The Australian Journal of Rural Health is publishing a special edition – Psychology in the bush: Innovative use of psychological principles in rural and remote communities – and is calling for papers.
The goal of this special edition is to examine the use of psychological principles in regional, rural and remote communities and identify creative strategies and program approaches that identify and meet the needs of these communities.
The Bairnsdale campus of the East Gippsland RCS had some special helpers for the day.
Residents of Sale and Bairnsdale took the opportunity to find out what lies behind the school doors when both campuses held a Community Open Day on Saturday 28 July.
The emphasis was on community involvement with lots of fun things organised for children, teenagers, youth and adults. Staff and students from both medicine and nursing were on hand to talk to everyone and let them know we are here and what we offer and do. One of our main aims was to encourage young people to study for a career in rural health.
The stars of the show in Bairnsdale, without doubt, were the two baby wombats who came along with their nursing student carer who leads a not-so-secret double existence as a wildlife rescue officer. The older of the two ran all day (sometime literally up and down the hallways). While his two-month-old companion crawled into his pouch around midday and wasn’t seen again.
There were activities for kids ...
... and adults.
Tebogo Jabane (left) and Paul Odgers (right) had their hands full with a barrage of questions from Moe primary school students.
The questions and the oohs, aahs and yuks flew fast and furious last week when Gippsland medical students visited local primary schools for a learning session on how the body works.
At Morwell’s Crinigan Road Primary School, Mitchell Knapp had students trying to suck honey through straws to illustrate how difficult it is for blood to travel through diseased veins, while at Moe’s Albert Street Primary School the questions varied from ‘how do you get a cough (or cold, or asthma, or a stoke)’ through to ‘what causes cancer?’
It was a learning experience for both the primary school students and Gippsland Regional Clinical School students, Mitchell Knapp at Morwell and Tebogo Jabane and Paul Odgers at Moe. The idea behind the visits is to encourage the medical students to consider how to communicate with a young age group, while also encouraging the primary school students to think about how their body works and how to keep it running smoothly. Read the rest of this entry »
The first East Gippsland teddy bear hospital was a great success.
The first Teddy Bear Hospital run in East Gippsland proved a fantastic event. Coordinated by Year 3B student, Cassie Coetzee, and ably assisted by other students, the Teddy Bear Hospital was held mid July at Sale campus.
Some 50 students from the local Araluen Primary School attended, with teddies of all shapes and sizes. They even included a huge one-metre teddy, a well-loved shark, a couple of knitted dolls and a kangaroo.
Stations were set up for the emergency department, surgery, hygiene, plastering and ambulance among others. Groups of children went to each station and rotated through all areas. Read the rest of this entry »
What happens once our students graduate and go out into the big wide world? One of them, Paul Marosszeky, tells us what it is like.
Dr Paul Marosszeky
As I write this it is half way through intern year and with the first foray into professional life have come new challenges. The learning curve has been intense, despite this being a year ostensibly offering a brief reprieve from exams on the roller coaster that is medical training.
I have often heard junior doctors exclaim how that in their intern year they learnt more than in all of their years at medical school combined.
I always thought there were epic mountains of hyperbole in this sentiment, but this year I can kind of see what they’re on about. One has to consolidate a great deal of knowledge compiled over the preceding years for practical day to day use, and this requires constant diligent attention – especially at the beginning – and with each new rotation as you try to absorb the wisdom of your seniors and hone your clinical acumen in a way that will be applicable to the job at hand.
You finally start to have to remember doses for drugs and you realise that the two-hour tute in back-to-base week at the end of final year probably wasn’t enough to convey the more subtle complexities of writing drug charts (but don’t worry, you learn this one quickly!) You loathe brand names and drug names some more. Read the rest of this entry »
Two students from East Gippsland Regional Clinical School had the opportunity to exchange with two Otago University Rural Medical Immersion Program students for two weeks in July. Jemelle Spriggs and Katherine Wilson, who are current Year 4C students studying in Sale and Bairnsdale have been placed in Blenheim and Balclutha respectively. This is Jemelle’s report on her experiences so far.
My first glimpse of New Zealand, as we flew into Christchurch, was the spectacular southern alpine ranges covered in snow. We landed but were airborne again quickly, this time a tiny 19 seater plane that flew low over kilometres of vineyards, landing in Blenheim.
This set the scene for an exciting two weeks in the beautiful south island, specifically the Marlborough region. Blenheim is the largest town in the Marlborough region, world renowned for its sauvignon blanc wine.
I spent my first day at Wairau hospital, an 86 bed rural hospital in Blenheim, seeing a variety of patients in ED. I quickly became familiar with a major part of New Zealand’s health system – the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) which provides all residents (and visitors) with a no-fault personal injury cover. My day in ED involved many ACC claims as the injuries rolled in. Read the rest of this entry »
Saving sim man: the surgical interest group set up various stations for students at its Bendigo surgical trauma night.
In mid July, the Monash University Surgical Interest Group (MUSIG) held its inaugural Surgical Trauma Night at the Bendigo Regional Clinical School.
MUSIG has held similar workshops in metropolitan hospitals for clinical school students at Eastern Health and The Alfred Hospital as well as workshops for Pre-Clinical students at Monash University.
Given the success of those workshops, MUSIG wanted to expand the events to students based in rural hospitals. Read the rest of this entry »
Associate Professor David Perkins (left) chaired the forum, while Professor John Wakerman from the Centre of Remote Health in Alice Springs, also spoke.
The Centre of Research Excellence in Rural and Remote Primary Health Care (CRE) held a forum in July, titled ‘The CRE: Findings, Challenges and Future Directions’ to explore how its activities can inform current and future challenges in the provision of rural primary health care services.
More than 40 interested people from across Australia, including staff from La Trobe University and Monash University, heard an excellent overview of the Centre’s activities and the implications for Rural Health.
The CRE is a collaboration between Monash University School of Rural Health, the Centre for Remote Health, a joint centre of Flinders University and Charles Darwin University in Alice Springs, and the University of Sydney’s Department of Rural Health in Broken Hill.
The aims of the CRE are to better understand primary health care service utilisation and needs in rural and remote Australia; to develop a comprehensive evaluation framework; and to recommend models for primary health care in rural and remote Australia.
Students from four universities attended the Mental Health Vacation School
The Gippsland Mental Health Vacation School run by MUDRIH has again proved popular with 21 students from Monash University, Melbourne University, La Trobe University and Australian Catholic University taking part.
The program is offered to third and fourth year undergraduate, honours and postgraduate entry students in psychology, social work, occupational therapy, nursing and other allied health.
Students spent three days visiting clinical mental health, non-clinical mental health, alcohol and drug, generalist counselling and other mental health services across the region. On the first and final days of the program, students were provided with an overview of the mental health and alcohol and drug service system, an insight into current trends in treatment and support in the two fields and the opportunity to ask a panel of workers from the region about living and working in Gippsland. Read the rest of this entry »
Two men worked at the top of the chimney for days reducing it to this height. The rest was knocked down by machine in a morning.
The landscape of Bendigo has changed with the demolition of buildings to make way for the new Bendigo Hospital site at the back of the Anne Caudle Centre.
The landmark tall chimney that was part of the laundry building for the old hospital and has stood for half a century, has been demolished as part of the demolition works. In the original hospital briquettes were burnt to generate steam and the tall chimney was for the smoke and combustion gases.
After removal of asbestos over many weeks, the demolition of the boiler house, chimney, commercial laundry, in-ground diesel tanks, building foundations, redundant services and equipment has started. The Ambulance Victoria building alongside the Bendigo Regional Clinical School will also be removed soon.
The photos show the old building as it was, works taking place as part of the demolition and the after photo with the chimney removed from the landscape.