Internship Guide 2020

WA COUNTRY
HEALTH SERVICE
10*
NETWORK TRAINING SITES
Albany Hospital, Bunbury Hospital
ROTATIONS AVAILABLE
Final year Medical Students have the option of
selecting Western Australia Country Health Service
(WACHS) as their Primary Employing Health Service
(PEHS) for their internship year. This will allow you
to spend your entire internship in a rural location,
currently being either Bunbury or Albany.
Albany
Hospital
Bunbury
Hospital
PREDICTED 2021 INTERNSHIP
POSITIONS
*5 for each site; this number excludes
metro-based rotations;
Emergency Medicine, General Medicine,
General Surgery, Psychiatry, General
Practice
Emergency Medicine, General Medicine,
General Surgery, Orthopaedics
ROTATIONS AVAILABLE FOR METRO-
BASED INTERNS:
Rural options for metropolitan-based interns also
remain available with interns being able to rotate to a
rural hospital from Fiona Stanley Hospital, Royal Perth
Hospital, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital or Joondalup
Health Campus (Junior Doctor Training Program –
Private Hospital Stream only).
Fiona Stanley Hospital based interns can rotate to:
• Broome: General Medicine, General Surgery
• Albany: General Medicine, General Practice
Royal Perth Hospital based interns can rotate to:
• Kalgoorlie: Emergency Medicine, General Medicine
and General Surgery
• Bunbury: Emergency Medicine, General Medicine,
General Surgery and Orthopaedics
• Port Hedland: General Surgery
Sir Charles Gardiner Hospital based interns can
rotate to:
• Geraldton: General Medicine, General Surgery and
Orthopaedics
• Port Hedland: General Medicine
Joondalup Health Campus based interns can rotate
to:
• Albany: Orthopaedics
• Broome: Emergency Medicine, General Medicine
• Geraldton: General Medicine, General Surgery
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BASIC INFORMATION
Albany is a beautiful port city situated some 400km
south of Perth, perched on the Southern Ocean and
facing Antarctica. With a strong historical heritage,
there is plenty to explore in your time away from work.
Albany Health Campus is the regional referral centre
for the Great Southern region, servicing the needs of a
population of approximately 55,000 people.
Bunbury is a picturesque harbour city on the south
west coast of WA, two hours’ drive from Perth in the
heart of the state’s premiere holiday region.
Bunbury Hospital is the regional hospital for the South
West region, comprising a 135-bed public facility
located alongside a similar size private hospital. The
campus delivers health care to more than 80,000
of the region’s local residents, as well as seasonal
visitors, and acts as the regional referral centre for the
district.
WHY CHOOSE RURAL?
Completing a rural internship or a rural rotation
is a unique, challenging and ultimately rewarding
experience. There are many reasons including:
• Multi-disciplinary environment: You become an
integral part of a supportive multi-disciplinary
team and relied upon. It is your chance to learn
from experienced clinicians, and liaise directly
with allied health, nursing and external groups
regarding patient care (e.g. Royal Flying Doctors
Service). A sense of collegiality is at the forefront
of the WA rural experience.
• One-on-one learning: The small clinical teams
offer close supervision and support by senior
clinicians giving you one-on-one learning
opportunities, no longer found in most large
tertiary hospitals.
• Increased exposure to procedural skills: There
is an increased scope for procedural practice as
there are less people on training programs queuing
in front of you. You get to experience things
like lumbar punctures, chest drains, ultrasound
guided cannula insertion and you actually get into
the theatre…. regularly!
• A generalist approach: Working in a rural
environment offers the opportunity to gain
exposure to a variety of disciplines regardless of
your term, enhancing the development of your
knowledge and skillset.
• Longitudinal exposure to patient care: Great
breadth of experience and a variety of cases
through frontline involvement with your patients
from admission to discharge and beyond. In the
country you will also find that you continue to
see the patient in follow-up clinics. Experiencing
patient care from beginning to end gives a holistic
view of medicine that is not often available in the
increasingly specialised metro hospitals.