Non-Clinical Courses

‘The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; the willingness to learn is a choice.’ ~ Brian Herbert

Current Medicolegal Issues in Clinical Practice

Medicolegal Workshop Day 2023

These workshops are for medical and health professionals from all specialties, at all stages of career. They are a great resource for any clinical practice, regardless of public or private practice.

The workshops explore your legal obligations as a health professional in all areas of clinical practice, and helps you to navigate pitfalls that are seen regularly in indemnity claims. Most importantly, they will help you to become a safer healthcare worker with a more effective and ethical clinical practice.

Our workshops are very interactive and involves both self-reflective exercises and critical thinking. Due to the sensitive nature of our discussions, these seminars are limited in numbers, questions can also be asked anonymously and no recording will be allowed.

The day is divided up into 4 sessions, 2 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. You have the flexibility to attend a single session, half a day or the whole day.

Saturday 7th October 2023 8.30am to 4pm

Cost: $85 per session, $155 for half day, $285 for full day

Allied Health/Nursing Staff/Student/Trainee Discount 10% (please email us for promo code at classroom4doctors@gmail.com)

Costs are inclusive of refreshments +/- lunch.

Program:

Session 1: 8.30am-10am

Good Clinical Practice: Lessons from Medical Negligence

This is an interactive workshop.

We will explore the meaning of medical negligence: looking at negligence laws with a difference, to learn what it means from a clinical perspective.

Unlike the usual medicolegal lectures, where avoidance of litigation and defensive medicine is discussed, we are going to explore this topic from a clinician’s point of view, and how the practice of Good Medicine is naturally a preventive measure of possible litigations.

We will look at everything from to whom we owe a duty of care, what is the standard of care and how is this established legally, to how causation is proved in law, and what defences can be used to counter claims of negligence. We will also look at when clinical practice is so bad that it engages criminal law and constitutes criminal negligence. All of this is discussed with very interesting landmark cases which contributed to the establishment of these laws.

This workshop will show you how to improve your risk profile and become as safer health practitioner.

Session 2: 10.30am – 12pm

What is Consent? Function in Clinical Practice vs Requirements in Law

This is an interactive workshop looking how medical laws affecting Consent in clinical practice.

What is a consent? What constitutes an adequate legal consent? How is this different to what we actually do in our clinical practice. We will explore the legal elements and the functions of a consent. We explore what constitutes an ‘adequate’ consent in the common law, using interesting landmark cases that have established these laws. There will be a discussion on capacity and alternative authorities for consent. We will look at what constitutes a good consent, both legally and medically, whilst navigating the practical issues in obtaining consent in today’s clinical practice.

Session 3: 12.30pm – 2pm

Rules of Engagement: Privacy Laws & Regulations in Medical Advertising & Social Media

This 60 minute seminar is a must for any AHPRA-regulated health profession who has a public profile, and engages in any form of media, from Instagram, Facebook, print advertising, to media commentary.

Medical Advertising has always been controversial since mid last century. This seminar looks at the legislations and regulations associated with Medical Advertising to ensure that your social media and marketing contents are not breaking the law. The Australian legal framework for medical advertising is a lot more stringent than many other countries, and attempts to work around the ethical issues of commercialisation of medicine.

We will also do an overview of the privacy laws, exploring the pertinent legislations and regulations – what it means in clinical practice.

We have done the hard work in sifting through the legislations and regulations for you, so find out if you are treading too close to the legal boundaries or unintentionally breaking the law. Join us for a comprehensive look at your obligations in this area.

Session 4: 2.30pm – 4pm

Clinical Documentation & Complaint Handling: Who, What, When, Why and How

As doctors, we have all been guilty of sloppy clinical documentation. It is an area that has never been well-taught in Medical School, and it is often not given the time and effort reflective of its importance in clinical practice. Documentation is the crux of medicolegal defence, but that is not its true function. The main purpose of documentation should not be about the lawyers; it should be about ensuring clinical safety. This seminar covers not only what is good documentation, why it is important, who can access it, when should it be done and how can we do it so that it does not impede our clinical efficiency.

Handling patient complaints can be stressful, hurtful, frustrating and demoralising. This workshop looks at both written and verbal complaints. We dissect the components of the different complaint types, we examine the personalities behind these complaints, and we delve into the real causes that led to them. This workshop will also cover how to construct a response, providing you with a practical framework.

Speaker:

Dr Lily Vrtik MHL FRACS MBBS

Dr Lily Vrtik graduated from University of Western Australia in 1999. She undertook her surgical training in both WA and Queensland. She qualified as a specialist plastic surgeon in 2009. Apart from a busy private practice based in Brisbane, she also holds a public position at Princess Alexandra Hospital. Clinically, Lily subspecialises in breast surgery and cancer reconstructive surgery. As a reserve specialist in the Royal Australian Airforce, she also has had sub-specialty training in acute trauma, trauma reconstruction and burns surgery. 

Lily has special interest in the medicolegal area. She completed her Masters in Health Law at the prestigious University of Sydney (Sydney Law School) with a special interest in Bioethics, Medical Marketing and Health Profession Regulations. She currently holds a position in one of the major medical indemnity companies as both risk assessor and advisor, as well as provide independent reports on complex issues/practitioners for both public and private health regulatory bodies.

Having spent most of her former life as a piano teacher before Medicine, Lily continues her enthusiasm for teaching. She is regularly involved in educational sessions from clinical topics, medicolegal seminars to life-skill workshops for all levels of health professionals. Lily is also part of the instructor faculty in ANZBA’s burn injury management courses for over 15 years. Her aim in education is to make learning material relevant as well as interesting, so that her audience walks away with the motivation to apply their newfound information. She is an advocate for both patient safety and wellbeing of the healthcare provider.