| Issue No. 9 - February 2010
Latest News
HAPPY 10TH BIRTHDAY
RVTS celebrates 10 years of operation this week. All of us at RVTS would like to thank past and present registrars, supervisors, medical educators, board members and admin staff for contributing to the program's success. Congrats also go to CEO, Pat Giddings and Operations Manager, Jeanette McLaren who are also celebrating 10 years with RVTS.
 START YOUR ENGINES
Fasten your seatbelts, 2010 promises to be our biggest year yet. As always the RVTS pit-crew will be working hard to ensure that registrars rise to the challenge on race day and cross the finish line into Fellowship. Stay tuned to Remote Connections for all the latest news and lookout for our new publication, Remote Reflections...
 WELCOME 2010 COHORT
RVTS would like to extend a warm welcome to the 2010 cohort. You made it! The road ahead is paved with exciting new learning opportunities and good times with new friends, but watch out for potholes disguised as exams. You'll find RVTS people very welcoming so sit back and enjoy the ride. Don't forget to consult the teletutorial schedule below for dates and times.
Upcoming Events
 2010 RVTS workshop dates
1st WORKSHOP
2010 cohort: 15-19 March at Bondi.
2008 & 2009 cohorts: 19-23 April at Bondi.
2nd WORKSHOP
All cohorts: 11-15 October, Cairns.
 TELETUTORIALS
For some of you, teletutorials kick off on February the 3rd, not the 4th as reported in the last newsletter. Those giving a registrar presentation this year please forward your Powerpoint file to Amanda Hollands at the Albury office 2 weeks prior to the teletutorial.
2010 COHORT - Thursday evenings
| 4 Feb |
Getting Started |
Louise Baker |
| 11 Feb |
The GP Consultation |
Susan Wearne |
| 18 Feb |
Registrar presentation |
Michael Young |
| 25 Feb |
The Business of GP |
David Field |
| 4 Mar |
Registrar presentation |
Jolmer Smit |
| 11 Mar |
CVS Disease |
Peter Davidson |
| 8 Apr |
Registrar presentation |
Joanna Longley |
| 15 Apr |
Diabetes |
Rob Coles |
2009 COHORT - wednesday evenings
| 3 Feb |
Registrar presentation |
Anna Tervit |
| 10 Feb |
Drug and Alcohol |
Rod Macqueen |
| 17 Feb |
Registrar presentation |
Shingai Jaravaza |
| 24 Feb |
HIV and the GP |
Ken Hazelton |
| 3 Mar |
Registrar presentation |
Simon Madin |
| 10 Mar |
Toxinology |
Geoff Isbister |
| 24 Mar |
Registrar presentation |
Vincent Cornelisse |
| 7 Apr |
Dermatology |
Louise Baker |
| 14 Apr |
Registrar presentation |
Adam Pritchard |
2008 cohort - thursday evenings
| 4 Feb |
Registrar presentation |
Alex Stevenson |
| 11 Feb |
Women's Health |
Terri Foran |
| 18 Feb |
Registrar presentation |
Andrew Jamieson |
| 25 Feb |
Mental Health Emergencies |
Andrew Watt |
| 4 Mar |
Registrar presentation |
Andrew Wilke |
| 11 Mar |
Ovarian Cancer |
Julie Thompson |
| 25 Mar |
Registrar presentation |
Paul Barac |
| 8 Apr |
Healthy Skepticism |
Peter Mansfield |
| 15/Apr |
Registrar presentation |
Mike Nixon
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Supervisor News
 WELCOME NEW SUPERVISORS
A big welcome to our new supervisors! A teletutorial for new supervisors is scheduled for Tuesday 16 February at 8:30pm NSWESDT. Attendance is highly encouraged. Please contact Amanda Hollands at the Albury office to provide a contact phone number and preferred email address.
SUPERVISOR TELETUTORIALS
Supervisors' teletutorials will be held a few weeks prior to the April and October workshops; dates are yet to be confirmed.
SUPERVISORS & WORKSHOPS
Supervisors are always welcome at the workshops to assist with teaching and help with clinical cases. RVTS funds daily attendance, travel and accommodation and there are usually opportunities to join in sessions, with PDP points available. See the 2010 workshop dates above.
SUPERVISOR MUSINGS - George Cerchez, SLO
Supervisor, Mentor or Colleague - which hat will I wear today?
This can be a difficult dilemma for supervisors of GP registrars. At least in RVTS, we avoid the added difficult dilemma and conflict of interest of playing the role of employer as well. In rural practice, workforce pressures make the relationship even more difficult for supervisors of registrars who are underperforming or who have serious personality issues or conflicts with patients, where the supervisor and registrar are in the same practice. I believe this is one of the strengths of the RVTS model.
Should the role of supervisor imply a degree of assessment or judgement which should influence the outcome of a GP registrar's progress?
What responsibility does a supervisor have to ensure that a registrar understands where their deficiencies are?
My observations of the RVTS supervisor process would indicate the role is heavily weighted towards the role of mentor, but where does this leave the responsibility of ensuring that we do not turn out "bad general practitioners"?
In the extreme situation, we do the public no favours by allowing poor doctors to progress through the system into general practice. We do developing doctors no favours by not giving them some insight that they are ill suited to general practice. There are plenty of other options for doctors to make a contribution to the health of the nation, if general practice is not their strength.
In real life, however, we are not always met with the extreme end of any spectrum, and we usually operate in the middle range. It is not usually about factual knowledge. General practice does demand a certain ability to tolerate and get on with or appear to get on with all types of personalities. If registrars do not possess these skills their lives as GPs will not be happy for them or their patients.
I have always been totally blown away at the calibre of the doctors who become RVTS registrars, so fortunately this is not a huge issue for our supervisors. However, it is important to consider the issue from time to time and identify which hat we should wear when approaching educational situations with our registrars.
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