September 2009 Newsletter

Latest News

REGISTRAR RECRUITMENT

Recruitment for the 2010 intake of registrars is well underway, with a number of interviews already completed. It's hoped that successful candidates will receive offers around mid November and that remote supervisors can be finalised for training to start in February. Good luck to all those applicants still to face the interview panel (they're really nice people, honest).

GPET CONVENTION

What do you get when you take an RVTS CEO, an RVTS ME and add them to the GPET Convention (aside from an acronym headache)? That's right, two entertaining presentations at this year's Adelaide convention. Pat Giddings spoke on a subject close to his heart: Operating in a parallel universe - surviving outside the AGPT program. And Louise Baker pondered the question on everyone's lips: Logbook - do we need 150 hours of driving to complete it? Unfortunately, the question of treating an acronym headache wasn't discussed, but if pain persists see your doctor.

NEW RESOURCES

RVTS supervisors will soon and have access to UpToDate, an evidence based resource that promises benefits for both supervisors and their registrars. We're also equipping them with slick new hands-free telephones. Now, that's the Christmas shopping done...

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Time flies when you're having fun, so it's little wonder that the AGM is upon us again. This year's AGM will be held at the Brisbane workshop (prior to Friday night's dinner), a change that will leave the remainder of the evening free for socialising.

Upcoming Events

BRISBANE WORKSHOP - SEPTEMBER 14-18

RVTS returns to Brisbane for the second workshop of 2009. The workshop revisits Retrieval Medicine with Tony Hucker and features talented educators such as Dr Russell Bach (Ophthalmoscopy), Dr Andrew Lomas and Dr Simon Nasser (ENT), and Dr Robert Sinclair (Dermoscopy). 'Speed Dating' is a new addition to the program and there will also be a chance to hone CPR skills. As always, a range of social activities will be offered to keep families entertained.

TELETUTORIALS

The following teletutorials are planned for the coming weeks:

2009 COHORT

2008 cohort

2007 cohort

In addition, the following exam preparation sessions have been planned:

EXAM PREPARATION

Clinical Teaching Visits

BEYOND THE BLACK STUMP

Clinical teaching visits (CTVs) are an integral and vital part of the RVTS training program.

Across 2009 RVTS will coordinate 90 individual visits, each presenting its own set of challenges. "The trickiest bit is finding suitably qualified doctors who are available," says Albury Administrative Assistant, Doris Berger, "They're such busy people".

Then begins the task of scheduling the visit, arranging travel and ensuring the visiting doctor will be effective once onsite. To smooth out the process, medical educator Bambi Ward recently updated the CTV manual, including minimum requirements for reporting. She has also written case-based scenarios for training clinical teaching visitors and is planning to use an ACRRM DVD of scenarios to train medical educators and visitors to complete miniCEXs.

CTVs are a win-win for all involved. For RVTS they provide an understanding of the challenges registrars face and greatly assist us to improve training standards and workshop content.Registrars benefit from personal, onsite feedback to assist in skill development and improving service delivery, which of coarse benefits the most important person of all - the patient.

AT THE COALFACE - Trudi Cullinan

Trudi Cullinan is not good with long silences. She readily admits that silence was one of the greatest challenges of her first teletutorial.

Prior to joining the RVTS team in mid 2008, Trudi had been teaching face-to-face at the University of Queensland, where a lesson's effectiveness was instantly reflected in the student's faces. She recalls her first RVTS experience with a smile: "You don't know if what you said was funny, helpful or they just wanted you to shut-up. The biggest challenge is that you say something and there's just silence at the other end of the phone. Initially I had to ask if there was anyone out there".

Prior to joining the university Trudi worked in Weipa and Dubbo and says that these experiences provided the opportunity to practice a great variety of medicine and provide good care to these rural communities, experiences she feels are not easily gained  in the city. "But I enjoy the education aspect of medicine," she said, "I always have."  

This year Trudi has taken on responsibility for organising the RVTS workshops. "It's about the practical stuff, the hands-on teaching... you can't teach how to cut out a skin lesion over the phone," she said. "But of course the difficulty is the logistics." Obtaining equipment for skills sessions in the numbers required and shipping it to the venue presents its challenges. "To some extent the planning has to be a little fluid."

Trudi admits that the role is very different to regular doctoring. "I initially developed an unhealthy relationship with my laptop and have gone from not caring about emails to checking them three times a day, she said." But the role does have its benefits. "It works around my family life. I can do school tuckshop and help out in the classroom and then work that night, so it's very family friendly and flexible."