Local intensive care specialist and physician Associate Professor Alistair Wright and paediatrician Dr Cathy Coates have been appointed as Clinical Deans at the Gippsland Regional Clinical School.

The role of the two Deans is to develop and lead clinical teaching for Years 3B, 4C and 5D students who are learning and training at the Regional Clinical School and Latrobe Regional Hospital.

Acting Director at Gippsland Regional Clinical School, Associate Professor Elmer Villanueva, said the Clinical School was delighted that Associate Professor Wright and Dr Coates had agreed to the roles.

“We were looking for senior medical officers and experienced medical educators with excellent communication skills and both Cathy and Alistair fulfill those criteria,” he said. “They will work with senior medical staff at the Hospital to deliver innovative clinical teaching programs with the hospital, teaching on the ward and in outpatient clinics.”

The roles include facilitation of medical students’ practical clinical placement needs within Latrobe Regional Hospital, a liaison role between Gippsland Regional Clinical School and medical administration and they will also join the State-wide network of Clinical Deans.

In an article published by Charles Sturt University January 23, medical consultant Emeritus Professor John Dwyer made the claim that rural clinical schools in Australia have failed to increase the number of medical graduates moving to work in rural areas.

The real issue, perhaps overlooked by Professor Dwyer, is a shortage of rural postgraduate training places to accommodate the growing numbers of medical graduates exposed to rural practice.

Medical graduates report their frustrations that, while they are receiving excellent undergraduate rural clinical training, there are limited opportunities to find a rural postgraduate training pathway. (more…)

Laurea Atkinson works with two visiting Bairnsdale 2013 Year 4C students who had the opportunity to have a go in the Simulation Learning Environment.

The Simulation Learning Environment (SLE) project is funded by the HWA and is progressing forward at a robust pace, with further training and education days featuring SimMom held recently and Nhetsim (National Health Education and Training in Simulation) training in February 2013.

The training days have involved staff from Bairnsdale, Orbost and Omeo in the East Gippsland region. Key stakeholders in the region have been identified and the formation of an email group, East Gippsland Simulation Interest Group (EGSIG) has been launched to communicate the project updates. (more…)

The School of Rural Health Journal Club is running again this year. The club is a great opportunity to catch up with your peers, sharpen your critical review skills, and share your experiences/work/research.It is of particular interest to students, and teaching and academic staff. But we welcome everyone who is interested, particularly if you are not currently based in the School of Rural Health.

2013 dates

The dates for this year’s journal club meetings are:

Wednesdays, 12 noon – 1 pm

13 March
10 April
8 May
12 June
10 July
14 August
11 September
9 October
13 November

You can join each journal club:

• in person in Bendigo in meeting room 3
• by videoconference  (IP 130.194.213.113) or
• by teleconference (9903 5988) .

Volunteer to run a session

Each session is run by a different facilitator. This brief summary outlines what journal club is about, what to consider when selecting a paper and provides a checklist for doing a critical review of the paper.

Before the journal club, each presenter is expected to:

• prepare a brief summary of the selected paper which highlights its interesting features and questions that the presenter would like participants to consider (this goes out 10-14 days before journal club)
• be able to describe and discuss the paper and review it in accordance with the critical review checklist
• facilitate discussion about how the research relates to our work in SRH.

If you’d like to run a session email Rachel Tham.

We look forward to school wide contributions to journal club to enrich our professional pursuits and get to know each others’ work.

MUDRIH is hosting an Australian Psychological Society workshop entitled Understanding Attachment: The Connecting Thread Through the Lifestyle on Saturday 2 March 2013 between 1.30 and 5.30 pm.

This presentation will describe the theory and process of attachment within the broader context of development. It will demonstrate how attachment as a relational construct extends over the lifespan and provides continuity between infant and early childhood experience and later development and adult life. Presenter, Ruth Schmidt Neven PhD, is a psychologist and child psychotherapist who trained at the Tavistock Clinic in London.

If you’d like to attend, you can register online on the APS website.

Dr Mandy Li at the Monash Regional Clinical School, which works alongside Latrobe Regional Hospital.

A warm and welcoming experience when undertaking rural rotations as a Monash University medical student has led to Dr Mandy Li returning to the Latrobe Valley as a consultant paediatrician. Dr Li started work in her paediatrics role with Latrobe Regional Hospital recently and it was like “coming home” to the place where she also worked after graduating from Monash University in 2004.

“I did a paediatric rotation as a fourth year medical student here, then came back as an intern and again later as a registrar, so I have come to know the hospital and the area very well over the years,” Dr Li said.

“It’s a lovely place and I enjoyed working here, so that helped make my decision to come back again as a consultant paediatrician.” (more…)

The monthly School of Rural Health Educational Technology Inservice Program is now online. Videos, Power Point presentations and other resources are available for each past in-service.

Alongside each presentation, there is a feedback link and your thoughts and ideas on the presentation are welcomed. (more…)

Laurea Atkinson brings a background in the post-anaesthetic /anaesthetic field and adult pain management to her role in the recently upgraded simulation suite in Bairnsdale.

Along with its new simulation training facilities established during this year, East Gippsland Regional Clinical School has recently welcomed a new Simulation Learning Project Officer, Laurea Atkinson.

The School this year secured a simulation grant from Health Workforce Australia to support clinical training in East Gippsland using simulation learning modalities.

The grant funded the purchase of a variety of mannequins that can be borrowed for clinical training. Some of the mannequins such as SimMan 3G, SimMom and SimNewb are utilised for high fidelity simulation and not easily transported, and are therefore housed in the Simulation Suite at East Gippsland Regional Clinical School. (more…)

The Monash University Centre for Chronic Disease Management, coordinated through MUDRIH, has received a major international award.

Dr Hanan Khalil accepted the award, the Evidence Transfer International Award for Development of the Node, on behalf of the Centre of Chronic Disease Management at the Joanna Briggs Institute Colloquium in Thailand.

It was presented for 39 new evidence summaries contributed in November 2012, and was one of only four awards at the ceremony.

The Centre for Chronic Disease Management is a collaboration between Monash Gippsland’s School of Nursing and Midwifery and the School of Rural Health through MUDRIH, partnering with Latrobe Regional Hospital and Latrobe Community Health Service. As well as evidence summaries, the centre’s work included establishing the executive members committee, the expert reference group and the corresponding reference group.

Representatives from more than 70 international centres were present at the colloquium for presentation of the awards.

The Joanna Briggs Institute is based at the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Adelaide and works with more than 70 entities across the world. The institute supports the synthesis, transfer and use of evidence through identifying feasible, appropriate, meaningful and effective healthcare practices to assist in improving global healthcare.

It maintains a free database of evidence-based resources, JBI COnNECT+, to help practitioners with clinical decision-making.

The next in-service will be on e-learning options for teaching and learning presented by Marianne Hicks and Rowan Brookes.

Marianne and Rowan will discuss the Monash approach to blended learning and explore e-learning possibilities for teaching and learning.

The session is scheduled for Wednesday 5 December from 10:30am to12:45pm at MUDRIH (Moe).  Please contact Julie Willems (5128 1030) if you would like to video conference into the session.