CEO welcome message
Welcome and congratulations on your decision to enter the RACGP’s Rural Generalist Fellowship training program.
The Rural Generalist Fellowship journey recognises the extra requirements and skills of rural general practitioners (GPs) and supports you to meet the diverse health needs of rural and remote communities. Whilst a GP with Fellowship of the RACGP (FRACGP) can practice unsupervised anywhere in Australia – the extra skills gained as part of the Rural Generalist Fellowship extend your scope of practice and support you to meet the diverse health needs of your community.
The RACGP rural generalist qualification has robust and modern curricula aligned to the National Rural Generalist Pathway. With this qualification you will further develop your emergency medicine skills with the core emergency medicine training and extend your skills in a discipline of interest and community need with your choice of additional rural skills training (ARST) options.
The RACGP is committed to supporting you through your training journey, equipping you with the knowledge, skills and experience you need to practise independently anywhere in Australia. During your time in rural generalist training, you’ll treat a range of patient populations, train with experienced rural supervisors and mentors, and develop additional rural skills to broaden local options for safe, accessible and comprehensive care for Australia’s rural, remote and very remote communities. The emphasis on community general practice will develop your diagnostic, communication, and therapeutic skills to manage whole of person care across the spectrum of life stages and presentations.
This handbook includes all the information you need to complete the rural generalist components of general practice training. You will find information about the whole journey from enrolment through to Fellowship, information on your program team, training requirements, placement processes, additional support and more.
The RACGP has been training rural GPs for over 60 years, so rest assured you are joining a supportive community of registrars, practising GPs, Rural Generalists and RACGP staff with experience and proven delivery in rural training. We will support you not only throughout your training but also during the rest of your career, giving you access to networks of like-minded individuals, ongoing training and professional development, access to a huge volume of high-quality resources including clinical guidelines and standards, and up-to-date general practice news and research.
As the peak representative body with over 48,000 members, the College is advocating strongly for the profession by influencing public health policy for better health and wellbeing for all Australians. There are a range of opportunities within the RACGP and we encourage you to consider getting involved to bring your influence to the strategic direction of education, health policy and advocacy work with the various councils and committees within our faculties including state-based, Rural, GPs in Training, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and Specific Interests.
Welcome, we trust you will find your training a rewarding experience – and thank you for supporting rural communities!
Georgina van de Water
Chief Executive Officer