Welcome to the November issue.

Welcome new registrars!

On behalf of all of us at NCGPT, a BIG welcome to our 45 new registrars who will begin their training term in the new year!  We look forward to meeting you all! 

Congratulations to the 2013 RACGP National Rural Faculty Rural Registrar of the YEAR!

Photo: Dr David Chessor with his award and ex NCGPT registrar Dr Emily Farrell, GP registrar representative on the RACGP Council. Photo supplied by RACGP National Rural Faculty

BIG congratulations to NCGPT Registrar Liaison Officer and Registrar Medical Educator, Dr David Chessor, who has been announced as the RACGP National Rural Faculty Rural Registrar of the Year for 2013 at the annual GP13 Conference in Darwin. 

The RACGP National Rural Faculty 'Rural Registrar of the Year' Award recognises an exceptional general practice registrar who demonstrates a commitment to improve the health and wellbeing of communities in regional, rural or remote Australia. 

Dr Kathy Kirkpatrick, Chair of the RACGP National Rural Faculty congratulated David on the award, and said: “Dr Chessor is a great asset to his local community as he provides first class medical care as well as ensures that his community has adequate numbers of future GPs. He advocates tirelessly through his innovative work to promote rural general practice, Aboriginal health and quality education for rural registrars,”

David is an NCGPT registrar practising at Durri Aboriginal Medical Service in Kempsey. He is also an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of NSW Rural Clinical School, the Chair of the GP Registrar Medical Educator and Supervisor Network and, news is just in that David has been announced the newly elected Chair of the General Practice Registrars Association (GPRA). 

We'll also be seeing a lot more of David as the next face of AGPT - David recently completed a photo shoot with GPET and will appear on much of their marketing material for the 2015 intake. 

And somehow among all of this, David has time to keep a blog where he writes on topics ranging from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health, Medical Education, Improving the quality of GP training and education and The ‘art’ of being a great GP: the doctor-patient relationship. You can read them at www.notjustagp.com. 

Welcome PGPPP's!

NCGPT recently welcomed our new cohort of Term 5 PGPPP doctors based in Tweed Heads and Coffs Harbour to an orientation day in our Ballina office. Welcome to the program everyone!

This month we also launched a new video - PGPPP - A Post Up the Coast  featuring a number of our PGPPP doctors talking about their experience of the program and of their time in General Practice. You can check out the video here.  The video was part of a marketing campaign called Post up the Coast which also featured posters and postcards advertising our fabulous PGPPP program to JMO's in hospitals. 

We wish all our PGPPP participants, including our Port Macquarie colleagues, all the best for the term. 

Jo Sayer

PGPPP Program Manager

RLO Update

RLO's Extraordinaire: Nina, David and Clare at GPET 2013

We hope all registrars are enjoying the majestic NSW North Coast as spring rolls into summer, the days get longer, and my tomato plants grow like crazy. For those of you nervously awaiting OSCE results at the end of November, I feel your pain!

It's that time of year again where we're all negotiating new contracts. Make sure you're familiar with the  2013 NMTC document. Check it out, along with a contract template, and a negotiating guide at www.gpra.org.au/terms-and-conditions-for-employment

Remember that GPRA (GP Registrars Australia), GPSA (GP Supervisors Australia), and the Australian Tax Office all agree that registrars should be employees, not contractors! Don't be shy getting in touch with one of us for advice.

For anyone who's needed GPRA's services or support, there's currently a survey running to try and improve service delivery. At present you have a pretty decent chance of winning either an iPad mini or a Fitbit Flex - complete it at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2013support

If you're keen to be a bit more involved with GPRA - there a number of subcommittees covering everything from Registrar Wellbeing, to Indigenous Health, to the next NMTC document. Influence things on a national scale and become my super-best-friend-forever by joining one! Call me, tweet me, carrier pigeon me, we want your energy and ideas.

For those of you planning to sit exams in February next year, your emotional ordeal will be lessened by a great study group. Try and get one sorted if you haven't already. There's nothing like other GP Registrars to shame you into studying.

There will be a few social events, one in each node, swinging around between now and Christmas and there should be at least one RLO at every one of these - come along, have a great time and say hi!

Finally, on behalf of all North Coast GP Training Registrars I'd like to farewell Nina Robertson, who will be finishing her time as an RLO after several years of outstanding service. We thank you sincerely, Nina, for your always erudite and tenacious advocacy of fellow registrars. You leave big shoes!

David Chessor

NCGPT RLO & RME

Welcome aboard!!

We are very happy to welcome on board a host of new Supervisors and Practices to NCGPT.

In July this year we welcomed Dr Greg Campbell from Campbell Street Surgery, Wauchope, and Drs Dianne Blanckensee, Jenny Soden and Austin Sterne from the Tweed Health for Everyone Super Clinic to Supervising roles with NCGPT. 

In 2014 we will welcome an additional seven practices and 25 new supervisors.

A very warm welcome to:

• The Lismore Clinic, Lismore with Practice Manager, Marnie Smith, and NCGPT Supervisors Dr Brian Witt, Dr Richard Deaker, Dr Sukhdeep Bains, Dr Adrian Johnson and Dr Wai Chi (Angela) Lam.
• Riverside Family Practice, Casino with Practice Manager, Tom Amey, and NCGPT Supervisor Dr Cathryn Amey.
• Cape Byron Medical Centre, Byron Bay with Practice Manager, Wendy Hill, and NCGPT Supervisors Dr James Nicholson and Dr Dawson Warren.
• Evans Head Medical Centre, Evans Head with Practice Manager, Paula Bale, and NCGPT Supervisors Dr Paul Watterston and Dr Paul Walsh.
• Carlyle Street Medical Centre, Byron Bay with Practice Manager, Kylie Arthur, and NCGPT Supervisor Dr Mark Henderson.
• Coffs Central Medical Centre, Coffs Harbour with Practice Manager, Gail Farmer, and NCGPT Supervisors Dr Norman Cornish and Dr Phillip Whish-Wilson.
• Family Medical Centre, Ballina with Practice Manager, Vicky Murphy, and NCGPT Supervisors Dr Rod Wilson, Dr Chistopher McKenzie, Dr David Havill and Dr Simone Allman. 

And a warm welcome also to new NCGPT Supervisors at some of our existing practices:

• Dr Adrian Gilliland from Coffs Medical Centre, Coffs Harbour      
• Dr Ben Gordon from Lachlan Medical Centre, Port Macquarie 
• Dr Andrew Whitworth from Westside Medical Centre, Port Macquarie             
• Dr James Mitchell from Durri Aboriginal Corporation Medical Service, Kempsey
• Dr Christopher Cain from Kempsey Medical Centre, Kempsey             
• Dr Eva Biryukova from Northside Health, Coffs Harbour
• Dr Debra King from Hermitage Hastings Medical Centre, Port Macquarie. 
• Dr Hugh McLeod at Holdsworth House, Byron Bay.          

We are very happy to have you on board and look forward to working with you all.  

Sue Sladden 

Practice Support and Accreditation Manager

First waves reach the coast

First Wave Scholarship Holders Sujay, Jess, Audrey and Jaimie

NCGPT was very happy to welcome four medical students from the University of New England Armidale to the sunny North Coast last month as part of the First Wave Program.

The GPSN First Wave Placement Scholarship is an Australia wide initiative of GPRA. NCGPT's contribution to this program is to bring a group of four students to our area for one week in October to try life in General Practice.   

After a weekend orientation workshop in Sydney, our four winners - Audrey, Jaimie, Jess and Sujay headed to Byron Bay where they spent two days of clinical placements with a few of our friendly and dedicated GP Registrars. They also attended an NCGPT musculoskeletal training day to get a glimpse into what GP training is all about.

Here's a little of what they had to say about their experience:

Jess – The week I spent in Byron for First Wave was, put simply, an incredible firsthand experience of general practice. There is an incredible variety in general practice, and there was never a dull moment. My supervisor was so friendly and she was always more than happy to discuss medical and lifestyle aspects of general practice. I sat in and saw so many interactions with patients as young as three weeks old to ninety three years old, and I was lucky enough to see some really interesting procedures such as cryotherapy and punch biopsies. It was incredibly satisfying and rewarding finally seeing how everything we have learnt at uni works in a real practice with real patients, providing them real care. It’s an invaluable experience I would not have otherwise had the opportunity to experience. 

Audrey – Three words to describe my First Wave experience: refreshing, insightful and invaluable! It was an awesome week!

Jaimie – First Wave was my first exposure to seeing real, not simulated, patients. I saw the first of many procedures. I got to look into some ears, I listened to real chests, I heard a real heart murmur; I got to see weird rashes and weird wounds too. I also got to sit in on many different types of consultations including sexual and mental health consultations. These are all things I would never have gotten to experience in first year otherwise. The GP was great and the practice was super friendly and hilarious. It was an amazing chance to shadow a GP, and she was more than happy to tell me about her work and her lifestyle. Where we stayed was in an amazing location which made the experience that much more enjoyable.

Sujay – As first year students, we learn mostly from textbooks so far. This was the first time we saw a professional put together all the things we are learning and actually see how medicine can be helpful to someone. Some of my highlights were watching and helping in the removal of skin cancers and biopsies. I got the chance to observe a lot of mental health consultations. I was also lucky enough to get to take the history of some patients with illnesses I would not have otherwise seen in first year.

Overall it was fun because my GP was a registrar and often we would study and read up before seeing a patient together. After the patient left we'd discuss the case – we felt like a team rather than student and teacher.

NCGPT thanks the Practices and Registrars who supported this program. 

Research results published

We are very happy to announce that a new journal article produced by NCGPT staff Christine Ahern, Thea van de Mortel and Peter Silberberg along with co-authors Janet Barling and Sabrina Pit, has recently been published by BMC Family Practice.

Titled, Vertically integrated shared learning models in general practice: a qualitative study, the article can be downloaded from: 

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2296/14/144

The research team would like to thank all of the participants who contributed to this research.  

Happy reading!

2013 National Minimum Terms and Conditions remains in effect until July 2014

As a result of a decision in the 2013-14 Budget, the indexation of the Medicare Benefits Scheme is being realigned with the financial year.

This means that MBS fees will be next indexed on 1 July 2014. Historically, indexation of most MBS items occurred on 1 November each year.

The 2013 National Minimum Terms and Conditions (NMTC) for GPT1/2 registrars contains base-rates that are indexed via the MBS rate. Due to the realignment of indexation, no indexing of base-rates will occur in 2013. The next indexation is expected in July 2014.

The National Minimum Terms and Conditions for training year 2013 will remain in effect until the MBS indexing is announced in July 2014. All practices and registrars should continue to use the NMTC 2013 document till a new one is released in mid 2014.

General Practice Registrars Australia and General Practice Supervisors Australia (GPSA) will soon be entering into negotiations for the 2015/2016 National Terms and Conditions Agreement in mid 2014. Members are encouraged to get involved with this process by providing feedback to your local Registrar Liaison Officer or through the GPRA Terms and Conditions Subcommittee.

Click here to download the NMTC of employment

Source: General Practice Registrars Australia (GPRA)

Attention Practices

With large registrar application numbers expected for 2015, Practices may soon start receiving calls from potential applicants. 

North Coast GP Training coordinates the process of allocating registrars to practices unlike many other Regional Training Providers (RTP's). For many RTP's registrars must contact Practices and organise their own placements directly. As such registrars may not be aware that NCGPT organises this process. 

If you do receive calls from potential applicants, please direct them to contact NCGPT on 02 6681 5711. 

Thank you!

New AMS video hits the mark

NCGPT's new video, The Aboriginal Medical Service Experience, has only just been released however it has already received hundreds of hits online and is having an impact:  “Since the production of the video our Registrar Support Officer has received a lot of interest about placements within AMS’s for 2014, so it is obviously hitting the mark!” says Liz Degotardi, NCGPT's Aboriginal Health Training Strategy Project Manager.

“Working in an AMS gives you best bang for your medical buck”. So says GP Supervisor Dr Peter Fletcher from Durri Aboriginal Corporation Medical Service. Dr Fletcher is one of a number of GP Supervisors, Practice Mangers, Registrars and Allied Health Professionals appearing in a new North Coast GP Training (NCGPT) video which is helping to promote registrars working in Aboriginal Medical Services.  

“You get best bang for buck by working in an Aboriginal Medical Service because the community has been identified with the greatest needs medically, and at the same time you’re contributing to closing the medical gap”,  says Dr Fletcher. 

The new 10 minute video, The Aboriginal Medical Service Experience, was developed to highlight the benefits, rewards and challenges of working in an AMS whilst dispelling some of the myths and misconceptions which exist about what it is like to work in Aboriginal health. It also shines a light on the critical role which GP’s and GP registrars’ can play in reconciliation and helping to close the gap on Indigenous health disadvantage.  

“The need for the video first came out of discussions with some of our stakeholders within Aboriginal health services”, says NCGPT Aboriginal Health Training Strategy Coordinator, Liz Degotardi.  “The AMS’s wanted to see better promotional tools developed to target new registrars with accurate information about the services AMS’s provide”.  The video was also intended as a tool for junior doctors thinking of undertaking GP training to help them to decide whether working as a GP is for them, and also where they would like to be placed.

Filming took place at a number of NCGPT Aboriginal Health Training Services including Durri Aboriginal Corporation Medical Service in Kempsey, Casino Aboriginal Medical Service and Galambila Aboriginal Health Service, Coffs Harbour.

CEO of Casino AMS, Steve Blunden, wanted to use this opportunity to bring awareness to the current situation of Aboriginal health in communities, and the important role doctors play: “The reason why the AMS is involved with North Coast GP Training is that we really care about doctors understanding the problems experienced by Aboriginal people, and we really want them to experience the different types of health problems that our community have”, said Steve.

The video makes apparent the broad range of health issues patients present with at AMS’s which make for a strong learning environment for registrars.

You can view The Aboriginal Medical Service Experience at www.ncgpt.org.au/aboriginal-health-training

Australian Prescriber - A Free Independent Medical Journal

Australian Prescriber is an independent review of drugs and therapeutics. It is published every two months both in print and online, and it comes highly recommended by our Medical Education team.

AP publish:

• short, didactic reviews on therapeutics and prescribing
• editorials about controversial, uncertain or complex therapeutic areas
• additional content online between issues.

The online version is available free in full text to all readers. 

Prescribing health professionals can subscribe to receive a free paper copy of each new issue and all readers can sign up for a publication e-alert. 

Visit their website for more information http://www.australianprescriber.com/

New website shows the effect of smoking on your body

A new website - Tobacco Body - has been developed by the Cancer Society of Finland, which features an interactive guide that compares the physical features of a smoker to those of a nonsmoker. 

The site is targetted toward young people as a tool to help discourage youth from smoking. Rather than focussing on the very real dangers of lung cancer, heart disease, stroke and other potential health related outcomes from smoking, this website focuses on what smoking can do to a smokers appearance. 

Tobacco Body offers illustrations of what the long term impacts of smoking can do your skin, teeth, hair, and weight, showing the difference between a smoking and a non-smoking adolescent boy and girl. 

In Australia, 8 out of 10 new smokers are children or adolescents, and 70, 000 young people start smoking in Australia every year - approximately 191 a day. (Source: M. Winstanley, S. Woodward and N. Walker Tobacco in Australia Facts and Issues)

The website can be accessed at http://tobaccobody.fi/

(Just a tip - this seems to work better in browsers like Google Chrome and Safari rather than Internet Explorer)

RACGP Exam Preparation Course

For those who have not been able to attend the NCGPT exam preparation workshops, the RACGP also runs a course in preparation for the AKT & KFP exams, which will be held on Saturday 7 December at College House, Brisbane

The RACGP Qld Faculty invites registrars who are enrolled or planning to enrol in the 2014.1 AKT and KFP examinations to join the RACGP’s exam preparation sessions. 

The program is designed so participants will be able to recognise the aim of the examinations, understand the process of how questions are set, identify the distinguishing features of a KFP and AKT question, and experience the exam’s online environment. 

The program allows for candidates to partake in sessions singularly or combined (as in the College exam).  The sessions are facilitated by RACGP trained examiners.

To register for these courses please contact the Queensland office on 07 3456 8944 or qld.exam@racgp.org.au

Reproductive and Sexual Health Workshop

Family Planning NSW is holding a purpose-designed course for doctors with limited experience in reproductive and sexual health in the Australian setting, who practise in primary care, or are working towards registration with the Medical Board of Australia. 

The course outcomes include:

• The ability to recognise and explain reproductive and sexual health issues in the Australian setting, particularly in the provision of contraception, management of unintended pregnancy and sexually transmissible infections (STIs) screening and management. 
• Demonstrated skills in sexual history taking 
• Demonstrated skill in taking a Pap test 
• The ability to explain the technology around cervical screening, the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) guidelines for screen-detected abnormalities, and the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccinations.

The two day workshop will be held on  9th - 10th April 2014 in Ashfield, NSW. 

Course cost is $800.00. Registrars are reminded that an Education Allowance of $2500.00 over the course of your training is available to you for external training which you may apply for if you wish - please contact Rhonda O'Dell for details. 

To apply for this workshop online go to fpnsw.org.au or for further information please contact NSW Family Planning  Ph: 02 8752 4300 (option 1) or E: education@fpnsw.org.au

Finance Series Webinars 2013

General Practice Registrars Australia (GPRA) is hosting a series of interactive webinars focussing on finance for GP's. 

Webinar dates and times

• Thursday 28 November 2013 8pm AEDT: Tax Structures & Financial Strategy (GP-Contractors) presented by Mediq

• Wednesday 4 December 2013 10pm AEDT: Superannuation and self-managed super funds presented by Hub Private Planning

• Thursday 5 December 2013 8pm AEDT: Tax Minimisation & Financial Planning (Employee-GP) presented by Mediq

Webinar format

These interactive webinars will provide GP registrars with the tools and knowledge they need for a career in general practice. The Future Series puts registrars in touch with experienced financial professionals to gain first-hand knowledge about the risk and business side of general practice.

Webinar costs

Each webinar costs $25.00 plus GST. The more webinars purchased the greater the discount.

Contact GPRA anytime on webinars@gpra.org.au or 03 9629 8878

GP Speak is rebirthed

The long running Northern Rivers General Practice Network's newsletter, GPSpeak has been relaunched and the bi-monthly journal and weekly updates are now accessible online.

GP Speak was published for more than twenty years and was a valuable voice for GP's and hub for sharing information, accessing professional resources and linking GPs with hospitals, specialists and education and training. 

Editor Robin Osborne says the rebirthed version of the online journal is intended to be "a fertile exchange of opinions, expertise and suggestions" by readers and he is calling for contributions and ideas about what readers would like to see in the free bi-monthly journal. 

GP Speak publishes information and ideas about health and wellbeing on the NSW North Coast, however being now available online opens possibilities to involve a larger audience and to engage with professional colleagues from outside the Northern Rivers. 

Contributions in the form of  blogs/letters, suggested articles, and other feedback, are welcome and can be emailed to Robin Osborne at editor@nrgpn.org.au

Fancy a stint on Thursday Island? Positions Vacant

Image courtesy of Tourism QLD

The following positions exist for Thursday Island Hospital (with visits to multiple outreach clinics and the Primary Health Care Centre on Thursday Island itself):

1 x SMO (with Obstetrics skills)

1 x SMO (with Anaesthetics skills)

We also have a position vacant at the Bamaga Hospital, as follows:

1 x SHO (GP Term)

It is possible to undertake ARST/AST or Extended Skills training in Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Health at Bamaga, a small town on the northernmost tip of Queensland, however notice is required to allow for proper accreditation. Please contact Angelique to discuss. 

Further information is also available from Maria-Theresa (MT) Lehmann, Program Administration Manager  at Tropical Medical Training (TMT) Ph: 07 4729 5002 or email: mtlehmann@tmt.org.au

Survey: GP motivations and workplace outcomes

Participation in a new research project that aims to develop a useful framework for considering the work motivations of health practitioners, especially in the bush, is requested from rural GPs.

The project will establish any correlations between motivational patterns and practitioner-job fit, satisfaction and, consequently, retention. The motivation scale produced will have various positive applications - for instance, in guiding career decisions, recruiting and in supporting new appointees to jobs - especially in rural areas.

The survey takes around 20 minutes to complete and existing feedback has indicated that most respondents enjoyed the process.

Responses to the survey are anonymous. A results summary will be available in due course for those who request it, by emailing Michael Tyrrell, Clinical Psychologist and PhD student at the Centre for Remote Health.

To complete the survey, click here.

Utilisation of the child Personal Health Record (Blue Book) for well child checks in General Practices in NSW

The Department of Community Paediatrics, South West Sydney LHD (in conjunction with NSW Health) is developing educational resources to complement the use of the child Personal Health Record (Baby Blue Book).

This will assist GPs and practice nurses to enhance their skills in performing well child checks utilising a range of resources, accessing learning opportunities and tools. 

In order to help us understand how to approach the development of such, we would like to find out what the current level of usage is of the child Personal Health Record by GP Registrars, and find out if such resources would be considered useful to you.

Please click on this link to access the survey: 

GP Registrar Survey Link  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5896B7W

The researchers are happy to release the results once the survey data is analysed. Please contact Dr Natalie Ong to arrange access to the results or for futher information on ph. Tel 02 9828 6045 / Mob 0467 759589 or by email at natalie.ong@sswahs.nsw.gov.au