No 0809: March 28th, 2008
eNews is a weekly electronic newsletter sent to all GP practices
(with email addresses) within the
Editorial The CAT is out of the bag
Aged Care ACFI Information session, Fast Track X-ray update
Chronic
Disease Management How do I get my patient into a
Life! Course?
Professional Development CPD events
HMR Seeing is believing - common eye conditions in the
aged
Immunisation Pertussis: Myths and Facts
Information
Management includes Medical Director tips and New on the
Web
Items of
interest Managing My Heart Health
News for
Practice Staff MyPracticeTeam
Women’s Health Weave Project
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The North East Valley Division of General Practice has given its practices a "leg-up" through the free provision of the Pen Computer Systems Clinical Audit Tool (CAT) for the next 12 months.
"New practice accreditation standards, the need for improvements in the management and measurement of chronic disease management, and the business requirement for this to be achieved within a financial model that can improve general practice incomes are the drivers for this initiative" said Bill Newton, CEO at GPV, who has warmly supported the initiative from the outset.
An information and training evening in using the CAT (plus a short session on the Practice Health Atlas) will be held on the evening of Wednesday April 23. We would encourage as many members of your practice team (GPs, Nurses and Practice Managers) to attend this session. Even if you have CAT installed the evening will show you new enhancements and provide the platform to share your CAT experiences. Click here for flier and further information.
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From March 20th 2008 aged care homes will be grappling
with the “ACFI” (Aged Care Funding Instrument). ACFI will replace the old RCS
system. As overall facility funding is based on these assessments, staff will
be anxious to get their assessments performed as well as possible. The new ACFI
system will be far less reliant on nursing care plans, but more reliant on
documentation of diagnoses and management. This is where the GP comes in!
Click here
for details on the information session we are offering on ACFI run by ex-aged
care home DON and Manager
Click here to access our ACFI information sheet for GPs.
Click here to
access Fast Track x-ray forms, and an update and on using this great new
service for obtaining non-urgent X-rays for aged care home residents who
require ambulance transport. This service is considered a trial and needs
to be shown to be successful in order to continue. One of the key aims is to
have a short turn around time at the
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The six session lifestyle modification course has been shown to reduce the risk of diabetes by 58% in participants.
The process to refer a patient to a Life! course is as follows:
1. Patient completes the Diabetes
Risk Test - The DRT can be accessed at www.goforyourlife.vic.gov.au/life
or order copies by calling 1300 136 588
2. Score and eligibility confirmed by GP - If a patient scores seven or more on the DRT, they are encouraged to see their GP. To be eligible for the Life! course, the patient must: Be 50 years or above, or an adult Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person; Score 15 or above on the Diabetes Risk Test; Have had diabetes excluded in the past 12 months
3. Refer your patient to a Life! Course if they meet the three criteria above. The course assists participants to make small, achievable changes to their lifestyle to improve their health and reduce their risk of type 2 diabetes. Further information on course content can be found under ‘Life Courses’ at www.goforyourlife.vic.gov.au/life.
Referral forms in word format or as templates for importing into Medical
Director, Best Practice, ZedMed or GP Complete are available from www.goforyourlife.vic.gov.au/life
or by calling 1300 136 588. Once completed, the form can be faxed to your local
Life! provider or to Diabetes
For further information about the Life! Program, please contact Angie Deegan on 9341 5247 or a.deegan@gpv.org.au
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For GPs and Practice Managers and Practice Nurses. The evening will look at TWO new and exciting developments in general practice – the Practice Health Atlas and the Pen Clinical Audit Tool (see editorial). You will be able to sign up for one or both on the night.
Wednesday April 23, 2008, 6:30pm – 9.00pm (dinner provided), John Scott Meeting House, La Trobe University, Bundoora (Entry via Car Park 7). [Application Form]
Wednesday
2nd April, 2008 12:10pm at John Lindell Lecture Theatre, Level 4, Lance Townsend Building
Opposite Medical Library - followed by lunch Zeltner Hall at 1pm
There will be no Tuesday lecture next week. The next lecture is on April 8.
For full term 2 Tuesday lecture program click here
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Wednesday 2 April at NDGP Training room. Light meal 6.30-7pm. 7.45pm main lecture
Dr Alice Rota- Bartelink, specialist in vision disorders . Flyer on the website or call 9416 7689 to RSVP.
All HMR enquiries contact Jenny Gowan 0417 506 944 or jenny.gowan@ndgp.org.au
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1. Myth: Pertussis infection is uncommon in
Fact:
Pertussis is the most common vaccine-preventable disease, with epidemics
occurring every three to four years.1 In 2006, there were over 11,000 reported
cases of pertussis,2 however the figures are likely to be much higher as up to
95% of patients with pertussis may go undiagnosed.
2. Myth: Pertussis occurs mostly in childhood.
Fact:
Although infants less than one year of age recorded the highest pertussis
notification rates of any age group, i.e.100 per 100,000 in 2005,4 adults now
account for >90% of all reported pertussis infections.
3. Myth: Pertussis is a mild disease.
Fact: Severe
morbidity and mortality are less likely in adults, however when transmitted to
susceptible infants, pertussis can cause severe or life-threatening illness.
Potentially serious neurological complications include cerebral hypoxia, which
can result in brain damage, and even death. Pertussis pneumonia, sometimes
complicated by seizures and encephalopathy, is the leading cause of death from
pertussis infection in young infants.5
Infants less than one year of age are consistently observed to represent
the highest proportion of hospitalised cases each year, accounting for over
50%.
More myths next week.
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When working with templates you quite often want to add fields “on the fly”. The Data toolbar allows you to do this and it can be displayed by pressing Control + D. This allows you to populate your templates with from the MD data fields. This includes people/organisation from your address book, clinical details (medications, histories, allergies, family and social histories, smoking/alcohol), patient demographics and summary (where you can add selected investigations and progress notes).
You can also have the Data toolbar permanently displayed by changing one of the preferences. From within LetterWriter go to the File menu and select Preferences. Click on the Defaults tab and check the box marked Display Data toolbar.
Question: When working with templates that have tables I have to go to the Table menu and select Gridlines. I can then enter information in the correct place within the table. Is there a way that Gridlines are always on?
Answer: It is simply a matter of setting your Preferences in LetterWriter. From within LetterWriter go to the File menu and select Preferences.
Click on the Defaults tab and make sure there is a green tick in the Display Gridlines box. This will ensure that the Gridlines are always displayed. By the way gridlines do not print.
1. Updated information on dental items – Found under EPC/CDM and Aged Care Allied and Dental Health.
2. Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI) – new information re new funding model for residential aged care. See under Aged Care - ACFI
3. Tuesday GP Lecture Program Calendar Term 2, 2008
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This is an interactive resource for people with or at high risk of coronary heart disease, to help improve heart health and reduce the risk of further heart problems. It provides tools to help take action on important heart health goals and includes vital information on heart health related lifestyle, medical and psychological issues. Managing My Heart Health is available free of charge for single copies. To order call the Heart Foundation on 1300 362 787 or by email heartline@heartfoundation.org.au. Click here for more information.
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Is a FREE Publication developed by the
MyPracticeTeam is available free to all practice staff around
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You may be approached by the
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Please
note: only new ads, paid ads or resubmitted ads will be posted here. All other
ads can be found on the website
Ivanhoe Medical Clinic - Sessions for PT or FT VR GP, large supportive group (9 GPs), FT nurses, computerized, EPCs, no A/Hs, friendly, flexible, mixed billing. Contact:- Dr.Stephen Smith or Dr.David Doig on 9499 1245
Northcote area –Full time Div 1 Practice Nurse required to assist our medical staff in a busy general practice. Duties include wound care, travel health, immunisatons, health assessments, patient triage and all other duties required in a general practice. Visit our website www.doctorsofnorthcote.com for more information. To apply forward your resume to manger@doctorsofnorthcote.com.
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A nice, calm and respectable lady went into the pharmacy, walked up to the pharmacist,
looked straight into his eyes, and said, 'I would like to buy some cyanide.'
The pharmacist asked, 'Why in the world do you need cyanide?'
The lady replied, 'I need it to poison my husband.'
The pharmacist's eyes got big and he exclaimed, 'Lord have mercy! I can't give
you cyanide to kill your husband. That's against the law! I'll lose my licence!
They'll throw both of us in jail! All kinds of bad things will happen.
Absolutely not! You CANNOT have any cyanide!'
The lady reached into her purse and pulled out a picture of her husband in bed
with the pharmacist's wife.
The pharmacist looked at the picture and replied, 'Well now, that's different.
You didn't tell me you had a prescription.'
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