North East Valley DGP eNews

No 0832: September 11, 2008
eNews is a weekly electronic newsletter sent to all GP practices (with email addresses) within the NEV catchment. The aim is to provide up to date information relevant to GPs and to disseminate the latest activities and resources from the division. All feedback and enquiries welcome and should be addressed to Patty Marshall. You can also visit our website at: http://www.nevdgp.org.au/.
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In this issue:

Chronic Disease Management         Chronic Disease Self-Management Special Interest Group    

Professional Development               CPD events          

HMR                                                 Obstructive sleep apnoea   

Immunisation                                   HPV Register – Preliminary Information

Information Management                Bug in MD3 LetterWriter, General Computer Tip, Medical Director Tips and New on the Web

Items of interest                               Collaborative Care in Motor Neurone Disease           

Mental Health                                  Better Outcomes Directory 2008-2009, Anxiety Support Group         

News for Practice Staff                    2008 Australian Government Practice Nurse Scholarship scheme, Nurse Pap test provider seminar, AGPN Newsletter for September   

Women’s Health                              Maternity Booking at The Women’s            

Positions vacant/wanted                     

Fun stuff                                              

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Chronic Disease Management

Chronic Disease Self-Management Special Interest Group

A Workshop on Pain Management Skills facilitated by Lea Kewish. Lea is an Occupational Therapist, a Certified Filed Practitioner and Clinical Hypnotherapist with expertise in chronic pain. The workshop will explore chronic pain and current best practice in pain management skills. Health professionals are encouraged to bring their own [deidentified] case studies to work through in discussion groups. Who should attend?

·         Health professionals from hospitals and community health services working with people with chronic pain.

·         Interested consumers with chronic pain and carers.

Tuesday 30 September, 9:30am to 12:30pm at La Trobe University,City Campus, Franklin Street.

Enquiries and RSVP to Christine Walker, Chronic Illness Alliance, on 9882 4654 or mailto:cwalker@chronicillness.org.au.

 

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CPD

Term 3 GP Lecture Program

Meetings are held each Tuesday starting at 12.30 in the Lecture Theatre, Ground Floor, Pathology Building, Repatriation Hospital, Austin Health, West Heidelberg. Lunch is provided. Course Leader: Dr Vin Nursey Phone: 9457 1736

September 16 - Treatment of Burns in General Practice - Dr Jim Goutzamanis

For full term Tuesday lecture program click here

 

Management of renal disease in general practice – in conjunction with Kidney Health Australia  

Three-night ALM. Speakers: 6 Nephrologists and one urologist  Northern Hospital

1.       CKD stage 3 (eGFR  30-59mL/min);

2.       Kidney disease in the elderly

3.       Haematuria and UTI

Thursdays 9,16 & 23 October, 7:30-9:30pm. Refreshments from 6.45pm. At Northern Division Training Room. Enquiries to Jenny Gowan on 8480 4611. Application form.

 

Sittin’ Round

A panel discussion, featuring Mr Steven Karametos (General & Bariatric Surgeon), Mr Vincent Yap (Orthopaedic Surgeon) and Mr Richard Maxwell (Plastic Surgeon).

Tuesday 16th September, 2008, 6.30 – 9pm (dinner from 6.30pm) At Beau Monde International, 934 Doncaster Road Doncaster East

Topics: Chewing the Fat – The A to Z of Obesity Surgery

            Plastic Surgery Today – What a GP needs to know

            Shooting from the Hip – Solutions to Undiagnosed Hip Pain

Enquiries: 0420 895 910 or email moutsosa@ramsayhealth.com.au

Application has been made for a Category 2 (total 5 points) in the RACGP 2008-2010 triennium.

 

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HMR

Obstructive sleep apnoea

Also Making HMRs, RMMRs (Items 900, 903) work for your practices. Speakers: Dr Russell Goudge, La Trobe Medical Centre, Mr John Wooller, consultant pharmacist , Prof Louis Roller Monash University, and Dr Jenny Gowan, NDGP.

Wednesday 1 October, 7-9pm. Refreshments from 6:30pm. Main speaker 7.30pm. At Northern Division Training Room.

Enquiries to Jenny Gowan on 8480 4611. Application form.

 

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Immunisation

HPV Register – Preliminary Information

The first mail out to Victorian GP’s will occur in mid September 2008.  Whilst the letter is not yet finalized, there will be a number of attached the documents enclosed which are aimed at helping the GP’s to prepare their vaccination notifications ready to send, as well as giving them extra instructions on completing the GP Registration Form  There is also information on the Health Professionals Page of our website www.hpvregister.org.au

 

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Information Management

Bug in MD3 LetterWriter

In a recall letter some practices like to include a field for the recalling doctor. This would appear in the template as <<Mail Merge:Recall Doctor>>. Unfortunately when it prints, only half the doctor’s name appears. HCN have been informed of this bug and have promised to fix it. In the meantime, if you use this field, you will have to delete the <<Mail Merge:Recall Doctor>> field and restructure your recall letter to suit.

 

General Computer Tip - “Out of Office” in Outlook

When you go on holiday you may wish to leave a message on your email that you are away for a period of time. From the Tools menu select Out of Office Assistant…Click on I am currently Out of the Office. Type in a message in the text area provided, e.g. Gone fishin’ until October 1. Contact me on my mobile in case of emergency, but prefer not to hear from you.

 

Medical Director - Quick way to change a calendar

When you have to add a distant date (before or after the present date) don’t click on the forward or back button which takes moves one month at a time, rather highlight the 4 digit date and simply overtype, e.g. replace 2008 with 2014.

 

This weeks IM problem - Marking all “Discuss” and Urgent” results as “Notified”

Question: So how do I quickly mark all the results as notified?

Answer: If you are sure that all patients have been correctly notified of their results, i.e. you have had a manual checking system in place, then you may wish to have all the patient records marked as “notified”. Once done, you can then start an electronic system with a clean sheet.

1. With no patient record open;

·         in MD2 Files/Investigation Results

·         in MD3 Investigations/Results

2. Click on the Print lists button at the bottom of the screen and select “All doctors” from the “Checked by” drop down list. Select “Return urgently” and click on Print.

3. Remove the paper from the tray, or open the paper tray. Often the computer keeps processing and sending the information to the printer and eventually (like over ˝ hour in some cases) you get the “Do you wish to mark these patients as notified?” dialogue box. You can then click on the Yes button.

 

New on the Web

1.   PEN Clinical Audit Tool User Guide and Pen Clinical Audit Release Notes (Version 2-1-2, September 2008) – Found under Information Management – Pen Clinical Audit.

2.   HMR events – see Calendar of Events.

3.   PEN - Cumulative Report of 4 extracts from a single practice - this document displays the continuous quality improvement by using the PEN CAT. See under Information Management – Pen Clinical Audit

 

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Items of Interest

Collaborative Care in Motor Neurone Disease

Calvary Health Care Bethlehem (CHCB), the Motor Neurone Disease Association of Victoria (MND Victoria) and the Victorian Respiratory Support Services (VRSS) are involved in a new project, sponsored by the Department of Human Services and are seeking your input and feedback. The project aims to design a model of care involving health and community services for people with Motor Neurone Disease. It is expected that the development of satellite services could ensure that people receive all or more of their care closer to home and in their local community. We are seeking information regarding the education and consultancy support needs of GPs through an online survey that will only take a few minutes to complete. The survey can be accessed at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=N6uPogU4wc6yEfM5Aaymew_3d_3d and closes on 30th September 2008. For further information about this project contact Margaret Box on 03 9595 3243 or email margaretb@bethlehem.org.au

 

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Mental Health

Better Outcomes Directory 2008-2009

Do you need a current (2008/9) Better Outcomes Directory? We have over 70 contracted Allied Health Providers to whom you can make a mental health referral – our current Directory lists each AHP to a page and also organises them by expertise, geographical location and language spoken. Do you want a Directory? Email Nicky Bisogni nicky@nevdgp.irg.au and she can arrange to send you a hard copy or electronic version of the Directory.

 

Anxiety Support Group

Northern Suburbs - Meets weekly on Mondays 7:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. At Nicholson Street Community House, 32 Nicholson Street, East Coburg. Cost: $3 for members, $5 for non-members.

For further information contact ADAVIC on 9853 8089 or email: adavic@adavic.org.au. Website: www.adavic.org.au

 

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News for Practice Staff

2008 Australian Government Practice Nurse Scholarship scheme – Now Open

Full details about these scholarships are available from the APNA website, including application forms and guidelines, Supplementary Information and Frequently Asked Questions.

Applications close at 5pm (EST) on Friday 3 October 2008. All eligible applications received before the closing date will be assessed. If you have any questions regarding the 2008 Practice Nurse Scholarship scheme, please contact scholarships@apna.asn.au or the APNA office on Freecall 1300 303 184 during business hours (EST).

 

Nurse Pap test provider seminar

PapScreen Victoria are holding their Professional Development Seminar in Melbourne on Thursday 9 October. See flyer for further details.

 

AGPN Newsletter for September

This month’s edition can be found here

 

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Women’s Health

Maternity Booking at The Women’s

The majority of pregnancies and births do not require tertiary care and can be managed at a local maternity hospital. To ensure all women can access the level of maternity care they require, women experiencing low risk pregnancies should attend their nearest maternity hospital for their pregnancy care.

Since the opening of the new Royal Women’s Hospital in July, we have experienced a 35% increase in pregnancy booking inquiries. The hospital has now formalised our maternity booking advice to ensure priority access for:

·         All women who live within the Women’s local area; and

·         Women whose pregnancies require specialist tertiary care

If you are uncertain if your patient lives within the Women’s local area, please call our triage team on (03) 8345 2191 or our GP Shared Care office on (03) 8345 2129 prior to making a referral. If your patient needs further information about our pregnancy booking processes, she can contact the Royal Women’s Hospital Consumer Advocate on (03) 8345 2290. For clinical queries contact the Women’s GP Liaison Officer on (03) 8345 2064 or email ines.rio@thewomens.org.au.

When referring a high-risk woman to the Women’s, please provide appropriate details of tertiary level need in your referral letter. referral templates can be downloaded from: www.thewomens.org.au/ReferralsOtherResources. Referrals for women living outside the Women’s local area that do not clearly demonstrate the need for tertiary level care will be referred back to the woman’s GP.

 

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Positions vacant/wanted

Please note: only new ads, paid ads or resubmitted ads will be posted here. All other ads can be found on the website

 

Positions vacant

Doctors

Ivanhoe Medical Clinic - sessions for PT or FT VR GP. Modern, large group with supportive colleagues and full time nurses, computerised, CDMs, mixed billing, flexible, friendly, no A/H, good remuneration. Contact Dr.Stephen Smith or Dr.David Doig on 03 9499 1245.

 

North Eltham Medical Centre - We are seeking a VR GP Assistant ? with View or a GP Registrar Subsequent Term for our practice. It is a modern, friendly and busy 9 GP fully accredited practice. Pathology, Xray and pharmacy onsite. Contact Dr Rick Hooper on 9439 2222 for enquiries.

Practice Staff

Eltham - Practice Nurse (Div 1) required for busy Medical Clinic to join our team of nurses. Enquires to Felicity at nursemanager@nillmc.com.au

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Humour

Cleaning the inside of your computer

You should take care of the inner workings of your computer. Follow this link to an excellent site which will help you in the process of cleaning inside your computer.

 

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