College of Medicine and Dentistry Making a difference in Fiji and Pacific Islands
Making a difference in Fiji and Pacific Islands
- Future Students
- JCU Global Experience
- International Students
- Open Day
- How to apply
- Pathways to university
- Virtual Open Day
- Living on Campus
- Courses
- Publications
- Scholarships
- Parents and Partners
- JCU Heroes Programs
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander in Marine Science
- Elite Athletes
- Defence
- Current Students
- New students
- JCU Orientation
- LearnJCU
- Placements
- CEE
- Unicare Centre and Unicampus Kids
- Graduation
- Off-Campus Students
- JCU Job Ready
- Safety and Wellbeing
- JCU Prizes
- Professional Experience Placement
- Employability Edge
- Art of Academic Writing
- Art of Academic Editing
- Careers and Employability
- Student Equity and Wellbeing
- Career Ready Plan
- Careers at JCU
- Partners and Community
- JCU-CSIRO Partnership
- Alumni
- About JCU
- Reputation and Experience
- Chancellery
- Governance
- Celebrating 50 Years
- Academy
- Indigenous Engagement
- Education Division
- Graduate Research School
- Research and Teaching
- Research Division
- Research and Innovation Services
- CASE
- College of Business, Law and Governance
- College of Healthcare Sciences
-
College of Medicine and Dentistry
-
Research
-
Project Portal
- CMD research project asset list
- Chronic Pelvic Pain Faecal Microbiome Study
- Service delivery strategies for rural/ remote allied health
- TREAD: Translational Research in Endocrinology and Diabetes 'Multiple projects'
- Australia's burden from peripheral artery disease
- Glucose control and outcome of peripheral revascularisation
- Outcome for abdominal aortic aneurysm admissions across Australia
- Diet and vascular disease
- Genetics of abdominal aortic aneurysm
- Biomarkers of aortic aneurysm and peripheral artery disease outcome
- Testing novel treatments for peripheral artery disease and abdominal aortic aneurysm
- Clinical trials of novel treatments for peripheral artery disease, diabetes-related foot disease and abdominal aortic aneurysm
- Multiple projects in Microbiology and infectious Diseases
- Piloting a continuous quality improvement framework to strengthen quality of care in Aboriginal residential aged care.
- Strengthening primary health care to promote healthy ageing and reduce risk factors associated with dementia in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
- Multiple research opportunities in Psychiatry
- The role of partner dancing on biopsychosocial status of older adults and their significant others
-
Project Portal
- News & Stories
- Get Involved
- Short Courses & Professional Development
- Clinical Electives for Non-JCU students
- Dentistry
- Medicine
- Pharmacy
- Making Rural Health Matter
- General Practice and Rural Medicine
- Northern Queensland Regional Training Hubs
- Contact us
- Learning and Teaching
-
Research
- College of Science and Engineering
- CPHMVS
- Anthropological Laboratory for Tropical Audiovisual Research (ALTAR)
- Anton Breinl Research Centre
- Agriculture Technology and Adoption Centre (AgTAC)
- Advanced Analytical Centre
- AMHHEC
- Aquaculture Solutions
- AusAsian Mental Health Research Group
- ARCSTA
- Area 61
- Lions Marine Research Trust
- Australian Tropical Herbarium
- Australian Quantum & Classical Transport Physics Group
- Boating and Diving
- Clinical Psychedelic Research Lab
- Centre for Tropical Biosecurity
- Centre for Tropical Bioinformatics and Molecular Biology
- CITBA
- CMT
- Centre for Disaster Solutions
- CSTFA
- Cyclone Testing Station
- The Centre for Disaster Studies
- Daintree Rainforest Observatory
- Fletcherview
- JCU Eduquarium
- JCU Turtle Health Research
- Language and Culture Research Centre
- MARF
- Orpheus
- TESS
- JCU Ideas Lab
- TARL
- eResearch
- Indigenous Education and Research Centre
- Estate
- Work Health and Safety
- Staff
- Discover Nature at JCU
- Cyber Security Hub
- Association of Australian University Secretaries
- Services and Resources Division
- Environmental Research Complex [ERC]
- Foundation for Australian Literary Studies
- Gender Equity Action and Research
- General Practice and Rural Medicine
- Give to JCU
- Indigenous Legal Needs Project
- Inherent Requirements
- IsoTropics Geochemistry Lab
- IT Services
- JCU Webinars
- JCU Events
- JCU Motorsports
- JCU Sport
- Library
- Mabo Decision: 30 years on
- Marine Geophysics Laboratory
- Office of the Vice Chancellor and President
- Outstanding Alumni
- Pharmacy Full Scope
- Planning for your future
- Policy
- PAHL
- Queensland Research Centre for Peripheral Vascular Disease
- Rapid Assessment Unit
- RDIM
- Researcher Development Portal
- Roderick Centre for Australian Literature and Creative Writing
- Contextual Science for Tropical Coastal Ecosystems
- State of the Tropics
- Strategic Procurement
- Student profiles
- SWIRLnet
- TREAD
- TropEco for Staff and Students
- TQ Maths Hub
- TUDLab
- UAV
- VAVS Home
- WHOCC for Vector-borne & NTDs
- Media
- Copyright and Terms of Use
- Australian Institute of Tropical Health & Medicine
- Pay review
For thousands in Fiji and across the Pacific, access to highly skilled primary health care professionals in rural and remote communities can be lifesaving. So when James Cook University’s (JCU) Doctor Ruth Eagles was given the opportunity to assist with establishing the country’s first Postgraduate Diploma of Family Medicine through Fiji National University, she jumped at the chance, packing up her young family and relocating to Suva for six months.
“I think this is a wonderful first step. I hope it will continue to develop, and lead to a level of professional recognition for those who provide a very valuable and much needed service within the community", Dr Eagles said.
Until now Fijian doctors wanting to specialise in General Practice have had to undertake training in either Australia or New Zealand. The Postgraduate Diploma in Family Medicine provides a region-specific course that allows doctors to train locally while still living and working in their communities.
“We’re using a distance education model for this program. It’s a little different to any other postgraduate diploma offered in Fiji. Being a primary care specialty program it was important for us to keep people where they’re most needed.
“Our students are fully qualified doctors already working in the primary care sector. It’s pretty exciting to be able to keep them in their communities while they study. It's particularly important in the more remote areas where their departure would have a big impact,” she said.
The course is also benefiting those further afield, with the Diploma also being undertaken by doctors in the neighbouring Kingdom of Tonga.
“It’s a new and innovative training model for Fiji. We have nine students at the moment. Our five Fijian students are located in towns and cities which span Fiji’s main island, Viti Levu, from east to west. We have also been able to have four based in Tonga, right from the first cohort”, she said.
The idea to set up the program first came about five years ago during a visit to Fiji by the head of JCU’s GP Training program, Dr Peta-Ann Teague, who saw the benefits of locally trained specialists working in underserved communities.
“Good primary care is the building block of health for communities. If you have good, effective primary care, you can keep people healthy, not just treat them when they get sick.
“It's a game changer for under-resourced and remote communities when you have doctors who can provide primary health care, as well as treat patients when they become seriously unwell", Dr Teague said.
And Dr Teague believes offering a fit for purpose course developed in-country will have many benefits.
“It’s wonderful that this is a home grown degree, not an overseas course imposed on Fijians. It also means doctors haven't had to leave to study something in Australia or New Zealand that doesn’t fit their community. It’s aimed at the needs of the region.”
There have been several attempts to get the project off the ground over the past few years, but it has been a partnership between Fiji National University’s School of Medical Sciences, and James Cook University, that saw it come to life.
Dr Eagles believes improvements in technology are providing an ever evolving and supportive learning environment, while allowing doctors to remain where they are most needed.
“The use of webinars and online discussion forums has helped. Even if these doctors are widely dispersed they can still collaborate on a day to day basis.”
The first cohort started in February and is expected to graduate at the end of the year. Meanwhile, planning is already underway to develop a course for doctors to train to the specialist Masters level in Family Medicine.
“To specialise in Fiji you initially do a one year diploma, which gives you a basic qualification in that field. Graduates can then apply for a Masters level course which leads to specialisation in the field. This program is very much in line with that.”
“The course would have a very strong rural component. Doctors wanting to work in remote regions would develop a broad array of advanced clinical skills to serve their communities.”
James Cook University has already worked with Fiji National University and the Fijian government to support a Masters in Emergency Medicine in the Pacific nation.
Dr Teague says the latest collaboration is continuing to deepen and strengthen relationships while helping with capacity building in the region.
“We have a very respectful and collaborative relationship, which benefits all of us. None of this has happened by chance”, she said.
While Dr Eagles and her Family are now back in Australia, she’ll continue to manage aspects of the program remotely. In the meantime, Rockhampton based GP and JCU Medical Educator Dr Nadim Cody will take up the baton as the full time course coordinator in Fiji for the next year.