Current initiatives

In 2019 the Flinders NT Regional Training Hub in partnership with Central Australian Aboriginal Congress (CAAC), Northern Territory General Practice Education (NTGPE), and the Northern Territory Primary Health Network (NTPHN), piloted a program for Advanced Training in Remote Aboriginal Health with a strong focus on rural generalist training for very remote areas.

In 2021 the training will continue with additional support and endorsement from ACRRM and RACGP developing it as a pathway option for an additional Advanced Specialist Training (AST) component for a FACRRM, or the Advanced Rural Skills Training (ARST) for the FARGP.

The Advanced Training in Remote Indigenous Health is designed to support trainees to attain knowledge and skills that produces confidence for a long-term career in remote Indigenous health, and aims to produce high quality rural generalists who feel comfortable and confident to continue a career in remote Indigenous health. The skills and knowledge gained will suit the trainee’s specific professional development and community needs enabling provision of responsive health care.

The Advanced Training in Remote Indigenous Health Handbook will be available soon.

Further information about the pilot training

The Flinders NT Regional Training Hub hosts bi-monthly discussions about remote and rural junior doctor training, supported by a National Steering Committee of Clinicians, Junior Doctors and Regional Training Hubs. Topics have included:

• current training pipeline challenges and opportunities
• a presentation from the AMA regarding their position on rural training specialist pathways
• development of a face to face junior doctor national forum
• specialist colleges presenting the ways that they support remote and rural training
• focus on global health experiences, with speakers from across the globe talking about the benefits and challenges of working overseas and how that may contribute to your practice in rural and remote locations
• upcoming forums discussing experiences of specialists in a small rural hospital.

The Committee is working towards facilitating a conference in Alice Springs in 2021 to build on the forum discussions and explore ways to expand training opportunities in rural and remote areas of Australia, to support junior doctors and possible solutions to enable and empower them and future trainees to live, train and work in rural and remote locations.

Find out more and express your interest.

Career expos have been run as face to face events linking students and junior doctors with specialist colleges, training organisations and relevant stakeholders to assist with providing information on medical career pathways in the NT.

In 2021 they have transformed into a series of webinars with specialists colleges, engaging presenters from the colleges along with trainees and fellows from the NT to provide information and inspiration to medical students and junior doctors.

All the webinars are recorded, visit the website to watch the recorded medical career pathways webinar series.

Read more about living and learning in the NT.

The project has developed an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander expert group of cultural and clinical educators to explore the patient centred concepts around cross-cultural communication in the NT context including creation of ongoing professional development resources for clinical educators.

With the aim to advance innovative training and curricula to anchor Flinders University as a leader in health workforce cultural change, specifically regarding patient centred concepts in cross-cultural communication. There will be a particular focus on the ongoing professional development of students, clinical educators and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural educators to improve communication skills teaching and learning within a Northern Territory (NT) context.

The project will be managed by a governance framework that will ensure that consultation and engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stakeholders is integrated into the development of the program, it’s resources and ongoing evaluation.

Led by Dr Emma Kennedy, Director of the NT Medical Program (NTMP), FNT RTH are collaborating on a research project to determine where medical students of the NTMP practice, and what specialty training pathway they have chosen.

The objectives are: 

• Primary: To identify the location and specialty of NTMP graduates five years post-graduation.  
• Secondary: To identify where NTMP graduates intend to practice, and to report on their experience of their studies regarding their confidence practicing medicine in a remote context.

A NTMP Graduate Tracking Governance Committee is tasked to provide governance on the collation and use of data collected.

The FNT RTH have initiated supporting a fun 2-day program at the end of year 4 with the aim to improve the transition of final year Flinders medical students and other medical graduates embarking on their journey as an intern at the Top End Health Service and Central Australia Health Service.

The workshop proposed will follow the patient’s journey in the hospital with stations covering fundamental concepts and intern responsibilities at each stage a variety of interactive, practical and clinically with relevant stations run by near-peers i.e. interns and resident medical officers.

The NT Medical Training and Workforce Collaboration is a network of NT stakeholders involved in local medical training, employment and workforce. The collaboration was initiated in 2020 by the Flinders NT RTH with a view to promote the Northern Territory as the place to live, train and work as a general practitioner and promoting Rural Generalist GP Pathways.

A collaboration will enable us to work together to showcase the unique and dynamic opportunities on offer in the NT.

We aim to deliver a pipeline of information for medical students through to Fellows and beyond. With a vision to have an ongoing united and strong presence at relevant conferences and a longitudinal marketing strategy.

The NT Medical Training and Workforce Collaboration Committee will work supportively to achieve the aims and act as a decision-making body to collaboratively promote the NT as a place to live, train and work as a GP.

Primary stakeholders actively involved in the collaboration are FNT RTH, NT General Practice Education (NTGPE), NT Primary Health (NTPHN), NT Rural Generalist Pathway Coordination Unit and Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance NT (AMSANT). Other NT stakeholders invited will be kept informed of decisions and can contribute to the project.

The “No Cola Just Fun Tour”, was a collaboration with Congress, NTGPE, and NTPHN, it was a two-week engagement of senior and junior doctors in an educational community environment, learning about working in Aboriginal Controlled Health.

A gathering of 18 doctors and their families in Central Australia took place over two weeks in October 2019. These doctors have been getting together over the past 15 years to play music and support each other. Many have spent significant periods in remote settings and have remained in the Northern Territory and taken up senior roles.

The aims of this gathering were:

• To engage the next generation of rural and remote health staff in activities outside medicine and share our experience of sustainability.
• To provide unique educational opportunities to young health practitioners in rural and remote health care.
• To engage with the remote communities in which we work as health practitioners and as community members (musicians).
  
• Watch this space for a 2021 tour!