‘Interesting, challenging, rewarding’: Remote GP’s winning streak

Growing up in the south-west of Western Australia, Dr Dean McKittrick always knew he wanted to return to the country as soon as he had the opportunity.
 
Thus, he embarked on a stint in rural general practice training.
 
Now having completed all his training requirements working as a Fellowed GP, with the addition of Rural Generalist Training in Emergency Medicine, Dr McKittrick continues to work in the Kimberley region in rural Western Australia covering the catchment areas of Derby and Fitzroy Valley, with the Derby Renal Health Centre, a Kimberley renal services clinic.
 
‘I love the way my job takes me to so many unique and remote locations; some of which are closed off to the general public requiring permission from community Elders to enter,’ Dr McKittrick told newsGP.
 
‘To have the opportunity to see some of these places and the rugged beauty they hold is an incredible privilege. I also enjoy working with patients from rural and remote regions, to see the challenges they face, and their resilience is always awe inspiring.
 
‘The draw card to general practice was the variety of cases you could see and the rapport you can build with patients.
 
‘It is one of the greatest parts of our jobs – we see people at their best and worst and no other speciality has such a close relationship with their patients throughout their life.’
 
Last year, Dr McKittrick was honoured for his commitment to the Kimberley community as one of the dual winners of the 2023 Rural Registrar of the Year Award, alongside Dr Ishani Kaluthotage.
 
He said receiving the award not only helped to support the work he does in his rural WA community, but his overall general practice journey.
 
‘Winning the award assisted in putting the spotlight on the preventive disease work our team conducts in our region,’ he said.
 
‘The media attention gained from winning has given us the opportunity to promote regular health checks and engagement with local clinics via radio and newspaper interviews.’
 
Dr McKittrick’s current role at the renal clinic work has ‘a lot of opportunity’ to provide education to patients of all ages.
 
‘It is something I really enjoy,’ he said.
 
‘It is a mix of managing dialysis patients in these areas and also being proactive in disease prevention to the wider community. It involves a lot of travel to remote places to reach clinics and support from our tertiary hospital specialists, as some of our patients are quite complex.
 
‘It is equal parts interesting, challenging and rewarding to provide support, education and medical management to people living in these extremely remote communities.’ 

‘No other speciality has such a close relationship with patients throughout their life,’ Dr Dean McKittrick, who manages dialysis patients, says.

To recognise those going above and beyond for their community, like Dr McKittrick, nominations for the 2024 RACGP Rural and RACGP Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health awards are still open for GPs, GPs in training, supervisors, practices, medical students or educators, until 14 August.
 
But to get to this point in a general practice career, a supported training journey that focuses on transparency and wellbeing is paramount, and one that will also ensure strong attraction and retention of the general practice workforce – according to Dr McKittrick – who didn’t always have this experience during his training time.
 
‘One of the biggest challenges faced by general practice as a profession is to ensure we are appropriately rewarded for the work we do,’ he said.
 
‘It was something I struggled with a lot as a GPT1 registrar, to give a dollar value to the work I had completed, especially coming from a hospital setting where all my work was free of charge for patients.
 
‘This led to excessive bulk billing, discounted consult fees and late nights catching up on paperwork because I was “not a real GP yet”. This is a very slippery slope and if not addressed early, can lead to significant burnout and really take the shine away from the great job that being a GP is.
 
‘I’m thankful I had great supervisors who picked up on this habit early and assisted me through this steep learning curve of becoming a GP.’
 
Because the business model of general practice is not something taught in medical school or hospital training, Dr McKittrick sees it as ‘another facet to get your head around’ while commencing the training pathway.
 
He encourages all registrars to reach out and ask for support if they feel they can relate to any of the challenges he outlines.
 
‘Rest assured you are not alone,’ he said.
 
‘There are so many wonderful supervisors out there who are more than happy to offer their support and wisdom, as they were there once too.
 
‘Supporting up and coming GPs is pivotal if we are to keep a robust workforce moving forward.’ 
 
Nominations for the RACGP Rural and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health awards are open until 11.59 pm (AEST), Wednesday 14 August. More information and a full list of selection criteria is available on the RACGP website.
 
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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health GPs in training RACGP awards renal clinics rural generalist rural workforce