2022 will be the beginning of my post graduate education in medicine and y the start of 2026 I will be a fully qualified Doctor. Four years is a lot of time for experiences and opportunities to occur in, so, while I have ideas of where I would like to apply myself, I am still staying open to what the future may bring.

An area of significant interest to me right now though, is women’s health. As a young Minjungbal woman of Yugambeh-Bundjalung Jugun from a rural area, I have struggled to access medical expertise by doctors who are willing to investigate and uncover the causes of my ill health. As a woman, too often our worries are dismissed and too often is the main solution for any ailment to ‘just go on the pill’. Despite this I am privileged as I have the ability and time to pursue other avenues and health professionals to help me. As a doctor I want to provide personalised care that genuinely finds and treats the root cause of illness rather than just band-aid the symptoms. I believe that, regardless of who or where you are, you should be able to access high quality, culturally and physically safe medical care. It is this vision tat makes me so passionate about Indigenous women being able to access such care preceding throughout and subsequent to childbirth for both her and her baby.

Unfortunately Indigenous mothers and their babies continue to experience poorer health outcomes before and after birth, particularly if they live in rural and remote areas. The systemic change required to improve the statistics and personal experiences of our women is not easily come by. Systemic change is the result of many individuals working together and I intend to add my qualifications and voice as a young Minjungbal woman to organisations such as Birthing on Country to be an advocate fro this change. Birthing on Country requires so many people in different capacities; doctors, researchers, advocates, and Indigenous woman themselves, with people working in inter sectional roles. The aim is to facilitate the return of the birthing process to Indigenous communities enabling culturally appropriate care specific of the mother, her mob and community traditions. There is hard evidence that the fostering of traditional birthing alongside medical checks and guidance helps ‘close the gap’ in both mental and physical health statistics, allowing families to connect with and preserve their traditions.

I know that wherever I end up as a health professional it is here that I want to make a change. Here being in the individual lives of those around me, and here being in the building blocks for tomorrow.

We did two core units this semester, one is the standard medical school unit worth most of the semester’s credit, and the other was my service learning unit. I also had a compulsory summer unit we call “Elective”. This was an opportunity to self-arrange an inter-state or international placement in a hospital or specialty that we were interested in. I spent one week with my mentor, an Orthopaedic Surgeon who specialises in Paediatric and developmental orthopaedics. Then, I went to Papua New Guinea to attend a placement at Kundiawa General Hospital, in Chimbu Province. I was lucky enough to set this up through a Paediatric doctor I met in Broome who is from Cimbu, and he enabled me to have an amazing experience.

Doing placement in Papua New Guinea was a reflective and eye-opening experience. I met so many kind, wonderful people who welcomed me with open arms. I saw open surgeries, new pathologies, excellent clinicians and innovation in a resource-limited place. I learnt basic pidgin and learnt so much about history, social dynamics and culture in the Highlands of PNG. I don’t think I can truly put into words how much this trip touched me as a learner, a doctor and a person. I really hope to go back as a qualified doctor to work for a stint in Kundiawa hospital again.

I cannot reflect on this semester without mentioning another fantastic experience I have had. I attended a rural general practice placement in Cooktown, Far North Queensland. I spent part of the time in the hospital in their small Emergency bays and in the eight-bed ward. The rest of the time I spent on community outreach going to Hopevale, Wujal Wujal and Laura communities. It was rewarding to be engaged at a small rural hospital, and a great moment to compare how treatment and culture differ from the far northwest to the far northeast. I got to both learn, and give back, providing valuable services by seeing patients whilst getting exposure and education in cultures and medicine different to what I know. It consolidated my love for rural general practice further and I would love to return as a doctor one day to work further up again in the Torres Strait and Cape York provinces.

I think I have been working well towards completing all my in-terms training assessments, particularly the cumulative ones due at the end of the year. I made a list on my phone and made a point to try to complete at least one per week so that it would not overwhelm me at the end of the year. I have achieved all the year-end assessments however I think I could be dedicating more time to actively revising. I have 2-4 group sessions per week which is a mix of tutoring and group practice however I have not currently undertaken much personal study against learning objectives. I am hoping that with the conclusion of my training assessments that I will be able to focus more evening time on revising the content that will be highly relevant to my end-of-year exams. I think group sessions have been effective at ‘guilting’ myself into making sure I am getting some revision in and am thinking of making a study group or regular session with a friend or two to just sit and study together. That way, I can stay accountable to dedicating time to study and not rely on my self will to complete revision.

My major eduction goal this semester was to complete our project in my service learning unit. The service learning unit is designed to “engage students with non-government organisations in a way that yields positive outcomes for the student and the host organisation and develops a reflective, cross-culturally appropriate approach to problems offered by the host organisation”. Our project involved collaborating with Goolarri Media, an Indigenous-owned and operated media corporation. Together, we worked to gather Broome community input on health issues that they found important, and used the feedback to design a culturally safe and informative health promotion video. We officially have concluded this unit! We produced an awesome health promotion video that has been edited and is in the process of being approved before distribution. It was really amazing to have been involved in such a project. It has been a totally different experience from anything I have done before and I am excited to receive feedback from the community on how it is received. I think one of the best parts of this unit is the ongoing impact that can be made from engaging in the opportunity to do a service for the community. It felt less like studying and completing a unit, and more like we were genuinely engaged in a project that could contribute to improving healthcare outcomes.

I have found it very difficult to return to medicine this year. In our six-week summer break, we had to do four weeks of compulsory “elective” placement. I had a great experience but between moving out of Broome and back to Perth, then doing the placement and trying to get ready for final year, I felt that I did not start the year rested or organised. I have really struggled with motivation and have continued to do so all year. I think knowing that it’s the last year makes it both better and worse. It’s only a short time left but the full-time placement and lack of formal teaching make it feel more like an unpaid job and less like a degree/learning. The main thing I have been doing is breaking down big tasks into little ones. Focusing on what my plan for the week or the day is, and just trying to get through each one and the tasks I set for that day. I have also stepped back from some of my extracurricular activities and am just trying to focus on making it through this final year, knowing that there’s only a short bit left in the context of six years of study.

I am both excited and filled with trepidation to be sitting my final medical exams at the end of the semester!

I feel like I have learnt so much from those first units and yet I am acutely aware of how little I know all at the same time. It is going to be a big adjustment, but I think I have been so fortunate to have great mentors and support systems that will help me transition from student to intern. And it is not done yet! I have rotations in internal medicine, dermatology, ear/nose/throat surgery and a stint in the state trauma unit at Royal Perth Hospital. I am looking forward to doing time in these specialist areas, it will be great to be exposed to new areas and gain a deeper understanding of how specialists operate within them. I am particularly looking forward to the trauma surgery rotation. I have enjoyed surgical and emergency terms and while I think it may be confronting at times, I am interested to see how they combine in this specialty. It will be a fantastic opportunity to learn advanced emergency management skills and to join the team in administering aid in unique and major cases.

I have not been involved in as many extracurricular activities this year, as I have been focusing on my final year commitments. I have been accepted to present a talk at the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association though and am excited to present my first-ever project on such a big stage. I am still mucking around in sports but am not playing competitively due to time commitments.

Excitingly this is my final year of medicine and I have been offered a place in Broome for an internship next year. I am so excited to take this big step into my career and can not wait for the opportunities that come with working at an amazing hospital in Kimberley. While I am not planning to sit any specialist exams in my first year out, I am hoping to teach other medical students or do some tutoring work with high school students. I find teaching quite rewarding and a great way to stay on top of my own knowledge.

At this stage, I am still undecided as to what pathway I will take regarding specialisation. There are so many great options and I think I need to work a bit more in other areas before I commit to anything. I am still very interested in ACRRM (Australian College of Remote and Rural Medicine) so that I can become a rural generalist though. As a rural generalist, I will be equipped with the emergency and general skills to practice medicine in remote communities and rural areas, enabling me to look after mob on their country. It is a great way to incorporate various skills and work broadly without becoming too sub-specialised.

I am still involved in the ESCALATE research project, and have my name on two research articles that we have submitted to be published. I am hoping to continue working with ESCALATE as a junior doctor, and aid with the implementation stage that should hopefully improve some of the areas we noted deficits in our earlier stages.