From snake bites to amputations, show captures the stress of being a new doctor

When Dublin-trained doctor Javed Machikan was on his way to Perth as part of the WA Health Department’s 2021 overseas recruitment scheme, he received an email inviting him to participate in a television series about his experience. He thought it was a scam. On further investigation, he decided to embrace the opportunity to convey the reality of the emergency department for newly minted doctors. He’s one of six medical graduates from Ireland and the UK who appear in SBS’ Junior Doctors Down Under, narrated by Marta Dusseldorp.

Dr Javed Machikan thought the offer to appear on Junior Doctors Down Under was a scam.

“I did feel nervous,” says Machikan, who is now a surgery registrar in Trinidad and Tobago. “But I felt excited by the process, in terms of being able to show what junior doctors have to go through.”

Filmed in 2022 at Perth’s Joondalup Health Campus and Fiona Stanley Hospital, the series was well received by UK audiences when it aired last year on Channel 5. Unlike in Australia, a stint in the ED is not mandatory for trainee doctors in Ireland and the UK.

Growing up watching Scrubs, Grey’s Anatomy and, later, The Good Doctor, Jolene Forde from County Cork in Ireland long dreamt of becoming a doctor. Now she is living that dream as a resident at Joondalup Health Campus.

“I’m a bit painful to watch medical shows with now because I point out things that are wrong,” says Forde. “I found This is Going to Hurt heartbreaking, but it did show what it can be like, with the impact of short staffing.”

She appreciated the sensitivity of the two-member film crew on Junior Doctors Down Under. “Everyone was really supportive. If I was overwhelmed or didn’t want to do any more filming that day, they’d step aside and give me some time.”

Dr Jolene Forde moved from County Cork in Ireland to Perth to work as a doctor.

The first episode is a sobering snapshot of a typical shift. There is road trauma, a broken limb, a potential amputation and a snake bite. Forde watches a patient presenting with stomach pain suddenly go into seizure.

“It took about three seconds for my brain to start working,” says Forde. “But you’re trained so well, it’s almost like muscle memory. We also had a cardiac patient who walked in with chest pains and it was a very big heart attack.”

Machikan, who has practised in the US and Vietnam, learnt there is a “method to the madness”.

“In Australia, the way they approach things is very systematic,” he says. “Yes, seconds count, but you don’t need to panic. I felt like it was counter to what I was trying to achieve. But in retrospect, I realised there’s a way to calmly handle the craziness to achieve a good outcome.”

Producer Rachael Kelly, also from Ireland, was impressed with how quickly the overseas doctors gained the confidence of local patients who agreed to be fitted with microphones. “It really is people’s most vulnerable time, and the doctors built relationships quickly. It was the trust. I think that’s why they allowed us in.”

Her previous Prospero Productions series, Children’s Hospital (broadcast on Nine and the Discovery channel), and Outback Farm (7mate and Discovery), were also made for dual Australian-UK audiences. Nine’s forthcoming WA Cops (Cops Down Under for UK viewers), features Irish and British recruits to the Western Australian Police Force.

“We did step out and see what the young doctors’ lives were like outside of the ED because that was part of it,” says Kelly. “Not only were they coming over to do a new job in a new hospital, they were also coming to a new country.”

Not done saving lives at work, Machikan joined the local Surf Life Saving club. “Surprisingly, most of the people in that life saving club were doctors,” he says.

Despite the popularity of TikTok videos of him peeling a grape with a laparoscopic machine, Machikan has no designs on celebrity. He hopes the series fosters an understanding of the training process. “Most of my education came from when I finished medical school, when I started to work. It felt nice to show that junior doctors are human.”

Junior Doctors Down Under premieres on Thursday, August 1, at 8.25pm on SBS.

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