No 0901: January 29, 2009
eNews is a weekly electronic newsletter
sent to all GP practices (with email addresses) within the
Chronic
Disease Management State-wide rollout of the Life! Taking Action on Diabetes Program
Professional Development CPD events
HMR Important message regarding HMR Promotional
Materials
Immunisation Vaccine Storage in extreme heat, HPV (Gardasil) Program, Measles Alert
Information
Management includes General Computer Tip, Medical
Director Tips and New on the Web
Items of interest Austin
ED Management of Simple Fractures, DHS
Chronic Kidney Disease Sub Committee, North Eastern Metropolitan
Integrated Cancer Service, Royal Victorian Eye & Ear Hospital Referral Forms,
Pram Walking Groups
News for Practice
Staff Australian Doctor Media
Query, Graduate Certificate in Nursing, Clinical
Skills Orientation Program, Ausmed Conferences,
BuildeBook website, Receptionists seminars
Paediatrics Healthy Kids Check
Women’s Health MRI breast scan
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Life! Taking Action on Diabetes (Life!) is a Victorian diabetes prevention
program. It is funded by the Department of Human Services and co-ordinated by Diabetes Australia– Vic. It is based on the
Finnish diabetes prevention program which has been shown to reduce the
incidence of newly diagnosed diabetes by up to 58% in course participants. The
Life! Program was originally scheduled to rollout across
Approximately 40 new Life! facilitators were trained in November in preparation for state wide rollout. Additional training will take place on 26 and 27 March 2009.
Life! Focuses on Victorians aged 50 and above at risk of type 2 diabetes. The Life! Course has recently been accredited as
a Lifestyle Modification Program (LMP) by the Department of Health and Ageing.
Therefore, the Life! Program can now also accept referrals for people aged
40-49 years through the Commonwealth Prevention of Diabetes Program. This
development means that in
Further information, including an expression of interest form, can be found at www.goforyourlife.vic.gov.au/life.
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Immunisation Update - This is the chance for GPs and nurses to be fully informed on the various immunisation programs to be offered to patients. It includes Childhood, Flu & Pneumo, Travel and individual infectious diseases such as HPV etc.
Tuesday,
24th February 7 - 8.30pm at the John Scott Meeting House at
Patient Personal Injury Lawsuit: The
GPs role in personal injury matters – your questions answered
This is an open forum aimed at increasing the mutual understanding of the role that GPs and lawyers play in personal injury cases. Lawyers from Maurice Blackburn will be in attendance to facilitate the session. Detailed information is being mailed to all GP members on Friday 30th January 2009.
Thursday,
12th March 7 - 8.30pm at the John Scott Meeting House at
Emergency Medicine - This is a unique opportunity to interact with the medical staff from the Austin Emergency Department. Detailed information is being mailed to all GP members on Friday 30th January 2009. This session will be limited to the first 25 expressions of attendance.
Saturday, 21st March, 9am - 12.30pm at the Austin Emergency Department
Andrology
Meetings are held each Tuesday starting at 12.30 in the
Lecture Theatre, Ground Floor,
February 3 - Renal Cancer - Mr Shomik Sengupta
For full term Tuesday lecture program click here
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The copyright agreement between The Pharmacy Guild of Australia and Ms
Margaret Fulton for the use of Ms Fulton’s image on all HMR promotional
material has expired on 31st December 2008. This means that from 1st January
2009, any HMR promotional materials carrying Margaret Fulton’s image need to be
withdrawn from circulation and dest
The Pharmacy Guild of Australia, in partnership with the Australian General Practice Network, is in the process of producing new promotional materials to replace the Margaret Fulton materials. These materials will be ready for distribution in February 2009 and further correspondence, along with a new order form, will be sent to you once distribution is ready to commence. Thank you for your co-operation on this matter.
Dr Jenny Gowan HMR facilitator - 9416 7689
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Given that we are experiencing our hottest weather in 100 years, here is a brief reminder about vaccine management if there is a power outage!
All points are taken from the National Vaccine Storage Guidelines ‘Strive for Five’
· Is there a practice contingency plan for alternate vaccine storage if there is a power outage?
· Who is responsible for vaccine management if there is a power outage out of hours
· Is the necessary equipment readily available to minimise problems if there is a prolonged outage and no alternative storage
- For domestic vaccine fridges - a cooler (esky) and conditioned ice packs/gel packs
- For purpose built fridges - cooled bottle water and if glass fronted a space blanket or similar to slow down the warming effect
· Use of data loggers to assist in ascertaining length of time of any cold chain breach
· Accurate recording of min max temperatures
· Reminder if there is a cold chain breach to isolate the vaccines, don’t discard - and contact DHS immunisation program on 1300 882 008
The community-based HPV catch-up program (delivered through general practice and community immunisation services), is provided for:
12-13 to 18 year old girls who have not completed their course at school; and
18 to 26 year old women.
The program finishes on 30 June 2009, so to be eligible for free vaccine, all females in the above age groups must start the course with their first dose of the vaccine as soon as possible
The Communicable Disease Prevention and Control Unit have been notified of 5
confirmed cases of measles in
Measles Case Definition - an illness characterised by a morbilliform rash and a cough and a fever present at the time of rash onset.
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1. With a patient record open, select the Letters tab.
2. Highlight the letter and then press the DELETE key on the keyboard or right-click the letter and select Delete Letter from the drop down menu
3. Click Yes to confirm the deletion of letter.
Question: Is there a way of setting Full Summary/Health Summary or when writing referral letters where the past medical history is listed, so that when it is printed, all the info in the Comments box below each condition is printed too along with the list of diagnoses?
Answer: You need to edit the properties of the history field. For example:
· Open LetterWriter and from the File menu select Modify template – find your referral letter and open it.
· Right click on the <<Clinical Details:History List>> field and select Properties. Make sure there is a tick in the box Include Comments box
The problem is you can’t modify the Full Summary and other summaries you find under the Summaries menu in the patient record.
1. General Practice Victoria (GPV) – Nursing in General Practice (NiGP) - Nurse related information found at Practice Nurses Network
2. Ausmed Conferences – Conferences on a range of topics can also be found at Practice Nurses Network.
3. Buildebook - new website contains much useful information found at Practice Nurses Network
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Patients with a simple fracture or no fracture following an injury, will now
be referred to their GPs to improve patient continuity
of care. A discharge letter outlining the Emergency Department's (ED)
assessment and management will be provided to the GP. If required, GPs may
refer patients' to the
General Practice
2008-9 summer newsletter click here
RVEEH referral forms can be downloaded for medical director and best
practice from the hospital website. (Also available on NEVDGP
website.) The
Dr Lina Nido is the GPLO at the RVEEH & can be contacted at lina.nido@eyeandear.org.au.
Group 1:
Heidelberg/Rosanna -
Friday
9.15am (to leave at 9.30am) Begins: Friday Feb 13th 2009. Cost: Free (or the cost of a cup of coffee)
Group 2: Greensborough -
Monday 9.15am (to leave at 9.30am)
Begins: Monday Feb 9th, 2009. Cost: Free (or the cost of a cup of coffee)
For further
information or to register, please contact:
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Australian Doctor newspaper has been running a
regular column called Smart Practice, which highlights an initiative undertaken
by a general practice that has reaped financial, personal or professional
rewards for practice staff or patients. We are looking for practices that have
adopted initiatives that make them stand out from the crowd. Some of the
initiatives we’ve covered in the past include a satellite service for aged-care
visits, a practice that displays local artists’ works in their waiting rooms
instead of outdated magazines and practices running education programs for
patients. The column is in short and snappy Q&A format, accompanied by a
photo.
Contact Geraldine Kurukchi on 02 9422 8979 or Email: geraldine.kurukchi@reedbusiness.com.au
Enrolments are now open for the 2009 AGPN have taken on the role of National
Coordinator of the Graduate Certificate in Nursing (General Practice) delivered
jointly by the University of Sunshine Coast (USC) and participating divisions
of general practice. It is a unique and exciting development that is designed
specifically for Practice Nurses to develop knowledge and skills to assist them
to practice competently within the challenging and constantly evolving general
practice environment. Flyer
·
Enrolment close 30 January 2009
·
23 February – Semester one commenced
· 28 June – Semester ends
The new Clinical Skills Orientation program has been designed for nurses who
are new to the general practice environment and have been employed 6-12 months.
GPV will be one of the pilot sites for this new program. The first Victorian
pilot will be held on 26 & 27 February 2009 in
Ausmed is a Melbourne-based education provider specialising in short, practical courses. Ausmed offers a large range of practical courses run over
one or two days. Conferences on a range of topics can also be found on this website. For further information please telephone: (03) 9375 7311
At the end of February Ausmed will be relaunching the new BuildeBook website - this website contains much useful information which nurses can access via downloads. Information includes: more than 300 book chapters, audio books, lectures from conferences etc. This site is run as a subscription site and costs $5.99 per month. This enables you to download as much as you want, wherever and whenever it is required.
Receptionists seminar and lunch dates for 2009 – see flyer
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As part of the Healthy Kids Check, parents have been provided with a copy of
the Get Set 4 Life – habits for healthy kids Guide. The Guide provides
practical information on the child’s health and covers techniques and
tips for teaching children healthy habits that could last a lifetime. Key areas
of health and age appropriate development covered in the booklet include:
healthy eating, regular exercise, speech and language, oral health plus information about immunisation. A follow-up letter from Minister Roxon will
be sent to the parents/carers of children between 2
and 5 years of age, identified from the Medicare Australia client database,
from 23 January to 6 February this year. The purpose of the letter is to raise
awareness of the availability of the Check. A contact number, 1800 671 811 (Freecall), for
the Immunise Australia information line is included
in the letter for parents and carers who require
additional information
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From 1 February 2009 a Medicare rebate for an MRI breast scan will be available to women under 50 who are at high risk of breast cancer. These high risk women include, for example, women with three or more close blood relatives diagnosed with breast or ovarian cancer. Further details about the women eligible for this Medicare rebate will be available from 1 February 2009 at MBSonline. Click here to see the full Media Release.
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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
Doctors
Darebin Community Health – East Reservoir - GP required
full time or part time at the East Reservoir site of Darebin Community Health
Service. This is a salaried position with flexible work hours, salary packaging
and excellent facilities. We are seeking a compassionate, dedicated GP to join
our team. We have Practice Nurses,
Refugee Health nurse, a Practice Manager and friendly colleagues. The practice
is accredited and computerised. Please contact
Northcote – F/T- P/T VR GP or Subsequent Trainee GP position. Fully accredited, computerised, long established doctor owned practice in a new purpose built facility with a fabulous work environment. Ancillary Health, Pharmacy and Pathology services on site. Inquiries Diane Cronin (Practice Manager) 9481 1214. Visit our website www.doctorsofnorthcote.com
Practice
Staff
Northern Suburbs - Part time medical receptionist required for solo practice in Northern suburbs. Must be experienced and reliable. Available for approx 20+ hours per week. Please phone 9460 1083 from 9 - 1 pm Monday to Friday.
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A woman's husband had been slipping in and out of a coma for several months, yet she had stayed by his bedside every single day.
One day, he motioned for her to come nearer. She sat by him as he whispered, eyes full of tears.
"You know what? You have been with me all through the bad times. When I got fired, you were there to support me. When my business failed, you were there. When I got shot, you were by my side. When we lost the house, you stayed right here. When my health started failing, you were still by my side...You know…”
“What? What dear?” she gently asked, smiling as her heart began to fill with warmth.
"I think you're bad luck."
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And remember…
… half
the people you know are below average