Has 'COVID fatigue' set in with your infection control practices?

Reducing the risk of COVID-19 transmission requires much more than your staff and patients wearing a mask.

An impressive 114 practice managers, practice nurses and other clinical staff joined our lunchtime webinar last week discussing the topic: Has COVID fatigue set in with your infection control practices?

If you missed it, you can view the recording here.

The webinar was presented by Marg Jennings, Microbiologist, Infection Prevention Control Educator & Consultant to General Practice, and we've also teamed up with Marg to do an article series on common issues related to COVID-19 transmission in your practice that can be simply avoided.

Check out the articles on our dedicated webpage. 

Practice Managers, register for the next network meeting!

SEMPHN will be hosting the next virtual Practice Managers Network Meeting on 23 September on the important topic of self care. 

Guest speaker Renee Hayden, CEO of APMHA Healthcare will present on the topic: As the Practice Manager you are supporting your team and maintaining business goals, but what about you? 

There will be an interactive discussion on what you can do in the practice to promote well-being for you and your team.

When: 23 September, 12.30pm - 1.30pm
Cost: free
Register here. 

Practice Nurses, learn about compassionate communication at the next network meeting

Join us for the next practice nurse network meeting via zoom webinar on Thursday 8 October at 7:00pm - 8:00pm where we will be discussing the topic Compassionate Communication.

Guest speaker Kim Poyner will cover the following discussion points:

• How we communicate effectively with our patients as well as in our teams
• How we look after our Psychological Capital
• How we identify our triggers, change fatigue, thought traps
• What self-care strategies can you put into place for yourself
• What strategies can we cultivate to enable organisations to flourish.

You're encouraged to submit any questions you may have prior to the event by emailing events@semphn.org.au, and you can also ask questions on the night.  

Introductory training: Motivational Interviewing

We have limited places available to attend one of three Motivational Interviewing training events in October.

Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a collaborative, person-centred way of guiding conversations about change. The approach provides practical skills to reduce 'stuckness' and resistance and open up more productive conversations about change. The aim is to support the patient to resolve ambivalence and strengthen their motivation for positive behaviour change that is meaningful for them. MI has emerged as a more effective intervention than direct persuasion for promoting change in behaviour.

The trainer is Helen Mentha, a clinical psychologist and one of Australia's leading trainers in Motivational Interviewing. 

Participants will learn:

• core principles of working with change and the change conversation
• how to develop the skill to ask and listen to evoke patient’s values, goals, insights, motivation, and resources for making changes in behaviour.

Only 33 registrations are available across the dates and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. Please note, only one attendee allowed per general practice.  A further 10 registrants will be placed on a waitlist and offered a registration if a cancellation occurs.

When: 6,13 and 22 October 2020 (same training repeated on each date, you only attend one).
Time:  8-11am
Cost: free
Location: Online
More information: email bee.cochran@semphn.org.au. 
Register: Here

Recent updates to the Australian Immunisation Register

There have been some recent improvements to the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR). These changes improve functionality for vaccination providers and make it easier for people to stay up-to-date with their immunisations.

Read more.

Medicare guidance on immunisation

Immunisation colleagues have received reports that some general practices have been charging fees for uploading immunisation histories and calculating catch-up schedules for clients including newly arrived residents, refugees and people seeking asylum. This contravenes Medicare billing guidance in two ways:

1. When a medical practitioner bulk bills an immunisation service, they cannot make additional charges for that service. The only exception is where they give the patient a vaccine from their own supply held at their premises. The additional charge must only be to cover the supply of the vaccine. Medicare considers the uploading of immunisation history and calculating catch-up to be part of the immunisation service.

2. A practitioner receives an AIR information payment for completing an immunisation schedule for an eligible patient and recording it on the AIR regardless of the patient holding a Medicare card. AIR information payments are for:

• completing a National Immunisation Program Schedule for a child under 7 years old and recording it on the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR)
• following up and vaccinating a child under 7 years old who’s more than 2 months overdue for their childhood vaccinations under the National Immunisation Program Schedule and recording it on the AIR.

The practitioner cannot charge patients additional fees for uploading immunisation histories to AIR or calculating immunisation catch-up schedules.

For further information, please refer to Medicare Benefits Schedule - Note GN.12.32 and Vaccination provider information payments.

Alfred Health GP Education Sessions

The Alfred's GP Liaison Service is working with various Alfred Health specialists to provide monthly GP education sessions where you can hear from specialists and participate in a Q&A.

End of Life Care and Advance Care Planning in 2020

Tuesday 29th September 1-2pm

• Dr Umbreen Qazi Alfred Health Palliative Care Consultant
• Anna Loughnan Alfred Health Advance Care Planning

RSVP: GPs and practice nurses, to join this session please email gp.liaison@alfred.org.au and you will be sent the private direct link to the session, along with instructions on joining via Microsoft Teams. You can access Microsoft Teams via Chrome or Microsoft Edge web browsers if you do not have Microsoft Teams installed. 

World Heart Day Webinar: The future of CVD risk assessment

To celebrate World Heart Day this month, the Heart Foundation is partnering with the World Heart Federation to host a global clinical debate on the future of CVD risk assessment.

There is growing interest in the use of novel imaging techniques, clinical biomarkers and genetics to augment traditional CVD risk assessment. 

The Heart Foundation has convened a panel of international and local experts to debate the topical question 'Should population-based CVD risk assessment models make way for individualised risk prediction techniques?'

The webinar will be facilitated by Heart Foundation's Chief Medical Advisor Prof Garry Jennings and include expert panellists Prof Stephen Nicholls, Prof Gemma Figtree and world expert in cardiovascular disease prevention and epidemiology, Prof Donald Lloyd-Jones from Northwestern University, Chicago.

• Tuesday 29th September 8.30-9.30pm AEST
• Live and recorded, free Zoom webinar 
• Register here.