Resident Medical Officer
What the work is
Diagnoses, treats and prevents human physical and mental disorders and injuries under the supervision of senior Medical Practitioners.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Assists in the diagnosis and treatment of human physical and mental disorders and injuries
- Obtains patients' medical histories, and conducts physical examinations and medical assessments of patients
- Orders and interprets diagnostic tests and investigations for disorders and injuries
- Monitors patients' progress and response to treatment, documents patient records, and coordinates hospital admissions and discharge planning
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in the emergency department of a fictional hospital, on a night shift. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- A senior doctor shows you a quicker way to think through a problem and you use it the same week
- A patient you saw on a hard night comes back to say thank you
- You get through a long shift and know exactly what you learned
Hard days
- A twelve-hour shift where there is no time to eat and everything seems urgent
- Not knowing the answer and having to ask, again, in front of other people
- Handing over a patient at the end of the night and wondering how they will go
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 264531, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.