laurea Atkinson works with two visiting Bairnsdale 2013 Year 4C students who had the opportunity to have a go in the Simulation Learning Environment.

The Simulation Learning Environment (SLE) project is funded by the HWA and is progressing forward at a robust pace, with further training and education days featuring SimMom held recently and Nhetsim (National Health Education and Training in Simulation) training in February 2013.

The training days have involved staff from Bairnsdale, Orbost and Omeo in the East Gippsland region. Key stakeholders in the region have been identified and the formation of an email group, East Gippsland Simulation Interest Group (EGSIG) has been launched to communicate the project updates. Read the rest of this entry »

The School of Rural Health Journal Club is running again this year. The club is a great opportunity to catch up with your peers, sharpen your critical review skills, and share your experiences/work/research.It is of particular interest to students, and teaching and academic staff. But we welcome everyone who is interested, particularly if you are not currently based in the School of Rural Health.

2013 dates

The dates for this year’s journal club meetings are:

Wednesdays, 12 noon – 1 pm

13 March
10 April
8 May
12 June
10 July
14 August
11 September
9 October
13 November

You can join each journal club:

• in person in Bendigo in meeting room 3
• by videoconference  (IP 130.194.213.113) or
• by teleconference (9903 5988) .

Volunteer to run a session

Each session is run by a different facilitator. This brief summary outlines what journal club is about, what to consider when selecting a paper and provides a checklist for doing a critical review of the paper.

Before the journal club, each presenter is expected to:

• prepare a brief summary of the selected paper which highlights its interesting features and questions that the presenter would like participants to consider (this goes out 10-14 days before journal club)
• be able to describe and discuss the paper and review it in accordance with the critical review checklist
• facilitate discussion about how the research relates to our work in SRH.

If you’d like to run a session email Rachel Tham.

We look forward to school wide contributions to journal club to enrich our professional pursuits and get to know each others’ work.