But through her father's connection with Lord Howe Island GP Dr San Clarke, Stephanie Clark benefited from spending time on the island where she could put into practice what she has learned over the past year.

"It's a really rural area, so it's very different medicine used to what we see used here on the mainland," Ms Clark said.

"It's the kind of medicine where you have to be somewhere like Lord Howe Island to understand how it is practiced and really works.

"For me to know that sort of thing exists and how they use all the resources first-hand showed me the responsibility they have as a GP over there."

It was Ms Clark's first "real opportunity" to sit down and apply her knowledge which also provided the opportunity to start building connections with different people.

She admitted it was a rewarding experience when her early observations allowed a patient to be airlifted off the island.

Without it, there could have been dire consequences.

"To see I could notice those things (early) and know we could stabilise patients into a form where they were able to fly and get better help on the mainland was extremely rewarding," she said.

While his daughter was learning all the time, Mr Clark worked as a dietitian with numerous clients.

As many as 10 of the 18 clients he saw had been diagnosed with diabetes with another two potentially facing the same diagnosis unless they changed their diet.

"A lot of them don't have a good understanding of what is a good, healthy diet," he said.

"The diet they've got is the same diet their parents brought them up on and most of the time that's why they have diabetes... they eat too much and they eat too many sugary foods."

Mr Clark said most of the clients he saw also ate too many things like lollies, cakes and biscuits and they drank too much.

But encouragingly they were open to changing their diet.

"In six months' time I'll go back and do a face-to-face with the clients which is the best way to do things," he said.

"We took a machine that measures body fat and muscle mass so we'll get a good understanding in six months as to what changes their diet has had with those types of parameters.

"They were very welcoming to someone saying to cut down a bit on the booze and I found that very encouraging where a lot of them knew they were drinking too much."

Mr Clark said he spoke to his clients about taking certain things for granted on the mainland

"We have access to things and getting something delivered which is fresh," he said.

"Over on the island there is no KFC, McDonald's or takeaway pizza, but there are hamburger places so there is still temptation."

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