Murray River
Reflections on a visit to Murray Bridge
Sunday, 04 March 2007
As a trainee in my fourth year, I was becoming increasingly chagrined at the lassitude displayed by my training committee regarding my rural requirement. You see I have the distinction of being rather obsessional, and also rather impatient. So you might imagine that my level of frustration was at breaking point when the second year of my repeated inquiries into rural visits was met (yet again) with “Oh it isn’t quite clear yet what we will be doing for the trainees”.
Armed with the weapons of dissatisfaction and anger at ineptitude, I attempted to contact visiting psychiatrists myself. Perhaps at this point I should break to say that SA is the only state that “allows” 15 visits as opposed to a rural term. This, I’m sure is related to the fact that there are no psychiatrists based rurally in our state. At any rate, I was met, several times over, with replies of “oh yes, the mental health team there would really love to have you, but of course I go as part of my private work”.
It might also be prudent, at this point, to bring to your notice the fact that there has been a lot of hoo-ha about rural rotations recently. Please refer to ranzcp.org form for details of said hoo-ha. It amounts to the fact that trainees in other states are rather p’d off at having to do more than the required minimum, at the expense of marital and family harmony, bank balances and doses of latte. The college, per US federal media policy, have retaliated with a “survey” that highlights the fact that we are actually highly approving of this process of dislocation, and are chomping at the bit to have another go. Seems to jar with the opinion on the ground, but who ever expected a survey to reflect true opinion. I’m persuaded that a majority cannot have elected George W into office (or I have a naïve, misguided view of humanity). But I digress. At any rate, after rigorous machinations on my part, I have actually managed to piggy back a fantastic, accommodating supervisor to Murray Bridge (town where first bridge over said body of water was erected). On my first day, I was greeted with a smile (!) from a clerical staff member (!), and a cup of tea (!!!!!!!!). I then proceeded to meet a string of truly fascinating individuals, all of whom displayed the fine interplay that exists between the nurturing environment of a small town, and the stigma that can exist in a place where everyone knows everyone. And best of all, they were appreciative of my input.
The mental health team themselves were very appreciative of my time, and were keen to put to me problems that they faced, for my edification. It was a long, tiring day, but very fulfilling. I can feel that this sort of psychiatric work is going to set me up really well for when I (eventually – this is a sore point as I have missed out on the May clinicals because my psychotherapy patient pulled out) become a consultant. I can see that my job is less about mental health, and more about systems and group dynamics. A bit like CL really.
So, what’s the point of this rave? Well, two fold – I am clearly a lot of use to the mental health team here, so why isn’t there a push for this to happen? And secondly, this model of regular attendances is clearly appreciated by the highly competent and efficient team who manage disasters of most proportions themselves, but require some input over certain points, so why isn’t this being accepted in other states? It boils down to service requirements I imagine, but we are the service. Imagine if we stood up for our needs…..
Sumitra Shankar