Kate McKenzie
Medical Student, University of Western Australia
Margaret River, WA
Kate is a JFPP scholar and describes her average day and the experiences that allowed her to understand the true meaning of a ‘rural generalist’
I was privileged to attend my first rural placement with JFPP in Margaret River last December. My Mentor was a GP who travelled between Margaret River Medical Centre, Margaret River Hospital, Augusta Medical Centre and Augusta Hospital. The medical fields I was exposed to include GP, Emergency and Obstetrics.
Despite having no previous clinical experience, this was a very hands-on placement. My mentor constantly gave me opportunities watch, and then perform procedures – blood pressures, chest auscultation, fetal doppler, sutures, skin shave biopsies, injections and cannulisation. The contrast between the emergency hospital and GP settings allowed me to experience a broad range of clinical presentations. Furthermore, I witnessed some rare presentations that I was not expecting to see – for example, gonococcal arthritis, sulfa drug allergic reaction and Grover’s disease. It was so great to have my theoretical learning at university re-inforced by my practical experience on JFPP.
My placement allowed me to comprehend what a ‘rural generalist’ means. My week would look something like this …. Monday - Margaret River GP Clinic, duck over to the hospital at lunch, back to GP Clinic for the afternoon, duck back to the hospital at the end of GP clinic. Tuesday - straight to Augusta ED, ward round, drive to Augusta GP Clinic, see morning patients, 5 calls from hospital nurses, back to hospital at lunch, GP Clinic in afternoon, hospital round after GP Clinic. And so forth. I had a great appreciation for the capacity of my Mentor, to be able to compartmentalise his work across so many settings and get everything done calmly, and confidently.
In consults with patients, I could understand the difficulties a rural livelihood placed on access to healthcare. For example, many elderly locals would be hesitant or unable to drive over an hour to Bunbury, to see a specialist or have a scan done. For women who may go in to labour, the local hospital could only offer natural low-risk deliveries – for any high-risk deliveries or C-sections, they would have to drive to Bunbury, and hope they would get there in time.
In my spare time, I bonded with my community host, who went to extraordinary efforts to introduce me to the local community. We attended weekly lawn bowls, had a meal at the community centre, attended the night food markets, visited a neighbour with our food scraps for his chickens, and had drinks with her neighbours. On weekends, I was lucky enough to have friends in the region. Some of the exploring we did included attending a music concert at the famous Caves House, visiting Surfer’s Point for a sunset picnic, swimming in the Injidup Rock Pool, visiting local beaches, camping in Busselton and going for a drive through the Boranup Forrest. I was able to appreciate the beautiful landscape and culture of the Margaret River and its surrounds.
Yallingup Beach, Yallingup
Injidup Rock Pool, Injidup
My JFPP Placement was a great insight into a career in rural health, as a generalist physician. I really enjoyed the diversity of practice, and my brain was constantly ticking over, trying to understand the connections between each location and area of medicine we visited. My placement also allowed me to appreciate the beauty of a rural livelihood. Lunchtime conversations with GPs showed me that it was possible to work, but still have a surf in the mornings, go for a mountain bike ride through the forest after work or disappear camping for the weekends. Sometimes they would even sneak off to the beach for a quick lunchtime swim!
I would highly recommend Margaret River as a placement location. The community was welcoming, the atmosphere was relaxed and the medical staff were very supportive. It was so touching to have patients encourage my learning, asking me to come back because ‘we need more lady doctors here.’ My rural placement experience was so much more than I could have imagined, and I can’t wait for my next one.