My name is Steven Cable and I am a proud Noongar Man with connection to Narrogin in Western Australia. Growing up I always envisioned myself working in healthcare to connect to local communities and be able to make a difference to as many lives as possible. I started my healthcare journey as a Physiotherapist working at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in New South Wales for four years and was able to meet some amazing people. After this I decided to begin the process of starting a career in Medicine. I am currently in my second year studying at the University of Sydney and looking forward to working in regional and rural settings when I am qualified.

Through my experiences at University Placements as a Physiotherapist in more regional and rural settings (Broome, Dubbo and Orange) I have witnessed the struggles and frustrations felt by many about the lack of specialised services available and the complicated process of needing to travel to an area with greater medical service exposure.

My goal through my current medical program is to be able to gain the required knowledge and training to become a Qualified Physician in a specialty which is going to eventually benefit small Indigenous communities the most. I am still currently weighing up between a few specialties, including Ophthalmology, but am still quite early in my training and will be able to make a more distinct choice in the coming years. Once gaining a more specialised position I am aiming to help increase exposure in rural and remote communities. One of the main ways I can do this is by encouraging as many fellow health professionals as possible to work in these settings so we can help address at least part of the access to healthcare struggles a lot of Indigenous communities are facing.

The start of 2025 was a very enjoyable time, transitioning into full time clinical rotations. My first rotations of the year included time spent in Psychiatry and Critical Care. Psychiatry was a completely different experience to any other rotation and being able to spend more time with the patients was an interesting experience. I gained a lot from this rotation and was better able to appreciate the complex mental health system which included inpatient and community care. After this I completed 7 weeks rotating through the Emergency Department, Intensive Care Unit and Anaesthetics. This was the complete opposite to Psychiatry and I really enjoyed the fast paced environment and hands on skills I gained. I was able to successfully insert my first cannula which was a big relief after practicing on only  the practice arms for the past year. The highlight of this rotation was working with the Anaesthetics department to help ventilate and intubate patients in the operating theatre.

After having an amazing week off in the Northern Territory I am now half way through a 14 week research block. This is a compulsory part of the medical program in which all third year students join a research project to assist and then present the findings in both oral and written format. My study is qualitative in nature and involves looking at the general population reviewing their lives in midlife and the potential benefits and barriers of this. So far it has been very interesting and has been the first time I have been involved in a research project, it is a lot more work than I was expecting! I spend most days working on analysing data as well as constant meetings with my supervisor to make sure I am on the right track.

I have been very happy with my exam results so far this year. In both the Psychiatry and Critical Care block I was able to meet the expected standard which was a big relief. Not having to work as many weekend shifts due to the support of Rotary Health has enabled me to put more time into my studies as well as having some more time to refresh and relax before heading into a busy week of placement. I have also been able to have more time to play soccer on some weekends which has been very enjoyable and something that I have missed due to working most weekends. My spare time is also spent travelling to see family and watching plenty of sport.

The year has been progressing very quickly and I am almost  finding myself towards the end of third year with only one year left of my degree. My last two clinical rotations this year will be in Perinatal and Women’s Health before finishing with a rotation in Paediatrics. I am very excited for these rotations as they are both very different to anything I have encountered in the previous years of the degree. I am also in the process of organising my elective placements for January to March 2026. So far I am looking at doing a four week placement with an Aboriginal Medical Service in Remote Northern Territory and completing the second four weeks in palliative care in NSW. Being able to contribute to rural and remote healthcare is something I am passionate about and I am really looking forward to this placement.