ACRONYMS IN ORDER OF USE

1
ACRONYMS IN ORDER OF USE

• PDP Professional Development Program
• RRMEO Rural and Remote Online Medical Education
• RAPP Remote Area Placement Program
• PRVTS Pilot Remote Vocational Training Stream
• VR Vocational Registration
• AMA Australian Medical Association
• RACGP Royal Australian College of General
  Practice (until 1997 referred to as The College)

2

• RFDS Royal Flying Doctor Service
• SHO Senior Health Officer
• FMP Family Medicine Program (of RACGP later
  called RACGP TP Training Program
• RACS Royal Australian College of Surgeons
• RACOG Royal Australian College of Obstetricians
  and Gynaecologists
• AME Aero Medical Evacuation

3

• Was the RACGP really asking the RACS to train GPs
  for both metro and rural practice?
• Did they really think RACOG would train metro GPs
  to do caesars?
• Wasnt the real reason for good GPs the past good
  Under-graduate scheme

4

• QRDAA Queensland Rural Doctors Association
• QPGMEC Queensland Post Graduate Medical
  Education Council
• WACRRM West Australian Centre for Rural and
  Remote Medicine
• RDRN Rural Doctors Research Network
• CME Continuous Medical Education (later
  progressed to be PDP)
• JCC Joint Consultative Committee (of GPs with
  Specialist Colleges)

5

• RDAA Rural Doctors Association Australia
• RTU Rural Training Units
• FRM Faculty of Rural Medicine (of RACGP)
• APLS Advanced Paediatric Life Support
• ACRRM Australian College of Rural and Remote
  Medicine
• RIPIC Rural Incentive Program Implementation
  Committee
• MOU Memorandum of understanding

6
In 1989,

• The QRDA and QPGMEC lead by Professor Livingston
  and Mark Craig pushed to establish the Cunningham
  centre in Toowoomba to provide procedural
  training at an appropriate level for rural under
  graduate scholarship holders before they served
  their time.
• WACRRM was formed in WA by Professor Bill Jackson
  when the government agreed that the RACGP was not
  meeting rural needs.
• Professor Max Kamien showed rural origin students
  lasted five times longer than their metropolitan
  counter parts in rural practice and challenged
  medical schools to increase their falling rural
  origin intake based on interview

7

• RDRN was being formed at New Castle by Paul
  Collett.
• Shepherd proposed a UK style allocation of
  registrars at Modbury in SA.
• The AMA held a national rural work-force
  conference, Paul Mara key speaker
• Strasser was establishing Moe University
  Department of Rural Health

8
Lets now look at the RACGP as it existed then.
They had

• Large membership
• Fellowship exam
• CME monopoly enshrined in legislation. Blewitt
  was rewarded with a fellowship
• Guaranteed budget,
• Vocational registration victory in sight which
  would ensure their monopoly.
• Delusion of omnipotence
• A belief that they were an industrial power
  representing rural doctors
• Inflexible training stream rules
• Anti Hospital training dogma
• Perverse refusal to accept good previous hospital
  training

9
Faculty of Rural Medicine

• Not affiliated
• No autonomy
• Budget for meetings only
• Budget unrelated to faculty membership
• No control of FMP Rural Training Stream
• 2 FRM Reps allowed per JCC (chosen by and
  subservient to college council)

10
What did we Want

• Body responsible to its electorate
• Pragmatic negotiations with specialists
• Training to meet rural community needs
• Recognition of extra skills needed in RR areas
• Appropriate reps and funding for JCCs
• Ongoing rural PDP recognised by JCCs
• Delineation of privileges determined by JCCs and
  practising peers

11

• Recognition of relevant prior learning
• Flexibility to develop new courses to help
  aspiring rural GPs
• Training performed by Rural Consortia
• Standards and Curricula set by peers and rural
  specialists
• Accreditation done by peers and rural specialists
• Funding for rural mentors and specialists
• ALTERNATE PATHWAY TO VR

12
Lessons

• Excellence in training Method x Level x Case
• Credibility is lost by accepting second best
• Dont accept a compromise arrangement as the best
  solution it is usually not.
• Principled leadership is essential keep your
  word or lose your integrity
• Dont ask for unnecessary or unjustified training
• Never bully a bureaucrat who is doing their job
  
• Create contingency plans
• If its wrong, fix it .

13
For the future

• Dont demean the work we have already done, by
  accepting hitch-hikers pretending their boutique
  clinical interest are advanced rural skills.
• Dont develop Rule-mania
• Stay flexible
• Work around residual RACGPT barriers littering
  GPET
• Dont wait for approval ,just get on with it,
  show them the way.

14
Poem

• She promise fix indemnity
• Sorry babe that you forgot
• Wooldridge come lose your plot
• Heeded Joseph cum a cropper
• Pete done year Portagutter
• Train Review jus little bend
• Tak CME to mak amen
• Mebbe got poor nest hygen
• Give em house sack by college
• Metro docs got no knowledge
• Patterson she play us straight
• Not her fault she come too late
• Abbott be quite novelty
• He can see de wood for tree
• Shed no tears for PAC
• Watch out guys on TEC
• Dont forget our history.

• Disaster big when Blewett cum
• For de whole prof-esh-un
• He no bother tak raincheck
• When Max prove de dual effeck
• But he get his Fellowship
• When we thinkin china trip
• Howe he done go stir de pot
• Give dem Ferals quite a lot
• Richo now plenty savvee
• He no muck with RIPee
• Wipe de grin off Deans chin
• Mak more rural origin
• Dont go cruisin lose yoh trunk
• ATSIC weep when you get sunk
• Carmen cool with BPP
• Holsgrove nearly set us free