Dr Brooke Halliwell, now a second year HMO, has done an emergency rotation at MaroondahHospital. "You get a wide variety of things coming through,'' she says. "You get a fair number of very sick patients as well, due to it being the first point of call.'' Dr Halliwell picked Eastern Health as her preference early on. "I did a lot of the undergraduate clinical years at Eastern Health hospitals, and I found it was a relaxed atmosphere, people had time and willingness to teach.''

As a sports enthusiast, Dr Halliwell is drawn to orthopaedics and sports medicine. "Sports and exercise medicine is a lot of muscular-skeletal types of things. The sort of patients vary from your weekend warrior up to professional athletes; from kids and teenagers right through.

"It is multi-disciplinary, there is close contact with physios, occupational therapists, dieticians and podiatrists.''

 Dr Halliwell finds a particular mind-set amongst sports medicine patients.

"A lot of people just want to get back to their sport.'' Motivation, she believes, is a great aid to recovery. ``Particularly when you need rehabilitation or physiotherapy to regain strength and functionality after an operation or injury. The more willing you are to do the exercises, the better result you will get.''

Dr Halliwell is intent on following either orthopaedics or sports medicine. ``I'm doing a general year. I have just finished orthopaedics and started nights. Once I have finished nights I'm going to Box Hill to do respiratory and some emergency medicine later in the year. I would be looking at potentially another couple of years doing an HMO job, gaining experience around hospitals, studying and going on courses and seminars. Then I will apply for specialist training and become a registrar.''

Eastern Health takes its responsibilities towards HMOs seriously. "We are a service for them to help them progress their career,'' Chief Medical Officer Dr Colin Feekery says. ``Caring for your Career is our motto.'' A recent survey shows that HMOs are overwhelmingly positive about their experience with Eastern Health.

Dr Nick Hewitt is now a basic physician trainee. ``It wasn't until the final year of university that I inclined that way. I was thinking more of paediatrics in the earlier part of my training, but seemed to enjoy the adult medicine more towards the end of my course. Then from my intern year I knew that I wanted to go into physician training.''

What is the appeal of working as a physician? "The diagnostic challenges,'' Dr Hewitt says. "Working things out, looking at the broader picture of the person and incorporating all of their problems into a synthesis to figure out what is going on and how all the ailments and conditions interact. I enjoy being thanked by my patients when they are healthy again, but I also enjoy solving the problem.''

Dr Hewitt's day starts at eight in the morning. ``The majority of the morning is a ward round. I will have 20-odd patients under my care, so me and my intern and the medical students who are attached to the ward will catch up with our patients, revise the plans and try and get their issues sorted so they can be discharged home.

"Twice a week there will be a ward round with a consultant. One day a week I am on late and I am on cover for emergency as well.''

Further sub-specialisation is the next step, Dr Hewitt says. ``With the stream that I'm in, once we have passed this second exam in the middle of the year, I will be signing up to an advanced training program, then committing another three or so years to sub-specialisation.''

There are so many, which will he choose? ``I've got a couple at the top of the list _ infectious diseases interests me, geriatrics and rheumatology interest me as well. With an ageing population, there will be quite a lot of work in that area.''

BoxHillHospital suits Dr Hewitt. "I love it, they looked after me brilliantly as a student, so I stayed as an intern. I really enjoy it, it's easy to relate to the bosses, they are friendly and helpful.''

Dr Hewitt sees healthcare as deeply integrated into the community. ``Society now demands an empathic, holistic view of healthcare _ an interactive engagement between patient and clinician, inviting the patient into the decision making process as well. I think this reflects not just the way the profession has changed, but the way society has changed.''