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Zostavax is a live attenuated vaccine for the prevention of herpes zoster and post herpetic neuralgia. It is contraindicated for use in significantly immunocompromised people. In 2017, there were multiple cases reported of patients being vaccinated twice with Zostavax, and in January 2017, there was a death in Australia due to Zostavax administration in an immunocompromised person.
Providers are being reminded of the importance of checking the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) prior to administration.
In consultation with members of the Therapeutic Goods Administration’s Advisory Committee on Vaccines, members of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, members of the GP Roundtable and the Australian Government Department of Health has developed a pre-vaccination checklist for immunisation providers to consider before vaccinating a patient with Zostavax.
The checklist is avaialable here. This checklist can be incorporated into general practice software to screen patients before administering the Zostavax vaccine. The use of drop down boxes for yes/no answers, and auto populate for Name, date of birth, date of completion and provider details (in green) will make the process quicker to complete. Please note, an additional two pages have been included at the back of the checklist to help providers with their decision making. For further information on Zostavax vaccine:
The Communicable Disease Control Directorate has communicated the following information in Vaccine Update 188 - Gardasil® 9 (2 dose) will replace Gardasil® (3 dose) HPV vaccine.
From 2018, students in Year 8 are eligible to receive the new HPV vaccine, Gardasil® 9. The 2 doses of Gardasil® 9 should be administered 6 to 12 months apart.
All vaccinations administered to Year 8 students should be recorded on the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR). The school based immunisation program (SBIP) database is no longer accepting vaccination encounters. Therefore, providers no longer need to complete the report of school program vaccines administered in general practice; all school based vaccines administered should be recorded on the AIR instead. Click here for ATAGI clinical advice on Gardasil ®9.
Ordering information
Immunisation providers can order the Gardasil®9 vaccine through the usual government vaccine ordering process here.
The WA Cervical Cancer Prevention Program is providing scholarships to nurses and midwives working in private and publicly funded sectors that are committed to delivering cervical screening services.
The scholarships will cover the cost (theory and clinical practicum components) of attendance at the Sexual Health Quarters (SHQ) Cervical Screening for Nurses course (theory delivered 18-21 June 2018 in Perth, clinical TBC with SHQ). For more information visit here. Applications close 4pm Friday 16 March 2018. For more information visit the WA Health website or email cervicalscreening@health.wa.gov.au
Maintaining accurate and up-to-date data is a critical part of general practice accreditation and providing high quality care to your patients.
General practices and GPs that analyse and act on their patient data have a greater insight into the needs of their patients, and are better positioned to provide the care they need, when they need it.
WA Primary Health Alliance (WAPHA) provides free licenses for the CATPlus data tools (including CAT4 and Topbar) as well as free training and support to help your practice get the most out of your data (under a data sharing agreement).
For more information or to arrange for an in-practice demonstration, contact Practice Assist on 1800 2 ASSIST.
NPS MedicineWise Clinical Service Specialists (CSS) travel throughout WA metro and regional areas to deliver free, evidence based CPD to GP practices. However, regional practices don’t have to wait for an NPS CSS visit, because NPS CPD can be delivered at any time, via the internet as an interactive Skype Virtual Visit.
Virtual Visits give general practitioners more options to book NPS CPD at a date and time that suits them.
Virtual Visits are interactive discussions or topic content and as such, they qualify for RACGP and ACRRM accreditation, typically;
A collaborative and interactive learning event, generating information exchange and shared experience between general practitioners and Fiona Stanley Hospital specialists. Topics include:
Date: Saturday, 10 March 2018 Time: 8.30am – 3.30pm (Registration 8.00am) Venue: Fiona Stanley Hospital, Education Building, 11 Robin Warren Dr, Murdoch 6150 Catering: Morning tea and lunch will be provided For more information and to register please visit here. Registrations are essential. Please RSVP by Friday, 2 March 2018. This activity has 40 Category One QI&CPD points attached.
Bentley Hospital is pleased to now offer general practitioners the opportunity to share antenatal care for low risk patients. While shared care will mostly be of interest to those patients living within the Bentley catchment, the team are happy to accept low risk antenatal patients who live out of catchment for GP shared care, including country antenatal who may have family in the Bentley area, and would like to deliver there.
The Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA) has released a series of new nurse clinic resources, including the eight building blocks for success. Each building block contains the key components necessary for setting up and running a nurse led clinic. They provide a modular and replicable approach, enabling the development of nurse clinic models that suit the local context, considering factors such as community need, staff availability, local expertise and organisational capacity. There is no single approach to setting up a nurse clinic, but the building block steps reflect this and with examples of active Enhanced Nurse Clinic sites using this approach, you will be ready to start up a clinic of your own in no time. To find out more please visit APNA’s Nursing Tool.
The School of Nursing and Midwifery at the University of Newcastle is looking for 280 general practice nurses to participate in a randomised controlled trial evaluating a pragmatic e-learning intervention to improve chronic kidney disease screening practices. Depending on which group you are randomly assigned to, it is expected to take between one and two hours to complete. A CPD certificate will be awarded upon completion for your professional portfolio. Data collection and the study will cease on 29 March 2018. All participants who complete the program and its surveys will go into the draw for one of three $100 Coles-Myers vouchers.
If you are interested in participating, please click on this link to access the participant information statement and study registration page. All of the surveys are anonymous however you will be required to provide your name and email address in order to register you for the trial and send you your CPD certificate on completion. If you have any questions about this research you can contact the researcher at help@ckd-detect.com. This project is endorsed by Kidney Health Australia and considers evidenced based screening practices and practical real world solutions to initiating chronic kidney disease screening in the general practice setting.
Learn about the impact of social media and technology on patient education and primary health care in this webinar presented by registered nurse Robbie Bedbrook. He talks about the changing face of patient education in the world of social media, and the impact this is having on health literacy. To view please visit here.
On 16 August 2017, changes were made to the Australian Immunisation Register and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2017. This means additional practitioners will now be able to notify medical exemptions to immunisation to the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR).
Practitioners able to notify a medical exemption to vaccination to the AIR include:
Practitioners play a key role in supporting patients to fulfil their vaccination requirements. In the event an individual cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons, eligible practitioners are now able to notify the AIR that the individual has a medical exemption to vaccination.
Medical exemptions can be notified using the AIR wesite. For more information about the AIR, please visit here or call 1800 653 809 (call charges may apply).
The Treating Alcohol and other Drugs in Primary Care (TADPole) program is running a couple of training workshops for general practitioners. This event will discuss the harms and treatments available for alcohol and methamphetamine use, including detoxification and pharmacotherapy. This activity has 4 Category Two QI&CPD points. Date: Tuesday, 6 March 2018 Time: 6.30pm – 9.00pm Venue: ECU Joondalup Campus, Building 21 Room 21.204, 270 Joondalup Dr, Joondalup 6027 Cost: Free Register: To register, please click here. View event flyer here.
Brentnalls SA is presenting the Good Governance module which supports general practices to build their capacity and capability to continuously improve business processes to optimise business performance.
This module will focus on the fundamental principles and process that support good governance, strategies for facilitating effective decision making in the general practice environment, the art of herding cats – getting your team to all work in the same direction, and understanding the process of effective delegations of authority. This activity has 2 Category Two QI&CPD points. Date: Wednesday, 7 March 2018 Time: 7.30am – 9.00am Venue: WAPHA Offices, 2-5, 7 Tanunda Driver, Rivervale 6103 Cost: Free Register: To register, please click here.
Brentnalls SA is presenting the Business Planning and Good Governance modules which support general practices to build their capacity and capability to continuously improve business processes to optimise business performance.
The first module will focus on the process of strategic planning and how to apply it in a general practice environment, the value of values in driving business performance, an approach to prioritising strategic actions, and strategies for ensuring the effective execution of a strategic plan and monitoring ongoing performance. The second module will focus on the fundamental principles and process that support good governance; strategies for facilitating effective decision making in the general practice environment, the art of herding cats – getting your team to all work in the same direction, and understanding the process of effective delegations of authority. This activity has 4 Category Two QI&CPD points. Date: Thursday, 8 March 2018 Time: 4.00pm – 7.30pm Venue: WAPHA Offices, 2-5, 7 Tanunda Driver, Rivervale 6103 Cost: Free Register: To register, please click here.
As part of the ‘Advocacy in Action’ short course, the Public Health Advocacy Institute of Western Australia (PHAIWA) is hosting an exclusive one day event centred on the theme of advocacy and ethics. This session will cover dilemmas in advocacy, industry strategies, marketing, and the impact on community with sport sponsorship as a case study. The event includes a dinner with a range of politicians including The Hon. Roger Cook MLA.
Date: Thursday, 15 March 2018 Time: 9.00am – 9.00pm Venue: Tradewinds Hotel, 59 Canning Highway, East Fremantle 6158 Cost: $400 Register: To register, please click here. View event flyer here.
Edith Cowan University: SIRCH and WA Primary Health Alliance will be holding a RACGP Cat.1 TADPole event. An Active Learning Module has been developed consisting of three separate education activities each of two hours long. Activities include – challenging attitudes and common issues encountered in general practice, enhanced understanding of specific drugs and comorbid conditions, and motivational interviewing and brief intervention. This activity has 40 Category One QI&CPD points. Date: Saturday, 17 March 2018 Time: 8.30am – 5.00pm Venue: Grand Ballroom, Joondalup Resort, Country Club Boulevard, Connolly 6027 Cost: Free Register: To register, please click here. View event flyer here.
Learn to manage and treat patients with chronic hepatitis B. Successful completion of this training and online multiple choice assessment will accredit community-based medical practitioners to prescribe s100 highly specialised drugs for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B.
Date: Friday, 23 March 2018 Time: 9.00am – 5.00pm (Registration – 8.30am) Venue: Fraser Suites Perth, 10 Adelaide Terrace, Perth 6004 Cost: Free Register: To register, please click here. View event flyer here.
The Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA) conference is the premier event for nurses working in primary health care, including general practice. Nurseforce for the Future is the 10th Annual National Conference and provides a platform to recognise and celebrate achievements by primary health care nurses.
Date: Thursday, 10 May – Saturday, 12 May 2018 Venue: Brisbane Exhibition and Convention Centre Register: For more information, to register or submit an abstract, please visit the APNA website. View event flyer here.
This year, Ovarian Cancer Australia are encouraging women to #KnowAskAct as part of Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. Women should KNOW the signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer, ASK for help if they have symptoms or ASK others if they have symptoms, and ACT by participating in an Ovarian Cancer Awareness activity to continue to support women with ovarian cancer. This website contains ovarian cancer resources and information on symptoms, risks and treatment, as well as how to register for an event. Website: https://ovariancancer.net.au/ovarian-cancer-awareness-month/