doctor

FROM THE CEO
High
Tea
Networking for
women in medicine
SYDNEY
Saturday 12 March 2016
2:30pm to 4:30pm
Museum of Sydney
NEWCASTLE
Saturday 19 March 2016
2pm to 4pm
Newton Room (2nd floor)
Novotel Newcastle Beach
5 King Street, Newcastle
For further information and to
register contact the AMA (NSW)
Events Coordinator,
Jenni Noble, 02 9902 8140
Register www.amansw.com.au
AMA (NSW) MEMBERS ONLY
Sydney sponsors
Newcastle sponsors
Dealing with
the big issues
The AMA is working on
several fronts to support
professionals and improve
care for the community.
Occasionally this work
involves dumplings.
One of the great things about working
for the AMA is the variety of issues
we become involved in. From one
month to the next, we can go from
championing the cause of children in
detention and talking about hospital
violence, to taking doctors-in-training
out for dumplings and getting female
doctors together for afternoon tea.
The common thread through all of
these activities is the AMA’s role in
helping the medical profession to be
the best it can be. As I said to our
intern members when welcoming
them to the profession in O Week, as
doctors, you have an extraordinary
capacity to make a difference in
people’s lives, both the patients in
front of you and also the community at
large. Doctors have the chance to do
that because they are used to doing
what is hard. In our job as advocates
we are so often told by politicians and
policymakers that something cannot
be done because it is “too hard”.
It makes me glad these people are
policymakers and not doctors.
On the topic of difficult issues, I was
pleased to represent the AMA at
the Ministry Forum on Violence in
Emergency Departments. The Forum
was convened in the wake of the
shooting of a police officer at Nepean
Hospital. The incident unleashed a
significant amount of feedback from
members about how common violence
is in our hospitals and how much it was
taken for granted and not reported. We
were pleased to support the Ministry
in starting with an audit of a number
of hospitals to see what is really
happening on the ground. However,
we also want to use this as the basis
of a broader conversation about the
violence and abuse all doctors seem to
experience, not just in EDs and wards
but also in their practices.
On a lighter note, we have our
Intern Dumpling Night. I have been
asked why we are taking DITs out
for dumplings. The answer is because
it’s fun, and fun should be part of the
AMA and medicine as well. Aside from
it being fun, it’s an important chance
to talk to your colleagues. Internship
can be a difficult year and it’s important
to keep in contact with colleagues
and remain connected. Remembering
to eat is also important and what
better thing to eat than lots and lots
of dumplings. dr.
fiona.davies@amansw.com.au
Fiona Davies CEO, AMA (NSW)
4 I THE NSW DOCTOR I MARCH/APRIL 2016