RDWA Annual Conference

Twenty Years Strong

For the past twenty years the RDWA has been supporting rural GPs. While the twentieth anniversary of the RDWA is a milestone worth celebrating, the work rural GPs have achieved in that time frame is a much greater achievement.

This year’s rural GP Conference provided a high-quality clinical program over two days, with a pre-conference workshop on Effective Communication Strategies in Difficult Situations; followed by concurrent clinical streams covering: An Introduction to Ultrasound; Procedural Sedation; End of Life Care; Respiratory Emergencies and Paediatric Emergencies. Over 70 rural GPs and registrars attended the Conference over the two days.

The highlight of the Conference were our three keynote speakers. Emeritus Professor Paul Worley, who spoke on ‘Rural Generalism – a healthy future for the rural communities and rural doctors’; Professor Liz Farmer who spoke about ‘The Professional Performance Framework: insights for CPD in the rural sector’; and Professor Jane Andrews, who told us ‘What the last 20 years has taught us about the gut’. The last session of the Conference was presented by Dr Peter Stuart, who talked about the exciting new clinical training program being provided by LearnEM, in partnership with the RDWA.

The concurrent Family Program provided spouses, partners and children with the opportunity to meet and mingle, while enjoying a lunch and arts afternoon on the Friday, and a visit to Cleland Wildlife Park on the Saturday.

The highlight of the weekend was the RDWA Long Service Medals Dinner on the Saturday evening.

Over 175 guests attended the dinner, to celebrate the 23 GPs and Specialists who have provided 25 and 35 years of rural service. We were privileged to have an address by His Excellency the Honourable Hieu Van Le, Governor of South Australia, and to have the Honourable Stephen Wade MLC, Minister of Health and Wellbeing present the medals to these worthy recipients. After the formalities, medal recipients and their guests danced the night away to the sounds of the SA Police Band.

Thank you to all our speakers, presenters and attendees. We look forward to seeing you at next year’s conference.