Ductus 2015 Edition 1 by UNMS Publications

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Mental Health

BMedSci Honours

16 Sport update

26 Health in Nepal

8 Med Life Down Under

11 HES advice

Social recap

MedBall 2015

Convention review

Global Health Conference

24 Charity update

34 Contact details

From the Editors A new semester of procrastination, a new Ductus for your temptation... We hope you enjoy it and find it appealing, First up is an important piece on mental wellbeing. We’ve also got the glitz and jazz from the MedBall pizzazz, We’re unstitching First Incision and exciting social excisions, Charity trivia, raffles and BBQ lunch – you guys are a charitable bunch. And, it goes without mention, all the goings-on from Convention. Read students’ tips and insights for HES, to help make your trip a success. And if you think doing research is fly, you’ll want to read about honours in BMedSci.

Plus end-of-season sports reports on all the action from the courts, And an account of Aussie things both pleasant and strange from a Norwegian girl here on exchange. Have a read of the perseverance and determination shown by a Nepalese health organisation, And if global health is your thing – you’ll be keen to preview what 2016 will bring. So sit back, relax and let off some steam, And savour this flavour from the Ductus team! Natalie Puchalski & Lachlan Gan

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EleMENTAL Health We need to talk about Mental Health. Three million Australians currently live with anxiety or depression. Only 35% of those people with a mental disorder have accessed a health service in the last 12 months. The percentage of people meeting the criteria for diagnosis of a mental illness is highest in the younger age group.

Beyond Blue’s 2013 National Mental Health Survey of Doctors and Medical Students found that medical students and young or female doctors are most at risk and it also identified significant levels of stigma towards people with mental health problems.

“43% of medical students have a high likelihood of experiencing a minor psychiatric disorder ”

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Some key findings: • 43% of medical students have a high likelihood of experiencing a minor psychiatric disorder and 9.2% have very high levels of psychological distress. The general community mean score for high psychological distress is 2.6% • 19.2% of medical students, including 31.8% of Indigenous medical students, have had suicidal thoughts in the past year • 21.3% are moderate risk drinkers while a further 4% are high risk drinkers • 52.3% are experiencing emotional exhaustion

Your health is important, all aspects of it. As a medical student, you are more likely to be suffering from poorer mental wellbeing than even your fellow university student, let alone the rest of the community. It’s always been considered that any stress, distress or concerns about mental health and wellbeing have been considered a ‘normal’ part of the medical profession. But this should not be the case. Studies have shown that 25-40% of 1st and 2nd Year Medical Students have higher levels of psychiatric symptoms than psychiatric inpatients!

Medicine is hard and it is okay to struggle occasionally, as long as you aware of how you cope with it and remember that it is okay to talk to friends, family members, GPs or any other support service you have. Talking about it isn’t a weakness, it’s a strength. If you broke your leg, you would see a doctor. If your friend was struggling, you would want them to talk to you about it. Similarly, if you yourself are struggling then talk to someone and ensure you get the relevant help you need, in the same way that you would for a physical health problem! There is no shame in asking for help.

Mental health applies to everyone – it isn’t the same as mental illness. Having good wellbeing and mental health means so much more than just avoiding stress, distress or mental illness; it’s also about having a balanced lifestyle, good resilience and coping strategies, making time for the things and people you love, resting well and relaxing, and ultimately enjoying what you do. This will apply all the way through your studies and when you are working as a doctor. The best thing you can do for your patient is to look after yourself first.

Need Help Now?

If you wish to speak to someone immediately then contact:

• Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800: Australia’s only free, private and confidential, telephone and online counselling service specifically for young people aged between 5 and 25. ‘We care and we listen any time and for any reason’ • Lifeline on 13 11 14: provides crisis support and resources on their 24 hour crisis line Introductus

Last semester we ran the first UNMS AMSA Blue Week from 18th-22nd May. It was a fantastic week full of many different events, ranging from free pancakes, free fitness, yoga and meditation classes, a mental health services exhibition, putt putt golf and a talk with some world-class speakers on the issues of mental health. The week was a huge success, achieving our aim to remove the stigma around mental health and wellbeing, improve the accessibility of resources and raise awareness among students and the community. Thank you to everyone who was involved! By Jess Redmond For more information and photos from the week like â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;UNMS Blue Weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; on Facebook.

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Dipping into research So, you’re thinking about taking a year to complete a BMedSci (Honours)? As a 3rd year applying to complete the program in 2016, I was asked to give my take on the benefits of embarking on the year, how I came to make my decision and what I’ll do with all that free time... Whether you’re sold on the idea already or perhaps more ambivalent, I hope you’ll find this somewhat useful. Before I start, I guess you’d like to know what my topic is next year, hey. I’ll be working under the supervision of Neil Spratt to investigate a branch of his team’s research into intracranial pressure elevation 24 hours after an ischemic stroke with respect to infarct expansion and clinical neurological deterioration. Phew. If you’re like me and have no previous exposure to research through a previous degree or career before starting medicine, you might feel a little overwhelmed (I still do!). Honing in on a topic of interest, generating hypotheses and a suitable research design, testing and refining said hypotheses, etc, etc – it’s reasonable to feel unsure about whether research is something that you’ll be interested in, now or in the future. But here lies the most valuable part of the program! As undergraduates, support for our learning

is very solid and as such, while it’s indeed likely that research opportunities will arise at later stages in our careers, never again will we have this much guidance (and in the process obtain another degree from it). This is the perfect time to test the waters and get a feel for research. Anyway, before this becomes an essay, let me list a few other benefits, which flickered through my mind when I was mulling all of this over: • Focusing on an area of interest (or determining one!) and becoming a relative “expert” • Developing skills specific to this area: laboratory experience, clinical skills, etc • Developing generic translatable skills: teamwork, creativity in the face of obstacles, critical thinking, appreciating the meaning of research and evidence-based medicine • Understanding the nuances of research design, hypothesis-testing and study appraisal • Balancing independent work with collaboration in a multidisciplinary team • Career advancement: getting research published or recognised, establishing contacts and professional relationships with mentors and colleagues, being part of a research community, etc

My advice to anyone in 1st or 2nd year with a budding idea of taking a BMedSci year is to explore areas of interest; talk to your lecturers (the good ones) about research, contact heads of departments (easier than you think), talk to people who have completed the year but most of all find the excitement, ‘cause it’s that which will sustain you through the year. Which brings me to what I’ll be doing, other than collecting data and preparing presentations and ultimately, the thesis. Having this year, which is technically a leave of absence from the BMed program, gives you a huge degree of freedom and flexibility to do other things, whether this be work, travel, sport, a new hobby, etc (in balance, of course). For myself, I have unfinished business with the Duke of Edinburgh – the award scheme that is – so I’ll be completing my Gold Award hopefully over the 12 months. More information can be found under the BMedSci tab on the JMP part of Blackboard. Peace! By Thomas Kovacs

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Med Life in the Land Down Under

The last six months have been an amazing adventure. Being a Norwegian girl traveling all the way to Australia to study medicine at UoN is a once-in-a-lifetime-experience. We were eight Norwegian girls travelling together. During our stay we learned a lot about Australians and their country as well as their healthcare system. These are five of our experiences: 1. Abbreviations Shortly after our arrival on Australia, we started with medical lectures at the John Hunter Hospital. The first few lectures were totally confusing, containing more abbreviations than we had ever seen on any PowerPoint presentation. Being Norwergians, we had no idea what SOB, FBC, SX, PT, HX, ABG and so on meant. 8

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Soon we discovered that Australians love to shorten their words. I’m pretty sure we spent more time understanding and looking up all the shortened words than we ever spent learning all the Latin medical terms during our first four year of med school! The funny thing is that after six months the abbreviations made their way into our vocabulary. Now we actually find it hard not to use them when talking to our Norwegian colleagues. 2. Super nice people Even though I’ve spent six months in Australia by now, I still get surprised by how friendly and helpful Australians are. During our first weeks in Newcastle we spent a lot of time walking around the city, navigating by Google maps and probably looking totally lost to everyone who passed by.

I can’t count how many people stopped and asked if they could help. One Australian even offered us to use his car for six months, another wanted to help us do our grocery shopping once a week and almost everyone invited us to their houses, to parties, to barbeques, to go surfing or have drinks. We concluded that Australians must be among the friendliest people on earth! 3. Time and planning Being Norwegians we typically plan everything, set a time and date for every activity and plot it into our schedule. We pretty soon discovered that this is not the case for many Australians. If we for example were invited to a barbeque on a Sunday, we never knew exactly when it would happen.

In the beginning this resulted in us staying at home being ready to go as soon as a we received a call or a text saying “we’re starting in 10” and then run to catch the next bus to get there in time. After being the first ones to arrive at parties a couple of times in a row, we started to realise that Australians don’t stress to get to places. They take it easy, relax and everything eventually happens. When getting used to this lifestyle, we started to love it. Why plan too much when you can take life more easily, hey?

Our biggest surprise was when we discovered people in their scrubs outside the hospital, for example at the bus or when shopping at Coles. In Norway, scrubs is strictly used at hospitals only and we get clean scrubs at the hospital every day. Both using our private clothes when examining patients and seeing people in scrubs outside the hospital were new experiences to us. We learned that Australians generally were more relaxed and took life more easily than we were used to.

4. How to dress at the hospital Before our arrival the University of Oslo told us that we needed to dress very nice at the hospital in Australia. This being preferably a nice dress, a skirt and shirt or black pants and black covered shoes. We were told that we could absolutely not wear sneakers nor jeans. Therefore, we all bought new clothes and dressed up at the hospital.

5. Medical experience During the last six months, we’ve had a lot of medical experience at John Hunter Hospital. Some of them have been amazing, other have been sad, taken us by surprise or simply pretty ordinary. All of them have provided us with great opportunities to learn.

After a while we discovered that the Australian students didn’t take this as seriously and could easily wear coloured pants, jumpers and even occasionally sneakers. The Norwegians were soon known for being so dressed up – pretty hilarious. At the hospital in Norway we all wear scrubs all the time. We realised that a lot of the doctors and nurses uses scrubs in Australia too.

There are especially two things I want to mention: the first being how caring and friendly most Australian doctors are with their patients. My impression is that they take time to explain everything carefully to the patient, to listen to the patient’s concerns and to make sure the patient is fully aware of their situation. I realised that we Norwegians absolutely could improve on this and learn from our Australian colleagues.

The second thing I want to mention is antibiotics. We were all surprised about how easily Australian doctors prescribe broad-spectrum antibiotics to their patients. Being aware of the increasing antibiotic resistance, we are very strict about prescribing broad-spectrum antibiotics in Norway. We rarely use third-generation cefalosporins, for example. Even amoxicillin is normally not used as first-line treatment. Our first line is old-school penicillin in most cases. Witnessing how easily antibiotics are prescribed in Australia scares us. I could go on forever about our experiences in Australia. We’ve had an amazing time creating memories for the rest of our lives. I will miss all of you, your beautiful beaches, nature and warm weather, your relaxed lifestyle, humour, friendliness and much more. It’s time to return to Europe but I’m sure we will all be back someday. By Ida Bang Strand

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Four students share their insights and experiences of the Health Equity Selective...

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WhERE in the world... You’ve had a long day. Finally, after attending your morning diabetes tute that made you feel inadequate, after sitting through an ‘FRS’ in which even the lecturer admitted their topic was boring and inconsequential, and having soldiered through the war against pustules and cruris itch that was your afternoon derm tute – you have the chance to sit down in your share house, where you can pleasantly drift into a search for solace on your dirty sofa. Just as your head begins to wobble, as you’re mid-jump over the hurdle to sleep, the phone rings. One of the thousand people you e-mailed for a placement has finally contacted you back. The person on the phone asks you a question, “What is health equity?” You think about answering – at some stage you’re sure you knew an adequate response but you’re defeated – what is health equity? You’ve forgotten. As you may have picked up, planning my Health Equity Selective was… challenging. See, my placement was originally going swimmingly. I had organised with Elective International to go to Mauritius for my full eight weeks. I had gotten signatures, made travel arrangements and everything was smelling of rose.

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Then, after all that effort done, I got an e-mail telling me that Mauritius had changed their international student placement policy and were no longer a location to which I could travel. No man is an island and no medical student can escape the clutches of HES planning challenges.

Ideally, the hospital in Croatia will have a similar unit for BPD to the one that operates in Maitland, allowing me to make a comparative study of legitimacy rather than me having to push a square peg through a round hole. Be sure though, that I am prepared to change.

So now I am almost finished planning a new placement, which is very different but hopefully something I will have interest in and enjoy. My current placement is made up of four weeks in Pula, Croatia and four weeks with the Maitland Community Mental Health Team.

If I could give any advice regarding HES, I would provide two suggestions: Firstly, I implore you to take time in your planning stages instead of jumping the gun and choosing the first tropical island (yep) or dangerous mountain you find. Just because everyone loves Nepal does not mean you will love Nepal – it’s pretty dirty and has a strange climate.

The focus of my project is “Access to Health Care for Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder [BPD]”. Note my project is not about BPD but rather, the obstacles that inhibit patients accessing adequate health care for their diagnosis. Now my challenge is whether or not I will be able to adequately observe my target question on placement, and while I have done my research, I can’t be sure. I literally have no idea of what to expect while in Croatia and will be taking a bottle of premium Rakija in case I need to bribe a psychiatrist in order to see his patients.

Secondly, do your best to find a supervisor that actually cares about your experience. I have contacted some supremely important people within the mental health network and while some of them have been helpful, others haven’t been and simply aren’t in a position to care. Go for someone, whether that be a nurse, a doctor, a whatever, that cares about you having a valuable experience. Peace, James Kovacic

EXPLORING INEQUITY AT HOME Hi, my name’s Cale and I am about to embark upon my HES journey. I wish to explore discrepancies in the management of HIV-positive patients in urban and non-urban areas. I will be travelling to Smith St General Practice in Tamworth, and be comparing it to Western Sydney Sexual Health Centre in Parramatta. The main issues of inequity I wish to explore are access to care, the stigma surrounding HIV and whatever additional aspects of inequity I am privy to during my placement. Ironically enough, I originally planned to do my four weeks in Tamworth at Clinic 468 – a specialised sexual health clinic – but they didn’t have a fulltime doctor when I contacted them at the time. This in itself highlights a large component of the issue of access to care faced by HIV-positive patients in regional areas. Only 10% of HIV diagnoses in NSW occur in populations lying outside the greater Sydney area, which is reflected in the scarcity of healthcare resources. By comparing Tamworth to Western Sydney, I wish to gain an appreciation for the variety of qualitative, experiential factors that go into living with HIV.

Combating HIV/AIDS has been identified as one of the 8 Millennium Development Goals, yet the number of diagnoses of HIV in Australia has increased each year for the past 14 years. It is my understanding that inequities are abundant within such a sensitive area, highlighted by the fact that 40% of respondents in The Stigma Audit study said they had been hurt by how others reacted to learning their HIV status.

tival in 2013. This was in order to promote ACON’s newest campaign surrounding safe sex. I met a lot of the locals, learnt to line-dance, met a number of enthusiastic and appreciative HIV-positive individuals and gained an appreciation for the limited knowledge that a lot of individuals possessed in regard to safe sex and HIV. It was an eye-opening experience and inspired me to pursue this topic for the scope of my HES project.

This is a truly alarming and disheartening statistic, one that highlights the issue of status disclosure in individuals who have HIV. It is also one that explains why a large proportion of patients at higher risk of contracting HIV (men who have sex with men, intravenous drug users, sex workers) are strongly averse to even being tested for HIV – logically, this then hinders their ability to seek appropriate care.

I am hoping that my eight-week HES journey will help me develop more profound skills in broaching and exploring sensitive issues, building rapport with patients and, above all else, gaining an appreciation for the range of factors that may hinder one’s ability to obtain adequate healthcare. By Cale Fletcher.

I am very passionate about this area of healthcare and have been volunteering at Aids Council of NSW (ACON) Newcastle since 2011, assuming the role of a peer facilitator and also a “Sexpert” for campaign events. A truly compelling experience that I had whilst volunteering at ACON was travelling to the Tamworth Country Music FesIntroductus

A clueless student’s trials and tribulations This all started back in October of 2014 when our first form regarding HES was due. I was so young and innocent. I had no idea about the HES journey that was awaiting me before even leaving the country. Anyway, back to October of 2014! First thing was choosing a stream – not too difficult: global, along with the majority of the cohort. The next step was not so easy. Having not really travelled outside Australia, this was a tough one. Where in the world did I want to go? There are just too many countries in the world! After a solid afternoon procrasti-researching countries (instead of doing PBL), I set my heart on Vanuatu and Nepal, and Mauritius and Sri Lanka and Vietnam and Cambodia. Well, I had to have backups! And backups were needed! Vanuatu was struck by a cyclone in March, and Nepal by an earthquake in April. Do you think it was a sign? In the end, I continued to resubmit that particular form, until I was met with the next deadline and form in May of 2015. It is dreaded by students and the faculty alike: The Field Supervisor Agreement, or as we like to call it the FSA. The FSA lies in wait, you tell yourself, “I still have time, don’t stress, it’s not too hard, etc.” No! This is probably 14

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one of the most involved parts of HES organisation. There seems to be an endless list of boxes to tick, emails to send and details to research. Having left choosing countries to the last possible moment I made a very informed decision to go with a company, so they could hold my hand throughout the entire process. With my hand securely held and two of my best friends by my side (shout out to Jack McDonogh and Ross Hayhurst), I locked in Arusha in Tanzania and Kathmandu in Nepal (yes, despite the earthquake). Okay, back to the horrifying FSA. I would certainly recommend giving it a quick read through earlier than a week out from the due date! Learn from my mistakes! This is because you must confirm your countries, cities, host institutions, field supervisors and all their contact information, personal learning objectives, complete thorough risk assessments, note all the things you need to do before leaving (e.g. obtaining visas, vaccinations, validating passports, etc.), list professional and personal challenges and register to ISOS and STA travel. I was slightly overwhelmed to say the least!

But with the support of my family and friends I made the deadline – 10% of HES final mark done! I should say done for now…because before I knew it my two sweet weeks of holidays were over and it was back to reality with another HES form due! This time it was the Student Proposal, the last form due before we leave the country! This was our chance to find a health equity issue to inspire our final assignment and begin to research how the countries we are visiting illustrate it. Talking to friends, we all had trouble pinning down our topic but in the end we all found something unique that we are excited to research. So overall, the pre-HES process can be tedious at times, but it is also a reminder of the incredible journey awaiting us. And I cannot wait for it to begin! HES, here I come! By Zoë Lambert

Final Words of ADVICE HES so far has been the source of a lot of excitement, planning and late nights trying to finish assignments. For those of you who havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t heard much about HES, it is an eight-week placement aimed to expose students to factors causing health inequity, which you can study from anywhere in the world. For my HES placement, I am going to be looking at how socioeconomic status can affect access to quality health care in people from a non-refugee and refugee background. To do this, I will focus on some of the chronic diseases that are common in each population and the factors that contribute to this. I decided to split my eight-week placement into two blocks so I can compare and contrast my topic from two different perspectives. For my first block, I will be going to Belconnen in the ACT. My placement is based with the Chronic Disease Management Centre, involving attending medical and allied health clinics, community prevention programs and education sessions and workshops. I am also organising to do some sessions at Canberra Hospital, to see how chronic diseases can

be managed in an in-patient setting. The second half of my placement is with NSW Refugee Health in Liverpool. There, I will be visiting GP clinics, speaking with newly arrived refugee patients, practicing clinical skills and participating in community health programs. The faculty suggests first choosing a topic, then finding a location that allows you to best explore that topic. I have always been interested in refugee health and chronic diseases, and thought HES was the perfect opportunity to combine these together and see what I can discover.

It is also important to get involved and explore the local community, so I would love to participate in any events and festivals to make the most out of the experience. One challenge when communicating with refugees will be the language barrier, so I will be spending a lot of time with interpreters during the consultations. My advice for HES would be to start planning early. Think about what topic you are interested in, where you want to go and whom you want to go with. It does take some time to organise and it is hard to balance that with studying.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I have always been interested in refugee health and chronic diseases, and thought HES was the perfect opportunity to combine these together and see what I can discover.â&#x20AC;? I expect to have a lot of fun on placement by getting more clinical exposure, speaking to patients from different backgrounds, working with health professionals, observing the role of health services and participating in community initiatives.

Also, some places are really competitive for placements and require you to apply a year before. Remember, the more you put in, the more you will get out of it, and so many medical students in the past have said it was the best experience in their entire degree! By Arupam Raman Introductus

This semester we sportsed hard. We sportsed harder than other teams, sometimes. Sometimes they sportsed harder than us. Points were scored, points were conceded. And when we scored more than we conceded, we won. This semester we’re aiming to stop the other team from scoring points while we ourselves score many points, largely by sportsing harder than everyone else. BASKETBALL Whitesox Our Division 2 Whitesox rode a wave of great individual performances and outstanding team D all the way to second place on the table. Notable highlights included a buzzer-beating floater from Ezekiel Kingston, two clutch free throws from Tom Quirk to secure a tight draw, a couple of 50+ points offensive storms, and a 17-point (8 for 9) lights out performance by Laura Mackenzie. Alas, #newystorm meant that finals were pushed back a week and with no one able to play the grand final (which the team definitely would have made),

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the collective decision was made to default our semi-final. A disappointing end to an otherwise stellar season. Redsox Division 3 Redsox had a great season, rounding into fourth place for the playoff series but in the same situation as Whitesox, forced to default with everyone departing for the semester break. An account from Charlie Jeong of one of their last games tells a riveting tale: “One of the last games, we were playing against some random team (Orange Crush or something). They were around the same level as us and the score was tight throughout the whole game. It was down to 1 minute and we were winning by 1 point and Jake North got the foul. Timer was rolling and he had 2 free throws. Geoffrey Ye and I were next to the key and ready for the box-out although we had faith in Jake that we wouldn’t need it. Jake missed the first shot. Then the second. 40 seconds to go, ball was in the air. Geoff got the rebound, threw it back to Jake who scored, making up for his missed free throws. 30 seconds left on the clock, they needed a three pointer. Their point guard was dribbling down the

court, I sprinted like I had never done before and chased him. He stopped at the 3-pointer, ready to make a shot. And I blocked the shit out of it. We looked back at the scoreboard, 10 seconds to go, 3 point difference in our favour. It was then and there that we knew we had won. Victory.” Additionally, I am informed Mahsa Sarami has been training very hard and is ready to dunk on fools in Semester 2. NETBALL Whitesox, Redsox (Thursday) Woe was the season of our two Thursday night netball teams. Shafted by the most ridiculous grading system on the planet (one we’re pretty sure even The Forum didn’t understand), both sides found themselves in Division 1 against the best of the best netballers around: girls who could sink shots blindfolded from the edge of the circle, guys who could leap tall buildings in a single bound to pluck a pass out of thin air. In the end, the only real enjoyment came when the two teams met each other. Each of the two contests was typified by mid-

court players moving like blurs, shooters out-manuovering defenders, and defenders unafraid to bring a physicality perhaps not allowed in netball. The first game of the season resulted in a 18-18 draw, the relative newcomers of Team Redsox showing energy and execution that Team Whitesox were left wanting. The rematch at the end of the season saw plenty of pre-game trash talk and end-to-end action. This time, the experience and form of Team Whitesox proved too much, with a comfortable 18-6 victory. Blacksox (Sunday) Little is known about our Sunday netball team other than the fact they have great team chemistry and started the season with most of their players not knowing the rules! Amy Mozes was happy to give an interview on behalf of the team: “Our first game, we sucked. We were crushed like 15-0 or something. Then we figured out the rules and played really well and won must of our games except maybe 2 or 3? Got to the semi finals. I may be wrong about all of that. I hit my head a few times during the season, my hippocampus has been compromised.”

TOUCH FOOTBALL Redsox Led by the touch maestro himself Ezekiel Kingston, the Redsox had one of the more memorable seasons in Medsoc Touch history. In recent memory, taking out the competition wooden spoon has been the pass mark for our touch teams… Not on Captain Zeke’s watch. With a considerably young side, the Redsox relied heavily on fitness, determination and a never-say-die attitude. With the roster boosted by the return of the in-form Laura Mackenzie from GP placement, a late season resurgence from the Redsox saw them finish in a well deserved 2nd place. After a barnstorming semi-final win the Redsox were in the final but due to #newystorm the finals were delayed for one week. The try-scoring weapon Giles Devaney then selfishly decided not to postpone his trip to Europe and declared himself unavailable denying the Redsox a crack at finals glory. Ultimately, gracious in defeat as always, the Redsox forfeited.

Whitesox This season for the Whitesox will be forever known as “the one that got away”. With a significantly improved roster following the injection of young talent plus the return of the likes of Fan, Maheepala and captained by the illustrious Lucy Judd, the Whitesox started the season outright favourites. A combination of female player donation to the Redsox and a mid-season doping scandal were enough to shatter those early dreams come mid season. Regardless, the Whitesox fought on, earning a well-deserved win towards the back end of the season and were the self-proclaimed “team dripping with the most swag”. If they can get their ducks to form an orderly queue next season they will be a force to be reckoned with. By Ravi Naran & Jack Mackenzie

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Social so far in 2015...

We sliced open the social year with First Incision at Newcastle City Hall. It was a beautiful evening and everyone looked amazing. (Maybe not so much by the end of the night after people made it to Customs or the Argyle). We hope everyone enjoyed their night catching up and meeting new people. Special thanks go to the second year reps Ben Jacobs and Dylan Rajaratnam, as well as treasurer Ruidi Liu, whose help crossing off guest names and handing out wristbands was greatly appreciated.

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The next social event for the semester was a round of Pub Golf. A night to wear golfing attire and use golf puns non-stop was reason enough to come along but on offer as well was the chance for a team of participants to win free tickets to a 2015 social event of their choice! To win, participants had to come along on a pub crawl through Newcastle and compete in challenges at each venue.

The next location was Soho on Darby where each team was timed as they skulled their drink – thrilling stuff.

The night began at Cooks Hill Hotel where golfers had to consume their drink in as few sips as possible. It was also a chance for everyone to size up the competition, and it was fierce. Some teams even took the initiative to create provocative team names such as “Tiger’s Wood”.

The last pub before the finals was the Lucky Hotel, where basically team members had a better chance of winning the more intimate they got with one another. The Lucky Hotel was also a great opportunity for new love to blossom. Tim and Mallee you only had to kiss once. Oh and how are things going with

Team members then made their way down Darby St to Finnegan’s Hotel where they had a chance to recuperate. However Finnegan’s Hotel was a “water hazard” meaning no one was to use the bathrooms. This was a real game changer for the golfers.

those random guys you found at the bar Camille and Laura? We all assumed you guys hit it off considering we had to send people to go find you and bring you to the finals. Speaking of, the finals occurred at The Crown & Anchor Hotel after the lovemaking was concluded at the Lucky Hotel. Out of the 13 teams, quite a few made it and what better way to determine who would win a pub crawl competition than by sculling. Each finalist team nominated their representative and a schooner of beer was provided. Everyone gathered

round and almost immediately after the word “GO!” had been shouted, the finals were over. Jonathan Kuo had, in admirable style and with great enthusiasm, drained his drink so quickly that several onlookers passed out from surprise and his competitors fell to the floor from shame.

One such event coming up is Halfway Party, which will be at King St Hotel on 31st July (a Friday night). So everyone open the door, get on the floor, everybody walk the dinosaur – halfway party is going to be Jurassic themed and held on the second level of King St!

We were then kicked out of The Crown & Anchor Hotel.

The Social Seahorse wishes everyone the best with their studies for the rest of the year, but would also like to remind them to not be lame and come party xoxo.

But Customs was open and that concluded Pub Golf. Jonathan brought it home for his team and they can now enjoy a free ticket to a UNMS Social event coming up this year.

By Lachie Jackson.

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At sunset on Saturday 2nd May, 260 very well dressed medical students ascended an entire two flights of stairs at Harbourview Function Centre to attend the 2015 MedBall. With the theme “All That Jazz”, the venue was a vision of black and gold, complete with centerpieces of ostrich feathers and glittering diamond lamps. Accompanying the glittering lamps was the sparkling wine, ready-poured and eagerly awaiting its own consumption. Guests were most definitely dressed to impress and essentially only slightly tipsy upon arrival. The Smokin’ Chops delivered a wonderful jazz set which had guests painfully torn between guarding their table setting to await their meals or getting up to get down on the D-Floor. The Amandas delivered their speeches and ‘thank-yous’ while the guests dined on their firsts and seconds. The students who were unfortunately out of earshot of the (absolutely abhorrent) sound

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system should be aware that these speeches were all sorts of entertaining. The charity girls were producing raffle prizes like they grow on trees and the president made a toast with the sparkling wine (or perhaps it was one of the lamps?). Despite the earlier challenge of the two flights of stairs, guests mustered sufficient amounts of energy to get their groove on and dance the rest of the evening away. And didn’t they just look fantastic doing it!? Nobody left their moves at home, no thrust was left un-thrusted and no booty was left unshaken.

Sure... We all have that one friend who drinks too much that they think the toilet is their bird-baby and regurgitate their dinner into, onto and occasionally around it. However, on the whole, guests can be congratulated for turning up, looking fabulous and leaving with dignity intact. As the two hostesses, we were delightfully pleased with how MedBall 2015 proceeded and we hope our guests agree that it was a brilliant evening. We hope everyone is already looking forward to MedBall 2016! The Amandas xx

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Starting as an Intern in 2016?

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GIVING KIDS A FAIR GO First semester was an amazing time for Charity at UNMS. We have had successful BBQs, bake sales, raffles, an awesome Trivia Night, the first charity movie screening of The Avengers and have had 15 medical students run their hearts out at the Hill To Harbour. All of these events have raised over $4500 so far, with plenty more to come. We couldn’t have done this without YOU! Students have partied, run and consumed all in the name of the amazing charity that is Fair Go For Kids. UNMS is one of the biggest supporters of Fair Go For Kids and without your help it just wouldn’t be possible. Here’s a little bit about where the money is going... Fair Go For Kids is an initiative of the local organisation LeapFrog Ability. They are based here in Newcastle and their primary aim is to raise funds and assist local children in need.

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Unfortunately, we often hear about the unnecessary hardship that some children face due to long waiting times for assistance with treatment, equipment and support. This is happening every day. These children fall through the cracks of government funding and community projects – luckily, Fair Go For Kids is there to help.

Want more info on FGFK? Go to leapfrog.org.au As a major benefactor for LeapFrog Ability’s Fair Go For Kids program, the medical students of UoN should be proud. Your generosity has funded similar programs for many kids in many different situations. Thank you! But don’t worry – it’s not over yet. We have raised a lot of money for this outstanding charity but there’s so much more to come. So, get excited!

Coming up in Semester 2 Bunnings BBQ Take Two: Because everyone knows one sausage sandwich is never enough! Missed out on the fun last time? Come along in August to help us sizzle and sell our way into more money for Fair Go For Kids! Tickling your taste buds: We’ll be there again this year providing yummy treats for your monstrously hungry tummies at this year’s MedRevue, with all proceeds going to Fair Go For Kids. Make sure you book in your ticket! And some more surprises in store!! By Bryony Beal & Jessica Redmond

Want to get involved? Find Bryony or Jess on Facebook, or email us at charity@unms.org.au

Fair Go For Kids profile: Heath Meet Heath. At eight and a half years old, he is a bright, polite and enthusiastic child, giving 110% to everything he does. However, a few years ago, Heath’s parents noticed that he was having muscular problems. His legs locked up playing soccer and it seemed like every muscle in his body would just not co-operate. Heath struggles focusing his eyes, has poor balance and postural control, poor body awareness and low muscle tone. These factors have led to his poor bladder control, speech dyspraxia and poor eye control. It is a constant effort for him to concentrate on complex instructions and so he gets distracted easily. Understandably, Heath’s family spent all their time and money trying to figure out

and treat what was wrong with Heath. Paying for numerous GPs, paediatricians, psychiatrists and other specialists took a great toll on the family of six. Unfortunately, Heath’s condition does not quite meet the criteria for funding from the National Disability Insurance Scheme, nor fulfil any disability labels so he is ineligible for any governmental financial assistance. By this point, Heath was really struggling. He used to love school but was starting to shut down and withdraw. He found learning really difficult. He started to lose confidence in his knowledge and abilities. It was really tough. Things took a turn for the better when his family’s application for assistance from Fair Go For Kids (FGFK) was received and approved.

The Sensory Clinic in Maitland generously donated sensory classes to FGFK, who then approved six occupational therapy sessions for Heath, providing him and his family with invaluable skills, knowledge and the ability to manage his symptoms. As Heath’s symptoms arose from lack of muscle control, The Sensory Clinic developed exercises and activities for Heath, addressing both his problems with sensory input subsequent motor output. Through Heath’s sessions and the exercises designed to improve his fine and gross motor control, Heath has been managing his symptoms. His grades have markedly improved, he is interacting with his classsmates, playing soccer and most importantly, Heath is happy and healthy.

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The Aftermath of the Nepal Earthquake Many of you may not have heard about the Patan Academy of Health Sciences but would definitely have assisted us in supporting them by attending various Wake Up! events over the past few years. The Patan Academy of Health Sciences (PAHS) is Wake Up!’s partner medical school in Nepal, situated about five kilometers from Kathmandu and thus, was quite severely impacted by the earthquake that recently hit Nepal. We continue to support PAHS because they play a pivotal role in developing doctors who are

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willing and specifically trained to provide equitable health care to disadvantaged Nepalis living in remote areas. Also, unlike most medical schools in lower socio-economic countries, PAHS enables students from low-income families to gain a medical education, which is a rare, and very valuable aspect of PAHS. I have been in contact with Anjit Phuyal, the president of PAHS’s medical society, since the recent earthquake and would like to take this opportunity to share his perspective on the disaster with you. I believe

it may be more accurate than the accounts you are hearing through the media. In particular, his story gave me a better personal insight into the trauma that people are experiencing throughout Nepal. To begin with, Anjit told me of his personal struggles in dealing with the aftermath of the earthquake. His home village has been completely destroyed and he lost his house. He said, “It’s terrible to see your village where you grew up turned into piles of dust.”

Luckily none of Anjit’s family were severely injured, however, a close family friend of his passed away, leaving two young children behind. Apparently, since the major earthquake hit there have been many aftershocks, which are prolonging people’s fear. At times, Anjit has found himself feeling like the earth around him is shaking even when everything is fine – a testament to the amount of fear and anxiety that a disaster like this can cause. This is just one person’s story. I would imagine that there would be stories just like this across Nepal, the extent of which we will probably never understand. To date nearly 8,000 people have been killed and another 20,000 people have been se-

verely injured, requiring urgent medical care. Unfortunately, the earthquake has damaged the infrastructure of Nepal’s health care system, which was struggling to meet the population’s needs before this disaster. One of PAHS’s rural teaching hospitals was completely destroyed and the other is running patient clinics in tents due to the internal damage to its wards. Wake Up! will be fundraising throughout the rest of this year to help the reconstruction of hospitals and medical centres in Nepal. We have decided that our funds are best utilised in this way as, according to Anjit, much of the money donated to charities is getting lost within the government system and isn’t actually reaching the people that need it most.

If you’re interested in helping our fundraising efforts please email globalpartnerships@wakeup.org.au On a more positive note, PAHS has re-opened and its students are back at university, working towards building up Nepal’s healthcare system so that disasters like this won’t have such a detrimental impact in the future. Please have a read of the following article Anjit half-completed prior to the earthquake – it will give you a better insight into how PAHS is working to develop a strong and sustainable health system in Nepal. By Jem Jones President Wake Up! Global Health Group president@wake-up.org.au

Photo credit: US Embassy Kathmandu, flickr.com/usembassykathmandu

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Every cloud has a silver lining: The story of PAHS Nepal lies between the two big emerging economic power houses, India and China, but is among the poorest countries in the world. For a poor country like Nepal, it’s very hard to provide high quality education to its citizens and the situation is made worse by a lot of qualified human manpower opting to pursue their career in the green pasture of the western countries rather than struggling in the barren land of Nepal. This leaves Nepal with limited skilled manpower and the situation is no different for the medical field. First of all, we have limited health manpower in the country and among the available manpower most of them, particularly doctors, are unwilling to serve in Nepal’s remote and rural areas. Though the government had tried to send doctors to rural areas by making it mandatory for scholarship doctors to work in rural areas for two years, it has failed to retain doctors at the rural health centres. There is a huge disparity in accessibility, availability and affordability of health services among the rural and urban dwellers of Nepal.

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While I am writing this article, people of Jajarkot, a rural district of Nepal, are dying of some unknown disease and it took more than a fortnight for the government to send the necessary health manpower and drugs to the district. The same district lost a large number of its people a few years ago because of diarrhoea. The country’s current system of medical education has failed to address these problems. Realising the existing problems faced by the country’s health system, the Patan Academy of Health Sciences (PAHS) has been established and is dedicated to improving the health status of the people of Nepal by producing doctors who are willing and able to provide healthcare to disadvantaged Nepalis living in remote or rural areas. The goal of PAHS is that its graduates will not only provide severely needed medical care in rural Nepal, but will also eventually become leaders in healthcare policy, dedicated to improving the health of the remote and destitute populations in Nepal.

PAHS is unique and advanced from other medical colleges of Nepal in a number of areas. PAHS has adopted a completely new system for students’ selection – it has adopted problem-based learning, community-based learning and education, and clinical presentation as teaching and learning methods. PAHS has realised that doctors’ lack of familiarity with the rural healthcare setting is one of the major obstacles to sending and retaining doctors to the rural parts of the country. So through its community-based learning and education program, PAHS has aimed to make its students familiar with the rural community and the existing health system of Nepal from the grassroot level. Students get the opportunity to gain experience in the community, from urban slum to rural villages. By Anjit Phuyal Unfortunately, Anjit was unable to complete this article due to the earthquake that hit Nepal earlier this year. To assist in fundraising to support PAHS please email globalpartnerships@wake-up.org.au

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What does Convention mean to you? “What’s been your favourite thing about this past week?” I asked our delegates on our final night at the Gala Ball.

complementary medicines, new medical technologies and a panel of esteemed guests (including Prof Patrick McGorry!) discussing student mental health and wellbeing, it wasn’t hard to see why. All well worth waking up for after five hours of sleep.

We stood superbly dressed in our best suits and dresses, champagne and soft drinks in hand. It was such a contrast to our usual appearances the previous six days, roaming around the Melbourne Convention Centre, sleep deprived and in our bright gold Newcastle hoodies during the day, and wearing our crazy costumes, which consisted of nothing but suspenders and body paint for some – just ask James Wayte about #suspensionvention – during the night. With the risk of sounding cliché, there truly was something for

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everyone at Convention. “How good was that Monday night!?” was by far the most common sentiment, with Monday’s social program including a silent disco and the one and only Hot Dub Time Machine. Definitely a night to remember there. For a night to be forgotten, you need only ask Tom Warbo – he’ll say all of them. Someone else said Tuesday’s academic program was their highlight. With engaging talks on

If none of those interested you, you need not have looked further than our breakout sessions, twice a day, where you got to choose your own program. Talks from Doctors Without Borders, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons laparoscopy workshops and even a talk about financial planning are just some of the items that were on the menu. And then there was Sports Day, another highlight of the week for many of our delegates and where our Newcastle rangers showed the most incredible team spirit. We may have lost pretty much everything but we did it fighting and cheering on our teams like champions – literally. We rushed the pitch and started cheering with our team as if we’d won the World Cup, after losing to the dirty Tasmanians in dodgeball. Heartfelt renditions of “Heigh Ho” (the Snow White song – now the Newcastle song) echoed all around Melbourne’s Dande-

nong Stadium. What a sight it was to behold, especially with our squad’s mining costumes looking so fly. And what about me? My favourite thing about this week? I’m glad you asked! My highlight was just being part of this great big Newcastle family of 60 or so. Spotting each other across the Melbourne Convention Centre in bright gold hoodies or cramming everyone into a single hotel room before socials to discuss the previous night’s events, we just really had a sense of togetherness – even if it was just literal. It was great to see everyone taking care of each other and so many happy faces over the week.

We were part of something big and that something was part of something even bigger with 1500 medical students representing 20 medical schools across Australia all in one place for one week. And we knew we were the best uni ;) After all, we do have Australia’s Brainiest Medical Student (shoutout to Josh Diamoy who won the challenge not even realising he was meant to be on stage). Now, as someone who does not really party, or even drink for that matter, I was not expecting to love Convention so much. I thought it would just be weeklong party but it wasn’t. It was so much more than that and to be cliche again (#sorrynotsorry),

it was whatever you wanted it to be. We had some amazing speakers this week, with exciting stories and ideas. We even had a GP who was a magician! Debating was so entertaining, and thought-provoking. We lost at the first round but still had the option to watch the other debates and the grand final. The social nights were out of this world and even our 100% sober delegates had a great time. Although, this entertainment was partly aided by some of the things our less-than-100% sober delegates got up to. There was always something on for you over the week. Even in the case that Convention wasn’t your thing, you could have done the unconventional and swam the Yarra like our two world class athletes did. As the M15 team loved to say, all you had to do was ‘get amongst it’! By Basheer Alshiwanna

Photo credit: Ned Merewether

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Global Health Conference arriving in Newcastle In August 2016 our city will be transformed by the buzz of medical students from all across Australia descending on the Australian Medical Students’ Association Global Health Conference. Our team is creating a conference that only students can – wildly ambitious in its direction, innovative at its core, determined to be different and with the overriding theme of global health. With this at the forefront we will be unique, creative and special, with a number of different activities and focuses for every delegate, tailored to what you want. The academic plenaries and workshops are going to be diverse, innovative and groundbreaking in their approach, with the content leaving you inspired, in awe and ready to change the world. Our ideas and messages are broad and varied, with an emphasis on community, socioeconomic development, local health, vector-borne diseases and an environmental ethos. We want you to dream big, create new possibilities and make a positive difference. From the outset, our team is unyielding in our determination to create the next genera-

tion of health professionals with a hunger and passion to alter the status quo. The social and academic programs will be intimately linked to be as interactive as possible and cover the broad scope of your interests. By offering a plethora of social opportunities we are hoping to not only bond our delegates together, but also to attract a greater audience, creating the most engaging global health conference. This will be Newcastle’s largest party ever – over five nights, in a number of different venues across town. While we’re still keeping the details under wraps, you can be assured that we have a very special program in mind, highlighting all that our city has to offer! Ultimately, this conference belongs to you – the individual medical student it was created for – whether you want to make new friends during the social program, be inspired during the plenaries, or just have a good time.

largest student conference ever held in Newcastle. Our team is looking forward to working hard over the next year to create a conference that is truly spectacular. Applications for subcommittee positions will be opening soon and I ask you to join our team to help us achieve our vision and create our conference. This is your chance to make your mark on the biggest student-run event to come to Newcastle. So what are you waiting for? Welcome to a NewGHC. By Bhavi Ravindran Convenor of GHC 2016 Newcastle GHC will be held from the 26th to the 30th of August 2016. Applications for subcommittee positions will be opening soon.

I want to take this opportunity to personally invite you to explore your city, meet medical students from all over Australia, and have the experience of a lifetime at the

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Want to contribute to the next edition of Ductus? Have a love for writing and want your works to be read? Simply keen to join the publications team? Send an email our way at publications@unms.org.au!

Still have questions and want to talk to someone on the committee? President Vice President Treasurer Secretary AMSA Rep Sponsorship Officer Academic Convenors Social Convenor Charity Convenors Sports Convenors Publications Officers Membership Officer International Officer Indigenous Officer Education Officer Jr AMSA Rep AMA Rep NSWMSC Rep Website Officer Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Camp Convenors MedRevue Convenors MedBall Convenors

president@unms.org.au vicepresident@unms.org.au treasurer@unms.org.au secretary@unms.org.au amsa@unms.org.au sponsorship@unms.org.au academic@unms.org.au social@unms.org.au charity@unms.org.au sports@unms.org.au publications@unms.org.au membership@unms.org.au international@unms.org.au indigenous@unms.org.au education@unms.org.au jramsa@unms.org.au ama@unms.org.au nswmsc@unms.org.au admin@unms.org.au ocamp@unms.org.au medrevueuon@gmail.com medball@unms.org.au

Or send all your general enquiries to secretary@unms.org.au.

www.unms.org.au 34

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