The Junior Medical Officer (JMO) Forum was formed in 2002 from a group of representatives from the six teaching hospitals in Adelaide, supported by CEPTSA – now South Australian Medical Education and Training (SA MET). The purpose of the JMO Forum is to provide an opportunity for junior doctors to meet to discuss common issues facing them as a group.
In particular, the JMO Forum provides important advocacy and representation for ‘prevocational’ doctors, or interns and RMOs who have not entered a training program. Prevocational training is an important stage of junior medical training, and the JMO Forum is one way JMOs can have an impact on how this training is delivered at hospital and state level.
The JMO Forum is supported by SA MET (the SA Health Unit that oversees prevocational training, and junior doctor job allocations in SA) however, operates as an independent reference group from and for them.
The main function of the Junior Medical Officer (JMO) Forum is to provide an opportunity for representatives from each of the teaching hospitals across the state to meet, identify and action issues facing them as a group and recommend improvements to junior doctor training. A summary of our activities are listed below:
Meetings
Meetings are held four times a year and allow representatives to discuss common issues affecting them at their hospital including workplace, education, training and welfare issues. Guest speakers may also present topics of interest to the JMO Forum.
Newsletter
The JMO Forum publishes an electronic newsletter to all JMOs in SA. This includes discussions about the current issues affecting JMOs, such as numbers of intern and training places, guest articles from senior clinicians involved in clinical training, and updates about the activities of the JMO Forum. Each hospital’s representatives will be responsible for producing one edition of the newsletter each year.
Advocacy
Issues that arise at meetings may be taken further by the JMO Forum. This might involve a letter or a request for a meeting with the relevant organisation (eg. a hospital, Local Health Network (LHN), South Australian Education and Training (SA MET) Unit, or Department of Health representative). It is an important part of the advocacy of the JMO Forum to follow up and ensure appropriate solutions are worked towards.
National JMO Committee
Each State and Territory in Australia has its own JMO Forum and the Chairs of each JMO Forum (including SA) sit on a national committee (the Australian Junior Medical Officers’ Committee, AJMOC).
Administer CPMEC awards
The Confederation of Postgraduate Medical Education Councils (CPMEC), the national group representing SA MET and similar bodies nationally, administers education awards for senior clinicians and medical education staff. The JMO Forum administers the state level of these awards, with nominations and voting done by JMOs.
Medical Education & Training Forum
Each year, a major national medical education conference takes place, focussing on prevocational training (internship and early junior doctor training). The JMO Forum encourages attendance, and supports the committee to attend by coordinating sponsorship of attendance from hospitals, SA MET and the Department of Health. In addition, the JMO Forum hopes to present projects at the conference and will be looking for JMOs interested in participating as project leads and presenters for these.
Other work
Outside of meetings, the JMO Forum may occasionally work on projects such as research projects, or consultation papers.
The Junior Medical Officer (JMO) Forum is a representative committee comprising “reps” elected from each of the major hospitals/Local Health Networks (LHNs) as follows:
Hospital/Network Representatives
Northern Adelaide Local Health Network: Up to 4 interns and 2-3 PGY2+ representatives
Central Adelaide Local Health Network: Up to 5 interns and 2-3 PGY2+ representatives
Southern Adelaide Local Health Network: Up to 4 interns and 2-3 PGY2+ representatives
Country Health SA Local Health Network: Up to 2 interns or PGY2+ representatives
Training Representatives
Adelaide Metro Mental Health Directorate: 2 PGY2+ representatives
Women’s and Children’s Network (WCHN): 1 PGY2+ Obstetrics representative and 1 PGY2+ Paediatrics representative:
Student Representatives
1 student representative Adelaide Medical Students’ Society (AMSS)
1 student representative Flinders Medical Students’ Society (FMSS)
Clinical Advisors
2-3 senior doctors, PGY4+ can be appointed to oversee discussion and provide advice on issues raised.
Co-opted members are determined by the JMO Forum
Chair
The JMO Forum is chaired by a PGY2+ representative, who sat on the committee the previous year. A Deputy Chair is elected at the start of each calendar year from one of the intern representatives.
The 2020 JMO Forum Chair is Dr Monica Chen.
The JMO Forum meets four times a year.
For any questions regarding the SA JMO Forum, please contact the 2020 Chair, Dr Monica Chen – via the SA MET Unit.
The JMO Forum periodically publishes a newsletter. You can access the current issue below.
