Centre for Research Excellence (CRE) team members recently attended meetings in Canberra over three days, which raised the profile of the CRE within the Department of Health and Ageing and other organisations such as Health Workforce Australia (HWA).

At the CRE National Advisory Committee in mid-May there were several presentations from postdoctoral fellows and PhD students, including two from Bendigo, Dr Deb Russell (retention) and Dr Bernadette Ward (access).

The National Advisory Committee includes members of leading rural health organisations and community members from across the country.

The consensus from the Committee is that the CRE is on track and providing some valuable evidence about rural and remote primary health care.

On the second day, a whole of CRE team meeting discussed progress and future possibilities post 2014.

On the final day, there were several meetings with the Department of Health and Ageing.  A presentation by Emeritus Professor John Humphreys and Professor John Wakerman highlighted how research evidence can translate into policy and was very well received.

There was particular interest in the work of John and Dr Matthew McGrail on the review of the ASGC classifications, and Dr Deb Russell’s work on retention of health workers.

A seminar was also held and was open to all staff at the Department of Health and Ageing.  Seventy people attended and were highly engaged.  Meetings were also held with the Performance and Quality Branch and several other key personnel of DoHA.  All in all, it was a very successful day of meetings and presentations with positive feedback.

The next big conference is the Primary Health Care Research Conference in Sydney in July.

Four CRE staff members will be presenting, Dr Matthew McGrail, Dr Bernadette Ward, Dr Deb Russell and Lisa Lavey. Dr Penny Buykx is also named on a poster presentation by Professor Mike Jones, a CRE Associate Investigator.

How patients are involved in the education of health professionals is the topic of the next School of Rural Health Journal Club.

All education, clinical, research staff and students are invited to take part in the discussion, which is on Wednesday 12 June starting at 12 noon, for one hour.

The Journal Club is held in Meeting Room 3 (Level 2), at the Bendigo School of Rural Health or by videoconference (IP 130.194.213.113) or teleconference (9903 5988) from other sites.

The full title of the article, by Towle et al (2010) is ‘Active patient involvement in the education of health professionals.’ Medical Education 44:64-74.

Facilitator is Pam Harvey.

Congratulations are extended to Penny Buykx who was recently awarded ‘The Advancing Women’s Research Success Grant.’

The Monash award identifies the need to significantly increase the representation of women in senior academic roles and has been designed to support women’s career progression. It also assists the University in meeting its targets in relation to senior academic women.

The program acknowledges that women may experience significant tension between academic success and family duties.  It is intended to support women to enhance, maintain or re-invigorate their research profile at a critical time in their careers.

By providing funding that can be used flexibly, the grants can reduce the impact of career breaks and/or intense caring responsibilities on women’s research productivity and career progression.

Penny plans to make good use of the grant by undertaking career development coaching sessions as well as in other areas yet to be decided.

Penny Buykx

Dr Julie Willems at MUDRIH is to be congratulated following her selection for the 2013 Mentoring Scheme for Women.

The E-Learning Designer and Educational Developer will be a mentee on the scheme, which is designed to increase women’s access to the learning and developmental opportunities provided by a mentoring relationship.

The Scheme involves a senior, more experienced individual (the mentor) facilitating the learning and development of the mentee by offering support, information and advice about career planning and skill development, and access to organisational knowledge and networks.

The next step for Julie is to attend a Mentee Preparation Session, held to help both the mentee and mentor prepare for the program.

Each mentee is matched with a suitable mentor, with the pair meeting about once a month during the course of the program from June to December this year.

This year’s program includes 32 academic and 30 professional staff from across the University who have been selected as mentees.

… and also becomes an author

Further congratulations to Dr Julie Willems of MUDRIH for the recent publication of her new book ‘Global challenges and perspectives in blended and distance learning.’

The book highlights the perspective, challenges and current practices within higher and distance education around the world. As a reference source it brings together a unique view of global research essential for academics, managers and leaders, researchers and practitioners in higher education and distance education.

The book co-authored by Dr Julie Willems.

Professor Debra Nestel has signed a contract with Wiley Blackwell to edit a book on simulated patient methodology.

The book is co-edited with Associate Professor Margaret Bearman, HealthPEER and has a publication date of 2014.

School of Rural Health lecturer and a long term Pharmacist at Latrobe Regional Hospital, Anne Leversha, has recorded her thoughts on pharmacy and changes to the industry as part of Pharmacy History Week.

The interview was one of four recorded by the Society of Hospital Pharmacies of Australia (SHPA), which spoke to a number of its members about how things are different these days.

Anne is a senior lecturer at Monash University and was an obvious choice to take part, as she is one of the first clinical pharmacists to hold an academic position in an Australian medical faculty. She also brings a non-metropolitan perspective as the SHPA’s Rural Advisor.

Anne’s half hour discussion can be heard by going to the following link: https://soundcloud.com/shpa-1/anne-leversha

Academics might have noticed that they have now been automatically subscribed to alerts from Research Professional.  This is part of the implementation across the University. If you do not want to receive the alerts, then click unsubscribe in the email. If you would like to tailor your alerts more specifically for your area, please contact Cathy Ward (email: cathy.ward@monash.edu, phone: 5440 9082)  in the north-west or Helen Chambers (email: helen.chambers@monash.edu, phone: 5128 1028)  in the south-east for help.

Here are some research funding opportunities available in the next three months identified by the existing School of Rural Health searches. Read the rest of this entry »

The Faculty of Medicine, Nursing, and Health Sciences Strategic Grant Scheme (SGS), consisting of about $1 million per year, is seeking expressions of interest from researchers.

Under the SGS the faculty aims to strengthen the capability and international competitiveness of its researchers by supporting high quality, multi-disciplinary, collaborative proposals. Other objectives include the identification and development of young research leaders, and collaboration with Monash University Malaysia. Read the rest of this entry »

As part of the School of Rural Health 20^th Anniversary celebrations, a $10,000 scholarship was made available to the honours degree of Bachelor of Medical Science students (BMedSc (Hons)). We are very pleased to announce that the winner of the scholarship is Kyla Garft.

Kyla is studying the BMedSci (Hons) program through the School of Rural Health. She is based at the Bendigo Eye Clinic under the clinical supervision of Mr. Peter Burt, consultant Ophthalmologist and Dr Pam Snow from the Bendigo Regional Clinical School, who is the academic supervisor.

The title of Kyla’s study is ‘Effectiveness of Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty in Open Angle Glaucoma Patients’. Kyla is from rural NSW and completed Years 3 and 4 of the MBBS course in the NVRMEN program before successfully applying for a BMedSc (Hons) year. Kyla is the fourth NVRMEN student to undertake a BMedSc (Hons) at the Bendigo Eye Clinic. The first such student, Dr Michael Jamieson is now in the ophthalmology training program and is working at the Eye and Ear Hospital in Melbourne.

Checking the movements to ensure they are being performed correctly

A real-time, remote system using avatars to help people undertake rehabilitation in their own home is being developed by Monash University’s School of Rural Health for a Gippsland municipality.

Bill Haigh, who works on E-learning, research and innovations at the School of Rural Health’s Gippsland Regional Clinical School, along with Associate Professor Helen McBurney, is undertaking the project commissioned by Baw Baw Shire in West Gippsland as part of the Victorian Government’s Transport Connections Program.

Baw Baw Transport Connections Facilitator, Stephen Pykett, has worked with Mr Haig in bringing the concept to reality for residents of Baw Baw Shire who will be able to access rehabilitation services and overcome transport disadvantage.

It is a kinetic program delivered on computer in the home. The client undergoing rehabilitation watches a series of exercises delivered by the avatar that mimic movement. The client then follows the avatar movement to perform relevant exercises. Read the rest of this entry »