Update from ANZAHPE President, Ben Canny

It is a great pleasure to pen this message to ANZAHPE in my interim role.  I would like to start by thanking the ANZAHPE membership, and especially the Committee of Management, for the support I have been given over the last several months.  To me, this speaks to the essential fabric of ANZAHPE as a membership-led, collaborative association, committed to the pursuit of excellence.

The Committee of Management has been working hard about how we can better support the membership in their professional and personal development.  Thanks to all members who took the time to contribute to Membership Survey, which has highlighted the importance of networking and career development in research to the ongoing professional success of our members.  ANZAHPE is determined to develop these aspects of its activities, with the ongoing initiative of ANZAHPE ONLINE forming a critical part of this strategy.  The Committee of Management is open to suggestions from the membership about how we can serve you better.

Preparations for the ANZAHPE Festival are continuing apace.  As you are most probably aware, the theme is “Moving Forward in Ambiguity”, and I thank the membership for tolerating the open-ended nature of some of the organisational aspects.  A fully online Conference/Festival is new to ANZAHPE, as it is for our Professional Conference Organiser (PCO – EventStudio (formerly Plevin and Associates)).  As the program has (is) taken(ing) shape, the technical solutions are being finalised and confirmed.  We aim to have the Festival be as “low tech” as possible, recognising that technical complexity can be a significant inhibitor to engagement and interaction.  We had over 290 abstracts submitted, and all but a small number have been accepted and included in the program (formal notification should slightly precede this Bulletin).  We also have 3 Keynote presentations organised, and a handful of workshops, including engagement from AMEE and IAMSE.  We hope to learn much from an online conference, which will inform future conference organisation.  We look forward to your feedback.

Finally, I would like to encourage members to consider their engagement with ANZAHPE.  Your membership keeps us alive, both academically and financially, and ANZAHPE offers great opportunities for further professional development.  This could be in the form of ANZAHPE Fellowship, being involved with the Mentoring scheme the Fellowship committee is developing, or nominating for election to the Committee of Management.  The Association needs its members involved, and I look forward to its ongoing vitality.

Ben Canny
ANZAHPE President

The ANZAHPE ONLINE Professional Development program kicked off for 2021 with the following events:

Learning in (and for) a digital world
Presented by Prof Margaret Bearman

As 2020 has revealed, almost all aspects of modern living are mediated by the digital in one form or another. However, we tend to think very instrumentally about technology: as a tool to help us teach or to help us care for patients. This keynote takes a broader view and explores what it means for health professional students to learn in a digital world.

Writing a competitive research grant application in Health Professions Education
Presented by:  Koshila Kumar and Christy Noble

Writing a competitive research grant is an essential skill for researchers and scholars in Health Professions Education to master. This introductory session outlined some fundamental principles of successful research grant development,  and referred to the ANZAHPE research grants scheme as a case study.

Members can access recordings of these sessions here.
Please contact the ANZAHPE office to arrange non-member access to this session.

Check out the ANZAHPE ONLINE event calendar to view future events in 2021.

We are excited to announce that from 1 February, 2021 FoHPE is an Open Access (OA) journal.  

Open Access will result in significant benefits for ANZAHPE and its members by increasing the profile of FoHPE and providing the opportunity to be more broadly recognised as an international publication for Health Professions Education and a flagship activity of ANZAHPE.  

For ANZAHPE members, the fee structure for publishing in FoHPE has not changed in 2021. This is a true benefit to ANZAHPE members as it allows you to maximise the visibility of your research. 

From 1^st February 2021:

·       For members, it is still free to publish in FoHPE.  Authors must be an ANZAHPE member from the time of article submission to acceptance in order to receive fee-free publication. 

·       For non-members, a fee of AU$600  is charged for articles accepted for publication.

Visit the FoHPE Website here.

FoHPE accepts a range of manuscript types, including original research, reviews, innovative teaching and learning projects, short reports, discussion papers and letters to the editor. Details on all submission categories and guidelines are available here.

It has certainly been quite a year at the ANZAHPE office!

ANZAHPE’s usual routine and rhythm has been impacted in 2020 and it has been a time of challenge and change, but also one of triumph and achievement.

ANZAHPE exists for its members, and it has been great to be part of the work around new ways for ANZAHPE to connect with members and the wider community.

I believe ANZAHPE will truly benefit from the experiences of this year and feel there is much to look forward to in 2021.  

Wishing you and yours peace, rest and happy times to all over the holiday season.

Jill Romeo
Executive Officer, ANZAHPE

What a year!  As the lead for the Professional Development (PD) Portfolio I reflect on the expertise and generosity of ANZAHPE members and the wider Health Professional Community.   I have been honored to belong to a dedicated and inspirational group supporting the development of the ANZAHPE ONLINE PD program.  After the initial impact of COVID, this group were identified and quickly levered off the wonderful work by the 2020 Melbourne Conference organizing committee to plan and deliver a variety of PD opportunities during the year. 

There have been many highs, some wonderful sessions,  as well as areas to learn from as we tried new things.  I applaud the community’s patience and kindness.  We started the program with a launch session in early July and ended the series of sessions in December.  We have recorded most of the sessions and  I recommend all to visit or revisit the Ways of Seeing exhibition.

Looking forward we have already secured some exciting opportunities in 2021.   Click here for more details.

The 2021 program starts with looking at  Learning in (and for) a digital world by the wonderful Margaret Bearman.  As we progress forward we will look to maximise the leaps in educational innovation.  Also during the first part of the year we will pilot a string of PEaRLS delivering a signature ANZAHPE learning approach online.  We are all enthusiastic to break new ground with these PD sessions.  

ANZAHPE is an organisation that thrives on its community.  We are grateful for the ANZAHPE Fellows and Associates who have helped facilitate some of our sessions.  In 2021 we hope to involve more people in design as well as delivery of the PD program.  

The following is a snap shot of some of the participants in the final session of the year.

View highlights of the End of year special here.

We hope to continue to learn with you in 2021. 
Joy Rudland, Lead ANZAHPE PD portfolio

Changes to FoHPE for 2021 

We all recognised some positive aspects that emerged from 2020. The year also highlighted the need for change and better ways of working.  Your journal is no different and we would like to announce two main changes for FoHPE in 2021. One change is the move to Open Access, which we introduced several months ago (see more below). The other change is to our fee structure for publishing in FoHPE.   

Open Access (OA) will be a bonus for ANZAHPE and its members.  Open Access is the way all journals will be heading within the next few years. Therefore, now is the time for FoHPE to move to OA which is certain to increase the profile of FoHPE and provide the opportunity to be more broadly recognised as a regional (and international) publication for Health Professions Education, and a flagship activity of ANZAHPE. If you would like to know more about Open Access have a look at the Australasian Open Access Strategy Group website. 

For ANZAHPE members, the fee structure for publishing in FoHPE will not change for 2021. This is a true benefit to ANZAHPE members as it allows you to maximise the visibility of your research with no change from our current publishing model.  Nevertheless, we have made some changes for non-member options as outlined below. 

The time frame for both of these changes is 1^st February 2021. So keep an eye on the FoHPE website for news.  In summary, for 2021:

• For members, it is still free to publish in FoHPE  

• For non-members, we are increasing the publication fee by 20% = $600 per paper 

• For non-members, we are removing the option to join as a member at time of acceptance/publication i.e. authors must be an ANZAHPE member when submitting a paper to receive free publication if accepted. 

To ensure a sustainable publication model, we will review publication fees in 2021, and anticipate that there may be some further increases to publication charges in 2022, for both members and non-members. However, members will always pay less to publish in FoHPE than non-members.

What else is new at FoHPE? 

The new Focus on Methodology series led by Prof Liz Molloy, has an exciting line-up of papers for 2021, including Prof Jenny Keating, Prof Ben Canny, Prof Lorelei Lingard and Prof Chris Watling.  See the previous issues, Volume 21.1, 2020  and the Volume 20.3, 2019 for featured papers in this exciting new series. At this stage, articles in this format are by invitation only but at a future date will be open to general submissions. 

FoHPE accepts a range of manuscript types, including original research, reviews, innovative teaching and learning projects, short reports, discussion papers and letters to the editor. Details on all submission categories and guidelines are here. 

Interested in joining the FoHPE Editorial Board? 

The FoHPE Editorial Board is looking for new Associate Editors to join our collegial group of health professional education researchers. The Editorial Board acts as an advisory body to the Editor and the ANZAHPE Committee of Management on the editorial policy of the journal and coordinates peer-reviews of journal articles, among other tasks. Read more about the work of the Editorial Board here.  

If you’re interested in joining the Editorial Board, please send your CV and a one-page cover letter outlining your expression of interest to the current editor, Associate Professor Karen Scott at karen.scott@health.nsw.gov.au  

Hot off the Press 

We are excited to announce that Focus on Health Professional Education (FoHPE) has just published its latest issue - Volume 21.3, 2020. We invite you to review the Table of Contents here.

Di Eley
Vice President & FoPHE Liaison, ANZAHPE

ANZAHPE’s Interprofessional Education (IPE) Sub-committee formed in 2020. The key purpose of this leadership group is to support ANZAHPE members to embed interprofessional education within their organisation.

Led by Associate Professor Margo Brewer, the members of the committee are Honorary Secretary Megan Anakin, past Honorary Secretary Carole Steketee, Associate Professor Roger Dunston, Associate Professor Monica Moran and Professor Gary Rogers.  The Committee is currently finalising its 2021-23 operational plan. This plan includes:

1. Increasing IPE resources: We currently have 24 resources developed for the Australian and/or New Zealand context on the Nexus global knowledge repository. We recently called for and continue to support the submission of new resources; through here submission document email  to executive@anzahpe.org
2. Professional development for IPE: Stay tuned for an announcement of IPE professional development events in 2021. ANZAHPE’s 2021 conference program will also feature sessions dedicated to IPE.
3. A small grant scheme: A call for grant submissions will be made in the next year.
4. National Advisory Group: Following on from the national Securing an Interprofessional Futureproject, a national body¾the Australian Interprofessional Education Advisory Group (AIAG)¾will be established in 2021. This group brings together four peak bodies: ANZAHPE, the Australian Consumer Health Forum, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA), and the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association. The focus of the group is on supporting a collective, national approach to the development of IPE and collaborative practice.

Members who are interested in IPE are encouraged to view the IPE resources on the ANZAHPE site and the other 1,900+ resources on the broader Nexus site. You may also like to join the Australasian Interprofessional Practice and Education Network (AIPPEN) and/or Interprofessional.Global: The Global Confederation for Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice.

What do you think about ANZAHPE? How do you want ANZAHPE to support you?

ANZAHPE is committed to continually reviewing and improving what it does. The ANZAHPE Committee of Management is keen to hear from you about what you value about ANZAHPE and how ANZAHPE can support you in your role as a health professions educator, scholar and/or leader. 

We warmly invite members, contacts, and broader health professions education community to provide feedback via this short online survey. The survey is anonymous and takes less than 10 minutes to complete.

Everyone who completes this survey is eligible to enter a prize draw. The prize is a free premium Professional Development event of the winner’s choosing from the 2021 ANZAHPE Online PD calendar.

We greatly value your contribution and thank you in advance for your time.

Koshila Kumar

Membership Secretary

I am an Education Adviser for the University of Otago Wellington Medical School. My background is in experimental psychology and I taught for many years before moving in to the field of staff development.  I have been working in health professional education for about six years, first as eLearning Facilitator before making the move to my current position. 

My doctoral work in social psychology led to an interest in how and why students learn, in particular, what motivates students to learn in challenging environments. My current research areas focus on academic motivation in medical education and the use of technology, including mobile technology, to support learning in the health professions. 

I became interested in applying for Associate Fellowship after attending two ANZAHPE conferences. I was impressed with the collegiality and passion for teaching and learning that I saw all around me and wanted to be a part of an organisation filled with individuals so committed to professional development.

Tehmina Gladman

ANZAHPE has always had a strong focus on promoting Diversity and Inclusion but in 2020 we have created a specific subcommittee to ensure we place Diversity and Inclusion at the front and centre of all ANZAHPE endeavours; in our organisation, in our presentations and our messages. 

This is so that we can support and encourage our membership in their workplaces, in their teaching and in their interactions with clients and patients.  We are very aware that enacting inclusion and diversity within ANZAHPE and beyond is an on-going process of continual improvement to which ANZAHPE aspires. 

We are always open to suggestions.  If you want to contribute or comment, please contact anna.vnuk@jcu.edu.au 

Anna Vnuk
Lead, Diversity and Inclusion