Refresher Course in General Practice (SCALES) - 2011

Course Summary

This is a refresher course for those wishing to return to work in general practice after a career break and an orientation course for those who had trained in other areas but now wish to work part-time in general practice.

Course Aim

The aim of this course is to focus keenly on what general practitioners actually do to facilitate doctors to work in general practice with an appropriate level of confidence and competence.

It is not intended to provide vocational training in general practice and completion of the course will not entitle one to recognition as a training general practitioner. Neither will it be recognised as experience in preparation for the memebership examination in general practice.

The key principle of this course is to focus keenly on what general practitioners actually do. 

Who can Apply? 

This course is open to all doctors irrespective of their chose specialty in medicine.

Core Curriculum

• General Medicine
  To include management of chronic disease in general practice, common skin conditions, cardiovascular disease etc.
• Therapeutics
  To include rational prescribing, recent developments in therapeutics etc.
• Emergencies in General Practice
  To include management of chest pain, CPR, diabetic comas, collapse, acute psychosis etc.
• Women's Health
  To include contraception, menopause, cervical and breast screening etc.
• Men's Health
  To include prostate, bowel cancer, general health checks, retirement issues etc.
• Paediatrics
  To include normal development, immunisation programme, common conditions in children and paediatric emergencies.
• Clinical Examination
  To include practical sessions on orthopaedics examination, vaginal examination etc.
• Practice Visit: Will consist of rotations between practice secretary, practice nurse and GP looking at all the complexities of general practice from a patient, business and clinical perspective. 

Additional topics may be included to address the particular education needs of participants.

Course Structure

The course is conducted over 9 days. Each day involves 7 hours of intense learning and an off-site practice visit. This course is limited to 20 participants.

Seminars
These 9 course dates will take place from 9.00am - 5.00pm (1 to 3 times per month) at a venue (TBA) nearby the Irish College of General Practitioners, 4-5 Lincoln Place, Dublin 2. Each day is broken into two sessions, one session is led by a guest speaker with a special interest in the topic being studied on the day and the other session is led by the Course Director and focuses on small group teaching and interactive discussion on clinical topics and day-to-day practice management. Course material will be provided in advance and participants are expected to study this as best they can in their own time to maximise their learning from the course.

Off-Site Visits
The course participants will be visiting a practice where they will participate in rotations between a practice secretary, practice nurse and general practitioner looking at all the complexities of general practice from a patient, business and clinical perspective. 

Clinical Attachment
Course participants are encouraged to arrange practice attachments to observe and participate in the day-to-day running of Irish general practice. While the ICGP is not in a position to organise or fund formal clinical attachments, we will support individual arrangements and assist in the development of learning plans.

Course Assessment & Evaluation

There will be no formal examination on completion of the course. A satisfactory attendance record entitles participants to a Certificate of Completion of the Refresher Course in General Practice.

Further Information

If you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact Kirstin at the ICGP on (01) 676 3705 or email: kirstin.smith@icgp.ie.

• Please review the ICGP Course Terms and Conditions