The path to becoming a doctor is an arduous one, with a multitude of requirements and milestones along the way. Budding doctors are faced with making many decisions as they navigate their career journeys, and that doesn’t stop once you have a degree.
After completing university studies, the next step is to undertake an internship, where students undergo supervised clinical training within an accredited hospital. Deciding which hospitals to apply to can be as tough a choice as any, balancing factors around location, opportunity and lifestyle.
At UCRH, our aim is to encourage as many of the students who have been on placement with us to stay in rural locations, and the latest round of internship offers from Lismore Base Hospital demonstrated the success we’re having on that front.
Of the three cohorts of students we farewell this year (University of Sydney pictured above, University of Wollongong and Western Sydney University), fifteen of them have elected to accept placements and will stay in Lismore. That is a result we are enormously proud of, and delighted to see that the connections being made on rural placement have a real impact on the future of our local health workforce.
We asked some of the students who have accepted internships with Lismore Base Hospital what factors influenced their choice, and a common theme was the opportunities available in a rural setting.
University of Sydney student Byron Apelt summed it up as providing a big return on investment.
“It is much greater up here in the sense that you get a lot of access to consultants and the teaching is really good, but also you to have a life outside of medicine,” he said.
Fellow Sydney student Sabrina Bilston-John echoed that sentiment and called out the importance of community.
“I think people in a rural area have more time for you. That’s been obvious in the hospital – doctors and the nurses and all the allied health staff seem to have much more time for students. And I think that’s reflected outside the hospital as well, and the community aspect in the northern rivers, regardless of what town you’re in, is like very prominent,” she said.
Students also made reference to the support they’d experienced while on placement with us. Western Sydney University student Lucy Schultz referenced the supportive environment of UCRH and the Northern Rivers as being important factors for her.

“When I first moved up here, it was the most beautiful change from metropolitan Sydney medicine and community. And I want that support around me when I start my internship,” she said.
This was something also emphasised by another Sydney student, Rebecca Ward, who spoke about the close connection between UCRH and Lismore Base Hospital.
“My experience is that people kind of really advocate for you as a student or as a junior. You’re really valued, which I think both comes from the UCRH which is so involved with communicating with the hospital and with the consultants, and it’s always organising our placements to make our learning experience as beneficial and as deep as possible. But then also from the hospital’s point of view they’re keen to teach. It’s a small school, team consultants know you [and] you’re valued as a person,” she said.
The medical education program offered at UCRH is built around long rural placements – a year or more – in hospital and community settings. We aim to meet the curriculum requirements of each university but with a focus on a rural environment.
To support placements, we also offer a comprehensive education program including simulation and clinical skills, interprofessional learning, a tutorial program, student led case discussions and opportunities for students to undertake exam preparation. Backing that up is the ever-popular BeConnected social program. In essence, what we aim for is a genuine connection and complete experience to best help our students in their studies and early career journeys.
With fifteen students deciding to stay in Lismore, it looks like our efforts are paying off, and we couldn’t be more pleased for them. Even though we farewell them, we know this isn’t exactly a goodbye.
“The amount of support I received, the teaching, the education, and the continual teaching and education I know I’ll get after I graduate [are important]. I’ll still come and visit even after I graduate, because I like the people,” Lucy summed up.