Twelve RMOs at Wagga Wagga Base Hospital (WWBH) are former Junior Medical Officers (JMO)s, who have opted to continue working at the facility in 2025. Among them is Dr Catherine Hitches, who completed her second year as a JMO at Wagga last year.
Wagga Wagga Base Hospital has recently welcomed 33 JMOs for 2025.
The RMO role enables resident medical staff to work with more experienced senior doctors to develop and deliver treatment plans for patients.
“This usually includes working with nursing staff, consulting other specialist medical teams for advice, ordering scans, taking and interpreting blood tests, responding to patient concerns, and providing initial medical care to deteriorating patients including clinical and rapid reviews for the patients on our team and for patients in the hospital after hours,” Dr Hitches said.
“We then update the more senior doctors on our team with any results and/or changes in our patients and do it all again the next day.”
“The highlight of my junior doctor years has been working with the medical and allied health teams aiming to provide stability to a patient’s health.”
Dr Hitches attended medical school through the University of Newcastle and was awarded a cadetship through the Rural Doctors Network before joining the team at Wagga Wagga.
“I was inspired by the passion for healthcare shown in regional towns, as well as the very wide breadth of clinical presentations to these referral centres,” Dr Hitches said.
“Wagga has a good reputation for the training of junior doctors revolving around a culture focussed on teaching, and a supportive medical administration team.”
“Wagga was also close by to family in Canberra and ticked all the boxes.”
After living in Wagga Wagga for the past two years, Dr Hitches is full of praise for the city as a destination to work and play.
“Wagga has been a fantastic place to live and train for my junior doctor years,” she said.
“Summer spent at the barbecues by the river, or walking the dog around the lake and winters can be spent at the snowfields nearby or in front of the fireplace.
“Being a JMO in Wagga has been great, and I would tell myself two years ago it was the right decision to come here.
“The teaching you receive and the wide breadth of general medicine and surgical presentations you are exposed to in the emergency department, paediatrics, psychiatry, anaesthetics, obstetrics and gynaecology, pathology, rehabilitation medicine, radiology, rural GP, and the intensive care unit, are a great foundation to start from.”
Dr Hitches will be spending another year at WWBH in the Emergency Department as a Senior Resident Medical Officer, with the aim of broadening her emergency skills for use in more rural towns later in her career.
She then plans to jump into GP training here in the Murrumbidgee, before considering advanced skills training in paediatrics or mental health further down the line.
Dr Hitches sent a strong message to those considering a career in rural health.
“Just do it,” Dr Hitches said.
“While it can be daunting to move from the area in which you graduate university, I highly recommend going regional.”
“In my experience you’re supported well, you belong to a tight knit community, and your seniors take an active interest in your learning. You’ll be better for it.”
Here is where to out more about medical careers in the Murrumbidgee Local Health District.
