Canterbury Paediatric Registrar wins Australasian gold medal

November 23, 2011

Canterbury Paediatric Registrar wins Australasian gold medal

Canterbury District Health Board paediatric registrar Andrew Dodgshun has won a gold medal for the highest overall performance in the Royal Australasian College of Physicians Fellowship (FRACP) exams in paediatrics.

Two hundred and seventy paediatric trainees from across New Zealand and Australia sat the exams, which comprised a written and clinical component.

CDHB chief executive David Meates congratulated Andrew, who he said has set a high standard for paediatrics both here and overseas.

"Andrew's achievement is even more special given the context of the earthquakes and his busy role as paediatric registrar," Mr Meates said.

"This award reflects his personal commitment and the teaching and environment provided by our Child Health Service. It is clear that Canterbury remains one of the best places to train as a Resident Medical Officer - earthquakes are incidental."

Andrew Dodgshun, who is a graduate of Otago Medical School, said he was "blown away" when he received the letter saying he was being awarded the medal.

"I knew I had done well but I didn't know how well compared with others."

Andrew got 84 per cent for his written exam and a mark of 55 out of 70 for the clinical exam.

The written exam on February 28 this year was to be held in Christchurch but was shifted to Dunedin and Andrew and the other Christchurch paediatric registrars flew there to sit it.

Andrew said he had always been drawn to paediatrics.

"I gave everything else a go but I applied for a position as a paediatric house surgeon after my first year and I haven't looked back."

Apart from the clinical challenges, he also enjoys the interaction with the patients' families and "the fun that you can have".

"It gives you an excuse to be a bit silly. Professor South from Melbourne Royal Children's Hospital calls it 'the judicious use of silliness' and I think that is a good way of putting it."

Andrew, who is the first doctor in his family, said he was looking forward to flying to Brisbane in May to pick up his award.

Director of Paediatric training, Cameron Dickson, said the department was proud of all its registrars who sat and passed the FRACP paediatric exams this year.

"As a department, we are immensely proud in Andrew's personal achievement of being awarded the gold medal for the paediatric examination out of all the Australasian paediatric exam candidates in 2011," Dr Dickson said.

"He is a hard working and capable doctor and a well respected member of the paediatric department's junior team."

Dr Dickson said Andrew was highly motivated to learn and dedicated to his patients and their families, and would go a long way in his chosen field.

Andrew starts training shortly as an Advanced Trainee in Paediatric Oncology.

Caption: Christchurch Hospital paediatric registrar Andrew Dodgshun and Samual Roderique (14 months) in the Children's Assessment Ward.

ENDS

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