| It's Back …
Welcome to the reincarnation of Remote Connections.
Despite a lapse of some years our newsletter is back up and running. During the respite our name (Remotely Interested) was adopted by a well known rural health conference in Northern Queensland so we thought, to save confusion, we would change the name to ‘Remote Connections'.
Over the next 12 months this e-newsletter will evolve into a bi-monthly publication with the dual focus of reaching those both within and external to RVTS. The trick will be to make this readable across that spectrum and for that we will need your help.
In time the newsletter will act as a reference point and reminder of upcoming events, developments within the organisation and challenges ahead. It will also look to lobby support from politicians and local communities. Effectively done it will provide content on doctors, supervisors and the role of RVTS that can be picked up by mainstream media and your community. That will include personal profiles, clearly that is where you come in, discussions with board members about the challenge ahead and the latest from the chief executive's office. If there are issues that you would like highlighted, it is as simple as picking up the phone or tapping out an email.
With a cohort of more than 30 registrars across three years and plans to take that to even greater numbers, we believe the newsletter will complement our existing communications, as well as do some shameless self promotion.
Upcoming Events
TOWNSVILLE WORKSHOP
A tentative program has been put together for the Townsville Workshop next month. It will be a fairly full agenda starting from May 19, but there will also be the chance to get some fresh air with a bit of sea kayaking and sailing. Well let's face it - it's a long way to go if we don't see the sea at some stage.
The program at this stage includes:
- Monday:
Introductions, radiology and some indigenous health
- Tuesday:
Retrieval medicine
- Wednesday:
At JCU, Neurosurgical emergencies, mini-CEX, skin excisions/flaps, IT, regional anaesthetics, BBQ with JCU students
- Thursday:
Social day sea kayaking and sailing on Magnetic Island along with some sports medicine.
- Friday:
Exam preparation.
- Friday night workshop dinner:
Adolescent Health Hypothetical. The RVTS board will join us for dinner.
BOARD PLANNING
At the end of our five-day workshop board members and management will spend the Saturday reviewing the strategic plan. The existing plan expires at the end of the financial year.
Though the RVTS program has been operating since 2000, RVTS Ltd is coming to the end of only its first eighteen months of operation. The board will be meeting to develop a strategic plan that will take the organisation well into the future, taking into account the many opportunities for applying the RVTS model.
Orientation Workshop
At last a chance to put faces to the names. Last month 12 of the 2008 intake and three supervisors, had a chance to meet and greet over a weekend at the Novotel at Brighton le Sands, in Sydney. There are 13 in this year’s cohort from as varied locations as Groote Eylandt (NT) to Queenstown (Tas).
There were plenty of questions and hopefully just as many answers. Key stakeholder members ACCRM and the RACGP also briefed the group on what they had to offer. It was a tough two days but the CPR training proved a great ice breaker as the photo below will attest.
| 2008 Cohort |
|
 |
| Alex Stevenson |
Queenstown, TAS |
| May El-Khoury |
Trundle, NSW |
| Mark Demian |
Magnetic Island, QLD |
| Ismael Albadran |
Grenfell, NSW |
| Andrei Schapov |
Nubeena, TAS |
| Aiad Al-Essa |
Berrigan, NSW |
| Amitosh Mondal |
Tenterfield, NSW |
| David Kang |
Kyogle, NSW |
| Hamid Raoof Kateb |
Harden, NSW |
| Andrew Wilke |
Charleville, QLD |
| Mike Nixon |
Darwin, NT |
| Andrew Jamieson |
Groote Eylandt, NT |
| Emilie Willcox |
Yuendemu, NT |
| |
|
Education
Teletutorial
Because of our expanded numbers, there are now three concurrent teleconferences happening each Thursday night. Below is the program for the remainder of this semester.
| |
Exam Group |
2007 intake |
2008 intake |
| 17/04/2008 |
Case Studies |
Thyroid Disease:
Dr Rachel Harvey |
Travel Medicine:
Dr Andrew Jamieson |
| 1/05/2008 |
Case Studies |
Adolescent Health:
Dr George Cerchez |
Diabetes:
Dr Gabriel Shannon |
| 8/05/2008 |
Case Studies |
Case Presentation:
Dr Brad Murphy |
Case Presentation:
Dr David Kang |
| 15/05/2008 |
Case Studies |
Tropical Disease:
Dr Bart Currie |
Asthma:
Dr Peter Van Asperen |
| 29/05/2008 |
Case Studies |
Case Presentation:
Dr Rodney Jones |
Case Presentation:
Dr Michael Nixon |
| 5/06/2008 |
Case Studies |
Palliative Care:
Dr Jonathon Newman |
Paediatrics: |
GP START
RVTS Medical Educator, Susan Wearne is revising gp-start - a modular general practice learning program - to adapt it for the RVTS model. The purpose of gp-start, generally, is to provide a means to learn about core general practice medicine. It includes topics that are either not encountered, or not taught in hospital practice. Already gp-start has been modified for our needs, but clearly more needs to be done.
Most of you are already working in general practice and some of the life lessons that involves are no longer new to you. There has also been the realisation that the RVTS model of gp-start needs to look at specific issues of remoteness and indigenous health.
|