welcome to the August 2010 edition, in this issue:

Large increase in AGPT applications for NCGPT

NCGPT has had a fantastic response to its 2011 AGPT program with 54 applicants vying for one of our 34 GP training places. When second preferences are taken into account, 120 applicants selected NCGPT as their regional training provider of choice. This is an increase of over 300%  in applicant numbers over the last 3 years.

NCGPT has spent considerable time and resources promoting our program to prospective GPs and these results show it has all been worth it. Most of our applicants chose NCGPT because of the reputation of our program and its dedicated supervisors and practices. It was also great to see how many chose NCGPT after recommendations from our past and present registrars.

Interviews for our 34 allocated training positions will take place at NCGPT on the 26th and 27th August with offers made in early September.
 

Who's new ?

Adrian Smith, Ellie Kennedy, Cynthia Spiers, Stephanie Gooden, Tom Rolley and Ruth Bowen at the Ballina Orientation Day.

NCGPT extends a very walm welcome to the 7 new registrars who have begun training with us this term.

Ellie Kennedy - Alstonville Clinic

Adian Smith - Wollumbin Street  Murwillumbah

Ruth Bowen - King St  Murwillumbah

Laura Brien - North Bellingen

Thomas Rolley - Mullumbimby Medical Centre

Cynthia Spiers - Bangalow Medical Centre

Stephanie Gooden - Main St  Murwillumbah

Education update with Christine Ahern

Christine Ahern with new registrars Laura, Ruth and Ellen at the recent  Basic Workshop in Ballina

This editions education update with Christine Ahern covers;

- Educational sessions

- PGPPP developments

- New GPT3 workshops

- Diagnostic uncertainty 

- Billings and Medicare issues

EDUCATIONAL SESSIONS

We are truly up and running in term 2 with completion of orientation days in each node and the three day basic workshop in Ballina. The decision to move this workshop from Angourie was made due to smaller numbers of GPT1s and their location being further north in the region. 

Three medical students from University of Sydney, who are about to start their GP terms, attended the workshop along with our two PGPPP doctors, from Goonellabah and Toormina. Talk about vertical integration!

By adding a couple of concurrent sessions to the usual program we hopefully managed to assimilate, stimulate and educate! (And two of us even managed to impersonate Nicola – complete with play dough pustules and song shamelessly plagiarised from Playschool!) 

With the supervisor workshop and half day releases all happening, there is no rest for admin and education staff.
 

READ MORE

RLO update with Kirsten Patterson

Hello registrars! Welcome to the new group who have begun their first general practice term. It was a pleasure to meet you in Ballina and I look forward to getting to know you better as we all continue towards fellowship.
 

Speaking of the fellowship and exams, good luck to those registrars who sat the AKT & KFP on August 21st – election day!
 

Still on exams, a reminder to those registrars thinking of sitting their written papers in the first half of 2011 that enrolments open on 18th October and close 10th December 2010.

Full payment is required at the time of enrolment and costs are as follows:
• AKT (Applied Knowledge Test) - $1568.80
• KFP (Key Feature Problem) - $1568.80
• OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Examination) - $3127.00

Remember that you can enrol for all 3 exams together, or you may split your exams so that you do the AKT or the KFP on their own. The AKT must be completed successfully before sitting the OSCE. To make matters just that little more expensive, remember that you must also be a financial member of the RACGP before sitting your exams.

READ MORE
 

AGPT/AMSA Video Competition – Winner!!!

Earlier this year, in the lead up to the AMSA Convention, GPET ran a video competition to promote general practice amongst medical students as a career pathway.

They announced the winner of the video competition in July in Hobart. To view the winning video please visit the link below, the other entries can also be viewed here http://www.agpt.com.au/ApplyforAGPT/FutureApplicants/#video

SLO update with John Vaughan

Supervisor Liaison Officer, Dr John Vaughan

No doubt all supervisors would have heard the good news that GPET has agreed to increase payments to training practices by 20%. This increase has been a direct result of the Supervisor Liaison Officer Network, through their executive, lobbying GPET directly.

After discussion with John Langill and Hilton Koppe at NCGPT, and a phone survey of some of the supervisors by myself, the plan is to use the extra funding as follow:

1. An increase in hourly teaching rate for teaching for GPT1 (Basic) and GPT2 (Advanced) registrars from $100 per hour (plus GST) to $120 per hour (plus GST).
2. A new payment for teaching for GPT3 (subsequent) registrars which has not previously been funded at all. This funding for teaching in GPT3 time will be available via an enhanced and simplified Teacher Incentive Payment (TIP) program.

We felt, and the supervisors canvassed on this issue agreed, that it would be better if the money was used in this way rather than as a blanket increase in the practice subsidy. In this way, payments will be directed to those supervisors who actually do the extra teaching, thus rewarding the practices who best support their registrars.
 

Full details of these proposed changes to teaching practices will be provided after discussions at the supervisor workshop in Coffs Harbour.

It is a start to properly recompense the educational input that many of our supervisors have been delivering without payment and a stimulus to continue to deliver quality education at the coalface of general practise.

The National SLO executive remains active in pursueing supervisor concerns and I would be delighted to hear from any supervisor who has any issues related to the delivery of registrar education.

John Vaughan
NCGPT Supervisor Liaison Officer

 

Koori Korner – final post for the Post

Dr Sarah McEwan

It has been a whole year since I have felt the warmth of the Pilbara sun on my shoulders and the red dust beneath my feet but I have done it.... I have made the move to the wild wild west and am totally enjoying every minute of it!!

I have been asked to outline what I have been up to in my new job in WA for a couple of reasons;

1. To give you guys an idea of the other possibilities that are available as a fellowed proceduralist GP and,
2. To say that I will no longer be able to continue with the Koori Korner posts and to provide you guys with some relevant email addresses/sites that may assist you to keep yourselves up to date with Indigenous issues.

My new job is that of a district medical officer at Port Hedland Regional Hospital (PHRH). I work in the emergency department and also in the obstetric and gynaecology department.

I love the variety, as they say variety is the spice of life. And the ability to continue using my skills that I have spent a year of my advanced rural skills post (ARSP) gaining, ( i.e the Advanced diploma of Obstetrics and Gynaecology)

I am so very thankful for the excellent support that I received from my supervisors during my ARSP term which was completed at Tweed Heads Hospital under the supervision of Dr David Hodgson. He gave such fantastic support toGP trainees and would do his utmost to make sure that I gained the skills required for my log book and for ongoing work in the capacity of a GP obstetrician. (I totally recommend a term if you have any interests in obstetrics and gynaecology)

I am glad that this term stood me in good stead, as in my first 24 hours on call here at PHRH I performed 4 ventouse extractions... nerve wracking experience when faced with performing these without direct supervision, but I was pleased to have great indirect support which gave me the confidence to continue on as required... giving me the apt name of the vacuum queen!
 

READ MORE  of Sarahs' article and see her list of recommended sites for Indigenous issues.

We hear you! - free typing tutorials

Do you have a need for speed? It came up during the recent basic workshop that quick typing is a handy skill for new registrars.
 

Here are some recommended free typing tutorial sites that have been road tested and commented on by our very own IT expert, Jennah!

http://www.powertyping.com/qwerty/lessonsq.html

This site is good. It has well set out lessons and clear explanations.
 

http://www.goodtyping.com

This site is great for real beginners with step by step activities. You need to register for this one and provide a password.

http://www.typefastertypingtutor.com

This one is great. It has to be downloaded but is very comprehensive and easy to use. It keeps records and you can check your progress. It also has lots of little word games. My favourite.
 

Balint Groups - helping to share the unsharable.

By Hilton Koppe

Ruth has been coming to see me for over 20 years. She has followed me to three different practices, dragging her long list of insoluble problems with her. Despite my best efforts, I find it very difficult to like her. I feel vaguely ill when I see her name in the appointment book.

Rex is 72 years old. He sees me frequently with what he considers to be very serious symptoms for which I can never find a cause. We have worked out how to negotiate a way through these symptoms without having loads of increasingly high-powered and expensive investigations. Recently, there has been an increase in symptoms which require a genital examination. I am feeling increasing unease with this situation.

Roger is a few years older than me. He has significant physical symptoms which to me indicate the likelihood of a malignancy. He says that he does not believe in Western medicine, and has decided to pursue an alternative path rather than following my sage advice. I suspect that this is motivated primarily out of fear rather than a real belief in alternative treatments. I feel that I have not been able to help him recognize or deal with his fear.

My guess is that I am not the only GP who has patients like this..........
 

Read the rest of this article and find out more about Balint groups

UpToDate update

For those who subscribe to UptoDate through NCGPT, you may have recently received a renewal notice. This is a very early renewal notice as your subscription runs until the end of December 2010, so there is no need to take any action at this time.

We will be conducting an on-line evaluation of UpToDate in the near future. Following this NCGPT will consider whether we are able to, and to what extent, we can continue to subsidise UpToDate subscriptions for Supervisors, Registrars and Medical Educators for 2011.

Prevocational General Practice Placement Program (PGPPP)

Dr Farooq Mohamed and Dr Emily Fitzpatrick at  the Basic Workshop in Ballina

Dr Farooq Mohamed and Dr Emily Fitzpatrick have just completed a PGPPP term at Goonellabah and Toormina Medical Centres respectively.  

Both doctors thoroughly enjoyed their term and their feedback was extremely positive. Farooq said “the whole concept of general practice is rewarding as a doctor. The chance to make a difference in a person’s life is very exciting and fulfilling”.

Emily was also very enthusiastic saying the most rewarding aspects were, “having the privilege of autonomy but with excellent supervision, getting to know a community and being able fine tune my consulting skills”. Emily was also one of a panel of speakers at a Rural Doctors Network PGPPP forum in Sydney earlier this month where she really captivated the audience of about 100 people with her insights and the passion she displayed about what the PGPPP term had done for her as a junior doctor.

We wish them both well and hopefully they will be back with us soon doing the AGPT program.

Hilton Koppe published in Swiss PrimayCare journal

Dr Hilton Koppe 

NCGPT Senior Medical Educator, Hilton Koppe recently had an article published in the international publication PrimaryCare, the journal of Swiss family medicine.

The article, Beyond the medical record – creative writing workshop for doctors, examines his work over the last few years in running writing workshops for doctors designed to assist in the prevention of doctor burnout. It also details his experiences at WONCA 2009, when 100 participants (many of whom did not have English as their first language) turned up for his workshop, Hilton usually  limits workshop numbers to around 20 participants!

Worlds met and it quickly became clear that many of the issues faced by Australian family doctors are similar around the globe........... 
 

READ THE ARTICLE 

The article was first published in PrimaryCare, the journal of Swiss family medicine: Beyond medical record - creative writing for doctors , Koppe H PrimaryCare. 2010;10(08):151-152.

Additional GP Procedural Training Program Posts

NCGPT is pleased to announce two new accredited GPPTP training posts. The posts are Psychiatry at Port Macquarie Hospital and Surgery at Grafton Hospital.

Both positions provide excellent training opportunities for doctors who are seeking to improve their skills in these specialist areas.

READ MORE  to find out about these posts, how to apply and who to contact.

GPRIP and RRIPS changes (more)

Gripes over GPRIPS means RRIPS not R.I.P !

GPET has recently been advised by the Department of Health and Aging that grand parenting arrangements will apply for GP registrars formerly under Rural Registrars Incentives Payments Scheme (RRIPS); that is, current AGPT registrars will continue to receive the higher incentives rates (in lieu of GPRIP) for RRIPS-eligible placements up until they fellow, reach the 3 year RRIPS cap, or until the end of the 2012 training year.

A summary of the change has been posted onto the Doctor Connect website - http://www.doctorconnect.gov.au/internet/otd/publishing.nsf/Content/program-registrar-factsheet  
 

Of note, and to clear up some of the recent payment confusion, payments for the June Quarter 2010 have been assessed and paid under RRIPS, even though the payment may have been received after July 1 2010.

The GPRIP program only commenced on 1st July 2010 and Grand parenting arrangements for RRP participants under GPRIP apply from than as well. Payments under these arrangements will commence from September 2010.
 

For further information on payments under GPRIP contact Medicare Australia on 1800 010 550
 

Anaesthesia 2010: An update - 18th and 19th September

A final reminder, the Anaesthesia 2010 conference is being held on September 18th and 19th at the award winning Byron at Byron Resort and Spa in Byron Bay.

This one and a half day anaesthesia conference is being organised by NCGPT and will review a range of key issues in contemporary anaesthesia practice for GP anaesthetists, GP anaesthesia trainees, their supervisors and associates.

 

The conference focus will be on practical aspects of the use of Neuromuscular Blocking Agents - their monitoring and reversal, Perioperative Pain Management, Airway Devices and Ventilation Strategies, Preoperative Assessment and the role of Ultrasound in a range of clinical settings.

 

READ MORE for further details and to obtain the conference registration form
 

RACGP supports GP wellbeing

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has urged GPs in need to utilise its GP Support Program, a free and confidential service providing psychological support and counselling to RACGP GP members across Australia.

The renewed call comes as a Medical Journal of Australia study identified some factors significantly associated with psychiatric morbidity in Australian doctors, including not taking holidays, working long hours, and dealing with medico-legal matters.

The GP Support Program is available to all RACGP members who are registered medical practitioners in Australia. The service is delivered by IPS Worldwide® (IPS), an Australian company with over 25 years experience in establishing member assistance programs.

For more information, visit  www.racgp.org.au/gpsupport  or www.racgp.org.au/gpsupport/faq