Rvts4gp's Podcast

How is climate change shaping the health of rural and remote communities—and what can GPs do right now to help?  In this special episode of RVTS4GPs, we bring you the keynote address from Professor Nicholas Talley, recorded at the 2025 RVTS Grand Round: On the Frontline – Rural GPs Caring for Communities in a Changing Climate.    Professor Talley speaks with passion and urgency about the health impacts of climate change, highlighting the challenges for rural practice and issuing a powerful call to action for GPs everywhere.  Whether you're climate-conscious, climate-curious, or simply committed to being the best GP you can be, this episode is packed with insights and inspiration you won't want to miss.  More about Professor Talley:  Distinguished Laureate Professor Nicholas Talley is a world-leading neurogastroenterologist, clinician and educator with a research interest in disorders of gut-brain interactions and eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorder. Nick is currently Head, Discipline of Medi

RVTS Medical Educators (MEs) all share a passion for rural, remote, and Aboriginal Medical Services, registrar education, and supporting doctors on their General Practice journey. The ME team was recently interviewed, and each one was asked to identify something that would contribute to registrar success in general practice training in 2021.

The 2021 training year has just begun at RVTS, and we’ve caught up with Dr Pat Giddings, RVTS CEO, GP and GP Obstetrician, to talk about the year that’s been and the year ahead.  Dr Giddings shares what he believes makes RVTS successful, and gives his “TOP TIP” for Registrars for 2021.

As we observed NAIDOC Week in November, many RVTS registrars and staff used the opportunity to attend (mainly online) events to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.  RVTS Acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands and seas on which we live and work, and pays respect to elders: past, present and future.  Events during NAIDOC week remind us about our commitment to consider a First Nation perspective in all training activities at RVTS. As you may be aware, according to the strategic plan of RVTS, the purpose of RVTS is to improve Australian health by training and retaining medical practitioners working in Rural, Remote and First Nation communities by facilitating access to medical education and training in circumstances where it may otherwise not be possible, providing flexibility and innovation in meeting the medical training needs of diverse communities, and, as mentioned, to consider a First Nation perspective in everything we do.

 “Rational pathology emanates from a rational doctor”.  Pathology is useful in assisting with coming to a diagnosis, monitoring patients and for screening.  Unnecessary tests can cause harm to patients and add significantly to health costs, so considering carefully what pathology we order is vitally important in General Practice. In this month’s post, we listen in on the discussion with Dr Mike Eaton during a webinar with some of the second year GP registrars.

We’ve reached May in a year that will certainly go down in history! It’s been a tough year to be a GP in Australia with many challenges indeed! How are you coping? How are you looking after yourself? This month, 2 of our RVTS registrars, Leigh-Anne Bingham and Jeni Davila Mendez, discuss self care. Leigh-Ann and Jeni give some specific advice on how to do this during a pandemic.

Every registrar I speak to wants to know: What’s the trick in passing Fellowship exams.  That’s a good question - with a complex answer. It’s similar to “How do you eat an elephant?” The answer is “One bite at a time”.  How do you pass the exams? One step at a time. Unfortunately, it’s not the answer people want. Registrars want me to just tell them what to read and which exam prep course to do.  If only it were that simple! From our experience, we’ve got a few tips and suggestions. We’ll discuss an approach to passing you fellowship exams in 5 steps.

We’re excited to share this special edition of RVTS4GPs with you, featuring the recording of the recent 2019 RVTS Grand Round "Stump the Chump" with Dr Casey Parker.  The case presented is a 16 year old girl who comes in with her Aunty. Casey is asked to unravel the puzzle. Dr Casey Parker is based in Broome in WA and is well known for his blog and podcast broomedocs.com. He discusses various aspects of this case that need to be considered, with input from Marlene Drysdale (RVTS's Cultural Educator) and Dr Jacki Mein (a previous RVTS registrar based in Cairns). It was a challenging case, with an interesting discussion, and plenty of learning points.

Welcome to 2019! We’re kicking off with one of those tricky subjects in general practice: the overlap of pain and addiction. As GPs, we aim to relieve pain and minimise harm, but occasionally patients get addicted to medications we prescribe. How can we become part of the solution? One of the RVTS supervisors, Ian Kamerman, speaks about this in a very practical and real way in the webinar recording excerpt this month. This area is certainly where the “art” of general practice comes into play. Registrars are encouraged to discuss this topic further with their supervisors to refine their skills in managing opioid addiction in the community.

About 70 children die of sepsis per year in Australia and New Zealand. It is therefore important to have systems in place for early detection of severe infection. Developing an approach to avoid diagnostic error is an important task for each GP. In this episode, we hear from an RVTS Medical Educator, Taras Mikulin, who looks at a General Practice risk management system for use in Childhood Sepsis. Taras discusses a practical  6 step system approach to avoiding diagnostic error.

Uncertainty in general practice is unavoidable. We deal with uncertainty in more than half of our consults. Coping with the uncertainty is an essential skill for GPs. This month we again listen in on a webinar about Dealing with Diagnostic Uncertainty with Marlene Pearce, a GP based on the Sunshine Coast, QLD. This is the final part of a 3 part series, based on the webinar delivered to RVTS registrars by Marlene. In Part 1of ‘Uncertainty in General Practice’, Marlene spoke about using clinical reasoning to assist, what to do when we’re stuck, as well as what pitfalls to avoid. In Part 2, we consider what contributes to the uncertainty we experience. In this final part of the webinar, we look at how best to deal with this uncertainty.

We were fortunate enough to have Art Nahill and Nik Szecket from IMReasoning join us for our inaugural RVTS Grand Round Webinar for a STC case discussion. One of our medical educators, Dr Lorri Hopkins, provided the case, and Art and Nic demonstrated their clinical reasoning every step of the way.

We deal with uncertainty every day in general practice. This month, we review 5 cases illustrating various reasons or things that may be contributing to uncertainty in general practice.

In this 3 part series, we listen in on a webinar with Marelene Pearce, a GP based on the Sunshine Coast, QLD. We discuss “Diagnostic uncertainty in General Practice”, looking at reasons why there is so much uncertainty in general practice, and how to cope with the uncertainty. In this episode, Part 1, Marelene talks about using clinical reasoning to assist with the dilemma, what to do when we’re stuck and what pitfalls to avoid. She discusses the model we use in general practice, which is so different to what we were taught as medical students.

This month, one of our RVTS registrars, Meryl Nicol, talks about how you can use everyday examples from your daily practice to sharpen your clinical reasoning skills in preparation of the KFP exam - or any exam, really.

In this podcast, we listen to recording of a webinar with Marie Rauter, a paediatrician at the Royal Hobart Hospital, who presents a case and discusses the diagnosis of ADHD. Marie highlights the comprehensive assessment we, as GPs, can complete, and she outlines the management options she would consider as a paediatrician.

Recently Marie Rauter, a paediatrician at the Royal Hobart Hospital, presented a webinar to some of our first year registrars on “Developmental Delay”. It’s a big topic, but an important one for general practice, as we are often in a perfect position to detect developmental delay early and identify the cause, suggest corrective action, or refer for further assessment, services and support. Marie covered a wide range of presentations and considerations. We’re sharing one of the cases with you today. Listen to the audio file to hear the case discussion.

In this recording, Vishal Arya, an RVTS ME, speaks about access to health care, particularly for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients. Review the blog post here.

Exams are the performance of your life that will make or break your future. The months leading up to the exam are essential to gathering facts and knowledge and forming good habits. The weeks leading up to the exam are essential to prepare mentally. On the day of the exam, you need to focus like an elite performer. But too often, anxiety gets in the way of performing at your best. How can you negate the negative effects of anxiety so that you can be free to shine on exam day?

RVTS Medical Educators will be presenting several sessions at this year’s conference in Cairnes - this is a sneak peak of what will be discussed