Department of General Practice

Message from Head of Department

The Department of General Practice is an academic unit in the School of Primary Health Care, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences and is located at Notting Hill.  The Department conducts academic teaching in Years 1 to 4 of the five-year undergraduate curriculum. In addition, the Department has an outstanding record in research, medical update courses for general practitioners, Graduate Diplomas and Masters in Family Medicine degree courses and a flexible learning program offering individual subjects studied over one term for postgraduate general practitioners.  The Department is uniquely placed in the School of Primary Health Care to develop and deliver inter-professional education (IPE) and research collaborations that highlight the primary health care model of education and delivery.

The Department has a dedicated group of academic and professional staff that work extremely well together to foster the mission of the Department, deliver its programs and continually strive for excellence. Our staff has developed strong education and research collaborations both nationally and internationally.

The Department has a high profile in undergraduate teaching and in 2009 introduced an innovative general practice rotation for fourth year students with a program that focuses on patient presentations (using simulated patients) requiring students to develop and refine their communication and critical analysis skills, their physical and practical skills and their holistic approach to their patients in the context of family and community. The undergraduate program is vertically linked with vocational training for general practice by a unique education and training collaboration with the Department of General Practice at University of Melbourne and the Victorian Metropolitan Alliance. The Department has also developed strong links with its teaching practices and local Divisions of General Practice to provide our students with a meaningful engagement with the general practice community. The Department greatly values these relationships and is continuously seeking ways to improve communication and provide better resources and support to our community partners.

Our research programs have continued to expand with the Primary Care Research Unit to cover a wide range of areas including chronic disease management, obesity, addiction medicine (gambling, drug and alcohol programs), guideline implementation, preventive care, women’s and men’s health and mental health. The Department is also affiliated with research programs in healthy ageing, developmental disability and the prevention of child abuse. These projects and initiatives have enabled the Department to make significant steps toward our goal of providing the next generation of academic general practitioners with increasing numbers of PhD students.

A/Prof Neil Spike