Top doc’s national accolade
A TOWNSVILLE GP has paid tribute to the tight-knit local medical community after she won a national award for her teaching and mentoring of other doctors.
Dr Rebecca Stewart won the Corlis Award at the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners awards night in Melbourne in late November.
The award honours the contribution of a member or fellow of the college who has made a substantial contribution to the education and mentoring of doctors on its learning pathways. “I’m very humbled, but it takes a village to support medical education, especially rurally,” Dr Stewart said.
“I’ve got a great team that I work with and lots of colleagues who have supported me.”
Dr Stewart has been based in Townsville for 35 years and is the college’s national clinical lead for training programs.
She also works at Townsville University Hospital as a GP specialising in cardiology, and does private medical research and consultancy work.
Dr Stewart said she enjoyed working in the area as it had “a good balance of medical resourcing and community networks”.
“The medical community is very well linked and supportive of each other, and every time there’s a big crisis we rally together and support each other,” she said.
“A lot of the medical students stay in the area after they come through (medical school and GP training), so we also have homegrown talent.”
Dr Stewart said her approach to teaching and mentoring students heavily focused on collaborating and analysing efforts with students, rather than reading piles of textbooks.
“I’ve always said its about the conversation, rather than the content,” she said.
“Understanding the person and the problem is what it’s all about, not just throwing them textbooks.
“You get to the bottom of the problem you’re trying to solve, put in a good plan of attack, look at the outcome, see how successful it was, and do it again until you get it right.”
Dr Stewart said she was excited that a Townsville office has recently opened to support RACGP members.
I’m very humbled, but it takes a village to support medical education DR REBECCA STEWART