The Joseph Epstein Prize is awarded to the highest scoring candidate at the Primary Viva Examination. The 2022.2 examination was sat by 163 candidates at the AMC’s National Test Centre in Melbourne.
While Chase felt confident in his performance on the day of the exam, he found it difficult to tell exactly how well he’d done. He said, “I think that’s the nature of this exam – you walk out of it thinking, ‘I wish I said this more structured’ or ‘I wish I said this instead of this’. I don’t think there’s ever an exam where you leave 100 per cent confident.”
Chase moved to Melbourne from the UK three years ago, but it wasn’t until he started working at Western Health that he realised he wanted to be an emergency doctor.
It was being surrounded by like-minded people that cared about career progression and learning, paired with the diverse specialty knowledge and the high acuity nature of emergency presentations, that attracted him to emergency medicine.
Dr Chase Schultz-Swarthfigure has been awarded the Joseph Epstein Prize. Image supplied.
While Chase spent 6 months intensively studying, he had exam preparation on his mind for a year. To track his focus and productivity, he used an app that grows virtual trees the more time you spend studying. “I must have logged 350 hours or so of study on it.”
His partner, friends and colleagues were also a great support, with the eight trainees sitting the exam from the Western often practicing and revising together.
Chase ultimately believes his success is largely thanks to DEMT team and consultants whose knowledge, skill and time commitment ensured the trainees did well on both the written and viva components of the exam. He said, “You’re an amalgamation of the effort people put into you. The skill and time other people put into your training makes a big difference.”
“The environment of care and teaching at the Western is largely thanks to Joseph Epstein, so it feels amazing to have won the prize named after him.”
In the future, Chase hopes to work with outreach NGOs. “I think next year I’ll do a trauma medicine diploma and work in other departments to get a breadth of experience. After that, I’ll try and get through my training with the ultimate aim to do some work with refugee health and disaster areas.”
The Joseph Epstein Prize consists of a bronze medal and a certificate and is awarded at the annual College Ceremony.