Manjimup rural generalist anaesthetist Dr Paul Griffiths is among two dozen doctors facilitating the annual Scrubs in the Bush workshop with the Rural Clinical School of WA (RCSWA) on 6 May in Perth.
Junior doctors, final year and penultimate medical students will learn from experienced rural mentors while they practice ALS/defib, trauma simulation, ultrasound and surgical skills.
Dr Griffiths is currently exploring special interests in weight management and lifestyle medicine. He joins us for Q&A below:
- What does a ‘rural generalist’ look like in practice?
“Adaptable” in a single word. I am the guy who can be slotted into almost any position and work it out and make things happen. It combines exceptional training opportunities and a mindset: “We will find a way to get this to work. I’m just not quite sure how yet.”
- What attracted you to your current town or region?
The better question is, what has kept me here? That is quality of life. Manjimup in the southwest is a beautiful part of the country, a food bowl for quality produce, and a wine industry that I rate over Margaret River. I stayed long enough to meet my wife and we have had our children here.
- Who are your rural mentors and what have you learned from them?
I don’t have a single mentor that I am trying to emulate. Unfortunately, those who were the equivalent of RGAs have some profound flaws and stand as warnings to me of what I could become if I am not careful! Workaholism is rife in rural medicine and leads to burnout and estrangement from the family. I refuse to follow in their footprints. Instead, I am choosing to gain inspiration from multiple sources.
My colleague Dr Sarah Youngson is one who immediately comes to mind. Sarah is the lead medical coordinator at our RCSWA Bridgetown site and has narrowed her clinical work to adolescent mental health. She is also an advocate for youth mental health and was one of the founders of a program called Blackwood Youth Action. She has done all this part-time while raising two incredible children.
I like to think of Dr Christian de Chanéet when I am doing internal medicine, Dr Allison Morton when I am doing cardiology, and Dr Kevin Hartley when I am doing anaesthetics (he is the training lead at Joondalup).
I also have found mentorship from non-medical people in my community and many have become my patients. Lachlan McCaw is a retired fire scientist with Parks and Wildlife and worked with my father when I was a child. He embodies quiet intellectual strength. Peter Simpson is the Design and Technology head at the high school and a fellow father of three girls. It’s a pleasure to see how he goes about things. Most of all, I greatly respect my father, Drew, in the way he balanced being an inspiring and engaged dad despite lengthy work shifts and extremes of fatigue with his bushfire duties. In retirement, he is proving to be an exceptional grandfather as well.
- What advice would you give junior doctors considering going rural?
If you don’t engage with your community and enjoy the advantages of rural life, all you will experience is what you are missing out on from the city. We don’t have giant stadiums or movie theatres. We don’t have infinite dining options. We have smaller sporting choices and more generalised schools. We have wineries and camping. We have fishing and four-wheel-driving. We have trail bikes and hiking paths. We have wood fires and red wine on cold winter nights. We have the things that city people go on holidays to experience. If you don’t live it, you will go mad out here and leave.
Tickets to Scrubs in the Bush at the University Club of WA Crawley are $25 and available from scrubsinthebush.eventbrite.com.au
This event is proudly delivered by the RCSWA Regional Training Hubs team and supported by the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine, Postgraduate Medical Council of Western Australia, Remote Vocational Training Scheme, Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Rural Doctors Association of Australia, Rural Generalist Pathway WA, Rural Health West and the WA Country Health Service.