Highly regarded
Medical Schools appreciate the quality of experience that The Hastings Health Centre provides for their students.  Practice placements at The Centre are highly valued by students and feedback is consistently positive about the experience we provide.

Postgraduate Medical Training in General Practice
Doctors undertaking their specialist postgraduate training in general practice are called GP Registrars. Their training is provided under the auspices of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners (RNZCGP). This regulatory body sets the standard of skills, knowledge and ability required for safe General Practice in New Zealand.

We are accredited to provide supervised training for Registrars. This 40 week programme runs from February until December, culminating in the Primex examination (the first part of the specialist GP qualification).  

Our teaching involves:

• Individual teaching, seminars and workshops
• Fully supervised patient consultations and feedback sessions
  
• Case by case discussions
• Supervision during after hours work
• Regular assessment from RNZCGP Regional Directors who visit each Registrar at least once every five-months

What qualifications and experience are Registrars required to have to work at The Hastings Health Centre?
Registrars need to have NZ citizenship or permanent residence, be registered with the New Zealand Medical Council and have completed two full-time equivalent years of appropriate medical experience after graduating – one of these being in New Zealand.

For further more information, see http://www.rnzcgp.org.nz/education/gpep1/docs/trainees_speak.pdf

Undergraduate Medical Training
In their final year of their degree course, Medical Students (known as Trainee Interns) are placed in General Practices for four weeks.

The Hastings Health Centre hosts Trainee Interns from the Wellington School of Medicine on a regular basis.

How are these students supervised?
We match experienced General Practitioner teachers with Interns to balance the students’ experience with an appropriate level of responsibility for patient safety.   

All Trainee Interns have successfully completed major exams at the end of their fifth year and have considerable knowledge.  At the start of the attachment, individual evaluation is conducted by The Hastings Health Centre to determine their clinical experience requirements.

How is the attachment organised?
Trainee Interns undertake as many aspects of clinical practice as they are able, with an increasing degree of independence as the attachment progresses.

Duties an intern may typically perform are:

• History taking and examination of patients
• Problem assessment and management plans for patients
• Near patient testing, such as blood glucose, urine dipstick, ECG etc
• Injections, venepuncture, suturing wounds and syringing ears
• Referral letters, prescriptions, forms and patient records
• Home visits, perhaps for daily follow-ups of common diseases not seen in hospital
• Arranging for hospital admission of patients and accompanying patients to hospital.
• Provide after-hours sessions with the General Practitioner
• Attend any practice meetings and educational sessions
• Attend peer review sessions with the General Practitioner

To provide a comprehensive view of the Centre, Interns will also spend time with our General Manager, learning about practice organisation, funding streams, relationships with PHOs and Management Service Organisations. The also spend time with District Nurses, our Physiotherapist and Reception Staff.

Nursing and Physiotherapy Students
We often host Nursing Students from EIT for their ‘practicum’ or clinical experience. They work under the supervision of experienced nurses, usually in our Accident and Medical Department.
CAPE Physiotherapy also frequently hosts physiotherapy students from the Otago or Auckland Physiotherapy schools.

Research  - We’re at the Forefront
At present, The Hastings Health Centre is taking part in an international multi-centre trial
for the treatment of hypertension (raised blood pressure) in the “very elderly” (people over 80).  The trial is called HYVET (Hypertension in the very Elderly Trial).