Formal assessment of the educational environment experienced by interns placed in rural hospitals in Western Australia.

Introduction: Increased numbers of rural hospital rotations for interns (first postgraduate year) are being created in Western Australia (WA). This study utilised the Postgraduate Hospital Educational Environment Measure (PHEEM), an internationally validated multidimensional questionnaire, to assess and compare the educational environment of five new or established rural sites and an urban teaching hospital.

Methods: The PHEEM was modified slightly: to make language appropriate for the WA context and to collect information about intern location.

Future models of general practice training in Australia.

Current proposals for significant primary health care reform in Australia create a timely opportunity to reflect on the education and training requirements of future general practitioners. Australian general practice will become increasingly team-based, with growing emphasis on coordinated care, chronic disease management, and disease prevention and self-management, while maintaining its focus on delivering high-quality, patient-centred care. This will require cost-effective application of new technologies and information management systems within new models of delivering health care.

Regionalisation of general practice training--are we meeting the needs of rural Australia?

The concept of "social accountability" has underpinned the development of many medical education programs over the past decade. Success of the regionalisation of the general practice training program in Australia will ultimately be measured by the ability of the program to deliver a sufficient rural general practice workforce to meet the health needs of rural communities. Regionalisation of general practice training in Australia arose from the 1998 recommendations of the Ministerial Review of General Practice Training.

GP 'grand round' - a hospital tradition modified for general practice.

Background: The hospital 'grand round' concept was applied to a general practice continuing professional development activity. Interactive learning sessions were developed to deliver evidence based medicine clinical education for general practitioners and general practice learners (registrars/medical students). The acceptability of the GP grand round format was examined through analysis of participant responses to learning objectives.