Abstract – A PGY2 Term in East Arnhem Land – a trial program in remote community primary care for prevocational doctors
In June 2022, the NT Rural Generalist Coordination Unit (RGCU) was able to offer the opportunity for Dr Amy Thwaites to submit an abstract to the Australia & New Zealand Prevocational Medical Education Forum (ANZPMEF) 2022.
In November 2022 Dr Amy Thwaites was able to present her abstract ‘A PGY2 Term in East Arnhem Land – a trial program in remote community primary care for prevocational doctors’, which shared her experiences whilst working in rural communities in the Northern Territory with her peers and colleagues from Australia and New Zealand.
A PGY2 Term in East Arnhem Land – a trial program in remote community primary care for prevocational doctors
Dr Amy Thwaites – MD and the NT Rural Generalist Pathway.
In February 2022, I was lucky to be part of a new program set up by the NT Rural Generalist Pathway and NT Health, to give prevocational doctors an opportunity to experience remote community primary care. I spent three months based in Nhulunbuy – East Arnhem Land, working at Gove District Hospital and Miwatj, the Aboriginal Medical Service for the district.
Gove Hospital is staffed by rural generalists and I was fortunate to learn from and work alongside exceptional rural doctors. I worked in ED, the general ward and the maternity ward. I learned primary care skills, acute medicine and critical care – and, as the only doctor on site overnight, I learned my own capacity, my own limits, and to not be afraid to wake up my seniors when I needed help!
My work with Miwatj took me to clinics on the Gove Peninsula (Nhulunbuy, Gunyangara and Yirrkala) as well as to the remote communities of Milingimbi, Ramingining and Gapuwiyak. I was supervised by phenomenal GPs working in some of the most difficult circumstances in the Country. I learned to do everything for myself – from driving the clinic troopie to pick up patients at home, to spinning my own bloods and dispensing my own medications. The presentations ranged from chronic disease, mental health and family planning, to injuries and illness sometimes critically life-threatening.
I feel indescribably privileged to have been given this opportunity. I learned more in my three months in East Arnhem Land than the prior twelve months combined. I have come away passionate not only about primary care, but about remote and Aboriginal health. This experience has forged a strong commitment in me to rural generalism in remote Australia.
