You’d be forgiven for thinking South Australian FGP Advisor Dr Natasha Nottingham has cloned herself over the summer holidays.
She has been everywhere at once during the first few months of 2022. Attending events like Farmageddon and GPEx’s Careers Expo, she has been an integral and approachable figure for general practice in South Australia.
Dr Nottingham’s belief in the importance of the GP specialty is reflected in her dedication to supporting aspiring GPs throughout their medical journey.
“It’s the future of our workforce and it’s vital for Australia that we are looking after these junior doctors because very soon they’re the ones who will look after people in both regional and urban communities.”
FGP Advisors are late-stage GP registrars and early-career GPs who can share real experience from both the training program and practice room.
As part of her role, Dr Nottingham has been offering career-based mentoring to make extra support available during the transition of training to the GP colleges.
“I’ve been meeting with junior doctors who want to know more about what the profession involves,” said Dr Nottingham.
“They want to know more about what a GP actually does and what the career looks like because in the hospital they don’t see any GPs; they work with a lot of medical or surgical registrars so those are the people that they go to for questions.”
“I absolutely love the interactions and having those one-on-one discussions.”
The presence of good role models is crucial to fostering open communication and confirming a love for the specialty, says Dr Nottingham.
“I was in a really fortunate position as an intern because I had someone I could talk to about general practice, but I wish I had even more people to talk to as that’s where you build your passion for the profession,” she said.
GP Ambassadors work across four states at a critical junction in the medical education pipeline: they engage FGP initiatives supported by GPRA and promote general practice to junior doctors in the hospital system thinking about specialist pathways.
“The role involves being that face of general practice in the hospital networks. They’re the person who’s in the know, who knows what hospital doctors want, and what questions that hospital doctors are interested in knowing the answers to,” said Dr Nottingham.
“I was in a really fortunate position as an intern because I had someone I could talk to about general practice, but I wish I had even more people to talk to as that's where you build your passion for the profession”