Good Practice

Issue 6 | June 2014 The RACGP’s National Rural Faculty (NRF) achieved a major milestone in February this year when it exceeded 10,000 members, confirming its place as the largest rural general practice representative body in Australia.

‘The NRF is actively involved in policy, advocacy and education, and is proud to represent such a significant number of dedicated, passionate rural members,’ NRF Chair Dr Kathy Kirkpatrick said.

Whether for students, registrars, senior GPs or supervisors, the NRF continues to provide support and services to healthcare professionals in some of the most remote places around Australia.

The RACGP’s three Fellowship exams are the most common and popular pathway doctors take to become a recognised and unsupervised GP in Australia.

The exams are held twice a year, with candidates from different parts of the world taking part in order to be an Australian GP. With more than 800 students taking part in the 2014.1 exam cycle, the RACGP does a lot of work to ensure each candidate is given the best opportunity to succeed.

GP and former RACGP Corlis Travelling Fellow Dr John Kramer has been practising and teaching medicine at his clinic in Woolgoolga, NSW, for more than three decades.

‘General practice is the keystone in primary healthcare and it is also the most efficient way to deliver healthcare,’ Kramer said.

Kramer’s motivation to teach came from his early exposure to quality medical educators, which encouraged him to give back to the profession.

With a huge number of injured-worker claims originating in the general practice setting, GPs are crucial to an injured person’s ability to return to work. However, a recent study from Monash University found the relationship between GPs, patients, employers and compensation agents can often be complicated.

The study concluded several key findings, including the need for a strong set of national guidelines to make the return-to-work process clear for GPs and other stakeholders.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is often described as one of the most difficult issues faced in the medical community. Australian clinical psychologist Stuart Passmore has looked at the latest research from around the world and written a new book, The ADHD Handbook, in an attempt to offer some clarity on what is a complicated and often misunderstood subject.

‘I wanted to try and shed some light on what ADHD is,’ Passmore said. ‘One of the things that prompted me to start writing is the confusion and misinformation in the public.’