A longitudinal approach in the comprehensive third year Longlook program means Griffith University Third Year Medical Students work in a rural hospital for the year completing all curriculum requirements throughout the year rather than in short-term based rotations. For learning, the advantage of this approach is to see and participate in longitudinal care of chronic disease and other conditions that evolve, develop and are managed over longer periods than a term rotation.
Students work within the rural health team, fully integrated and learning as they go. Students are supervised by on-site junior doctors, registrars (training specialists) and specialist rural generalists and general practitioners.
Longlook students also have a unique opportunity to see patient medical care integrated from primary care in the community through to specialist care and back to their community.
A patient-centred approach recognizes that the majority of learning occurs from seeing and learning from patients in a safe environment. Students readily cover the curricula for these years of medicine learning around their work practicing to be ready for internship on graduation.
Third Year students choose one of the Griffith Rural major training sites in rural southern Queensland. The hub of the program on the Darling Downs is in Toowoomba, though students only visit this location for teaching and learning on Hub Days and specialist visits such as the Toowoomba Acute Mental Health Unit. Students are based at Kingaroy, Dalby, Warwick, Stanthorpe and Beaudesert hospitals for third year Longlook placements.
Meet the Team:
Dr Brendan Carrigan
AFRACMA, GCAHP, FACRRM, DRANZCOG Adv., MBBS, BSc(Hons)
Medical Lead Year 3 Longlook
Dr Brendan Carrigan is an experienced Rural Generalist clinician and educator who has a passion for delivery of medical education in rural areas. He is a Rural Generalist Obstetrician who began his rural career in Kingaroy in 2013. From 2015, Dr Carrigan was the Director of Clinical Training. He drove the expansion and innovation of the Griffith University medical student and prevocational training programs as well as embedding simulation into health professional education. In recognition of Dr Carrigan’s work he was awarded the Confederation of Postgraduate Medical Education Councils – Queensland Division Clinical Educator of the Year in 2019.Â
Dr Carrigan was appointed the Medical Lead of the Griffith University Year 3 Longlook program in 2020 where he leads a team of educators delivering rural longitudinal clerkships across hospitals in the Darling Downs, Beaudesert and Gympie. He maintains clinical practice, working part time as a Senior Medical Officer at Dalby Hospital and a General Practitioner with Special interest in Gynaecology at Toowoomba Hospital. Dr Carrigan also holds representative roles as the General Practitioner member of the Prevocational Medical Accreditation Queensland Accreditation committee, Queensland councillor for the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine and member of the National COVID19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce Guidelines Leadership Group.
b.carrigan@ruralmeded.org.au
