NTGPE’s Executive Director Prof Michael Wilson is pleased to welcome Mr Garry Lambert to the position of Business Manager.  Most recognised in his current role as Darwin City Council Alderman, Mr Lambert comes to NTGPE with a wealth of experience in education and training, business development, community engagement and Indigenous social services.  With 35 years experience in the Territory, most recently as Senior Executive for NT Police Fire and Emergency Services, Mr Lambert’s appointment will help strengthen the organisation’s focus on delivering NT based solutions to General Practice training and best practice organisational management.

Mr Lambert said, “Given the critical importance of health issues across the NT, particularly Indigenous health, I hope to be able to bring a strong community engagement focus into my new role as Business Manger of NTGPE. The organisation plays a vital role in providing support and direction to Prevocational Doctors and General Practice Registrars across the NT.

“My extensive participation in community engagement, as former Mayor and current Alderman along with my past role as a teacher and school principal in Indigenous and non Indigenous communities and my role as a senior executive in the public service means I can bring wide range of views, experiences and skills to the organisation.

“The quality of Prevocational Doctors and Registrars to deliver health outcomes is directly related to the quality of training and placement experiences provided through NTGPE.

“I am enormously proud to be a part of the senior leadership team at NTGPE, an organisation that directly impacts on health outcomes in the NT, whether in remote locations or in Darwin.”

NTGPE celebrates its tenth year of medical and cultural general practice education and training in Aboriginal health with a fresh focus on enhanced interaction and communications with the medical profession, remote clinics and beyond.

With new business manager Garry Lambert, a strengthened cultural education team, increased staff numbers and an inter-departmental shuffle NTGPE is shifting towards a more active presence in the industry to provide enriched support and communication to remote communities and allied health professionals, whilst delivering stronger awareness of its role in the community to the medical profession and the broader world.

Mr Garry Lambert appointed as new Business Manager

NTGPE’s Executive Director Prof Michael Wilson is pleased to welcome Mr Garry Lambert to the position of Business Manager.  Most recognised in his role as Deputy Lord Mayor of Darwin, Garry comes to NTGPE with a wealth of experience in education and training, business development, community engagement and Indigenous social services.  With 35 years experience in the Territory, most recently as Senior Executive for NT Police Fire and Emergency Services, Mr Lambert’s appointment will help strengthen the organisation’s focus on delivering NT based solutions to General Practice training and best practice organisational management.

Expanded staff, Expanded Services

New staff positions include:

• Training Projects Manager: Susie Lehmann takes the helm to coordinate NTGPE’s other specialised programs, including RAHC, DPP Cultural Education, Simulation Training, Supervisor Professional Development
• Education Coordination Assistant: Emma Carroll (temp) is providing assistance to the Director Medical and Cultural Training, Tamsin Cockayne, to deliver timely training communication and coordination across education programs.

Mrs Amalie Andropov of Nightcliff Medical Centre, Darwin is settling into her role as NTGPE’s new Practice Liaison Officer.  Amalie is the communications channel for all accredited practices for all will be able to assist directly with all queries and requests via amalie.andropov@ntgpe.org.

Dr Andropov advises, “I have really enjoyed meeting the Gove Supervisors and getting out and meeting some Darwin supervisors recently. I am looking forward to meeting more supervisors and practice managers over the coming weeks.”

Cultural Education Developments

With the recent addition of Patricia Rankine (Ali Curung) and Elisabeth Heenan (Nguiu, Bathurst Island) NTGPE’s cultural education team has risen to four and now offers a wider range of cultural orientation and training to the medical industry and wider community and will be engaging in more activities such as ECTs within the medical community.  NTGPE’s most recent client Careflight is receiving cultural orientation sessions for their emergency crew so they can better understand community culture and customs when performing emergency retrievals from remote NT locations.

Patricia Rankine

Elisabeth Heenan

NTGPE Overview

The NT’s only regional training provider, NTGPE’s primary role is to promote and facilitate general practice placements in rural and remote NT (with a focus on Aboriginal health).  This trainee placement role is vital in encouraging qualified doctors back to the Territory to provide essentials services where they are needed most. NTGPE also provides general practitioners, international medical graduates and primary health care workers access to professional development, to ensure continued delivery of quality medical care.   For more information visit www.ntgpe.org

NTGPE is now providing cultural orientation sessions to Careflight emergency staff to ensure awareness and respect and help overcome cultural and communication barriers whilst performing emergency retrievals from remote NT locations. Cultural, social, spiritual, economical and political topics are covered to ensure the Careflight crew are better placed to work in a partnership with the community.

NTGPE can offer specialised cultural education training catered to the individual client’s requirements. For more information contact Susie Lehmann at susie.lehmann@ntgpe.org

A total of 39 local, rural and remote clinics throughout the NT are to receive a fully equipped resource laptop as a state of the art resource tool.  The computers will give supervisors and doctors-in-training ready access to online clinical teaching and learning materials plus a host of medical reference e-books and research tools.

These laptops are being presented to the clinics by Northern Territory General Practice Education (NTGPE), the NT’s only regional training provider and one of Australia’s leading providers of undergraduate and postgraduate medical and cultural education and training in rural and remote general practice, with a focus on Indigenous health.  These laptops are the result of a successful funding application to Australian General Practice Education (AGPT), to provide clinics with a useful teaching and learning tool and offer trainee doctors a standardized high-level education resource across the NT.

NTGPE representatives are currently visiting each clinic to personally deliver the laptop and provide an orientation to the hardware, software and e-tools it contains. Many remote clinics have already taken ownership of their new computers and deliveries will continue throughout the NT in January and February 2012.

For more information please contact Prof. Michael Wilson, Executive Director
M: 0400 270 196  P: 08 8946 7079 E:michael.wilson@ntgpe.org

Attached photo:  Kane Ellis takes possession of the new laptop for Danila Dilba Health Service, Darwin from Wendy McCallum, Senior Marketing Officer for NTGPE in November 2011

Registrations are now being accepted.  For all conference details, including how to register, conference themes, program, key note speakers, social program and accommodation click here or post a comment below.

Register by 06 February to take advantage of the early bird rates and 10th Anniversary Alumni Dinner invite.

All 2012 Health Professionals Teaching and Learning Conference delegates that register online via this website prior to 06 February 2012 are invited to attend a special dinner in Alice Springs on the evening of 31 March, following the conference.

This dinner is in recognition of NTGPE’s milestone of ten years quality medical and cultural education services in the NT.

For more information click here

Meet the life-sized human simulator that can be programmed via laptop to simulate the symptoms of real patients – it’s the new tool that trains rural doctors to respond to emergency and trauma situations in the field.

Just purchased by the Northern Territory General Practice Education, the simulator will move between Alice Springs, Darwin and eventually remote communities as well.

Blinking, sweating, vomiting, crying, pupil dilation and convulsions are only some of the lifelike symptoms the simulator can perform to mimic a wide range of physical and neurological symptoms.

Armed also with the capability of speech, he’s completely wireless and comes with his own IP address.

To learn more and listen to the ABC Rural radio interview with NTGPE simulation trainer Irywn Shepherd, click here.

To register your interest for the next round of Medical Simulation training (to be held in Darwin in March and May 2012), please contact Tamsin Cockayne, NTGPE Director Medical and Cultural Education on tamsin.cockayne@ntgpe.org

Although all clinicians teach, few are actually trained in the skill. Find out how a Graduate Certificate in Health Professional Education could help you deliver an effective educational message.

Click here for more course information

Every year NTGPE administers 4 Registrar Scholarships in recognition of 2 people who made outstanding contributions to primary health care in the NT – The Dr Debbie Stach Memorial Scholarship and the Prof. Alan Walker Memorial Scholarship.

The Debbie Stach Memorial scholarship is valued at up to $2500 and is available to one dedicated GP Registrar committed to working in Indigenous Health in the NT.

For further information and the Dr Debbie Stach scholarship application click here

The Professor Alan Walker (AM) Memorial Scholarship supports the professional development of  GP Registrars who are committed to work in Indigenous Child Health in the NT (RA 4 & 5), for at least one term during their enrollment with NTGPE.

The scholarship is available for three GP Registrars and provides up to $5000 each.

For further information and the Alan Walker scholarship application click here

Applications for all scholarships close 02 December 2011.

RACGP is committed to raising awareness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health needs and has formed the RACGP National Faculty of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health to help close the gap. The faculty hopes to advocate for culturally appropriate health delivery systems that will improve health outcomes for Indigenous Australians.

The faculty board oversees a number of education and advocacy initiatives and two NTGPE staff members have joined to lend their support:

• Medical Education Consultant Dr Hung the Nguyen has taken on the role of Censor for the faculty

• NTGPE Director Medical and Cultural Education Dr Tamsin Cockayne has joined as the new NT Board Member.

All those interested in joining the faculty should go to http://www.racgp.org.au/aboriginalhealth/membership. Membership is free.