INTERNS
Start your medical career at one of the most ambitious regional health services in Australia.
Internships at BRHS
From 2025, Bairnsdale Regional Health Service (BRHS) will host 5 interns in the region for the full year of internship.
These placements combine with 5 rural generalist interns (see brhs.com.au/victorian-rural-generalist-program/) and 5 Eastern Health rotational placements.
These rural pathway placements are an opportunity to experience rural medicine, working with and alongside general practitioners, visiting and staff specialists within a fit-for-purpose community-focused hospital.
BRHS is a multi-faceted and growing regional health system providing a comprehensive array of health care services to the East Gippsland community.
We have 3 campuses in Bairnsdale and we’re East Gippsland’s largest employer.
We provide opportunities for staff and students across specialties including emergency, acute, sub-acute, maternity, residential aged care, allied health, community health, oral health, information technology, administration, finance and extensive support services.
BRHS is located on the lands of the Gunaikurnai people.
Our medical services
The BRHS Medical Services Division has 3 clinical areas. The BRHS Medical Services Directorate has 5 clinical disciplines (internal medicine, general medicine, emergency medicine, rehabilitation medicine and surgery), pharmacy, medical imaging, pathology and a medical workforce administration team.
The BRHS senior medical workforce comprises 3 general surgeons, 3 general physicians, 1 rehabilitation physician, 8 or more senior medical officers (emergency medicine), various fractional medical specialists and locums in a wide range of medical and surgical specialties.
The administrative area comprises a director of medical service (DMS), a deputy director of medical services (DDMS), a medical workforce manager with four administration support Officers.
BRHS also has a supervisor (director) of clinical training, a rural generalist program manager and a medical education officer.
Clinical disciplines
The internal medicine team manages the High Dependency Unit (including evening and overnight on-call support), the Hospital in the Home (HITH) program and hospital-based patient care.
Physicians also care for patients in our medical consulting rooms.
The general medicine team has 18 GP VMOs with admission rights to BRHS. This provides acute inpatient care, and obstetric and anaesthetic services.
The rehabilitation unit provides acute inpatient services and an outpatient consultancy service.
The surgical unit includes 2 operating theatres, a recovery room, a pre-admission clinic and day procedure ward supported by a 20-bed surgical ward.
Local and visiting specialists offer services including general surgery, orthopaedics, gynaecology, urology, ophthalmology, endoscopy and dental. Local rural generalist anaesthetists provide anaesthetic services.
The ED is open 24/7 service that provides trauma and emergency healthcare. It has 2 resus beds, 9 cubicles, a health assessment room, fast track and treatment rooms and a 5-bed short-stay unit.
Diagnostic facilities at BRHS include pathology, general radiology, CT, fluoroscopy, sonography, echocardiography and MRI.
General information
The mainstream program is a great introduction to a rural medical career. It offers training in health service and primary care settings while working alongside a broad range of hospital medical officers and specialists, local GPs and rural generalists. All these medical officers mentor our interns.
Pastoral care and support
Nervous about starting your internship? Don’t be.
BRHS has a well-resourced support network. We take our pastoral care, wellbeing and welfare obligations very seriously.
Education Program
The education program is a key component for pre-vocational training that integrates education across multiple sites.
Interns attend a protected teaching session each week that forms part of the educational opportunities offered at BRHS.
- Each intern can attend a full year of weekly educational activities based on the Australian Curriculum Framework for Junior Doctors.
- The program has a strong skills-based component working with the Monash Rural Clinical School. All interns are released from their clinical duties to attend these workshops.
- Where appropriate, some educational activities will be multi-disciplinary and/or vertically integrated either with medical students, GPs or rural generalists.
- Teaching will include access to the Rural Generalist education training program where there are additional monthly education practical sessions.
One-on-one teaching on the run moments and supervisory review are in addition to this program.
Work/Life balance
We’re close to the stunning Gippsland Lakes, the Ninety Mile Beach, ancient rainforests, wild rivers and rugged mountains. We’re close to the Mount Hotham and Dinner Plain ski fields for winter snow. East Gippsland offers fine food, wine, great pub fare, arts and cultural pursuits and the freshest produce. You will enjoy a perfect work/life balance completing your prevocational training with BRHS.
Here’s more info about this beautiful region.
Orientation
Our interns and rural generalist interns are inducted together in a week-long, face-to-face orientation program to prepare you for working at BRHS.
Doctors in Training positions
PGY1 Interns – 5 posts (from 2025)
Rotations in 2025 include a combination of general practice, emergency medicine, internal medicine, general surgery and rehabilitation medicine.
You will have at least 48 weeks of supervised clinical experience covering the core rotations.
HMO2 – (from 2025) RG2 or mainstream
Your second year at Bairnsdale is tailored to meet your career aspirations. BRHS offers lateral entry to the rural generalist program (RG2). This meets ACRRM and/or RACGP pathway requirements. Or, you can continue with a general HMO year.
Rotations are constructed from the following disciplines to suit your requirements:
- emergency medicine (with option of anaesthetic experience)
- general practice (with direct link to hospital GPAs and GPOs)
- general medicine
- internal medicine
- general surgery
- rehabilitation medicine
HMO3 – (From 2025) RG3 or mainstream
For PGY3, BRHS offers the rotations to complete the core hospital training requirements for Rural Generalist training:
- obstetrics and gynaecology
- anaesthetics
- emergency medicine
- internal medicine (with High Dependency Unit)
- general medicine
- Medical Ambulatory Day Unit (oncology, dialysis and specialist outpatient – cardiology, rheumatology, stroke and respiratory), or
- continue with a tailored HMO3 year concentrating in a particular specialty, often as an unaccredited registrar.
Applications
For BRHS Year 1 positions for the 2025 training year, apply through the PMCV Victorian Intern Match, which opens 6 May 2024.
All 5 BRHS Year 1 positions will be offered through the Victorian Rural Preferential Allocation (VRPA) round.
More information about the match – including information about the VRPA round – is available here.
If you are interested in joining our program in 2025, please contact us before the match. We offer a bespoke program and pride ourselves on the quality of intern experiences at BRHS.
Please phone us on (03) 5156 6356 or email us. We will be happy to answer your questions and organise a tour for you. We can introduce you to our current interns so you can hear firsthand what your time in the program would be like.
To apply for BRHS positions, trainees should:
- Demonstrate an understanding and commitment to a career in a rural setting.
- Identify why you aspire to become a rural doctor.
- Provide an outline of your career pathway and why a rural Internship will be your top preference.
- BRHS Medical Workforce
- Imogen Kelly, Medical Workforce Unit Manager
- medical.recruitment@brhs.com.au
- 03 5150 3356
- 122 Day Street, Bairnsdale VIC 3875, Australia
To apply for BRHS mainstream intern positions, trainees should: email cover letter to medical.recruitment@brhs.com.au
- Demonstrate an understanding and commitment to a career in a rural setting
- Identify why you aspire to become a rural doctor
- Provide an outline of your career pathway and why a rural Internship will be your top preference
Some features of BRHS include:
- 52 Acute Beds
- 19 Sub-Acute Beds
- Modern Theatre Suite
- High Dependency Unit
- Day Procedure Unit
- Oncology/Medical Ambulatory Day Unit
- Dialysis Unit
- Emergency Department + Short Stay Unit
- Palliative Care
- Maternity Services
- Aged Care Facility
- Allied Health Services
- Medical Outpatient Services
- Home-Based Services including Hospital in the Home, Community Health and a CBD campus.
