Health Career Pathways
How I became an Emergency Physician
with Dr Kim Hansen
Dr Kim Hansen was initially attracted to emergency medicine because of its dynamic and chaotic environment. She enjoyed organising the chaos of the emergency department and working with a variety of patients, from newborn babies to centenarians. Dr Hansen found it fulfilling to help people get better or provide them with assistance and guidance when they couldn’t be cured. The unpredictability of the work was also part of the appeal, and she dedicated herself to developing the skills required to be a good emergency doctor.
To prepare for this role, the Dr Hansen worked in various specialties, including intensive care, paediatrics, anaesthesiology, general medicine, and infectious diseases. She also served as a board member and Chair for the Emergency Medicine Foundation and contributed to the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine in numerous ways, such as advancing women in emergency medicine and promoting patient safety and quality.
Dr Hansen acknowledges that emergency medicine can be a challenging field, as it involves shift work and can be emotionally taxing. However, she remains passionate about what she does to continue to contribute to her department, hospital, and the broader field of emergency medicine. Dr Hansen encourages medical students and junior doctors who enjoy working in a fast-paced, unpredictable environment to consider emergency medicine as a career.
Reflecting on her experience and career pathway, emergency medicine offers a broad range of opportunities, from working in a hospital emergency department to pre-hospital care, retrieval coordination, virtual healthcare, and other specialties such as intensive care, palliative care, or sports medicine. Dr Hansen sees emergency physicians as a cohesive group who support each other and enjoy each other’s company, and the field offers great mobility and work-life balance.
-
Lasers in dental treatment without needles and drills
In 2017, Dr. Omar Zuaiter and Alaa Habeb launched Dentroid, a dental technology startup with a mission to make dentistry a kinder and friendlier experience for patients and dentists using photonics (using laser technology) and robotics, as alternatives to needles, drills and sprays. The vision for the startup is to have dentistry adopt laser technology, addressing the root causes of dental pain & anxiety, and create a pain-free dental experience.
-
Awareness campaigns and HCP Toolkits for thyroid health
In 2021, the Australian Thyroid Foundation released analysis to show, well over 1 million Australian are living with an undiagnosed thyroid disorder, including thyroid cancer, lower IQs, lifelong disability, and a causal or possible contributory factor – in the development of other neurological disorders such as ADHD and autism. Some of the challenges for diagnosis and treatment can be addressed by producing material for health care practitioners during patient presentations.
‘Recent statistics show well over 1 million Australians are living with an undiagnosed thyroid disorder, awareness and testing can prevent unwarranted outcomes for mothers and their babies’ says ATF CEO Beverley Garside OAM
The Australian Thyroid Foundation has lodged a Pre-Budget Submission for the Federal Budget 2024-25 to counter increasing misinformation on social media creating dietary deficiencies such as an increasing number of young women, who are planning pregnancy or already pregnant opting for plant based milks such almond, soy or oat milk coffee as an alternative to standard cow’s milk, which is a source of iodine and alternate milks do not include.
-
Smart wearable technology recognised for improving quality of life
Nurses have a pivotal role to play in the widespread implementation and adoption of digital health technologies throughout the healthcare sector for the primary purpose of improving safety and quality of patient care.
Australian Health Journal talked to two of Australian top leaders in nursing and in digital health on how the role of nursing is pivotal to the success of digital health in the Australian health system.
