CPD for Doctors (and Medical Students) - A Never Ending Story!

The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital (in conjunction with General Practice Victoria) presents some excellent clinical update seminars primarily aimed at GPs several times each year: http://www.eyeandear.org.au/page/Health_Professionals/Referring_to_the_Eye_and_Ear/Education_and_training/

These are always of a high standard and presented by experts in the relevant areas.

There is also a series of Saturday morning lectures in Otolaryngology and Dermatology suitable for medical students in their clinical years:
http://www.eyeandear.org.au/page/Health_Professionals/Education_and_Training/
http://www.eyeandear.org.au/content/Document/Training%20and%20Education/Saturday%20morning%20lecture%20series.doc

Between June and September of each year a Short Course in Perioperative Medicine is conducted by Monash University in conjunction with the Alfred Hospital Department of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine. See: http://www.periopmedicine.org.au

This is primarily an online course with reading materials and a video lecture for each of the twelve weeks of the course (with multiple choice questions to complete for each unit), and an intensive face-to-face weekend at the Alfred at the conclusion of the course. 

Many aspects of perioperative management are covered and some of the topics included in the twelve units of the course are:
* Coronary artery disease and hypertension
* The Cardiac patient for noncardiac surgery
* Perioperative cardiac risk assessment and testing
* Heart failure
* Arrhythmias, pacemakers and AICDs
* Anticoagulants, antiplatelets and thromboprophylaxis
* Blood Transfusion Medicine
* Airway management
* Sleep apnoea
* Pulmonary disease
* Endocrine disorders
* Obesity
* Allergies and anaphylaxis

It has been an enjoyable (and very comprehensive) course so far but requires a fair degree of commitment as to date it has taken around a day to complete the materials for each unit.

A Diploma and a Masters in Perioperative Medicine are also available.

The second Melbourne Medical School annual MD Student Conference was held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground from 2-5 July 2012. This is a compulsory course component for MD students (the new graduate MD program is now in its second year) and covered a variety of areas including Clinical Research and Indigenous Health, Medicine & the Law and Healthcare Systems, Dealing with Death and Adaptation to Change, Mental Health & Well-being for Medical Students and Social Determinants of Health and Career Development.