Summary of Visit 1

John Flynn Placement Report:

The purpose of these reports is to inform the Team on the progress of your placements and to provide other students with information about your experiences. These reports are posted on our secure internet site, RRMEO, within the JFPP community and all students can access these.

My time at the Maryborough Health Clinic under the guidance of Dr William Gunn was an incredible experience. I learnt not only about the perks and complexity of life as a rural GP, but also about how to grow into someone that I can be proud of. With the support of him and his incredible family, I had a very enriching adventure in one of the most beautiful places in Australia - the east coast of Queensland.

For my stay in Maryborough, I had the added bonus of being able to stay with the family of the doctor that I was partnered with. This was really beneficial as it meant that I was able to observe how he maintains a positive work/life balance, which is something that definitely needs to be closely considered for any rural GP. So often we forget that we cannot perform at our best professionally if we do not have a good grounding in the other important components of our lives - relationships and our own physical and mental health.

Each day would consist of us waking up at around 4.30am (I sheepishly admit that I slept in until 5am a number of times), which is when we would do our bible journalling for the day. This was a great opportunity to have some awesome discussions that I found really enriching. We would then embark on our daily exercise routine, which could consist of swimming, running or cycling. I discovered the remedial benefits of keeping yourself fit, as this essentially supplies you with the physical strength and agility to recover well from a variety of health conditions. Dr Gunn and his wife Jenny are passionate triathletes, which is a form of exercise that I personally have never tried before, yet truly enjoyed. We would then return to Dr Gunn’s house, have breakfast and wash, and begin the working day. Dr Gunn would often go on visits to either the homes of some of his patients or the local nursing homes to check up on some of the residents there. After this, we would head to the Maryborough Health clinic, where there were around 2-3 doctors working there each day. We would see a really wide range of patients, as is the nature of general practise. The kind of visits that would be made included pap smears, lots of skin cancer removals, B12 injections, immunisations, breast examinations and ECG reports. The clinic has a very strong relationship with the locals of Maryborough; an example of this would be the fact that many of the office staff had friends and family that would come into see Dr Gunn. Having lived and worked in Maryborough for more than 30 years, Dr Gunn truly had a very strong network with the community.

Our day at the surgery would typically begin at around 8.30am and conclude at anywhere from 4.30 to 6pm each day. On Thursday, Friday and Saturday Dr Gunn did half days at the surgery, and in total, he would come to work 6 days a week. The evenings and Sundays were filled with meeting up with the other Gunns as well as the friends of Mrs and Mr Gunn. I had many wonderful experiences - going to their local church, a friend’s birthday party, wake boarding adventures, fishing trips, a beautiful trip to the beach on Australia Day, and many memorable hits on the tennis court. I really felt that I was part of their life for those two weeks, which made my time so special. 

Some of the most important things that I learnt on my trip came from the most unexpected places. From conversing with one of Dr Gunn’s friends, I learnt that the transition from being ‘the doctor’ to ‘my doctor’ is the time that you really become a successful health practitioner. It really is all about relationships and connections when you think about it. It is also so crucial to never stop learning. Dr Gunn supplied me with an incredible amount of up to date and relevant literature that really provoked me to keep on searching for knowledge so that I have the potential to be the best practitioner that I can be in the future. It was inspiring to see someone with such life experience and grace at work, and I am so grateful for the time that I spent in Maryborough. To me, the past two weeks have been an incredible start to a fantastic journey that will enable me to put into practise the theory that we are learning at university, as well as an opportunity to build relationships and enjoy myself in a beautiful place with beautiful people. 

Cootamundra Experiences

How can a place that is famous for its cold weather leave you feeling incredibly warm and fuzzy? I had the wonderful pleasure of spending my week long placement in the small town of Cootamundra with the Fry family. Stacey and Dan and their four beautiful children welcomed me into their home and kindly took me on a week long tour of medicine in a NSW rural practice. I was given opportunities to put theory into practice, to challenge myself, and to develop relationships with a really wide range of people.

My first day started with a round of the Cootamundra nursing home, where Dr Dan Fry introduced me to some of his patients who were now residing in the town’s aged care facility. There is a unique continuation of care in small country towns that I was really able to appreciate in Cootamundra. In this community, there is the potential for a General Practitioner to be present at the births, deaths and significant life moments of one family. It is a very unique privilege to develop such a connection with someone, and something that would definitely be something that I would absolutely cherish if I am lucky enough to be a rural GP one day.

On Tuesday we spent a busy day at the surgery, starting with a rounds of the hospital and some discussions with the nurses about care options for a few patients. We then walked over to the clinic, where we spent a busy day seeing a wide range of patients. People came to see Dr Fry for so many more reasons than to get a clinical diagnosis - often their visits were full of moments where they were seeking advice on important aspects of their lives and even work. This was a fantastic learning experience for me, as I have begun to appreciate that medicine is about having a heart as much as it is about having a brain. We need to listen to people - how else can we find out about the determinants in their life that have such a direct impact on their health? Over the week, the clearer this became to me, the more passionate I felt about rural medicine.

Wednesday was another fantastic day - with one of the patients presenting with 28 week old twins. I have to say, this was definitely a highlight of the week for me, as we have just finished a term studying Beginnings Growth and Development at UNSW - so it was a real treat to be able to actually palpate the young woman’s abdomen. We had a lovely lunch at the local pub where I tried a very interesting Cauliflower and Four Cheese’s soup, and then we had a tour of the town. Before         the sun set, we went for an energetic walk through the paddock of bushland opposite the Fry home. It was glorious to see the pink and orange hues  of the sunset over the bushland. In the evening I joined Stacey for some Muay Thai - which was fantastic! I really enjoyed the experience of doing some martial arts - it was rewarding and enriching. I was told that it was a great way to burn off any frustration! Not that I actually had any to be honest, but it was definitely a very relaxing and exciting experience.

Thursday morning was spent seeing patients, but in the afternoon I was able to visit the speech pathologist and spend time with her. I found that engaging with the other specialities in the practise was a real highlight. Often it’s easy to forget that medicine would not work if there wasn't a team approach - there would be no such thing as good quality patient care. There are not many opportunities to get a good understanding of what everyone in the medicine team does though, and so I was very grateful to learn more about the roles of nurses, midwives and speech pathologists at the Cootamundra Health Clinic.

The final day was quite busy - and so it was a chance for me to appreciate how concise and to the point that a GP has to be a times, but at the same time maintaining great interest in each patient and ensuring that their needs are fully addressed, as Dr Fry does every time. There are so many valuable lessons that I have learnt from my time in Cootamundra, and many important moments of piecing together different pieces of information. Dr Fry taught me a lot about how medicine brings together so many different people from wide and varied paths together. He also showed me how one can keep their humanity - sometimes we lose who we really are when we get caught up in medicine textbooks and procedures. What made my time in Cootamundra so special was the people that I met; they showed me such genuine warmth and care, making my stay an absolute pleasure and a true highlight of my mid-year holidays.

Pre-John Flynn Reflections

Well, I have just arrived in Yagoona St Maryborough, where I will be staying with doctor Bill Gunn on medical placement with the John Flynn mentoring program. Through this program we are able to literally ‘Learn how to be a rural doctor - from a rural doctor.’ 

I feel that I am still so naive about all the challenges that I will be faced with over the coming years of medicine, and so this will be a great opportunity to test the water and to find what I really enjoy doing. I do see myself happily becoming a rural GP, with a focus on children (a paediatric GP would be perfect!)

One of the first things that I noticed about the life of a rural doctor is that people love talking to you, but they don't necessarily want to have to see you very often (which is the inherent nature of being a doctor anywhere I suppose). For example, just from going from Hervey Bay airport to the local shopping centre, and then to Dr Gunn’s house in Yagoona St, we bumped into six people who knew Dr Gunn. For me, this was amazing to see  that so many people had a connection with him. 

Dr Gunn lives on an eight hectare property with a tennis court, multiple mango trees, a lychee tree, a few date palms, a coffee bean tree, some lime trees and lots of bushland, which he uses for walking and motorbike tracks. Dr Gunn is super passionate about healthy food and exercise, so we have heaps to talk about!!! We just played our first (of many, with a bit of luck) match of tennis. He taught me how to serve properly, and how to give a nice back hand. The tennis court is made of sand, which makes the ball bounce quite low and randomly, but this just adds to the fun. I went on a nice run up the street (which he told me was exactly 800 metres, and then I went on a walk around his garden and discovered a few old bee hives. He no longer keeps bees, but it is awesome to see so many other interests that Doctor Gunn has, outside the field of medicine. Having him as a mentor is going to be awesome, because he is helping me understand how to be a really well balanced adult. 

We are now heading off to church (A Weslyean church, a denomination that I have not yet been to yet) which is quite exciting. I read a really good sign on one of the churches on the way here - it said ‘may your troubles last as long as your new years resolutions’. Quite an appropriate saying, but very humorous indeed!!

I am super keen to put a face to many of the illnesses and diseases that we study at uni, but don’t always get a chance to see in real life. That is why I am so excited about tomorrow, when I get my first taste of the practise!