Reflections from our first IME discovery workshop
I have delivered my first education workshop for 2026, which was for keen psychiatrists across Australia who wanted to learn more about working as Independent Medicolegal Examiners as the next step in their career or as an adjunct to their clinical practice.
A lively and interactive discussion ensued, amongst attendees who had some experience with IME work, and others keen to learn about this field of psychiatry.
We covered a lot of topics in a half day that could have been delivered over a weekend, and certainly left me with great ideas for future workshops, including a deep dive into report writing, and how to set up a medicolegal practice.
We talked a lot about the different types of accreditation courses available, and which ones to do depending on our jurisdictions and preferred type of cases. We did explore the limitations of applying whole person impairments to psychological injury, and the administration of PIRS and GEPIC ratings to real life scenarios. It was also interesting to reflect that only some IME work requires a calculation of WPI, and so much that we do relies more on our opinions about causation, diagnosis and treatment recommendations.
With the demand for quality IME reports in historical abuse matters increasing as a result of recent legal changes, candidates were taken through writing expert reports and the process from initial referral to appearance at trial. We focused on the case Adam Kneale vs Footscray Football Club [2024] VSCA 314 referring to the expert opinions of the psychiatrists engaged by the plaintiff and defendant,and why certain questions are posed in the Letter of Instruction, so that lawyers can assess pecuniary and non-pecuniary losses.
A huge thank you to our guest speaker, Dr Owen Bradfield, Chief Medical Officer, MIPS who fielded questions and gave advice about matters regarding consent, indemnity protection for IME matters, record keeping, duty of care and the role of AI in IME work.
Attendees enjoyed catering from The Commons Cafe, and took home resources and materials that would help them make real decisions about next steps.
All attendees said they would recommend this workshop to colleagues and all felt the workshop was useful to attend. Suggestions for future workshops will be taken on board as we roll out the calendar for the rest of 2026, on the back of the success of this pilot workshop.
We now have a waiting list for the next workshop, to be held in Melbourne in the coming weeks and months, and given it was a resounding success to cap the places at below 10, we’ll be doing so, as well as only offering a face to face option for maximum value.
Join our waitlist here: https://drhelenschultz.com/