Grampians Health

Grampians Health Website

Grampians Health Ballarat Website

Grampians Health has brought together the four hospitals of Edenhope and District Memorial Hospital, Stawell Regional Health, Wimmera Health Care Group and Ballarat Health Services to deliver safe, equitable and accessible healthcare for all people, tailored to changing workforce and community needs, for the long term. 

Grampians Health Ballarat (GH-B) is the largest regional health service in the Grampians region, and as such it is the principal referral hospital for the region, which extends from Bacchus Marsh to the South Australian border; an area of 48,000 square kilometres. Grampians Health Ballarat comprises two campuses which include a large Victorian regional centre Emergency department (with VST and cardiac catheterization services), acute medical and surgical services (224 beds), psychiatric services (67 beds), aged care assessment, sub-acute care, palliative care, psycho-geriatric and rehabilitation (70 beds).

Intern program information

5 intern positions are available (government-funded)

Our structured training program provides interns with a wealth of learning opportunities to achieve their goal of becoming a registered pharmacist. The program is designed to cultivate the highest level of clinical knowledge, dispensing and manufacturing accuracy, and to facilitate a smooth transition from intern to registered pharmacist.

The Grampians Health pharmacy team operates across multiple sites. The pharmacy team at Ballarat is comprised of approximately 100 individuals. Complementing this, is the pharmacy team at Horsham, a group of 22 individuals, working collaboratively to meet the diverse needs of the district.

Campuses where pharmacy interns will work: 

Based at Grampians Health Ballarat (Ballarat Hospital and Queen Elizabeth Campus). Interns will also complete rotation(s) to Grampians Health Horsham.

Orientation – Our interns participate in a comprehensive two-week orientation program to GH Pharmacy services that includes a site visit to Horsham.

Rotations:

  • Clinical rotations: General medicine (7 weeks), Cardiology & Neurology (7 weeks), Surgical (6 weeks), Sub-acute (including geriatrics, palliative care and rehabilitation wards) (4 weeks), Antimicrobial Stewardship (1 week), Renal & dialysis (2 weeks), Emergency Medicine (3 weeks).
  • Operational rotations (7 weeks total): Dispensary (inpatients and outpatients). 
  • Elective rotations (3 weeks each): Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Oncology and Haematology (inpatients), Mental Health, Aseptic manufacturing, Paediatrics and Special Care Nursery, Grampians Health at Home (GH at Home). Interns undertake 1 or 2 elective rotations per year.
  • Research rotation (2 weeks): This rotation is for interns undertaking the Intern Foundation Program (IFP).
  • Horsham rotation (4-6 weeks): This is a mandatory rotation of the intern program. It involves a mix of general medicine, surgical, paediatrics and obstetrics, and sub-acute. This rotation may be done as a single block, or split across 2 rotations.  

Support structure:

Each intern is assigned an individual preceptor for their year of training. Our preceptors have extensive experience in mentorship and a passion for teaching and intern development. All preceptors have completed the Monash Clinical Educator course that was developed by our Deputy Director of Pharmacy Clinical Services and Education.

Individual feedback and goal setting sessions follow each rotation to encourage interns to progress their learning, self-reflect on practice and plan for continuing professional development opportunities. Preceptors work closely with the Senior Education Pharmacist to tailor learning plans based on intern needs.

Educational activities:

Tutorials are provided weekly throughout the year with the primary aims of helping interns prepare for their oral examination, explore clinical topics (i.e. disease state, medication knowledge) to complement work-based learning, and promote learning for the interns in a safe and supportive environment.

Tutorials are led by pharmacists from Ballarat and Horsham, and often in collaboration with Senior Medical officers and other staff outside of the department.

We offer the following tutorials:

  • Primary Care Tutorials: Intern-led. Each intern will be required to lead 3 to 4 tutorials.
  • Clinical Tutorials: Pharmacist-led, potentially involving interdisciplinary input. 
  • Legal Tutorials: Led by our Dispensary Manager.
  • Compounding Tutorials: Led by our Senior Compounding Pharmacist.
  • Process-based Tutorials: Led by the Senior Education Pharmacist, and focus on developing essential skills in key clinical processes.

In addition, our tutorials are:

  • Scheduled to align with topics covered in discussion blocks for the Monash ITP program
  • Recorded to allow for intern revision throughout the year
  • Able to attended virtually during rotations to Horsham
  • Designed to progress in clinical complexity as the year progresses to match intern growth 

Primary care tutorials are completed by the end of August to provide sufficient time to revise prior to the Pharmacy Board Oral examination.

Checklists are provided for various clinical rotations throughout the year. These are designed to guide structured learning, with clear learning objectives across various clinical topics. Interns work closely with their supervising pharmacists to complete various tasks on the checklist that allow the intern to demonstrate application of knowledge in practice.    

Exam preparation:

We offer extensive one-on-one exam preparation that begins several months prior to exams. Interns have the opportunity to complete exams with pharmacists within the team who are Pharmacy Board examiners, and all exams are completed under strict exam conditions.

Intern Foundation Program (IFP)

Grampians Health Ballarat and Grampians Health Horsham are Monash University IFP credentialed workplaces.

Research projects are coordinated by the Senior Management team and interns are extremely well supported in this area. Tutorials are provided on data collection and data presentation, and proposals and abstracts are peer reviewed prior to submission.

If you are considering applying to Grampians Health and would like more information, to see facilities or would just like to chat, please send us an email (see details below).

Contacts

Pharmacy Intern Training Program:
Raveena Chadha (Education Pharmacist)
Ph: 03 5320 4356
E: raveena.chadha@bhs.org.au

Intern positions

  • 5 DHHS funded