Word From The RLO
Dear Registrars,
Congratulations on entering the Institute of General Practice Education (IGPE) Training Program. We hope you will enjoy your training time and gain the skills and knowledge you need to help you in your career. To ensure this happens as well as possible IGPE as well as the other Regional Training Providers (RTP's) have provision to employ a Registrar Liaison Officer (RLO). I will briefly mention the role of the RLO as well as how they can be useful to you.
The RLO is a volunteer from one of the current registrars. It is a paid role that can be done part-time and in some cases concurrently with a full time clinical position. Currently the position is offered with a one session per fortnight Dermatology clinic at St George Hospital. The position can be accredited as part of special skills if a sufficient number of hours are undertaken.
The RLO has several roles; the most important role for all the registrars is that of advocacy and representation. It provides an avenue for registrars to confidentially discuss any difficulties or issues they may have with their training. This may range from trivial issues to major conflicts. Whilst the RLO is employed by IGPE the position is established to allow independent review and presentation of issues to IGPE. As a general rule of thumb though if you have an idea, issue or question to do with training and you are not sure who to turn to you are always welcome to ask the RLO.
There are other roles such as sorting and disseminating worthwhile information and resources, representation of registrars at meetings, advice in industrial disputes and education to name a few.
I would encourage everyone to think about volunteering for the RLO position at some stage in their training. It is very flexible in its role and a worthwhile experience which offers a very different perspective to training. . I would also encourage all of you to take advantage of this service (when it is available). Good Luck!
Regards,
William Truong
(Registrar Liaison Officer - 18/07/06 to 21/01/07)
The current Registrar Liaison Officer (20/1/08 to 20/7/08) is Dr Alex Yim rlo@igpe.edu.au