Real world training experience

GPTQ’s network of accredited training facilities is made up of General Practices, hospitals, Aboriginal Medical Services, specialty practices, Defence Force bases and universities.

Our apprentice-style training comes to life inside these facilities. Here Registrars receive on-the-job instruction, supervision and support from established General Practitioners while working alongside them. GPTQ has more than 800 accredited GP Supervisors. These GPs are committed to helping shape the next generation of doctors.

They welcome Registrars into the busy environment of a practice and become their mentors, guiding them as they learn and grow. Goondiwindi GP Sue Masel and Ningi GP Steve Kearney represent just two members of GPTQ’s outstanding group of GP Supervisors.

 

 

Sue Masel has been fulfilling the role of GP Supervisor to rural Registrars in her practice for more than a decade and says it has become a deeply fulfilling element of her work life.

“Our practice has a strong commitment to teaching,” Sue explains.

“We really enjoy having learners here honing their skills and helping us to keep our knowledge fresh.

“It makes for a dynamic practice environment, which we all enjoy and get a lot out of.”

Sue was a rural Registrar herself 20 years ago when she arrived in Goondiwindi to complete a six month training placement.

The experience was so positive and the local community so welcoming she never left.

The story was the same for her husband Matt, also a GP and one of the other practice Principals who works alongside Sue at Goondiwindi Medical Centre.

“It is undoubtedly true that there are additional challenges for General Practitioners working in a rural setting,” Sue says.

“Which is why a positive training experience, including the work we do as Supervisors to support Registrars as they develop their craft, is so important,” she explains.

“A rural Registrar’s placement is about learning how to adapt to the range of demands that come with being a rural GP.

“You won’t be referring patients to a specialist nearby, but you will be providing palliative care and you will be treating children in the Emergency Room setting.”

Sue is also a Medical Superintendent at the local hospital and supports Registrars in the development of Advanced Skills Training in obstetrics and anaesthetics.

Each Registrar placed at Goondiwindi Medical Centre is matched with one go-to Supervisor in the practice to create a clear pathway for information and to ensure they receive individualised advice and support.

“This also provides the Registrar with a strong clinical safety net,” Sue explains.

“We don’t want them to ever feel overwhelmed.”

Sue says being able to witness the ‘lightbulb’ moments that happen for her ‘learners’ during their placement is always exciting.

“Seeing that growth occur and a deeper level of intuition take hold is wonderful,” she says.

For the past four years Sue has managed an additional layer of responsibility within the GPTQ GP Supervisor network, working as the Rural Supervisor Liaison Officer.

In this role she acts as an information conduit between other rural GP Supervisors and GPTQ, making sure Supervisors, along with Registrars, are supported.

She also helps monitor GPTQ’s network of rural training practices to help provide practical solutions where issues arise during Registrar placements.

 

 

Steve Kearney believes one of the most valuable pieces of advice he can give to a Registrar is: ‘learn from your patients’.

It is advice he demonstrates every day in the practice he shares with 11 other GPs in the seaside haven of Ningi, east of Caboolture.

“If you listen, they [patients] will often go a long way to telling you the answer,” Steve says.

“Give them the right framework through which to tell you what’s happening for them and you will get the information you need.

“Or, you will end up learning something new as you solve the puzzle.”

Steve has been a GP Supervisor with GPTQ for five years and has been helping to train Registrars for almost a decade. He has been involved in medical education in one form or another for most of his career.

He holds a degree in pharmacy as well as medicine and spent a number of years in the army where he trained army medics.

He says there are similarities to be found in his previous work as an educator and helping to nurture GP Registrars.

“Really making yourself available to answer questions is important,” he says.

“I like being called on around the practice to answer questions and I make sure Registrars don’t feel they are causing me any concern by doing so.”

Steve says he can often be interrupted with queries during a consultation, but that’s completely ok.

“I make sure the Registrars know that I am happy to take their call and I balance these interruptions by taking time to explain to patients that the practice is a ‘teaching practice’,” he explains.

“Once our patients know we have Registrars learning, generally they love it.

“They appreciate that we are supporting the development of new doctors and wanting them to become great GPs.”

Along with his role as a GP Supervisor, Steve also helps to oversee the support and coordination of other Supervisors as GPTQ’s Brisbane North District Supervisor Liaison Officer.

“Accredited Supervisors are by and large very experienced and adept at managing Registrars in their practices, but it is important that they have support when they need it,” Steve says.

“GPTQ is an organisation that is very good at listening and then addressing issues in order to achieve a positive outcome.

“I enjoy being a part of the support framework that makes sure that happens,” he says.

 

“Our whole practice gets involved in the training. Our GPs and nursing staff make sure Registrars feel a part of the team.”

 

Dr Steve Kearney