Annual Report - Adelaide to Outback GP Training Program

It is pleasing to report that 100% of the
AOGP PGPPP participants report that
they would recommend a PGPPP rotation
to other junior doctors and in 2011, 32%
of the first round of applicants for the 2011
selection intake had previously undertaken
a PGPPP rotation.
In 2010 we formed a Hospital-focused
group within the Medical Education Team.
This allowed for the vertical integration of
the good work AOGP has been doing
with prevocational doctors and AOGP
Registrars working in South Australian
hospitals. For the previous five years that
AOGP has been involved with PGPPP,
this work had been happening as part of
separate teams, mainly to ensure PGPPP
was clearly delineated and well established
as a distinct program.
The hospital focused-group now enables
the relevant doctors to establish a coherent
and coordinated sense of the vertical
continuum of training that exists in General
Practice. Whether it be an intern doing
a GP placement at Clare, a groups of
doctors being trained in a hospital RDL
group learning session, or GP Registrars
gaining specialised skills through enhanced
training terms, the AOGP Hospital group
now have the opportunity to liaise with all
these learners according to their identified
need. The goal is to allow a larger group
of AOGP personnel to be fully informed
and thereby more able to assist the total
spectrum of AOGP-related learners,
who are largely hospital-based. Together
with their relevant Supervisors and
stakeholders, this will ensure AOGP is in a
position to maximise the learner’s capacity
to meet their intended learning outcomes
regardless of where they sit in the training
continuum.
International Medical
Graduate Fellowship
Support Program
AOGP welcomed 12 new IMG doctors
into the Fellowship Support Program in
2010, taking the total number of supported
IMG doctors to 27. Ahna Holland and
Caroline Cullen underpin the great work
of our valued Medical Educators, many of
whom are IMG alumni and experienced
rural GPs, as well as GP Supervisors.
Workshops were held throughout the
year, with content based on the common
learning needs identified in IMG Learning
Plans and during Medical Education
Visits. These areas included indigenous
health, mental health, difficult patients, and
women’s health.
As an added bonus the workshop held
in July was accredited as an RACGP
Category 1 education activity, offering
participants 40 CPD points for their full
participation. Dr Mark Miller’s assistance,
in his role as State Censor, was much
appreciated as he both co-facilitated
the workshop and also provided exam
technique advice to participants.
The IMG Fellowship Support Program was
internally reviewed this year, with a view to
identifying the key successes to date and
building upon these into the future. As part
of this review, all IMG Medical Educators
were invited to participate in a round-table
discussion to put forward their suggestions
as to the various strengths of the Support
Program. They also provided valuable
feedback that contributed to the Program
review and informed how the Program
could be shaped for the future.
Following this review, in November 2010
the AOGP Board endorsed a newly
developed model for the IMG Fellowship
Exam Preparation Program (IMG FEPP).
This revised AOGP model will be divided
into three modules to begin in 2011.
The first module will determine the most
appropriate assessment pathway (ACRRM
or RACGP), and provide an exam
needs analysis, with view to developing
a personalised exam learning plan. The
second module will involve regular and
structured medical educator mentoring
including facilitated support and access to
a virtual study group, and the third module
will involve final preparation and simulation
of Fellowship exams.
Discussions have been scheduled with
RDWA to occur in early 2011.The
aim will be to consolidate our current
collaboration in equipping this cohort of
doctors—who provide a critical service to
rural communities in SA—to successfully
gain their Australian General Practitioner
qualifications.
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