North East Valley DGP eNews

No 0904: February 19, 2009
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:

Editorial                                          Fantastic new “add-on” for Medical Director 3 and Best Practice

Chronic Disease Management      Lifestyle Management Courses, Better Living Program - Lifestyle Changes    

Professional Development           CPD events         

HMR                                                HMR meeting:  Identifying medication related problems in older persons      

Immunisation                                 HPV – Changes to Dates for ‘Free’ Vaccination Program          

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

Items of interest                            GPs needed in Kinglake, Do you have patients with Klinefelter Syndrome?

Mental Health                                Accessing Psychological Services for those affected by the Bushfires

News for Practice Staff                 Practice Managers and Nurses Network Meeting, Nurses in General Practice Orientation Pilot, Practice Nurse Practical Skills Update          

Paediatrics                                     Community Eczema Clinics        

Positions vacant/wanted                

Fun stuff                                            

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A Word from the Editor

Fantastic new “add-on” for Medical Director 3 and Best Practice

Sometimes you see a software program and you think “how fantastic is that?!!” This happened to Noel when he saw the Doctor’s Control Panel demonstrated at a recent Collaboratives meeting. Written by local Melbourne GP, Dr Anton Knieriemen, this mini program has a “pop up” at the bottom of the MD screen that alerts the GP to what preventive care items need to be addressed. It has a number of colour-coded “tablets” that tell you: Nothing recorded (red), Needs updating (orange) and Up-to-date (green). This includes the clinical, medication, measurements and required tests of preventive care. These items are also linked to the relevant section of the RACGP Red Book. The best way to get a better idea of this program is to go to the website at: www.pracsoftutilities.com – here you can see a Powerpoint presentation of the program as well as register to have it installed. How much does it cost? Well, nothing really. Anton suggests that if you really like the program then make a donation to a charity of your choice; hence we have a new category of software – Charityware. Noel will demonstrate the Doctor’s Control Panel at the Immunisation CPD on February 24 and at the Practice Managers Network meeting on March 19. A presentation to the NEVDGP Board meeting on February 17 received overwhelming support from the board members.

 

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Chronic Disease Management

Lifestyle Management Courses

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

If your patient meets the three criteria above, they are eligible for a Life!Course. 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

Local Availability: There are three centres in NEV Division that are currently offering LMPs on referral by GPs namely Nillumbik Community Health Service in Eltham and Banyule Community Health Service in Heidelberg West. Lifestyle Management Resources are also available from the NEVDGP website

 

Better Living Program - Lifestyle Changes

The Nillumbik and Banyule Community Health Services are offering special programs for people with a long term chronic condition which affects the way they live their lives. A key worker is allocated to the patient on entry into the program with the intent to assist the patient to set goals that are achievable to help them manage their condition and to provide consistent support. The key worker will also ensure the patient has access to any other services that may be required

The key worker will ensure that the patient’s GP is fully informed of their progress and seek GP advice on any other services that are offered to their patient.

Kay Milner is the GP Liaison Officer for the program and she can be contacted on 9430 9100 at Nillumbik and 9450 2028 at Banyule. Her mobile contact is 0448 570 923

 

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CPD

Term 1 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

February 24 - Rheumatoid Arthritis - Dr Evan Romas

For full term Tuesday lecture program click here

 

Immunisation Update,

Tuesday 24th February, 7.15- 8.45pm at John Scott Meeting House, Latrobe University.

GPs and nurses are invited to a comprehensive update on immunisation. Dr Peter Eizenberg will cover Childhood Vaccines, Measles Vaccination, HPV, Zoster, Flu, Pneumonia and the latest news on vaccines that could be available in the near future. Noel Stewart will demonstrate using HPV as an example, how the PEN audit tool can assist in the immediate identification of patients who qualify but have yet to receive the course of injections. Click here for flier or ring John Fletcher on 9496 4333

 

Clinical Emergency Management™ Program

Intermediate Workshops (40 Category 1 QA&CPD points) The highly interactive CEMP Intermediate workshop focuses on recognition and management of medical emergencies in general practice, including acute coronary syndrome, acute asthma and anaphylaxis; skills in organisational leadership, including effective communication and team management; management of scene safety; competence in airway management, effective ventilation technique and effective cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

Advanced Workshops (80 Category 1 QA&CPD points) The highly interactive 2 day Advanced workshops focus on the management of life threatening adult trauma and paediatric emergencies within the first 30 minutes of an emergency. Content includes advanced airway management in critically injured adult and paediatric trauma patients, effective systematic approach to the assessment of the adult and paediatric trauma patient; and management of the adult trauma and critically ill or injured paediatric patient utilising local trauma guidelines and systems.

For full details on these workshops visit www.racgp.org.au/cem

Procedural Skills Grants Both workshops have been approved for procedural grants of up to $2000 per day in either anaesthetics or emergency medicine. For further information regarding the grants visit www.racgp.org.au/rural/traininggrants, or telephone Pauline Curtis, National Rural Faculty on 1800 636 764.

 

IPCRG International Scientific Conference

5 June 2009, Stansted airport, UK.  Abstracts for this conference can now be submitted online - click here. Further details about the conference can be found on the IPCRG website

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HMR

HMR meeting:  Identifying medication related problems in older persons

Wednesday 4 March, 6.30pm for 7pm start. At Northern Division Training room

Prof Michael Woodward Director Aged Care Austin Hospital, Mr Rohan Elliott, Aged Care Pharmacist, Austin Hospital  

Light meal provided. RSVP Cherry Braine 9416 7689

HMR or medication issues contact Dr Jenny Gowan 0417 506 944. Click here for flyer.

 

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Immunisation

HPV – Changes to Dates for ‘Free’ Vaccination Program and using PEN CAT to assist

The availability of free vaccine for 18 to 26 year old women has been extended by 6 months. All females in this age group who are as yet un-immunised need to receive their first dose of the vaccine by 30 June 2009, and must complete all three doses by 31 December 2009.

Note: HPV will continue to be provided free to Year 7 girls only from 2010 onwards as part of the National Immunisation Program schedule in Victoria.

This change adds 6 months life to the Gardasil searches of the PEN Clinical Audit Tool. Use the CAT to find those patients who have not had their first injection and recall them so that the first injection occurs before the end of June 2009. A special reminder letter to get the first Gardasil injection has been added to the Medical Director Templates – No 9 Other

 

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Information Management

General Computer Tip - Requesting a Read Receipt

Sometimes you want to ensure a recipient of your emails has actually read the message. To do this you set up a “Read receipt”.

1.   Compose you message normally in Outlook and once complete click on the Options… button.

2.   Click on the “Request a read receipt for this message” box and click on Close.

 

Medical Director Tip - Keyboard shortcut for adding allergies

In MD2 or MD3 simply press Function Key 7 – this is the quickest way to get to the Allergies and Warnings window.

 

This weeks IM problem - Adding a drop down list in LetterWriter

Question: I want to add a drop down list to a Medical Director template which allows us to select the patient’s language.

Answer: You need to modify the template

1.   Open LetterWriter and from the File menu select Modify template.

2.   Select the template that you wish to modify from the list.

3.   Insert the cursor where you wish to place the information and type in “Language spoken at home:” and press the spacebar once.

4.   Under Template fields (top right of screen) double click on User defined under Summary.

5.   For Field Name type Language spoken at home and from the Field Type select List.

6.   Click on the Add button and type English. Click on Add again and type Italian. Repeat this process until you have all the languages you want. When finished click on OK. It is a good idea to not have more than 10 drop down menus.

7.   From Default Value select English – this sets the default to English.

 

New on the Web

1.   Clinical Audit Tool – January 2009 updates:

      PEN Clinical Audit Tool User Guide Version 2-3 January 2009 (pdf)

      PEN Clinical Audit Tool Release Notes - Version 2.3 January 2009 (pdf)

      Found under PEN Clinical Audit (CAT) Other Documents

2.   Computer Security Procedures and Disaster Recovery Template – found under IM Security

3.   Austin Health Consultative Outpatient Clinics - a list of Austin Health's Outpatient Clinics, the Consultative day(s), the Heads of Unit and the approximate waiting times for each unit – Found under IM Resources – Hospital Referrals

 

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Items of Interest

GPs needed in Bushfire affected areas

GPs who wish to volunteer their services in bushfire affected areas should contact Rural Workforce Agency, Victoria at www.rwav.com.au.

 

Do you have patients with Klinefelter Syndrome?

Klinefelter Syndrome (KS) is the most common chromosome disorder in males (47XXY), affecting approximately 1 in 650 males. Up to 70% of cases remain undiagnosed, even though they may benefit from treatment. Despite decades of work on the medical aspects of KS, almost nothing is known about how diagnosis with KS impacts psychosocially on an individual, and how this is influenced by age at diagnosis. Andrology Australia, together with the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Prince Henrys Institute and Monash University, is undertaking a unique questionnaire study to determine how treatments and interventions accessed at different ages affect biomedical and quality of life outcomes in adulthood. Men with KS aged 18 years and older, but diagnosed at all different ages (including prenatally), are invited to take part in the study.

Doctors with KS patients are asked to forward study information to their patients by mail or at a consultation. Study posters are also available for clinic waiting rooms. For colour copies of these materials or further information, please contact the project coordinator: Amy Herlihy, Public Health Genetics, MCRI, Royal Children’s Hospital, on (03) 8341 6370, Fax: (03) 8341 6212 or klinefeltersyndrome@gmail.com  

 

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Mental Health

Accessing Psychological Services for those affected by the Bushfires

The Department of Health and Ageing has informed us that significant funds will be made available to extend the voucher system for people affected by the fires. Access to mental health services can be subsidised by Medicare under the Better Access Initiative or alternatively through the Better Outcomes ATAPS (voucher) system. To access psychological services through either of these systems will still require that patients be assessed as having a diagnosable mental health disorder and are managed by a GP under a GP mental health care plan (or by psychiatrist or paediatrician).

We expect the details of this funding to be provided to us in the coming days and will pass these on to you via fax. 

If you have any further questions about accessing services please ring Alison Elliott on 9496 4333.

 

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News for Practice Staff

Practice Managers and Nurses Network Meeting

Thursday March 19, 6.30 pm – 9:00 pm at John Scott Meeting House. Flyer

 

Nurses in General Practice Orientation Pilot

GPV is now taking enrolments for the Orientation Program for Nurses New to General Practice. This pilot program will be held at two venues, the metropolitan one being on 26 & 27 February at GPV, 458 Swanston Street, Carlton. During this pilot phase there will not be a charge for registration.  Please note that numbers for each course will be capped at 20. Once we receive 20 registrations we will start a waiting list for the next course (at this stage we hope to run another course in May but that is still to be confirmed). Information can be found on GPVs website Nursing in General Practice News Page.

 

Practice Nurse Practical Skills Update

Ausmed is running this workshop on 12th & 13th March in Melbourne. The workshop will cover: The 4 year old health check, The ‘Over 75 Health Assessment’, Diabetes management update, including a practical session with glucometers and insulinpens. Allergy update, Anaphylaxis update including an Epipen practical session. Asthma first aid and the use of respiratory devices etc. General practitioner management plans and team care arrangements. GPV will reimburse 50% of the course fee for this workshop. Contact Ausmed directly to enrol, please see flyer.

 

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Paediatrics

Community Eczema Clinics  

Got a child with complex eczema?  Live within postcodes 3000-3099?  Refer them to one of the RCH HARP nurse-led clinics at North Yarra Community Health Service (Abbotsford) or Doutta Galla Community Health Service (Kensington). Expert RCH Eczema nurses work with the clinic GP and RCH Dermatologists to provide comprehensive assessment, education and care coordination. The first consultation requires a full morning - the child and family have an individual assessment followed by group education. A comprehensive follow-up plan and communication back to the usual GP is part of the program.

See the RCH Clinical Services Directory via Kids Connect www.rch.org.au/kidsconnect  for referral form, GP and parent factsheets.

 

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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

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 Vanessa Hogarth our Practice Manager on 8470 1109 to discuss further or email your resume to Vanessa.hogarth@dch.org.au.

 

Northcote - VR GP required full time/part time, pay negotiable (Salary/Percentage) no after hours or on call contact Darebin Health medical Centre 9403 1221 for further details.

 

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

KensingtonDoutta Galla Community Health Medical Clinic is seeking enthusiastic, compassionate, dedicated Medical Receptionist to join our busy team in providing medical services to the community. Fulltime position, must be computer literate and show initiative. Past medical receptionist experience is essential as well; a working knowledge of Word and Pracsoft is desirable. Starting date: March onwards. Enquires and CV to Ms Janina De Silva on (03) 8378 1600 or email for a position description: janina.desilva@dgchs.org.au  

 

Northcote - RN Div 2,  part time position 4 days per week is now available for a busy general practice in a new purpose built facility with a fabulous work environment. Inquiries Diane Cronin 9481 1214 or visit our website www.doctorsofnorthcote.com

 

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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Humour

New Scam

I hate it when people forward bogus warnings, and I have even done it myself a couple times unintentionally. ..

but this one is real, and it's important. So please send this warning to everyone on your e-mail list.

If someone comes to your front door saying they are checking for ticks due to the warm weather and asks you to take your clothes off and dance around with your arms up,

DO NOT DO IT!! THIS IS A SCAM!! They only want to see you naked.

I wish I'd gotten this yesterday. I feel so stupid.

 

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And remember

 

            … Atheism is a non-prophet organization.