| The Graduate School of Medicine’s first Teaching Associate, Ali... The Graduate School of Medicine’s first Teaching Associate, Alison Smart from Culburra, meets second year medical student Priya Loomba as GSM Dean Professor Liz Farmer looks on |
Medical School trainers appeal for ‘special women’
9 Jul 2008 | Nick Hartgerink
The University of Wollongong has launched an appeal for “special women” to help prepare the next generation of doctors at the Graduate School of Medicine (GSM) to treat female patients with skill and sensitivity.
The women will join the Teaching Associate program, an extension of the Patient Volunteer program, to provide opportunities for medical students to practise internal examinations on volunteer patients in a controlled and safe educational setting.
Culburra woman Alison Smart is the first person to join UOW’s program, which GSM Dean Professor Liz Farmer says is vital for the promoting excellent skills for future doctors and thus better quality patient outcomes.
“Teaching Associates are very special women who assist our medical students experience internal examinations by providing their bodies, so the students can learn the skills required for these examinations in a sensitive and professional environment,” Professor Farmer said.
Teaching Associates receive payment for their involvement in the program, which is designed for medical students to:
1: Gain confidence in both the fine technical skills and the sensitive communication skills required to undertake breast examinations, pap smears and other gynaecological examinations critical to female health and well-being; and
2: Learn to perform breast and other gynaecological examinations in a non-threatening environment with immediate feedback and guidance from the “patient”.
“Every woman knows how important it is to have a skilled, sensitive and highly professional medical practitioner carry out this kind of examination, and the most effective way this can be achieved is through proper training under experienced supervision and from feedback from patients,” said GSM obstetrician/gynaecologist Dr Chris Georgiou.
Beryl Crampton and Elizabeth Thomson, who are both part of the University of Sydney and UNSW medical programs, will help train the UOW volunteers. Both attended the launch on 9 July to talk about their experiences as Teaching Associates.
Beryl Crampton said she was motivated to contribute to medical knowledge and the community after surviving a battle with breast cancer 11 years ago.
“I have come across a few doctors in my time who were not very good (at internal examinations), so joining the program and helping change this was a way that I could give something back to the community,” she said. “The students really appreciate it, and give us really good feedback.”
Elisabeth Thomson has been involved in the Sydney program for 12 years. She believes is important that potential volunteers focus on the positives about what they are contributing to the training of medical students.
“The students benefit so much. They are usually so nervous and apprehensive, but we give them constant feedback and so they learn interpersonal skills as well as the technical skills,” she said.
Alison Smart said she was motivated to join the Shoalhaven program because she has two daughters, and because the GSM has a focus on training doctors to work in regional, rural and remote areas.
“I have two daughters, and I know it is a huge benefit for women if their doctors can get this right,” she said. “I have lived in a few places around the world, and I have had good doctors and bad ones. They should always be good.”
Mrs Smart said one of her daughters was living in a remote area of western NSW.
“I know how hard it is for women to receive good medical care in remote areas, and I think it is fantastic that the medical school is specialising in that,” she said.
Second year medical student Priya Loomba also attended the launch, and praised women who volunteer for the program, saying she and her fellow students were extremely conscious of the contribution the Teaching Associates would make to their technical and communication skills.
People interested in learning more about the Teaching Associate program can call Patient Volunteer Coordinator Isabelle Potter on 4221 5118 in Wollongong or Judy Hayes at UOW’s Shoalhaven Campus on 4429 1506.
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