Interns experience working in rural Victoria

Through the Grampians Rural Generalist Intern Training Program, based in Ararat, nine junior doctors will be experiencing what it is like to practice and live in rural areas.

East Grampians Health Service has welcomed the interns through a partnership with St John of God Ballarat, Maryborough District Health Service, and three GP clinics including the Ararat Medical Centre, Nightingale Medical Centre and Clarendon Medical Centre, both in Maryborough.

The nine interns completed their training in various universities across the country and internationally.

All are now working in their first year in Australia as doctors after medical school.

At East Grampians Health Service, many of the interns will work on a rotation through the operating theatres and at the Ararat Medical Centre.

Junior Medical workforce Manager and Victorian Rural Generalist Coordinator (Grampians region), Kim Lane, said the program is all about increasing rural exposure and introducing them to a General Practice (GP) rotation.

“We aim to give our training doctors a true indication of what it is like to work as a rural GP in the practice and also including working as a GP obstetrician, GP anaesthetist in the hospital where local GPs have admitted patients,” Ms Lane said.

Ms Lane said all the rotations offer much more hands-on exposure in this small group setting compared to their metro and regional counterparts.

“By training doctors in rural areas and giving them great experiences, our hope is that they are more likely to want to continue to train rurally and ultimately work and settle in rural areas,” she said.

“It’s all about building and growing our medical workforce for the future.”

EGHS Chief Executive Nick Bush said the feedback the health service has been getting about the program is that it gives the interns hands on opportunities, which they rarely get in a metro area.

This is the tenth year EGHS has been training medical interns.

Through their second year of medical training the interns have the option to continue their rural generalist pathway and complete a term out to EGHS from their parent hospital, Grampians Heath Ballarat, working with the local GPs on the ward and in the Urgent Care Centre.  A new project funded through the Victorian Rural Generalist Program will see EGHS being able to offer a second year of training through the health service for two doctors with a goal to work as a rural generalist.

2025 interns at EGHS, back L-R Kim Lane, Amna Qaiser, Zi Hui Liau, Penelope McDonald, Bushra Bashith, Tari Jensen; Front L-R – Bao Kim Ngo, Gabriel Hicks, Jose Chong. Absent Ruzna Samsudeen, Tarek Al Shalabi.