AS MANY of us were dragging our feet to work after a long weekend, three young doctors were calming butterflies in their stomachs before starting their first day at the Armidale Hospital yesterday.
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Lucinda Parsonage, Avisham Ramphul and Steven Demmocks have kicked off their 11-week placement at the hospital as part of their regional health rotation, one of the later stages in the path to becoming specialised doctors.
Dr Demmocks, who has spent some time in regional hospitals, said he was looking forward to the unique opportunities Armidale Hospital would provide.
“Regional doctors get to be a bit more hands on – in the large centres there is more of a hierarchy, whereas in these regional hospitals, doctors tend to do a bit more,” he said.
“Regional patients also tend to show a lot of gratitude towards doctors.”
Dr Parsonage agreed, and said she looked forward to spending more time with patients.
“Here you might see those patients outside of work at the shopping centre or something,” she said.
The three junior medical officers are all first-year medical graduates.
Drs Ramphul and Parsonage are currently working on the medical wards, while Dr Demmocks has started off in surgery.
Dr Ramphul said the regional placement would be a great learning experience.
