The RFDS's very own Dr Ishani Kaluthotage was recently named Rural Registrar of the Year for her contributions to rural and remote health care.
RFDS SA/NT Rural Generalist Dr Ishani Kaluthotage received the prestigious award at the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) #WONCA2023 conference in Sydney in October.
Dr Ishani joined the RFDS in 2022 as a Rural Generalist at the RFDS Port Augusta Base, servicing remote Far North and West regions of the state.
Before coming to the RFDS, Dr Ishani took undergraduate and postgraduate professional placements throughout very remote locations in Far North Queensland, SA and the NT, as well as pursuing volunteering opportunities in Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Nepal, India and Tanzania.
The Rural Registrar of the Year award recognises an exceptional registrar who demonstrates a commitment to improving the health and wellbeing of communities in rural or remote Australia.
Dr Ishani's peers and patients consistently cite her warm and caring approach to patient care and her innate capacity to build rapport with people across broad cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
“We’re proud to have Ishani as part of our incredible team of Rural Generalists Ishani brings a vast diversity of experience working and volunteering in remote locations throughout her undergraduate and postgraduate studies," RFDS SA/NT Clinical Director, Primary Care Dr Amanda Bethell said.
"This, along with her clinical skills, creativity, can-do attitude and friendly nature, enable her to relate well to our patients across the remote stations, towns and Aboriginal communities of outback South Australia."
Rural/Remote Health Innovator of the Year
The RFDS Electronic Health Record (EHR) project team was recently awarded Rural/Remote Health Innovator of the Year at Rural Health Pro's inaugural National Rural and Remote Health Awards in Canberra in November.
Designed from the ground up by the RFDS, the EHR was a mammoth project aiming to further enhance patience care, clinical safety and health outcomes.
The new web-based application serves as a 'digital medical bag'. From a laptop or mobile device, RFDS crews can now digitally record a patient's vital health stats during flight and share the data live with awaiting receiving teams on the ground, meaning life-saving decisions can be made even before the aircraft wheels touch down.
Critically, the EHR works even when offline, making it ideal for the outback or 10,000 feet above sea level.
