“NEW” PAEDIATRICS – ITS IMPLICATIONS
FOR CONTINUING EDUCATION
Oberklaid F
Centre for Community Child Health
Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne,
Australia
Objective: To
organise and conduct a high quality continuing education program in child
and adolescent health for primary care practitioners in Australia.
Methods: The mission of the Australian Paediatric Review Training
Program is to improve child and adolescent health outcomes through the
provision of high quality continuing medical education to general
practitioners (GPs). It has
two components – an eight page newsletter sent to every GP in Australia
every three months, together with case driven interactive two hour
meetings. A national editorial
board of GPs and paediatricians from around the country was formed to
choose topics and authors, undertake a needs survey, and oversee the
evolution of the program.
Formal endorsement was obtained by the Royal Australasian College of
General Practitioners (RACGP) and the Australian College of Paediatrics.
Results: A pre and post meeting quiz tested participants’ knowledge, and
results demonstrated significant improvement in knowledge as a result of
participation in the meetings.
The success of the Program is also indicated by GP participation, the
high national profile of the program, and receipt of maximum CME points by
RACGP.
Conclusions: The Australian Paediatric Review Training Program is a national
program that has been shown to be effective in providing continuing
education in child and adolescent health to practising GPs.