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The following articles have the tag ACRRM
RURAL doctors have welcomed Commonwealth funding that will allow the continuation of telehealth consultations and services for patients who may otherwise have to travel long distances to receive specialist care.
THOUSANDS of international medical graduates (IMGs) would no longer face limited registration and largely skip the administrative hurdle of dealing with the Australian Medical Council (AMC) under a systemic overhaul proposed by the Medical Board of Australia.
THERE is mounting concern about the lack of rural GPs trained in surgical skills, with figures showing the number has halved in the past decade across Australia and accusations that the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) is not accrediting and training enough doctors.
AUSTRALIA’S medical workforce will have a shortfall of 2700 doctors by the year 2025, a national health workforce report has predicted, while highlighting a maldistribution.
THE Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) has criticised the RACGP’s revamped Fellowship in Advanced Rural General Practice (FARGP) course, arguing its duration and online platform are inadequate.
A HUSBAND and wife team has been awarded the Telstra RDAA Rural Doctor of the Year Award 2012.
INTERNATIONAL Medical Graduates (IMGs) practising in rural and remote regions will now be offered an alternative to the AMC’s one-off clinical exam.
TWENTY-two rural and remote doctors have begun the journey to fellowship with the 2012 Remote Vocational Training Scheme (RVTS), after a record number of applications for places were lodged last year.
MORE than 300 doctors in Alice Springs for the joint RDAA and ACRRM conference were stranded by the Qantas grounding of all flights on Saturday, leaving rural practices around the country in chaos.
THE Australian Medical Council has confirmed ACRRM’s place among the country’s specialist colleges after announcing its full accreditation this morning. After granting the college initial accreditation in 2007, the AMC began a scheduled review of its training pathways last year. The council’s report on today’s accreditation, which extends until 2014, covered the Vocational Preparation Pathway, the Remote Vocational Training Scheme and the Professional Development Program. ACRRM president Dr Jeff Ayton said the accreditation provided unequivocal and long-awaited recognition of the calibre of ACRRM’s education and training programs. ...
GPs are harder to find in the bush than a double decaf soy latte, but incoming ACRRM president Professor Richard Murray is optimistic about the future. “We are working right now in a system that is really stacked against rural generalist medicine, and in which there is a severe geographic maldistribution of services and maldistribution according to need,” Professor Murray says. “But there is also probably a once-in-a-generation or more opportunity for change [and] the bush has a lot to teach the city.” Professor Murray, who is set to take up the presidency next month, comes ...
STEPS to stamp out violence against medical staff based in remote regions will be discussed by professional groups. Funded by the federal government, the Working Safe in Rural and Remote Australia roundtable – convened by the RDAA in 2009 – aims to finalise and establish by May next year a national framework to provide better safety for isolated staff. RDAA Female Doctors Group chair, Dr Jenny May, said the roundtable will include ACRRM, the Australian Nursing Federation, the Police Federation of Australia, the Queensland Teachers’ Union and the Council of Remote Area Nurses Australia Plus. “This ...
DOCTORS and nurses working in rural and remote areas will work with other professional groups to stamp out violence by helping to develop a “working safe” framework. Funded by the federal government, the framework will follow from a Working Safe in Rural and Remote Australia roundtable convened by the Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) in 2009. The chair of the association’s Female Doctors Group, Dr Jenny May, said the roundtable also involved ACRRM, the Australian Nursing Federation, the Police Federation of Australia, the Queensland Teacher’s Union and the Council of Remote Area Nurses Australia Plus. ...
TWENTY years of dedication and hard work have landed Victorian GP Dr Lindsay Sherriff one of rural medicine’s highest accolades, with ACRRM bestowing on him the Peter Graham ‘Cohuna’ award. The Kerang-based GP, who has worked in tandem with his wife Dr Dianne Sherriff for more than two decades, received the award at the recent RDAA-ACRRM Rural Medicine Australia 2010 conference in Hobart. The award was created in memory of legendary rural procedural GP Dr Peter Graham, the inaugural president of the RDAA and an active member of ACRRM. Dr Sherriff said he was especially humbled to receive ...
INTERNATIONAL medical graduates entering Australia are now able to take advantage of ACRRM’s specialist pathway for gaining registration in general practice. From 13 April, IMGs can apply for ACRRM fellowship if they hold recognised overseas GP qualifications with skills and experience deemed comparable to those of an Australian-trained fellow. The announcement follows long delays by the Australian Medical Council in finalising the RACGP’s specialist pathway. The pathway was approved late last year, some 15 months late. The pathway will allow GPs entering Australia from New Zealand, South Africa, the UK, the US, Scandinavia,Canada and other countries ...
THE imminent expansion of the GP workforce must include strategies to ensure new doctors head to those areas where they are needed most, rural doctors say. RDAA and ACRRM have both welcomed the pledge to boost training numbers but warned that funding must go toward encouraging new doctors to practise in the bush. “We need to make sure that rural practice is financially viable so that [GP registrars] are actually going to want to join us in the future,” said RDAA president Dr Nola Maxfield. “There should be a loading on Medicare for services delivered in ...
MOREE GP Dr Maxine Percival has been named the RDAA Rural Doctor of the Year in recognition of her work as a rural GP obstetrician and her medico-political advocacy work. When Dr Percival began practising in the rural NSW town in 1985, she was the community’s first female GP and was quickly inundated with women’s health and obstetrics work. “What has kept me in rural practice, apart from the country [lifestyle], is the diversity, the opportunity and support of my colleagues and the community – I am humbled by the experience,” Dr Percival told MO . ...
AN interactive online mental health training program is drawing together isolated rural doctors in online learning communities. The ACRRM-run program allows GPs to log into an interactive learning module to discuss patients' mental health issues with colleagues across the country and ask questions of trainers. Director Dr Louise Stone said the program allowed GPs to share their own experiences, advice and problems in delivering mental health care to patients, given the lack of local referral support services. “For [rural GPs in a small community] that layer of objectivity is often not there – they can’t refer ...
TASMANIAN GP Dr Jeff Ayton is the new ACRRM president following the college’s first contested election. Dr Ayton, who has been the Chief Medical Officer with the Australian Antarctic Division since 2002, defeated NSW GP Dr Aniello Iannuzzi and SA rural GP Dr John Birss.
VOTING in ACRRM’s first ever contested presidential election is underway, with three candidates vying for the post. NSW GP Dr Aniello Iannuzzi, who unsuccessfully ran for the AMA presidency earlier this year, will run against Australian Antarctic Division chief medical officer Dr Jeff Ayton and SA rural GP Dr John Birss. Voting will close 9 October, with the winner to be named at ACRRM’s annual conference in Melbourne at the end of the month. Outgoing president Associate Professor Dennis Pashen will step down after two years in the role.
GREATER financial and practical support for GP supervisors is crucial to the future of the profession, according to a new blueprint for the evolution of general practice education and training. According to a joint report from the RACGP, ACRRM, GPET and GPRA, the role of teaching in general practice needs greater recognition. Appropriate remuneration and additional funding should be made available to improve teaching infrastructure and facilities as a matter of urgency, it recommends. The report – which will now be submitted to the National Primary Health Care Strategy external reference group – contains 38 comprehensive ...
FRUSTRATED international medical graduates may soon abandon the RACGP with the federal government now indicating it will approve a submission by ACRRM to provide an alternative assessment pathway for GPs entering Australia. The warning, from Queensland-based international medical graduate (IMG) Dr Viney Joshi, follows the RACGP’s recent rejection of calls for an independent review of assessment processes for overseas graduates and requests for IMG associate members to be granted voting rights. According to Dr Joshi, the ‘post-Patel’ era had resulted in tougher standards and assessment processes being applied to IMG candidates applying for FRACGP, compared to Australian ...
Kellie Bisset crunches the numbers of MO ’s annual survey on health reform. THE Rudd government has high hopes for its GP super clinics strategy, which it says is a key plank in building a stronger primary healthcare system. But the majority of Australia’s GPs remain firmly convinced that the $275 million plan to establish 31 clinics across the country is nothing but a big juicy lemon. It’s early days and negotiations are still underway on how the policy will be rolled out in each area. But the results of Medical Observer ...