In-person & Online Pilbara education events!
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Member Update
UPCOMING PHPN EVENTS
Friday 15 August 2025 | 8.00am – 3.00pm | Karratha
Join wound care experts from Royal Perth Hospital for a hands-on, practical workshop covering:
🩹 Wound healing principles
🦠 Infection & biofilm management
🧴 Dressing selection and wound hygiene
🦵 Leg ulcers and high-risk foot care
🛠️ Plus: Debridement, NPWT and compression bandaging
Cost:
PHPN Members: $70 | Non-members: $90
👉 Spaces are limited – register now!
Newman session is 💻ONLINE for all Pilbara Health Professionals to attend!
Join Noni Osland, Health Professional Education Officer at the WA Cervical Cancer Prevention Program, for an informative session on the 2025 updates to the National Cervical Screening Guidelines.
These one-hour sessions will cover key changes and provide practical guidance for health professionals to support best-practice cervical screening across the Pilbara. Includes presentation + Q&A.
📍 Paraburdoo – Monday 18 August | 5.30pm–7.00pm
📍 Tom Price – Tuesday 19 August | 5.30pm–7.30pm
📍 Newman – Wednesday 20 August | 1.00pm–2.00pm
Don’t miss this opportunity to stay up to date and strengthen your cervical screening practice.
Wedneday 20 August 2025 | 5.30pm – 7.30pm | Newman
Come together with the PHPN for a laid-back evening at Mia Mia House in the Desert. It’s the perfect chance to reconnect with colleagues, meet new faces and relax in great company.
We can’t wait to see you there!
Suturing & Plastering Workshops – Karratha
Wednesday 3 September 2025 | Registrations NOW Open!
Presenter: Dr Alexandra O’Neil – MBBS, FRACS (Plast)
Workshop Options:
Suturing Only – 10:00am–12:30pm | $40
Plastering Only – 1:00pm–3:30pm | $40
Full Day (Suturing & Plastering) – 10:00am–3:30pm
(Includes 30-minute lunch break) | $70
In-person training – hands-on and practical!
End of Life Law for Clinicians (ELLC) Workshop – Karratha and Online
Thursday 25 September 2025 | Registrations NOW Open!
The End of Life Law for Clinicians (ELLC) program is a free training initiative for health professionals, focusing on the legal aspects of end-of-life decision-making.
This interactive workshop designed for GPs, medical practitioners, nurses, allied health professionals, and students will use a clinical case study to explore key legal and ethical topics, including:
✅ Capacity and consent to medical treatment
✅ Withholding and withdrawing life-sustaining treatment
✅ Substitute decision-making
✅ Futile or non-beneficial treatment
✅ Providing pain and symptom relief
✅ Voluntary assisted dying
Presenter: Penny Neller
Accreditation: 1.5 RACGP CPD points
Hosted by: Pilbara Health Professionals Network
Supported by: End of Life Law for Clinicians and WA Primary Health Alliance
LATEST HEALTH NEWS
FREE Menopause Education for Health Professionals I Online
Managing Menopause - Evidence-based online CPD Course
Australian health professionals can now access two free courses to help women manage the effects of menopause. These government-funded, online accredited courses are delivered by Jean Hailes for Women’s Health, in partnership with the Australasian Menopause Society, as a key action in the Women’s Health Strategy 2020-2030.
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GP Management of Patient Depression and Suicidality I Online
The online module is available and open for access until June 2026.
- Designed for GPs and healthcare professionals
- Complete at your own pace
- Earn 1.5 CPD hours upon completion
Developed by RCSWA General Practitioners, Psychiatrist Dr Mat Coleman and cultural and lived experience advisors, this course is designed to enhance the skills of GPs in treating depression and suicidality.
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Toxicological Emergencies
Friday 31 October 2025, 8.00am-5.00pm | Karratha
This one-day workshop stream covers general and specific topics related to poisoning and local toxicology, using an interactive tutorial format concentrating on small group discussions of case scenarios.
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WA Rural and Remote Mental Health Conference 2025 I Busselton
Tuesday 4 November 2025 - Friday 7 November 2025
This year’s theme Breaking Barriers: Tackling Stigma and Promoting Mental Health Awareness in Rural Communities, focuses on addressing the stigma that continues to surround mental health in rural and remote settings. Together, we’ll explore strategies to promote understanding, inspire action and build inclusive communities where everyone feels supported and heard.
Meet Leah Hart — RCSWA Medical Student Based in Karratha for 2025!
Leah needs your help!
As part of her studies, Leah is running a qualitative research project to better understand what people living in rural areas want and need from their doctors.
She’s inviting you to join a small discussion group (6–12 people) to share your thoughts and experiences.
Sessions take around 2 hours — and you’ll receive a gift card as a thank you for your time!
Your voice will help shape future medical education and ensure new doctors are better equipped to serve rural WA communities.
Want to take part or learn more?
CLICK HERE or email Leah at: 23060596@student.uwa.edu.au
EVENT RECAP
Paediatric Education Event: Fussy Eating and Toe Walking
At the end of June, Rural Health West and the Pilbara Health Professionals Network (PHPN) proudly hosted two insightful paediatric workshops with presenters from Western Kids Health.
Fussy Eating, led by Lauren Pike (Occupational Therapist & Head of the Feeding Clinic), equipped clinicians with practical strategies to assess and manage fussy eating and highlighted when to seek multidisciplinary support.
Toe Walking – Is it Truly Idiopathic?, presented by Alyse Kendall (Lead Physiotherapist), encouraged a holistic assessment approach, covering key intervention tools such as serial casting, turtle braces, and carbon fibre footplates.
Both sessions fostered valuable discussions, practical learning and collaborative thinking around complex paediatric presentations. Thank you to all who attended and contributed to these engaging and hands-on workshops!
2025 Early Career Health Summit – A Unique Learning Adventure!
From 26–29 June, 24 early career health professionals took part in the 2025 Early Career Health Summit on the stunning Mackerel Islands.
The weekend provided participants with the opportunity to learn about the management of medical emergencies in a remote environment with limitations in equipment, personnel and resources.
Set against the breathtaking backdrop of Thevenard Island, learning took place in a supportive environment that encouraged a relevant, practical and self-directed approach. Through immersive scenarios and outdoor challenges, participants developed not only their clinical skills but also key professional capabilities, including teaching, teamwork, leadership and responding under stress and uncertainty.
Participants were divided into rotating groups, each working through two-hour scenario sessions woven into outdoor island activities like snorkeling and fishing. Emergency scenarios gave everyone the chance to lead rescue and resuscitation teams in unfamiliar and high-pressure contexts.
Each evening, the group gathered for dinner under the stars, fostering meaningful connections with their early career peers in a relaxed and inspiring setting.
A heartfelt thank you to our facilitators Dr Aaron Donald, Nurse Rebecca Peck, Physiotherapist Claire Donaldson and Mental Health Clinician Julia Hensley for their guidance and expertise.
A big thank you to our stakeholders at the Pilbara Health Professionals Network for supporting this unforgettable weekend of learning, growth and connection.
Moving to a new region in WA?
Join your local Health Professionals Network!
Did you know that the Pilbara Health Professionals Network is one of seven networks operating across regional Western Australia? If you're relocating to another region in WA, reach out to your new region's network to build local connections and learn of upcoming education and networking opportunities.
For more information and for links to each region's Health Professionals Network website, visit the Rural Health West website.
The Pilbara Health Professionals Network is brought to you in partnership with the following stakeholder organisations.
You have received this newsletter as a health professional working in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Email addresses used to disseminate this newsletter were obtained through Rural Health West's databases. Unsubscribing from this newsletter will remove you from the distribution list for all Rural Health West publications. To stop receiving this newsletter only, please email contact@phpn.com.au
