Royal Aaustralian College of General Practitioners
RACGP Background
The Royal Australian College of Generap Practitioners has embarked on an innovative program to encompass many GPs who have developed special skills. The development of the Faculty of Specific Interest has seen the promise, for GPs who practice in areas of specific skills, of a great future within the College.
SDrA has been involved in the concept of a Faculty of Specific Interest from the early planning stages and is very happy to have been acepted as a group member in the initial set up of the Faculty
Whilst SDrA is an open organisation, and has members from many fields of medicine, it must be acknowledged that the majority of meembers are GPs with an interest and expertise in Sports Medicine. There are great potentials for our members in the relationship with the RACGP, whether GPs or from other fields of Medicine.
Advantages for our group include the provision of a well developed 'home' that should provide is with a structure, organisational model, professional and educational pathway as well as certification of skills and expertise. On top of this, we have the ability to develop processes of Governance, Quality Assurance and potential for the development of a Fellowship in Sports medicine from within the College.
It must be acknowledged that the process is a complex and slow one. This is for good reason and we are actively involved in assisting the College with this process. SDrA is quite clear on the need for us to be able to continue to represent Sports Doctors who are not GPs and this is actively being persued in negotiations.
It is expected that we will be able to provide a tiered process of membership. At the most basic level, we would be a collegiate homefor interested doctors with a basic set of standards and educational programs. On top of this would be the ability to provide educational modules to certify standards of knowledge and competence for members who want to proceed down this path. We are hopeful that we would be able to provide ad-hoc unit style education, Graduate Diploma level education and Master's degree level education and certification. We would expect that the latter qualification would become a prerequisite for Fellowship.
Happily, SDrA has developed a relationship with the University of Queensland and their provision of a Master's degree in Sports Medicine. Discussion and negotiation is taking place to look at UQ as the preferred education supplier for our purported training in Sports Medicine through the RACGP. Read more about this...
Further to the development of the Faculty of Specific Interest, we are also developing special relationships with the RACGP. SDrA had a large involvement in the development of the current Sports Medicine Curriculum for the RACGP. We delivered a well received workshop on shoulder pain at the last RACGP conference (GP09). We plan to continue and expand this role in education with the RACGP. We have a strong belief that education of GPs by GPs is the ideal that we need to aspire to.
Update August 2010
Neville Blomeley presents a summary of recent progress in this respect:
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There is significant ongoing progress in the development of A Sports medicine Special interest group within RACGP and it is highly likely this will progress over the next 2-3 years to a point where a Fellowship in Sports medicine through RACGP will be offered . The Gaculty of Specific Interest (FSI) would be available to all RACGP members with no additional cost to them. This means that RACGP fees would cover the FSI. For members who only practice in Sports medicine or largely in sports medicine , the fees for College membership may be reduced to equivalent of a non–practising GP or a part time GP.
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The FSI would provide a collegiate environment for RACGP members so that they could be part of a group of like minded people. The FSI would then supply options of educational modules, QA and CPD options as well as a pathway to formal qualifications and Fellowship.
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SDrA would continue on as an independent organisation that would have members that would be open to any medical practitioner as currently allowed for under our constitution. Membership would continue to require subscription through SMA.
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SDrA would continue to provide a collegiate environment for sports doctors from any discipline. It would also continue to provide a pathway to Fellowship of SDrA.
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Members of the FSI could join SDrA or just be involved in the FSI only. They would be able to follow the curriculum framework of the FSI through to Fellowship if desired.. They would not receive the advantages of SDrA membership unless they joined.
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SDrA members could also join the FSI only if they are members of RACGP or decided to join the RACGP. This does mean that the only pathway to Fellowship of the FSI would be through RACGP membership, and, most likely, RACGP Fellowship.