Blog – 2023 PMCV Symposium ‘Success in a Constantly Evolving Environment’

On Friday the 14^th of July 2023, PMCV held our Annual Medical Education Symposium at the Angliss Conference Centre. This year’s theme was ‘Success in a Constantly Evolving Environment’ which focused on the process of implementing positive cultural change in public health facilities in lieu of the implementation of the National Framework for Prevocational Medical Training across Australia in 2024.

To kick off the 2023 PMCV Symposium we had our first keynote speaker Dr Jason Frank. Jason is a clinician-educator from Ottawa, Canada, with an extensive background in competency-based education, curriculum and faculty development, and program evaluation. He discussed the principles of workplace-based assessment and how to unlock success with a growth mindset when transitioning to a new system.

Pictured: Keynote speaker Dr Jason Frank speaking on the importance of adopting a growth mindset.

Jason took us through “what is driving the change” in education in health professions worldwide, emphasising that “we need to focus on graduate abilities” in place of traditional assessment-based training.

Jason also noted that constructing effective Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) requires there to be a specific task that needs to be done, in addition to providing context and competencies of multiple domains.

He additionally spoke on the importance of utilising direct observation with the principle being the more observations you undertake “the bigger picture you have” of trainee progress.

In Canada, the training program has completely removed the prevocational years and instead goes through these stages focusing on outcomes. Jason said in this system “everybody travels in different ways” and there is a developmental design for EPA’s.

Jason described the positive impacts that came from implementing the Canadian program and how they were able to develop trainees through the adoption of the ‘growth mindset’, which encouraged trainees to see failure as an opportunity to grow and take on feedback well.

To watch Dr Jason Frank’s full presentation, click the link below:

Our second keynote speaker at the event was Dr Kenneth Clark. Ken is the Chair of the Medical Council of New Zealand’s Education Committee and has been a part of the Council since 2020. He spoke about his lessons learnt from the implementation of New Zealand’s Prevocational Framework.

Ken began by identifying the reasons why the Prevocational Framework was implemented in New Zealand, which are similar to that of Australia. These included better integration across the continuum of training and the need for greater accountability of training providers.

He highlighted that in New Zealand’s system the ePort is an essential part of how the program continues to work. It is a highly effective digital format used across the health service to document learning, as well as guiding the goals and highlighting the achievements of prevocational doctors.

Ken also explained that in the early years of implementation it is important to always “back the intern first” and include a high trust model to “impart key principles” within the prevocational stage to shape the rest of their career.

Ken took us through the seven key lessons following implementation in New Zealand including engaging stakeholders from the outset, establishing a dedicated implementation team and training both supervisors and intern support staff. He added that even after two to three years and a multitude of ongoing issues there was “no going back” for any group.

Pictured: Keynote speaker Dr Ken Clark sharing key lessons learnt from implementing New Zealand’s National Framework.

He concluded with some advice encouraging perseverance and to remember why we are implementing the framework. He also added that despite Australia being a larger country than New Zealand to not give up on being able to establish a national system.

To watch Dr Kenneth Clark’s full presentation, click the link below:

Following our keynote speakers, PMCV’s Education Manager, Andrew Rose, ran a workshop regarding the PMCV Program for Prevocational Supervision (PPS) core modules. The session was introduced by Dr Georga Cooke who has been acting in the Deputy Director Medical Services position at the Princess Alexandra Hospital since early 2020 and is a member of the AMC working group for the National Framework.

Event attendees were provided with an overview of the core modules and were then given the opportunity to discuss and provide feedback regarding the design and delivery mode for each of the six PPS modules within their table.

Pictured: Event attendees participating in the Program for Prevocational Supervision core modules workshop.

As a result of this workshop, PMCV was able to determine actions to improve each module. For example, delivering the first module as a visual story of infographics and removing educational jargon.

The ‘Elevating Supervisor Engagement in a Time of Transition’ panel was the final part of the 2023 Symposium. This panel was facilitated by A/Prof Michael Franco and featured Dr Jason Frank, Dr Ken Clark, Dr Georga Cooke, Dr Sheree Conroy, Dr Rachael Coutts and Andrew Gray who discussed some new and innovative methods to increase supervisor engagement.

Dr Georga Cooke illustrated that the key enablers to get supervisors on board with implementation of the revised Framework was to “share some of the small wins that accumulate.” This can be achieved by creating feasible EPA’s and sharing those successes amongst colleagues.

Dr Ken Clark added that building real teams of supervisors & educators makes a significant difference. It can be powerful to get a whole group of people who’re all “chipping away” from different areas. There is a need to get the message out that this is important work in the prevocational development space.

Pictured: Panelists of the ‘Elevating Supervisor Engagement in a Time of Transition’ panel from left to right; Dr Rachael Coutts, Dr Jason Frank, Andrew Gray, Dr Sheree Conroy, Dr Ken Clark, Dr Georga Cooke and facilitator A/Prof Michael Franco.

The panel was asked whether they have seen leadership come from surprising places outside of typical leadership roles such as Chief Medical Officers (CMOs). The panel agreed that Junior Doctors and Registrars have provided solutions and contributed to enabling and providing support during transition.

The panel discussed among themselves and the room what motivates supervisors. It was agreed that the main purpose is contribution. They also added there needs to be an emphasis on the rewarding aspects of growing junior doctors. There are benefits for both the supervisors themselves and their patients.

To view the complete ‘Elevating Supervisor Engagement in a Time of Transition’ panel discussion, click the link below:

PMCV would like to thank everyone who spoke at and attended our 2023 Symposium for their invaluable contributions!

If you would like to learn more about the planned implementation for the National Framework for Prevocational Training, please click HERE.