Thanks a lot for your response, it provided a greater insight for me. I had a few more questions and I hope you don't mind answering them if you can;
Sorry - I did see this message last night but I was too tired at the time to answer it!
1) In terms of the 3 day GP placement and the two week elective placements in Year 1 and the one month rural placement at the end of Year 2, if these happen to be outside of Townsville, do you guys have to pay for your own accomodation, food, utility bills, etc. or does the Uni provide some assistance? This question applies to any external placements throughout the whole program.
For the elective placements in first year the College is unable to provide any monetary assistance, which is why a lot of students go back to their hometowns to do their placement. As for 2nd year and College-organised placements thereafter, the College does provide a $100 week accomodation bursary as well as cost all petrol/flight costs should students need to travel to get to their destination. There are some specific scholarships for international rural placements as you can imagine as well. In general the college does a good job of supporting most students with accommodation on placement. Most college-arranged accommodation has internet available via eduroam.
2) You mentioned 'pre-clinical' and 'clinical' years. So I'm guessing from Years 1-3 (pre-clinical?) you guys learn all the "textbook" knowledge at Uni alongside with some short elective placements in between, whilst in Years 4-6 you guys operate solely at a hospital of your choice and self-learn from there? Whilst I know you're a second year, do you have any idea of what the self-learning involves for Med students in the final two years at hospitals (since you mentioned this is a common theme for any Medical student in Australia)?
All I'm relying on here is anecdotes from people I've spoken to in older years, but the general consensus is as the years progress there is less formal "teaching" but rather topic guidelines for assessment, and you're expected to learn the material through interacting with consultants and supervisors at the hospital and own research by yourself. There are of course teaching facilities at the hospitals, but a lot of it is more integrated with clinical scenarios as you can imagine. So in terms of what it will likely involve, it means learning more exclusively from textbooks and online resources rather than listening to lecturers. Perhaps
Benjamin can provide more specific insight on this one?
3) I know this is quite a broad question, but what exactly is the "rural-focus"? Does it just involve practicing normal medicine in more remote areas or are there other issues you deal with (i.e. certain diseases that may not be found in metro areas)?
The rural focus is felt throughout the whole course which should come as no surprise. From year 1 you learn about a lot of the health disparities in rural and remote areas, and throughout the course there are some dedicated subjects that focus on the health of rural patients, as well as Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander communities. A lot of specific health issues pertinent to agricultural and mining communities for example, and learning about the cultural differences in these regions are some things you may not learn at other Medical schools. You rightly asserted that we do learn a lot about Medicine relevant to these communities, including tropical infections and diseases such as Dengue Fever which aren't really found in metro areas. The primary goal of JCU's med program is to produce a greater number of graduates working in rural and remote areas as I'm sure you've heard, and so they do really try to give students a number of opportunities to work in rural areas that provide great satisfaction for students, but you are by no means restricted to do only rural placements throughout the course, and you get a lot of flexibility as to where you can go.
4) How does the 2nd year "consultation" program work? Being thrown in the deep end, how do patients react if a Med-student messes up or doesn't have enough knowledge for the particular situation?
It's not really a "program" but just experiences felt by students when they're given a lot of independence. What I meant by consultations was some students would basically independently take basic histories of patients in general practices where the risk is lower than say at hospital, then pass on what they've learnt to their supervisor who may ask a few follow up questions if needed. As for how patients react, from what I've heard most understand Medical students are just learning, and so as long as they were doing something low-risk I don't think many people mind, and for the medical student to be there anyway consent has already been voluntarily granted by the patient (assuming all the right consent processes were followed). If a medical student is asked to do something without enough knowledge of what to do, you would hope that student will pass on their concerns to their supervisor who will either teach them and then show them the processes before handing over the reigns. Most of the clinical sites (at least for rural) have been vetted by the JCU College of Med and Dent so the supervisors know what level the student's are at, and really you make the most of your time there. If you'd prefer to be more passive and just follow the doc around that's fine, but if you want to branch out and learn by being a bit more independent, most supervisors will give you that freedom unless you're completely incompetent.
5) How long are the rural terms during your clinical years?
Year 4: 6 week rural rotation
Year 5: no dedicated rural placement outside of base hospitals Cairns, Mackay and Townsville (which are technically "rural" already)
Year 6: 10 week rural rotation (or optional 6 month rural "internship" where you complete your other 10 week rotations of aged and critical care terms during it).
Although it needs to be updated (as Darwin is no longer offered for years 5 and 6), the JCU medical student society has a pretty loose course overview on its website;
Course Overview – JCUMSA should you be interested in learning a bit more.
6) Have there been cases where people had to do placements in Cairns or Mackay even if they had preferences in Townsville but couldn't be there due to higher demand from other students?
Yes, and sadly there will always be a small number of people who will miss out. Generally though it turns out Cairns actually is in more demand to Townsville as there is a perception "there is more to do in Cairns", perhaps because Cairns is seen as more of a tourist destination. Generally it's a ballot system if one site is overpreferenced outside of a small number of special consideration requests for various reasons (for example, you are from Cairns, or you have a spouse residing there). The main concern for people who stay in Townsville for year 4 is Mackay is grossly underpreferenced, and so there is some discord amongst students from Townsville who are balloted to Mackay to do their terms for 5th and 6th year. You do have the option to "switch" with another student, should both parties be willing, and there is sometimes talk of some people "buying" locations off other people.
Hope this all helps!
Edit: updated placement duration guides.
