Volume 198 - Issue 1
The Hospital Skills Program: a professional development program for non-specialist doctors in New South Wales
Authors: Simon D Leslie, Mary Webber and Michael Boyd
Med J Aust 2013; 198 (1): 24-25. || doi: 10.5694/mja12.11526
Published online: 21 January 2013
Published online: 21 January 2013
In reply: The Hospital Skills Program (HSP) is a lifelong self-directed education process, across three levels of expertise. It aims to support the individual learning needs of all non-specialist doctors, wherever and however they practise. This includes facilitating access to quality local, college and university programs when relevant to need.
The HSP thus applauds and is appreciative of all Australasian learned colleges in the provision of ...
In reply: The Hospital Skills Program (HSP) is a lifelong self-directed education process, across three levels of expertise. It aims to support the individual learning needs of all non-specialist doctors, wherever and however they practise. This includes facilitating access to quality local, college and university programs when relevant to need.
The HSP thus applauds and is appreciative of all Australasian learned colleges in the provision of certificate and diploma qualifications for non-specialist doctors. These qualifications will, of course, be accepted as proof of attainment in the corresponding entrustable professional activities of the HSP. It is gratifying to note that the HSP and Australasian College for Emergency Medicine certificate and diploma curricula are synergistic.
There is an acknowledged gap in support for HSP doctors who provide unsupervised patient care, often across more than one clinical discipline, and in scattered and remote locations. There are many barriers that are yet to be overcome; in particular, a mechanism is needed to recognise the competence of non-specialists who now practise at levels of proficiency exceeding that of a diploma qualification. We call for continued innovation and collaboration between education providers to help close this educational divide and to support and value the contributions of non-specialist doctors to safe patient care.
Competing interests
No relevant disclosures.