Becoming a Wound Care Champion

Wound care is provided in a wide range of care settings, including aged care, primary care, hospitals, the community, and more. There are clinicians who specialise in wound management, but many healthcare workers also provide wound care as just one part of their role. People who aren’t specialists may feel they lack the experience or

Establish a wound management clinic in general practice

An estimated 345,000 people in Australia live with chronic wounds costing the health system 2.85 billion annually. Wounds can result in long term pain, decreased mobility, lost productivity and reduced physical and psychosocial wellbeing. Chronic wounds are wounds that have not progressed through the stages of healing normally. They may heal at a much slower rate, heal only partially or

Improve data quality and teamwork to inform preventative reminders process

Reminders are used as a prompt for patients for preventive health promotion and activities. By reflecting on the patient, both on an individual level and as a part of a wider population, general practices hold enormous potential to improve health outcomes, broader determinants of health, and the cost of healthcare. Putting preventive recommendations into practice

Improve and maintain team wellbeing, communication and empathy

General practices often play a central role in the provision of healthcare to communities in the immediate, acute phase of emergency situations, and on an ongoing basis for the long-term recovery of individuals and their broader community. Challenging times, such as a natural disaster or pandemic, may understandably cause increased stress and anxiety. It is

Improve health literacy

60% of Australian adults have low health literacy. This means more than half of the people who visit our health services have trouble understanding day to day health information. Low health literacy is linked to poorer health outcomes, including lack of knowledge about medical conditions, lack of engagement with health care providers and increased hospitalisations.

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

Embed falls screening and prevention into general practice

One in three people aged 65+ years fall every year. It is the leading cause of hospitalisation in older adults (41%) and costs an estimated $3.9 billion nationally each year*.  Many people believe falls ‘just happen’ as you get older, but falls are not an inevitable part of ageing. Fall risk is multifactorial and linked

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

Improve the patient experience for a person with mental illness

This quality improvement activity will provide your practice with evidence-based information and resources to become a Mental Health Literacy Responsive Organisation. “Improving mental health literacy is associated with early help seeking, which, in turn, is more likely to lead to improved long-term outcomes for individuals”  Christine Morgan CEO of the National Mental Health Commission. “Mental

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.

Improving general practice engagement with transgender and gender diverse people

The needs of the transgender, gender diverse and non-binary (TGDNB) people are an important aspect of delivering patient centred care in general practice. Primary care environments need to be supportive and inclusive of all gender identities and expressions of gender identity. This is important because negative experiences within primary care can lead to future hesitation

Move to patient care via videoconference during high levels of community transmission

Important changes were made to telehealth MBS item numbers on 15 December 2021. The item numbers are now permanent and: include unrestricted access for patients who are subject to COVID-19 public health orders requiring isolation or quarantine without needing to demonstrate an established clinical relationship with their telehealth provider will be included in the calculation