Volume 203 - Issue 6
The Murray to the Mountains Intern Training Program
Authors: John B Best, Jacque Phillips, Terry Welch, Shane Boyer, Craig DeLacy and Geoffrey J McColl
Med J Aust 2015; 203 (6): 249. || doi: 10.5694/mja15.00083
Published online: 21 September 2015
Published online: 21 September 2015
A special program for rural medical graduates promotes their postgraduate training
In April 2014, we reported on the Murray to the Mountains (M2M) Intern Training Program.1 The M2M Program provides a rural alternative for interns and has the following objectives:
enhancing the level of skills and training of interns locally;
retaining new graduates in regional areas during their early postgraduate years; and
developing a cohort of rural-orientated general practitioners and medical specialists.
The program commenced in 2012 with five interns; the number has now increased to 10. Each M2M cohort over the next decade will be documented and their achievement assessed according to the above objectives. This requires the program to maintain contact with all interns. The trust engendered in the interns from the outset has facilitated contact; both informal and formal contact is maintained, the latter through multiple face-to-face assessments. Program staff make themselves readily available to both interns and their supervisors throughout the year.
Of the first M2M cohort, two doctors have successfully completed their advanced diploma in obstetrics in the local regional health services. A third doctor is undertaking an advanced diploma in obstetrics, after spending her third postgraduate year as a general practice registrar. The fourth doctor may undertake a diploma in anaesthetics in 2016, after completing 2 years as a general practice registrar in the region. The fifth has spent her third postgraduate year undergoing physician training in a regional area, and in 2015 is undertaking a second year of basic physician training in a metropolitan teaching hospital.
The 2013 and 2014 cohorts have also had a high retention rate in the region, although some from each year have successfully sought positions in metropolitan hospitals.
The assumption is that the skills and training of the M2M cohort are being enhanced by the program, but more data need to be collected to test its validity; there is an overall 50% retention rate among the interns. Of those embarking on specialist training, at least two have indicated that they wish to return. It is accepted by the program that anybody wishing to train as a specialist needs to undertake a substantial amount of training in a major teaching hospital.
Competing interests
No relevant disclosures.
References
- Best JB, Boyer SL, De Lacy CJ, et al. Murray to the Mountains intern training program: involvement of small health services. Med J Aust 2014; 200: 378-380.