Deregulation, competition policy and intra-professional contests in medical education

This paper investigates how government policy directions embracing deregulation and market liberalism, together with significant pre-existing tensions within the Australian medical profession, produced ground breaking change in the funding and delivery of medical education for general practitioners. From an initial view between and within the medical profession, and government, about the goal of improving the standards of general practice education and training, segments of the general practice community, particularly those located in rural and remote settings, displayed increasingly vocal concerns about the approach and solutions proffered by the predominantly urban-influenced Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP). The extent of dissatisfaction culminated in the establishment of the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) in 1997 and the development of an alternative curriculum for general practice. This paper focuses on two decades of changes in general practice training and how competition policy acted as a justificatory mechanism for putting general practice education out to competitive tender against a background of significant intra-professional conflict. The government's interest in increasing efficiency and deregulating the 'closed shop' practices of professions, as expressed through national competition policy, ultimately exposed the existing antagonisms within the profession to public view and allowed the government some influence on the sacred cow of professional training. Government policy has acted as a mechanism of resolution for long standing grievances of the rural GPs and propelled professional training towards an open competition model. The findings have implications for future research looking at the unanticipated outcomes of competition and internal markets.

A new breed of doctor? Lessons learned and changes made to library services for the MBBS program at the University of Queensland

November 2000 saw the graduation of the first cohort from the new MBBS Program at The University of Queensland. The fully integrated problem-based curriculum has provided many challenges and opportunities for The University of Queensland Library such as servicing an extensive remote student population, information technology issues and customer demand. In October 2000 all four years of the MBBS Program completed a survey on related issues such as the library's collection, web-based resources, information skills and evidence-based medicine. This paper focuses on the results of the survey, and the future directions of the library to ensure that the new doctors graduating from this program gain the essential attributes of life-long learning, information management and evidence-based principles.

Child development services: a multidisciplinary approach to professional education via videoconference

We have piloted a monthly series of multidisciplinary case discussions via videoconference in the area of child development. The project provided a forum for clinical discussion of complex cases, peer review, professional development and networking for allied health professionals and paediatricians. Six sites in Queensland participated in the project; each site presented at least one case for discussion. The videoconferences ran for 90 min each and were attended by an average of 26 health professionals. The response rate for a questionnaire survey was 71%. The respondents rated the effectiveness of case summaries and the follow-up newsletter very positively. Despite some early difficulties with the technical aspects of videoconferencing, the evaluation demonstrated the participants' satisfaction with the project and its relevance to their everyday practice.