Thanks to Lucinda Colbert, one of our fabulous Western Sydney University medical students, for sharing her perspective on the recent Rural Medicine Australia Conference.
This October I had the absolute privilege of attending ACRRM and RDAA’s Rural Medicine Australia conference (RMA) as a research presenter. When I first experienced RMA in 2022, I discovered that this was a gathering of supportive, engaging, and inspirational doctors and students unlike anything I’d seen before. Knowing no one before I arrived, I left Canberra after those four days with new lifelong friends and a reignited passion for rural medicine. I knew that I had found where I belong in medicine and was excited to return.
When my abstract for my research ‘Medical Student’s Awareness of Overdiagnosis’ was accepted, my dream to attend RMA23 became reality. This research has been in development for the last two years and with the support of my supervisors Dr Iman Hegazi and Dr Natalie Edmiston we have been able to produce a text that we are very proud of. Between us we have presented this work individually and as part of a culmination of overdiagnosis projects being completed by Western Sydney University students.
Overdiagnosis is a hot topic in medical education currently, yet there is still debate about what it is, the drivers of overdiagnosis and how we as doctors, educators and students can prevent it. The aim of my project was to understand through a lens of high and low value care, how students perceive overdiagnosis and its current place in the medical curriculum. For this qualitative study I interviewed 12 clinical year students and ultimately found that whilst vertically integrated curriculum supports an inherent understanding of overdiagnosis, the curriculum and learning environments in their current form do not allow the clinical competence and confidence for medical students to understand and avoid overdiagnosis.
The opportunity to present this work at RMA23 in Hobart was incredibly exciting as well as daunting. Although I have presented this work previously, I had not presented in such a generous time slot or to such a diverse crowd as I did at RMA. There was no reason to be nervous, however. My presentation was met with nothing but intrigue and support and I was honoured to be able to lead not just a question-and-answer session at the end but an informal discussion between the audience members consisting of students, junior doctors, educators, specialists, and researchers.
These few days at RMA23 furthered my medical career, increased my confidence, and allowed me to reconnect with colleagues and meet new friends. When you are a student, conferences are often undervalued and seen as a distraction from coursework, but I can honestly say I would not be the person I am today without RMA and my passion for rural medicine would not be as fierce.
