The mastermind behind a mobile specialist clinic is expanding his campaign to bring vital health services to rural areas struggling to attract medical professionals.
Key points:
The Rural Doctors Association of Queensland says many regional patients must travel long distances for specialist careSometimes, distance prevents remote patients from receiving any care at allThe NextGen Medics program offers medical students placements with mobile clinics to show them they can live in the city and still treat rural patients
Cardiologist Rolf Gomes founded Heart of Australia, which takes specialist services to remote Queenslanders on the back of five trucks.
Now, Dr Gomes has developed NextGen Medics, to give medical and allied health students an insight into health inequality in rural Australia.
His aim is to motivate them to be part of the solution.
The program takes medical and allied health students along for the ride with mobile Heart of Australia medical clinics, which offer a range of specialist care services, including cardiology, neurology, psychology and gynaecology.
“At the moment, we take 20 students out a year, usually in blocks of 10 students at a time,” Dr Gomes said.
Rolf Gomes wants specialists to understand you can practise remotely without having to live in the bush. (Supplied: NextGen Medics)
“They’re not just learning medicine, but experiencing what medicine is like out in the regions by visiting the local hospitals, the local GP practice and having a look at some of the industries out in those areas.”
Participant Henry Burt grew up in regional Queensland and was studying business when he heard Dr Gomes speak, prompting a career change.
“I thought, ‘Wow that’s something to aspire to’, so following that, I changed degrees [and] went down the medicine pathway,” he said.
This year’s cohort included nursing, midwifery, dietetics, nutrition and medical students. (Supplied: NextGen Medics)
Now studying in Sydney, Mr Burt always intended to practise rurally.
But the NextGen program has shown him other options — like mobile medicine — are possible.
“It’s really opened my eyes as well to being able to practise as a specialist in metro areas … but then take that rurally,” he said.
Kyle Fan, Henry Burt and Hannah Nobes all loved being part of the program. (ABC Rural: Arlie Felton-Taylor)
Fellow medical student Hannah Nobes also said the program had shown her new ways to fulfil her ambitions in rural medicine.
“Seeing that I could potentially work as a specialist serving those same communities has been something quite remarkable that I’ve witnessed with Heart of Australia and in this program,” she said.
Meeting a need
The Rural Doctors Association of Australia has reported a current shortage of about 800 general practitioners in rural Australia, with many locations unable to fill vacancies even with locum staff.
Rural Doctors Association of Queensland (RDAQ) president Alex Dunn said recruitment and retention had always been challenging.
“And we’re seeing that even more now,” he said.
Dr Dunn said programs like NextGen Medic were vital.
“It gives [medical students] really positive exposure to that work environment — it has been shown to increase interest and retention,” he said.
Dr Dunn, who spent seven years in the Cape York township of Weipa, said getting specialist care in remote areas was difficult and usually involved travel to a bigger regional city or state capital.
Alex Dunn is the president of the Rural Doctors Association of Queensland. (Supplied: RDAQ)
“It’s also a big impact for families and for patients if they need to leave their communities,” he said.
“For some, that will actually be a reason that they won’t go … because they can’t or don’t want to have time away.”
Rather than ask specialist medical professionals to move to the bush, Dr Gomes said it was better to ask them if they were willing to contribute to regional health care.
“It’s a really good experience to witness firsthand what medical innovation can look like and how an innovative model of service delivery can actually work,” he said.
Offering flexibility is key
Dr Gomes said he was living proof you could be a city-based specialist doctor or allied health professional and still treat patients in rural areas.
He said his NextGen Medics program was an entry point and he wanted young medical professionals to see what they could be part of in the bush, and what they could offer to those communities.
Participants must apply to gain a place on the NextGen Medics program. (Supplied: NextGen Medics)
“We’re looking at a long-term workforce sustainability program where some of these medical students might come back and say, ‘We had such a good time when you took us out to the regions as a student, we’d like to contribute to regional health care’,” he said.
Dr Gomes said while it was best for GPs to be based locally, the travelling specialist model could easily be expanded to other fields.
This year’s cohort included a nursing and midwifery student as well as a nutrition and dietetics student for the first time, and Dr Gomes hopes they will see how easily they can work without relocating permanently.
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