Innovative education design and delivery

“Rarely does anything in General Practice present in a black and white way. Our face-to-face learning allows Registrars to explore the art of General Practice. It’s about facilitating the application of their knowledge in different contexts.”

Dr Danielle James, District Medical Education Coordinator – Brisbane North

GPTQ  has been delivering the world-class Australian General Practice Training (AGPT) Program to Registrars since 2002 and in that time has carved out a reputation as a Regional Training Provider (RTO) who strives for innovation.

From our supportive, small group learning environments through to the training tools and resources created by our diverse mix of passionate Medical Educators, GPTQ provides vocational training experiences designed to produce exceptional GPs.

District and Hub Model

GPTQ’s District and Hub Model is centred around the delivery of highly nuanced, face-to-face teaching by our Medical Educators. The model separates each AGPT program cohort into small geographically defined groups or ‘hubs’. The number of Registrars in each hub differs from year to year, dependent on where Registrars secure their placements within the GPTQ training region. The goal is to have no more than 20 Registrars per hub to ensure each one benefits from individualised training and support and to maximise learning outcomes. Rural hubs are regularly smaller than metropolitan hubs. Where local numbers are insufficient for group interaction Registrars join an online hub.

The model has been designed to facilitate the building of ‘communities of practice’. Within their hub Registrars learn and grow alongside each other, establishing strong peer to peer relationships and developing equally strong relationships with their educators and local medical staff. The hub is a share-point for advice, expertise and local knowledge. This supportive learning environment lays the foundation for Registrars to carve out a strongly connected and collegiate career in General Practice.

Frontline learning

GPTQ has an established network of training practices to provide our Registrars with opportunities to explore placements in a variety of community health settings. These include Indigenous and refugee health clinics, metropolitan practices, small rural practices, larger regional practices and ‘hybrid’ models where Registrars have a combined role working in both a General Practice and a small hospital in the same community. Supporting Registrars on the journey to discovering their ‘right fit’ in the world of General Practice is a priority for GPTQ.

Small group learning

Education Release activities: Within GPTQ’s districts and hubs Education Release activities are held for first and second year Registrars to encourage analysis and evaluation of their learning and clinical experiences. Within a safe and supportive environment they learn to use each other’s interpretations and experiences to develop greater contextualisation skills when translating theory into practice. Registrars deepen their understanding of how clinical guidelines can be applied to real patients and are able to debrief with their peers while reflecting on workplace experiences. Education Release activities also provide Medical Educators with opportunities to challenge Registrars to increase their awareness levels and stretch learning beyond a single patient and into the realm of broader population health.

Journal clubs: Journal clubs are small groups of Supervisors and Registrars formed within each AGPT program cohort to help build analysis and presentation skills. They provide another valuable opportunity for Registrars and Supervisors to connect for shared learning. The clubs are encouraged to meet online, quarterly to review and discuss recent primary healthcare research.

Progress Testing

Regular progress testing exams allow Registrars to gauge how they are travelling with their learning, while assisting Medical Educators and Supervisors to make early support interventions if issues arise. This is an important part of GPTQ’s customised early detection strategy, which received praise in a recent national project on assessment in General Practice training. GPTQ progress testing is set at a Fellowship standard. An added dimension to each GPTQ exam is the inclusion of ‘reflection’ moments, where Registrars are asked to reflect on their confidence in answering a question. Over time this practice develops a strong reflective capacity, allowing the Registrar to more easily self-identify and address gaps in their learning. Progress testing exams are delivered via the MyGPTQ online learning system three times a year.

Observation and feedback for educators

GPTQ is a strong advocate for peer observation and feedback between Medical Educators. Senior Educators regularly observe teaching sessions and provide constructive critique to educators. In conjunction with this, Medical Educators are encouraged to connect with a Senior Educator regularly to reflect on their own progress. Each hub has an appointed Hub Educator and an Assistant Educator to allow for peer reflection and collaborative learning at the local level. Registrars are also given regular opportunities to offer feedback on educators. This structure of multi-source feedback supports a ‘growth’ teaching environment, where educators are motivated to explore a range of techniques to engage Registrars and stimulate learning that is facilitated rather than didactic.

Pastoral care

Tailoring pastoral care to the individual needs of Registrars as they advance through the AGPT Program is critical to GPTQ’s success as a training provider. ‘Self-care for doctors’ workshops complement various mechanisms for education and support delivered through the hub model. We have also developed a series of pastoral care resources to support specific groups within each AGPT cohort, such as our rural and ADF Registrars.

GPTQ is focused on furthering research in this realm. In 2020 our researchers hope to undertake a new research project to investigate the delivery of doctors’ self care education in Australia, gathering data on the ways it is delivered both overtly and incidentally across the nation.

Exam preparation

GPTQ hosts a number of pre-exam workshops for Registrars, offering both combined ACRRM/RACGP workshops and singular college-specific workshops. We begin our exam preparation early by integrating clinical reasoning into the hub and district teaching program. This includes specific clinical reasoning sessions known as ‘Stump-The-Chump’, where Registrars, Supervisors and Medical Educators review and analyse cases. Online education modules are made available for all Registrars and extension materials are now offered to our rural Registrars which include emergency/inpatient/transfer components.

ACRRM specific exam preparation

Dedicated ACRRM Facebook group. Runs on a 17 week cycle with > 200 questions written by GPTQ Medical Educators. Includes a FACRRM Medical Educator providing MCQ questions for Registrars sitting the MCQ.

Intensive eight week StAMPS preparation program. Developed and run by GPTQ ACRRM Medical Educators.

Mock StAMPS exam. Registrars participate in person or via videoconference and time is spent dissecting the exam and providing feedback after each case.

StAMPS exam preparation workshop. Twice a year GPTQ partners with the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM), James Cook University (JCU) and GPSynergy to host this day-long intensive.

RACGP specific exam preparation

Dedicated RACGP Facebook preparation group. Runs on a 17 week cycle with GPTQ Medical Educators posting KFP/AKT styled questions.

OSCE preparation evening. Registrars work through cases with Supervisors and Medical Educators.

Tailored resources

‘Get that job’ e-book:  Since 2017 GPTQ has provided junior doctors with an annually updated e-book resource to help them navigate applying for RMO positions in hospitals. The e-book contains templates and advice for writing a CV and cover letter, optimising the use of referees, honing interview skills, collating a professional portfolio and managing stress during the application process. In 2019 we broadened our distribution of the resource to include final year medical students.

MyGPTQ: Launched in 2008, MyGPTQ is a dedicated online portal for all staff, educators, Registrars, Supervisors and Practice Managers connected to GPTQ. Both a sophisticated learning management tool and a training data system, MyGPTQ hosts all clinical end education resources, while tracking Registrar training progress, practice accreditation and availability and Supervisor education.

A window into General Practice sessions for junior doctors: Throughout the year GPTQ representatives visit a network of South East Queensland hospitals to deliver General Practice based clinical education sessions. The sessions cover a range of community healthcare topics hospital-based trainees would otherwise not have exposure to. They are also a powerful promotional tool for General Practice as a career pathway.