The WoSSP team with Minister for Health Mr David Davis

The North West Rural Medical Education Unit (MWRMEU) – Dr Natalie Radomski, Pam Harvey, Kylie Cocking and Michelle Moon – were finalists in two categories of the inaugural People in Health Awards 2014, supported by the Victorian Department of Health.

The 12 award categories recognised health services and individuals who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to the education, training and development of Victoria’s health workforce. Each award category short-listed 5 or 6 finalists.

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Dedication: (left-right) Dr David Tynon, Dr Rob Carson and Dr Danie DeVilliers, Dr Dennis O’Connor and Professor Geoff Solarsh

Professor Geoff Solarsh and Dr Dennis O’Connor of SRH Bendigo took a road trip to Maryborough in July to meet up with three of the local general practitioners. The three GPs have a long history of teaching  Monash medical students.

Dr David Tynon, Dr Rob Carson and Dr Danie DeVilliers teach Rural Procedureal Medicine to Year 4C students undertaking their rural placements. They do an exceptional job promoting this service and their chosen lifestyle.

WOSSP - Whole of System Student Placements

The WoSSP (Whole of System Student Placements) program launched its own website in June. The program is a collaboration between Monash and Latrobe Universities and local health services, so it needed virtual space outside those institutions. Kylie Cocking of the North West Rural Medical Education Unit set the site up using WordPress.

The site aims to give educators, prospective students and community partners information about the program.

Penny's farewell cake

The Monash School of Rural Health  Research in Bendigo farewelled Dr Penny Buykx in June.

Penny has taken up a senior research position with the Alcohol Research Group at the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom.

To ease the transition, staff provided a cake with a map of the journey at a farewell dinner. On Penny’s last day, morning tea treats included Aussie “must-haves”…pavlova, lamingtons, Tim Tams and Mint Slices as well as Sheffield delicacies such as Parkin, Flapjacks and Eccles Cakes.

Penny will continue to maintain her links with the school through her alcohol research work conducted jointly with Dr Bernie Ward.

Simulation: Pam Harvey (left) discusses mobility aids with a student during an occupational therapy session, and (right) a student practices wound dressing in the Clinical Skills and Simulation Centre.

This year’s revamped Year 2 program in Bendigo involved a mix of new and tried educational experiences.

“With a cohort of 39 students, activities were often split into three so that smaller groups could get to know each other,” said Lecturer Pam Harvey.

“This year, students travelled to either Rochester, Dingee or Lockington to visit a working dairy farm and look at health services in the town.

“These communities embraced our students, giving their time and knowledge generously,” she said, adding “community involvement was a theme of our program.”

Pam said 13 GP patients had participated in the program’s simulated general practice consultation, and volunteered to return ‘any time’.

“They willingly talked to students about their health issues, offering students insight into how people manage their daily lives while coping with often complex issues.

“Students were also able to discuss illness and its effects with two people living in the community who have had strokes.

“We called these sessions ‘Stories of Recovery’ to highlight the role that rehabilitation and community care have for people adjusting to disability,” said Pam.

The Year 2 program also saw students spend time in local hospitals with senior students, and in the skills lab with clinical educators.

“The best outcome was that nearly half of the students wanted to know how they could apply for a rural placement in Year 3,” said Pam.

“My thanks to the hard working Bendigo Year 2 team for their organisation, patience and ingenuity.”

A research proposal led by Associate Professor Pam Snow has won a faculty learning and teaching research grant of $17,000 to investigate a new approach to communication skills training for medical students.

Interviewing patients is an integral component of all health professions’ day-to-day clinical work and underpins how effectively practitioners gather diagnostic information and explain management plans. Communication issues are a major concern for regulatory bodies. A recent Australian report of complaints against medical practitioners revealed that nearly a quarter of concerns related to communication issues.

Communication skills training is integrated in the medical curriculum of many universities and generally focuses on clinician behaviours and effective transfer of information. Best practice guidelines around questioning and interviewing technique, however, remain unexplored. Evidence from a different discipline – training investigative interviewers – suggests that learners should be provided with explicit instruction about what to say in key situations. As far as possible they should not be allowed to “flounder” and rehears errors. No studies exist which have applied the (forensic) investigative interviewing evidence to the training of clinicians.

The project will adapt an existing method of clinical interviewing (the Calgary-Cambridge teaching method) then compare and contrast commonly-used interviewing training with the adapted model. The research will aid preparation for a collaborative research project between Monash and Deakin Universities. This larger project will be multi-disciplinary and multi-site with links to interviewing methods in medicine, nursing, allied health and forensic (child protection investigative interviewing) work.

Bernie Ward

Bendigo-based Bernadette Ward has been awarded a Monash Advancing Women’s Research Success Grant.

The grants are targeted at female academic staff at Level B and Level C with primary caring responsibilities (child/dependent/elder) and aim to support women to enhance or maintain their research productivity at a critical time in their careers.

Each grant is valued at $12,500 and can be used flexibly to reduce the impact of career breaks and/or intense caring responsibilities on an academic career. Recipients will also participate in career development coaching.

Congratulations Bernie.

A film screening at the School of Rural Health – Bendigo to celebrate International Women’s Day raised enough to fund 120 new kits for the Zonta Club’s birthing kit project. The Zonta Club estimates that for every 11 kits distributed, a mother’s or baby’s life is save, so the Bendigo donation may save 11 lives.

The documentary film, I am a girl, follows the lives of 16-year-old girls from six countries and shows vividly what it means being born a girl. This is a confronting film giving a gender and cultural view of coming of age for girls in our world.

The DVD is now in the North West Rural Medical Education Unit library in Bendigo and can be borrowed by contacting Pam Harvey by email or phone (5440 9083). Posters, postcards and flyers are also available by contacting Cathy Wheel by email or phone (5440 9061). Recommended for ages 15 or older, I am a girl runs for 87 minutes.

Magical: Amazing Nigel entertained guests with magic tricks during the evening

Staff and community members officially welcomed medical students to the north-west over dinner at Silks Restaurant, Bendigo Jockey Club, on Thursday 13 February.

The Dja Dja Wurrung opened the evening with a warm Welcome to Country delivered by Harley Dunolly-Lee and smoking ceremony conducted by Trent Nelson as guests mingled on the lawns. Bendigo’s Director, Professor Geoff Solarsh, introduced students to the NVRMEN program and together with the year academic leads (Associate Professor Chris Holmes and Dr Leslie Fisher) welcomed the students to the new year ahead.

As is now traditional, Dr Damien Cleeve and Dr John Gault combined to introduce and present the John Gault Award for 2013 which went to Christopher Pring. Professor Solarsh presented the Shaker Issa Award for 2013 to Jarrel Seah. University of Melbourne Director Professor Julian Wright presented an Excellence in Teaching Awards to Dr Manny Cao and Dr John Edington on behalf of the Melbourne students. Congratulations go to all the recipients of these awards.

During the evening, guests were entertained by Amazing Nigel, a showcase magician, who wandered around the tables doing some remarkable tricks. He was well received by guests, but it must be said though that some guests were slightly unnerved by the magic of it all.