July 2024

Late mail

Author

HEIDI ANNAND
July 24, 2024

July 2024

Can you believe we’re over halfway through the year? AKA Sem 2?!

Read on to hear about PVOGS (great resource for repro block 😉), what it’s like being a cadet (amazing), and why you should wear your pronouns on your sleeve rather than your 💓 (from lived experience, super special).

As always we’re always looking for regular and one-off 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] 😚 

A word from CHARMS

Thank you to everyone who turnt the heck up (respectfully) at med ball. We see you 👀. If you haven’t yet check out the photo album here.

Up next on the CHARMS Calendar is Recharge Week, coming in cool, calm and collected this August. For the pre-clinical and Orange RCS students make sure that you make time for you this week by attending one of our events below.

Support us to support you by letting us know your thoughts and what you want by chatting to us or emailing [email protected] 

🍊 From AMSA 🍊 

M24 CONVENTION

Not much to add from AMSA at the moment, everyone is busy with M24 right around the corner! If you’re still keen to jump aboard the convention commotion, M24 resale tickets are still available via this facebook group.

AMA Updates

In other news from AMA Victoria:

“How would you feel If I told you while on parental leave AHPRA required you to continue paying full registration fees despite not practicing? This could be your future! 

Failing to provide reduced fees for practitioners on parental leave shows that Ahpra doesn't 'walk the walk' when it comes to principles of equity. Over 877,000 healthcare practitioners are suffering because of this”

Sign this petition in support! 

We have been trying to keep group chats and the normal facebook page clear of AMSA stuff. Please join the facebook group to stay up to date with all things AMSA (con, paid placement, events, updates, etc.) 

🤠 From Rural Health Positive🤠 

We’ve started planning our 2024 Rural High School Visit! If you’re keen to join a (mostly) free trip around rural NSW pitching rural health careers to high schoolers and seeing the sites. If you’re keen chat to Heidi Annand, Caitlin del Solar, Miki Budda-Deen or Faith O’Connor (or whoever your friendly Rh+ exec are on campus).

population: YOU

LGBTSBQIA+ Allyship Symbols 🌈 

Students should have received or be close to receiving their long-awaited pride progress flag and pronouns stickers from their local dealer. This little project was very important to me because for myself and many other trans people that I know and have worked with visible signs of allyship are often the deciding factor in whether we disclose our identities to doctors.

When I see a new doctor who isn’t displaying visible signs of allyship, these are some of the thoughts that go through my head during the consult:

I hope they’re not queerphobic.

Maybe I don’t really need to see a doctor about xyz right now. I’ll just get a melatonin script or something today and find another doctor who can help me with abc.

I suppose they could be an LGBTSBIQA+ person or ally themselves, but maybe this workplace is unsafe for them to be “out” in?

Is it safe for me here?

Are there visible signs of allyship at reception or in the waiting room? Maybe something else can tell me I’m welcome here.

I wonder if this doctor is a conscientious objector? I don’t want to hear more bullshit excuses about why they can’t help me. I hope if they’re a conscientious objector that they’re at least honest with me about it. Will I even be able to get my shot done here? Where will I go if I can’t? What will happen with my testosterone levels if I have to wait a couple of weeks for another doctor? Will I feel like shit during that time because my levels are low?

I wonder if they’ll ask me when I had “the operation”. Should I explain to them that I’ve had nine or just give them the date of one of them? I hope this doctor doesn’t give me unsolicited advice on how to dress more masculine or on what car I should be driving like some of the others have. I hope they don’t ask if I can get an erection. I hope they don’t assume I have a vagina and prescribe me topical oestrogen cream like some of the others have. I hope they don’t tell me that they would never know I am transgender. That’s not a compliment. Trans people don’t look like anything in particular. I hope they don’t tell me that they’re happy to treat me because I look like a man, but not other patients who don’t have “passing” privilege. That’s transphobic. I hope they don’t ramble on about the dangers of hormone replacement therapy. It gets old. I went through all the risks with my sexual health physician during the informed consent process. I hope they’ll treat me like I’m human.

When I see a new doctor who is displaying visible signs of allyship with the general LGBTSBOQA+ community like a pride flag, these are some of the thoughts that go through my head during the consult:

Great start. Hopefully they’re a member of the community or an ally who has done the work. I don’t think they’ll refuse to treat me at least. I’m more likely to have a safe experience with this doctor. They understand the importance of making people LGBTSBIQA+ people feel welcome.

Sometimes allies and queers take me by surprise with their ignorance, but if they’re well meaning and open to learning about my healthcare needs and safe ways to interact with me I’ll probably come back.

I hope they tell me about their identity. If they’re not trans it would help me to understand where their knowledge gaps might be. I wonder if they’re clued up enough to ask me my pronouns? They’re not displaying theirs.

When I see a new doctor who is displaying visible signs of allyship with the general LGBTSBQIA+ community as well as their pronouns:

Great, this doctor is a clearly a member of or ally to the LGBTSBIQA+ community who understands the importance of introducing themselves with their pronouns. This makes me feel like I can disclose my truth to them. What should I cook for dinner?

Small signs of support can go a long way in making LGBTSBIQA+ people feel safe. If you missed out on expressing interest in the stickers in the polls, or decided after they closed that you would like one, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. I can hook you up. 

Liam Devlin - MDII

homemade example

RDN Cadetship

guess the rural NSW hospital

Myself, and about 13 other fourth years are proud to call ourselves RDN cadets. We all know by now that CSU had over 30% of the cadetships given last year (pretty good odds).

Personally, the cadetship has been a godsend. Not only does give you a fair bit of cash over your last two years (no more making coffee every weekend!), but there’s plenty of learning and social events to be had along the way.

So many scholarships and events come with the tagline of ‘networking opportunities’ and ‘industry mentors’ but RDN makes a concerted effort to do this well. A number of times each year, cadets are brought together for conferences, hospital tours and morning teas with our future bosses, and given the opportunity to ask any and all questions we might have. I don’t know about everyone else, but there’s no way I’d get a tour of five major regional hospitals or the opportunity to pester their interns about what it’s really like to work there.  I know a few of us fourth years have also secured our electives from contacts gained at various RDN dinners.

For me, the best thing about the cadetship has genuinely been the people I’ve met. We’re all friends at uni until we move to 50 different hospitals across the state, never to see each other again. RDN kindly pays for almost all our events (and often the bar tab), meaning social and conference opportunities that would usually be way out of the budget are doable.

It introduces and reintroduces you to students and JMOs right through to consultants who were all once in our shoes, from similar backgrounds, walking the rural medicine walk a few steps ahead of us. Their friendship and wisdom is invaluable. 

Apply here: https://www.nswrdn.com.au/site/cadetship

Miranda Eyb - MDIV

PVOGS; huh?

For those passionate about O&G, or still looking at your options, let me introduce you to the Pre-Vocational Obstetrics and Gynaecology Society!

PVOGS ANZ, and its state branch PVOGS NSW, are an organisation supported and affiliated with the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) – lots of letters here!

“Ok, but what do PVOGS do?” I hear you ask. The goal: engage junior doctors and medical students with opportunities/resources to facilitate education and training which will help in the pursuit of your future career goals in the fields of obstetrics, gynaecology, and women’s health. They offer conferences, workshops, podcasts, and educational resources in the hope that the knowledge/skills gap between finishing medical school and starting specialist training can be reduced.

Basically, this is an organisation that helps doctors (and medical students!) in the medical career marathon to get a leg-up when it comes time to start looking at those daunting specialty college applications. And bonus points that it’s associated with the very same official college that you may be looking to apply to down the line so you can be a fellowed specialist O&G (FRANZCOG) or GP Obstetrician (DRANZCOG)!

Within PVOGS are medical students, JMOs, and SRMOs members – so even within this organisation you can start networking! As for NSW events…

  • Skills nights (blow away the docs on placement with your fancy med student skills!)

  • Podcast/Journal Club

  • Surgical skills workshop (practice your laparoscopy skills anyone?! Amaze those surgeons!)

  • Menstrual Hygiene Drive

  • A gala (details TBC)

  • Subspecialty Speaker Night

  • RMO Info Nights (hear from different docs at different hospitals about the training opportunities!)

  • Potential to assist in putting together birthing kits to send to under-resourced countries

PVOGS ANZ have also worked incredibly hard to put together a whole database for O&G research! Basically, senior clinicians or researchers can submit their project to the database and then junior docs or med students can tag onto the project! So for those looking at O&G research, whether it’s for your MD or for experience/CV points, keep an eye on that database!

PVOGS NSW also have Trivia Tuesday on their socials to give you short and sweet nuggets of O&G info, which could be a bit more fun to look at than your Anki heat map (and probably less depressing).

So if this sounds like your jam, or you just want to try it out, check out their socials and consider registering for PVOGS!

Insta -- @pvogs.anz and @pvogs.nsw

If you have any questions, feel free to send me a message!

Jess Rosa - MDIII

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