Dr Shannon Nott, Intern at Orange NSW
In early January, I started work as one of the new interns at Orange Health Service in New South Wales. It was a moment that I have been looking forward to since entering medical school but despite having had a great grounding at university, you still cannot help feeling like you are being thrown in the deep end. Your level of “management” changes from those scenarios (‘osces’) that we all practised when we were at med school. Now that you’re a doctor, you can’t get away with the tagline “I don’t know; I’m only a medical student”.
However, from day one at my new job, I have felt welcomed and most importantly completely supported in my role as a junior doctor. Our orientation made us feel at ease and the senior doctors are very approachable.
The people starting out with me were also a huge support. This is a great aspect of training as a junior doctor in a rural area – you can get all the great training of a metropolitan hospital but also a great sense of community and camaraderie.
It’s nearly two months down the track and I still absolutely love it here in Orange. I chose a rural location for my first few years as a junior doctor because I felt that I would get fantastic teaching from experienced doctors and achieve work-life balance.
So far, all the boxes are being ticked. I live on five acres, 10 minutes out of town. My partner has brought her horse up from Victoria so we can ride on weekends. We have some fat lambs to keep the grass down and have just acquired a beautiful Hungarian
Viszla pup that we have named Bandi. I don’t know what you think, but life isn’t too shabby out here in Orange!
Bandi getting life balance right in Orange
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