Rural clinical school growing rural workforce
YOUR STORY: Dr David Morrissey has recently returned to town as an ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgeon.
He grew up in Toowoomba and studied the two final years of his medical degree at the University of Queensland Rural Clinical School (UQRCS)l.
"Ultimately, Toowoomba is a great spot to be a medical student," Dr Morrissey said.
"The medical community are very welcoming and keen to teach and I was provided with a very good clinical experience as a student."
"Your time as a student is the foundation of your career as a doctor," he said.
"The input and time given to me by doctors in Toowoomba greatly contributed to where I am now."
After completing his medical degree, Dr Morrissey became an intern at the Toowoomba Hospital and remained for three years.
He left to pursue his specialist training and, over the ensuing years, he often returned to the Toowoomba Hospital as part of his training, and to eventually continue on his ENT career path.
Dr Morrissey said his initial exposure to ENT was through Dr Roger Grigg who has been a teaching clinician at UQRCS Toowoomba for over 15 years and is the Discipline Lead.
"It was Roger's early influence that encouraged me to become an ENT surgeon and his influence continued after I became a junior doctor."
"Dr Ross Harrington and Dr Gareth Fitzgerald were also very helpful during my junior doctor years'"
"It is great to see that other graduates from the 'Class of 2005' are proof that the UQ Rural Clinical School mandate of growing the rural workforce is working."
"Dr Charles Mudimu is now a GP in Goondiwindi, Dr Tom Gleeson is a GP in St George and Dr Andrew Wilke has also returned to Toowoomba as an anaesthetist."
UQRCS was established in 2002 as part of the Australian Government's Rural Health Strategy which aims to achieve improved health outcomes for Australians living in regional, rural and remote locations.
It is primarily a health workforce initiative with a focus to encourage medical workforce recruitment and retention in rural and regional areas by providing quality medical education and training opportunities in a rural context.
The Rural Clinical School is one of University of Queensland's domestic and international clinical schools that support the delivery of the clinical training component of the Doctor of Medicine program.
The School of Medicine is one of Australia's largest medical schools, graduating some 350 students per annum.
Annually, over 150 students in the clinical phase of the medical program live and work at a UQRCS academic site for at least an academic year.
Shorter term (8-16 weeks) residential placements are provided for about 300 UQ medical students per year through an extensive training network comprising host communities in rural and remote Queensland and elsewhere.
All students in Years 3 and 4 complete five, eight week clinical rotations.
For Year 3 students these are medicine in society, general practice, surgery, mental health and medicine.
During the general practice rotation, students are placed with local general practitioners in the community.
The surgery, mental health and medicine rotations usually take place at the local teaching hospital and in private practice.
The medicine in society (MIS) rotation is undertaken in a rural or remote site.
There are currently 29 Year 3 and 30 Year 4 students at UQRCS Toowoomba.
