‘A real privilege’: Vic medical educators share their training goals

February marks one year since the specialist medical colleges officially reassumed responsibility of general practice training in Australia.
 
So how have medical educators delivering the training found the past 12 months?
 
For the Victoria Regional Director of Training, Dr Angelina Salamone, it’s been a good example of collegiality.
 
‘One of the biggest positives is us coming together as the RACGP, as a whole group, and being able to work with all the various teams and having access to and sharing all the information,’ she told newsGP.
 
‘This is something that was more challenging as a regional training organisation [RTO]/regional training provider [RTP].’
 
Within the regional Victoria team, Dr Ash Hayes, who is a Senior Regional Medical Educator for the Rural North West Victoria training region, echoes the benefits of unity across teams.
 
‘It’s been fantastic to work with and learn from some other medical educators that I hadn’t had the chance to meet with before,’ he told newsGP.
 
‘Most notably, with some of the medical educators from the east side of the state because I’m from the west, so that’s been a really important highlight, getting to share our ideas and insights with each other.
 
‘Then, just gradually working to bring our program together. It’s going to take some time and effort, but I think we’re off to a reasonably good start.’
 
Aligning with other national medical educators’ experiences, Dr Salamone says there will always be challenges associated with transition.
 
‘Often it’s changing processes,’ she said.
 
‘There are lots of things from being local, or more regional that we’ve lost in this transition. The difference in the processes both internally for staff, and also for external stakeholders – so for our supervisors and our registrars – like reporting lines and training structure [are other challenges].’
 
The fact that Victoria is the only region to bring two RTOs together to become GP Training Victoria, has added ‘another layer of complexity’, according to Dr Salamone.
 
‘But in the end, it’s actually been quite positive because again, we’ve come together as a team, and that’s happened quite quickly which is great,’ she said.
 
‘We’ve been through this so often in Victoria, as RTPs/RTOs, and while there’s some negative to that, like constant change … [we have] just learned how to deal with those things.’

Dr Angelina Salamone, second from right, at an RACGP event booth.
 
Having been a GP for ‘an awfully long time’, Dr Salamone has seen the entire journey of general practice training, starting in the training program with the RACGP in the early 1990s and Fellowing in 1993. A recipient of the Lifelong Examiner Award, she has also previously served on the RACGP Victoria Board as Provost and Deputy Chair.
 
‘I started in general practice because I actually got really bored with all the other specialties, because it was just more of the same, so I like the idea of general practice, and the diversity and difference that general practice has,’ she said.
 
‘I also liked being part of the program and then became part of the RACGP, then part of GP training.
 
‘The collegiality in that space is probably one of the things that I love most, and all those things have just become part of my life.’
 
As Victoria Regional Director of Training, she has set clear goals for 2024 to help deliver education to the next generation of GPs.
 
‘Moving closer to a national vision: the first year is our transition, it’s really just a year of getting things done, and we’ve just made things happen,’ Dr Salamone said.
 
‘Now it’s time to sit back and reflect on what we’re doing and how do we work and move closer to that national vision and bring everyone along.
 
‘Having a bit more time, maybe having a bit more brain space and an actual time to be able to go out and speak to our practices, supervisors, and our medical educators who all work in different sub-regions in Victoria. That would be what I’d like to achieve moving forward.’
 
Uniting the training program to that national vision is something Dr Hayes also wants to achieve, citing it as a current challenge in his role as lead medical educator for the registrar out-of-practice education program in Victoria.
 
‘We’re trying to develop some more consistency within Victoria so we’re all delivering the same learning outcomes and doing things in a reasonably similar fashion, but also fitting in with what the national requirements are,’ he said.
 
‘It’s difficult to find a balance between consistency and flexibility. Now that we’re delivering a college program, we’re wanting consistency between states and across the country, but still want to have flexibility to tailor what we’re doing in the local context.
 
‘So how do you actually go about achieving that? Basically, that’s lots of work and conversations, and those conversations are much easier when you’ve had a chance to form relationships and share your experiences a little bit more. That’s the biggest challenge.’
 
For the next year of training, Dr Hayes wants to focus on how the evolving small group model works as part of the out-of-practice education.
 
‘We’ll be trying to increase the emphasis for registrars on exploring the challenges of being a GP,’ he said.
 
‘So, sharing their experiences and really exploring the everyday complexities and nuances that make life as a GP so interesting and so rewarding.’
 
The rewarding element of being a GP has been playing out for Dr Hayes since he first journeyed down that career path.
 
‘Once I decided that I was going to try to get into medicine I was always committed to working in a regional or rural location,’ he said.
 
‘I like to connect with people and I like to follow a person’s story over a period of time, and general practice really stood out for those reasons.’
 
At one point Dr Hayes contemplated paediatrics, but in the end decided he would have ‘more options and a genuinely happier life’ as a GP.
 
‘I certainly haven’t regretted it … I’m very lucky to be working as a GP,’ he said.
 
‘I really value the chance to get to know people and it’s a real privilege forming some of those relationships, and people being vulnerable with you sharing what’s most important to them and their lives at key moments.’
 
Log in below to join the conversation.

AGPT Program college-led training GPs in training regional training Victoria