North East Valley DGP eNews

No 0836: October 16, 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/.
To subscribe to eNews click on subscribe. To be removed from the eNews distribution list click on Unsubscribe

 

In this issue:

Professional Development               CPD events          

HMR                                                 An Article in the Australian Women’s Weekly          

Information Management                includes General Computer Tip, Medical Director Tips and New on the Web

Items of interest                               October 'Go for your life' Walking Forum, GP Network News 

Mental Health                                  Acute Psychiatric Unit       

News for Practice Staff                    Graduate Certificate in Nursing, Thinking about further study in 2009?

Paediatrics                                      Seeking GP input to RCH Rehab services focus group         

Women’s Health                              Women Rely On Pap Test Reminder, Mental Health and Pregnancy              

Positions vacant/wanted                     

Fun stuff                                              

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CPD

Term 4 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

October 21 - Management of Persistent Cough - Dr Chris Worsnop

For full term Tuesday lecture program click here

 

Online Learning Supports GP Contraception Advice

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has launched a new online learning activity designed to support general practitioners and other members of the practice team in boosting their skills to fulfill the various contraceptive needs of women. The activity, reviewed by Sexual Health and Family Planning Australia, is now available through the RACGP’s online education portal gplearning at www.gplearning.com.au and Category 2 QA&CPD points apply. The new activity, which is free for RACGP members, consists of multiple choice questions, case studies and a contraceptive counselling interview.

 

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HMR

An Article in the Australian Women’s Weekly

Home Medicines Review – It’s scary but true that more than 140,000 Aussies are admitted to hospital each year due to problems with medications. And a whopping 70 per cent of these admissions can be avoided, says the Pharmacy Guild of Australia. That’s where the Home Medicines Review (HMR) comes into play, so ask your GP about this great free service. A pharmacist can visit your home and review your medications, including prescription and over-the-counter, complementary preparations such as herbal remedies, even herbal teas.

 

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Information Management

General Computer Tip - Worst formatting clangers in Word

It pays to know how to format a document correctly, but many people still have very bad formatting habits. Here are the three worst, followed by an explanation on how to do it properly.

 

            Pressing Enter several times to get onto the next page.

            Put in a page break instead. Insert >Break >Page Break. Or easier still, press Control + Enter.

 

            Pressing the Tab key several times to either line up text to the line above, or worse still trying to centre the text.

            Learn how to set your tabs in the ruler, or if trying to centre text using the centre alignment button.

 

            This one is the worst!! Pressing Enter at the end of a line and then the Tab key to line up text – like I have done in this and the above two paragraphs.

            You need to know how to set the left indent markers on your ruler (these are the two small triangles that sit on top of each other). The top one is for the first line indent and the bottom is for the 2nd and subsequent lines of a paragraph. There is also a square block underneath them. If you wish to indent both markers you can place the pointer on the block and move the margin in, or simply do Control + M.

 

The golden rule is: If you press the Enter or Tab keys more than once you are doing something wrong!!

 

Medical Director Tip - Editing a completed template

You have completed a health assessment, for example, and you find that you made a few minor mistakes and want to add some additional detail.

1.   Open the patient record but DO NOT open LetterWriter.

2.   Click on the Letters tab and this will display all the correspondence for that patient in chronological order.

3.   Locate the item of correspondence, such as the health assessment. Double click on the Sender’s name and this will open the file.

4.   Make the modifications and from the File menu select Save – you will be prompted to save as a new letter or overwrite the existing one. Overwrite if you don’t want to keep the old version. Save as a new version if two or more clinicians (such as nurse and then doctor on a health assessment) have worked on it and you want to keep an audit trail of who has done what.

 

This weeks IM problem - No longer able to view investigation results

Question: I am a nurse and am no longer able to view the investigation results; I can only see the Comments. This happened after conversion to MD3. How do I fix this?

Answer: Each doctor will have to go to select Tools > Options >Investigations tab and place a tick in the Display results to staff box.

 

New on the Web

1.   Diabetes equipment list and contacts - a list if diabetes-related equipment with company contact details. See under Diabetes Resources.

2.   NEVDGP September Hardcopy Newsletter – found on Home Page under Latest News.

 

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Items of Interest

October 'Go for your life' Walking Forum

Get your registrations in for the next forum on October 21st. This will be an extremely informative day for anyone interested in walking as a population health initiative. Also take a moment to visit the Walktober website to view all the events taking place in this great month of walking activities. www.walktober.com.au/. Registration Form for the forum here

 

GP Network News

Full version.

 

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Mental Health

Acute Psychiatric Unit

“Two Year Follow Up of Women Admitted to a Mother and Baby Unit with Depression or Psychosis” - Presented by Dr Revi Nair, Consultant Psychiatrist, Alfred Hospital.

Tuesday 28th October, 6.30 (registrations) for 7pm start at Va Tutto Restaurant, 226 Upper Heidelberg Rd, Ivanhoe.  

 

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News for Practice Staff

Graduate Certificate in Nursing (General Practice)

The AGPN/ Sunshine Coast Uni - Graduate Certificate in Nursing (General Practice ). We have 21 students in Victoria currently completing the graduate cert program and GPV will be running the course again in Semester 1 2009. The course costs for 2009 will be $350.00 per module (the first 3 modules run through GPV). Application forms for enrolments will be available in the next few weeks.  If you are interested or would like to receive more information please contact Janina. Closing date for the next course will be 30th January 2009. Information about the graduate certificate program is on the GPV web site, this is great opportunity for nurses to get a post graduate qualification at such a low cost!

 

Thinking about further study in 2009?

Consider the University of Melbourne’s, Postgraduate Certificate/Diploma in Primary Care Nursing. The Postgraduate Certificate/Diploma in Primary Care Nursing is a tailored program for nurses working in a general practice that delivers comprehensive and evidence-based education in sexual and reproductive health, women’s health, youth health and chronic conditions. The program also teaches strategies for health promotion, prevention, risk management and advanced nursing practice. Commonwealth government policy priorities in primary health care include an enhanced role for the practice nurse and this has been recognised in the course subjects. This program is delivered by flexible education (distance, online and face-to face) to suit the nurse’s work and family demands.

Course structure - The course is delivered by the Department of General Practice and the School of Nursing. Students undertake 4 subjects to obtain the post-graduate certificate and 8 subjects to obtain the post-graduate diploma in Primary Care Nursing. Completion of the post-graduate diploma provides credit toward the Masters in Advanced Nursing Practice. Enrolment in a single subject is also available.  For further information and entry requirements http://www.nursing.unimelb.edu.au/  

Course Enquiries - Future students should contact: Ms Bernie Cooper on 03 8344 7275 or cooperb@unimelb.edu.au

 

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Paediatrics

Seeking GP input to RCH Rehab services focus group

The Royal Children’s Hospital reviewed all rehabilitation type services offered here in late 2007 and are now progressing the implementation of 25 key recommendations to improve the way services are delivered.  As part of this process we would like to invite a group of interested GPs to attend a focus group to understand the perspective of consumers of the current rehabilitation type services at RCH, gather your feedback and incorporate this into the Detailed Design & Planning phase of the project.  This will help ensure that the future service keep the needs of both patients and their families as our top priority and is easily accessible to referring professionals.

Wednesday 5th November, 12.30-1.30.  A light lunch will be provided and remuneration for your time.  Please RSVP or any queries to Fiona Gorrie on 9345 4101 or email fiona.gorrie@rch.org.au

Kids Connect RCH Primary Care Liaison www.rch.org.au/kidsconnect

 

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Women’s Health

Women Rely On Pap Test Reminder

Doctors in the Melbourne GP Division are being urged to remind women to have two-yearly Pap tests, as latest data from the Cancer Council Victoria show almost 70 per cent of women rely on prompts from their doctor or reminder letters from their health service.

For more information about cervical cancer prevention or to order any of PapScreen’s resources (these include brochures and information sheets for women, GP cards and posters for waiting rooms) visit our website at www.papscreen.org.au or call the Cancer Council Helpline on 13 11 20.

 

Mental Health and Pregnancy

The Royal Women’s Hospital CPD Program - Tuesday 28th October 6.45-9.15pm at Melbourne GP Network, Suite 9, 233 Cardigan St, Carlton. RSVP 5 days prior to Innes Rio.Ines@thewomens.org.au

 

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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.

Practice Staff

Alphington - Permanent Part Time Medical Receptionist required for a busy Medical Centre. Must be computer literate & show initiative. Past Medical Receptionist experience would be an advantage as well as a working knowledge of Word. Please forward CV to bev@alphingtonmc.com.au

 

Alphington Medical Centre - seeks a Division1 Practice Nurse. Hours: full time or job share position. Duties to include immunisations, patient liaison, assessments & care planning triage, assisting medical staff and management of medical stock. Great supportive working environment. Please email CV to bev@alphingtonmc.com.au   

 

Women's Health In the North requires Two Health Promotion Team Leaders - 0.8 EFT. WHIN is a small but dynamic regional service operating across Melbourne's northern suburbs.

WHIN is a regional women’s health promotion service, with a particular focus on violence against women, sexual and reproductive health and economic participation.

WHIN is seeking to appoint two women for the position of Team Leaders: one Health Promotion – Programs, the second Health Promotion – Research and Projects. Each Team Leader will manage a small team, with approximately half their time spent on programs. The Programs Team Leader will have strong staff management skills; the Research and Projects Team Leader will have strong research and project development experience. The successful applicants will be energetic and experienced, with a well-developed ability to manage people, set priorities and achieve planned objectives and a commitment to feminist and social justice principles.

Position Descriptions and inquiries: 9484 1666. Only applications addressing the Key Selection Criteria will be considered.Closing Date: 3/11/08 EEO Exemption: A140/2006

 

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Humour

Pun Intended
   1. The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference.
                  He acquired his size from too much pi.
  2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island,
                  but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.
  3. She was only a whisky maker, but he loved her still.
  4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because
                  it was a weapon of math disruption.
  5. The butcher backed into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.
  6. No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.
  7. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.
  8. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.
  9. Two silk worms had a race…………………      They ended up in a tie.
10. Time flies like an arrow.  Fruit flies like a banana.

 

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