2020 has stretched and challenged us in ways we couldn’t imagine. From the catastrophic bushfires to the global pandemic, an economic recession and the Black Lives Matter uprisings. In many ways, it has changed the way we approach, understand and practice medicine.
Here are some select highlights from the year. Thank you for all your support and we’re excited to continue to build our community in 2021, so we can create the support and resources we need to flourish in medicine.
1. Humerus Moments on Zoom and Other “Unprecedented” Adventures
A beautiful and insightful read that will make you look at 2020 in a whole new light, no matter where you're at on your medical journey. First year med student at Monash University, Nanditha Hareesh, reflects on what this year of upheaval and uncertainty has taught her about the practice and study of medicine.
2. Climate Change and COVID Unmask Health Fault Lines – But There’s a Way Out
This year, natural disasters exacerbated by climate change and a global pandemic, revealed the growing systemic inequalities in Australia and around the world. With climate change and infectious diseases on the rise, doctors, climate and health experts as well as frontline community leaders are pushing for solutions that both mitigate climate change and reduce inequality.
3. You Can’t Afford One ‘Bad’ Year – Covid-19 Compounds the Medical Training Crisis
In light of Covid-19, Dr. Tim Lindsay reflects upon the disproportionate impact that one ‘bad’ year can have on a junior doctor’s prospects for career advancement against the backdrop of the medical training crisis in Australia.
4. #iLookLikeASurgeon – A Female Unaccredited Surgical Registrar’s Experience of Egg Freezing
A PGY4 unaccredited surgical registrar reflects on the challenges of planning for motherhood in the context of Australia's medical training crisis.
5. Achieving Equity in First Nations Health
In this podcast episode we speak with Dr. Ngaree Blow about the successes and challenges for improving the health and well-being of First Nations communities. Dr. Blow is the Director of First Nations Health for medical education at the University of Melbourne and a board member of the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association.
6. Should I Stay or Should I Go? Falling Out of Love With My Dream Specialty
Choosing your specialty is a BIG decision. You spend money and time doing research, courses, exams, and brown nosing all to get into highly competitive training. What happens when you get cold feet a few years in? A PGY3 Critical Care Senior Resident Medical Officer (SRMO) weighs up his options to continue down the path of anesthesiology or try something new before it's too late.
7. 10 podcasts You Need to Tune Into as an Australian Medical Student
As a medical student, the endless streams of information, clinical examination and investigative techniques can be inundating. Without contextualising and embedding what is learnt in a clinical, patient or public health context, your view of medicine can become a little myopic and disconnected. Enter podcasts – the best way of learning via osmosis and consolidation. Here are our top 10 picks.
8. “But what will it look like on darker skin?” Melanating Medical Education
How often are you shown examples in class of pathognomonic features on skin of colour? In this article an Australian medical student discusses the dangers of underrepresenting and misrepresenting people of colour in medical education
9. “Burnout isn’t a trophy” – Breaking the Stigma Around Taking Time Off in Medicine
As a third-year medical student, Jasmine Elliott reflects on her journey of coming to prioritise recovery over resilience and challenges the insidious culture of overworking and presenteeism endemic in medicine.
10. A letter to Junior Med Students: What I Wish I Knew Then
As the dust settles on 2020, final year student, Kal Kempster, reflects on his medical school journey and all the things he wishes he knew as a junior med student. Whether you’re preparing to enter your first or final years of medical school, Kal’s insight will leave you pensive and wondering “what sort of medical student do I want to be?”
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