UNE Medicine and Health

29/05/2026

All those old lines about rural medicine being lonely, limited or “second best” were challenged last weekend in Armidale.

Over two days at UNE, more than 180 medical students met rural GPs and rural generalists, formed new friendships across the country, and got hands on with suturing, snakebite management, trauma and rural rescue scenarios, and plastering workshops.

Students spoke about discovering how much experience, mentorship and community is waiting in rural and regional Australia, while partners reflected on the privilege of helping future doctors see the benefits of becoming rural GPs and rural generalists.

Rural health is not a backup plan. It is a career and a life built from the ground up.

28/05/2026

🏥✨ Our new, purpose-built clinical nursing labs in Armidale are officially open! And they’re already changing what’s possible for nursing education in the regions.

Designed to replicate real-life clinical environments, these state-of-the-art labs were fast-tracked to meet strong demand for UNE’s re-introduced Master of Nursing Practice (Preregistration), which has quickly attracted a diverse cohort of local and international students.

UNE Vice-Chancellor Professor Chris Moran says the investment reflects UNE’s 2026–2035 Strategic Plan and a clear commitment to regional health:

“UNE has a responsibility to play a role in easing the systemic pressures in rural communities, and that starts with building the capacity to train more nurses right here in the regions.”

UNE Chancellor Dr Sarah Pearson highlights that the impact goes well beyond infrastructure:

“This isn't just a workforce problem; it's a social equity issue… When a student from Tamworth, Moree, or Glen Innes enters these labs, they can visualise themselves as a nurse with a future in their own region.”

Professor in Nursing, Rikki Jones, says the expanded labs give UNE the space and flexibility to:

🩺 Deliver modern, simulation-rich nursing education
💡 Innovate curriculum to meet industry and student needs
🌱 Grow training capacity, helping more graduates stay and work in regional Australia

Behind the scenes, UNE nursing academics, lab managers, clinicians, the Work Integrated Learning team and professional staff have worked tirelessly to ensure the new spaces meet accreditation standards and are genuinely shaped by staff and student needs.

👉 Read how these new labs are expanding nursing training capacity in Armidale and supporting the future regional nursing workforce in comments.

25/05/2026

Third‑year nursing students stepped into the shoes of rural clinicians, using digital technologies to recognise and respond to deteriorating patients in settings where there’s no doctor on site.

Working through two high‑stakes simulations, students:

👶 Assessed an 8‑week‑old baby with respiratory symptoms in a remote ED,
then used telehealth and structured ISBAR handover to escalate care to the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
❤️ Managed a 65‑year‑old patient with chest pain and rapidly changing observations,
interpreted an ECG indicating an inferior MI, and activated a virtual rapid response through vCare.
Across both scenarios, students practised:

◼️Using A–G assessment and paediatric observation charts
◼️Making timely escalation decisions based on CERS criteria
◼️Communicating clearly with virtual care teams via Zoom and telehealth setups
◼️Coordinating safe transfer and ongoing monitoring in a rural Multi‑Purpose Service environment

These labs build confidence in using digital technologies to escalate patient care, preparing our future nurses to deliver safe, timely care in rural and remote communities where virtual teams and services like RFDS and vCare are critical.

📚 Unit: HSNS372
🏥 Focus: Escalation of care via digital technologies in rural settings
👩‍⚕️👨‍⚕️ Graduate readiness: clinically sharp, digitally capable, and rural‑health focused.

22/05/2026

Always impressed by the brilliant insights from our students 👏💚

22/05/2026

🌾 From the Ground Up: Building the Future of Rural Health

This weekend we’re welcoming around 200 med students from across Australia to Armidale for AMSA’s Rural Health Summit 2026 on the UNE campus.

Hosted by local Medicine students, the summit is all about:
✨ Experiencing rural health where it’s lived and taught
🤝 Meeting rural clinicians, training hubs & future colleagues
🩺 Seeing real career pathways to live and work regionally

What’s on:
📍 Saturday 23 May – Lewis Lecture Theatre, UNE
• Rural health keynotes & panels
• Career chats with the Regional Training Hub (GP & non‑GP specialties)
• Busting myths about rural medicine & making connections

🚑 Sunday 24 May – Rural Rescue Challenge @ Sport UNE
From 8.30 am teams rotate through emergency & first responder scenarios.
🏆 Winners announced at midday.

Plus all weekend:
🌱 Wellness events grounded in regional living
🖤 Community‑led Indigenous wellbeing experience, centred on connection to Country
🎉 Social events including a Gala Night
🏡 Stay in UNE colleges & get a feel for life in Armidale

As AMSA President Seniru Mudannayake shares in the video, RHS is here to:
• Give students a genuine taste of rural health
• Offer one‑to‑one career planning and real contacts
• Let UNE students show off their skills in the Rural Rescue Challenge
• Prove that rural medicine is exciting, sustainable & deeply rewarding

To everyone travelling in: welcome to Armidale. If you get turned around on campus or in town, just ask – you’ll find plenty of friendly faces happy to help.

🎥 Hit play to hear more about what to expect this weekend.

19/05/2026

Birth is meant to be life‑changing, not life‑shattering. Yet around one‑third of women in Australia report their birth as traumatic.

Many then take part in a “debrief” session, believing it will help them process what happened. But emerging evidence suggests debriefing after birth can sometimes reinforce traumatic memories and increase distress rather than ease it.

At UNE, clinical psychologist Dr Lucy Frankham is leading a national trial with Professor Einar Thorsteinsson and the Maternity Consumer Network to test a more compassionate, evidence‑based alternative: Psychological First Aid for Birth Trauma.

This approach focuses on:

▪️creating safety and calm
▪️supporting agency and connection
▪️meeting immediate emotional and practical needs, rather than probing for details too soon

The goal is to develop a safe, standardised post‑birth response that could inform global post‑partum best practice and improve outcomes for mothers and babies.

🔗 Read how this trial could transform support for women after traumatic birth via comments below.

15/05/2026

Lonely in a crowd? Why friendships matter more than ever for young people

Australian teens are reporting record levels of loneliness, but one UNE alum is turning friendship into a kind of social medicine.

Clinical psychologist and UNE Adjunct Senior Research Fellow Dr Mary Kaspar, founder of The Friendship Project, has been working with school students across Australia to help them build healthier, more supportive friendships – and is now teaming up with UNE researchers to measure the impact.

From “transactional” online friendships to the power of truly feeling that you belong, this new UNE study is asking a big question: can strong friendships protect young people’s wellbeing in a hyper-connected world?

👉 Read how The Friendship Project is helping young people feel they truly belong and matter - link in comments.

07/05/2026

Congratulations to our May 2026 Medicine and Heath Cohort 🎉🎓

Welcome to the UNE alumni family 💚

01/05/2026

30/04/2026

Happy National Honesty Day! (we'll be honest, we didn't realise it's an American day, but it's too late for us to change our post so shh 🤫)

To celebrate, we asked some of our academics to tell us about some of the best and worst times they've been on the receiving end of some truth bombs. Here's what they had to say…