SimMom in Mildura Base Hospital’s birthing suite.

SimMom arrived by wheelchair at the Mildura Base Hospital’s birthing suites.

This most advanced obstetric simulation equipment was provided by the School of Rural Health Mildura to assist with the hospital’s second annual practical obstetric multi-professional training (PROMPT) session, held in April.

SimMom provided the hospital’s nurses, midwives, obstetricians and anaesthetists with in situ practical multi-professional training on the potential real life scenario of ‘cardiac arrest following local anaesthetic toxicity’ in a familiar working environment with real life equipment.

Fifteen participants received the training with the Intensive Care Unit and Midwifery Department working together for a successful outcome in the scenario.

The SimMom mannequin was purchased with funding from the Mallee Health Foundation and normally resides in her own purpose-built room at the School of Rural Health Mildura. This is the first time she has been off Monash grounds to simulate a real life obstetric emergency and will venture out a further three times before the end of the year.

The range of health and education programs and courses delivered in Mildura was explored at the North West Health Education & Employment Conference on 29 April.

The School of Rural Health Mildura helped sponsor the conference which looked at the health programs and courses delivered by local universities, TAFEs and registered training organisations in Mildura.

The conference focused on skills shortages, highlighting employment opportunities that exist locally for graduates.

School of Rural Health Mildura’s former director, Dr John Russell, was guest speaker and admissions processes were outlined by Jenny Phillips from the Monash MBBS Admissions Office.

Local students, Emma Sanderson and Ellen O’Connor, were part of a student Q&A panel, giving an overview of their life as a rural student and their pathway into medicine.

A mini expo was held over lunch with workshops and plenary sessions.

Pam Harvey talks about the use of the humanities in healthcare education.

Pam works with the North West Rural Medical Education Unit based in Bendigo. She talks about her particular interest in the use of the humanities in healthcare education and her new blog. Watch the video. Visit the blog.

We had the opportunity of running a GP Anaesthetic Registrar Workshop which was well attended by all the GPA registrars in Gippsland.

The workshop was kindly supported by Southern GP Training (SGPT).

The day was a mixture of lectures from anaesthetic specialists and experienced GP anaesthetists, an ultrasound workshop and scenarios made realistic with monitors that alarmed and desaturated.
It was a splendid opportunity to utilise the excellent simulation facilities at Sale.

Dr Antony Wong, GP Anaesthetist

Mr Stephen Lindsay, a Urological Surgeon in Bendigo, recently held a skills session for the University of Melbourne final year students, “Surviving Urology 101”. Mr Lindsay enlisted Senior Lecturer in Clinical Skills, Adele Callaghan, to help in developing a scenario on Renal Colic using the new Bendigo Clinical Skills and Simulation Centre (CSSC) facilities. Mr Lindsay praised the enormous amount of preparation that Adele did to ensure that the session was highly successful.

“I have been teaching Medical undergraduates since 1990 and I think I usually do a reasonable job. But I have never had students more energised and engaged than the group on Thursday. The quality of the experience for the students (and me!) in the simulation centre is unbelievable, and Adele ran the session beautifully. We had a lot of fun, and I think I learned at least as much as the students!” praised Mr Lindsay and he looks forward to using the CSSC again for his “boring old Urology tutorials”.

For more information about Bendigo’s CSSC, contact Adele Callaghan.

Professor Christina Mitchell and Professor Judi Walker unveil the painting and plaque marking the opening of the new clinical skills centre.

Bendigo’s new Clinical Skills and Simulation Centre was officially opened by the Dean, Professor Christina Mitchell, in late September.

The $1.2 million centre incorporates a simulated two-bed ward, a “sim gym” for learning and practising specific clinical skills, and a high fidelity suite which includes a sophisticated Sim Man which can be programmed to simulate a range of complex health conditions. The centre also includes control rooms, briefing rooms and the ability to stream a simulation into the auditorium.

In the spirit of collaborative training, the new centre will be used by medical students from Monash University and the University of Melbourne; nursing, paramedic and allied health students from La Trobe University; and nursing students from Bendigo TAFE, as well as practising health professionals.

For students and Bendigo health professionals it’s ideally placed on the health education and research precinct near the new hospital development, but will also include an outreach program to health services outside Bendigo.

The new Clinical Skills and Simulation Centre is funded jointly by Health Workforce Australia, as an Australian Government initiative, and the Victorian Department of Health.

Cathy Driver runs a simulation from the control room of the hi-fidelity suite.

Professor Nestel leads the national NHET-Sim Program (National Health Education and Training in Simulation).  This program is for simulation educators and has received funding from Health Workforce Australia until the end of June 2014. Any clinician or educator interested in healthcare simulation is eligible to take the program which is offered free. The program is available as a combination of e-learning and workshops or e-learning only.

The Faculty is pleased to announce the next round of the Learning & Teaching travel grants has been released. The scheme is designed to assist academic staff to attend and/or present papers at conferences that will develop their educational skills and teaching and learning research activity.

The grants are allocated by the Office of the Deputy Dean (Education) on a competitive basis. It is anticipated that approximately 20 grants will be allocated in this round.

The closing date for applications is 30 November 2013

Round 1, 2014 will cover attendance at conferences commencing between: 1 January 2014 and 30 June  2014

The guidelines and application form are now available.  This link takes you to the Intranet page of ‘Education: Office of the Deputy Dean Education’.  Under the heading ‘Support for Staff’ you will find ‘Learning & Teaching Travel Grants (DOC)’.

Please note: Staff from Malaysia are eligible for travel grants, however, there are restrictions applied. The restrictions are that it can be up to $1,000 and for travel to Australia to attend a conference or collaborate with Monash AU staff

PLEASE NOTE: completed applications will need to be sent to DDE Applications.

All education, clinical and research staff and students are invited to take part in the Journal Club.

It is held on the second Wednesday of each month, either in Bendigo, Gippsland, and Mildura in person or by tele/videoconference link.

This month’s article is: Crocombe LA, Stewart JF, Brennan DS, Slade GD and Spencer AJ  2012 ‘Is poor access to dental care why people outside capital cities have poor oral health?’ Australian Dental Journal 57: 477-485

Facilitator: Matthew McGrail

When:         11 September 2013

Time:          12 noon- 1pm

Where:        Meeting Room 3 (Level 2), School of Rural Health, 26 Mercy St Bendigo or by videoconference (IP 130.194.213.113) or teleconference (9903 5988) from other sites.

Please let Cathy Ward know if you are able to participate in this journal club.

The next SRH Educational Technology Inservice will be held on Wednesday 18 September, on the topic Qualtrics 2, and run by Keith Sutton and Shane Bullock.

It is from 1.00pm to 2.00pm via videoconference.

Details are as follows:

To join the conference from a Video Conference endpoint dial:

• From inside Monash: 35929
• From outside Monash: 35929@monash.edu or  130.194.20.3 then enter conference 29

To join the conference from a telephone (Audio Only):

• From a Monash phone: 35929
• From outside Monash:  +61 3 990  35929

For further details, or to suggest or offer to present a session, please contact Dr Julie Willems.