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Induction
At the start of your training program, your medical educator will schedule an online induction interview. This is an opportunity to get to know each other and discuss topics such as:
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your training and experience to date,
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your career aspirations,
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the program’s milestones and requirements,
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RACGP systems and policies,
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important information about your Medicare provider number,
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the Australian general practice context.
Learning needs assessment
During the induction interview, you’ll also complete a learning needs assessment, which will be used to develop a learning plan tailored to your level of knowledge and skills.
To assess your learning needs, your medical educator will review your Curriculum Vitae (CV) and the outcome of your comparability assessment. On the PC stream you’ll also be required to complete an online Early Assessment for Safety and Learning (EASL) multi-choice questionnaire (MCQ) prior to the induction interview and a formulative random case analysis (RCA) during the interview. It’s best to do the induction interview in your clinic to access clinical software for the RCA.
EASL MCQ
The EASL MCQ assesses applied knowledge and self-confidence through 70 multiple-choice questions. The questions focus on acute and serious illness and common presentations in Australian general practice. A self-assessment confidence rating grid is embedded into the test to provide insight into the participant’s self-awareness of their own competence and potential gaps.
At the completion of the MCQ, a report will be generated and shared with you and your medical educator. This report will allow you and your medical educator to work together to identify learning needs early in training, especially in areas that are critical to patient safety. It’ll be used as a baseline measure to prompt discussion, facilitate self-reflection and allow monitoring of your performance over time. Your supervisor may also find this report useful to identify areas where you may require focused supervision.
Random case analysis (RCA)
The induction interview includes a 30-minute RCA with feedback to inform the learning needs analysis. The assessor randomly selects a case from the participant’s consultation records to discuss or uses a submitted case to explore additional curriculum domains. The RCA may uncover gaps in knowledge and skills that a participant may not have identified.
An RCA is generally conducted through the lens of the five domains of general practice of the RACGP curriculum and syllabus, and explores the development of clinical reasoning by considering changes to four contextual influences: the doctor, the patient, the problem and the system. By proposing hypothetical scenarios through ‘what if’ questions, unidentified learning needs may be uncovered.