Adam Gordon is a Consultant and Honorary Associate Professor in Medicine of Older People based in Nottingham, UK. He is also the editor of this blog.
Good CPD can be hard to come by. Sure, there are endless opportunities to attend symposia and conferences and workshops and away-days……but how often do you engage in a piece of CPD that makes you reflect critically on your understanding of key aspects of your work as a geriatrician, or that makes you question the essence of what it is that separates your specialty from the others, or what makes geriatrics relevant to patient care?
If you’re looking for something more than powerpoint presentations in glamourous venues with finger-food of varying quality, something that encourages you to think deeply and reflect on what it is that is most important about being a geriatrician, then I may have just the thing for you.
The Geriatrics Specialty Question Group for the MRCP(UK) examinations is looking for new members. This is the group which drafts questions on geriatric medicine for both the part 1 and part 2 examinations for Membership of the Royal College of Physicians. The group meets twice yearly, for 2 days at a time, usually in Warwick. Members are obliged to write 12 questions for each meeting. Each meeting comes with 12 CPD points and all expenses are met by the college.
I have been writing for the group for 5 years and, aside from an opportunity to meet and network with colleagues from around the country, I find it an excellent way to keep up-to-date with developments in the specialty away from my own particular sub-specialty interests. In addition, the process of distilling topics that I know quite well into a short, clearly-stated question worthy of a high-stakes examination has encouraged me to hone and refine my own knowledge-base. The process of working out what aspects of geriatricianly knowledge, skills and attitudes should represent core knowledge for general physicians has also allowed me to reflect on the place and importance of my specialty in the world.
The next training course for question writers is at the end of June 2013. Anybody interested in taking part should get in touch using the contact form below:
British Geriatrics Society 