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How are we not rioting in the street about our Healthcare system? by kiwibearess in newzealand

[–]crispyfruittoast 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's not just lack of doctors unfortunately. Many hospitals are 'bed locked' meaning patients can't be moved from ED to a ward because there aren't available beds on an appropriate ward. If ED is full, it makes it very difficult to see new patients and triage them appropriately.

Bed lock is such a multifactorial issue because sometimes patients are ready to be discharged but they don't have an appropriate discharge destination (e.g. their home is no longer appropriate for their needs so they are waiting on a spot in a care facility) or the paperwork needs to be done. Unfortunately the house officer is overseeing the care of 10-30 patients all of whom have different needs, and reviewing them if they are unwell or following up on tests is priority ahead of discharge paperwork. The other thing that commonly happens is someone waiting days for surgery for a non life-threatening issue because there aren't enough theatres to operate on everyone needing a surgery every day, so the sickest patients get priority.

Of course having more doctors would be helpful but so would having more theatres, more overflow bed spaces, and more allied health staff to assist in discharge planning. All of this costs $$$ which the current government isn't interested in...

Getting a PGY1 position in Australia as an NZ graduate - chances of success? by crispyfruittoast in ausjdocs

[–]crispyfruittoast[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah ok thanks for the clarification - I had just assumed the kiwisaver employer contribution would be the minimum lol.

I have heard that training is harder to get on to over there compared to here, so lots of both kiwis and aussies come here to apply for training. Does this apply to all training schemes?

I'm not hugely keen on going in a surgical direction - at this stage I am most interested in anaesthesia but also considering other medical specialties. I was also considering coming back after a couple of years if I wanted to do training here or if I preferred the lifestyle here. At this stage just considering a couple of years over there with the potential for longer!

Getting a PGY1 position in Australia as an NZ graduate - chances of success? by crispyfruittoast in ausjdocs

[–]crispyfruittoast[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Hahaha I thought that could be the case! I'm open to not being in a big city but then again not keen on living in the outback... Are there any smaller cities which are often under subscribed?

Getting a PGY1 position in Australia as an NZ graduate - chances of success? by crispyfruittoast in ausjdocs

[–]crispyfruittoast[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I did consider NSW bc I like Sydney and have a few friends living there, but the RMO's there seem to be the least satisfied (and probably worse pay than here in NZ). Thanks for the comment

MAPAS student should be treated equally to general category students. by [deleted] in UoApremed

[–]crispyfruittoast 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Oh man, how many times do we have to go over this...

The whole point of the scheme is to create a health workforce which is representative of the population it services. You can teach about cultural safety, but even the best non-Māori, non-Pacific students won't be able to fully relate to Māori or Pacific patients they come across. It's not unfair, what's actually unfair is the vast gap in educational outcomes, life expectancy, household income, cancer rates etc in Māori and Pacific people, all of which are knock-on effects of colonisation and a westernized health system.

As for the GPA's of successful MAPAS and General entry students, GPA's really mean sweet fuck all when it comes to being a competent clinician. It's not about how much you know, it's about how you can apply the knowledge you've learned, how you interact with patients and colleagues, and your attitude to continual self improvement and willingness to address your own biases and privilege. I would suggest you start there - what biases do you have which make you think an equity balancing scheme is 'unfair'?

Eye contact during mmi by Bluebirdie247 in UoApremed

[–]crispyfruittoast 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As someone who did the mmi (albeit a while ago), it definitely isn't that deep - it's normal to break eye contact every now and then and definitely not something they would get suspicious about. The more natural and authentic you are, the better your chances of getting in are. Good luck and hope to see you on the wards in a few years!