The Executive Committee needs to get a broad feel for the current thinking of the membership with regard to how you want this association to be named. To that end we need to conduct a straw poll of you, the members on this thorny subject. An email has gone out to all members but in case your in trays are swamped the issues that you need to consider are as follows:

The alternatives are:

1. Australian Association for Academic General Practice Inc. (AAAGP) i.e. keep the current name
2. The Australian Association for Academic Primary Care (AAAPC; A3PC)
3. The Australian Association for Academic General Practice and Primary Care (AAAGPPC)
4. The Australian Association for Research and Teaching in Primary Care (AART-PC)

PROs and CONs of Name Alternatives

1. Australian Association for Academic General Practice Inc. (AAAGP) i.e. keep the current name

   PRO:

   AAAGP is well known nationally. As an organisation, AAAGP has represented Australian academic practice for a long time.

   CON:

   It may be viewed as an organisation ONLY for general practitioners. This may be reflected in the current make-up of members. We should be more open to other primary care researchers and educators and a name change might encourage this.

2. The Australian Association for Academic Primary Care (AAAPC; A3PC)

   PRO:

   An obvious switch to make it clearer that the organisation is concerned with all academic primary care. The name is brief with a reasonable acronym.

   CON:

   There was concern from some members who the did not want to lose "GP" from the name. Loss of recognizable name and reputation.

3. The Australian Association for Academic General Practice and Primary Care (AAAGPPC)

   PRO:

   This maintains the historical link with the organisation, and keeps GP in the name, while becoming broader with the primary care aspect.

   CON:

   It is a very long name - a bit of an alphabet soup.

4. The Australian Association for Research and Teaching in Primary Care (AART-PC)

   PRO:

   To be more explicit about representing research and teaching in primary care.

   CON:

   It is easier to say but the risk is loosing our identity all together as some might see it as a completely new body.

Your task is to rank the proposed names as outlined above giving 1 to your most preferred name, a 2 to your second choice, a 3 to your third choice and a 4 to your least preferred name.

There is another discussion of the proposed name change in the March newsletter which you may want to consider. But it is crucial if you want your voice to be heard and your (straw) vote to count that you let, Kitty Novy know your preferences, by the 15th May. My email address is: knovy@unimelb.edu.au.

Your vote needs to be received no later than 15th May 2009.

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