Sydney. Staff news: We welcome our new clinical GP Registrars (Drs ... cancer servicesâ in SW Sydney has been very ...
Beyond Practice
March 2014
March 2014
General Practice Unit
From the Professor’s Desk It is March 2014 and it Our academic Registrar, Director of GP Unit. It is looks like Xmas is not that Thi, also had a baby boy charged with developing far away. during this period. and overseeing projects The GP Unit is in for General prac ce and to improve the delivery of exci ng mes, especially primary care ac vi es in integrated health services through be er with more formal joint our neighbourhood: coordina on of care Medicare Local and Local The Primary Health across primary and Health District ac vi es to Network Commi ee secondary care in SW improve primary and (Fairfield) is chaired by Dr Sydney as iden fied in the integrated care in our Harry Pope and aims to strategic plans of both ML health neighbourhood in provide advice and and LHD. Current projects Fairfield LGA and SW guidance to the SWSML sponsored by this Sydney. regarding the primary commi ee include: Staff news: care needs of the Fairfield Integrated diabetes care, communica on We welcome our new community. It has a focus 2‐way on improving the needs between community and clinical GP Registrars (Drs and gaps analysis of hospital based clinicians Catherine Lip and Sam primary care services using IT, and developing Cheng) for the next 6 conducted by the SWSML and implemen ng an months. recently. Other members integrated primary care We farewell: of the commi ee include centre in Oran Park. GPs (Francis Halder, Others are being Dr Dayna Griffin who will Lawrence Tan, Jonathan developed. If you have be con nuing her Lee, Teng Liaw), strong views on what the voca onal training at physiotherapist (Tom needs are in your health Liverpool, comple ng her Wong), and SWSML staff neighbourhood, please OBGYN training. Dayna (Lyn Long, Amy speak to me. will also be having a baby Humphries, Ma hew soon! The NSW Health General Palmer and Alison Tran). Prac ce‐Hospital Clinical Dr Nala Sugitharan, who Please contact the Handover program has has completed her commi ee members Academic GP Registrar directly or through Alison been launched to be through term. She has completed Tran (1300 179 765) if you implemented her research project on wish to contribute or seek NSW LHDs, MLs and other mental health of Tamil advice on related ma ers. community organisa ons. This is an opportunity to pa ents and refugees and The joint SWSML and link with our colleagues in is finalising a paper for SWSLHD Integrated hospitals in a submission to a journal. Health Commi ee standardised and uniform Dr Sanjyot Vagholkar comprises the Execu ves way. Please contact me who, a er 10 produc ve of both LHD and ML, for more details. You can years with the GP Unit, Directors of the LHD get a copy of the guiding has decided to take me Complex Care, Emergency document at the off to complete her PhD and Aged Care Clinical following URL: h p:// and to contemplate her Stream Leaders, Director www.aci.health.nsw.gov.au/ future career direc ons. of Popula on Health and publica ons/
Inside this issue: From the Professor’s Desk
1-2
Meet our Registrars
2
ePBRN
3
Effectiveness of an Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Cultural Respect Program in General Practice
3
Improving Communication between Cancer Services and GPs of Patients with Cancer
4
Other Research Projects
5
From the Professor’s Desk (Contd.) Quality improvement and clinical research in our neighbourhood: The electronic Practce Based Research Network (ePBRN) program: This con nuing and growing program is ge ng more interes ng with applica ons to answer prac ce‐based quality improvement ques ons and generate research ques ons at a health neighbourhood level. Other organisa ons are beginning to seek our assistance and par cipa on in their research including: the Kirby Ins tute on research about “Treatment as Preven on” in pa ents with HIV, and developing and contribu ng to larger cohort studies of hypertension and cancer for example. The obvious example of the ePBRN work leading health services research is our being selected by the Health Contribu on Fund (HCF) to conduct predic ve modelling work on the pathways of diabetes pa ents to admission and re‐admission to Fairfield Hospital now has current data from par cipa ng 10 general prac ces in Fairfield and Fairfield Health Services (Admissions and Diabetes
Clinic), which we are linking prior to analysis. This is all very exci ng and the pioneers in the Fairfield Health Neighbourhood ePBRN are to be congratulated on their forward thinking.
placement program in various units in Fairfield Hospital has been successfully completed. An inter‐ professional learning and teaching special interest group has been established to con nue this work, chaired by Barbara Chapman, DON of Fairfield Hospital, with partners from SWSLHD nursing educa on and UNSW SWS Clinical School and simula on laboratory. An online resource has been developed to support clinical supervisors of health professional students. More on this once we have finalised the website.
By the way, par cipa on in the ePBRN program is an opportuni‐ ty to improve your prac ce rec‐ ords as well as earn you the complete 40 points for the RACGP QI&CPD program (2014‐ 7). Contact Jane Tag‐ gart/Charmaine Rodricks (02 96168520) if you are interested. The Cancer Ins tute of NSW funded project on “joined‐up cancer services” in SW Sydney has been very successful and will be part of the GP‐LHD communica on project sponsored by the joint ML‐ LHD Integrated Health Commi ee. More from Andrew Knight in his column. Educa on and training: Inter‐professional learning & teaching: The inter‐professional undergraduate student team
Friday lunch me seminars: We will be star ng the 2014 series of seminars soon. You are more than welcome to join us at these seminars on research and quality improvement that is relevant to our clinical work . In addi on to sharing a sandwich or two and sharing experiences around the latest in clinical topics of interest, you will get meet our new members – and catch up with us older ones – as well as relevant clinicians from your local hospital.
Meet our Registrars Catherine Lip and Samuel Cheng both graduated from the UNSW Australia. Catherine did a brief s nt at Fairfield Hospital during her first few years as a medical student. She has spent most of her postgraduate training at Manly, Mona Vale and Hornsby Hospitals where she has par cularly enjoyed her terms in paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaeceology. She is enjoying the diversity and con nuity of care that
Page 2
comes with general prac ce. In her spare me, she enjoys playing tennis, baking and enjoying a steaming hot cup of Earl Grey tea. Samuel and has always enjoyed prac sing a wide variety of medicine. He has trained primarily in Emergency and General Medicine departments in the hospital, and looks forward to building upon that training now in general prac ce. He enjoys playing most sports, with a par cular passion for tennis and soccer.
Beyond Practice
Electronic Practice Based research Network (ePBRN) How are your numbers? Do you provide good quality care? How can you measure what you do? The Fairfield ePBRN is a network of 10 general prac ces, the hospital and the diabetes clinic that is aiming to improve the quality of clinical records, integrated care and health outcomes. Prac ces receive feedback reports comparing their prac ce with all ePBRN prac ces on the quality of recording and mee ng the RACGP Standards for the content of pa ent
records. Also, in the report is aggregated informa on about their pa ent popula on, diabetes register and rates of pa ents at risk of CVD and diabetes. The data is also being used for research purposes including iden fying predictors of hospital re‐ admissions for diabetes pa ents. ePBRN prac ces know where they are and what to improve. Do you? ePBRN prac ces are contribu ng to primary care research. Are you?
For more informa on contact Jane Taggart:
[email protected] ; For more informa on contact Jane Taggart:
[email protected] ; or Teng Liaw: Siaw‐
[email protected] at the GP Unit 9616 8520
GP Unit wins NHMRC Grant to improve effec veness of an Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Cultural Respect Program in general prac ce! Bridging the gap between Thinking and Doing: A whole-of practice approach Aboriginal people comprise 2.5% of Australia's popula on, with 60% urban dwellers with poor access to health care. Poor access to care is reflected through dispari es in health status and health outcomes between Aboriginal and non‐ Aboriginal Australians. Despite various strategies to close this gap inequi es s ll persist. The project aims at addressing this issue at general prac ce level. The “Ways of Thinking and Ways of Doing (WoTWoD)” is the basis of this project which was developed by us during 2008‐13 and field‐tested through two pilot projects in Melbourne and Sydney. The WoTWoD is a whole‐of‐ prac ce clinical redesign program and toolkit. Our hypothesis is that WoTWoD, if successfully implemented at general prac ces, will enable them to provide culturally and clinically appropriate health care to their Aboriginal pa ents. This new project is a mul ‐centre randomized control funded by NHMRC. It will be conducted across two major ci es— Sydney and Melbourne. In Sydney the researchers are from UNSW Centre from Primary Health Care &
Equity and Melbourne researchers are the research team. Prac ce staff will also be requested to fill a “Cultural Quo ent from the Department of General (CQ)” form. Pa ents and general Prac ce, University of Melbourne. prac ce staff will also be interviewed at We will work closely with Medicare the end of the study to express views Locals (MLs), Aboriginal Community about WoTWoD. Our primary outcomes Controlled Organiza ons (ACCOs) and measures includes cultural respect Aboriginal communi es in our study among prac ce staff (CQ score) and use areas. Five MLs in NSW and four in of Aboriginal Health Assessment MBS Melbourne have already agreed to be item (Item #715). our partners in this project. We will be Prac ces will be reimbursed for staff working with the “Closing the Gap” me for project related ac vi es and team. We will form a local “Care GPs will be eligible for 40 Cat‐1 for Partnership” at each Medicare Local area which will include representa ves audits. from local ACCOs, Medicare Locals and Elders from local Aboriginal communi es. The target popula on will be general prac ces and we aim recruit 80 prac ces across both states. Workshops will be organized to train interven on prac ce staff on the WoTWoD . Interven on prac ces will receive support from trained Aboriginal cultural mentors .
For more informa on contact: Iqbal Hasan Project Coordinator (Sydney) on (02) 9616 8520 or Email:
[email protected] Phyllis Lau Project Coordinator (Melbourne) on (03) 8344 9042 or Email:
[email protected]
Project data collec on will include a pre and post audit conducted by prac ce staff with the assistance from Page 3
IMPROVING COMMUNICATION BETWEEN CANCER SERVICES AND GPs OF PATIENTS WITH CANCER The General Prac ce Unit is leading a joint effort with Cancer Services, the Ingham Ins tute for Applied Medical Research and South West Sydney Medicare Local to improve the meliness of clinical correspondence to GPs referring pa ents to the Cancer Therapy Centre Liverpool. The lateness of clinical correspondence has been iden fied in previous research as a major barrier to the seamless integra on of cancer care provided by GPs and Cancer Services.
This quality improvement project, funded by the Cancer Ins tute of NSW, will aim to deliver 80% clinical correspondence generated by Cancer Services to General prac oners within 7 days. Several strategies, some of which were recommended by GPs par cipa ng in our previous research, including secure messaging op ons and electronic le er transcrip on are being explored to achieve this goal. It is an cipated that this will result in General having the Prac oners
necessary clinical informa on at hand during consulta ons to enable them par cipate more effec vely in the care of their pa ents with cancer. On a lighter note, Dr Ron Campbell (The Oaks Medical Centre) emerged lucky winner of our iPad draw from the first cancer project conducted in 2012/2013. We were delighted to present him with his prize in February 2014. We look forward to more frui ul collabora ons with General Prac oners in the South West Sydney area.
DR RON CAMPBELL LUCKY WINNER
Other Research Projects of interest at the G P Unit: Ashcro Project: Ashcro High School in Liverpool serves a very disadvantaged local popula on. Teaching staff have observed that many children coming into the school have health problems, such as poor hearing, that interfere with their ability to learn. Those students who are in the lowest quar le of educa onal achievement based on the NAPLAN scores may have more uniden fied or poorly managed health problems that are preven ng them from learning effec vely. This project aims to evaluate the effec veness of a school program to iden fy and manage health problems in these students, in addi on to providing an intensive educa onal support program.
eHealth and Superclinics: This is an APHCRI‐funded study to evaluate the eHealth maturity of Superclinics and whether it has improved integra on. We plan to start this soon with colleagues in Melbourne and Adelaide For further informa on 0n this newsle er or to contact the GP Unit please see details below: General Prac ce Unit, P O Box 5, Fairfield NSW 1851