Diary of a GP Trainer Age 36 and Three-Quarters
March 2002
Finally decide to look into the possibility of becoming a GP trainer
which in my case will also involve re-accreditation of the practice as a
training practice as it is 10 years since we last had a GP registrar here.
Ring Terry Patterson who is very helpful and tells me that the
regulations have now changed and I will have to apply for membership of the
Institute of Learning and Teaching as the regulations have changed from jan
2002. Apparently this involves applying to the SW Deanery for a bursary to
enable me to apply for the Certificate of Medical Education run by the
department of medical education at the University of Bristol. When I have
completed this together with a portfolio of my teaching experience, I can
then apply to go on a shortened GP trainers course and then of course the
practice needs to be visited……(phew)
June 2002
I was too late for the March deadline so I complete the application
forms, references in triplicate etc for SW deanery and University of Bristol
for the October 31st deadline and go away on my sabbatical for 3 months and
forget all about it.
November 2002
Get a letter from Terry saying I have been accepted for a bursary
(apparently they were oversubscribed) and my application has been passed on
to the university. I ring the dept of medical education expecting to be able
to start on the study days in Jan and am politely told that there is another
deadline of Jan 12th when my application will be considered and I may not
get a place on the course until Sept 2003 ! I feel it is rather strange that
the Deanery and university do not synchronise their dates and that there are
effectively two separate application processes.
Jan 2003
Ring the dept of medical education and am told that the applications are
still being considered……
March 14th 2003
Get an email saying I have been accepted on the course and can start
after Easter, which is good news for an impatient enthusiast such as myself.
Discover that I will be required to attend 5 study days over the next 6
months and write 2 essays of 2500 words. The course is paid for by the
bursary but I have to persuade my partners to let me have another 5 days
off.
May 13th
Attend an induction morning at the dept of medical education on St
Michaels Hill. For some reason I assume that most of the other students who
are not GPs will be nurses but in fact all are doctors and they include
newly qualified consultants and SPRs. Most of the others are more formally
involved in education such as giving lectures and tutorials and most have
some sort of formal academic post.
It is a bit like being back at college and the tutor says she used to be
a school biology teacher (and still behaves like one especially when telling
us the penalties for late handing in of essays). It is good to meet and
discuss with others and we have a little visit to the Bristol university
medical school to register for the library which is mainly online as
increasing numbers of journals are available electronically.
Most of the other students will be going on to do the diploma and some
the masters in medical education but as GP trainers we only need to do the
first two modules.
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