SCRIPT

Syllabus & curriculum roadmap for independent and practice-based teaching

General practice is a diverse discipline with a formidable range. With the advent of the new RACGP curriculum, GP Synergy sought to translate this vast landscape into an understandable framework for registrars, supervisors and medical educators:-

  • To map the RACGP curriculum against GP Synergy’s educational program
  • To provide a tool for benchmarking registrars, especially before the Basic term
  • To expand supervisor vision of in-practice teaching and promote exchange of innovative teaching methods
  • To provide a tool for pre-exam peer learning
  • To scaffold learning plans for registrars
  • To provide a framework for research, particularly into learning needs and outcomes and to develop an educational profile of our cohort and region.

However, we were also clear on what we did NOT wish to do. We did NOT want to:

  • Rewrite the curriculum materials
  • Provide a comprehensive syllabus, detailing how and when each section should be taught and learned
  • Provide a comprehensive reading list
  • …or to have a document that becomes irrelevant overnight.

This has driven a few editorial decisions, such as the decision to avoid using references to specific texts. We felt that registrars needed to learn the skills of finding relevant materials. Any references we publish are likely to become rapidly out of date, or superseded in today’s information rich environment, so we aimed for strategies for searching for materials, rather than references to specific resources.
We had a number of challenges in preparing the document, including the facts that::-

  • The sheer size and scope of the curriculum is quite overwhelming!
  • Every registrar has a different educational background, with different strengths and weaknesses
  • Most registrars have different expectations to the RACGP! Many expect to focus solely on clinical learning (applied professional knowledge and skills) and may not recognise the need for specific learning in other domains
  • We need to facilitate the shift from passive to active learning in our registrars.

In preparing the document, we hope that::-

  • Registrars will be able to tailor their learning more appropriately for their needs, and will be able to get a sense of where they are placed with respect to other registrars in their cohort. They will also have a tool to plan their peer learning in the lead up to the exam
  • Supervisors, particularly those new to the discipline of supervision, will be able to glean some ideas about in-practice teaching.
  • Medical educators will be able to make sure we are covering the curriculum appropriately

This document is a collegiate effort. Thank you to all the supervisors, registrars and medical educators who shared their ideas and expertise to make this a true SIGPET collaboration. Thank you, too, to all the working groups of the RACGP who faced the daunting task of defining what it is we do in this messy, complex world of general practice and wrote the curriculum statements.

SCRIPT can be adapted to meet the needs of any training provider. For more information, contact David Ward on davidw@gpsynergy.com.au