GPET Training Capacity and Resources Projects
GPET's Training Capacity and Resources (TCR) section is responsible for meeting GPET's strategic initiatives in the areas of integration of practice accreditation, supervision, vertical integration, training capacity and performance management. Information regarding the aims and status of two projects currently being undertaken by TCR towards meeting these initiatives is outlined below.
General Practice Training Accreditation Pilots (GPTAP) Project
GPET and the Confederation of Postgraduate Medical Education Councils (CPMEC) are undertaking and evaluating pilot models of streamlined and integrated prevocational and vocational training practice accreditation, in the Northern Territory, Victoria and Western Australia.
The pilots will provide a documented and evaluated assessment of a streamlined and integrated process of prevocational and vocational accreditation of training facilities. They will include an assessment of the applicability and reliability of a single survey; and an information collection process to support the prevocational and vocational accreditation of training practices by the relevant accreditation bodies in the three jurisdictions (NT, VIC and WA). The project will attempt to understand if it is possible for GP practices to undergo a single accreditation process for both prevocational (PGPPP) and vocational (AGPT) general practice training. This would result in a diminished ‘accreditation load’ for GP practices.
CPMEC has been contracted to manage the project and liaise with pilot stakeholders. A Steering Committee with stakeholder representation has also been appointed to oversee the project. The Steering Committee met on 2 March 2012 to review the proposed project plans for the accreditation pilots. Findings from the project will be reported in the latter part of this year with updates and outcomes shared through GPET eNews.
For further information regarding the project please contact Susannah Littleton, Manager Training Capacity and Resources on 02 6263 6735 or Dr Jag Singh, General Manager CPMEC, on 03 9419 1217.
Education Integration Project
The Education Integration Project (EIP) was established in 2011 to promote research into medical education and training, with a specific focus on education integration. As part of this initiative, GPET funded 21 projects across 12 RTPs. Projects commenced in July 2011 and were completed in June 2012.
Projects demonstrating at least one of the following objectives were funded.
- Evaluation of an existing EI initiative
- Implementation and evaluation of a new EI initiative
- Research and development of an EI initiative
'Communities of Practice' were established which provided a forum for project teams to share and further develop their projects.
Project teams aimed to explore the various components of education integration including multi-level learning, inter-professional learning, different models of teaching, etc. with a goal to increase training capacity and improve educational outcomes.
The projects have explored some useful research findings on vertical integration, horizontal integration, GP consultation review, identifying quality practices, regionalised primary care and simulation, etc. studying their various aspects. This includes learner’s confidence and capability to teach, barriers to education integration, different models of education integration and opportunities to implement them, etc. Other project teams developed and implemented several educational and training resources.
The findings are being presented at various conferences including international conferences. EIP also has an impressive representation at the 2012 GPET Conference with several workshop and paper presentations. Journal articles are also being submitted for publishing in peer-reviewed journals.
The program has provided useful learning to GPET and RTP project teams in the design, delivery and management of research projects. A formal external evaluation of the program is underway. The key lessons learnt, project findings, participant feedback and recommendations will inform the design and delivery of similar future initiatives.
Overall, the initiative has been well received and there is an ongoing interest from RTP teams to participate in similar future initiatives.
For further information regarding this project please contact Dr Susannah Littleton, Manager Training Capacity and Resources on 02 6263 6735.