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BASICS Courses update

by on March 5, 2017 in BASICS Scotland, CPD, Emergency Care, Emergency Care Learning, Events, Key Updates, Postgraduate

News just in from BASICS Scotland about their CPD day and other forthcoming course information…

CPD Day

We are pleased to offer you the opportunity to attend this specially developed course for BASICS Scotland Responders.

The course is a one day event designed for and specific to doctors, nurses and paramedics who are already BASICS Scotland Responders.

Dates available: 17th and 18th May 2017

Venue: Mobile Skills Unit which will be located at Dr Gray’s Hospital, Elgin

This course is limited to 8 delegates per day so make sure to register your interest asap to guarantee a place.

The course content will include:

  • Simulation training with video augmented debriefs
  • Human factors training with an external expert

Cost to attend is now only £50

Full details and programme available by clicking on the download PDF button below.

If you would like to register for this course please do so by sending an email to courses@basics-scotland.org.uk and provide us with your preferred day of attendance.

As the numbers are restricted places will be given on a first come first served basis and a waiting list will be kept in the event of a cancellation.

Download PDF information from BASICS Website

Future Face-to-Face Courses

If you are looking to attend a PHEC Course of PHPLS Course this year please find below the list of courses available for 2017 below.

10th – 12th March ’17

PHPLS

Carnoustie Golf Hotel

24th – 26th March ’17

PHECC

Carnegie Conference Centre, Dunfermline

21st – 23rd April ’17

PHECC

Islesburgh Hotel, Shetland

12th – 14th May ’17

PHECC

Peebles Hydro, Borders

9th – 11th June ’17

PHECC

Skye

22nd – 24th August ’17

PHECC

Clinical Skills Centre, Western Isles

15th – 17th September ’17

PHECC

Newton Hotel, Nairn, Highland

6th – 8th October ’17

TBC

Orkney

20th – 22nd October ’17

2 x IMC Ref

DGRI, Dumfries

10th – 12th November ’17

PHECC

Craigellachie, Grampian

24th – 26th November ’17

PHECC

DoubleTree, Dundee

If you would like to register for any of the above courses please do so by sending an email to courses@basics-scotland.org.uk

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RCGP UK Rural Forum Update

by on February 27, 2017 in CPD, Key Updates, Postgraduate, RCGP

RuralGP.com has been provided with this update from the RCGP UK Rural Forum.  Congratulations to Rob on being appointed Chair…

Greetings From Rob Lambourn,  new Chair, RCGP Rural Forum

Hello everyone,

Rob Lambourn

I’d like to introduce myself as new chair of the RCGP Rural Forum. In November 2016  I took over from Malcolm Ward who has done sterling work for the Forum having been  Chair since the Forum’s inception in 2009 –very  many thanks Malcolm.

I work in a small two-handed practice with my wife in Wooler in rural North Northumberland. I have been a member of the RCGP Rural Forum Steering Group, since its inception.  I am also RCGP UK Council member for North East England.  We live in the Scottish Borders with our small children, so know both English and Scottish healthcare systems, albeit the latter from a patient perspective. I am also a longstanding GP trainer and GP advisor to the North East Ambulance Service Clinical advisory Group.

My objectives as Chair are to ensure that the rural health voice is heard, noted and enacted upon both within and outside the College.   To help ensure this I have, in the near future, College meetings with Simon Ashmore and Rebecca Hughes [Executive Director GP Forward View and National Faculty Manager, Operations] and with Professor Nigel Mathers [Honorary Secretary, RCGP]  Outside the College I have forthcoming meetings with the Rural Services Network; an MP who is on the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Health and Social Care; the University of Central Lancashire [who are establishing a rural campus in the Lakes];  NHS England [Midlands and East] who are running a rural event;  GP Training Programmes in North Northumberland and Cumbria [with a view to establishing extended rural training posts].  I will endeavour to keep you posted!

We also have our own Rural Forum Conference and Educational Event on Saturday March 2017 in Glasgow – please come!   We have a full and exciting programme, from ECG interpretation to international comparisons, via CPR updates and child safeguarding [level 3]  – in all an excellent opportunity to learn and refresh skills and knowledge, network with other rural GPs, and help satisfy appraisal and revalidation.  We will also be [briefly] holding our AGM at the Event – if you would like to become involved with the Steering Group please let us know – new faces always welcome.

Best wishes to all,

Rob

Chair, RCGP Rural Forum

You can download the programme and registration form for the RCGP UK Rural Forum educational event by clicking here
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WONCA World Rural Health conference all set for April

by on January 8, 2017 in Community Hospitals, CPD, Events, Hot Topics, Innovation, International, Key Updates, Postgraduate, Research, WONCA

This year will see the WONCA World Rural Health Conference take place in Cairns, Australia from 29th April.  It will be preceded by the National Rural Health Conference of Australia, which will promise to bring even more research, innovation and collaboration to the wider event.

Registration is now available from the conference website.  The organisers have also put together this film to whet the appetite of potential delegates.  It looks set to be a fantastic event.  RuralGP.com will be there, and we hope to run a similar range of interviews and podcasts like we did from Dubrovnik in 2015.  This reflective commentary from the 2015 conference demonstrates that the conference offers a unique chance to get together with like-minded confreres and share great practice from across the world.

We hope to see you there!

Early bird registration fees available until the end of January.

… and if that’s not enough (!), here’s Ian Couper of South Africa, being interviewed in Dubrovnik in 2015 giving some encouragement for others – particularly students and new doctors – to attend WONCA in Cairns…

ianIan Couper, South Africa

Ian is a rural family doctor, and a stalwart of Rural WONCA.  You can read more about his background here.

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Retrieval 2017 Conference programme now available

by on January 8, 2017 in Community Hospitals, Emergency Care, Emergency Care Learning, Events, Innovation, Key Updates, Postgraduate

Details are now available for the annual Retrieval conference, hosted by the Emergency Medical Retrieval Service of Scotland.

Once again, there is a broad range of topics covered, and another impressive line-up of local and international speakers.  As well as clinical topics, there are also presentations about working with the media in the prehospital setting, and ‘Looking After the Team’ – being aware of the stressors and pressures placed on responders in the emergency prehospital setting.

Registration is now available and abstracts can also be submitted via the Retrieval 2017 website.

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Rural GPs Scotland (RGPAS) Conference 2016 – registration open

by on September 14, 2016 in Community Hospitals, CPD, Events, Key Updates, Out of Hours, Postgraduate, Recruitment & Retention, RGPAS, Rural-Proofing, ruralgp.scot

newlogosquaretextTwitter hashtag: #RGPAS16

The annual RGPAS (Rural GP’s Association of Scotland) conference will be held on Thursday 3rd and Friday 4th November 2016, at the Craigmonie Hotel in Inverness.

Once again, we hope to welcome both new and experienced rural health professionals, and we have a stimulating programme lined up to cover a wide spectrum of topics which are relevant to rural general practice in Scotland.

Programme

The latest programme will be kept updated here: http://scotland.ruralgp.com/conferences/

Thursday 3rd November 2016

(Lunch can be organised with the Craigmonie Hotel by prior arrangement – please contact them directly).

1330 Registration & Tea/Coffee

1400 Introduction :: Dr David Hogg (Rural GP, Isle of Arran)

1415 Rural Medicine – a Norwegian Perspective :: Dr Helen Brandstorp (National Centre of Rural Medicine, Tromso, Norway)

1445 Transfers Workshop :: Dr Iain Cromarty (Rural GP, Isle of Hoy) 

1450 Initial response and getting people away to hospital :: Dr Iain Cromarty

1505 Stabilisation & Treatment in the Rural Hospital :: Dr Kate Dawson (Rural GP, Benbecula)

1520 Transfer & the role of ScotSTAR Retrieval Teams :: Dr Sarah Maclean (Senior Clinical Fellow in Aeromedical Retrieval, EMRS/ScotSTAR)

1535 Discussion & Comments

1600 Refreshments

1620 Legal Highs  – should we be worried? … and other A&E Hot Topics :: Dr Luke Regan (Emergency Physician, Raigmore Hospital)

1700 Rural GP & Humanitarian Work: A Journey to Congo, Pakistan and beyond :: Dr Catherine Sutherland (Rural GP Fellow, Isle of Arran & MSF Volunteer)

1930 Conference Dinner :: Venue TBC

2200 Music Session at The Craigmonie Bar :: Open to all musicians, hummers, spoon-players…

Friday 4th November

0815 Breakfast Mentoring Session 

0900 LGBT Youth in Rural Communities :: Dr Thom O’Neill (Paediatric Clinical Research Fellow, NHS Lothian)

0945 BASICS Scotland Update :: Dr Ben Price (Assistant Clinical Director, BASICS Scotland & GP, Auchterarder)

1000 Sandpiper Trust: We Want to Support You :: Aly Dickson (Founding Trustee, The Sandpiper Trust)

1015 Rural Prehospital Care: Discussion

1025 Remote Island Medicine in Tanzania :: Dr Isla Hislop (Sessional Rural GP)

1045 Refreshments

Parallel Session A:

1100 Finding your Inner Teaching Mojo (Undergraduate Teaching Workshop) :: Dr Jim Finlayson

1145 GP IT Reprovisioning for Rural Practice in Scotland :: Speaker TBC

Parallel Session B: For Students & New Doctors :: Led by Dr Gemma Munro and GP Rural Fellows 2016-17

1100 Workshop: So You Want to Be a Rural GP?  Tips & experiences on what makes it fab

1215 Lunch

1300 The Challenges of Rural Medicine: New Models of Delivery :: Dr Charlie Siderfin (Rural GP, Orkney)

1330 Getting into rural research :: Prof Phil Wilson (Centre for Rural Health, Inverness)

1400 Pecha Kucha Presentations (back by popular demand) – presentations where a maximum of 20 slides auto-advance every 20 seconds, thus being able to keep lots of presentations to time!

Consortium of Longitudinal Integrated Clerkships, Toronto :: Dr Chris Williams (University of Dundee)

Invitational Symposium on Rural Health, Tromso (Norway) :: Dr David Hogg (Rural GP, Isle of Arran)

A Medical Elective on the Isle of Arran :: James McHugh (Glasgow University)

A Medical Elective on South Uist :: Michael Durbar (FY1, Complex Care Medicine, Royal Bolton Hospital, Lancashire)

Selected Medical Student Innovations (TBC)

1445 Refreshments

1500 AGM – all welcome

Including reports and standing items

Update from the Scottish Rural Medicine Collaborative Update (Dr Chris Williams)

University GP Societies – what can we do to support them?

Hot topics & representations

1700 Conference Closing Comments

For details about our student scholarships, please see this page.  Please also note our heavily discounted fees for students and trainees.

To register, please email hello@ruralgp.scot .

Registration Form
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RGPAS Conference Student Scholarships 2016

by on September 14, 2016 in CPD, Events, Key Updates, Medical Students, RGPAS, ruralgp.scot

Twitter hashtag: #RGPAS16

Craigmonie Hotel, Inverness

Craigmonie Hotel, Inverness

Things are heating up for this year’s RGPAS 2016 conference, to be held in Inverness on 3-4 November.  A full programme is planned, spanning a range of topics relevant to rural general practice.

We are pleased to announce that following the success of student scholarships being offered for the last 2 years, we will once again be offering RGPAS Conference Student Scholarships.

As of 7th October, all student scholarships have been allocated following a large number of fantastic applications. You may still be able to register for the conference by emailing hello@ruralgp.scot however spaces are limited now for the conference too, so please email to check first. Thanks.

What’s on offer?

Last year we received some great feedback about the event, most of which was really positive.  This year we have built on feedback, including a session specifically for students and trainees which is being led by the current NES GP Rural Fellows – should be a great session.

Read student feedback from last year (pdf)

We will cover the accommodation costs for Thursday night (shared twin room, same gender) of up to ten students who register for the event.

In addition, we have arranged a greatly reduced rate for all students who wish to attend – £10 conference fee (reduced from £120) for the full programme.  The cost of this is being funded from the RGPAS Educational Fund.  Income for this fund includes the proceeds of the donations made for advertising on RuralGP.com.

Who’s eligible to apply?

You must be an undergraduate medical student at a Scottish university (intercalated, international and mature students welcome to apply).  We are keen to hear from any students who have an interest in general or rural practice.

How do I apply?

Just complete the form below – closing date Friday 7th October 2016.  We’ll get back to you a few days after the closing date, either to confirm your success, or to outline other options for accommodation.

Present your vision

We will be featuring a special session on the Friday afternoon of the conference, aimed to bring together students’ and trainees’ “2020” visions of rural practice.  From those students who have received a scholarship, we will select several to present a short powerpoint presentation – of 20 slides each advancing after 20 seconds.  This format is often called ‘Pecha Kucha’ and there is a wealth of advice and tips on the internet about how to make a good Pecha Kucha presentation.

The format will allow us to feature a number of short, snappy presentations of just over 6 minutes, and give students and trainees a podium to share their views on the future of rural practice.  Slides can be text, but the more photos the better!  We will let you know if your ideas have been selected for presentation very soon after the deadline, and you can download a template powerpoint file here.

Application Form

All scholarships now allocated.

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BASICS Scotland Paediatric Tele-Education Course

by on July 7, 2016 in BASICS Scotland, Clinical care, Emergency Care, Emergency Care Learning, Key Updates, Postgraduate

basics_logo_new_large_csNews just in from BASICS Scotland about their latest educational offerings…

We are pleased to announce the latest start date for our popular Paediatric Tele-Education Course

Book now for 5th September Start!

This course is specifically designed to refresh your knowledge of Paediatric Emergency Medicine

The 9 week 1 hour course will offer you the chance to refresh &/or advance your knowledge on a variety of topics. Run over 9 weeks with a 2 week break, the course starts on the 5th September 2016 and covers a different topic each week over 1 hour live web based tele-conferencing sessions using our Adobe Connect system.

Topics covered include:

  • Child with fever and Meningitis
  • Head Injury
  • Seizures
  • Allergy Anaphylaxis
  • Asthma
  • LRTI
  • Epiglottitis & Croup
  • Gastroenteritis & Dehydration
  • Pain Relief

Can’t make the live sessions?

Don’t worry, each live session is recorded and made available on our E-learning website for you to view in your own time – access to course materials ends 6 weeks after last live session.

Book Now as closing date for registration is Friday 19th August 2016!

What does it cost?

The cost for this course is:

  • £135 for BASICS Scotland members
  • £150 for non-members

To download the information flyers and application form, visit the BASICS Scotland Tele-education page.

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New number for Scotland’s Retrieval Services

by on July 5, 2016 in Community Hospitals, Emergency Care, Key Updates, Rural Resilience

News just out which will be relevant to all Scottish rural GPs and healthcare practitioners…

scotstar

Download a poster for your unit (2.2MB)

From 11 July 2016 the telephone number to access a transport team for advice or retrieval will be 0333 990 222.

This number will connect you to the new Specialist Service Desk in the Glasgow Ambulance Control Centre.

The Scottish Ambulance Service are making this change to deliver the following improvements to service users;

  • Provide a single point of contact for advice or retrieval for all age groups
  • Provide real time updates on transport availability at the time of call
  • Utilise multi-party voice conferencing when required/requested for pre-transfer advice or planning
  • Call recording for audit and governance
  • Provide a single point of contact for mission progress updates

To report any issues with this new activation process, please contact the Specialist Service Desk Supervisor on scotamb.ssdsupervisor@nhs.net

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Confused by social media? Watch this from @AndyNeill

by on December 21, 2015 in CPD, Innovation, Key Updates, Postgraduate, Presentation

Are you confused/threatened/anxious/reluctant about ‘getting onto social media’?  Nearly-but-not-quite signed up to Twitter?

There are numerous videos, blogs and podcasts available to help explain, encourage and reassure about the pros and cons of social media.  Such is the opportunity in accessing peer-led, peer-reviewed, free and easily accessible CPD, that enthusiasts are easy to find who are keen to get their colleagues and confreres hooked too.

Today, however, I found this presentation by Irish emergency medicine trainee Andy Neill (@AndyNeill if you want to find him on Twitter).  It’s 20 minutes of a quality run-through on the pros and cons of using social media professionally, and lots to reflect on.  It is 2 years old, but that doesn’t change its relevance.

Take a look…

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RGPAS Conference Student Scholarships 2015

by on October 18, 2015 in CPD, Events, Key Updates, Medical Students, RGPAS, ruralgp.scot
Update 18/10/15: Thanks for all students who have applied for scholarships. We still have a few *non-accommodated* scholarships remaining, so if you can find your own place to stay, please complete the form below and we’ll get back to you.

Twitter hashtag: #RGPAS15

Craigmonie Hotel, Inverness

Craigmonie Hotel, Inverness

Things are heating up for this year’s RGPAS 2015 conference, to be held in Inverness from Thursday 5th November.  A full programme is planned, spanning a range of topics relevant to rural general practice.

We are pleased to announce that following the run away success last year, we will once again be offering RGPAS Conference Student Scholarships – to enable Scottish medical students to attend with expenses paid.  In addition we have subsidised the cost of student registration fees, to make it more possible for students who have an interest in rural practice, to attend.

What’s on offer?

  • 8 free student places, including Thursday night’s accommodation at the Craigmonie Hotel (or nearby alternative accommodation if necessary)
  • 8 free students places (not including accommodation)
  • a reduced rate for all other students who wish to attend – £25 conference fee (reduced from £120) for the full programme

The cost of this is being funded from the RGPAS Educational Fund.  Income for this fund includes the proceeds of the donations made for advertising on RuralGP.com.

Who’s eligible to apply?

You must be an undergraduate medical student at a Scottish university (intercalated, international and mature students also welcome to apply).  We are keen to hear from any students who have an interest in general or rural practice.

How do I apply?

Simples… complete the form below – closing date Wednesday 14th October 2015.  We’ll get back to you a few days after the closing date, either to confirm you’ve been successful with a scholarship, or to offer you a discounted rate to attend the conference.

Present your vision

We will be featuring a special session on the Friday afternoon of the conference, aimed to bring together students’ and trainees’ “2020” visions of rural practice.  For this, you will be expected to present a short powerpoint presentation – of 20 slides each advancing after 20 seconds.  This format is often called ‘Pecha Kucha’ and there is a wealth of advice and tips on the internet about how to make a good Pecha Kucha presentation.

The format will allow us to feature a number of short, snappy presentations of just over 6 minutes, and give students and trainees a podium to share their views on the future of rural practice.  Slides can be text, but the more photos the better!  We will let you know if your ideas have been selected for presentation very soon after the deadline, and you can download a template powerpoint file here.

Application Form

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