New resource for young doctors seeking to work in other countries

The AMA will today launch A Guide to Working Abroad for Australian Medical Students and Junior Doctors, a practical resource to assist medical students and young doctors maximise the learning experience of working in medicine in other countries.

Deputy Chair of the AMA Council of Doctors in Training (AMACDT) and co-author of the guide, Dr Rob Mitchell, said the guide is essential reading for any medical student or junior doctor planning to work overseas.

“Students and young doctors who are keen to make a contribution to global health now have easy access to comprehensive information that will help make their overseas placement a success,” Dr Mitchell said.

“They can now set off better equipped to face and overcome the many challenges involved in working overseas, and they will have more time and knowledge to build their professional skills and experience in a foreign setting.

“Training and working abroad is rewarding professionally and personally.  It can touch us in positive ways, and can expose medical students and junior doctors to environments and situations that they would never experience working at home. Australian doctors can learn a lot from working in overseas communities.

“Working overseas allows us to apply our local studies and training for the benefit of people around the world who are less fortunate and who don’t have access to the equitable, high quality health care that we enjoy in Australia.  So many of the young people I work with have a real desire to use their medical knowledge to redress some of the terrible social inequities plaguing our world.

“We hope that this guide will be helpful to any doctor who wants to make a contribution, big or small, to global health.

“Importantly, the international experience also makes them more complete doctors who are a great asset to Australian patients and the Australian health system,” Dr Mitchell said.

A Guide to Working Abroad has been published as an e-supplement in the latest issue of the Medical Journal of Australia.

A collaboration between the AMACDT and the Australian Medical Students’ Association, the guide provides practical advice about all aspects of getting ready for the overseas experience, including information about managing personal and professional affairs during a placement and what needs to be done upon returning home.

It is available at www.mja.com.au/public/issues/194_12_200611/working_abroad.html

21 June 2011

CONTACT:            Geraldine Kurukchi                  02 6270 5467 / 0427 209 753

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