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Northern Queensland Regional Training Hubs

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Announcement

Medical Campaign Webinar Series

Register now for the series of webinars developed especially for medical students and junior doctors preparing their application to Queensland Health’s Intern or RMO and Registrar Campaigns. The webinars are delivered by expert panels and cover four topics:

  • Episode 1: Intern Information Session (Co-hosted with Queensland Health) - 24 April
  • Episode 2: Powerful Personalities: How Your Traits Impact Your Medical Journey - 30 April
  • Episode 3: RMO and Registrar Information Session (Co-hosted with Queensland Health) - 14 May
  • Episode 4: A Wellbeing Checklist for Medical Professionals - 21 May

REGISTER NOW FOR THE webinar SERIES

A network of medical training opportunities

We connect medical students, interns and junior doctors with resources and opportunities to prepare for specialist training and beyond, creating stronger health outcomes in our region.

Dr Tadiwa Mashavave, Junior Doctor, Mackay Base Hospital

Dr Tadiwa Mashavave, Junior Doctor, Mackay Base Hospital

“It was during my time at JCU that I decided I wanted to end up somewhere rural or regional and I thought I would be able to gain a lot of hands-on skills in my junior years at a regional hospital like Mackay Base Hospital. It’s been great working with other doctors who are as passionate about rural health and the people it serves.”
Dr Hannah Bennett, Rural Generalist and Pain Specialist, Townsville University Hospital

Dr Hannah Bennett, Rural Generalist and Pain Specialist, Townsville University Hospital

"As a consultant in Pain Medicine, I have excellent work-life balance. Townsville is a great place to raise a family and there's so much on your doorstep here. It's just an easy life.” Read More
Dr Anthony Brazzale, Cardiologist, Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service

Dr Anthony Brazzale, Cardiologist, Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service

“We have advanced trainees who come from Brisbane and want to come back here now as consultants. They tell us this is one of the best training centres in Australia. The opportunities you get up here, you’ll get nowhere else.” Read More

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Something in the Ayr

4 March 2024

Something in the Ayr

For General Practice (GP) Registrar, Dr Ashleigh Attard, there is no place like home.  After receiving hands-on GP training and experience practising in regional and remote clinics across Northern Queensland, Dr Attard returned home to complete her final GP practice placement in Ayr.  Ashleigh said, the decision to move home to service the community was an easy one.  “I thought it would be nice to come back and work at home, in a community that I'm familiar with,” she said. “I wanted to give back to the community where I've lived my whole life and all my family still lives here. It was an easy decision to make.”  During the 18-month placement at Outback Family Medicine, Ashleigh received support, supervision and training from her cousin, an experienced GP working at the practice.  “I had that family connection to the workplace already and it was a great environment to do my training in,” she said. “My cousin was a great mentor. The practice has really great patients and staff.”  Working as a GP Registrar in a rural community, Dr Attard gained a wide scope of practice providing continuity of care to patients with diverse clinical presentations.  “I see a lot of patients across the spectrum from young to old,” she said. “I look after the Home Hill Nursing Home so; I have a lot of patients that I go to visit once a week.  “I have lots of antenatal, and I'm involved in the antenatal care of some of my friends from school who are having babies.  “You really get immersed in the community, and you will know so much more about your patients, and you feel like you really are making a difference in people’s lives definitely more so in a rural town.” 

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Bridging the gap

29 February 2024

Bridging the gap

After witnessing the negative impacts that the transience of General Practitioners (GP) had on the Mackay community, Dr Kate Bialy wanted to bridge the primary care gap.  In 2019, Dr Bialy fellowed from GP training and began working at a clinic in Mackay.              “My husband and I wanted to go where we could be of the most help, and we noticed there was high transience and turnover of people in the medical sphere here,” she said. “When it comes to continuity of care in medicine high turnover creates a huge gap.  “I started working at Health on Central in Mackay essentially as soon as I fellowed from GP Training.”  Five years later, Kate continues to make a positive impact on the health outcomes of her patients at Health on Central.  Dr Bialy said, providing primary healthcare services to the Mackay community is extremely rewarding.        “Being able to practise as a GP is a lifelong dream of mine,” Kate said. “Working as a GP in a regional town is extremely rewarding; seeing my patient’s health improve is the biggest highlight.”  “If you are keen to make a difference in a big way to a small community, it’s very easy to do that in regional medicine.” 

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Adventure Calls in Tropical Island Paradise

27 February 2024

Adventure Calls in Tropical Island Paradise

Enticed by a tropical adventure, Dr Joshua Baker travelled almost 5,000 kilometres across Australia to seek out the rural medicine experience in Far North Queensland. Reality more than met his expectations and prompted a permanent switch from the Outback to the Tropics.  “It always was a plan to head to Cairns in the year following internship back home in Western Australia,” Dr Baker says. “The whole ‘Rainforest meets the reef’ lifestyle really appealed to me. I wanted to spend some time up here and I guess I just haven’t left!” Dr Baker says.  While completing his junior doctor years at Cairns Hospital, Dr Baker got a glimpse of the general practice scene in the Cape and Torres region and was immediately drawn to it.  “When I saw GPs there, I thought they had the best job in the world. You’re getting to do a diverse range of clinical work in the emergency department in the hospital and out in remote clinics. These guys are at the forefront of primary care.” 

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A warm welcome to Orthopaedics in the Tropics

23 February 2024

A warm welcome to Orthopaedics in the Tropics

Growing up in Western Australia, Indigenous doctor Tamika Ponton had not given much thought to a career in medicine let alone a competitive specialty pathway. But once she began the medical journey and got a taste for orthopaedics she was hooked. When she asked seasoned doctors where to pursue the specialty, one location came up repeatedly; Cairns, Far North Queensland. An ever-popular tourist destination, the tropical city has a strong and growing reputation for its outstanding training experience across a range of specialties like orthopaedics and cardiology. “Once I had settled on pursuing orthopaedics I began looking at the sites that have had a good reputation,” Dr Ponton says. “Every conversation seemed like it kept coming back to Cairns. Everyone had good things to say; the support, the extent of the training, the lifestyle.” After completing her internship year in WA, Dr Ponton made the move to Cairns Hospital to gain as much orthopaedic exposure as she could before applying for the program. “The junior doctor years before specialty training is about building up those skills for your chosen pathway. For me, it was about stepping up, being challenged to become a good all-rounded doctor,” Dr Ponton says. Dr Ponton says the Orthopaedics Department doctors have been extremely helpful in ensuring she gets the experience she needs to set her up for applying for the specialty pathway. “The scope of practice in orthopaedics in Cairns is really what drew me here in the first place. You see a lot of soft tissue and acute injuries, chronic arthritis and seasonal injuries given the tourist influx. Cairns is the first port of call for the region, and we are servicing a wide area of the Far North.”

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The NQRTH medical training network:

NQRTH is an initiative of the Australian Government's Integrated Rural Training Pipeline (IRTP) and is facilitated by James Cook University in partnership with public and private hospitals, Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council (QAIHC), health services, Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs) and GP clinics.

Cairns region
(07) 4226 8187

Central West region
(07) 4764 1547

Mackay region
(07) 4885 7122

North West region
(07) 4764 1547

Torres and Cape region
(07) 4095 6103

Townsville region
(07) 4781 3424