The President's Message – 6 December 2024
Dear members,
As the end of year approaches, I've been reflecting on the past seven months of my Presidency. Right from the get-go, I received feedback from members about what our College needs to do to improve. Meeting with members from across the organisation has helped me gain greater insight and helped me to drive change. I look forward to meeting with more of you in the new year to hear your life journeys, particularly trainees.
I’ve reflected on some of the things we’ve achieved and what lies ahead.
Note: If you would like to read the transcript, please click here, then copy and paste the following weblink into this automatic YouTube transcript generator: https://youtu.be/qnph-M5n3Z8?feature=shared&t=5
I have also learnt more about the incredible team we have at the RACP who work tirelessly to support us, as members. We have extraordinary skills in the organisation. I would like to thank my fellow Board Directors for their time and dedication to helping improve our College.
There are also many members who share their expertise serving on committees and working groups at the College. I deeply appreciate all you do for the College and the contribution you make to the RACP and our profession.
To all on-call over the public holidays, serving our communities rather than spending the time with our loved ones, stay safe and ensure you are rested.
I wish you and your families a safe and enjoyable end of year.
Season's greetings,
Professor Jennifer Martin
RACP President
Ngadluku Warra, Ngadluku Tapa Purruna, Ngadluku Purruna
Our language, our culture, our health
The RACP is honoured to be a part of the 2024 Pacific Region Indigenous Doctors Congress (PRIDoC) in Adelaide, on the traditional lands of the Kaurna people. Held this week, PRIDoC is a pivotal gathering of Indigenous health leaders from across the Pacific region and beyond.
As we come together, the College reaffirms its commitment to Indigenous health excellence, which is central to our mission and values. Through our Indigenous Strategic Framework, we continue to prioritise improving health outcomes for Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, Māori and Pacific peoples and communities. The Framework guides us in addressing the disparities in health that persist, while promoting culturally safe, responsive care across our disciplines.
This year, the RACP is particularly proud to have taken a significant step forward with the adoption of an Indigenous Object in our Constitution. This historic change enshrines our ongoing commitment to respect, protect, and elevate Indigenous knowledge, culture, and healthcare practices within the College. It acknowledges our responsibility to Indigenous peoples and to the wider healthcare system in which we serve. This object reinforces our shared commitment to advancing reconciliation, cultural competence, safety, and equitable access to healthcare services for Indigenous peoples across the Pacific region.
Thank you for your ongoing commitment to advancing the health and wellbeing of Indigenous communities. Together, we are making a profound difference in our communities.
The October Divisional Written Examination (DWE) was held on Tuesday, 22 October 2024. A total of 264 candidates sat the exam in 19 locations across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. Examination results were released on Thursday, 21 November 2024.
We would like to extend our sincere thanks to all the Directors of Physician/Paediatric Education (DPEs) and Supervisors for the support and guidance they provided to trainees in the lead-up to this exam and results release. We also want to thank our RACP team members who have been involved in the examination process for their hard work and support.
If you have any questions about the exam, or the release of the results, please email examinations@racp.edu.au. For any other queries, please contact our Member Support Centre.
The member consultation webpage is your go-to place for all policy and advocacy consultations including contributing to government submissions and College position statements. This will make it easier for you to provide your valuable input to College submissions, to add your voice to drive change, and make a real impact on your profession.
This webpage has been developed based on feedback from the 2023 Member Satisfaction Survey, where many members advised that a single webpage with opportunities to contribute to consultations would support enhanced engagement with policy and advocacy.
To find out how your input to prior College consultations has made a powerful impact, read the College Policy & Advocacy Council’s reports and review approved outputs in the P&A Library.
Find out more
The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide was established to investigate the high rates of suicide in Australian Defence Force (ADF) members and veteran communities. Following the investigation, it gave recommendations for action to the Commonwealth Government. RACP members played an important role contributing to key information to be considered. The RACP submission provided in 2023 contained 14 recommendations with the majority being taken up by the Royal Commission's Final Report, delivered in September 2024. This is significant as 18 per cent of people who leave the ADF do so for medical reasons, and three in five (60 per cent) previous ADF service members report a long-term health condition (2021 Census).
We call on the Northern Territory Government to stop the clock on the legislation to abolish minimum unit pricing (MUP). Removal of MUP will increase social, financial and other costs for bystanders of drinkers. The economic cost of harm from others’ drinking was $20 billion in Australia in 2016, including absences from work.
Minimum Unit Pricing must remain in place to reduce social, health and economic costs for all. Read some of the robust evidence from The Lancet supporting it. You can also keep updated on our latest advocacy work on LinkedIn and X (formerly known as Twitter).
Read our MUP Factsheet
The Benefits Integrity Division within the Department of Health and Aged Care will be performing an audit targeting incorrect billing of out-of-pocket benefits. The Department is pursuing compliance activities to recover incorrect payments. The activity targets payments for services expected to be part of a hospital treatment and billed at the 75 per cent rebate that were incorrectly billed at the higher non-hospital 85 per cent rebate. This audit will include providers that are exhibiting a higher level of potential non-compliance than their peers.
Providers will be required to repay Medicare Benefits for hospital services incorrectly claimed at the higher out-of-hospital rate. Providers may resubmit claims at the correct rate if the services are otherwise compliant with requirements.
For any questions or concerns regarding this compliance activity, please contact Marisa Skinner hospitalcompliance@health.gov.au.
The RACP, in collaboration with EY Sweeney, invites you to take part in our 2024 Member Satisfaction Survey (MSS). Between Monday, 18 November and Wednesday, 20 November, you should have received an email from surveys@slmr.com.au with the subject line 'Share your feedback – RACP Satisfaction Survey 2024', containing the survey link.
Please take a moment to complete the survey, as your feedback will help us determine whether we’re meeting your needs and expectations and guide our future direction. The survey is completely confidential, with responses de-identified and reported in aggregate to ensure anonymity.
It will take approximately five to seven minutes to complete, and closes on Monday, 16 December 2024 at 5pm.
The RACP welcomes the results of the Medical Board of Australia’s sixth annual Medical Training Survey (MTS). This anonymous survey was open between August and October 2024 and was completed by 41 per cent of RACP trainees, including Overseas Trained Physicians who are currently undertaking supervised practice in Australia (n=3,069). Findings point to small but important improvements in key areas such as workload, trainee wellbeing and the provision of safe training environments.
Key findings
The quality of training and clinical supervision remains high. We continue our work to improve the support we provide to our members, who occupy vital supervisory and educational leadership roles. We are also looking to improve our recognition of these roles in 2025.
We need to legitimise and protect teaching and learning time in service delivery contexts. In 2025, the College will be initiating a new Workforce and Healthcare Reform Advocacy program, which will feature increased calls for protected training and education time for members. We’re also looking at our Accreditation Standards to see how these can better support legitimising and protecting education activities as a core function of accredited training settings.
Safe training environments are important. We continue our important work to improve the psychological safety of trainees in training settings, and we maintain our zero tolerance stance on unprofessional behaviours. Please refer to our recent communication on civility and RACP’s existing support programs.
Trainee wellbeing is critical. Our Member Health and Wellbeing Strategic Plan sets out the College’s aim to improve member wellbeing at both individual and systematic levels. Individual support is free and readily available through the RACP Support Program, along with our range of other services.
There is a call for clearer communication regarding training requirements. We know we have work to do to meet trainee expectations for quality and timely services. We have invested in new resources for our Member Support Centre and we are launching new technology and processes to support improved training management. We look forward to you all being able to enjoy the benefits of these exciting initiatives in 2025.
Accessing the results
You can explore the MTS results via the 2024 MTS RACP summary report or the interactive reporting dashboard (2024 data will be available in early 2025).
Thank you to all RACP trainees who participated in this important survey. Further details about the survey can be found on the RACP website and the Medical Training Survey website.
We are pleased to share the results of our 2024 Supervisor Voices Survey. We encourage you to explore the results through our Summary Report. The survey ran over a three-week period in August, and we would like to thank the more than 600 supervisors and educational leaders across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand who took the time to contribute their voice. The feedback collected provides a solid evidence base to shape the way we support supervisors moving forward.
Key findings
The survey highlighted increasingly heavy supervisory workloads and a pressing need for more dedicated time to fulfill supervisory responsibilities. Despite these challenges, most supervisors still feel they provide high-quality clinical and educational supervision, emphasising their important contribution to training and education.
The results also revealed that supervisors often feel unrecognised for their significant contributions to training, along with persistent concerns around the culture of medicine.
How we’re responding
Based on these survey results, we’re taking the following steps:
- Prioritising advocacy for dedicated time for supervision as a key focus area in our engagement with jurisdictions.
- Enhancing support for supervisors by providing concise resources, timely assistance, and clear role expectations.
- Exploring a formal feedback process to support supervisors’ development.
- Establishing mechanisms to improve recognition of supervisors’ contributions from both the College and workplaces.
- Updating our SPDP program to better meet supervisor needs.
For further information, please visit the Supervisor Voices Survey webpage or reach out to our team at evaluation@racp.edu.au. The College would like to thank each of our dedicated supervisors and educational leaders for their commitment to the development of their profession, and for their participation in this survey.
Explore survey results
My Health Record is a combined repository of patient data, letters and investigations for collaborative data sharing between different elements of our healthcare setting. However, statistics from the Australian Digital Health Agency show that specialists lag behind other healthcare providers in their registration and usage of My Health Record. We want to better understand how regional, rural and remote physicians use My Health Record and what the barriers are, and/or the benefits of My Health Record, as well as your suggestions for improvement.
Please complete this quick, confidential survey and you will enter the prize draw for a chance to win a $250 gift card. It takes less than four minutes and would provide us with invaluable insights.
Participate now
[Case Report] 47-year-old with rapidly progressive respiratory failure requiring ECMO
Listen now
In 2019, a man was referred to Royal Adelaide Hospital with worsening breathlessness and a productive cough. He was a 47-year-old electrician with a history of tobacco smoking who’d been well before the onset of symptoms. Over a couple of admissions the patient’s condition progressed to Type 2 respiratory failure.
While the ultimate explanation for this presentation was a bit of a unicorn, the dramatic escalation of examinations and interventions runs through some textbook respiratory medicine; ECMO, infectious diseases, bronchoscopy, CT, interpretation of blood gases and the alveolar gas equation, stenting and ultimately transplantation. This is discussed in the careful manner expected of a long-case presentation in the physician training exams.
Guest: Dr Thomas Crowhurst FRACP (Northern Adelaide Local Health Network)
Hosts: Associate Professor Stephen Bacchi (Lyell McEwin Hospital; University of Adelaide) and Dr Brandon Stretton (Central Adelaide Local Health Network)
Please visit the Pomegranate Health webpage for a transcript and supporting references. Log on to MyCPD to record listening and reading as a prefilled learning activity. Subscribe to new episode email alerts or search for ‘Pomegranate Health’ in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Castbox or any podcasting app.
Seeking an Editor-in-Chief for the Internal Medicine Journal
The Internal Medicine Journal (IMJ) is seeking an Editor-in-Chief for a three-year term beginning 1 April 2025. As the region’s premier internal medicine journal, the IMJ publishes high-quality research on human disease worldwide and plays a significant role in continuing medical education with expert review articles. For more information on the role, please review the position description. To apply, submit the following by COB Monday, 9 December 2024 to council@racp.edu.au.
Find out more
Seeking an Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health
The Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health (JPCH) is seeking an Editor-in-Chief for a three-year term beginning 1 April 2025. This role involves leading the JPCH in its mission to be a premier peer-reviewed journal (impact factor = 1.6) for paediatricians in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. For more information on the role, please review the position description. To apply, submit the following by COB Monday, 9 December 2024 to council@racp.edu.au
Find out more
You're invited to the Australasian Chapter of Sexual Health Medicine Annual Scientific Meeting (AChSHM ASM), which will be held on Saturday, 15 March 2025 in the RACP Sydney Office. The program will explore a broad spectrum of topics, catering to all sexual health physicians including what’s new in HIV, equity and health, menopause, and Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Māori health and prevention. Hear from our speakers including Dr Nneka Nwokolo, Associate Professor Loren Brener, Dr Catriona Bradshaw, Professor Rebecca Guy and more on all the latest updates within our specialty.
Take advantage of the early bird discount, which ends on Friday, 14 February 2025 and register for your opportunity to connect with other sexual health physicians.
We are also extending a special invitation to AChSHM Advanced Trainees to participate in our Annual Trainees’ Meeting (ATM) on Friday, 14 March 2025.
Register now
More you may be interested in
As healthcare workers who dedicate our lives to helping others, it’s important to take the time to care for ourselves. We would like to remind everyone that it's okay to not be okay. If you need someone to talk to, you can reach out to the RACP Support Program. It's a free, 24/7 and completely confidential support service that is delivered externally through Converge International.
Whether you have something worrying on your mind, are finding getting out of bed to be a struggle, or just feel like talking to someone for helpful, judgement-free advice, this free support service may be just what you need.
Find out more
RACP Benefits: exclusive savings on your lifestyle needs
Did you know that RACP Benefits gives you exclusive access to a range of discounts and offers from leading brands and retailers in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand? Simply log in to the portal to start shopping and saving today. These special deals are exclusive to the College and made possible by our benefits partner, Member Benefits Australia.