Victoria District Medical Centre
- Phone:
- (08) 9921 6099
- Facsimile:
- (08) 9964 3410
- Email:
- kpedlow@gvdmc.com
- Street Address:
- 151 Durlacher Street
Geraldton, WA 6530
- Training Region:
- Mid West - Gascoyne
- Accreditation:
- RACGP
- RA:
- 3
- Outer Metro:
- No
Placement Availability
| Practice | Semester | Capacity | Basic | Adv | Sub/Ex Sk | PT/FT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Victoria Districts Medical Centre | 2012.1 | 2 | Y | Y | Y | P/T or F/T |
| Victoria Districts Medical Centre | 2012.2 | 2 | Y | Y | Y | P/T or F/T |
| Victoria Districts Medical Centre | 2013.1 | 1 | Y | Y | Y | P/T or F/T |
| Victoria Districts Medical Centre | 2013.2 | 1.0 | Y | Y | Y | P/T or F/T |
| Victoria Districts Medical Centre | 2014.1 | 2 | Y | Y | Y | F/T only |
| Victoria Districts Medical Centre | 2014.2 | 2 | Y | Y | Y | F/T only |
Practice Staff
Open Times
| Mon - Fri | 8:30am - 5:30pm |
Practice Details
- Total GPs:
- 3
- Billing Arrangements:
- Mixed
- Trainee Consulting Room:
- Own room
Practice Philosophy
Victoria Districts Medical Centre sees itself as a holistic and comprehensive provider of medical services to the Geraldton area. We provide cradle to grave care in a team and shared care environment. There is a strong procedural component to the practice. We are committed to ongoing personal medical education and the teaching of medical students, nursing staff and junior doctors. We try to promote a healthy work life balance and reckon a regional centre like Geraldton is a perfect place to achieve this slippery goal. The time is ripe for the rebirth of the Abrolhos medical weekends at Pedlow camp Rat Island. This would be early each term for our trainee(s), supervisors, practice staff and significant others to plan the term. You may remember the successful Abrolhos Medical Conferences that morphed into the first RCSWA Scientific Meeting in Geraldton 2007. This meeting has since been renamed the Rural Health Conference co hosted by RCSWA and Rural Health West.The arrival of our first community resident paediatrics October 2011 sees our practice rejoin the WA GP training scheme. Our vision is to extend this initiative to a formal rural generalist training pathway modelled on the highly successful Queensland program. Our first trainee Dr Wendy Rowlands has chosen to return to Geraldton following her RCS 5 year. We look forward to making Wendy and subsequent community residents and registrars very welcome both at the practice and our greater community. We have extensive networks and will do our level best to facilitate a good experience.
Scholarships
The practice is pleased to announce the availability of a new type of academic scholarship for junior doctors working in our practice. Interested applicants will be able to access dedicated working time and a scholarship provided by the practice of $20,000 per annum. We shall be collaborating with Western Australian GP Education and Training in the first instance and possibly other academic institutions such as the University of Western Australia. This initiative is made possible by the generosity of Dr Pedlow and SJOG Pathology.
We envisage two research topics being undertaken per year. One will be the rural generalist pathway in Western Australia (WAGPET) and will be in collaboration with Dr Pedlow. The other research interest will be chosen by the successful applicant who will have full access to a large and well organised electronic medical database and 30 years of clinical records at the practice. We believe that this is and has been a much under utilised resource. It could well be a treasure trove for academic work. The practice patients have been very supportive towards this sort of endeavour.
Interested doctors need to be part of the WAGPET training program and available to work at the practice. For further details, please contact us.
Scope of practice
Obstetrics
Includes complicated confinement and vaginal deliveries, obstetrics ultrasound with increasingly sophisticated point of care machines at the practice, both hospitals and the Geraldton Regional Aboriginal Medical Service. Dr Pedlow is the lead GP obstetrician to the midwife led clinic at GRAMS which supervises 180 sometimes high risk obstetrics cases yearly. We are very proud of this service which has conceived and promulgated a variety of shared care arrangements with local and distant medical specialists and allied health. We then follow the cases to delivery at the regional hospital. A new innovation several years ago was the managing of diabetic pregnancies including insulin treated.
Paediatrics
Drs Borcherds and Pedlow serve on the hospital afterhours roster with our specialist paediatricians. At our well equipped practice we also see a lot of acute paediatrics and a variety of chronic conditions including many families with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. In 2009 Dr Pedlow sat on the NHMRC committee to rewrite the national ADHD policy.
Procedures
include implanon insertion of which Dr Pedlow is an MSD certified trainer, MIRENA insertion under ultrasound guidance, termination of pregnancy under ultrasound guidance, vasectomy, infantile circumcision under local anaesthetic, skin cancer surgery, ingrown toenail wedge resection.
GP
Approximately 50% of our practice is standard GP. We try to be as paperless as possible and have fully embraced the care plan/enhanced primary care method of practising.
IT
Is a priority much to the amusement of our patients watching the new gadgets appear. In patches slow typing has been rescued by Dragonspeak voice to text with stunning increase in productivity. Electronic assistance at the bedside or practice desk has improved patient care out of sight. This includes high-speed desktop computers and broadband fast enough to use regularly in consultations. Home computer, laptop, I pad, and iphone have practice remote access and are loaded with helpful clinical apps and software. 3G access at the bedside with I pad/I phone is particularly useful doing acute call, neonatal paediatrics and so on. The scope for teaching younger medical and nursing colleagues is enormous. Assistance available for keen trainees.
GP Registrar Activities & Opportunities
| Evening work | Optional | Night work | Optional |
| Weekend work | Optional | On call | Yes |
| House calls | Yes | Hospital visits | Yes |
| Hospital admitting rights | Yes | Nursing home visits | Yes |
| Other Allied Health professional | No | Minor procedures | No |
| Advanced procedural skills | Yes | Shared antenatel care | Yes |
| Enhanced primary care | Yes | Practice Nurse | Yes |
| Obstetrics | Yes | Anaesthetics | Yes |
| At our well equipped practice we see a lot of acute paediatrics and a variety of chronic conditions including many families with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Other procedures include implanon insertion, I am a certified implanon trainer, MIRENA insertion under ultrasound guidance, skin cancer surgery, ingrown toenail wedge resection. Practice Nurse coordinating EPC items. Treatment Room procedures. Immunisations. Triage for walk –in clients, Wound + ulcer care. Cryotherapy. ECG + Spirometry. Regular rostered obstetrics. Anaesthetics - one list per fortnight - NEGOTIABLE | |||
IT Resources
| Computerised patient notes | Yes | Internet access in consulting rooms | Yes |
| Computerised prescribing | Yes | Medical software used | Medical Director |
