CURRENT PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS

Rural Medical Education

The QRMSA develops and delivers Continuing Medical Education programs through:

• Weekend workshops
• Week-long courses (Emergency Medicine)
• Clinical attachment to hospitals and Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services
• Video conferencing
• Satellite broadcasts which incorporate video and audio conferencing
• The Internet - CMENet http://www.cme.net.au

QRMSA can also provide financial assistance to rural and remote GPs to attend programs. The CMENet consortium comprises: Mt Isa Centre for Rural and Remote Health; Royal Flying Doctor Service; QRMSA and other organisations. The CMENet is a collaborative enterprise which aims to create an online educational environment targeting rural General Practitioners by extending and enhancing continuing medical education services to rural and remote health service providers.

Workforce and Information Systems

To ensure a systematic and ongoing assessment of workforce strategies, the QRMSA is developing and refining a comprehensive database and information system of the GP workforce in rural and remote Queensland.

Research and Evaluation

Research informs the Division on the best policy and strategy formulation. Evaluation is essential to determine the merit or worth of any program of intervention. All QRMSA programs and activities include an evaluation component.

• QRMSA Emergency Medicine Course has been made available to Rural Divisions to facilitate local delivery of course modules. The Northern Territory Workforce Agency has attended a workshop in order to gain the skills and information to run the course in the Territory on an ongoing basis for their members. QRMSA will provide access to the course materials.
• QRMSA has formed a Family Sub Committee to deal with all spousal and family issues on a statewide approach at a strategic level. The Committee includes representation from the Spousal Sub Committee of the RDAQ.
• QRMSA Locums Program has been proved to be extremely successful with a reputation for quality and reliability with all rural doctors and is an extremely important tool in the retention of doctors in rural and remote areas of Queensland. A staged approach to the utilisation of commercial agencies is envisaged in that QRMSA will inform all commercial agencies of all vacancies unable to be filled with its contracted doctors so that each Commercial Agency will have an equal chance in filling the locum vacancy provided that the Agencies agree to allow the QRMSA sub-committee to vet all CVs and to assist with quality surveys following each placement. An independent evaluator has been appointed to monitor current and future services.

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