What is the PGPPP?
Lots of Ps, standing for the Prevocational General Practice Placements Program

WHAT???
Well first some history…
In the 1990s, legislation was passed that prevented doctors from accessing provider numbers without taking Part in a postgraduate training program. Prior to this legislation, it was possible to gain full medical registration following an intern year, and practise unsupervised in general practice.
A good idea, I hear you say, no longer any fresh-faced second-year doctors out there in the community without some degree of further training.
However…
The unfortunate result of this was that young doctors were forced to enter General Practice training without ever having worked in it. There was no ‘try before you buy’.

I am getting to a point here!

The PGPPP is an initiative commenced in 2005 that aims to overturn this. From the start of the 2005 hospital year, there have been junior doctors (interns, PGY2 & PGY3) out in General Practices getting a taste of what they might want to do with their future.

So back to the bad old days of junior doctors in unsupervised practice – NO. Quite the reverse! These placements form part of the standard hospital rotation that you may do at a major teaching hospital – along with your standard emergency, orthopaedics, etc. There are strict criteria upon which the practice is selected, and you as the junior doctor doing a PGPPP term will be provided with specific levels of teaching and supervision during your time there (much more than you may expect in a country hospital ED term!)

So how do you get to do a term? – Talk to your hospital/ prospective hospital. Many will have PGPPP terms up and running already, particularly those who are seen as being ‘GP-friendly’. Terms are generally 12 weeks in duration.

The exact nature of the PGPPP term depends on the placement, it may be in adolescent health in Adelaide, Aboriginal health in the NT, general practice in a large rural centre such as Wodonga, or in a more remote setting such as the Kimberley. The terms are ‘attached’ to particular hospitals, so you can’t, for example, get a job at Royal North Shore and expect to do three months in Broome, but if you get a job in Box Hill you might find yourself in Lakes Entrance for three months.

The great thing about the PGPPP is that there are no strings attached – get a taste of general practice while you are still in the hospital system before committing to further training!

Want to find out more?
The PGPPP program is co-managed by ACRRM and the RACGP. ACRRM manages the regional, rural and remote PGPPP posts. For more information, have a look at their
website: www.acrrm.org.au

Or contact Anna Nichols the program manager on 07 3105 8200;
email a.nichols@acrrm.org.au
ACRRM also has a PGPPP newsletter online where you can read about
some of the experiences of doctors in rural placements in the PGPPP.

The RACGP manages the large regional and urban PGPPP placements. For more information see their website: www.racgp.org.au/pgppp or contact their program manager Phil Flanagan on 03 8699 0411; email phil.flanagan@racgp.org.au

Alternatively you cancontact Annyca O’Shea on 03 8699 0448; email annyca.oshea@racgp.org.au