Time for ‘Doc-cupational’ health and safety: Former UN top doctor urges change in medical culture

Rural Medicine Australia 2024

23-26 October, Darwin

The time has come for the medical sector in Australia to “own and acknowledge” a masked gender and race problem, both in the profession itself and in medical training – with higher levels of harassment being reported by female and non-binary doctors, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander doctors, and doctors who have trained overseas.

That is according to Dr Jillann Farmer, Chief Executive Officer of A Better Culture – a coalition of health professionals working to eliminate bullying, harassment, racism and discrimination from healthcare workplaces.

Dr Farmer – who worked for 8 years as Medical Director of the United Nations, and in addition to her role with A Better Culture also undertakes clinical shifts in regional and rural hospital emergency departments – will be a keynote speaker at the Rural Medicine Australia 2024 (RMA24) conference, to be held in Darwin next week.

RMA24 is the joint annual conference of the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) and Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA).

“The Medical Board of Australia’s Medical Training Survey 2023 clearly shows higher self-reported rates of bullying, harassment, discrimination and racism are being experienced by women in medical training when compared with men, with significantly higher rates again for non-binary people, and yet higher rates again for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are undertaking medical training” Dr Farmer said.

 

“These are very stark and confronting findings that we, as a profession, have to acknowledge and accept responsibility for.

 

“The time for hand-wringing is over. We need to identify microaggressions – and identify and eliminate structural bias.

“We need to implement ‘Doc-cupational’ health and safety in our profession – to achieve not only safe and healthy healthcare workplaces, but a thriving healthcare workforce. We need to set expectations for workplace behaviour, embrace and expand career-long training and development, and hold ourselves and the system to account.

“Of all the professions, we are meant to be the one that cares deeply for our fellow humans – it is high time we start caring for our own colleagues too.”

President of the Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA), Dr RT Lewandowski, said: “It is wonderful to have Dr Farmer speaking at RMA24 to highlight the really crucial work that A Better Culture has been undertaking in this space. Rural and remote Australian health services are not exempt from these problems – and in rural settings, the impact is often not only on individual clinicians but also on the communities they serve. That is why it is so important that organisations like RDAA and ACRRM are doing everything possible to eliminate bullying, harassment, racism and discrimination from our profession.”

 

President of the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM), Dr Dan Halliday, said: “We often see that, where there is a strong culture and quality leadership, a health service can thrive – but where a health service is struggling to recruit and retain staff, a poor workplace culture can be a significant contributing factor. While acknowledging there are additional challenges in rural and remote healthcare, the leadership, workplace culture, respect and support we provide to our colleagues is within our control – and ensuring this is being achieved across all rural and remote healthcare settings is something that both ACRRM and RDAA actively and wholeheartedly support.”

A Better Culture is a Commonwealth funded project to address the findings of the Medical Training Survey (MTS). It is funded through the Specialist Training Program and hosted by the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators.

 

The RMA24 program has more than 100 educational sessions, keynote speakers, social events and practical workshops.

 

The RMA24 Conference themes are:

  • Build Up Clinical Knowledge: clinical skills and knowledge updates across all areas of rural and remote practice.
  • Build Up Cultural Competence: strengthening rural healthcare through inclusive practices and a greater understanding of cultural diversity.
  • Build Up Effective Communication: maximising scope of practice and collaboration in rural healthcare teams
  • Build Up Health Ecologies: examining environmental sustainability, public health, and rural healthcare delivery.
  • Build Up Resilience: strategies for building thriving rural communities through promoting holistic community well-being.
  • Build Up Innovation: research projects working to improve health equity, access, and outcomes for rural and remote communities.

Medical Board of Australia’s Medical Training Survey 2023


Media are welcome to attend most sessions at RMA24 but must pre-register in advance by contacting one of the RMA Media Team on the contact numbers below.

Find the program for RMA24 by clicking here.

Find the keynote speaker list for RMA24 by clicking here. (Check for ongoing updates)

Media contacts:

Patrick Daley (RDAA) – 0408 004 890
Petrina Smith (ACRRM) – 0414 820 847

ACRRM and RDAA acknowledge the Larrakia people as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which RMA24 will be held. We pay respect to their Elders past, present and emerging, and recognise these lands have always been a place of teaching and learning.