At Bathurst Health Service, monthly Schwartz Rounds 
have been running for more than a year as a social 
and emotional wellbeing forum open to staff across 
the hospital. Dr Braid reported encouraging evaluation 
findings from post-attendance surveys. Participants 
frequently described gaining new insights into the 
perspectives of colleagues, helping to build empathy 
and understanding across teams. Qualitative analysis 
identified themes of enhanced empathy, improved 
communication, and reduced feelings of isolation. 
Quantitative findings also reflected these experiences, 
with 79% of respondents strongly agreeing that the 
rounds provided new insights, and 87% strongly 
agreeing that Schwartz Rounds increased their 
openness with colleagues.
Across the conference program, there were also 
examples of staff-led initiatives designed to 
strengthen and sustain the healthcare workforce, 
alongside growing interest in professional coaching 
and other approaches that help clinicians navigate the 
complexities of modern medical careers.
These discussions reinforced the importance of 
ensuring doctors have access to assistance at different 
points throughout their careers. While workplace 
initiatives play an important role in building connection 
and a healthy culture, organisations such as the 
Medical Benevolent Association provide an additional 
layer of care for doctors and their families when life 
circumstances become difficult.
For confidential, free support from the Medical 
Benevolent Association social work team, please call 
02 9987 0504. To learn more, or make a donation, visit 
www.mbansw.org.au.  
Heart to Heart
What drew you medicine and why did you choose to specialise 
in Urology? 
I’m still not entirely sure how to answer either of those questions! I am not 
from a medical family and my only direct experience of the medical profession 
and hospitals growing up was undergoing an emergency appendicectomy at 
the age of 8. My desire to become a doctor ultimately came from a mixture 
of factors including an interest in science and nature, a love of the TV show 
M*A*S*H and the fact my “careers advisor” at school told me I couldn’t. I went 
to a local comprehensive school in Manchester in the United Kingdom, where 
we were encouraged to be as unambitious as possible, plus no students from 
our school had managed to pass Biology A level for a number of years, which 
was then a requirement for medical school.  I discovered 
the reason for this was that the teacher was teaching from 
the textbooks she had when she was at school, some 30 
years previously, and not from the exam syllabus. Luckily 
my mother was a high school geography teacher and 
managed to get hold of the biology exam syllabus, told 
me to ignore the careers advisor’s negative comments 
and got me the correct textbooks from the local library. I 
passed biology with an A, and the rest of the class failed 
the exam. 
The fact that I managed to secure a place at medical 
school was also helped by my rather remarkable mother. 
As a geography teacher she had received an advert from 
the British Schools Exploring Society, part of the National 
Geographic Society in London, encouraging pupils 
from public schools to apply for their yearly 6-week 
exploration and scientific expedition to a remote part of 
the world. The British Schools Exploring Society had been 
founded in 1932 by Surgeon Commander George Levick, 
a member of Scott’s final Antarctic expedition of 1913 
and had previously been only open to pupils from private 
Dr Ruth Collins is our feature specialist 
for this edition of Heart to Heart. From 
growing up in the UK and an expedition to 
the ice caps of Greenland, to becoming the 
first female Urologist in New South Wales, 
Dr Collins shares her journey to medicine 
and passion for photography.

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