Tēnā koutou. We hope everyone has been managing to keep well this winter. Good luck to those trainees who are about to start studying for the UCPEX and the OSCE in November. I may see some of you in the upcoming Skills and Demonstration Weekend (SDAW) on the 16th August. Here is a quick list of updates on behalf of the Education Committee.
Original Research
As you all know, the Medical Literature Project (MLP) has now been discontinued. To fulfill the research criteria for training, trainees must now complete the POPHLTH701 Research Methods paper or an approved equivalent. However, for trainees with an interest in conducting original research, there is still the option of doing this. While the assessment criteria for conducting original research have not been released, it is likely to include research that meets the high standards for publication in a peer-reviewed medical journal and on a topic relevant to urgent care. We would also advise trainees who wish to pursue this option to register with the Urgent Care Research Network.
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Council of Medical Colleges (CMC) Cultural Safety Day 2025
I was privileged to attend the CMC Cultural Safety Day in Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington) on 30 July 2025. I was also fortunate enough to be joined by my co-Executive Committee member as well as our RNZCUC Māori Executive Committee member, Cheyenne Heka, pictured below. It was an extremely informative and thought-provoking experience with a range of different medical colleges. A total of 18 different medical Colleges were in attendance! There were some fantastic ideas, which I hope to incorporate into our training programme in the future. I would also encourage you to read this useful article by Curtis et al (2025). “Refining the definitions of cultural safety, cultural competency and Indigenous health: lessons from Aotearoa, New Zealand.” Hopefully, there is more to come on this front for RNZCUC! I orea te tuatara ka puta ki waho.
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Textbooks
The Education Committee has just completed a review of the compulsory textbooks that the College provides to all trainees upon commencement of the training programme. This review was scheduled to occur in the last twelve months; however, there were delays. These delays were due to other work needed towards the 2025/post-2024 training programme and curriculum, the upcoming Medical Council accreditation visit, and the transitional changes within the Education Committee and Registrar Subcommittee. Following the liquidation of our textbook supplier, UBIQ, a review was conducted to evaluate the suitability of current textbooks for the new curriculum and to identify alternative suppliers. As a result, there will be some changes to the provided textbooks and the processes around receiving textbooks. However, to avoid disrupting the upcoming UCPEX and OSCE exams, these changes will not take effect until after exams have been completed and marked. We will update trainees as soon as the new textbook list and the new supply process are confirmed. Thank you for your patience on this. Special thanks to the Registrar Subcommittee for arranging the recent trainee feedback for the textbook review, and to the registrars who responded to the survey. Ngā mihi.
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UC course Feedback
All trainees should now have access to the new online Urgent Care Course on TalentLMS. If you still have not received access to the UC course Topics/Specialities, please contact the Training Programme Co-ordinator, Alex, at alex@rnzcuc.org.nz as soon as possible. We are open to receiving feedback on the course, particularly on any errors found. Please email any Urgent Care Course-related feedback to uc.course.correction@rnzcuc.org.nz. Please specify what speciality and which topic the feedback relates to, a link to the page, and a screenshot. To avoid disrupting trainees studying for exams, there will be no changes to Urgent Care Course content between August 1st and November 20th each year. These dates may change slightly, depending on the future UCPEX and OSCE exam timetable. The only amendments to the course in this period will be to fix broken website links. If you would like to submit feedback during this period, the College will still collate this, but content review and edits will occur after. Trainees will be emailed a list of edits to the Urgent Care Course to ensure that they can review topics that may have been amended. These emails will be sent between January and March each year, and then again in August.
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Ngā mihi,
Adrianne Pimentel
EDC Convenor