Ethan Renshaw
- +61 491 025 651
- Dubbo, NSW, Australia
- ethanrenshaw@icloud.com
I am a medical student in Dubbo, a regional city on the edge of the outback in central-western New South Wales, Australia. Dubbo is the main hospital hub for a rural catchment roughly the size of the United Kingdom but served by only a fraction of its doctors, and studying medicine here, I have made an early commitment to these underserved communities, where a few dedicated clinicians make an outsized difference to patients who would otherwise go without. That commitment has been recognised through my selection as one of just 25 students across the state for the Rural Doctors Network Cadetship, a competitive Australian pathway for future rural doctors, and it has drawn me toward three areas in particular: paediatrics, critical care, and education. As President and Simulation Organiser of the Critical Care Society at my Dubbo clinical school, I build clinical capability among my peers; as a leader of the Mirage rural high-school program, I introduce young people from these same communities to careers in healthcare.
An eight-week placement at Dubbo Base Hospital deepened my interest in paediatrics but also showed me its limits in a rural setting. The most complex cases were stabilised and then transferred hundreds of kilometres to tertiary centres in the cities, leaving me unable to follow them through to recovery. An elective at Great Ormond Street Hospital is the opportunity to see paediatric care through to its fullest extent, and to carry what I learn back to the communities I am committed to serving.