Engaging General Practitioners (GPs) in professional development often requires creative thinking and an understanding of appropriate incentives. GPs are key stakeholders in the health system and many people demand their time. Some of the most successful incentives are ones that require minimal change to their practice and work through systems and organisations they are already familiar with. Involvement must offer something GPs see as valuable to both their professional learning, and the quality of care they can provide.
The resources in this toolkit can assist health services and educators to find a way to engage GPs in professional development and service improvement activities.
Once a general practitioner (GP) is vocationally registered it is compulsory that they participate in continuing professional development (CPD). CPD is usually completed within a three year period otherwise known as a 'triennium'. Two CPD programs are available to general practitioners in Australia:
- The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) Quality Assurance and Continuing Professional Development Program (QA&CPD)
- The Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) Professional Development Program (PDP)
GPs are more likely to participate in education activities that have been accredited by the College they are a member of. It is highly advisable to accredit education activities by both RACGP and ACRRM. If the activity is only being delivered to metropolitan GPs then accreditation with RACGP is recommended. Accreditation by the Colleges usually requires the provider to record GP attendance and using appropriate College professional development program membership number and provide GPs with certificate of attendance.
Both RACGP and ACRRM allow GPs to apply for professional development points that have not been previously accredited by an education provider.
There are two ways providers of education can accredit activities with the RACGP:
- Completing a full Category 1 application and paying a once only fee when submitting to the RACGP for accreditation. Minimum requirements of each Category 1 activity are provided at the following site: http://www.racgp.org.au/QACPD. Applications generally take 6-8 weeks to be approved.
- Becoming an accredited provider and self-assessing activities. For more information on becoming an accredited provider see information below or Becoming an accredited provider with RACGP.
To accredit activities with ACRRM providers are required to develop activities that are specifically relevant to rural and remote general practice. ACRRM applications are free of charge and adjudicated by the College.
To become an RACGP accredited provider, education providers must employees must become Education Activity Representatives by completing the 3 module RACGP Provider Accreditation Course, provided by RACGP. This status allows individuals within an organisation to self-assess education activities. Organisations can then purchase a provider package to become an accredited provider. Accredited providers can develop, self-assess and implement as many activities as they wish in the triennium period.
There are two levels of accreditation.
- Endorsed Provider - upon successful accreditation providers can self-assess Category 2 activities.
- Accredited Provider - upon successful accreditation providers can self-assess Category 1 ALMs and Category 2 activities.
The self-assessment process allows an organisation to enter into a contract that gives them further benefits such as:
- Literature searches through the RACGP library
- Advertising of activities on the RACGP QA&CPD calendar of events
- Regular provider bulletins and professional development opportunities from the QA&CPD Units
- Advertising on RACGP website of provider status
- More economical fees for accreditation (this depends on the number of applications if submitted as a non-accredited provider)
- Access to online administration processes (eg: lodge notifications of events, attendance lists and evaluation reports)
For more information on the provider accreditation training visit: http://www.racgp.org.au/qacpd/20082010triennium/provideraccreditationtraining
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Organisation |
Royal Australian College of General Practitioners |
Who this is useful for? |
General Practitioners and providers of education |
Profile of Organisation |
The RACGP is a professional organisation that focuses on the safety and quality of general practice. The College's mission is to improve health and wellbeing for all Australians by supporting general practitioners, registrars and medical students by assessing doctors skills and knowledge, supplying ongoing professional development activities, developing resources and guidelines, helping general practitioners with issues that affect their practice and development standards that general practices use as part of the accreditation process. The RACGP QA&CPD Program was established in 1987. The 2008-2010 triennium aims to ensure all GPs are provided with opportunities to participate in high quality educational activities that emphasise patient safety. |
Country of Origin |
Australia |
Website Content |
News and events, membership, education, products and services, advocacy, practice support, clinical resources, patient information, library and research. |
How to use this site: |
The 'education' menu has a drop down box that includes a QA&CPD section:
Select QA&CPD on the left hand menu for further selections related to the program such as 2008-2010 Program requirements, Handbook, calendar of events, provider requirements and contacts for QA&CPD Program Co-ordinators who can offer further advice on developing activities that meet the programs requirements. The 2008-2010 Handbook explains how activities can be designed to ensure that they meet the RACGP QA&CPD standards and criteria.
The following link will take you directly to the 2008-2010 Program handbook: 2008-2010 Triennium Program Handbook .
Under the Quick Reference guide you can see a summary of the selection of activities GPs can participate in if they are a participant of the RACGP QA&CPD Program. All education that is accredited by the RACGP QA&CPD Program must include at least one learning objective addressing patient safety. Information on how to use a systems approach to patient safety and quality improvement is on page 49. |
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Organisation |
Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine |
Who this is useful for? |
Professional organisation for rural medical education and training, with membership and staff details, and information on grants and scholarships. |
Profile of Organisation |
ACRRM aims to support and represent the rural medical profession to improve health services for rural and remote communities. They believe the key to achieving this is training skilled, caring and well-prepared doctors and allied health professionals. |
Country of Origin |
Australia |
Website Content |
Members, What's on, Education, Grants and Students, Research, Shop |
How to use this site: |
Select 'Education' at the top of the main page menu then click on PDP (Professional Development Program). On the right hand side of the page select the PDP Forms circle and you will be provided with a list of resources such as program handbook, summary of program and education provider forms.
Page 10 of the Handbook outlines ACRRM member requirements and appropriate activities members can obtain points for. The following pages describe each activity and provide members with application forms.
ACRRM's PDP Officer can be contacted on 1800 223 226. |
As many education activities are attended by members of multidisciplinary teams, providers may consider applying for professional development points at the relevant colleges. Information about the requirements of various professional bodies is summarised in this table.
Many GPs have established groups that they participate in as a form of continuing professional development. For RACGP members these groups are known as Small Group Learning activities and for ACRRM members they are known as Peer Review groups.
GPs are usually required to form the base of the group but they are also encouraged to include multidisciplinary team (MDT) members to upskill in areas of common interest. GPs can also use these small learning groups/peer review groups to conduct clinical audits with a view to improving systems and patient care within their practice.
The RACGP QA&CPD 2008-2010 Triennium Handbook (page 16) outlines the criteria for developing a small learning group. Examples of small group learning activities can also be accessed on page 42 of the RACGP QA&CPD 2008-2010 Triennium Handbook.
Guides to developing groups accredited by the RACGP are available at: Small Group Learning Application Guide.
Conferences are often a good place to hold interactive workshops. When developing conferences that focus on particular topic areas, organisers could consider developing streams on a topic area that include some didactic lectures, role plays and workshops.
If these educational streams consist of a minimum of 6 hours education including two thirds of the activity being interactive, GPs or conference organisers can apply for points in the RACGP QA&CPD program under Active Learning modules. Criteria for Active Learning Modules can be found on page 8 of the RACGP QA&CPD 2008-2010 Triennium Handbook.
ACRRM members would be eligible to claim points under Core/Other Professional Development area of the ACRRM PDP. Details of this area can be found on page 14 of the PDP handbook.
GPs tend to naturally promote an education activity that they have been involved in developing. All RACGP QA&CPD programs have a requirement for a GP to be involved in the planning of an activity for it to be eligible for points. Seeking out experts who give your programs credibility is always a good start. Often these GPs have extensive networks that allow for maximum promotion.
A good example of how Australian General Practice Network (AGPN) has used GPs as champions can be found at their website: http://www.agpn.com.au/.
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Organisation |
Primary Health Care Research and Information Service (PHC RIS) |
Who this is useful for? |
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Profile of Organisation |
The Primary Health Care Research & Information Service (PHC RIS) is a national primary health care organisation based at Flinders University in South Australia in the Department of General Practice. It is funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing. PHC RIS works in partnership with the Divisions of General Practice Network, primary health care researchers and policy advisors to generate, manage and share information and knowledge that contributes to policy and improves performance. |
Country of Origin |
Australia |
Website Content |
Information on activities and achievements of Divisions of General Practice and primary health care researchers. Resources to support research and evaluation, communication and dissemination. The disseminate details of national and international primary health care conferences, workshops and forums. |
How to use this site: |
It is easy to remain up to date with new content on the PHC RIS website as they have regular eBulletin that is designed to inform you of recently published articles and reports, news items, media releases, upcoming conferences and courses, research grants, scholarships and fellowships, PHC RIS products and services and new and/or relevant websites in the primary health care field. The eBulletin is compiled using a number of sources and provides links to further relevant information for free. PHC RIS also provide a bi-monthly newsletter infonet that is designed to inform, influence and enhance primary health care practice, policy and research. Both of these publications can be viewed at the website or subscribed to at: http://www.phcris.org.au/mailinglists/index.php. |
Divisions of General Practices have regular newsletters and weekly faxes that are distributed to their GP members and their practices. These publications vary between Divisions and some may require a fee for advertising. It is useful to communicate with Divisions well in advance as they receive many requests that they often need to prioritise according to their core business.
Most Divisions of General Practices have Practice Managers Networks that have regular meetings to educate and inform Practice Managers on relevant issues. These groups may also offer an effective way of promoting projects and activities to GPs.
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Lists of contact details for Australian divisions and state-based organisations: http://www.gp.org.au/ or http://www.phcris.org.au/divisions/profiles/index.php |
Organisation |
Divisions of General Practice |
Who this is useful for? |
People who want to locate Divisions of General Practices, State Based Organisations, Rural Workforce Agencies and Practice Managers Networks located around Australia. |
Profile of Organisation |
The purpose of the Divisions of General Practice Program is to provide services and support to general practice at the local level, through Divisions of General Practice, to achieve health outcomes for the community that would not otherwise be achieved on an individual GP basis. All Divisions provide core programs to address:
The Divisions network comprises the Australian General Practice Network, State Based Organisations and regional Divisions of General Practice. The value of the Divisions network is in achieving systemic improvements in local primary care that cannot be achieved by individual GPs working alone. The Network is involved in a wide range of activities including health promotion, early intervention and prevention strategies, chronic disease management, medical education and workforce support. By delivering local health solutions through general practice, we aim to ensure all Australians can access a high quality health system. |
Country of Origin |
Australia |
Website Content |
Lists of Divisions of General Practices and State Based Organisations for each state of Australia. |
How to use this site: |
Select the state that the Division of General Practice is located on and search through the list selecting the Division of General Practice you would like to communicate with. |
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners distributes a weekly newsletter to College members and other related health professionals and stakeholders. Contributions can be considered by completing an online form at: http://www.racgp.org.au/fridayfacts/submissions
The RACGP also have faculty and department newsletters from each state that welcome contributions. For a list of faculties go to: http://www.racgp.org.au/newsletters
The QA&CPD Department also have a Calendar of Events and allow accredited education providers to advertise activities for free. Providers of education who are not accredited can pay a fee for promoting activities on the Calendar of Events. To promote your activity you can contact QA&CPD State departments. The list of contacts is provided at http://www.racgp.org.au/qacpd/contacts
Non RACGP events can also be submitted to the RACGP for advertising on their website under Conferences and events by emailing web.admin@racgp.org.au
Rural Workforce Agencies are located in each State of Australia. They have a variety of publications that are distributed to Divisions of General Practice, general practitioners and key stakeholders. The link below takes you straight to their webpage that lists each State rural workforce agency.
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Organisation |
Rural Health Workforce Australia |
Who this is useful for? |
Organisations and health professionals who are stakeholders in quality health care services in rural and remote Australia. |
Profile of Organisation |
Rural Health Workforce Australia is the peak body for the Rural Workforce Agencies who recruit and support rural and remote GPs in each state and northern territory. They work with Rural Workforce Agencies (RWAs) to develop national solutions to improve the recruitment and retention of the health workforce throughout rural and remote Australia. RHWA and its member RWAs are funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing; RWAs are also funded by their respective State Governments for various programs, services and projects. |
Country of Origin |
Australia |
Website Content |
Fact sheets, Research and Policy, publications, projects, media releases, information for doctors wanting to work in Australia. |
How to use this site: |
http://www.rhwa.org.au/site/index.cfm?display=36847 provides a map and links to each State Rural Workforce Agency. |
Practice Nurses work very closely with general practitioners. In 2007 it was estimated that approximately 8,000 practice nurses were working in general practice. Communicating to practice nurses about programs relevant to general practice should be considered.
APNA Publications
The Australian Practice Nurses Association publishes and distributes free to all financial members two publications; a quarterly magazine and a fortnightly electronic newsletter. The magazine provides information on a wide range of professional and general practice issues, as well as comprehensive updates on APNA activities and educational opportunities.
Advertising
If you or your organisation would like to advertise in any of the APNA's publications or website please contact the APNA office on 03 9614 7777 or admin@apna.asn.au
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Organisation |
Australian Practice Nurses Association |
Who this is useful for? |
Practice Nurses who work in general practice and other related health care professionals who wish to communicate with Practice Nurses. |
Profile of Organisation |
The APNA commits to supporting practice nurse whose services are retained by General Practice to be recognised, professional and empowered. |
Country of Origin |
Australia |
Website Content |
Information about practice nursing, continuing professional develop, education, events, latest news, scholarships and grants, career centre and links. |