‘An incredible opportunity’: Nominate for RACGP Awards

When Dr Jean-Baptiste Philibert submitted his entry to the RACGP Awards four years ago, little did he know the impact his short essay would have on this career.
 
At the time he was a medical student in Western Sydney, and today he is an intern at Albury Wodonga Health and well on his way to achieving his goal of becoming a rural GP.
 
Recipient of the 2020 Rural Medical Student Bursary Award, Dr Philibert said this win was the boost he needed to thrive in medicine.
 
‘It was just a great boost of confidence and knowing that I was on the right track,’ he told newsGP.
 
‘It was an incredible opportunity – I ended up being the student representative on the Rural Council for two years after that, so it really got my foot in the door.
 
‘It’s very valuable to be recognised and having people know your name, and it’s also the ability to see what more there is to do in your degree.’
 
Nominations are now open for the 2024 RACGP Awards, which are open to GPs, GPs in training, GP supervisors, or general practices going above and beyond.
 
The annual awards are designed to ‘recognise excellence in general practice and dedication to holistic patient care’, and include several national, state, rural, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health awards.
 
The long list of awards includes General Practitioner of the Year, the Future Leaders President’s Medal, the Standing Strong Together Award, and the Rural Registrar of the Year Award.
 
To win his Rural Medical Student Bursary Award, Dr Philibert had to prepare a short essay.
 
This year, nominees are asked to describe a ‘model that you have seen in MMM3–7 where the teamwork across all health disciplines leads to great outcomes’.
 
‘I actually really enjoyed the researching of it because it was about the idea that GPs are involved in a lot more than what people think they are,’ Dr Philibert said.
 
‘It was a really enjoyable experience in terms of researching out-of-the-box thinking for my future career, and getting inspired by how relevant it was.’
 
Today, Dr Philibert is enjoying his new, regional lifestyle, and said for anyone thinking of entering the awards, to ‘go for it’.
 
‘When I came into medicine, I was always interested in working rurally and remote as much as I could, and I wanted to get some experience of that as a student,’ he said.
 
‘I just wanted to make the most of it because I came into medicine a bit later in life after having a few careers and travelled around, so it was fantastic.
 
‘Now I work in a small hospital a five-minute drive from the house, and I’ve got a family now so it’s really enjoyable.
 
‘The RACGP is really good at engaging students and recognising them and encouraging them, so, absolutely, for anyone out their thinking about it, put your hand up.’
 
Nominations for the state and national awards are open until 11.59 pm (AEST), Wednesday 31 July.
 
The deadline has been extended for the RACGP Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and the Rural awards, with nominations closing at 11.59 pm (AEST), Wednesday 14 August.
 
More information and a full list of selection criteria can be found on the RACGP website.
 
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