New AMACDT Chair

The AMACDT welcomes Dr Andrew Perry as its new Chair. Andrew is an emergency medicine registrar at the Lyell McEwin Hospital in Adelaide and takes over from Dr Alex Markwell. Andrew can be contacted at amacdtchair@ama.com.au. Dr Sarah Mansfield from Victoria has been appointed as the council’s Deputy Chair.

We also have some new state and territory representatives. The full team is:

Dr Andrew Perry (Chair)
Dr Sarah Mansfield (Deputy Chair)
Dr Helen Doyle (Australian Capital Territory)
Dr Katherine Jeffrey (New South Wales)
Dr Rob McNamara & Dr Sam Goodwin (Northern Territory)*
Dr Michael Bonning (Queensland)
Dr Rick Fielke (South Australia)
Dr Allison Turnock & Dr Jennifer Flynn (Tasmania)*
Dr Rob Mitchell (Victoria)
Dr Michael O’Sullivan & Dr Dror Maor (Western Australia)*
* alternating members

AMA survey: does your hospital support your training?

Proper training facilities, adequate clinical supervision, appropriate channels for feedback and protected time for education and training. These are all crucial issues for Australia’s junior doctors, and the AMA wants to know if hospitals are providing these resources adequately.

The AMA is conducting a confidential, online survey of junior doctors in each state and territory on the quality of the training, education and supervision they are receiving in their training hospital. AMA members were sent an invitation via email to participate in the survey on 19 June.

The five minute survey – which runs from 19 June to 20 July 2009 – is open to AMA members and non-members, and all junior doctors are encouraged to participate.

If you would like to participate please go to www.ama.com.au/dit-training-survey

AMA adopts position statement on workplace bullying

The AMA has adopted a position statement on workplace bullying to guide doctors, hospital and practice managers to identify and manage workplace bullying and harassment. The AMA hopes to raise awareness of this issue and reduce the exposure of doctors to workplace bullying and harassment. Read the AMA’s position statement here.

New health workforce agency: AMA makes submission to the Senate

The Senate Community Affairs Committee is conducting an inquiry into the Health Workforce Australia Bill 2009. The Commonwealth agreed to establish a new health workforce agency at the November 2008 Council of Australian Governments meeting and the Bill will implement that commitment.

Health Workforce Australia (HWA), as it will be known, will have a number of functions of significance to medical students and junior doctors. This includes providing financial support for undergraduate clinical training and providing non-financial support for clinical training, such as matching students with clinical placements.

The AMA has provided a submission to the Senate inquiry. Our submission welcomes the extra funding for undergraduate clinical training that HWA will deliver and highlights the need to ensure that HWA funding for clinical training is linked to the Australian Medical Council’s accreditation standards.

The AMA also emphasises the importance of strong professional input into the activities of HWA and puts forward a number of suggested amendments to the Bill. Read the AMA’s submission

AMACDT comments on the revised Australian Curriculum Framework (ACF) for junior doctors

The Australian Curriculum Framework is being developed by the Confederation of Postgraduate Medical Education Councils and will define the core capabilities expected of prevocational doctors. The AMACDT recognises the potential of the ACF to improve the quality of  prevocational medical education. We have participated actively in the working parties and the national steering group that have developed the framework. The council recently provided feedback on the revised version of the framework. Read more.

Review of RANZCR training program

At the invitation of the Australian Medical Council (AMC), the AMACDT has made a submission to the council’s review of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists training program. We welcome feedback from junior doctors on their training programs at any time. The next training program scheduled for review by the AMC is the oral and maxillofacial training program.  Read more

6th National Doctors Health Conference

The 6th National Doctors Health Conference – “Healthy Doctors Better Medicine” will be held in Adelaide on 3-5 September 2009. AMA South Australia a major supporter of the conference. Medical students and doctors at any stage of their career are invited to attend. A sub-theme of the program is the health of medical students and junior doctors. Find out more

2009 GPET Awards
 
The GPET Awards honour significant contributions from individuals and organisations involved in the Australian General Practice Training program, including registrars, supervisors, educators, regional training providers and their staff. The 2009 awards will be presented at the GPET Convention on 2 September at the Hilton Adelaide. Nominations close on Friday 10 July 2009. Find out more