Annual report 2010 - Australian and New Zealand College of ...

president’sreport“The Council is most grateful to the thousands of Fellowsand trainees who contribute to the College and theprofession on a pro bono basis. The College wouldstruggle to exist without this dedicated commitmentand would fail in its goals of continuous innovationand improvement.”This annual report demonstrates thesignificant progress made by the Collegein a range of areas in 2010. This progressis due to the strong collaborationbetween ANZCA management and themany Fellows who are engaged in thework of the College and in ensuring ourhealthcare system can look after us,our families and our communitiesin the future.Engagement – a strategic priorityThe first of nine strategic priorities forANZCA, as identified in the ANZCAStrategic Plan 2010-2012, is to “increasethe engagement of the College’smembers and the interaction withkey external stakeholders”.In 2010, major steps towards achievingthis goal were taken. A survey of Fellowswas undertaken in mid-2010 with a solidresponse rate of about 50 per cent.Valuable feedback from Fellows wasalso obtained at focus group sessionsheld during the 2010 Annual ScientificMeeting in Christchurch.The ANZCA Fellowship Survey founda high level of satisfaction with ANZCAoverall (71 per cent) and with staff (77per cent) and 60 per cent of Fellowsdescribed the annual subscriptionas reasonable or at least acceptable.The College’s most important roleswere perceived to be quality andsafety, professional standards settingas well as education and training. TheFellows saw particular strengths in theCollege’s professional documents, theannual scientific meeting, the library,publications and communications, andthe support of research by the College.Importantly, the fellowship survey foundthat more than half the Fellowship –55 per cent of respondents – reportedundertaking pro bono roles, mostlyin teaching roles.Feedback was received through thesurvey about how the College canimprove its service to Fellows inrelation to the continuing professionaldevelopment (CPD) program, andsteps have already been taken to ensureimproved ease of access and support,especially since participation in CPDis now mandatory.“Interaction with key external stakeholders”is the second part of the strategic plan’snumber one point. The College’s PolicyUnit made 44 submissions to Australiangovernment and related bodies and afurther eight submissions were madein New Zealand.Media coverage of the College andanaesthesia and pain medicine increasedin 2010. The College’s CommunicationsUnit produced 30 media releases in2010 achieving widespread coveragethroughout Australia and New Zealandand lengthy features appeared in printand on radio. The Annual ScientificMeeting in Christchurch attracted asignificant amount of media coverage.There was also an enormous amountof media coverage in the lead-up to,and during, the National Pain Summitin March.Other strategic prioritiesAlso in keeping with our strategic planpriorities, the College established anOverseas Aid Committee chaired byDr Wayne Morriss from New Zealand.An indigenous health working party forindigenous communities in Australiaand New Zealand and chaired by Dr RodMitchell was also established.Support for research increased withthe College announcing $664,677 for15 projects. ANZCA Fellows were alsoawarded $10.3 million in National Healthand Medical Research Council grants.The College has also enhanced its supportfor Fellows and trainees in quality andsafety through initiatives such as theWebAIRS incident monitoring project.The formation of an Australian andNew Zealand Tripartite AnaestheticData Committee (ANZTDAC) AnalysisSubcommittee and an increased numberof quality and safety articles in theANZCA Bulletin and items in theANZCA E-Newsletter is also indicativeof our College’s commitment to thisimportant area.ExaminationsIn 2010, 492 candidates sat thepharmacology section of the primaryexamination (up from 419 in 2009) witha pass rate of 56.7 per cent. A total of519 candidates (up from 423) sat thephysiology section with a pass rate of55.8 per cent.A total of 269 candidates successfullycompleted the primary examination (371in 2009) and 305 candidates (334 in2009) sat the final examination in 2010with a total pass rate of 74.8 per cent.Another achievement in 2010 was theimplementation of the online in-trainingassessment (ITA) process.EducationAn extensive review of the ANZCAtraining program was completed in 2010and the Curriculum Redesign Projectwas launched. A new ANZCA curriculumframework has been established with arevised curriculum to be developed forimplementation in 2013.In 2010, the College also developed andlaunched the ANZCA Teacher Courseaimed at helping supervisors of trainingand clinical teachers in anaesthesiatraining. A project to scope an onlineteacher program also commenced andthe College continued to develop itse-learning activities.Events and conferencesThe College ran many successfulcontinuing medical education events in2010 including the outstanding AnnualScientific Meeting in Christchurch whichwas attended by 756 full registrants,154 Faculty registrants, 92 exhibitorregistrants and 49 day registrants.Fellows recorded a CPD participationrate of 80 per cent by the end of 2010.CouncilNominations were called for fivevacancies on Council with Dr LindyRoberts and Dr Genevieve Gouldingre-elected for three years.New councillors Dr Patrick Farrell, DrRodney Mitchell and Dr Mark Reeves whohad previously been co-opted to Councilwere elected and Dr Nicole Phillipscompleted her two-year term as newFellow councillor in May. Dr Justin Burkewas elected as her replacement.ConclusionThe College continues to excel in its coreroles of training and continuing educationand promoting professional standardsand patient safety in anaesthesia andpain medicine.ANZCA remains in a strong financialposition with net assets at similar levelsto the previous year.The Council is most grateful to thethousands of Fellows and traineeswho contribute to the College and theprofession on a pro bono basis. TheCollege would struggle to exist withoutthis dedicated commitment and wouldfail in its goals of continuous innovationand improvement.In particular, I would like to acknowledgeour committee members, supervisorsof training, examiners, working groupmembers, inspectors, tutors, communityrepresentatives, the College solicitor andcouncillors for the thousands of hoursthey contribute.I would also like to acknowledge the staffof the College whose professionalismcontinues to increase under theoutstanding leadership of our ChiefExecutive Officer, Dr Mike Richards.We can be very proud of our College’sachievements and as one of the world’sleading medical colleges.Professor Kate LeslieANZCA President4 ANZCA Annual Report 2010ANZCA Annual Report 2010 5