An innovative new pilot program has been developed to better prepare registrars for general practice training in the NT.

The AGPT-NTGPE Co-Badging Pilot, available to 2012 applicants, allows GP Registrars to undertake the first 18 months of their GP training (12 months hospital and 6 months GPT1 term) with Central and Southern Queensland Training Consortium (CSQTC) before moving to the Northern Territory to complete the remainder of their training (GPT 2 and 3 and Extended Skills) with NTGPE.

This means registrars gain further experience and skills that better prepares them for general practice training in the NT.

NTGPE Executive Director, Dr Michael Wilson, said that the NT had always been an exciting and different place to do general practice training, however, due to the challenging nature of medicine in the Territory, GPT1s may require greater support in a more controlled environment.

“From our experience, we find that some GPT1s require a bit more preparation before taking the Territory plunge,” said Dr Wilson. “This Co-Badging Pilot will provide that preparation and once they are here, they realise the tremendous support they receive and the challenging medicine that they are exposed to can make for one of the most interesting and rewarding experiences of their professional lives.”

Applicants are encouraged to apply early to avoid disappointment as limited places will be offered for this Co-Badging Pilot.

Further details on NTGPE’s GPR program and the Co-Badging Pilot is available at: http://ntgpe.org/index.php/gp-registrars/

The opening of the NT’s first medical program building represents a boost to recruitment into the NT’s Pre-vocational General Practice Placement Program and the General Practice Registrar Program, both designed to not only recruit medical students to specialise in general practice, but also to attract them to work in the Territory once they have completed their training.

“We would expect that local students, once exposed to the challenging but interesting medicine here in their own back yard, would want to stay and work here to help improve the situation,” said Dr Wilson. “The precinct marks an exciting new era of the Territory growing its own doctors.”

Up to 24 NT students a year will now have the opportunity to undertake their entire medical training locally through the NT Medical Program and up to 40 graduates a year is expected, according to the NT Rural Clinical School website. A major focus of the Program is also to recruit and train Indigenous medical students to become NT doctors.

The first stage of the $27.8 million Federal Government-funded Northern Territory Medical Program and Allied Health Infrastructure (Pharmacy) complex at Charles Darwin University was opened last Thursday by Prime Minister, Julia Gillard. The precinct consists of five buildings, including a state-of-the-art pharmacy teaching laboratory, which combines with the NT Medical Program to enable students to gain hands on experience in a simulated environment.

Other infrastructure to support the medical program includes the development of buildings at the Royal Darwin Hospital Campus and infrastructure and resources in community based facilities throughout the Northern Territory.

The NT Medical Program is a collaboration between Charles Darwin University and Flinders University, that offers two pathways into a medical degree. The first is a four year graduate entry medical program through the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degree delivered through Flinders University but taught at CDU. The second is a six year double degree program designed for Year 12 students that includes pre-medical studies through the Bachelor of Clinical Studies delivered through CDU, before undertaking the Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery degree. The third year of the Bachelor of Clinical Science degree also serves as the first year of the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degree.

PM Julia Gillard officially opens the NT's first medical program building

NTGPE medical educator, Dr Kishan Pandithage, was named the NT Medical Educator of the Year with the award presented at the Prevocational Medical Education Forum in Melbourne in November 2010.

CEO, Dr Michael Wilson commended Dr Pandithage for achieving this recognition.

“It is a fantastic achievement for one of our dedicated Medical Education staff to be recognised for his strengths and passion for medical education”, said Dr Wilson.

Director of Medical and Cultural Education, Dr Hung The Nguyen, said “Kishan has been a passionate educator and supporter in the Prevocational General Practice Placements Program and it is fitting for the NT to honour him in this way.”

Award nominees are nominated by junior doctors in recognition of the contribution of individual educators to their education and training.

The state award was a precursor to the national Confederation of Postgraduate Medical Education Councils’ (CPMEC) Clinical Educator of the Year Award, which was won by Dr Richard Tarala from Western Australia.

For more information about CPMEC Awards: http://www.cpmec.org.au/Page/cpmec-awards