School Newsletters for 2009

Welcome to the School of Population Health and Clinical Practice NEWS.

Contents

• Upcoming Events
• Message from the Head of School
• Planning and Development Reviews
• School Seminars
• Online Payslips 
• Grants Awarded
• Awards & Fellowships Received
• Scholarships Awarded 
• Visitors to the University
• International Links, Interests & Overseas Trip Reports
• Arrivals & Departures
• Congratulations
• Vacant Positions

Upcoming Events

Please mark in your diary the following events we encourage you attend:

Review of School’s postgraduate coursework offerings workshop on Wednesday 22nd September at 10.00am – 1.00pm in the Room 122 (Level 1, Eleanor Harrald Building, Frome Road), and is open to the whole of the School, and your thoughts as to how we can attract more postgraduate students would be most welcome.

The next School Seminar in the series is on Wednesday 19th November at 10.30am in the Robson Lecture Theatre (Level 1, Eleanor Harrald Building, Frome Road), and will be presentations on stage three of the “Research Development Workshops”. After morning tea at 10.30am, proceedings will commence at 11.00am and end by 12.00pm.

Message from the Head of School

Dear Colleagues

Although the end of the year is in sight, a number of important tasks still face us.  Apart from examinations, these include annual reviews for our higher-degree-by-research students, activating projects for which grant applications in 2008 were successful, planning grant applications for NHMRC Partnerships (due December 2008) and the major ‘grants season’ early next year, and planning and development reviews (see below).

Faculty has warned us that 2009 is likely to involve a particularly ‘tight’ budget, and we are all waiting to see how much the wider economic picture may retard launch of the Federal Government’s ‘education revolution’.  Heads of Disciplines and Units have been working closely with the School Office in preparing our budget and staff establishment list for 2009, and the ‘negotiation’ with Faculty is about to begin.

Our room to manoeuvre is increased measurably by people taking annual and accrued long service leave, because those absences are funded from central University sources rather than the School’s coffers.  Please plan in advance to take all of the leave you will accrue during 2009 within that year.

I have also convened a three-hour workshop on the School’s postgraduate coursework offerings, from 10.00am on Wednesday, 22nd October in Room 1.22 in the Eleanor Harrald Building.  This, too, is open to all members of the School, and your input as to how we can attract more students would be most welcome.

Konrad.

Planning and Development Reviews

Annual planning and development reviews provide an important opportunity to reflect on one’s activities, to plan for the future and to identify training and other resources that might be needed to increase one’s productivity and satisfaction at work.

In the cycle of reviews we have just commenced, the starting point for discussions between academic staff and their supervisors will be data for 2007 included in the Workload model that has been developed over the last few months.

Under the University’s Enterprise Bargaining Agreement, the School is obliged to have a comprehensive workload model.

For academic staff, such a model should:

take into account teaching, research and service;
• allow individuals (and their line managers) to see how their portfolio stands in relation to a notional split of 40 : 40 : 20, realising that these proportions should apply first to the School as a whole, and that individuals may fluctuate around these proportions over time as, for example, they move in and out of ‘research-only’ roles and ‘higher duties’ assignments; and
• provide a sense of how an individual ranks against his or her peers at the same academic Level, expecting an upwards movement as a member of staff comes closer to promotion.

The Workload model developed for our School covers several aspects of each of teaching (classroom delivery, curriculum development, assessment activities, supervision of projects and higher degree by research students, committee work related to teaching), research (preparing grant applications, running projects, drafting and publishing manuscripts) and service (within the School, wider University and community).

Application

Workload models are inexact tools because they attempt to reduce many different kinds of activities to the same metric.  Where most individuals are undertaking mixtures consisting of many of these activities (though not necessarily all of them), adjusting the weights assigned to particular component activities should make only modest differences to total scores and to relative positions.  Exact totals and placings matter relatively little as the principal application of a workload model is to divide overall activity and activity in each of the principal domains (teaching, research, service) into tertiles:

• lowest third – individual might be expected to do more in this area
• middle third – no change needed
• upper third – individual may be overloaded in this area and almost certainly should not be asked to do more in this domain.

In addition, as a School, we should examine where medians lie.

In preparation for the annual Planning and Development Review (PDR), each member of the School’s academic staff, and the corresponding line manager, has been provided with Level-specific comparisons for that individual with his or her peers for each of teaching, research, service and overall workload in the preceding calendar year, and with Level-specific targets for research activity.  These data should serve as the starting point for a discussion about balance of activities, desire and strategy for changing that balance, needs for additional training, readiness for promotion, and so on.

The data on teaching were collected by a census undertaken late last year.  Those for research were derived from information already collected by the School Office as part of other reporting requirements.  The data on service activities come from Human Resources Audit we conducted in the School late last year.  Obvious errors can be discussed with line managers, while failure to return the teaching census or Human Resources Audit is less easily remedied at this point.  If the School Office does not know about something you are doing, it cannot be included in your workload profile!

School Seminars

On Wednesday 17th September, we launched the first in a series of presentations on “Grant Preparation Cycle” commencing with Head of School, Prof Konrad Jamrozik and Prof Janet Hiller presenting on their experience and lessons from sitting on NHMRC panels and outlines for proposed applications. As requested at the seminar, please click of the link to view Prof Janet Hiller’s presentation on 'NHMRC Process 2008'.

In 2009, School seminars will move to Tuesday afternoons and be held on the first and third Tuesdays of each month from February onwards.  Please mark your diaries.  We plan to alternate distinguished external speakers with local talent, and to dedicate one session per month from September onwards to research development.  A pilot program for the latter is already running, and you are most welcome to attend those sessions.

Online Payslips

As part of the University’s commitment to Service Excellence, Human Resources (HR) is embarking on a range of activities to streamline processes. From Tuesday 14th October, access to payslips for staff will be via a secure Employee Services Online (ESO) website. At this secure website, staff will be able to view and print any of their payslips from November 1999.

To log on, staff will simply enter their University network username and password (as per their University email account).

Clearer payment and leave information
Also from Tuesday 14 October 2008, the payslip format will change slightly to more clearly show:
• Days worked, overtime, higher duties or allowances paid;
• Current leave entitlements; and,
• Long Service Leave balance where the staff member is actually
eligible to take this type of leave.
Further details on these changes are available in the Frequently Asked Questions on the ESO website at <http://www.adelaide.edu.au/hr/conditions/eso/faq_eso.html>.

Some of our staff already access their payslips online, using a dedicated password for the ESO website. From Tuesday 14 October 2008, these staff will need to use their University network password, as per their email accounts to continue to access their online payslips. The log in page for ESO will make this change clear.
 
There may be a small number of staff who have not set a password for the University network. For these staff, instructions on setting a password is available on the ITS website at <http://www.adelaide.edu.au/its/accounts/password/>.

Questions:
If you have any questions about these changes, please contact the HR Service Centre on 8313 1111 or via email at <hrservicecentre@adelaide.edu.au>.

Grants Awarded

Congratulations to the following people who have been successful with their Grant applications:

• Anne Tonkin was successful in receiving one of the three Faculty of Health Sciences Learning and Teaching Small Grants 2008 Round 2 application for her project title: Evaluation of the practicability and effectiveness of formal standard setting for Year 3 multiple choice examinations using the Direct Borderline compared with the Nedelsky procedure, using three different panel compositions.
• Carole Gannon was successful in receiving one of the three Faculty of Health Sciences Learning and Teaching Small Grants 2008 Round 2 application for her project title: Blended Learning in Anatomy and Histology.
• Annette Braunack-Mayer was successful in receiving a Faculty Small Grants Funding 2008/9 – New Collaborative Research for the project entitled, ‘Human Papillomavirus immunisation: Why are adolescent girls opting out?.’

Awards & Fellowships Received

Congratulations also go to the below people who have received:

• Ming Yeong (Current Doctor of Nursing student) won the Rising Star award in conjunction with the International Nursing Research Conference in Kuching, Malaysia, for her contribution to diabetes education in Malaysia.
• Past MNSc student Christina Chen won a “Excellent Teacher Award” in Taiwan.

Scholarships Awarded

Congratulations to the following candidate who successfully received a full scholarship:

• Renee Chambers, new HDR scholarship student for Nursing,  below is a brief bio from Renee:

Hi,

I began my nursing career working in Intensive Care at the Royal Adelaide Hospital in 2000. Early in my carer I recognised the need for the integration of research into clinical practice. After completing a Graduate year at the Royal Adelaide hospital I undertook a Post Graduate Diploma in intensive Care nursing Science and then undertook a Masters in Clinical Nursing. I have been working as a Clinical Nurse Consultant within the Infection Prevention and Control Unit at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and as the Course Coordinator of the Infection Control Graduate Diploma and Certificate at Adelaide University. I am now working as an Organ Donor Coordinator within The South Australian Organ Donation Agency as well as the course co-ordinator of the Graduate Diploma and Graduate Certificate in Infection Control at the University of Adelaide.

Due to the limited opportunities for organ and tissue donation and the increasing number of people requiring a transplant I propose to undertake a research project to investigate ‘What is the effect of not procuring and or transplanting organs from brain dead donors, for people on the transplant waiting list.’ The results of this research will provide a sound and comprehensive evidential base for clinical practice and clinical management to maximise the opportunity for people on the transplant waiting list to receive the gift of a life saving/life changing opportunity to receive an organ or tissue transplant.

Renee Chambers

• Amy Harding, 4th year research student, was successful with her application for the Heart Foundation Summer Scholarship

Visitors to the University

• Nursing held a joint seminar with Faculty and students from Texas Christian University on Tuesday 7th October.
• Christopher Manacci, Cleveland Ohio Faculty and Founding Director
Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Flight Nursing Program
Case Western Reserve University
Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing

International Links, Interests & Overseas Trip Reports

• Rural Praeceptors Weekend

Collaborative curriculum delivery, integration and consistency, was the theme for the Spencer Gulf Rural Health School annual Praeceptor weekend which was held in Port Lincoln on Friday 12th and 13th of September 2008.

Professor Jonathan Newbury introduced a number of guest speakers on the Friday night opening dinner. Amongst the guest speakers were Dr Nigel Stewart, paediatric program, Dr Paul Duggan O & G program, Dr Martin Bruening surgery program and Dr Bob Penhall, geriatrics program. These speakers gave an overview of their specialty areas which are core components of the 4th and 5th year rural program.

The Saturday program consisted of Professor Randall Faull, Dean and Director of Medical Program, speaking about curriculum information. Dr Lucie Walters of Flinders University spoke on the Parallel Rural Community Curriculum and the impact of students on GP’s time.

Spencer Gulf Rural Health School staff spoke about assessment and excellent performance, feedback and teaching clinical skills, creating new rural learning sites, such as, Broken Hill, Port Pirie and Crystal Brook. The new mode of delivering paediatrics and anaesthetics, curriculum delivery and the Admissions process were also topics of discussion.

Two former rural students, who had spent some of their 4th year and all of their 5th year in rural areas, gave an insightful rendition of their rural experiences. The students ended their talk by saying they would definitely repeat the experience.

Guest of the weekend consisted of rural general practitioners, rural specialist and the Head of School of Population Health and Clinical Practice, Professor Konrad Jamrozik. The Weekend highlighted the amazing people who work collaboratively to deliver a high level of rural medical education to a select group of potential rural and rural aware doctors.

The weekend made all concerned note, the rural program is growing in student interest and numbers and, the consequent need to sustain excellent quality of teaching by maintaining collegial support across multiple disciplines.

Bronwyn Herde
Rural Medical Program Coordinator

• Symposium Wrap-Up - A Fresh Perspective on Health Services Research in South Australia

On the 3rd of September in Adelaide the Health Services Research Association of Australia and New Zealand (HSRAANZ), in collaboration with Adelaide Health Technology Assessment (AHTA, Discipline of Public Health) and the SA Government Department of Health, hosted a half day symposium with the theme: A Fresh Perspective on Health Services Research in South Australia. Local organisers, Dr Adam Elshaug and Dr Mark Mackay, were delighted with the turnout of 165 registered attendees, representing the impressive breadth of the HSR community in SA from government to clinical to academic sectors and beyond. The symposium was enthusiastically Chaired by Professor Janet Hiller and commenced with three engaging presentations from:
 
• Dr Jackie Cumming, President of the HSRAANZ and Director, Health Services Research Centre, Victoria University of Wellington. Jackie presented background to and key activities of, the HSRAANZ, past and future; some interesting reflections from her own research career; and finally HSR in Australia and New Zealand and the role of HSR in health policy and health services development.

• Professor Christian Gericke, Director, Centre for Health Services Research, The University of Adelaide. With his wealth of international experience Christian discussed global trends in HSR (with a focus on developed countries, in particular in Europe); he then contrasted this with the current state of HSR in AUS and SA, in order to derive: what opportunities exist in Australasia and SA in particular.

• Dr Tony Sherbon, Chief Executive of the South Australian Department of Health. Dr Sherbon engaged the audience with his perspectives on the benefits of health and medical research, the importance of health services research to the SA Health system; ways in which health services research can be improved to meet the needs of SA Health; value of health systems research and health and medical research reform in SA.

Morning tea provided an opportunity for all attendees and presenters to mingle before the three guest presenters were joined for a panel Q&A session by A/Prof Libby Roughead (Project Co-Director, Quality Use Of Medicines, UniSA) and A/Prof Simon Eckermann (Health Economics, Flinders University). This 45 minute Q&A session allowed the audience to direct specific questions to the panel and resulted in a lively discussion on a broad range of topical issues around HSR in Australasia and South Australia.

The panel was immediately followed by a Showcase of SA Early Career Researchers, with presentations by Dr Adam Elshaug, Hanson Fellow, Adelaide Health Technology Assessment (AHTA), Lecturer, Discipline of Public Health, The University of Adelaide; Ms Kim Dalziel, Senior Research Fellow, School of Nursing and Midwifery, UniSA and Miss Miriam Keane, PhD student, Department of General Practice, Flinders University.

The symposium concluded with a light lunch from 1:00pm which gave all present an opportunity to build networks and to carry on the lively discussions that were initiated from the day’s events. The symposium has been hailed a great success with the organisers receiving an influx of congratulations from attendees and received airplay on ABC Local Radio and Radio National. Select presentations are available at www.hsraanx.org/events.

Arrivals & Departures

Please welcome to the School:

Helene Luckner, Public Health
Mark Whitfield, Spencer Gulf Rural Health School

Congratulations

We are also pleased to announce that Cathy Hughes from Public Health gave birth to a healthy baby girl, Elinor Margaret, weighing 3.4kgs, on the 19th September.

Vacant Positions

http://www.adelaide.edu.au/jobs/

The NEWS is published online to keep all School staff with up to date with School news. Please email any items of news to tarryn.muller@adelaide.edu.au.