The Wide Bay remains a key hub for regional medical training as 44 new medical interns, including 18 in the Fraser Coast and 26 in Bundaberg join Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service.
The new recruits will gain a valuable hands-on learning experience working in WBHHS regional hospitals over the next 12 months, under the guidance and supervision of senior clinicians.
Chief Operating Officer Ben Ross-Edwards said our intake this year was up almost 30 per cent on last year.
“Our annual medical intern program is a critical part of that vision as WBHHS nurtures and develops doctors starting their careers and on their ongoing journey as junior doctors," he said.
“Building and developing our own medical workforce is an important goal within our strategic plan, providing care, connection and compassion for all."
The new interns at Hervey Bay Hospital have recently completed orientation to familiarise themselves with the local hospitals, their services and procedures.
Over the year, they will undertake rotations in key areas including medicine, surgery or orthopaedic surgery and emergency medicine, along with the opportunity to rotate to other specialised areas such as obstetrics and gynaecology, anaesthetics, mental health, and paediatrics.
"These new doctors have already spent years completing their university training, and are now entering an exciting, but demanding, period of their careers,” Mr Ross-Edwards said.
“As a health service it is particularly important to have local staff with a genuine connection to the region.
“Welcoming new doctors back to their hometown is not only an exciting professional development but also a win for our community.
“Their familiarity with the local context and commitment to its wellbeing is an extra benefit to the work they will be doing.”
Dr Jane Kennedy started pursing medicine in 2020 after witnessing a doctor shortage. She had previously lived in Hervey Bay and it had always been her goal to return to the region she loved.
“I had worked at Hervey Bay and Maryborough hospital in the Pharmacy department,” she said.
“Knowing the area and knowing it was a great health service to work for, it felt like a natural choice to come back.”
Dr Kennedy said she was also drawn to the broad experiences you are exposed to when working in a regional setting.
“You see a wide range of demographics and health conditions here,” she said,
“You get to work with your own community and get to know people better.
“I think it is important to treat your patients the way you would like your family to be treated.”
Dr Kennedy is now working towards specialising as a Rural Generalist.