No 0909: March 26, 2009
eNews is a weekly electronic newsletter sent to all GP practices
(with email addresses) within the
Editorial PIP eHealth Incentive Update
Aged Care Palliative Medicine, Fast Track Xray service
Chronic
Disease Management Funding available for practice
nurses
Professional Development CPD events
HMR Eczema
- differential diagnosis, treatment and management plans
Immunisation Influenza Clinical Audit – GPs needed urgently, General practices to track chlamydial infections in young people, Immunisation newsletter
Information
Management includes General Computer Tip, Medical
Director Tips and New on the Web
Items of interest Professional
Development and Education Grants
News for
Practice Staff PEN News for Practice
Managers, Workshop for Practice Nurses -
making $ and sense of the MBS, Immunisation Nurses Special
Interest Group, Funding available for practice nurses
Paediatrics Pre-referral Guidelines for the Royal Children’s Hospital
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The deadline for submitting the application form is Friday April 30, 2009. This may seem a tight timeline to meet the 3 requirements, but it isn’t.
Our advice:
1. Apply for the GP Individual PKI Certificates NOW – you only have to apply for them the by April 30, not have them delivered
2. Submit your application before April 30 and tick the 3 boxes that you have complied with all 3 requirements, even though you haven’t – in the unlikely likelihood that you later fail to comply you will need to contact Medicare
3. DON’T pay for the expensive electronic subscriptions (eTherapeutic Guidelines [$300.00] and Australian Medicines Handbook [$155.00] at this stage. HCN have circulated a document expressing they are confident that Medical Director 3 subscribers comply to requirements 1 and 3 through MDExchange & MDReference
4. MD2 users should get moving in upgrading to MD3.
5. Attend our briefing session on Thursday
evening, April 23 – by this day the secure messaging vendors will have been
announced and there is still time to complete the Application Form. As a
division, we want you to not just comply with the requirements but to
understand the implications and directions of the initiative. To this
end we will have a panel of guest speakers from NHeTA , Medical Industry
Software Association of Australia, GPV, HCN, Argus and the division represented
by Dr Peter Eizenberg and Mr
Latest information on PIP eHealth Initiative: http://www.nevdgp.org.au/?content=15
Updated information sheet: http://www.nevdgp.org.au/files/informationmanagement/imprograms/2009/PIP Ehealth Incentive Guidelines from Noel.pdf
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The Australian and New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine (ANZSPM) is
hosting a series of forums across
speaker is psychiatrist and palliative medicine specialist from
Austin Fast Track Xray service is available for aged care home residents who require ambulance transport and are non-urgent: please click here for information and referral forms.
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Diabetes
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Thursday 2nd April 7.15-9.15pm (meal from 6.45) at John Scott Meeting House, La Trobe University.
The Bushfire response is moving from relief to recovery and the needs and demands of the community are changing. There is significant state and federal funding being provided for services. What is emerging is the need for GPs, Practice Staff and Allied Health Providers to be aware of the systems that are being put in place. This interdisciplinary evening will enable you to get the big picture of bushfire recovery along with specific training in assessment, referral needs, and your role of support and holding strategies with people affected by the bushfires. For further information and registration see flyer or contact Alison on 9496 4333.
An invitation to Practice Managers & their General Practitioner Principals on Thursday 23rd April, 6:30pm – 9pm (Dinner Provided) at John Scott Meeting House
La
Meetings are held each Tuesday starting at 12.30 in the
Lecture Theatre, Ground Floor,
March 31 - Pacemaker Update - Dr David O’Donnell
For full term Tuesday
lecture program click here
Austin Health - Division
of Medicine Grand Round
“The wisest men
follow their own direction - Tumour markers in occult malignancy” - Medical
Unit 2 with commentary from Infectious Diseases, Gynaecology & Haematology
Speakers: Dr
Sabashini Sivakumaran, Dr Rinku Rayoo, Dr Chris O’Callaghan, Dr Joe Torresi, Dr
Sonia Grover & Dr John Duggan
Wednesday 1st
April, 12:10pm
at John Lindell Lecture Theatre, Level 4,
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Wednesday 1 April: 6:30pm for 7:00pm start at Northern Division Training room. Light meal provided. Presenters: Dr David Orchard, Dermatologist and Dr Jenny Gowan
RSVP to Cherry Braine on Tel. 9416 7689. Click here for flyer. HMR or medication issues contact Dr Jenny Gowan 0417 506 944.
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The Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference
Laboratory (VIDRL) is seeking to recruit GPs to their Influenza Clinical
Audit.
·
Benefits to GPs and patients include: access to a free influenza PCR
diagnostic service; CPD total points for Steps 1 – 5 -: 40 (Category
1);
a weekly report containing collated information about flu activity; and
contribution to a study on influenza vaccine effectiveness from surveillance
data.
·
Practices need
to: Take swabs and complete a short tick box assessment from patients with an
influenza-like illness (symptoms, age, sex, flu vaccination status, clinical
impression, ATSI status); and Complete a weekly tally sheet (total no. of
consultations this week, total no. patients with flu-like illness).
The surveillance period commences in May,
briefing and preparation in practices must occur during April. For more
information or to register please contact Kristina Grant kristina.grant@mh.org.au at VIDRL,
or phone: 9342 2686 / 3910.
Australian Collaboration for Chlamydia
Enhanced Sentinel Surveillance (ACCESS), general practices are being sought to
take part in a chlamydia surveillance project that will use cutting edge
technology to support and adapt information systems and provide unique
information on this silent and growing cause of infertility and other
complications.
CPD points and $750 will be offered. For more
detailed information visit the Burnet Institute’s
website or contact Fabian Kong on P: 03 8506 2327
or email fabian.kong@burnet.edu.au
The latest Immunisation newsletter Issue 38 / April 2009 is now available from the immunisation website. Contents include Pertussis alert, Childhood pertussis immunisation, Measles alert, plus much more. Click here
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The March 2009 edition of PenPals Newsletter is now available on the NEVDGP website. This edition outlines the new features of the program including: the ability to save your search criteria, ability to filter the result date – e.g. filter out results that are older than 12 months – you can pick the time. The Diabetes SIP reporting has also been improved. There is also a section on the National Performance Indicators (NPIs).
By far the most useless and troublesome key on the keyboard is the Insert key, even worse than the Caps Lock key. When you accidently
press it, the keys you then press replace whatever characters are in the way.
This is more “search and dest
MD has a comprehensive list of clinical references by clicking on the Go MDReference button. These “on-line” resources assist compliance to the 2009 PIP eHealth Incentive Program. MD2 has a more limited list of resources so MD2 users should upgrade to MD3.
Question: I get my HBA1c results from the endocrinologist in paper format – how do I correctly record these in MD.
Answer: If you record them under the Investigations tab as a New item they will not be picked as having been recorded by programs such as PEN Clinical Audit Tool or Doctors Control Panel. You need to go to the Clinical menu, select Diabetes Record… and click on the Add Values button. Type in the HbA1c result in the appropriate box.
1. PENPals Newsletter No. 5 – found under Information Management - Pen
Clinical Audit Tool
2. New Austin Outpatients Referral template – found under Information Management – IM Resources
3. How to provide the National
Performance Indicators to the division – found under Information
Management - Pen Clinical Audit Tool
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North Eastern Metropolitan Integrated Cancer Service announcing 2nd round of funding applications - February 2009. Closing date for applications extended to 1st April 2009
As part of NEMICS commitment to the continuing development of the cancer workforce, and to cancer service improvement, we offer grants to clinicians & consumers in two categories: Leadership development - up to $4 000 and Workforce development - up to $1 500. See here for further information.
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From all the PEN Clinical Audit Users I need to collect some practice statistics on Diabetes, CHD and pap smear screening. These are contained in a Standard Report under the NPI tab of the PEN CAT. Please note: there is no identifiable patient information in the report, simply statistics.
Getting the 3 National Performance indicators (NPIs) is a 4 step process:
1. Create a folder to store the NPIs.
2. Use the Collect function of the PEN CAT for a new extract (only do this if you haven’t already done a Collect for 2009).
3. Use the Standard Reports tab and select the NPI report. Save the 3 NPI Reports in Excel format.
4. Email the NPI report to Noel (noel@nevdgp.org.au)
For full instructions and further explanation click here. I need these before the Easter break and will be chasing those who don’t send them in!!
Practice Managers are encouraged to attend the information evening on the
evening of Thursday April 26. By that time information on the 3
requirements will be clearer and you will still have time to apply, if you
haven’t done so already. We also want you to ensure that the principal doctors
attend with you. Even if you have completed the application form it is still
important to attend as we want you to not just comply with the requirements,
but to understand the implications and directions of the initiative. To this
end we have been successful in gaining an expert panel of the key players of
this initiative. See editorial and Application
Form on the
Tuesday 28th April 09, 6.30pm to 8.30pm (6.15 registration) at John Scott Meeting House, La Trobe University. Presenters – Judy Evans and Lynne Walker from walkerevans consulting. This interactive workshop is designed to give practice nurses an understanding of the MBS and its role in general practice. In order to support the business of general practice, nurses will develop an appreciation for the MBS, its implications for nursing care, nursing education and nurse’s individual scope of practice. Knowledge of criteria and its application to individual nursing services will help practice nurses apply the process necessary for successful use of current and future item numbers.
For further information and registration see flyer.
Conference on the 19th June 2009. For further information please contact:
INSIG President, Miranda Pellissier on Insig@live.com or complete this flyer to register.
From Diabetes
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The RCH has more than 50 up-to-date guidelines to help you with pre-referral care for: Child behaviour and learning, Dermatology, ENT, Gastroenterology, Nephrology, Ophthalmology and Surgery. Pre-referral guidelines link to parent handouts and the RCH Clinical Services Directory with referral forms, clinic information and more.
Don’t forget to bookmark the RCH website for GPs – Kids Connect www.rch.org.au/kidsconnect on your computer.
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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
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
Thornbury - We are seeking a dedicated VR GP to join our team at our busy accredited, computerised and long established family medical practice. Friendly and professional working environment, dedicated staff and excellent nurse support. For enquiries, please contact Rose on 9484 2007 or email dundasdr@bigpond.net.au
Thornbury - VR GP, F/T or P/T required for accredited long established friendly family practice. Mixed billing. Nursing support. Fully computerised. Please contact our Practice Manager Evelyn on 9484 7762 or 0408 100 279
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And remember…
… light travels faster than
sound - this is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.