We have continued in the second half of 2019 to meet members at our Conversation with the Board events which provide opportunity for an informal, collegial and open discussion with members and their College Board across a range of topics.
On the eve of its July Board meeting, the College Board travelled to Westmead Hospital in Sydney to meet local Fellows and trainees and hear what they had to say. In September, Sydney-based Board members met with Fellows and trainees at Prince of Wales Hospital in Randwick, NSW.
In November, Professor Niki Ellis opened the Tasmanian Members Meeting and talked with members and I attended the South Australian Regional Committee Annual Scientific meeting in Adelaide along with Prof Paul Komesaroff after which I was pleased to participate in the pilot of a regional convocation ceremony.
On behalf of the Board I thank all of the members who have contributed to the discussions we’ve had this year, and we look forward to meeting locally with more members in 2020.
Associate Professor Mark Lane
RACP President
Prince of Wales Hospital
21 September 2019 | We heard that our College could use the release of the findings of the Physician Training Survey (PTS) to improve the way it collaborates with training settings by reinforcing and acknowledging the good work in each training setting that was identified in the PTS as part of the feedback.
It was acknowledged that educators have significant responsibilities and that the intent of the PTS was not to add to workload or stress but to enable a feedback loop with the respective training settings.
This was the first time the PTS was run, and our College uses feedback about our training programs to continually improve our processes. The next PTS will release summary data earlier and promote positive feedback from the survey results.
We heard that members want to receive a response to their feedback when our College conducts consultation on its work so that members feel heard and understand how their feedback is being used.
We value the feedback our members provide and appreciate the time members take to engage with and contribute to our College’s work. We are working to improve our communications so members better understand how their feedback has been considered and used.
We heard that you would like our College’s accreditation requirements to reflect current practices and performance indicators at training settings.
Our College is currently undergoing an accreditation renewal and the draft Accreditation Requirements for Basic Training have recently been consulted on. Our future focus is in ensuring updated Standards and Requirements are outcome focused and appropriate for use in a range of settings with different performance indicators.
We heard that you had some concerns with the lack of a clinical trials pathway within the College.
We are raising this with the Interim Dean of our College and will seek advice from our College Research Committee.
Effective Governance has now provided a report to the Board following Effective Governance’s initial work with the College. The Board is considering the report, and will update members as soon as it is able to do so.
Westmead Hospital
11 July 2019 | Our members present were pleased to have the opportunity to have a frank and open discussion with the Board of their College and that this helped our trainees in particular to learn how the College machinery works.
We heard that members seek clarification on the new Board structure for their College.
The previous College Board structure was a large, representational body, while modern governance practice requires Boards to be smaller and their member composition to comprise a mix of skills. The College has adopted a hybrid version of this model with 7 elected College members and 3 skills-based appointed community positions. All Board directors do the Australian Institute of Company Directors directors course to develop their skills as Board directors.
We heard from Trainees that they want the Divisional Exams to be offered more than once a year.
Work is being carried out to investigate how this can occur in consideration of the health systems in which we are operating. Offering the Divisional Written Exam more than once a year will be enabled by the College successfully implementing Computer Based Testing which is underway through the Computer Based Testing Working Party. The Clinical Exam presents more complex challenges and requires solutions to be found to address availability of the examiners, hospitals and patients needed to enable the exam to be held more than once per year for the volume of candidates and range of specialties involved.
We heard that Trainees want the College to provide greater flexibility around the submission of term reports and more efficient administration supporting progression through training.
We acknowledge this is challenging. It reflects a mix of workload and processing issues in matching the growth in the number of trainees. There is work underway to simplify and automate processes so as to speed them up, and we are working to reduce the administrative workload of already busy supervisors.
We heard that Trainees perceive the College to be big, opaque and daunting. They feel caught between rigid RACP training requirements and employment conditions that do not provide them with employment continuity and conditions that support their training journey.
The College can be daunting for new trainees, particularly as their relationship with their College is at distance and has to endure the challenges associated with meeting training requirements and completing assessments. There is tension between workplace training and service delivery priorities, which may be difficult to manage at times. Our DPEs are there to assist with navigating your training requirements; College training support staff can also assist, as can our regionally-based Member Support Officers.
We acknowledge our members, both Fellows and trainees, are working in a complex environment with increasing pressures on service delivery and training time. We have been developing a comprehensive Health and Wellbeing Strategy and Implementation Plan to support all of our members with a wide range of resources already available through the College website. We have also been responding to growing demand for the College to take a more active role in supporting gender equity which will likely lead to a focused program of work in 2020.
We are working through our 'RACP 101' program of work to improve the information available to trainees to better able them to navigate their College, and we are continually working to improve the supports that are available to them. Trainees are encouraged to get involved with the College as it both improves your understanding of the complex environment in which the College operates and provides opportunity to influence the work of the College.
We heard that Paediatric trainees feel disadvantaged when they see the resources available to Adult Medicine trainees through the College Learning Series.
The College Learning Series (CLS) grew out of the Physician Education Program (PEP) which ran out of Melbourne. This was largely focused on Adult Medicine learning resources due to an historical lack of Paediatric engagement with this program. However, work is underway to build Paediatric resources for the CLS from across Australia, which will in due course extend to the Faculty training programs as well.