A few choice words for the board Medical board chair
Dr responds to mass doctor unrest over the CPD regime
Thank you , AusDoc , for interviewing Dr Tonkin and asking the difficult questions on our behalf .
But it was a disappointing response , exposing the bureaucratic mentality we are dealing with .
The board is leading the horse to water and forcing it to drink in ways that reflect a lack of wisdom and insight into the type of people with whom they are dealing .
My question to the medical profession is how long will you keep co-operating with people who try to make your life miserable ?
Dr Mal Mohanlal GP , Brisbane , Qld
I hate the way the CPD requirements are structured now .
Fifty hours a year , including the demands to review performance and measuring outcomes , is onerous , time-consuming and unnecessary to prove we have learnt the topic and made ourselves better doctors .
Spreading CPD demands over three years was better .
Our work – life situations fluctuate , and this helped to even things out .
As for the professional development plan , it remains a demeaning joke .
Dr Yien Peng Chin GP , Gelorup , WA
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time trying to fit it into the new requirements .
The most ridiculous exercise we had to do last year was to look at the list of accepted words for our feedback for small-group learning and try to use them in our end-of-year reflection .
The various categories are also poorly worded .
What is the difference between reviewing performance and measuring outcomes ? It is not clear at all .
I talk to a group of 12 GPs regularly , and they all are confounded and frustrated by the whole CPD process .
Dr Louise Hudson GP , Sydney , NSW
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I know I speak for many ( myself and my immediate colleagues ) when I say we did not have the time or energy to respond to the AusDoc survey .
Let ’ s just say the demands of general practice are so great — combined with needing to spend time with family , attending to our own health and fulfilling CPD requirements — that most of us could not be bothered responding to a survey that we knew would not be taken seriously .
Dr Anne Tonkin ’ s interview stands as evidence .
She thinks 800 or so doctors are not representative ; that speaks volumes . The Medical Board of Australia does not understand or support GPs .
I will continue to improve my professional development and tick all the boxes to please the powers above .
But it will be no thanks to the RACGP or the medical board .
Dr Fiona Bisshop GP , Brisbane , Qld
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evident fact : a single non-VR GP from Tasmania does not hold the knowledge , expertise or insight to competently disagree with national or state public health strategies .
If this candidate is ever elected — and ever has a part in public health policymaking , one can only hope that those with true expertise and understanding of the data hold sway .
Dr Sue Ieraci Emergency medicine specialist ,
Sydney , NSW
Students should vet their vocation Is the cost of becoming
MO a doctor still worth it ? I ’ m not sure
The financial cost is something that should be taught before people start studying medicine — mandatory counselling over at least a weekend before applying for a place .
I was lucky enough to have studied in a socially advanced country with free university education .
I was then lucky enough to have done part of my specialist training in an even more socially advanced
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country , where training meant actual training and not a euphemism for cheap labour .
But I would probably have studied medicine here too despite the financial costs because I believe that the professional satisfaction ( even if it is only just ) still outweighs all the very valid negative aspects raised in this article .
Dr Horst Herb GP , Dorrigo , NSW
Pharmacists at the helm ? Save our souls Chronic UTIs and test
Dr flaws overlooked in ‘ archaic ’ guidelines : urologists
Everyone should welcome a fundamentally strong evidence approach to UTI diagnosis .
It is good to see the Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand getting involved — hopefully , the standard it is espousing is maintained .
Pharmacists have invented their own standard , which is frankly appalling .
Dr Evan Ackermann GP , Gold Coast , Qld
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The UTI boat has sailed , with the pharmacist in control . God help these women . Part of good urological control is one GP managing , referring and collating . Fragmented care is the enemy . It will be a brave GP who becomes involved after multiple chemists have stuffed up and not recorded and proved an infection , let alone followed up .
Dr Alistair Lewis GP , Melbourne , Vic
Raise the bar for prisoners ’ healthcare PBAC to examine if
Dr doctors should prescribe PBS medicines to prisoners
Would it not have been simpler from the very beginning to regard prisoners as Australian citizens , entitled to the same PBS / MBS benefits as all ?
Surely , walls and bars are somewhat irrelevant to the situation .
Dr Adam Maclagan GP , Adelaide , SA
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