Stressed GP Registrars: Where to Next?
The President of General Practice Registrars Australia (GPRA), Dr Melanie Smith said today that she was very grateful for the offers of support from the Regional Training Organisations (RTOs) and General Practice Supervisors Australia (GPSA) following the recent release of research results showing significant levels of stress amongst general practice registrars.
“Our media release of 9 May reported research results relating to matters such as workload, bullying and violence,” said Dr Smith.
“The RTOs, GPSA and the medical colleges have clear policies and procedures in place to address these issues. In fact, our survey results demonstrate that most GP registrars have high levels of satisfaction with their RTO and the supervision they receive in their training practices.”
“Consistent with the high ethical standards that the RTOs ad GPSA maintain, they have offered support to further understand and address the problems we have identified,” she said.
“Despite most GP registrars working in supportive learning environments, there are some who face significant difficulties and concerns.”
“We will now consider the best ways to further investigate and address these problems without putting the well-being of registrars at risk,” said Dr Smith.
GPRA CEO, DR Andrew Gosbell said that, initially, he will seek to discuss with the Commonwealth Government the best ways of further investigating this range of issues.
“Events that are causing high levels of stress need to be taken seriously and we need to ensure there are appropriate resources to support registrars,” he said.
“GPRA is the organisation which has the confidence of registrars and, so, is ideally placed to take the lead on this matter, following discussions with the Commonwealth Government and other key stakeholders,” said Dr Gosbell.
“The matters of stress and bullying cannot be ignored and we are determined to plan and support measures to ensure that GP registrars in the future can work in supportive training environments and can continue to have an independent organisation they can turn to for help in times of difficulty,” said Dr Smith.
“We are pleased to know we have support from the RTOs and GPSA in taking proactive measures,” she said.
ENDS
Inquiries:
General Practice Registrars Australia
enquiries@gpra.org.au or 03 9629 8878