UQ Med Students in Local Paper

This morning there was an article in the local paper about foreign medical students at the University of Queensland.  You can read yourself

 

 Barb & I both commented on it as did at least one other med student

 Here is basically what I added plus a bit more that would not fit in the comment section:

"We would love to stay here and work in rural Australia. With the various roadblocks put in place for foreign students we may not be able to.  Why would you not want people that are passionate enough about medicine that they move half way round the world and pay 4x as much just to be able to go medical school? Are these not the kinds of people you want in your rural hospitals?

Just to answer a few questions; the reason there are so many Canadians coming to UQ is because the various federal and provincial governments have very few medical school positions available.  For example the province of Alberta with a population equal to Queensland has only 150 seats each year, whereas UQ alone has about 400 seats.  They figure it is cheaper to bring in fully trained doctors from South Africa, India, the UK, etc. instead.  As one who grew up in a remote rural area I can tell you that it doesn't help rural medicine in the long term. The doctors stay in the rural area for the minimum requirement and then move to the city.  Why not train doctors that want to work rural?"

More stuff than should be allowed in one post

Well here comes a longer than normal blog post.  I'll go in reverse chronological order.

• I just uploaded some pictures I took last night at Mt Cooth-tha. I was planning to catch the full moon rising over the ocean, but it was too cloudy to even see the moon until after it has risen.  I did however, photograph a time-lapse of the city growing dark.  I also took a few night shots of the city.  We are currently in the throes of winter (for all you northern hemisphere, people think December).  It is starting to get a bit chilly: I even wore a jacket for the first time since moving here.

  I had a job interview on Wednesday.  It is part-time as a computer tech support at a girls school on the the south-side.  I think the interview went well and it seems like a interesting job. -=Cross your fingers=-



Since Barb had the week before last off at school we went for a beach day with some friends at Gold Coast.  Since we are in "the throes of winter" I was the only one of us who actually went in the water.  The water temp. was "only" 21C.  Afterwards we went out for chocolate a Max Brenner's, kind of a Second Cup but serves chocolate. 

The weekend before that Barb went up to a Rural Medicine conference in MacKay.  She had a lot of fun, and was able to smooze with a bunch of the big wigs in the Queensland medical community.  (I think she is planning to blog about it, so keep you eye pasted here)

The big news before that was we had our first house guest; my sister Bet. She was in Aus. for just over two weeks.  It was great to have her here.  I don't think we have spent so much time together since we went to Expo in Vancouver way back in 1986. As part of her trip she went to Cairns and Sydney to see the sights too. While she was in Brissie we went on the CityCats, we toured around Sunshine Coast, went to Kingaroy for peanuts and wine, went go kart racing, drove down to Byron Bay and went sea kayaking.  All in all it was great that she came to visit.
That's about it for the news.  Good night everyone and remember less than 6 months to Christmas ;-)

Exam-time Joy…

I am writing the first of 3 exams tomorrow. Each one is 2 hours long, and can and will be about anything from first year to now. I am more than a little stressed. I even got Rob to lock me out of my Facebook account to decrease the distractions. However, humour is always good. So here's a fun poem that's been circulating:

Twas the week before med exams,
And all through pbl
Some unshaven creatures
Are acquiring the smell

Of sobered up students
Eating things out of cans
Tired yet driven
To excel at exams

Saleem told us to study
Why did we not listen?
As we crack open our books
Some so new they still glisten

Gone are PBL triggers
And the comic relief
From our dear PBL groups -
Whom we part from in grief

Locked inside as we study
While winter doth fall
Waking from the best nap
Upon Guyton & Hall

To Matt Devine wepray,
For his knowledge and skill
As we cram everything in
To prepare for the kill

Exam 1 will come soon-
EBM is the devil
We’ll stagger out in the end
Looking doubly dishevelled

Hold off on the cheers
Don’t forget Exam 3 and 2
Two more nights of lockdown
Till sweet freedom for you

When it’s all handed in,
We’re 3/8 through the race!
Ask Santa for a Seven,
Now please go shave your face

And tonight:

"Now I lay me down to rest,
a pie of books upon my chest.
If I should die before I wake,
that's one less test I'll have to take!"