First five Fellows of new scope of practice

Media Release from the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners

17 March 2009

First five Fellows of new scope of practice

The Division of Rural Hospital Medicine New Zealand has confirmed its first five Fellows.

Dr Garry Nixon, chair of the DRHMNZ Council, is delighted with the Fellowships, which he said reflected the progress made since the division’s inauguration last March.

The Division sits within the Rural Faculty of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners and provides advice to the Medical Council of New Zealand as the branch advisory body for rural hospital medicine, and also oversight to the experiential pathway to fellowship and its training programme. The Division’s Fellowship is separate to that of the College of GPs.

“These five new Fellows are an important step in the establishment of rural hospital medicine as a generalist hospital-based scope of medicine,” Dr Nixon said. “Establishment of the Division as a professional body will help make rural hospital medicine a viable and attractive career option.

“This is in line with the current voluntary bonding scheme for hard to reach areas, medical career thinking, and bucks the trend to increasing sub-specialisation in hospital medicine.”

Dr Jenny Dawson, chair of the Division’s Board of Studies notes the training programme, “along with better orientation to the rural hospital environment, better supports isolated practitioners; with more avenues for appropriate oversight, credentialing, peer group development and development of appropriate professional standards, all contributing to the development of the discipline.”

Rural hospital generalists work in rural hospitals (outside a metropolitan centre). They comprise suitably trained and experienced generalists (both medical officers and rural general practitioners), who take full clinical responsibility for a wide range of clinical presentations. While resident specialists may also work in these hospitals, cover is limited in scope and is less than full time. A broad generalist set of skills, knowledge and attitudes are needed to deliver optimum patient outcomes in rural hospitals.

ENDS

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