Roles and functions

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.