February 2025

Time stops for no-one, and least of all medical students. Personally I just got back from overseas elective and attended placement immediately after driving back that morning from the airport so I am on STRUGGLE STREET. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. Plus the next day with refugee health I got to take home a bunch of delicious Afghani curry 😋So show up and be present!
Here’s cheers to making med school work for you, whatever that looks like. First years, dw none of us had it figured out, and I doubt that many of us would claim to have it under control now (this applies to the transition to third year too). We’re not trying to glorify hustle culture or stress here, but to be honest and vulnerable with each other so that we can find solutions and learn together. Try to protect your peace from the outset (but if it slips through your fingers while you’re juggling everything else that’s ok!) I’ll stop with the semi-formed d&ms and cliche ramble now and let our contributors talk. Read on for even more elective recounts, a lowdown on AMSA, as well as a bunch of CHARMS updates. Mwah x.

As always we are after contributions, including anything from research updates to movie recommendations. If you’re really keen and interested in joining fluoro as an editor (would love someone on the ground in Orange) please email [email protected] 😚 

🧡 Hot off the Pres 🧡 

A huge congratulations to our first years on starting your med school journey! We’re so excited to have you join the CSU School of Rural Medicine family. A massive shoutout as well to the CHARMS team and everyone who helped make Orientation Week such a blast, your efforts didn’t go unnoticed!

A special congratulations to first-year Claire Colton on her new role as our Merchandise Officer and Kyra Hunt in a new Neurodivergence Rep role (working title)! We can’t wait to see what you bring to the team.

Next up on the CHARMS calendar, we’ve got our coffee dates for first and second years coming soon, so keep an eye out for details. We’re also kicking off plans for our queer meet-ups in Orange, and working with our clinical reps to lock in some amazing clinical school events for 2025. With a record amount of sponsorship funding this year, we’re ready to make it all bigger and better than ever!

We still have CALD Officer and First Nations Officer positions available, and we’d love to see some fresh faces step up. If you’re keen to get involved, or just want to see what CHARMS is all about, make sure to come along to our March meeting!

Looking forward to an amazing year ahead, let’s make it a great one!
- Jacques, CHARMS President

🥕 AMC Report Update

Hey Guys!

The CHARMS AMC Report has been finalised, and made available to the student body, as well as the SoRM’s submission as well! If you’d like some late night reading, check out this link. If not here's the tldr version:

Pre-Clinical

• Students felt that improvements are needed to the integration of LGBTQIA+ Health and Māori Health into the curriculum.

• Students felt that improvements are needed in the quality of physiology teaching, and these concerns should be adequately addressed by the school.

• Students worry that the pass/fail system promotes mediocrity and makes it difficult for students to adequately reflect on their study methods.

• Students are concerned that breaches of professionalism by their peers is being mishandled by the SoRM, and consequences are not being faced.

• Access to support services in these year groups has been drastically improved.

• Students expressed consistent positive feedback on the quality of their anatomy teaching.

Clinical

• Students worry there is inconsistent teaching among clinical skills.

• Students felt that there is inconsistent exposure and opportunities to perform clinical skills across the various placement locations.

• Students felt they weren’t well informed on medical indemnity insurance.

• Students expressed concern over a lack of support in various clinical locations, compared to that in pre-clinical years.

• Students were overall grateful for their exposure to a rural health setting.

I will be meeting with the executive team, and with the Research and Evaluation team very soon to present the report, and start to brainstorm strategies the school can implement to address some of the concerns raised!

We will also soon be looking for representatives for both SoRM and JPM committees, so keep an eye out in your group chats and on the Facebook group for when nominations open!

Please reach out if you have any questions!

Love, Harvey

🧡 What’s AMSA?

Welcome back to university everyone and a big welcome to our first years. As some of you might know I (Will Weidmann) am AMSA rep for CSU this year. I’m very eager to represent CSU nation-wide and hope that some of you are excited to get involved also.

For those of you that are not aware, AMSA is a representative body for medical students in Australia, advocating for students on key issues such as mental health, medical education, workforce planning, and global health. AMSA provides a national voice, ensuring that the concerns and interests of medical students are heard by universities, government bodies, and healthcare organisations.

Beyond advocacy, AMSA also runs incredible initiatives, events, and programs designed to connect and support medical students. Whether you’re interested in research, policy, public health, or simply meeting like-minded students, AMSA has something for you.

One of the best things about AMSA is the sheer number of opportunities available. Various AMSA committees, working groups, and projects frequently have roles open for students who want to contribute. Whether you’re passionate about local health, rural medicine, medical education, or wellbeing, there’s a place for you to make an impact. Taking on an AMSA role is also a great way to develop leadership skills, gain experience in advocacy, and meet new people. It also doesn’t look too bad on a resume ;)

Keep an eye out for AMSA role openings throughout the year, I’ll be posting them on the CSU x AMSA Fb page, there’s always a chance to get involved!

Finally, one of AMSA’s biggest annual events is the AMSA National Convention, which brings together over 1,000 medical students from across the country for a week of academic sessions, workshops, and unforgettable social events. This year’s Convention will be held in Sydney, and it’s an event you won’t want to miss!

If you’re keen to attend, now is the time to start planning and saving. Whilst there you’ll have the chance to hear from inspiring speakers, participate in hands-on workshops, and network with students from all over Australia. Plus, enjoy some of the best social events ever put on by a student body.

That’s all from me, if you have any further questions on anything stated above, please feel free to Fb message me, or contact me via email ([email protected]).

Opportunities

• Gallipoli Scholarship

  • for a first descendant of a service person, in their first year

  • Applications close Feb 28th

• Dr Andrew Egan Scholarship

  • $7500 for second year medical students from rural NSW

  • Applications close Feb 28th

• RANZCP PIF Congress

  • Applications are still open for a scholarship to attend the RANZCP 2025 Congress in the Gold Coast from Sunday 4 May to Thursday 8 May 2025. Apply Here.

  • Heidi attended last year if you have any q’s (great for fourth years interested in extra psych exposure)

• Vic Rural Health Conference - Wodonga

  • May 16th-18th

  • RWAV are often keen to sponsor student ambassadors to attend so check their website as it gets closer.

• Other Scholarships

  • Don't forget to apply for this year's Charles Sturt scholarships!!

  • Or check out the RDN Database, or Ruralhealthpro database

• Rh+

  • Remember to join our university and discipline wide rural health club or follow us for events and opportunities

  • We’re still looking to fill some positions (small $ attached) and to continue our rural high school visits into next year so get in touch!

• Survey; ‘Exploring perceptions of health and wellbeing of women and non-binary individuals in rural and remote Australia’.

  • 👋 Calling all women and gender diverse people living in regional, rural or remote Australia! CSU academics are running this survey, fill it out here.

• Medical Women’s Society of of NSW United Nations CSW Parallel Event

  • We are seeking all women in medicine (including med students!) to submit a pitch relating to ‘Opportunities and challenges of technology in health, and gender implications’. Where you can present original research or an area of health care, women's health or technology that interests or excites you. 

  • If you wish to participate, please submit a 200-300 word pitch on this topic to [email protected] by the 23rd of February.

• What’s on in Orange?

• If you’re doing your research project and need participants in the deets to post here!

🌞 How is your elective?

A summer column where we post postcards from the 4th (omg 5th now) years currently out and about on elective 🛩️ 🧑‍⚕️ 

👩‍✈️ RFDS - Chloe Campbell

So, I am currently halfway through my 4-week elective with the Royal Flying Doctors at their Broome Base in WA. The first week was a whirl wind with mostly 12hr days. The first few days was simply learning how not to be in the way! We all know the feeling of starting a new rotation and not knowing how the ward works, where you can help and how to find anything. Being inside a PC12 where there is not enough room to stand makes this feeling 10x worse. However, the Doctors, pilots and Nurses have been nothing but lovely and have helped me get used to the environment so quickly. Within my first week we have had everything from P1 Seizures and NStemi’s to managing patients with delirium from hepatic encephalopathy (delirium on a plane is very hard to manage with safety). It has been so interesting to learning how to manage a patient with such limited resources and room. The distance to care has also been so fascinating and slightly terrifying. In WA the only Cath lab is in Perth so a patient who has a STEMI in say Halls Creek has to find a remote area nurse, wait for RFDS and has over 5hrs of flight time to get to Perth. The isolation of these communities (even worse during wet season) really shows how lucky we are in NSW.

This week I have been mostly at home due to the cyclone that has been brewing off the Kimberly Coast, so flights have been limited. For a girl from the mountains cyclone warnings seem slightly worrying, but everyone here seems very relaxed about it all. I did manage to jump on a flight to Yakanarra, an Aboriginal community with 40 residents, a local shop ($5 per potato and $15 for fresh milk), school and RFDS clinic (only three buildings apart from the houses). Seeing the residents in the walk-in clinic was a great introduction to remote GP care and it was beautiful to see the connection the RFDS staff have with the community, having treated them every week for generations.

Broome itself is beautiful with stunning beaches (I did swim without getting an Irukandji sting). So many nice places to eat and drink and the crocodile park is on my to do list before I go. Hopefully over the next two weeks I will get to see some more retrievals and clinics as the weather eases. For anyone who is interested in remote medicine or ED I would highly recommend RFDS for your elective. It is hard to get a placement as they get so many emails but make sure you try every state if you are keen. If you do a placement with them, make sure you are not a nervous flyer as the small planes can be very bumpy. Make yourself useful to the nurses and pilots by offering to help load the planes with the medical equipment and help document patient observations/notes. You learn much more by getting in and helping with the simple jobs then sitting back and watching. Here is the email for the WA placements if anyone is keen! [email protected]

⚖️ Wellbeing

📺️ This week’s recommendation

If you're interested in contributing for next month's edition get in touch with Heidi on facebook 💗