Doctors and nurses needed to serve rural communities

PICTURE being a fourth-year doctor, being unable to get sleep for two to three days at a time and working for five weeks on call without any breaks, all whilst being responsible for the hospital emergency department and in-patients.

This is what Ewen McPhee's life was like when he first started practising medicine as a rural doctor in Emerald, 1989.

Since those humble beginnings Dr McPhee has established his own private practice, which has grown to house 10 doctors and also covers obstetrics.

Dr McPhee, who has called Emerald home for quite some time, has never strayed from practising in rural areas but finds other young doctors starting out don't want to head out west.

"All of my career has been rural apart from my intern year at the Royal Brisbane Hospital. My first hospital was Charleville, where Dr Louise Ariotti taught me much of what I know," he said proudly.

"Rural Australia remains underserved by doctors and particularly by nurses."

"Access to care by health professionals becomes more difficult the more remote that your live. The health outcomes of rural people are poorer and are linked to much lower amounts of money spent by government on health compared to city and provincial areas."

Dr McPhee believed the anxiety about rural practice was largely about the ability to cope with all comers, the ability to have time out and leave as well as the opportunities for employment of spouse and education for kids.

"This can be mitigated by explicit training for rural practice such as is provided by the Rural Generalist Program of Queensland health as well as rural clinical schools and rural training units."

Unfortunately due to limited doctor and nurse numbers there are effects that smaller communities see more often than larger ones.

"We know for example that the withdrawal of midwives and birthing units from small rural hospitals has seen a rise in neonatal and maternal illness and death rates.

"This is one example of a broader issue around access to care, in particular preventative health and care of mental health problems that sees poorer outcomes related to suicide, heart disease and cancer."

Despite the stigma which is attached to working as a doctor in regional and rural areas, Dr McPhee couldn't love his job any more.

"If it weren't for the pressures of so many people needing to see a doctor, it is having time to listen to and assist my patients that gives me the greatest satisfaction.

"In more recent years I have engaged in medical education bring your doctors to Emerald as registrars to assist them in achieving their specialist registration as rural generalists and as general practitioners."