North Coast GP Training
 
  the north coast post
 
 
  Your monthly newsletter from North Coast GP Training
 
 
 

Welcome to the latest issue.

 
 date claimer
 
 

PGPPP Orientation

NCGPT, Ballina

11th September 

 
 

RACGP Conference

9th - 11th October

 upcoming events
 
 

Anaesthesia 2014 Conference

Opal Cove Resort, Coffs Harbour

18th - 19th October

 
 

Aboriginal Cultural Awareness FDR

Durri AMS, Kempsey

18th September

 
 

Aboriginal Cultural Awareness FDR - Ballina

Tweed Heads

18th September

 
 

Aboriginal Health and Cultural Awareness

Coffs Harbour Surf Life Saving Club

19th September

 
 in this issue...
 
 

NCGPT scoops the GPET prize pool!

Dr Genevieve Yates shares the ME of the Year Award with Dr Gerard Ingham. 

 

We are thrilled to announce that NCGPT staff are being celebrated at the last ever GPET conference.

 

This morning Dr Genevieve Yates was presented with the GPET Award for 2014 Medical Educator of the Year, an award she shares with GP Training QLD's Dr Gerard Ingram. Genevieve has said: "I am thrilled and humbled to receive this award and I'm delighted to share it with Gerard who I've had a personal and professional friendship with for many years." (Genevieve and Gerard co-wrote and co-produced the wonderful 'GP the Musical' which toured the Melbourne comedy fest circuit last year!)

 

The 2014 GPET Supervisor of the Year Award was presented to NCGPT’s own Superhero SLO, Dr John Vaughan!  

 

John is an exceptional GP and GP Supervisor, and the feedback from his registrars is always glowing. On top of this, John is a champion of his community who really walks the talk where healthy living is concerned. He is a surf lifesaver and a fitness coach who gives free fitness classes to community members three times a week. And no task is beneath his attention – John has even been known to write individual 'study plans' for many of Port Macquarie’s local HSC students to help them achieve a work/study balance during their final year of school. 

 

When asked about his award this morning, John said: "I'm receiving this award on behalf of all of NCGPT's supervisors, all of whom do a superlative job. And I believe that's the case because of the wonderful support we're given from NCGPT."

 

A proud NCGPT CEO, John Langill has said of the award recipients: “Genevieve is a passionate medical educator who consistently goes the extra mile for the doctors she teaches, and John continually impresses with his dedication to his role and to the profession of General Practice. Both of these awards are very well deserved.” 

 

Congratulations to Genevieve and John! And congratulations also to our other nominees: Dr Carlos Andres Perez Ledesma who was nominated for GP Registrar of the Year; Dr Debbie Kors and Dr Nicola Holmes who were both nominated for Supervisor of the Year and Lesley Mitchell, who was nominated for the Staff Excellence Award. 

 

You can click here to see photos from this year's GPET Convention.

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GPET Registrar Research Prize Winner

We are very excited to announce that NCGPT registrar, Dr Anthea Dallas, has been awarded the 2014 GPET Registrar Research Prize!  

 

Andrea's paper is titled “Securing Antibiotics for the Future – Exploring the Attitudes of Trainees in General Practice.” She was presented with her prize at the 2014 GPET Convention. 

 

Congratulations Andrea on your award and your contribution to research in the field of general practice. What a fabulous achievement! 

 

 

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From RLO to RACGP

Dr Nina Robertson has been appointed to the RACGP Board to champion the interests of registrars around the country. Nina was an RLO with NCGPT up until this year and works as a GP at Keen Street Clinic in Lismore. 

 

Nina is passionate about issues affecting registrars including the quality of training, employment terms and conditions, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, the GP co-payment, and a host of others. You can read Nina's statement here and can be sure Nina will go in to bat for registrars when she takes her place on the board next year. 

 

Watch out for the next edition of Health Speak which will include an interview with Nina. 

 

Congratulations Nina! 

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Comic Capers!

 

Each year at the GPET Conference RTPs battle each other to take out first prize in their annual competition. Last year GPET went to Hollywood, the year before we went to the Races and this year, we ventured to the land of superheroes - GPET's Gotham City.

 

The mission? To create a comic strip based on the superheroes of our organisation. Never shy of a challenge, we turned to our caped crusader Christine, our Director of Training (DoT) whose heroics under pressure and general awesomeness inspired The Super Dot Adventures! 

 

And won't you know it, our Super DOT has saved the day again! The Adventures of Super Dot  WON first place! 

 

You can click here to see our fabulous dotty super hero in action!

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Introducing our newest staff member

A big warm NCGPT welcome to Grahame Skinner! Grahame has come on board to be our Cultural Education Officer with thanks to ATSI funding. As well as running our cultural education programs, Grahame's role will also include helping with the development of our Reconciliation Action Plan.

 

Grahame has fantastic knowledge of Aboriginal culture, particularly within the North Coast and has worked with GPs to assist them with understanding cultural issues within their clinical context. 

 

I asked Grahame a couple of questions so we could get to know him better. 

 

What do you like most about working in the area of Aboriginal health?

I have worked in Aboriginal health for the past 30 years across a lot of areas of the health system and I have enjoyed working towards better heath for my people. Although we have a long way to go in dealing with a lot of health problems, there is some positive movement towards the employment and training of Aboriginal people in key areas of the health system that will only be a benefit to my people. My passion is to see a local Aboriginal person become a Doctor and work  with Bullinah AMS, or to see Aboriginal staff achieve in the health service.

 

What’s your favourite spot on the North Coast?

I think I live in the best part of NSW, you could not go past living in the Ballina area. Also it is part of the homelands of my mother’s people.


What are you most likely to be found doing on your weekends?

I would be found either playing Lawn Bowls or working at the Bowls club during the weekend. Apart from that I would be doing the rounds of the local markets.
 

Welcome Grahame – it’s great to have you on board!


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RLO Update

We hope everyone has settled into their second term of 2014 well. We hope you found the handover checklists helpful and this enabled you to move from one practice to another more smoothly. Please let us know if you are having any teething problems in your new practices.  Common issues generally centre around teaching time, terms and conditions and adjusting to a new area/type of practice style. Please don’t hesitate to contact us as it is always easier to sort out issues when addressed early.


Well done to everyone who recently sat their written exams. We hope you are enjoying a few weeks off before you start preparing for the OSCE’s. For those wanting to sit written exams next February and have not signed up for the NCGPT exam preparation day on 30th August then please contact the office ASAP. This is a FREE workshop and past registrars have found it invaluable in the exam preparation. There are also many resources available through the GPRA website http://www.gpra.org.au/exam and RACGP website http://www.racgp.org.au/education/fellowship/exams/. The RACGP have also recently started online webinars with topics that would feature commonly in exams and are worthwhile listening to as a different way to study!  http://www.racgp.org.au/education/courses/webinars/.

 

We will be off to the final ever GPET conference in the first week of September. The conference is usually a really good opportunity to see what other RTP’s are doing in training and how the landscape of GP training is progressing. This year will be even more interesting as the landscape is about to drastically change. We are very thankful to NCGPT for being so involved in the budget changes and keeping us all up to date with how it is evolving. Please keep an eye on emails especially if you will not be finishing your training by the end of 2015 as these changes will affect you.

 

Finally we want to wish Clare Collins our fellow RLO all the very best next week for her wedding. She is then taking 6 months off training to travel with her new husband and will be returning in February. Have a fantastic time Clare! Lois and Ashlea will continue as normal so please don’t hesitate to contact either of us via email or phone if you need any assistance.

 


Ashlea, Clare and Lois

RLOs

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New campaign for Beyond Blue targets the subtle racist

A new campaign released by Beyond Blue shines light on subtle discrimination, racism and the impact they can have on the mental well being of Indigenous Australians. 

 

Featuring a powerful TV ad, the campaign is designed to reveal the subtle undercurrent of discrimination which can exist within the mindsets of those who do not consider themselves racist. 

 

National data reveals more than one quarter of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Australians regularly experience racism 1, with more local level data pointing to figures as high as 4 out of 5 Indigenous Australians regularly experiencing racism 2

 

There are demonstrated links between experiencing racism and the development of depression and anxiety, substance use and attempted suicide. 

 

This campaign's target audience of non-Indigenous men and women aged 25-34 (with the secondary target of 35-44 year olds) was selected because it is believed that tailored advertising to particular mindsets within this group can create behavioural change. This behavioural change can result in altering patterns of behaviour which can lead to attitudnal change 3. 

 

The Beyond Blue website contains information and resources including fact sheets, an online forum, links to practitioners, research, and events.

 

NCGPT is committed to establishing and maintaining an organisational culture built upon respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, their communities and their cultures.

 

We are focusing on raising awareness within NCGPT about our commitment to reconciliation; as well as building relationships with Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services Training practices.

 

There is a broad interest amongst our staff to know more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and culture which we can now address with the support of our Cultural Educator Grahame Skinner.

 

References
1 Australian Bureau of Statistics (2009) National Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Social Survey, 2008. (Cat. No. 4714.0) ABS: Canberra.

2 Paradies, Y (2014) Racism and indigenous mental health. Presentation to beyondblue. 20 March 2014. 

3 Pedersen, A, Walker, I, Rapley, M and Wise, M (2003) Anti-racism – what works? An evaluation of the effectiveness of anti-racism strategies. Murdoch University, Perth.

 

 

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No change to the NMTC until 2015

The National Minimum Terms and Conditions of Employment for GPT1 and GPT2 registrars is a statement of goodwill between GPRA and the General Practice Supervisors Australia, mediated by the AMA. It sets out to establish fair and reasonable basis for employment in order to support an appropriate educational environment. It does not attempt to restate terms and conditions found in the Fair Work Act (2009).

 

The NMTC covers information about base wages and billings, work hours, fatigue management, remuneration, leave, obligations, and disputes.

 

The GPRA has announced that the current NMTC will remain current until 2015. 

 

You can download the NMTC at http://www.gpra.org.au/nmtc-of-employment

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Rural and Regional Teaching Infrastructure Grants (RRTIGs) Programme

The Australian Government is committed to investing in general practice infrastructure and training through the RRTIGs.  This Programme will support a minimum of 175 grants, each capped at $300,000, to existing General Practices.  General Practices are required to match the Commonwealth funding which will leverage private investment.

 

Rural and regional General Practices in Australian Standard Geographical Classification – Remoteness Area 2-5 (ASGC-RA 2-5) will be given the opportunity to apply for funding to expand their facilities to provide additional consultation rooms and space for teaching medical students and supervising GP Registrars.  To check if you are located in ASGC-RA 2-5, please visit the Department’s Doctor Connect webpage: www.doctorconnect.gov.au/internet/otd/Publishing.nsf/Content/locator

 

Applicants must be an existing General Practice, or in the case of an application from a consortium, must include an existing General Practice as the lead agency.

 

Timing for the RRTIGs is yet to be finalised but it is anticipated that the grants will be available in August/September 2014.  The opportunity to apply for these grants will be advertised on the Department of Health’s website www.health.gov.au.

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Top of the State!

We are delighted to announce that Dr Murtaza Ahmed, one of our Port Macquarie registrars, currently working at Camden Haven Medical Centre in Laurieton with supervisors Dr Craig Barry amd Dr Phil Gaut, has won the Tony Buhagiar medal for the top OSCE mark in NSW this term. 

 

This award is a great honour!  Well done Murt and congratulations also to the Port Macquarie educators (Deb, Sharon and David) and his supervisors, Craig and Phil. 

 

This state-wide award was won last term by another NCGPT registrar, Dr Luke Hogan. 

 

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RACGP Research Grant Award Winners

Two NCGPT Medical Educators were recipients in the latest round of RACGP Foundation grants and awards.

 

Dr Hilton Koppe was awarded The RACGP/Independent Practitioner Network Pty Ltd (IPN) Research Grant to conduct a research project titled: "Strengthening Community Palliative Care: Does access to GP Registrar Home Visits reduce Hospitalisation of Palliative Care Patients?"

 

The RACGP PWH Grieve Memorial Award was awarded to Dr Nicola Holmes for her project, "What Potential Influence on Anger and Mood does the use of an Overnight Weighted Blanket have with Adolescents Presenting to Headspace Coffs Harbour?" 

 

Congratulations to you both! 

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NAIDOC Week 2014

NCGPT staff were proud to take part in the 2014 NAIDOC Week March in Ballina where more than double the number of people marched this year compared to last. The NAIDOC Week march has been held in Ballina since 2001 and numbers have swelled each year with 2014 being the biggest march yet. 

 

The 2014 NAIDOC Week March honoured the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians who served, and who continue to serve to defend our country.  

 

For more information about NAIDOC go to http://www.naidoc.org.au/

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Results of Registrars as Teachers Project, 2014

 

In 2014, NCGPT funded a research project examining the effectiveness of its teacher training program. A pre and post intervention controlled design was used.  

 

Registrars were assessed on a video recorded teaching session to their supervisor and a skype recording of them giving feedback in a role play scenario. 

 

Further information was obtained via surveys.  A control group of registrars from GP Training Valley to Coast was used. 

 

Data has now been collated and analysed, you can click here to view the results of the study. 


For further questions please contact Peter Silberberg
 

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New research for NCGPT: Perceptions and uses of learning plans

NCGPT is proud to announce that it has been part of a successful joint application along with Southern GP Training (SGPT) and Northern Territory General Practice Education (NTGPE), to research learning plans in 2014/2015.


The project will run from now until mid-2015 and has been funded by a GPET research grant. This is a qualitative study that will be aiming to examine perceptions and uses of learning plans (LPs) from multiple stakeholders.


This project specifically aims to examine the processes involved in the creation and use of learning plans by exploring:

  1. The extent to which registrars are actively engaged in these processes
  2. Whether registrars find these processes beneficial to their learning
  3. How engaged GP supervisors are in registrars’ learning planning
  4. Whether there are processes that could be put in place, or modified, to further facilitate registrar learning and satisfaction

 

Data collection will be occurring at NCGPT from 4 separate focus groups and 1-1 interviews with recent graduates.

  • Focus group 1 = 5 first year registrars
  • Focus group 2 = 5 second year registrars
  • Focus group 3 = 5 medical educators
  • Focus group 4= 5 GP supervisors
  • 1-on-1 interviews  = 5 GPs who have completed training < 12 months


We will also be asking 10 registrars to complete a LP activity log.
 

Involvement is voluntary, but participants will be reimbursed.
 

Lastly, we will be examining current LP models that vary across the RTPs, with both SGPT and NTPE offering varying degrees of online versions.
 

It’s an exciting project, as this is a compulsory component of our training but has been universally critiqued.
Hopefully this project will start finding some answers surrounding the concept and use of learning plans.
 

For further information please contact Dr Peter Silberberg at peters@ncgpt.org.au

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RACGP to host Connecting Minds 2014

The 2014 Connecting minds conference will be jointly hosted by the RACGP’s National Faculty of Specific Interests’ (NFSI) Psychological Medicine Working Group and the Australian Society for Psychological Medicine (ASPM) in Byron Bay, NSW from 12–14 September.

 

The conference aims to bring together primary care practitioners to workshop and up-skill in areas relating to the prevention and treatment of mental health issues in young people.  NCGPT ME Dr Rob Trigger will be presenting at the conference in a session entitled: "Building consultation skills with young people: Sex, minors and kids who cut".

 

Registrations are now open. For more information, email the RACGP NFSI team at nfsi@racgp.org.au or click here to download the program and registration form. 

 

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Finger reader enables the blind to read

An incredible new invention by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will enable the blind to read. 

 

Known as the 'finger reader' this device sits like a ring on the user's index finger and includes a 3D printer and a small camera positioned on the top of the ring which scans the text. As the user moves their finger across the text, a synthesized voice reads the words aloud, quickly translating the text from any printed material including books, newspapers and even online material on laptops or kindles. 

 

The finger reader uses software which can follow finger movements, read words and process information. It includes a vibration alert to let users know if they go away from the script.  See how it works by watching this short clip.

 

It is believed this device could enable people suffering blindness to live richer, fuller and more independent lives. The device is a prototype and as yet there have been no dates released for fullscale production however it is estimated development will take between 1-2 years.

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