New nurses, medical students on the beat around Central Queensland

The next generations of Central Queensland doctors have begun their studies and a record number of new nurses have started work in the Central West. Meet the new medical staff and students here.

Central West Hospital and Health Service new nurse graduates - from left : Maddy Weller, Laura Miller, Ella Stewart, Sharon Groves, Alissa Stellati, Lucy Frecklington, Katie Rafter, Kelsey Beckmann, Gemma Grant, Annie Greenwood-Shaftesley, Caitlyn McLeod, Meg Fortescue, Samantha Pearce and Tom Wilson.

Twenty future Central Queensland doctors have been offered a place in the foundation year of an Australian-first regional medical pathway to be delivered in Rockhampton and Bundaberg from this year onwards.

The foundation year of CQUniversity’s Bachelor of Medical Science (Pathway to Medicine) attracted almost 1000 applications from school leavers across Australia, including more than 170 applications from people from rural and regional and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds.

The three-year course will commence in March 2022, with graduates from the course then moving into The University of Queensland’s four-year MD program which will also be delivered in the regions.

As part of the Regional Medical Pathway, the Hospital and Health Services in Central Queensland and Wide Bay will provide student placements, internship opportunities, and prevocational and vocational training places within their regional footprints.

This will include placements at major hospitals in Rockhampton, Gladstone and Emerald (CQHHS) and Bundaberg, Hervey Bay and Maryborough (WBHHS), as well as rural hospitals and multipurpose health services.

They will also be immersed in the community, particularly the many primary care settings such as general practices.

CQUniversity’s Dean of the School of Health, Medical and Applied Science, Professor Michelle Bellingan said the volume of applications for the first year of the program was a very positive development for the future of health delivery in the regions.

She said she was looking forward to welcoming the foundation year of the cohort to CQUniversity in Term 1.

“This is the strongest interest we have ever had for the launch of any new course at CQUniversity, and we are excited to see that so many of these applications came from prospective students from regional and remote backgrounds,” she said.

“We have also received an encouraging number of applications from aspiring First Nations doctors.

“We are excited to welcome all of our new students who will be starting with us in the weeks ahead, and we are looking forward to continuing our work with our partners UQ, CQHHS and WBHHS to deliver an exceptional experience for the next generation of doctors in regional Queensland.”

For three aspiring Rockhampton doctors, acceptance into the CQUniversity course was a dream come true as they can remain in their hometowns, close to family and friends, while they complete their medical studies.

Tylin Guthrie who recently completed Year 12 at The Cathedral College said she was delighted to be offered a place in the course and can now follow her career goal to Close the Gap when it comes to Indigenous healthcare.

“As a proud Darumbal woman, I see this as a remarkable opportunity to make a difference in my community,” she said.

“The Close the Gap campaign is built on evidence that shows significant improvements in the health status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples can be achieved by 2030.

16 new graduate nurses have started work at the Central West Hospital and Health Service.

“My career goals are to continue to close the gap after this date, until Australia’s First Nations peoples are equal in health and life to non-Indigenous Australians.”

Fellow school leavers Dylan Bertucci (Emmaus College) and Jay Warcon (Heights College) also agreed that the delivery of an end-to-end medical program in Central Queensland was a benefit to students and the local community, as regional areas were the most impacted when it came to doctor shortages.

Mr Warcon said he was excited about one day becoming a doctor and practising his profession on country.

Dylan Bertucci explained he had always hoped to study medicine but felt privileged to now do this in the region he grew up in.

The Bachelor of Medical Science (Pathway to Medicine) course will commence delivery in March and 40 students in total will make up the foundation year of the pathway program (20 places offered in each Bundaberg and Rockhampton).

During their first year of the course students will complete study in several medical science foundation units and will also undertake observational clinical placements in diverse healthcare settings.

As well as the new medical students, a record 16 new nursing graduates have started work with the Central West Hospital and Health Service.

Central West Health executive director of Nursing and Midwifery Services Lyndal Cordaro said it was the largest February intake of new graduate nurses the health service had ever accepted.

A further 16 graduates are expected to be taken on in mid-year.

She said the previous largest intake of nurses and midwives had been in 2018 when 13 joined the health service in February, followed by a further nine in the middle of that year.

Ms Cordaro said the 16 new graduates would be allocated four each to the Longreach and Blackall hospitals and Barcaldine and Winton multipurpose health services.

Alissa Stellati, Gemma Grant, Samantha Pearce and Tom Wilson will do their initial posting at Longreach, Meg Fortescue, Annie Greenwood–Shaftesley, Kelsey Beckmann and Caitlyn McLeod are going to Winton, Lucy Frecklington, Sinead Horne, Sharon Groves and Ella Stewart go to Barcaldine and Toni Soutar, Maddy Weller, Katie Rafter and Laura Miller are heading to Blackall.

Ms Cordaro said most of the new graduates had a local connection.

“Katie Rafter is from Barcaldine, while Toni Souter is originally from Blackall,’’ she said.

“Samantha Pearce and Gemma Grant both have family in Longreach, Caitlyn McLeod’s partner is a teacher at Longreach State School, while Kelsey Beckmann’s sister is one of our previous nursing graduates who is still working with us in Longreach.

“Annie Greenwood–Shaftesley did her undergraduate degree while living in Longreach and has been working with our Covid–19 vaccination team.

“We also have Sharon Groves and Laura Miller, who both did placements in the Central West during their student years and enjoyed it so much they wanted to come back.

“Then there’s Lucky Frecklington, who went to boarding school with the daughter of one of our health service senior executives, and obviously heard so much about the Central West during school days, she decided to do her graduate placement here once she completed her degree.’’

Barcaldine resident Katie Rafter’s entry into the nursing profession follows a strong family tradition.

“Both my mother and my grandma were nurses at various times in their lives and both worked at Barcaldine Multipurpose Health Service,’’ she said.

“I spent a long time around the hospital as a child and I always had a passion for nursing.’’

Ms Rafter completed her nursing degree externally with Central Queensland University, while working with the Central West Hospital and Health Service’s Home and Community Care team.

“I did most of my student placements within the Central West at Longreach, Barcaldine and Blackall hospitals, as well as travelling around the region,’’ she said.

“I’ll be doing the first six months of my graduate program at Blackall and then transferring to Barcaldine for the second six months, so it’s made it all very easy for me.’’

Townsville resident Sharon Groves, who completed her nursing degree last year with James Cook University, said she was pleased to be posted back to the Barcaldine Multipurpose Health Service.

“I did a four-week placement at Barcaldine early last year during my final year of study,’’ she said.

“I just loved it. The staff there were so welcoming, so friendly and so professional.

“They took the time to listen to me and to what I wanted to achieve in my career and helped me in every way. The work was so varied, from helping manage a palliative care patient one day to helping out with a three-year-old with a chest infection the next.

“In a large metropolitan hospital, if you need to get blood samples from a patient, you call the hospital phlebotomist – but in a rural setting you draw the sample yourself.

“It’s the sort of variety of work that you just don’t get as much of an opportunity to experience in a major tertiary hospital.

“You have to think on your feet and it’s certainly helped develop my critical thinking.”