The Lithgow Rural Clinical School of the University of Notre Dame School of Medicine hosted the 14th annual Rural and Indigenous Field Trip for first year medical students at its campus on Tuesday, April 12 at the Lithgow Hospital site.
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The purpose of this event is to encourage students to consider a career in rural medicine with all its wonderful variety and community engagement.
The 120 students had an early start, leaving Sydney at 6:30am by bus to participate in this greatly appreciated and popular event.
The day included a stop at Govett's Leap at Blackheath for a guided walk by an Indigenous tour guide with the emphasis on cultural awareness of country and the custodianship of the the local Aboriginal people.
This was followed by a Paramedic led snake envenomation scenario in the bush with the students being taught the initial management of snakebite and evacuation of the victim to hospital.
The students provided enthusiastic feedback about the clinical relevance of this simulated exercise and the strong emphasis on inter professional learning, said Prof Michael Brydon, Associate Dean Rural.
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Following their arrival at the Lithgow campus the students were welcomed by Associate Professor John Dearin, Head of Lithgow Rural Clinical School and treated to information sessions about rural medical careers and training opportunities in sub specialist areas.
Professor Ross Wilson from the Western Sydney University Medical School was the Keynote speaker for the day.
Ross who works in Bathurst has spent more than four decades in Rural practice, having worked in many parts of Australia and is one of the foundational members of the Rural Faculty of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners 30 years ago.
He provided many wonderful anecdotes of his life in rural Medicine as an Anaesthetist and Obstetrician, much to the applause and appreciation of the medical students.
One of the most popular events of the day was the Panel discussion led by Professor Gavin Frost in which he interviewed rural practitioners and students of rural origin including one of our former medical students Dr Kirbie Storrier now undertaking Psychiatry training in Dubbo along with Mrs Sonia Cox who heads up the Rural Adversity and Mental Hardship Program (RAMHP) out of Lithgow as an Indigenous Wiradjuri woman.
At the end of the day many of the students expressed a strong desire to return to Lithgow for their final year of medical training in three years time.
We look forward to welcoming them back.
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