Mentoring a John Flynn medical student was the easiest way to 'give something back', say experienced mentors who have recently signed up to take students from the 2012 intake. A mentor from NSW summarised the feelings of many saying that John Flynn medical students are 'low maintenance' and made a positive contribution to their practice. The mentor said that the two-week visits over four consecutive years helped develop a real rapport between the student and the community. Mentors who currently take more than two students nominated the informality

Dr Mike Beckoff, the new South Australian Director on the ACRRM Board, sees opportunities for improving the delivery of rural health services in his home state. He nominated furthering collaborative relationships with key players such as Medicare Locals, Local Health Networks, and Country Health as a priority, and said that formal recognition of the status and pivotal roles of rural practitioners was paramount.

On the day the new Advanced Retrieval Medicine module was launched on RRMEO, members began enrolling at the rate of one every two minutes. This rapid response, and the earlier popularity of the Basic module, highlights a need for quality, accessible retrieval training. Both modules were developed collaboratively by ACRRM and the RFDS, and authored by the RFDS Queensland's Dr Minh Le Cong. Free to members advanced module attracts 24 Core PDP and MOPS points.

Despite poaching more doctors from overseas and training more in Australia, rural and remote communities could actually be worse off compared to the cities over the next decade ACRRM President, Professor Richard Murray said yesterday. He was commenting on the Health Workforce 2025 report and, while welcoming its release, he said that it pointed to a dreadful outcome for Australians living outside the major cities which amounted to a 'national policy emergency'.