Archived Media and News

Medical Deans Australia and New Zealand President, Professor Michelle Leech AM, today welcomed
the announcement by the Australian Government of an additional 160 medical students who will be
trained in rural locations each year, beginning in 2024.

Medical Deans welcomes the AMA joining the call for a greater focus on the need to grow, support and sustain Australia’s rural medical workforce.

Growing the General Practice medical workforce is key to meeting the healthcare needs of our communities. In this paper we recommend reforms that would support more medical graduates and junior doctors choosing and progressing careers as GP specialists.

Medical Deans has welcomed the government’s recognition that we need to invest in more Australian-trained medical graduates to ensure we have the future doctors needed.

A new Indigenous Health Strategy released today by Medical Deans Australia and New Zealand reflects the continued commitment of medical schools across Australasia to contribute to improved health and social outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and Māori.

The 22 medical schools across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand are stepping up their work to make sure that students with a disability are given the support and reasonable adjustments needed to help them demonstrate and realise their potential, following new guidance for its members released today by their peak body, Medical Deans Australia and New Zealand (Medical Deans).

This report provides an overview of the current approaches to how professionalism is defined, taught, assessed, and remediated across Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand medical schools; common challenges and systemic issues; suggestions on potential areas for future collaboration and further research; and suggested useful resources.

Students exiting medical schools across Australia continue to demonstrate their commitment to becoming the doctors that our communities need, with data revealing their interest in a future career working outside capital cities and involving Indigenous health, teaching, and research.

Up to 8,000 medical students will get access to mental health first aid training over the next 2 years under an agreement announced today between the Australian government and Medical Deans Australia and New Zealand.

The impact of the COVID-19 crisis on health services is unprecedented in living memory. Clinicians and health services have shown incredible commitment to ensuring we can provide care to all those who need it now and in the months ahead, and we must do everything possible to support them.

As health services continue to respond to the impacts of COVID-19, medical schools are working with students and health services to clarify and support any roles for students in the health workforce response to the pandemic.

It is important to recognise that medical students need not be on the front-line of care for patients with COVID-19.

The increasing spread of the COVID-19 virus is having an unprecedented impact on the community and on health services which are gearing up to respond to the needs of patients and the community whilst also supporting their staff in difficult times.