Pam Harvey recently presented part of her PhD research at The Art of Good Health and Wellbeing, the 6th Annual International Arts and Health Conference held at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.

Entitled ‘Young adult fiction: giving a voice to ill adolescents” Pam’s presentation was part of the program that included presentations and workshops from researchers, artists, curators and clinicians using artistic projects in their work with patients and clients.

Radio National’s Life Matters, hosted by Natasha Mitchell, broadcast from the conference. You can download the audio of the program from the ABC website.

Fundraising fun run: Bendigo staff and family took part in the annual Run for Health fun run in November. L-R: Cathy Ward, Sonya Steve, Sarah Moon, Michelle Moon, Donna-Lee Stanes, Melissa McNicol, Gillian Fallon, Colin Fallon.

Eight Bendigo staff and family tied on their running shoes to tackle the annual Bendigo Bank Run for Health fun run at the beginning of November.

A field of 3,300 runners and walkers tackled the 5 or 10 km circuit around the centre of Bendigo and raised $133,000 for the Bendigo Health Renal Unit.

Melissa McNicol led the troops when she ran the circuit with the rest of the team following at cracking walking pace.

Bendigo's farewell to Peter Disler

We wished Peter Disler a fond adieu on Wednesday 26^th November with good food, many stories and a cake made to suit. Peter began with the Bendigo Regional Clinical School in 2005 and was Head of School after Gordon Whyte in 2006 until Geoff Solarsh took on the role. The many speeches on the night told similar stories of Peter’s enthusiasm and exuberance about teaching, music, literature and family. Particularly moving was daughter Jess’s heartfelt words about her dad.

Peter’s teaching style has been tremendously popular with students. His connection with his patients role-modelled excellent doctor-patient relations, and is sure to be remembered by students. His work in Monash’s Year 5 MBBS – as academic head (well managed by Kay Togno and then Sonya Steve) – helped to develop a clinical educator network focused on these senior students.

We will still see Peter as he continues a teaching role at Monash, but hope that he is also suitably occupied doing all those things he is yet to do!

Oral language importance: Associate Professor Pamela Snow delivers the keynote speech at the 5th Brunei English Language Teachers’ Association Conference.

Associate Professor Pamela Snow, was the keynote speaker at 5^th Brunei English Language Teachers’ Association International Conference in November.

Pam’s speech was based on her research entitled “Oral Language Supports Early Literacy: A Pilot Cluster Randomised Trial in Disadvantaged Schools”.

She outlined some of the key drivers of early language competence – parental position on the social gradient, early language experience, exposure to written text and shared book-time at home, and neurodevelopmental disorders that can compromise early language development.

Pam highlighted the need for evidence-based early literacy instruction, encompassing the use of teaching approaches that are strongly informed by research linking early language skills to emergent literacy.

The association is sponsored and supported by several embassies and agencies, including the Australian Department of Education and the Australian Trade Commission.

The conference saw 14 paper presentations and workshops, highlighting issues of literacy and was attended by more than 100 participants.

Associate Professor Snow holds a conjoint appointment with the Department of Pyschiatry and the School of Rural Health, and is based in Bendigo. Follow her on her blog The Snow Report or Twitter @PamelaSnow2.

A/Prof David Campbell and Dr Jane Greacen with Monash University President and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Ed Byrne, at the presentation of the Vice-Chancellor’s Social Inclusion Award. It was Professor Byrne’s last official duty for Monash University before his departure to London.

Two School of Rural Health academics have been awarded a Vice-Chancellor’s Social Inclusion Award in recognition of their efforts to expand the Aboriginal health professional workforce in East Gippsland.

Associate Professor David Campbell and Dr Jane Greacen from the SRH East and South Gippsland have worked in the past few years to improve the health of the East Gippsland Aboriginal community by expanding the Aboriginal health professional workforce through the Centre of Excellence for Aboriginal Health in East Gippsland (CEAHEG).

The Vice Chancellor’s Social Inclusion awards are a unique opportunity to acknowledge contributions by staff, students or other individuals to Monash University’s commitment to an inclusive environment and culture.

The 2014 awards highlighted the depth and breadth of commitment to equity and fairness, and demonstrated the university’s connection to social justice. Read the rest of this entry »

Michelle's and Stephen's new baby, Sophie

Michelle Ryan from SRH Latrobe Valley & West Gippsland and her partner Stephen Rentch are the proud parents of Sophie Tina Rentch.

Sophie was born on Friday, October 17 and weighed in at 7lb 14oz.

SRH staff extend their congratulations to the family.

PhD candidate, Rouve Forbes (centre), takes questions with her supervisors, Marg Simmons (left) and Julie Willems (right)

How to prepare for and recover from bushfire was the subject of a community conference hosted by Federation University at Churchill in early October.

PhD student, Rouve Forbes, presented her research on the recovery of young adults after bushfire. A display of artwork by older people in local communities affected by the Black Saturday fires greeted conference participants on arrival. The artwork was created during Monash-run workshops. Matthew Carroll, Marg Simmons and Julie Willems were all present at information booths during the conference.

Marg Simmons and Matthew Carroll with artwork created during the Monash-run Regeneration workshops after the Black Saturday fires in Gippsland.

Dr Susan Waller has joined the team at Monash University Department of Rural and Indigenous Health in Moe as a Senior Lecturer in Interprofessional Education.

Susan is responsible for interprofessional collaboration leadership through coordinating the development, delivery and evaluation of interprofessional education and practice programs across the School of Rural Health and Gippsland health services.

As a paediatric physiotherapist, Susan has practised for many years in various allied health services across the hospital and community sectors, both in Australia and in the Middle East. She experienced firsthand the importance of interprofessional education and collaborative practice to meet service user goals.

Susan studied the impact of an interprofessional student placement in community rehabilitation teams and was awarded a PhD in Interprofessional Education from the University of Queensland in 2010.

She was part of a team that developed an interprofessional curriculum in the first clinical school located in a large private hospital in Brisbane and has run training workshops in practising interprofessionally.

The Master of Advanced Health Care Practice provides health professionals with the opportunity to take the next step in expanding their careers.

The course is interprofessional by nature and designed to give medical practitioners, midwives, nurses, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, policy makers, primary health care managers, radiation therapists and radiographers the opportunity to gain a master-level qualification that enhances their professional practice and provides the widest range of options for the future.

More information can be found in the brochure and 2015 handbook.

Dr Cathy Haigh from the School of Rural Health Latrobe Valley & West Gippsland attended this year’s Australian New Zealand Association for Health Professional Educators (ANZAHPE) conference on the Gold Coast. She gave an oral presentation on “Effects of Structuring Clinical Handover to Support Learning in Medical Students and Junior Doctors”.

“My presentation was scheduled in the last session of the last day, but was surprisingly well attended and generated a lively debate about the differences in education across different health professional groups,” she said.

“The intention is to continue this research to develop a teaching resource to support students learning from real clinical interactions, and that will vertically integrate clinical placements across Years 3B and 5D, in particular, and link these to postgraduate medical education.”

This year the conference was held at Griffith Health Centre at the Gold Coast campus of Griffith University. The $150 million facility operates in conjunction with the new 750-bed University Hospital and houses all health programs for the university on the one campus. It is certainly an impressive site both in terms of education and service delivery.

The pre-conference workshop on ‘Aligning Learning Experiences for Healthcare Students and Practitioners with Particular Learning Outcomes’ explored the challenges of learning in the workplace. Facilitated by Professor Stephen Billett, who was also a keynote speaker, it was a consideration that is very relevant for those of us coordinating curriculum delivery and supporting students during their clinical placement years, 3B, 4C and 5D.

Another keynote speaker, Dr Sarah Yardley, reported on her research with students learning in situ, describing the theory-to-practice gap and the frequently reported observation ‘that’s not how it works in the real world’. This disconnect can be a cause for concern for School of Rural Health students and is an issue that we would like to describe and address by further strengthening the links between the communities of practice (healthcare and academia) at our sites.

“The majority of the themes – innovation in health professional education, assessment, competencies and evidence, and theory-to-practice – very much resonated with me,” said Cathy.  “These areas are where we are directing our efforts in terms of medical education curriculum development and delivery, eg the Continuous Clinical Skills Curriculum initiative and local delivery of patient safety teaching and establishing and extending our research profile.”