Training GPs in Jiangsu

The Departments of General Practice at the University of Melbourne and Monash University have joined forces to provide GP training for doctors based in the community hospitals in the province of Jiangsu in China. The program was facilitated by a recent MOU signed between the Victorian Government Department of Health and Human Services and the Jiangsu Provincial Commission of Health and Family Planning.

In November 2017, Dr Phyllis Lau and Dr Caroline Johnson represented the collaboration and conducted the first GP training workshop in Nanjing. Twenty-seven trainees from 13 jurisdictions in Jiangsu and another 10 observers from community-based health services and the provincial government congregated in Nanjing for 5 days to attend the workshop. Topics covered included safe diagnostic strategies, doctor-patient communication, medical safety and quality assurance, multidisciplinary teamwork and primary care research. The program was rated highly by participants and exceeded the expectations of the Jiangsu government.

This November workshop is the start of an ongoing training program over the next 3 years that will involve University of Melbourne and Monash University academics going to Nanjing to conduct similar training and Jiangsu government sponsoring selected community-based doctors to come to Melbourne to be immersed in Australian general practice. We look forward to working together with the Jiangsu doctors to solve problems and explore different solutions together.