GP re-entry program
GP Synergy is pleased to announce that the GP Re-entry Program continues in 2009.

The Program is aimed to assist General Practitioners who are no longer practising medicine and are seeking to return to the workforce. Participants will receive refresher training, mentoring and other support to help them gain both the confidence and competence to return to clinical general practice.The program draws on the significant educational resources and support provided to GP Registrars and Supervisors including:

1. Individual needs analysis and development of a learning plan
2. Access to selected educational workshops
3. One-on-one training with experienced medical educators

“I had been out of General Practice since 1989, much of that overseas, so I wanted to revise my clinical knowledge. I wanted to get back into what was going on in Australia,” said Dr Joann Goodier. “I would not have been able to go back into general practice without this opportunity. I have appreciated the course but also the support in finding a job.”

GP Synergy’s approach is to tailor the program to suit individual learning needs. The program also covers the areas where everyone needs information and training - billing, prescribing, use of computers in the clinical context and health promotion.

“When I started back I found there were many things I was not familiar with,” said Dr Helena Berenson. “The program gave me a comprehensive overview and it was personally tailored to my weakness. It was reassuring to meet people in the same situation as me. I realised I wasn’t on my own. We had input into the course beforehand and they put together a program that suited us.”

Email National Re-entry Co-ordinator David Ward if you are interested in learning more.

Developmental Disability
Developmental Disability (DD) is defined by an individual having an IQ<70 and at least 2 areas of disability e.g. epilepsy, gastrointestinal disorders, mental health etc. This is an unpopular teaching subject, however its prevalence and morbidity rivals the poor statistics seen in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and therefore DD must be prioritised in the medical education curriculum.

To address this priority, GP Synergy has developed a learning activity which seeks to address the many barriers faced by clinicians in treating patients with DD (such as cognitive/communication difficulties, difficulty with physical examination and lengthy consultation times) and to effectively utilise the recently added Medicare Items 718 and 719 aimed at assisting patients with an intellectual disability.

For more information about this activity, please contact David Ward on (02) 9818 4433 or davidw@gpsynergy.com.au

Aged Care Education Program
Central Sydney General Practice Network, South Eastern Sydney Division of General Practice and GP Network Northside (formerly HKRDGP) are all partnering with GP Synergy in the continued delivery of the Aged Care Education Program for GPs across our region. This module is part of the Aged Care GP Panels initiative, funded by the Department of Health and Ageing.

The rollout of the third Aged Care Education module features three activities:
• Diabetes in the Elderly
• Chronic Kidney Disease in the Elderly Patient
• Voiding Dysfunction in the Older Individual

A key component of the program’s success have been the detailed small group casework combined with presentations by high profile guest lecturers including Professor Tim Usherwood, Associate Professor Susan Kurrle, Associate Professor Gideon Kaplan, Dr Rosemary Sheehy and Dr Lewis Chan.

Mikol Furneaux, Aged Care Program Officer for SESDGP says, “Our GPs are very impressed with the choice of speakers and the small group case material that has been developed by GP Synergy for this Active Learning Module. These are excellent topics and we look forward to continuing our partnership with GP Synergy into the future.”

For more information on forthcoming seminars in your area, please refer to GP Synergy’s event calendar or email Program Manager David Ward.

Adolescent Health and GPs in Schools
The Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Ryde Division of General Practice, The University of Sydney and GP Synergy are collaborating as part of an initiative to bring GPs into Schools to promote adolescent health.

Program instigator, Dr Carol Kefford, a GP based in one of GP Synergy's training practices in Pennant Hills, has been doing research into adolescent health through the University of Sydney's Academic Unit (Northern Clinical School) in Hornsby. Carol began to pilot a small program nine years ago in the Pennant Hills area. Her idea was to introduce high school students to their local GPs in order to help the students understand how GPs might be able to help them.

"It was clear to me that young people don't find it very easy to access primary health care," she said. "They often don't understand that consultations are confidential, except in certain circumstances, an extremely important factor if someone is embarrassed about issues such as sexual health or drug and alcohol use. It's also important to let young people know they can see a GP at no cost in a bulk billing practice, even if they do not have their medicare card with them. We also inform them that they can have their own medicare card once they are 15."

"I have found through talking to a lot of high school students that they often don't understand that GPs are capable of helping them deal with emotional and mental health issues, relationship problems and factors creating stress in life, such as examinations."

Carol saw the potential of widening the program by involving final year medical students through the University of Sydney and GP registrars through GP Synergy.

For more information, or to express an interest in being involved with the initiative, please contact David Ward on (02) 9818 4433 or davidw@gpsynergy.com.au.

Clinical Teacher Training Workshop
GP Synergy will conduct its annual Clinical Teacher Training Workshop on Saturday 21 March 2009 at the Clinical School (Royal Prince Alfred Hospital).

This face-to-face interactive workshop focuses on practical clinical teaching techniques and is ideal for those interested in clinical teaching, as well as those already involved who would like to extend and add to their existing clinical teaching skills.

Now in its seventh year, the 2009 workshop will attract participants from RTPs around Australia.

In 2008 the ‘Teaching Procedural Skills’ module in particular was taken to new heights, with Supervisors engaging in an elaborate range of hands-on activities designed to improve their procedural teaching capabilities by playing the role of both the learner and the teacher.

The 2008 four module workshop included two new modules, ‘Assessing & Teaching Consultation Skills’ and ‘Assessing Effectiveness as a Clinical Teacher’, which were both well very received.

As the Clinical Teacher Training Program now comprises eight core teaching module options designed to improve GP Supervisor’s teaching abilities through a combination of didactic and small group activities, in 2009 we anticipate a two day workshop.

INFORMATION
For more information regarding the program please contact GP Synergy on 02 9818 4433 or email katef@gpsynergy.com.au

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