New year, fresh strategies!
While others in the sector have the luxury of easing their way into the new year, GPSA is all-systems-go as our members (you!) reach out for their trusted supports (us!) while winding up fixed-term employment contracts and registrar appointment books for the previous training semester and planning towards the first term commencing at the start of February.
Throughout this month, the amount of activity on our virtual community of practice, “GPSA Community”, has assured us that we are on the right track with this initiative. GPSA really is a community that is stronger together, united as one voice rather than fragmented and left to whisper unheard frustrations into the wind.
Listening and responding to your needs is much easier when you have these various channels to communicate with us - the Community platform, emails, phone, social media - and easier still with our committed Board of Directors, who came together in surprisingly warm and sunny Melbourne for their annual Strategic Planning weekend.
As a result of this weekend’s frenetic energy, the GPSA team gets to recalibrate and align our activities with the direction your elected representatives thus assigned for us:
SUCCESS METRICS
•Certainty of funding
•Member engagement
•Recruitment to GP training
•Revenue for GPSA
•Funding for GP supervisors
•Quality of GP training
RECURRENT THEME:
To attract more doctors to general practice, general practice needs to be more attactive to current GPs...
Priorities:
DRIVING SUPERVISION STANDARDS
⮚CEMENTING NICHE ACROSS EDUCATIONAL SPECTRUM
▪Medical Student
▪Postgraduate Learner
▪Vocational Trainee
⮚TRAINING PRACTICE ACCREDITATION
▪Explore QA potential for GPCLE (across all training levels), aligning with organisational priority to reward quality supervision and prevent poor performing practices from having continued access to registrars
⮚PROVIDING SUPERVISION “QUALIFICATION”
▪Partner with universities to offer micro-certfication in medical supervision
ENGAGEMENT & ADVOCACY
⮚RAISE PROFILE OF SUPERVISION
▪Within membership (self-value)
▪Within sector (external value)
▪Within multiple levels of government (value translated into increased remuneration)
⮚PARTNERSHIPS WITH KEY SECTOR STAKEHOLDERS UNDER MoUs
▪GPRA – relationship certainty to transcend current executives/Chairs
▪GPME – Supervisor Day tacked onto conference, ME access, co-development of resources including apps (GPSA to provide access to systems and admin support)
▪Various Universities – content for Scenario app, research collaborations, ME access
⮚RESPONSIVENESS TO MEMBER NEEDS
▪Drive use of Community platform to encourage member engagement
▪Build education program / resources based on member input / needs analysis
▪Use research as another pathway to engage with members, mindful focus is not just AGPT
▪Increase and optimise face to face engagement with and for members
▪Expand GPSA’s relevance and visibility in the rural context
OPPORTUNITIES
⮚UNIVERSITIES
▪“Whatever we can do with universities, we should start doing immediately”
•Content co-development and promotion
•Scenario & ScenarioEd apps
•Working with MDANZ on medical student curriculum for GP
•ME access to increase education capacity
•Research collaborations
•Development of accredited supervision qualification
⮚RESILIENCE & WELLBEING
▪Empower GPSA members to model self-care with their trainees
▪Focus on improving morale amongst supervisors
⮚USE POINT OF DIFFERENCE TO EXPAND REACH
▪Draw on quality focus to expand supervision support into
•Hospital settings
•Nurse Practitioner space – funding potential at both state and Commonwealth levels
▪Seek sponsors to partner on business of general practice to counter SEM focus
I look forward to updating you on our progress against these Board priorities throughout the year ahead!