Marg Simmons

Dr Marg Simmons has addressed lecturers in the Monash Sustainability Institute on a new module used for Year A graduate medical students at Gippsland Medical School.

Marg gave a presentation called Teaching Health and Sustainability to lecturers at Clayton on the module which introduces the students to the topic of Sustainability and Health.

The presentation was part of the Education for Sustainability (EfS) Module for academic staff undertaking the Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice and was based on her work on introducing a module on sustainability. The module explores issues such as sustainability in the healthcare profession; the impacts a changing environment might have on society and the health care system; and the notion of healthy and sustainable communities.

Monash University is very committed to sustainability in all of its practices – as reflected by its inclusion in the university’s mission statement – and is therefore keen that its staff embed sustainability across the board as well incorporating innovative teaching approaches to fulfil this endeavour.

Professor Geoff Rose, who led the EfS module, commented that such teaching “exemplifies the tactical approach to education renewal which Marg sees as critically important to embedding sustainability in all education programs at Monash.”

He added: “Participants at the presentation found your presentation to be very valuable and I believe it will be very influential in motivating them to embark on a similar journey.”

Bernadette Cranswick joined the primary school students for a discussion on the skeleton.

Students at the small and scenic Jindivick Primary School enjoyed a lesson on the human body and how it works from three Monash University medical students.

The trip to Jindivick, north of Warragul, was also an eye opener for the medical students, Heidi Zoumboulakis, Bronia Lewis and Bernadette Cranswick, who are all undertaking their Year 4C medical education through the Gippsland Regional Clinical School’s Warragul campus.

The medical students were impressed by the rural primary school and also the wonderful views at Jindivick as they provided year three, four, five and six students with a session on the human body and health.

The trio presented to a mix of 17 students and enjoyed the opportunity to interact with different age groups. As well as fielding all sorts of questions and running an activity on healthy eating, the medical students used a demonstration skeleton to show how the body operates.

The School was also impressed, with Jindivick Primary School Principal Wendy Arnott saying the medical students were “an absolute credit to Monash University.”

“The children thoroughly enjoyed the very informative and ‘hands-on’ session run by your students. Bronia, Bernadette and Heidi were very organised, professional and displayed beautiful personal/communication skills with the children,” Ms Arnott said.

Primary school visits such as the one to Jindivick are one of the ways the medical students use local opportunities to enhance their learning. The visits make the medical students think about how they need to communicate with a young age group, while also encouraging the primary school students to think about how the body works and how to keep it running smoothly.

A number of similar sessions are being held in other primary schools in Gippsland and as well as providing great experience for individual students, also raises the profile of the Gippsland Regional Clinical School in the community.

From left Heidi Zoumboulakis, Bronia Lewis and Bernadette Cranswick enjoyed their chance to teach students about the human body

The teddies benefited from some high tech help, even if this primary student found it a bit confusing.

Another group of disgruntled and off-colour teddy bears, along with their owners, popped into the Gippsland Regional Clinical School to see if they could get some help to fix their ailments.

Luckily for the teddies and their carers from St Paul’s Traralgon primary school, a group of Monash University Year 3B medical students who are undertaking their studies locally this year, were on hand to provide medical aid.

The visit by the 36 grade preps was part of the Teddy Bear Hospital visits that have proved so successful. The program has been running at Monash for the past four years and aims to alleviate ‘white coat anxiety’ in children which they can associate with going to the doctor or hospital.

As usual, the students –primary and medical – learned a lot from the session and many a teddy went home feeling much better too!

Year 4C East Gippsland student Kate Wilson has recently returned from an exchange to New Zealand, where she enjoyed a range of different experiences including a chance to join the Mobile Surgical Bus.

Here is Kate’s record of a chilly but diverse program.

The swap I was lucky enough to take part in was my placement in Lakes Entrance for two weeks in rural New Zealand. I was placed in Balclutha, a farming town with about 5000 inhabitants, located an hour south of Dunedin.

I stayed with two of the local University of Otago students, Neal and Sally, who did a wonderful job of looking after me and making sure that their rather soft Australian exchange student didn’t freeze! Coming from a rather mild Victorian winter, it was definitely a shock to suddenly find myself in sub-zero temperatures. I began the placement by being late to clinic my first morning due to uncertainty as to what to do when my car froze over!

The two weeks I spent on placement were very varied, and I was privileged to experience the wide range of health services available in Balclutha. It was interesting to see how a small rural hospital with an attached GP clinic functioned. I spent time consulting with several of the Balclutha GPs, and also fitted in a day at a GP clinic in the nearby town of Milton.

I found the role of a rural GP in Balclutha significantly different to that of a GP in rural Australia. With the major city Dunedin so close, it was much easier to refer patients to specialist services than it is in rural Australia, where much greater travel distances are often involved.

I was also surprised to learn that New Zealand does not have GP obstetricians, anaesthetists, or surgeons. Instead, all uncomplicated rural obstetrics is performed by midwives, with less straightforward cases being referred to obstetricians in larger centres.

A particularly interesting aspect of my visit was the chance to assist with surgery on the Mobile Surgical Bus. Due to the lack of GP anaesthetists, surgery is no longer performed in rural New Zealand hospitals.

The New Zealand Surgical bus.

The surgical bus is a fully equipped, mobile operating theatre that travels between rural hospitals, thereby providing rural communities with access to minor surgery. The bus itself was very spacious inside, and, at times I almost forgot that I was not in a normal operating theatre!

I also spent time in various other areas of Clutha Health First, including a few days on the inpatient ward, an afternoon with the physiotherapists, and an afternoon in an adolescent sexual health clinic.

But of course it wasn’t all work and no play! A highlight of my time in New Zealand was a weekend trip to beautiful Queenstown with the Balclutha medical students. We spent an eventful weekend night-skiing, trying the famous Queenstown burgers, and walking a section of the stunning Routeburn Track.

Overall, I gained a great deal from my experiences in New Zealand. It was excellent to experience a different health system and a different model of medical education, while having the opportunity to form friendships with medical students in another country. Thank you again to the staff in both New Zealand and Australia who made this possible, and to the New Zealand students who looked after me and made sure that I had such an enjoyable time.

–        Kate Wilson, Year 4C EGRCS student, Bairnsdale campus

The Mobile Surgical Services web site has more information about the service.

Angelo d’Amore and Eleanor Mitchell are two of a number of scientists who are part of the CSIRO Scientists in Schools Program. It is a national program that creates and supports long-term partnerships between teachers and scientists and is run under the auspices of the CSIRO. It is hoped that through these partnerships students will gain exposure to science role models and learn heaps more about science.

This is a report from Eleanor on their involvement so far.

Angelo d’Amore and Eleanor Mitchell work their magic at the Tambo Upper Primary School.

Angelo and I have both been teamed with Tambo Upper Primary School since March 2012. The school has 81 kids spread across four classes. This primary is situated in East Gippsland 306 kms from Melbourne just off the Great Alpine Road, Bruthen.

To date we have been working with all the kids ranging from Prep to Grade 6. We attend the School every fortnight and engage the kids in fun, hands-on science experiments. The science is tailored to the age group and with the older classes we have looked at acids and bases. The students were taught the basics about pH and how to go about doing an experiment.

In each class the students create aims and hypothesise what will happen before conducting the experiments and writing up their results. In the acid and base class, the students were able to test the pH of different substances using litmus paper and red cabbage juice. The students tested the pH of lemon juice, detergent, river water and the soil from the school’s vegetable garden.

According to the Principal, Wes Vague, when the students were asked their thoughts about the Scientist in Schools program, their reply was unanimous: “It really stinks!” This response was most likely due to the fact that the red cabbage juice did not have a very nice smell and that the students had the opportunity to test the pH of many other substances such as cow and chicken manure!

Since then, we have also examined many different chemical reactions with the older classes, including exothermic and endothermic reactions, and of course some experiments, like adding mint-flavoured mentos to Diet Coke, just had to be done! The raucous reaction from the Grades 2, 3 and 4 students during the latter experiment brought the Principal from his office to investigate why the noise from the playground sounded like a football match!

With the younger classes we have looked at how plants absorb nutrients or pollutants. Each student added food dye to a carnation or celery stick. We had many different combinations of red, blue, purple, and split coloured plants on our return a week later. The younger classes have also been more recently looking at each of their five senses. So far we have looked at how our ears hear, how our sense of smell affects the taste of food, and why we have two eyes not one. In this class, we were fortunate to borrow many anatomical models to complement our experiments!

The photo attached was taken from our most recent visit to the Grade 2, 3 and 4 class. The photo is Angelo demonstrating how much carbon dioxide is produced when you mix small amounts of vinegar and bicarbonate of soda. The students were really engaged as they commonly use bicarbonate of soda in their cooking classes to “make their cakes rise.”

For more information or if you would like to join the ‘Scientists in Schools’ program visit: www.scientistsinschools.edu.au/index.htm

–                  By Eleanor Mitchell

Dr Maria Power has joined East Gippsland Regional Clinical School as lecturer with the East Gippsland School for Aboriginal Health Professionals.

She has provided the following snapshot of her professional journey that has taken her from Central Gippsland to the United States, the Northern Territory and back to Gippsland.

Maria Power has joined the East Gippsland School of Aboriginal Health Professionals.

Recently I have moved from being based in Darwin for over two years to East Gippsland. Though born in Melbourne, I grew up at Erica (on the way to Walhalla). My immediate family members moved further east and I welcome being able to now be so much closer to many of them.

Via a partnership between East Gippsland Regional Clinical School (EGRCS), School of Rural Health, Monash University and East Gippsland School of Aboriginal Health Professionals (EGSAHP), Centre of Excellence for Aboriginal Health in East Gippsland, I have just recently been appointed as a researcher based at Bairnsdale.

EGSAPH is the Steering Committee for the research with which I am involved and will provide cultural mentoring and support. My appointment has been made possible after the proposed research project received Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee approval earlier this year.

The data collection involved is designed to gauge the interest of local Indigenous youth in tertiary health qualifications, assist them in pursuing such aspirations and hopefully return to the East Gippsland region to work in either Aboriginal community controlled or mainstream health services.

I come to this project poised to contribute from a wealth of engagement including more than 20 years’ experience in Indigenous education at primary, secondary and tertiary levels.

Previously I have participated in delivery of workplace as well as classroom training, development of training resources, training needs analyses and significantly contributed to industry training best practice models.

My work during the past 13 years has facilitated the achievement of success in Higher Education, Vocational Education and Training and Leadership Development by adults in remote Australian Indigenous communities. A team member and I, for example, trained 23 apprentices from the Tiwi Islands on-site until 21 graduated.

Further study has personally enriched me and I value the opportunity it gives for growth in skills and knowledge. Completing my doctorate involved an academic year in Chicago where I engaged with survivors of torture and human rights abuse and also did a placement among the Ojibwe Native American people.

Later I finished the International Trauma Studies Program at Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University in New York. In both locations, being part of a cohort of post-graduate international students proved most instructive. With my love of lifelong learning, I look forward to initiatives being developed that support EGSAHP’s and EGRCS’s aspirations.

Associate Professor Elmer Villanueva

As well as taking on the role of Acting Director, Gippsland Regional Clinical School, Associate Professor Elmer Villanueva has been invited by the Commonwealth Government to become a member of the Advisory Committee on Biologicals (ACB) of the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

The ACB provides advice to the Minister for Health and the Therapeutic Goods Administration on issues relating to cell and tissue therapy products.  This appointment is due to Elmer’s expertise in population health, epidemiology and biostatistics.  His appointment started in September and runs until the end of 2014.

Elmer has also received an invitation to sit as Member on the Inaugural Advisory Committee on the Safety of Medical Devices (ACSMD).

At a recent SRH Education Forum held in Bendigo, Judi Walker and Laura Major lead a discussion on the school’s involvement with the FRAME – Medical Schools Outcomes Database (MSOD) Survey and longitudinal tracking project, as well as strategies which will be implemented to increase student survey returns.

The FRAME survey is sent to students following their longest stint in a rural clinical schools and forms part of the MSOD and Longitudinal Tracking project, the world’s first nationally coordinated project for tracking medical students through medical school and into prevocational and vocational training.

The MSOD Project is a collaboration of a number of key stakeholder organisations representing students, postgraduate education and training, rural and Indigenous health, and workforce planning.

MSOD Project objectives include:

• Provision of an effective, reliable evaluation mechanism for assessing long-term outcomes of educational programs, in particular those aimed at increasing the recruitment and retention of a rural medical workforce.
• Provision of a secure, reliable source of accurate, up-to-date data for the purposes of long-term medical workforce planning.
• Determining the effectiveness of targeted programs and interventions in influencing the career decisions of medical students.
• Promotion of strategic reform of medical education policy and programs at the university, state and Commonwealth levels in order to match program and policy frameworks with national health priorities.
• Provision of an information resource for research projects for Australian medical educators that will contribute to the national and international literature on medical education.

The school’s active involvement with the project will ensure that it continues to meet all RCTS funding parameters, in particular Parameter 8 – Maintaining and progressing an evidence base.

The administration of the student survey across the school will coincide with scheduled end of semester Year 3B and 4C feedback sessions across all four regional clinical schools, to ensure all relevant students complete the survey.  This new way of administering the survey will ensure that Monash’s 2012 survey return rate will be an improvement on previous years.

For more information on the MSOD project and some more interesting facts, have a look at p26 of the August edition of Partyline magazine, published by the National Rural Health Alliance.

You can “like” the MSOD Facebook page which will keep you up-to-date with all things MSOD. You can also visit the Medical Deans website for up-to-date information

–        By Laura Major, Manager, Rural Education Program (OHoS)

Gippsland Medical School students recently completed their placement at Latrobe Community Health Service (LCHS) as part of a cross organisational experience designed to give them an insight into the range of services provided.

The Community Health Service hosted the 10 students this year, five in semester one and five in semester two. They attended various programs such as Creative House, District Nursing, Primary Intervention, Assessment, Aged and Disability Services and Drug Treatment Services.

The placements culminated in an evaluation day which, among the various formalities and perhaps as a sign of the success of the program, included an afternoon tea with a spread of home baked cakes direct from the kitchen of Student Placement Officer with LCHS Sue Townsend.

More formally, Gippsland Medical School’s Dr Margaret Simmons, CBP Academic Coordinator and Susan Smith, CBP Agency Liaison, attended to discuss the placements and confirm that the current program was meeting all student goals and objectives.

LCHS supervising staff Jane Taylor, Interprofessional Educator, along with Sue Townsend attended to give the students an opportunity to provide feedback on their thoughts and experiences during their placement and to finalise paperwork.

The student evaluations were all positive and the general consensus was that the current rotation was working really well. Some student comments were, “Keep the rotations, they worked fantastically”, “I had an excellent time and gained an appreciation of all the important services available in the community” and “learnt lots about the importance of ‘whole patient’ care and integrated care.”

Latrobe Community Health Service is looking forward to hosting the next cohort of Gippsland Medical School students in 2013.

Gary Hart (left) and Annie Tweedle (right) with Monash University medical students from left, Grace Vittor, Dorcas Lim, Bonnie Morison, Liying Chen, Rachel Elliott, Margaret Young, Ben Bentzen and Daman Tjibaenyana.

With more than a little help from local people with limited sight or Muscular Sclerosis, Monash University medical students based in Warragul learned a lot from the first of their community patient visits recently.

The students, who are undertaking their studies with the Gippsland Regional Clinical School this year, met up with patients at Vision Australia in Warragul.

The visit was organised by Gippsland Regional Clinical School community representative Mavis Gallienne and gave the students the chance to talk with patients in a relaxed atmosphere. Two local people, Gary Hart and Annie Tweedle, gave of their time to speak with the students on a wide range of topics beyond the physical condition.

The aim of the visit is to help medical students consider and understand some of the social, economic and psychological issues which face patients and also how to discuss with a patient, in a sensitive way, personal feelings about the diagnosis of a chronic disabling illness.

They were also exposed to the impact on a patient’s social, emotional and physical well being, while also discussing treatments available for MS, the cost of treatment and the economic impact on individuals with MS.

As well as taking a focused history on the patient, the students were encouraged to display empathy and, as a follow up activity, completed a written reflection on three skills that worked well in communicating with patient and three ways to improve their communication with patients. On the day after the visit, the group took part in a follow up session based on a clinical presentation of a patient with MS.

It was an extremely useful session for all involved and the students were very grateful for the time they spent with Gary and Annie, the organisation by Mavis Gallienne and the chance to meet and discuss issues with MS Society Nurse for Gippsland, Robert Slade.