MedEd Conference: How best to train Australia’s medical workforce

Release date: Wednesday 4 April 2007

Where and how best to train Australia’s medical workforce will be among the topics discussed when MedEd 2007, Australia’s second conference on medical education, is convened next week.

 The biennial conference, first held in 2005, will this year have ‘seamless medical education’ as its focus. It has been organised by Medical Deans Australia and New Zealand in conjunction with the Australian Medical Council, the Committee of Presidents of Australian Medical Colleges and the Confederation of Postgraduate Medical Education Councils.

 MedEd 2007 convenor Professor Paul Gatenby said delegates to the conference would participate in discussions on four topics - Making and Sustaining Good Doctors, Do we need Teaching Hospitals?, Organisation and Co-ordination of the Continuum (how to more effectively organize and coordinate the content and delivery of pre-vocational and vocational training) and Vertical Curricula (how to ensure a smooth transition from one stage of medical education and training to the next - an issue at the heart of the seamless medical education concept).

 “The health sector in Australia and New Zealand is changing rapidly and the aim of MedEd is to make sure those who are providing medical education continue to produce a medical workforce that optimally meets the healthcare needs of the community,” Professor Gatenby said.

 Organisations participating in the discussions will be the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association, Australian Medical Council, Australian Medical Students Association, Committee of Presidents of Australian Medical Colleges, Confederation of Postgraduate Medical Education Councils, Department of Health and Ageing, Medical Council of New Zealand and Medical Deans Australia and New Zealand.

 The conference, being held at the Grand Hyatt Melbourne from 11-13 April, will be opened by the President of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Mukesh Haikerwal.

 The keynote address on the opening morning will be delivered by Australia’s Chief Medical Officer, renal physician Professor John Horvath.

 A keynote address will also be delivered by Professor John Campbell, who has been professor of geriatric medicine at Otago Medical School since 1984.

 Professor Campbell has been a consultant physician with the Otago District Health Board since 1980. He has a particular clinical and research interest in geriatric medicine and between 1995 and 2005 Professor Campbell was dean of Otago University’s faculty of medicine.

 What:             MedEd 2007 – Seamless Medical Education Conference

Where:           The Grand Hyatt Melbourne, 123 Collins Street, Melbourne

When:            Wednesday 11 April – Friday 13 April, 2007

For further information or to arrange interviews please contact Ms Penny Fannin on +61 3 9696 3602 or 0417 125 700.