Hello, my name is Tom Rolley.

I  wanted to discuss palliative care and had a patient come in this morning and he was disappointed in that how care that her, one of her parents received.

And for me it's an interesting one cos it can bring up a lot of my own fears, in dealing with palliative care and if I'm not aware of that stuff, then I can end up not providing good management in pal care. So what I think about palliative care?

As a doctor, it forces me to confront my own fear of death.

That's what I see when I hear about palliative care not being done well, I'm like okay, I just wonder whether that doctor's not okay with the fact that they're going to die.

And therefore when they're treating the patient in palliative care, therefore it is hard to actually be okay with making decisions.

So some of the things that come up are, "Should we transfer this patient to a different hospital to get this thing looked at?"

No. They're dying, they are dying.

They're close to death.

...

Hi, it's Tom Rolley here for GraduateMedicine, it's Saturday afternoon, and coming to you from my home office. Just thought I'd drop in, we're really one week out from crunch time for many of you.

That actually this time, most likely, next week you will be done with the AKT, and the day before, on Friday, you would have got through the KFP for many.

So just thought I'd look at, hey, how can this last week serve you? 'Cause I think there's a couple of dangers that the breadth of the content that you're expected to be across can be daunting, and it can lead to a feeling that you have not done enough. That you haven't covered the material, because there's always more.

But that can lead to some unusual behaviours in the last week, such as skipping your sleep or taking too much caffeine or panicking about unusual topics that aren't actually in your plan for the materials that you're expected to cover. Now most likely you're in revision mode, you should not be in my judgment looking at...

As we ramp up our study coming into the AKT and KFP exams in July 2017.2 and Feb 2018.1, we want to make sure all doctors sitting the exams are covering all the key FRACGP resources.

We often have lots of questions from our members and registrars who are sitting the FRACGP exams -  which resources do you need to cover to pass?
Below is one such question we had recently...

I am emailing for advice on a bit of a dilemma I am currently in.

I am due to sit the exams in 2018.1

I already have the fourth edition of Murtagh and no companion book.

However, at present the 6th edition is out.

Should I be investing and using the new edition for the exam?

There are 5 Key Resources we believe you need to help you pass your FRACGP exams.

Obviously, one of those key resources is the well-known <em>GP textbook by Professor John Murtagh (AM), John Murtagh General Practice but which one?....

Murtagh 6th edition was published in December 2015, so does it matter which edition you study?

...

Congratulations to all GP registrars who sat the 2017.1 FRACGP exams last Saturday, 4 February 2017.

Well done on all your hard work and study over the past six to 12 months!

As we pass another round of AKT / KFP exams, we can now look forward to preparation for the next round of FRACGP exams in 2017.2, which is just over five months away on 15 July 2017.

So, what are the key topics to prepare for the FRACGP Exams?

It's like the million-dollar question ... give me the answers to pass the exams?! If only there was a straight answer and that simple...

And that is much like being a General Practitioner in an everyday practice. The challenges, problems and key features that patients bring to us are varied from simple to challenging, from paediatrics to geriatrics. It is what makes GP such a great job (in my opinion!)

There are however, a few very valuable resources provided by the RACGP to help you get started in preparing for the FRACGP exams...one being a very useful article that...

As a FRACGP training provider, we often get asked when should I begin my study for the FRACGP exams.

The Applied Knowledge Test (AKT) and Key Feature Problem (KFP) Exams, as well as the Objective Structured Clinic Exam (OSCE) require a lot of preparation and study in order for you to even pass these days. The FRACGP exams are getting tougher and tougher, so they require a lot more consistent study and application.

Depending on where you are at in your medical career and your past experience, will give you some indication of how much study you feel you need to pass the exams.

We would suggest that you need at least 300 hours at a minimum. You may required up to 750 or 1000 if you are not working in GP very much or there has been a significant break in your medical career (eg. caring for children).

When you break that down, you are looking at at least 5-6 hours per week of study or about 1 hour per day for a year at 300 hours.

This would double if you are preparing 6 months out and...

Refining the model for GP consultations - Dynamic Assessment Structured Management

Today, the RACGP's GP16 starts in Perth. If you are attending GP16 this week in Perth, it runs between 29 September 2016 - 1 October.

The keynote speakers include some amazing presenters including Australian of the Year 2015, Rosie Batty, Dr Sam Prince  and Professor Mark Harris.

Learn more about GP16 and the full program for registration via the GP16's link: http://gp16.com.au/.

Dr Tom Rolley from GraduateMedicine will also be presenting on "Refining the model for GP consultations - Dynamic assessment structured management".

Tom is looking to present a model on Clinical Decision Making and Clinical Teaching which is applied in patient consultations and also in teaching our IMGs and GP registrars when preparing and studying for the Key Feature Problem and other FRACGP exams with the RACCP. 

Watch out for Tom presenting at 9.45am this Saturday, 1 October 2016 in Session G3 - Online and...

Next Training Webinars for the FRACGP 2016.2 Exams

Running over 5 consecutive Thursdays from 7pm to 8pm for the AKT and KFP 2016.2 Exams, our live training webinars have been confirmed. 

If you are booked in to sit the FRACGP exams for 2016.2 for the Applied Knowledge Test (AKT) and Key Feature Problem (KFP) and looking for some help and support with what to study and how to to pass the AKT and KFP exams, then this live training is for you.

Dates for the live training are as follows:

1. Week 1 - Thursday, 12 May 2016
2. Week 2 - Thursday, 19 May 2016
3. Week 3 - Thursday, 26 May 2016
4. Week 4 - Thursday, 2 June 2016
5. Week 5 - Thursday, 9 June 2016 

During the LIVE webinars, we will provide pre-exam training on:

• Key Resources and the Diagnostic Formula you need to cover for your KFP Exam Study;
• Strategies on how to prepare for and approach the FRACGP Exams;
• What to expect, strategies to use and how to manage your time in the AKT Exam;
• Physical Examinations...

The RACGP has refused to release the latest data over the Key Feature Problem (KFP) exam from the August 2015 test.

'Australian Doctor' (Page 3) is reporting that the latest results show that 43% failed the KFP test in August, with some sources claiming there is a higher failure rates of 80-85% from the International Medical Graduates (IMGs) who are on the practice-eligible-pathway compared to those registrars already training on the Australian General Practice Training Program. 

Experts are at odds over why eligible pathway graduates and IMGs are failing at a higher rate than those on the Australian GP Program. Some claim that overseas medical schools place an emphasis on rote-learning, but not understanding the concepts.

However, overseas-trained doctor, Dr Geeta Trehan from SA GP, who helps IMGs prepare for the exam, rejects this stating in Australian Doctor that if it was critical thinking that was lacking the IMGs would also fail the Applied Knowledge Test (AKT) component...