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And I think that in an urban context, even
though you will see the same people
every day, the comradery isn’t the same as
you see when you’re in the remote fly in
- fly out circuit, and that is quite exciting.
What advice would you give
to students going on a rural
or remote placement?
Make sure that you bring toys with you.
Particularly, plastic ones that you can easily
clean, because often you’re dealing with
lots of little kids, certainly in ear health,
that’s something that we deal with a lot.
So, you need to have something to
entertain the kids and then the parents
are happy and you’re happy and the
kids are happy. And also, stickers and
that sort of thing. Just having that with
you at all times means that if you do
have a patient and you are a bit nervous
you can make the atmosphere a lot less
tense, and you feel more comfortable,
and you obviously build rapport at
the same time, so that’s quite good.
The second piece of advice I would give
is to make sure that you walk in and
introduce yourself to all of the local
staff that are working in the health
clinic. Whether that be the Nurse, the
Indigenous Health Worker, the Doctors
or even the cleaner, the locals really do
know so much about their community.
This can range from practical questions
like ‘have you seen this child?’ to ‘I didn’t
really know if I could ask this patient this
question’ or ‘they looked a bit strangely
when I said that, is that ok for me to say?’.
Often I’ve found in all of the communities
I’ve been to they’ve been really helpful
and always really happy to help out
whenever you ask. It is really important to
remember, in these clinics, that for a
lot of these communities, they have
different health services coming in