The Gunnedah community has been buoyed by the addition of four GPs in training.
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Northwest Family Medical is hosting registrars Jack Hodges and Son Pham, while Barber Street Practice has welcomed Victor Vo and Ash Kherlopian.
Dr Vo and Dr Kherlopian have been working in Gunnedah for a month and will stay another five months as part of a Primary Health Network initiative. Dr Pham also arrived in February but hopes to stay for the full year at Northwest.
It's Dr Hodges' second stint in Gunnedah, after spending a year at the Northwest practice between 2020 and 2021. He is from Sydney originally, but studied at the University of New England in Armidale and has done all his training in rural and regional areas.
He said it was rewarding to help meet the desperate need for more doctors in towns like Gunnedah.
"I really like the job, and I like the community ... you get the palpable sense there's a need for doctors in this region, in this particular town," he said.
"It does feel good to work in a place where you feel there's a need."
Dr Hodges said training to be a GP in rural and regional areas meant he could be "closer to the action", develop relationships and help the full spectrum of the community.
"That's the beauty of working out here - you're upfront - but that's also the deep end of it as well, which I think frightens people away sometimes. There's two sides to that coin," he said.
"You have to have a bit of independence and the ability, or willingness, to work unsupported and try and take in that uncertainty and roll with it a bit."
One thing Dr Hodges has learnt through his years of training is that no one's knowledge is complete.
"Confidence in medicine is a funny thing - it can make you bad at medicine and it can make you good," he said.
"If you're developing a lot of confidence, medicine often has a way of cutting that back ... you need to remember, you don't know everything ... it makes you a better practitioner."
Dr Pham echoed Dr Hodges' comments, saying there was "a lot of unknown" because "you don't know who is turning up with what problem", but unlike the city, it gave him "a true taste of general practice".
"Here is more hands-on. You do see a lot more patients. In the city, you mostly bulk-bill and do prescriptions, medical certificates, and boring things like that," he said.
Dr Pham's sub-specialty is emergency medicine and he has been able to draw on two years' experience in emergency departments to identify life-threatening conditions in a GP setting. Ideally, he would like to practice in both areas.
The junior doctor said he was "loving" his time in Gunnedah and was "getting used to the fast pace". He hopes to stay on for many more months.
That's the beauty of working out here - you're upfront - but that's also the deep end of it as well, which I think frightens people away sometimes.
- Dr Jack Hodges
Northwest's long-time GP Chris Gittoes said it was fantastic to have junior doctors at the practice.
"It takes the extra pressure off existing doctors here and takes pressure off the front staff always being barraged with the need for more appointments," he said.
"It's most enjoyable ... [and] keep you on your toes."
Over in Barber Street, Dr Vo and Dr Kherlopian said they had already tackled a diverse range of medical issues in just one month and the biggest challenge was that services were limited and not always easy to access.
"Trying to get referrals to specialists or even a referral to hospital-based clinics like drug and alcohol ... is much more difficult here, and even things, such as blood tests and radiology. Sometimes having to wait for bloods to be sent to Tamworth ... [and] having to send patients to Tamworth isn't ideal," Dr Vo said.
Dr Kherlopian said it meant they had to be "more adaptable" because "anything can walk through the door".
"There's lots of demand but the supply of services just doesn't meet that ... and I guess that's where the problem-solving and the clinical skills come in," he said.
Both doctors said general practice appealed to them because they could spend more time with their patients and there was "continuity of care".
"You get to know your patient base much more than working in a hospital," Dr Vo said.
Dr Kherlopian is passionate about preventative health care and said general practice allowed him to help patients earlier on in their health journey.
"Probably the best way we can invest in patients is trying to prevent problems happening in the first place, rather than letting them get to that crisis point," he said.
"Being able to see the same patients and watch them improve from their conditions, while they start to take ownership of their own health care, has been really rewarding.
"I think that's one of the most rewarding aspects of general practice - you get to look after patients, you get to know patients."
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