Students get a country practise

Four student doctors from UWA and Notre Dame have joined the ranks of Narrogin Health Service last week.

Harry Hohnen, Raphaelle Waltman, Elizabeth Tierney and Michelle Lachenicht, who are all in their third year of their postgraduate medical degree, will spend the next 12 months in Narrogin.

“While we’re here, we’ll be getting experience in a whole lot of different areas of specialisation. It’s a really unique opportunity to be working in a small country hospital,” Mr Hohnen said.

“The thing about third and fourth year is really about having exposure to patients and really learning from doing that and being in a country hospital is a privilege in that way.”

Ms Waltman said doing their year placement in Narrogin rather than a metropolitan hospital would give the group a more hands-on experience.

“In the city you have to compete with a whole bunch of other medical students, nursing students, interns and residents. Everyone is still training, so they want to have an experience,” she said.

“So you just don’t get to see as much, do as much and each rotation you move through you have to prove yourself each time.

“While we’re here, there’s only four students for the whole hospital and GP practices.

“We get a lot more experience and a lot more one-on-one mentoring from specialists and GPs.”