Rural Medical Cadet program celebrates 35 years inspiring country doctors | The NSW Doctor Magazine Spring 2024

The following is an excerpt from the NSW Doctor Magazine spring edition 2024, a publication of AMA NSW.

This year marks 35 years of the NSW Rural Resident Medical Officer Cadetship Program, which is funded by the NSW Ministry of Health and has been administered by Rural Doctors Network (RDN) since 1993. The Program has been highly successful in drawing medical students toward careers serving remote, rural and regional areas and an Indigenous Cadetship program was added in 2012.  

Cadets receive $15,000 per year for the last two years of their medical studies if they commit to spending two years in a rural location after they graduate. Indigenous cadets receive $30,000 spread throughout the course of their study.

“After being the first in the family to go to university, I had no contacts or idea around medical programs like the RDN Cadetship, so I was very excited when I saw an advertisement on their Facebook Page,” said Taylor Glover, a current Indigenous cadet, who was raised in the Illawarra and is now in her final year of medicine at ANU.

“The Cadetship has provided me with an incredible network of friends all around NSW,” she said. “We always say that we know we’ve found our tribe because we are all so like-minded and supportive of one another.”

The Program has achieved enviable long-term retention results. The secret of its success lies not only in the financial support it offers but also in this emphasis on building connectedness.

“Its biggest offering is a supportive network – from the Cadet weekends and conferences”, says fourth year Wollongong med student, Morgan See, who hails from Brisbane. “Medicine is the best way I can advocate for people at their most vulnerable time and the Cadetship added another dimension to med school in terms of support,” he said.

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RDN to mark 35 years of cadet program 

In November 2024, current RDN cadets will be among those gathering for the Medical Student Rural Inspiration Conference as part of Rural Health Month at Manly, in Sydney. To complete the inspirational circle of connectedness, a cadet alumni event will be held and students will join practising rural GPs at the Rural GPs Conference Dinner and Rural Medical Service Awards, recognising GPs who’ve dedicated 35 years to working rurally.

Related reading

• Register for the Medical Student Rural Inspiration Conference | Rural Health Month event
• Indigenous Cadet Shay-Lee Coulson's driving force to "increase the likelihood of a First Nations patient presenting to a First Nations doctor"
• 1000km RDN Cadet road trip takes rural doctors of tomorrow out beyond the ranges