June 2019

Announcement of our 2019 Victorian State Award winners

The RACGP awards recognise the professional excellence demonstrated by our winners. This year, we received a strong number of high-calibre nominations.

RACGP Victoria is pleased to announce our state award winners for 2019.

Congratulations to:

RACGP Victoria Registrar of the Year 2019 – Dr Pallavi Prathivadi

RACGP Victoria General Practice Supervisor of the Year 2019 – Dr Niroshe Amarasekera

RACGP Victoria General Practitioner of the Year 2019 – Dr Caroline Johnson

RACGP Victoria General Practice of the Year 2019 – Bendigo & District Aboriginal Co-operative

Meet the winners:

Dr Pallavi Prathivadi is currently undertaking her PhD with her research in the area of improving safe opioid prescribing in primary care. 

Dr Niroshe Amarasekera is a passionate advocate for medical education. She is the primary supervisor at her clinic after being instrumental in her clinic becoming an accredited training practice for GP registrars. 

Dr Caroline Johnson is a dedicated clinician and an expert GP educator. She is passionate about the role of general practice in advancing the health of the community and has spoken at a number of events on her special interest of mental health.

Bendigo & District Aboriginal Co-operative (BDAC) delivers a range of health and social services to the local community. BDAC focuses on the promotion of Aboriginal health and delivers unique and diverse programs across health, education, employment, culture, family and community.

Congratulations, again, to our RACGP Victoria state award winners.

Meet and celebrate with our award winners at the 2019 RACGP Members Meeting and Awards Night on Thursday 29 August 2019.

Warm regards,

Dr Yousuf Ahmad and Dr Karen Price
co-Deputy Chairs, RACGP Victoria

Wednesday 24 July 2019

This interactive workshop will assist GPs with addressing issues that arise during challenging consultations, including the use of Safescript. 

Actors will role-play a number of simulated consultations where the GP is being challenged. GPs will need to provide the best management of the issues presented.

Register now.

Friday 16 August 2019

The RACGP Victoria New Fellows Committee is asking the following question: Have you found your niche yet?

The Committee invites you to join a group of passionate and diverse GPs who will share their journeys, their stories and explain how they arrived at their current chosen field.

Held at Cargo Hall, South Wharf, the workshop will commence with a short introduction from each GP followed by break-out question and answer groups.

Full catering will be provided with a chance to network with other GPs.

Register now.

 

On Saturday 15 June, over 60 GPs joined the RACGP Victoria Women in General Practice Committee at the 'Hands on' – Special skills event, held at Pullman Melbourne Albert Park. Experts in the field of vertigo, dermatoscopy, hands, cervical screening, shoulders and breast examination provided practical tips on identifying common presentations, examination techniques and how to manage common problems. Delegates moved through rooms in small groups which provided everyone a chance to interact, participate in the examination and ask relevant questions.

RACGP Victoria thanks the Women in General Practice Committee and the Victorian Cytology Service for their support.

The Candidate Assessment and Applied Knowledge Test (CAAKT) is the national assessment that eligible applicants need to the sit as part of the selection process for entry into the AGPT Program. 

The CAAKT is made up of 20 Knowledge Test (KT) questions and 50 Situational Judgement Test (SJT) questions. Candidates must obtain a minimum standard to proceed to the next stage of the selection process. The questions in the CAAKT are partly derived using competency indicators from the RACGP Competency profile of the general practitioner at the point of Fellowship. 

Sample questions are available to help you prepare for the assessment.  

The CAAKT is open to candidates from Thursday to Saturday 27–29 June 2019.

In order to sit the CAAKT, candidates must have completed the application and selection, and been deemed eligible by the Department of Health. 

If you or a colleague are interested in joining the panel of examiners, please visit the RACGP examiners webpage for the criteria and an expression of interest form. All other enquires can be sent to vic.examiners@racgp.org.au 

In the lead-up to 2019.2 OSCE in November 2019, we are running two training session for new examiners. These training sessions are being held on Sunday 18 August 2019 with follow-up training held during the candidate mock OSCE workshops in September.

RACGP members have access to DynaMed Plus (DMP) the clinical information resource designed to provide answers in the shortest possible time, using the most current evidence, primarily at point of care. DMP content is updated daily incorporating evidence sourced from studies reported in over 500 medical journals.

User guidance videos are now available introducing the features and functionality of DMP. The videos will help members identify ways in which DMP can be used during consults to assist clinical decision-making using an evidence-based approach. 

The videos cover a range of topics, including: 

• an overview of DMP
• how to access DMP through the RACGP website and the mobile app
• how to find answers to a clinical question
• how to find and use the patient decision aids
• DMP drug content.

View the user videos and access DynaMed Plus on the library webpages. RACGP website login is required.

Voluntary assisted dying is now legal in Victoria, allowing eligible patients to ask a doctor for access to a lethal substance.

The scheme is opt-in for GPs, with around 100 Victorian doctors already signing up to be trained to assist terminally ill patients to die. Others have chosen to be conscientious objectors.

The RACGP has updated and published its position on voluntary assisted dying legislation. The position statement has been written to ensure that both patients and GPs are supported when legislation for voluntary assisted dying is being considered and implemented.

Voluntary assisted dying is a significant change for healthcare in Victoria, so it is important we take some time to understand it and, if faced with a question, remember that it is OK to pause and get the information and advice you need.

The following articles may help you to further understand voluntary assisted dying:

How Victoria’s assisted dying laws work
Assisted dying is now legal in Victoria. How did the nation respond?
Voluntary assisted dying: What GPs need to know
Palliative care – Is there such a thing as person-centred care?

Nutrition Research Australia has been commissioned by Australian Mushrooms to conduct the first systematic literature review on the health benefits of the world’s most commonly consumed edible mushroom: Agaricus bisporus. 

First, we want to hear from you! Please take 5–10 minutes to answer this short survey. Your feedback is invaluable. Our aim is to understand your thoughts on mushrooms, their health benefits and nutritional properties, if you like mushrooms and if you recommend them. Your answers will be 100% anonymous. 

As a thank you for participating, you’ll go into the draw to win one of two $100 gift vouchers from a major supermarket to spend on something delicious.

*Paid contribution

In an exciting new development, SafeScript is now easily accessible on mobile devices. Access SafeScript on the go via mobile.safescript.vic.gov.au on your mobile browser. 

Just two months since the state-wide launch of SafeScript, over 12,000 eligible clinicians are now registered for SafeScript. If you haven’t already, register at www.safescript.vic.gov.au 

Save time by activating integration of SafeScript with your clinical software. For more information, visit the Health Victoria website. 

Is SafeScript already integrated with your software? You can review your recent SafeScript notifications beneath the patient search screen on your SafeScript dashboard. Selecting the notification icon takes you directly to the patient’s profile.

Sustainability Victoria is conducting a state-wide research to measure levels of awareness and understanding of the health effects of climate change.

The research includes two main elements:

1. A community survey across all regions and metro locations, targeting over 2000 Victorians aged 15 years of age and over.
2. A healthcare professional / healthcare worker survey to record any health impacts they may already be seeing in their community, and/or expect to see in the future.

Note: The survey link below is for Victorian healthcare professionals / community-based health officers who interact with patients and clients to provide a health-related service.

As a healthcare worker / medical professional, your participation in this survey is immensely valuable and critical to the project's validity. Please take 15 minutes to complete this survey. We greatly appreciate your participation. 

Take the survey.

This survey will remain open until the end of June.