Primary Care Impact: 2021 highlights and national comparisons
It has been a big year for Healthy North Coast’s popular quality improvement program, Primary Care Impact (PCI). PCI has launched 59 region-focused quality improvement activities, and 117 local practices have engage with the initiative. Thank you to all who have been involved and contributed to PCI’s exciting growth. In what has been a challenging year,
What to do when a COVID-19 vaccination patient refuses consent
The Australian Government has offered guidance to vaccination providers on handling consent refusal by people presenting for COVID-19 vaccination. Vaccine providers have reported some people have requested vaccination but have refused to provide informed consent. One example is where a person required vaccination for employment. In some instances, people became aggressive, abusive, offered bribes to
End-of-year clinical societies, a great way to connect
Over the past four weeks, Healthy North Coast hosted the latest round of regional clinical societies. Events were held in Lennox Head, Kingscliff, Grafton, Lismore, Coffs Harbour, Macksville, Frederickton and Port Macquarie. Attendance numbers were great, with 240 North Coast clinicians attending. Thank you to all who attended, engaged in the speaker presentations and provided
TGA provisionally approves Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for 5 to 11-year-olds
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has provisionally approved the Comirnaty Paediatric (Pfizer) COVID-19 vaccine for 5 to 11-year-olds. The TGA’s provisional approval of the vaccine was based on a careful evaluation of available data to support its safety and efficacy among this age group. The paediatric vaccine dose is one-third the size approved for people
Aged care reforms and RACF Christmas outbreak reminder
Healthy North Coast is planning for specific areas of reform in accordance with the Australian Government aged care reforms announced in May 2021. The five core projects will be focused on: access to virtual health service in residential aged care facilities (RACFs) residential aged care out-of-hours care early healthy ageing interventions for senior Australians greater
Use of antipsychotics in residential aged care facilities
The use of antipsychotics in residential aged care facilities (RACFs) as a restrictive practice in the form of chemical restraint has been one of many areas that came to the attention of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. From 1 July 2021, amendments to the Quality of Care Principles 2014 have placed
Do you treat patients with borderline personality disorder?
Spectrum’s new book, Borderline Personality Disorder – A Practical Guide for General Practitioners, is an educational resource for general practitioners who treat patients with borderline personality disorder. ‘This succinct readable text is an excellent and timely addition to the library of educational resources and education for all practitioners – especially for students and registrars seeking
Working group planning for COVID care in the community
Healthy North Coast and the Mid North Coast Local Health District are inviting general practitioners and nurses working in general practices across the Mid North Coast to participate in the Caring for COVID-19 Positive Patients in the Community Working Group. This working group will review and develop care pathways to deliver a consistent framework that
What to expect at next week’s Lismore, Casino & Kyogle Clinical Society
If you’re yet to register for next week’s Lismore, Casino & Kyogle Clinical Society, get registering! This free-to-attend, face-to-face event is your chance to embed yourself in your local community of health professionals. More than 30 GPs, nurses, allied health, practice managers and reception staff and service coordinators have already registered. Don’t miss out! Lismore,
Spirometry education
Asthma Australia is offering an online spirometry training course you can access from the comfort of your home or office. The course involves seven one-hour modules that can be completed over three months. To achieve competence in performing spirometry, it is essential to complete an appropriately structured, high-quality practical spirometry course. Topics Understand the concepts
Building your service capacity to work with LGBTQ+ people
Here are some resources to build your service capacity in working confidently and competently with LGBTQ+ community members. Say It Out Loud is a website that encourages LGBTQ+ communities to have healthy relationships, get help for unhealthy relationships and support friends experiencing abuse. Say It Out loud outlines practice considerations for service providers about supporting
Update to COVID-19 HealthPathways
The COVID-19 Practice Management HealthPathway has been decommissioned and replaced with a new pathway: COVID-19 PPE, Infection Control and Exposure Response. This change occurred to provide up-to-date information in relation to PPE, infection control and exposure response. To view all other COVID-19 HealthPathways and recent changes, click here. For a list of all localised pathways
