2020 MQ Health Resident Medical Officer
As an international student from Botswana, Dr Jisha Kunju found it difficult to secure an internship after finishing medical school at the University of Newcastle.
Dr Jisha Kunju — clinical story
Most public hospitals reserve places for domestic students. So she was delighted when MQ Health accepted her into the Doctors in Training program.
“What really attracted me was that it was very strongly based around teaching and research, which I didn’t find with any of the other private hospitals,” Jisha says. “We’ve had lots of medical students coming in and shadowing us on the wards. That’s been a great chance for me to share whatever little knowledge I’ve got.”
Jisha completed her 12-month internship at MQ Health in 2019, which included five 10-week terms. Her first placement was in the MQ Health GP Clinic. “Fresh out of med school and being labelled ‘doctor’ for the first time was very daunting,” she says. “But everyone was very supportive and answered my questions. That was my favourite term out of the whole year. I was very lucky because usually as an intern you don’t get to experience General Practice because it’s all hospital based.”
Macquarie University Hospital doesn’t have an emergency department, so Jisha spent a term at one of MQ Health’s training partners, Coffs Harbour Base Hospital, located on the New South Wales mid-north coast. Her other terms included oncology, cardiology and orthopaedics at MQ Health.
“Macquarie University Hospital is particularly sub-specialised,” she says. “This gives junior doctors like me exposure to unique procedures that we wouldn’t usually get to see – which is very exciting.”
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