P R O V I D E N C E

Years ago my family went for a month long road trip to New Zealand. We stayed briefly at a two story (service apartment like) town house. I remember telling my mum about how much I liked it. It was a cozy two story house with bedrooms upstairs and a nice lounge, dining and kitchen downstairs. Apparently I was raving about it for days afterwards according to mum...who still remembers it ~ten years later.

The month of October 2014 will be remembered as one of the defining moments of my life. I had been in a bit of a rut. Jobsearch failed. Havent been out with friends in ages. Neglected my bros. Some acute psychosocial stressor I cant talk about. I was getting depressed.


I had applied for two registrar positions. One of which was invalid (for technical reasons).

Yes. I was quite stupid. I effectively applied for one job for 2014 - The Monash Medical Junior ED Registrar position. The interview went brilliantly for 45 minutes. But I was ultimately told I was unsuccessful as there were more eligable candidates. Later I learnt that HMO (generic third year) applications were done separately from ED Reg positions - but by then the application deadlines had passed!

I had signed the contract to continue working in a country ED for a full twelve months. Unaccredited HMO hours that do not count towards formal training in Emergency Medicine. But hey, experience is experience, and I want to do Emergency Medicine. 

To all you PGY2's out there - remember to apply for HMO posts! Registrar posts can be competitive, especially at major centers!

Remember remember the 5th of November 15th of October. The day started with a presentation to the interns on acquired coagulopathies that went really well. Came back from conducting the session. Glanced at my phone. There it was: I had got the job!

I will be working at Monash Medical next year! The tertiary center from which I was trained. It's a full fledged 640 bed hospital with all specialties.

The icing on the cake? A bid for a property next to the hospital was due at 5pm that same day. The bid was placed, and was successful. That house I really liked in New Zealand? It's like that, but even better, with a small private bbq area.

The rosters have just been released. It's confirmed. I'll be staying closer to the hospital than the staff carpark! In my own home. For the first six months. Then I'll be at Monash Medical Dandenong, another state of the art ED.

Much later (after the deposit was paid) I found out that the second closest bid was only $AU2k less than mine. Should the job offer not have arrived that afternoon... or should I have not checked my email... I would not have won the house as my bid would have been over $10,000 less!! Looking at the roster there are only four ... FOUR!.. junior ED registrar positions out of 85 ED Registrar positions at Monash Medical (covering four centers). Now that is a divine stroke of luck.

A blessing to the n^th degree, taking things to the next level.

P R O V I D E N C E