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Monday 19
March
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In this edition
Professional development opportunities and events read more
Upcoming contact with your practice about your chronic disease services
Ten minutes is all it takes! read more
New guidelines for care during pregnancy
Check out the changes here read more
Free influenza vaccine for children under five
The Victorian Government is providing the vaccine read more
General practices, have you had a visit about My Health Record opt-out?
This year, My Health Record is changing read more
ePIP: how do you keep track of Shared Health Summary uploads?
Our resource explains how you can do this read more
Evening event: Diagnosis and Management of Syphilis, Gonorrhoea and Chlamydia in Primary Care
Come to this session on 16 May read more
Do you know someone who'd like to be involved in suicide prevention activities in Frankston Mornington Peninsula?
There's a free two-day workshop for people with lived experience read more
Medical decision-making laws have changed
Are you aware of the 12 March changes? read more
APNA launches framework for registered and enrolled nurses
Practice nurses, get help to reflect and benchmark read more
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Upcoming contact with your practice about your chronic disease services
This month, you’ll be contacted by Ronelle Hutchinson or Alex Cordato from PwC.
To add to our current understanding of your practice, they will ask for 10 minutes of your time to talk about the services your practice provides for the prevention and management of chronic disease.
One of South Eastern Melbourne PHN’s key priorities is commissioning chronic disease services and models of care. These need to be innovative, effective and target those who are at increased risk of chronic disease and poor health outcomes.
SEMPHN is working with PwC and the Consumers Health Forum to take a close look at how the overall ‘system’ currently responds to the demand for chronic disease services (including prevention activities and patient management support), as well as identify service gaps and barriers to access.
The results will:
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provide valuable information for you about where services are located, what types of services are provided, the staffing mix and referral pathways
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help design a model of chronic disease management that focuses on better service integration and patient experiences
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help shape future funding opportunities in chronic disease management.
For more information, please contact Cathy Krishnan at SEMPHN or Ronelle Hutchinson at PwC.
Thanks in advance for your participation!
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New guidelines for care during pregnancy
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The Australian Government Department of Health has released a revised version of the Pregnancy Care Clinical Practice Guidelines.
The 2018 edition combines Module I and 2 of the Antenatal Care Guidelines, published in 2012 and 2014 respectively. A number of chapters were reviewed and updated for this edition, in accordance with NHRMC requirements for guideline development.
Designed for all health professionals caring for pregnant women, including midwives, obstetricians, GPs, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workers and allied health professionals, the guidelines provide evidence-based recommendations to support health professionals to provide high quality, safe antenatal care in all settings.
They highlight specific approaches to pregnancy care for a range of groups, with a focus on improving the experience of antenatal care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, migrant and refugee women and women with severe mental illness.
Among the changes is a new recommendation to encourage routine Hepatitis C testing at the first antenatal visit. Routine testing for Vitamin D status is now discouraged, unless there is a specific indication.
The guidelines recognise body mass index prior to pregnancy and weight gain during pregnancy as important determinants of health for both mothers and babies.
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Free influenza vaccine for children under five
Starting this year, the Victorian Government has announced a free influenza vaccine program for all Victorian children aged six months to five years.
Victorian Government immunisation resources and the vaccine order form will be updated soon to reflect the change.
When the 2018 government supplied influenza vaccines are available to be pre-allocated, detailed advice will be provided to you about the various influenza vaccine brands and age eligibility.
In the meantime, please review the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, clinical advice for seasonal influenza vaccines in 2018.
Tip: You could use POLAR GP to check the number of influenza vaccines performed last year to help plan for the upcoming cold and flu season. You can also generate a patient recall list of children under five and notify their parents about the free influenza vaccine.
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General practices, have you had a visit about My Health Record opt-out?
This year, My Health Record is changing from the current opt-in model to opt-out. This means that every Australian will have a My Health Record created unless they choose not to.
There will also be increased participation from all major public hospitals, community pharmacies and pathology and diagnostics providers.
The My Health Record team from SEMPHN is currently visiting general practices to provide an update on the changes and the implications for you and your patients.
If you have not already had a visit to explain opt-out, please contact Vignesh Lingam, My Health Record Team Leader, to arrange an appointment.
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ePIP: how do you keep track of Shared Health Summary uploads?
If you're on the ePIP, you know that to qualify for the payment you need to upload a certain quota of Shared Health Summaries each quarter.
To keep track of progress during the quarter and work out if you need to upload more (or opt out of that quarter if you need to), there are ways to check the number uploaded to date.
Our GP ImproveIT resource explains how to keep track of uploads. It also has useful advice about the ePIP.
Tip: You could view the My Health Record page in POLAR GP to keep track of the number of Shared Health Summaries uploaded from your practice.
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Diagnosis and Management of Syphilis, Gonorrhoea and Chlamydia in Primary Care
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SEMPHN and Victorian HIV and Hepatitis Integrated Training and Learning (VHHITAL) invite GPs and sexual health clinicians to attend a 16 May evening update on gonorrhoea, syphilis and chlamydia in general practice.
The event will be facilitated by Dr Nick Medland, consultant sexual health physician at Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, and Dr Vinita Rane, consultant sexual health physician at Monash Health.
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discuss recent trends in syphilis, gonorrhoea and chlamydia rates in Victoria
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describe the clinical presentation of gonorrhoea, syphilis and chlamydia
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identify at-risk patients to screen and test for syphilis, gonorrhoea and chlamydia
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manage patient treatment and follow-up for syphilis, gonorrhoea and chlamydia.
This course has been approved for 4 Category 2 points. Activity number: 113319.
Register here.
For more information please contact Nadera Rahmani, SEMPHN Provider Support Officer on (ph) 03 8514 6626 or email nadera.rahmani@semphn.org.au.
Tip: You could use POLAR GP to check the number of patients with specific diagnoses, and generate a patient recall list to help with the management of their care.
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Do you know someone with lived experience of suicide who wants to be involved in suicide prevention activities in the Frankston Mornington Peninsula?
Roses in the Ocean is offering a SEMPHN-funded two-day workshop, called 'Voices of Insight', on 23 and 24 March in Mornington. It's free of charge for participants (spaces strictly limited).
Voices of Insight is for people with a lived experience of suicide who are interested and ready to share their story publicly - be that through organised speaking engagements or incidental conversations.
Lived experience of suicide can be:
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being bereaved by suicide
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having experienced suicidal thoughts
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having survived a suicide attempt
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supporting someone who has been suicidal.
Previous public speaking experience is not necessary.
Completion of the ‘Our Voice’ program is preferable but not compulsory.
See the flyer or complete an expression of interest here.
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Medical decision-making laws have changed
Medical decision making laws changed on 12 March 2018. The new laws:
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give statutory recognition to advance care directives
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establish a single legal framework for medical treatment decision making for people unable to consent
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allow appointment of a medical treatment decision maker and/or a support person for medical treatment decisions
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remove medical treatment from the Powers of Attorney Act 2014 (VIC).
For more information and forms visit here.
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APNA launches framework for registered and enrolled nurses
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The Australian Practice Nurse Association's (APNA) has developed career and education frameworks for nurses in primary health care.
Designed by nurses, for nurses, the tool helps nurses to reflect on their level of expertise and benchmark themselves across areas of primary health care nursing.
It also produces a PDF report of the nurse's current level of practice which can be incorporated into performance reviews, job applications, or any professional review process undertaken for primary health care nursing roles.
There are separate frameworks for enrolled and registered nurses. Each has been designed as a self-assessment tool for nurses currently working in primary health care. They can be found at My Nursing Future.
The online self-assessment tool for registered nurses within My Nursing Future is an adapted version of the registered nurse framework. The self-assessment tool for enrolled nurses will be available soon.
Read the registered nurse and enrolled nurse frameworks
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