A country practice: ten-week rotation in Narrogin long enough for junior docs to become community members

The Narrogin community will bid farewell to doctors Hang Yi, Malini Vivek and Sebastianus Sugianto at the end of the month as the fourth junior doctor cohort hosted by Narrogin District Hosp]ital this year depart. The immersion has seen the doctors practise medicine in a rural setting, explore the bush and become part of the close-knit NDH team. Despite both working at Joondalup Hospital, Dr Vivek and Dr Sugianto had not met prior to arriving in Narrogin for their 10-week rotation. “We might have passed each other in the corridor or something but we’d never spoken,” Dr Sugianto said. “It’s very different here, in terms of managing the patients; you get to know them quite well compared to metro where everyone is someone new.” Dr Vivek said doctoring in rural settings was a much more proximal experience. “You’re more involved in the patient’s care,” she said. “You chat with them every day and you come to understand their family dynamics. “It’s very wholesome, you’re very involved with the family as well, they see you every day and it’s nice, it’s something you want to do because you develop that bond.” As well as having greater involvement with their patients, the doctors learnt about themselves on a professional and personal level. “It makes you kind of think of the things that you might take for granted,” Dr Vivek said. “Here it’s just you and your senior and you have to use what you know. “I would recommend it to other junior doctors to come down, you’ve got a very supportive work environment and some good, calm time to work on yourself as well if you like.” Having practised in Karratha and Port Hedland, and spent a term in Norseman as a medical student, Dr Hahn arrived in Narrogin from Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital with regional and remote experience. “It’s a very good experience, there are a lot of different presentations, a lot of different medicine, which is very good for your learning,” he said. “I did my ED placement as a student in Fiona Stanley, which is quite different. The students here see a lot of different things; because this is a mixed hospital, you see everything and that is very good in terms of learning.” Dr Sugianto agreed that the hands-on nature of rural medicine made regional hospitals rich learning grounds for student doctors. “In metro hospitals, students are most of the time observing on the sidelines,” he said. “Because more hands are needed here, students get much more involved, which is a very good practice.”