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It is totally unacceptable that any medical practitioner or support staff should be subject to verbal threats or physical violence, especially while looking after patients.

In order to reduce the risk of threats to a doctor’s personal safety it is important to do an assessment of the types of personal safety risks you could be exposed to in your role. This assessment should include:
–    Identifying the potential risks which should also include a review of the incidents reported.
–    Creating a register of the risks identified.

The VMWS Marvellous Medical Women Project is now underway. Medical Students from Melbourne and Monash University are interviewing Medical Women from the VMWS about their

What does it take to be the director of neurosurgery at the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne? At 45 Wirginia Maixner is one the youngest heads

“Doctors may be more at risk of health problems than the general population because of sedentary lifestyles and inevitable stressors associated with medical practice. Annual preventive health checks are recommended for healthy Australians, but rarely undertaken by doctors themselves. Many doctors have become more aware of the need to refrain from self diagnosis and self treatment.  Others have requested more individual support at certain stages of their careers, including during their transition from medical student to doctor in training, throughout registrar training or while adjusting to a new environment as an international medical graduate. However, only 25% of medical practitioners have their own GP. The current medical workplace shortage deters many doctors from taking time out of their busy practices to seek health care.”
– Medical Consulting Victoria

Are you a doctor or medical student seeking medical help for your own health and wellbeing? Speak up! The following organisations offer confidential health and medical services directed to assisting doctors in physical or psychological distress.

The Sexual Health Society of Victoria has launched the 7th Edition of the National Management Guidelines for Sexually Transmissible Infections.

The Guidelines have been medically edited by Dr David Bradford and have authors from all around Australia – with Sexual Health Physicians from every state contributing. This edition of the Guidelines has been endorsed by AChSHM as well as RACGP, ASHM, ASHHNA, and the Victorian Department of Human Services.

The Australian Federation of Medical Women has designed this website for Australian medical women. Medical information within this site is designed to complement and not

Women still report discrimination on gender grounds in medicine. The old “they’re letting women into medicine!” is still alive and well – female students report hearing this over and over again in spite of Victorian medical courses being 50-70% female.

In 2007 10.8% of Australian doctors-in-training were undertaking part time vocational training. Despite this, part time surgical training is essentially non existent, with only one stand alone part time surgical training position and 929 surgical trainees.

VMWS has submitted a proposal to the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission drawing attention to the lack of part time surgical training opportunities in Australia and the potential for part time surgical training to enhance the participation of doctors in the surgical workforce and the delivery of high quality, efficient medical care that will deliver significant benefits to the Australian health care system.