Healthcare is being stepped up with the local health service welcoming 33 new medical interns.
15 will be based on the Fraser Coast and 18 in Bundaberg.
The new recruits will gain a valuable hands-on learning experience working in Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service (WBHHS) regional hospitals over the next 12 months, under the guidance and supervision of senior clinicians.
Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service Chief Operating Officer Ben Ross Edwards is wishing the new interns well as they embark on the next exciting phase of their medical career.
“Building and developing our own medical workforce is an important goal within our strategic plan, care, connection, compassion for all,” he says.
“Our annual medical intern program is a critical part of that vision as WBHHS nurtures and develops doctors starting their careers and on their ongoing journey as junior doctors.”
The new interns at Hervey Bay Hospital are commencing an orientation program this week to familiarise themselves with the local hospitals, their services and procedures.
Over the year, they will then undertake rotations in key areas including medicine, surgery or orthopaedic surgery and emergency medicine, along with the opportunity to rotate to other specialised areas such as
obstetrics and gynaecology, anaesthetics, mental health, and paediatrics.
“These new doctors have already spent years completing their university training, and are now entering an exciting, but demanding, period of their careers,” Mr Ross Edwards says.
“As a health service it is particularly excellent to have two young doctors starting with us who grew up and attended high school locally.
“Welcoming new doctors back to their hometown is not only an exciting professional development but also a win for our community.
“Their familiarity with the local context and commitment to its well-being is an extra benefit to the work they will be doing.”