1 / 18

The UN/UNE Joint Medical Program

The UN/UNE Joint Medical Program. Michael Hensley Dean of Medicine School of Medicine and Public Health October 2006. The UN/UNE Joint Medical Program. Background Major shortage of medical workforce in rural Australia, especially GPs 134 vacancies for GPs in NSW rural towns

larue
Download Presentation

The UN/UNE Joint Medical Program

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. The UN/UNE Joint Medical Program Michael Hensley Dean of Medicine School of Medicine and Public Health October 2006

  2. The UN/UNE Joint Medical Program • Background • Major shortage of medical workforce in rural Australia, especially GPs • 134 vacancies for GPs in NSW rural towns • Predicted shortage of 200 to 350 GPs in rural NSW in 2007 • Large proportion of rural GPs approaching retirement age • Widespread shortage in specialist workforce

  3. The UN/UNE Joint Medical Program • Context • The University of New England is based in rural area with substantial shortages of GPs and specialists • UNE has strong track record of providing education in rural settings • The University of Newcastle has a high quality medical program with an inadequate number of Commonwealth-Supported places (80) • The Hunter New England Health Service is an important partner of both universities

  4. The UN/UNE Joint Medical Program • July 2006 the Commonwealth announced 80 new Commonwealth-Supported Places (CSPs) for a new joint medical program between the Universities of Newcastle and New England in partnership with Hunter New England Health • 60 places based at UNE (Armidale) • 20 places at Newcastle taking its CSP total to 100: ‘Newcastle’ includes all Hunter facilities, the Central Coast and the Rural Clinical School across New England and mid North Coast • New program to start in 2008

  5. The UN/UNE Joint Medical Program • Broad principles agreed early in 2006 as part of submission process included • Truly joint medical program eg same curriculum, same assessment, one Dean of Medicine, one medical school • Rural-focussed program: the joint medical program will have over 50% rural-origin students (84/160) • Maximum efficiency with no duplication of administrative or academic resources

  6. The UN/UNE Joint Medical Program • The Benefits • Increased medical workforce for rural-remote Australia in the longer term • Enhancement of New England area medical workforce associated with a full medical program • A medical program for UNE • Expansion of the Newcastle program: essential in current environment • Strong base for postgraduate training and research in rural medicine

  7. The UN/UNE Joint Medical Program • The Risks (potential) • Major overall risk is related to the availability of resources needed for a larger medical program: clinical teachers; patients; medical science teachers and facilities; administrative staff; university and health care facilities; money • Adverse impact on activities of all parties: health services, education and research • Adverse impact on Newcastle University Medical Program, eg AMC accreditation • A separate UNE medical school

  8. The UN/UNE Joint Medical Program: Student numbers • Newcastle University Medical Program 2006 and 2007 • 80 CSPs including 11 Bonded Medical Places and 5 Rural Bonded places (in 2007 these will be 20 and 7 respectively) • Up to 8 special indigenous places (4 in 2006) • Up to 25% domestic fee-paying places (6 in 2006 but can be up to 26) • 20 International fee-paying places • Total for 2006 of 111: up to 130 for 2007

  9. The UN/UNE Joint Medical Program: Potential student numbers UNUNETotals University CSP’s 100 60 160 Dom FP (up to25%) up to 33 up to 20 up to 53 Int FP (Approx 20%) up to 40 up to 20 up to 60 TOTALS 100 to 17360 to 100160 to 273 2008 Probably 200 (160 CSP; 20 DomFP; 20 Int FP)

  10. B Med (Newcastle): Overview • 5 Year program with secondary and tertiary entry • Problem-based learning: small groups in Years 1 and 2 • Early clinical experience; community oriented • Long record of rural experience in centres around Australia from 1980 • Graduate performance equivalent to USyd and UNSW overall; better communication skills • No plans for major change to curriculum but always looking to improve

  11. B Med (Newcastle): Overview • Curriculum Implementation • Requirements for physical infrastructure and staff to educate 5x the number of first year students; access to hospitals with over 2,000 beds across HNEH and NSCCH • Years 1 and 2 are managed at the University campus with minimal impact on clinical placements • Years 3, 4 and 5 rely on the availability of clinical placements and clinician teachers • The Newcastle medical program involves 14 FTE general staff, 26 FTE University academic staff and over 400 conjoint staff who do the majority of the clinical teaching

  12. B Med (Newcastle): Admission process • 3 stage process • Academic criteria: top 10% HSC / top 15% for rural origin; credit level or better at tertiary (>2,000 with approx 800 having Newcastle first choice) • Performance in UMAT used to rank for interview (500 for 2007) • Performance at interview used to rank for offer (80 +up to 26 for 2007) • New Rural Admissions Scheme for 2007 to ensure 30% rural origin students • Complemented by a regional Dean’s list to ensure 20% regional students

  13. The UN/UNE Joint Medical Program • Working Party • Joint Working Party established with members from both Universities, Hunter New England Health and medical practitioners from the New England region • Co-Chaired by Dean, EHPS, UNE and Dean of Medicine UN; reports to VCs Steering Committee • To plan for implementation of the UN/UNE Joint Medical Program • To identify operational imperatives and form working parties to address these • Meets monthly • Has met three times (17/7, 14/8 and 18/9); next meeting 16 October

  14. The UN/UNE Joint Medical Program • Tasks • Curriculum Implementation • Clinical Placements • Student Administration • Student Accommodation • Financial arrangements • Library • Physical Infrastructure • Publicity

  15. The UN/UNE Joint Medical Program • Administrative Arrangements to date • Degree name – Bachelor of Medicine • Courses – Same Newcastle ‘MEDI’ courses at both universities plus one (or two) electives • Common admission process • Common assessment and progression rules/policies • Double badging of Testamurs

  16. The UN/UNE Joint Medical Program • Accreditation by the Australian Medical Council • Current University of Newcastle program has accreditation from 2003 to 2013 through its School of Medicine and Public Health • Will be seen as much more than increasing student numbers at Newcastle from 80 to 160, that is a ‘major change’. A ‘joint’ medical program is a first for Australia • Thorough analysis of facilities and resources across all campuses and in all areas of student education, includes research performance • Thorough analysis of the availability of clinical placements and clinician teachers • Process for major change can take up to 12-18 months: ?2008 intake

  17. The UN/UNE Joint Medical Program • Summary – A superb opportunity • To contribute to the medical workforce for rural and remote Australia, especially Northern NSW • To enhance health services across the Hunter and New England regions • To enhance medical education across the continuum from undergraduate to prevocational and vocational training to continuing professional development • To enhance medical and health research • To provide an effective and efficient new model for medical education in Australia

  18. The UN/UNE Joint Medical Program Michael Hensley Dean of Medicine School of Medicine and Public Health October 2006

More Related