Embed Advance Care Planning Discussions in General Practice

Advance care planning allows health professionals to understand and respect a person’s future healthcare preferences, for a time when they become seriously ill and unable to communicate for themselves. Registered and non-registered health practitioners have a role in advance care planning and require capability to facilitate these conversations effectively. The National Quality Standards for aged

Prepare your practice to support victim survivors of Domestic and Family Violence

Prepare your practice to support victim survivors of Domestic and Family Violence   The Prime Minister recently stated that domestic and family violence was a “national crisis”. Domestic and family violence is when a partner, former partner or family member tries to scare, intimidate, hurt or control you. In Australia:  1 in 6 women and 1

Improve auditing of recall systems

Reminders and recalls have different legal implications and requirements for follow up attempts, documentation of steps taken, and methods of communication. There is no legal duty to have a reminder system, but general practices do have a legal duty to recall patients to inform them about clinically significant test results. It is essential that GPs

Improve collection and recording of gender identity

A patient’s assigned sex at birth and current gender are important pieces of demographic information to collect and record. The latest edition of the RACGP Standards for General Practice (5th edition) recommends that health professionals separate the collection of sex and gender information, with hopes that it will not only help practices be more inclusive

Preparing and managing staff shortages and workload capacity during COVID-19

Community transmission of COVID-19 may impact the general practice workforce. In what is already a busy and challenging time for general practices, staff shortages put further strain on healthcare capacity. This activity will help your practice to prepare for and manage staff shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our Own Orange Level QI

You know your practice and patients best and may wish to choose your own QI topic. Quality improvement comes in all shapes and sizes, so we have divided our QI into ‘less involved’ and ‘more involved’. This page gives you a guide to conducting an orange level activity. This is QI that is less involved,

Improve preparation of emergency equipment

All general practices need to ensure comprehensive emergency protocols, equipment and medicines are in place to achieve best practice and manage adverse events following immunisation (AEFI). This QI activity assists general practices to prepare emergency equipment, including ensuring the anaphylaxis kit is fully stocked and up to date. Thank you to Dr John Moran from

Improve cold chain management of vaccines

Exposure to temperatures outside the correct range diminishes the potency of vaccines. General practice has a key role to play in maintaining the cold chain management of vaccines to ensure maximum efficacy. This QI activity will assist you to prepare and maintain high-quality systems for the cold chain management of vaccines. Please note: If you

Increase use of electronic prescribing

If your practice or AMS is now ready for ePrescribing, complete this QI activity to embed electronic prescribing in routine care. See below for an example flowchart (HYPERLINK) and other improvement ideas below.  

Improve collection and recording of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status

Only a minority of GPs routinely collect the Indigenous identity status of patients. Many practices make assumptions based on appearance or expect that patients will disclose their Indigenous status without being asked*. Collecting and recording Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status is important for two main reasons: To help shape client care and planning. To

Improve recording and updating of immunisation data to the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR)

It is mandatory for vaccination providers to report all vaccinations administered to the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR). Non-compliance can result in a financial penalty. Uploading to the AIR allows you to actively support immunisation coverage in your local community, as well as contribute to the national immunisation coverage measurement. It also helps your practice to:

Increase general practice preparedness for management of adults with mild COVID-19

This quality improvement activity supports the Management of Adults with Mild COVID-19 Illness: GP Response Framework, developed in consultation with the Public Health Unit and North Coast GPs. The framework was compiled to support GPs and Aboriginal Medical Services to prepare for and respond to adult patients with mild COVID-19 via telemonitoring in cases where