Five Minutes in the Spotlight with... Thevarajan Nakkeeran (Keeran)

Keeran is currently a GP registrar in Korumburra Medical Centre. We recently turned the RLO Rant spotlight in his direction to find out more about his story.

Keeran and Cynthia at a recent GP Workshop dinner

Keeran is originally from Sri Lanka, and grew up in a rural area. He studied medicine in Sri Lanka and worked there as a junior doctor. He and his wife Cynthia were married 13 years ago, and moved to New Zealand a few years later. Keeran's older brother was living in New Zealand at the time and working as an engineer. Keeran spent a number of years working with his older brother and was not practicing as doctor. However, he finally agreed with his wife's gentle prodding to continue his medical career. He got through the hurdle of the AMC exam, then worked in Gosford and Bendigo before heading in the Gippsland direction. He lives with his wife in Korumburra, and they are enjoying connecting with the local community as well as other Sri Lankan friends around Gippsland. Here's what Keeran had to say when asked some tough questions:

My parents always told me... don't lie a lot! In fact, this is what my mum said last time she rang me.
When I was a child I wanted to... be a GP! I had a great role model of a family doctor when I was growing up.
My happiest moments were... when we got married.
My earliest memory is... the happy day when I flew for the first time. It was to India.
The best thing about GP training is... a rewarding job.

Thanks Keeran!

Your working hours - are they safe?

What is the impact on the working hours of a GP registrar on fatigue, stress, patient care, and safety? GPRA recently released a discussion paper about safe working hours. Some of these issues are particularly relevant to rural GP registrars.

“The opportunity to acquire the advanced procedural and emergency skills that are provided in rural and remote training practices is highly regarded by most registrars,” says Dr Emily Farrell, GPRA Policy Director, “However, we need transparency in work hour expectation, and fatigue mitigation strategies, to ensure registrars are not deterred from continuing to work in rural and remote areas."

Read the full media release at the GPRA website, and the discussion paper at www.gpra.org.au/position-papers.

You may also be aware that the Australian Medical Association is conduction their annual survey of the working hours of junior doctors, which includes GP registrars for the first time this year. Please also consider participating in this survey. You can complete the audit by visiting http://safehours.ama.com.au.

A social night in East Gippsland

Recently the East Gippsland Cluster Group had a pleasant dinner at Miriam's Restaurant in Lakes Entrance to make connections and catch up on the GP training gossip. See some photos on the SGPT RLO Facebook page (and don't forget to "Like" it while you are there!).

We're encouraging each cluster group to organise a social dinner as well. Please contact Letitia or Andy (rlo.east@sgpt.com.au) to find out how to do this.

Academic Post at Gippsland Regional Clinical School

Does the idea of an academic registrar post interest you? Dr Daryl Pedler from the Gippsland Regional Clinical School based in Traralgon had this to say:

A/Prof Daryl Pedler

"We are very keen to attract an Academic Registrar here next year and envisage that the Registrar would have a combined teaching and research role.  While the exact time commitment and aspects of the role are negotiable, ideally we would be seeking a 0.5 appointment, which would allow the Registrar to continue in general practice for the balance of their working week.  The proposed teaching role would be into both the GP program (Year 4C) and also into our Year 3B program (i.e. those students undertaking their first clinical year and who are seeking to develop their basic clinical skills and knowledge).  We can also offer the Registrar support in developing research skills in a range of contexts; our particular interests lie in (medical) education, population health and clinically-related research and we would welcome their involvement in an activity related to one of these areas."

Academic Posts - what, why, and who

Do you enjoy finding out more about what interests you? Are you motivated by research? Does education excite you? You should consider an Academic Post! Now is the time to think about it for 2012, as applications close on 20th September.

An Academic Post is a great opportunity to get involved in research during your GP training. It is usually a part time position alongside clinical work. You can get involved with an existing research project, often attached to a University Clinical School, or research your own question, or even do a Cochrane-style systematic review. An Academic Post can count towards your training time if it is considered a "special skills" term. Find out more at http://www.agpt.com.au/TrainingPosts/Academictraining/

Dr Sandeep Bhagat completed an Academic Post with a research project attached to the School of Rural Health in Traralgon. Teaching of 3rd and 4th year medical students was a big part of this. According to Sandeep, "it is always a proud moment to meet a resident doctor who was once my student. There is a priceless sense of contribution towards a colleague's professional life." Sandeep identified flexibility with work hours, training in how to approach research and future university teaching opportunities as the best things about an Academic Post. "Please do consider an academic post," he said.

Dr Stuart Anderson has also completed an Academic Post in Gippsland. "My Academic Post involved a research project into the clinical exposures available to medical students doing their terms in East Gippsland," he said. "It was also coupled with a teaching role for those students and a role in developing some emergency skills training for local GPs, nurses and students." Stuart found that an Academic Post enabled him to have some flexibility with his time, as he was also the then getGP RLO and the Vice-Chair of GPRA. Stuart said he enjoyed the post because "it enabled me to develop my skills in teaching over the course of the year, and the flexibility of the job meant I was able to achieve quite a bit of medico-political work on the days when not much was going on academically and vice-versa." His advice to anyone considering an academic post is to "Make sure it is about something you enjoy a lot, and something that you want to pursue in the future."


Current opportunities for Academic Posts in Gippsland include involvement with the Monash University School of Rural Health in Traralgon (contact Dr Daryl Pedler daryl.pedler@monash.edu) and with the East Gippsland Regional Clinical School (contact A/Prof David Campbell david.campbell@monash.edu)