Me ringing next hospital to transfer 35 weeker with BP 180/100. O&G Reg: have you checked the BP more than once? Me: Doh yes - 5 times in fact over the last two hours, have given hydralazine and labetalol, etc, bloods off, she needs delivery... O&G Reg: oh. Me: transfer!

This. Without exception, nearly every medical practioner I know has years worth of sick-leave untouched. If you have time off sick, the weight you carry is distributed between already over-burdened colleagues. If you can walk, you work (with the exception of D&V- free pass there)

Medicine relies on doctors working when sick & fatigued. On many shifts I have been more unwell than my patients. There is zero cover provided to replace sick doctors so we turn up & work. This is the culture that your under-resourced health system has created @JennyMikakos

I have to say I’m absolutely flabbergasted that she is surprised that doctors turn up to work with a runny nose in a health system that has been under such immense pressure. #COVID19 theage.com.au/national/flabb…

You misunderstand Jenny. HCPs don’t ‘want’ to turn up to work when sick. We do it because the health system you see is understaffed and underfunded, and because people literally don’t get health care when HCPs call in sick. ‘We’ve all done it’ misses the point entirely.

#flabbergasted What the actual?

This!!! @Fly_texan Marita Cowie AM ACRRM RDAA

Absolutely. This is beaurocratic idiocy at its worst.

“Unless we can increase the overall numbers of rural doctors… we are playing a giant game of Whack-a-Mole” says Anne Rushton #RMA22 ACRRM

Session at #RMA22 on burnout, re elephant in the room. Hard to meet the suggestions in the blue box when reception praise the docs who see 70+ pts/day, and complain about docs who say no after 50 pts or want to go to Pilates after work or have lunch break as not ‘helping’

I once had a very sick neonate who needed resuscitation. Feeling way out of my depth, I called Dr Dan Halliday Dan Halliday who appeared almost immediately. The baby survived. We celebrated passing Neonatal Resus training. Absolutely thrilled to hear he is ACRRM President!

It’s such an honour. Humbling.

This is the best description…

And there we finally have it... Our RDAA president Megan Belot acknowledging that Rural General Practice; of seeing patients all day and then being expected to do everything else later, isn't safe or sustainable. Undifferentiated primary care IS tough. #RMA22

Thankyou Megan Belot RDAA for calling out the overwork expected of rural docs. Why does reception not care about burning docs out? Why ok to complain that a dr wants to ‘stop early’ when they have already seen 50 pts for the day? Why the paperwork late at night?

Want to keep your rural health workforce? Value them. Reward them. Listen to their needs & wants. Give meaning & purpose. Don’t exploit their altruism #rma22 ACRRM

Thankyou to #RMA22 keynote Trudy MacDonald for calling out some of the important factors in employee retention and attrition - sustainability of work expectations being one of them. Again, clinic expectations. Obstetrics on call is a welcome release from reception expectations.