March 2022


Chair report


Message from the chair - Dr Anita Munoz

Winter is coming.

Sensing a potential defeat at the hands of the Seven Kingdoms of Infection Control (masks, sanitiser, distancing, Pfizer, Moderna, Astra Zeneca and Novavax), the creepy White Walker ringleader COVID-19 has had to rethink its strategy. Amassing a prodigious army of Omicron wasn’t enough. It’s decided to resurrect the armies of the past: influenza, parainfluenza, RSV and picornavirus, even little ol’ rhinovirus, to create a great winter army of undead viruses.

To make matters a little more complicated, COVID-19 has also invited an international ally, Japanese encephalitis, to fight alongside it, currently setting up camp in the north of the state.

Jon CHO, the Seven Kingdoms key strategist, is not amused.

What can a Victorian GP do to defend the realm? Here are some key weapons to put in your war chest:

  • Vaccinate everyone you can against influenza. We know Victorians are a bit sick of vaccination, but this is so important. The undead flu virus may well be a total doozy.
  • Be up to date with guidelines on antiviral use in both COVID-eligible and high-risk flu patients.
  • Remind your patients how to use rapid antigen tests (RATs) effectively: if you’re symptomatic and get a positive RAT result, you’ve got COVID; if you’re asymptomatic and get a negative RAT result, you don’t have COVID; if you’re symptomatic with a negative RAT, or asymptomatic with a positive RAT, you must get a PCR – so, so important.
  • Use the GP respiratory clinics! If they’re underutilised, we’ll lose them.
  • Learn about Japanese encephalitis. It’s time to go back to adding travel histories to our usual history-taking and talking mosquito safety.
  • Tune into the RACGP Victoria and Victorian Department of Health public health webinars.

These six things will have a big impact on Victoria’s winter experience this year and protect our most vulnerable patients.

Dr Anita Muñoz
Chair, Victoria Faculty

Kon's korner

  • We’re bringing back member activities this month, starting with Fellowship ceremonies and our GP wellbeing weekend.
  • We congratulate our members on receiving the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) this year: Dr Anthony Michaelson, for service to the community through alcohol and drug use prevention programs; and Dr Arnold Shmerling, for service to the Jewish community.
  • Access some great new Quit resources.
  • Changes to permit requirements for Schedule 8 medicinal cannabis took effect on 28 February.
  • Following a recent Victorian Coroner’s finding, please remember to:
    • consider the medical history and cardiac risk factors when a patient presents with atypical discomfort/pain
    • take and document a thorough history on the nature of any presenting symptoms
    • advise patients to have a low threshold for seeking further medical attention if symptoms persist, especially if the diagnosis isn’t clear.
  • We’ve had some staffing changes:
    • Maria Fraser has been appointed (national) CPD Operations Manager.
    • Stacey McInnes has been appointed (national) Fellowship Examinations Coordinator.
    • Renata Fularczyk has been appointed Post-Fellowship Recognition Project Coordinator with RACGP Specific Interests (six-month secondment).
    • Kerrianne Singleton has been appointed Project Lead, Family Violence Program.
    • Some new team members will join us soon.
Kon Kakris,
State Manager

Newsletters news


Family Violence GP Education Program

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GPs and their practice teams play a significant role in caring for patients who are, or may be, experiencing family violence.

The RACGP’s Family Violence GP Education Program builds your skills, understanding and confidence to provide care for your patients and their family members affected by family violence.

Contact Kerrianne Singleton on 03 8699 0468 or vic.fvp@racgp.org.au if you don't have a RACGP ID number.

   Find out more            Express your interest    

Cancer Council Victoria familial cancer training and support resources now online

Cancer Council Victoria has updated online training and resources for GPs to improve their understanding of genetic cancers (via BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 genes, or Lynch Syndrome), risk-assess patients and make easy referrals to Familial Cancer Centres. Training is free, practical and offers CPD points.

    Access the training    

CPD corner

Check your CPD points for the triennium

This is the final year of the CPD triennium, so check your points balance today. Our CPD team is here to help you meet your requirements.

Self-directed CPD accredited activities

The new COVID management form on your myCPD dashboard easily translates the modified practices you used during the pandemic response into a 40-point CPD accredited activity.

CPD assist: How to submit a COVID management self-directed CPD accredited activity CPD assist: How to submit a peer group learning self-directed CPD accredited activity

Date: 22 March 2022
Time: 7.00‌ pm (AEDT)
Venue: Online
Cost: Free

    Register now    

Date: 30 March 2022
Time: 7.00‌ pm (AEDT)
Venue: Online
Cost: Free

    Register now    

 

Need another CPD accredited activity? You can find all our provider led CPD accredited activities through your myCPD dashboard. You can find instructions on navigating the dashboard on the RACGP website.

You can also access gplearning 24 hours a day, and it’s free for RACGP members.

Access a fully funded focussed psychological strategies scholarship

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The RACGP and the Rural Workforce Agency of Victoria are offering scholarships to Victorian GPs in MMM3–7 areas and GPs working in an Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations in MMM1–7 locations to complete focussed psychological strategies skills training (FPS ST).

Each scholarship covers the cost of completing the course (valued at $979) with the RACGP, helping you improve access to care in your community. After completing the training, you’ll become a Medicare-registered FPS provider, and you can deliver FPS and cognitive-behavioural-therapy-derived counselling to your patients.

Places are limited, so apply for this fully subsidised training by submitting an expression of interest on the RACGP website today.

    Express your interest     

Fellowship corner

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Congratulations to our Victoria New Fellows

RACGP Victoria congratulates the following Victorian GPs who attained Fellowship of the RACGP between January and March 2022:

Dr Majuwane Karunathilaka
Dr Tosseynde Garinze Do De Silva
Dr Ahmed Azam
Dr Sophie Lindstedt
Dr Georgios Manolis
Dr Tirani Rajapaksha Arachchillage
Dr Marilia Neubert
Dr Kelly Gibbs
Dr Chamini Jayasinghe
Dr Fathima Rizvi
Dr Zoya Seehar
Dr Sara Eshraghi
Dr Nalin Gunawardana
Dr Mandeep Kaur
Dr Benjamin Lewis
Dr Leena Mathews
Dr Mohammadsaeid Pakshir
Dr Benish Zeeshan
Dr Jenny Hellsing
Dr Katherine Wilson
Dr Gemma McHugh
Dr Loganathan Poopalapillai
Dr Fady Abdou
Dr Varun Deepak
Dr Saeideh Asefighamari
Dr Eslam Alsamman
Dr Jenny Huang
Dr Saima Husain
Dr Laura Kambuts
Dr Raghad Al-Badri
Dr Elizabeth Treble
Dr Ronald de Kruif
Dr Somayeh Fallahnejadnasrabadi
Dr Thura Kyaw
Dr Ramachandra  Yellappa
Dr Mahan  Nooraee
Dr Mohammad Khan
Dr Luis Torres Villacorta
Dr Sanjoy Kanti Banik
Dr Chandrakumara Munasinghe
Dr Jehad Juma Noor
Dr Parinaz Alirezaei
Dr Diem Pham
Dr Shivani  Ragunathan
Dr Benjamin  Ganesan
Dr Laura Harris
Dr Julie Robinson
Dr Karinne Tunnecliff
Dr Catherine Law
Dr Sriram Gangadharan
Dr Pasha Hazrati
Dr Gehan Samarasinghe
Dr Eranga Rajapaksha Mudalige
Dr Sanaz Khoshnoudi
Dr Shadab Esfahany
Dr Fareed Yousif
Dr Shinta Tjandra
Dr Bibha Pradhan
Dr Kasra Taghian
Dr Colombage Fernando
Dr Roshan Fernando
Dr Inam Khan
Dr Sadia Afrin
Dr Pyae Soe
Dr Gavin Carpenter
Dr Bushra Ahmed
Dr Hadi Jeiroodi
Dr Mariam Gad
Dr Deepa Chinnachamy
Dr Jothi Kumar Kuppana Gounder
Dr Maryam Mirzazadeh
Dr Prashan Fernando
Dr Khalilullah Paygham
Dr Nabil Hashem
Dr Fiona Lai
Dr Kavya Chaganti
Dr Kalashini Annakkage
Dr Jessica Foley
Dr Kae-Bin Su
Dr Souravi Saha
Dr Maja Simoski
Dr Shane Richards
Dr Kristy Tybura
Dr Jandree Fransch
Dr Rahul Verma
Dr Atiya Khalid
Dr Radhika Harish
Dr Neha Gupta
Dr Ritu Parmar
Dr Nameera Begum
Dr Thomas Kefford
Dr Kelvin Chang
Dr Patrick Yoo
Dr Callum Toole
Dr Jordan McGarry
Dr Sarah Lim
Dr Aiesha Javed
Dr Shane Elders
Dr Laura Nield
Dr Melanny Ho
Dr Sung-Lin Yang
Dr Chang-June Jung
Dr Clare Matheson
Dr Danielle Matic
Dr Stephen Tsimos
Dr Keyvan Samimi
Dr Rowena Cao
Dr Paul Cotton
Dr Lauren Edwards
Dr Mardi Beck
Dr Julia Coote
Dr Chunxiao Zhang
Dr Daniel Wong
Dr John Ford
Dr Joyce Kant
Dr Stephanie See
Dr Aaron Rhodes
Dr James Dobbing
Dr Wei Lun Kong
Dr George Farag
Dr Matthew Yap
Dr Rohan Patel
Dr Jennifer Pham
Dr Timothy Evans
Dr Rylie Wallace
Dr Kevin Tao
Dr Sarah Friend
Dr Lilly Nheu
Dr Lisa Qu
Dr Amraj Gill
Dr Brent Venning
Dr Alba Sanderson
Dr Shaukat Bashir
Dr Meredith Bates
Dr Jenni Lyne
Dr Yota Yoshimitsu
Dr Miguel Adonis Dajao
Dr Caitlyn Pring
Dr Claire Griffits
Dr Kinson Lao
Dr Alexander Scrivener
Dr Matthew Nigro
Dr Shi Zhang
Dr Zahra Shahzad
Dr Timothy Goldsmith
Dr David Liu
Dr Sureka Vyravipillai
Dr Robert Rametta
Dr Fang Chen
Dr Joel Jaya
Dr Max Lippiatt
Dr Michael Tung
Dr Michelle Hui Yi Kah
Dr Bahareh Zadeh
Dr Arpit Jaipal
Dr Marcus Wong
Dr Arushi Jain
Dr Fiona Chao
Dr Megan Glenister
Dr Diya Soman
Dr Kyra Manze
Dr Jessica Jose
Dr Isobel Marr
Dr Yuan Gao
Dr Elise Clifford
Dr Matthew Parker
Dr Adrian Dragovic
Dr Caryn Tay

**listed in order of Fellowship date

GP wellbeing weekend

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Take some time for you. Join us for a weekend of educational workshops and sessions to minimise day-to-day stress and optimise your health, self-care and wellbeing.

The program has been designed by the RACGP Victoria New Fellows Committee for all GPs, including New Fellows and those working towards Fellowship.

Dates: 2–3‌ April 2022
Venue: Mecure Ballarat
Cost: See website

    Register now           View program    


National news


Transitioning to college-led training

The Department of Health is working through the RACGP submission for grant funding to deliver the Australian General Practice Training Program. In the meantime, we’ve drafted a stakeholder communications plan for the transition to college-led training to ensure all stakeholders are kept up to date. You can expect to hear more communications about college-led training activities, achievements and opportunities to be involved soon.

This month, we started engagement sessions with regional training organisations, meeting with senior management teams to understand their concerns and identify high-priority areas. These meetings will inform HR activities and requirements for future engagement.

You can find the latest information on the transition to college-led training on our website.

Member trial for online exam – We need your help

We’re inviting members to participate in a trial of our new online exam platform to help us test the readiness of specific features.

This is an opportunity for you to ‘look under the hood’, get an early glimpse of the software and help us refine it so we can create a seamless experience for our Fellowship candidates.  

The trial will run on 5 April 2022 and will take about 45 minutes. If you’re interested, please register now. You’ll be allocated a start time between 7.00–7.30 pm on the trial day. For more information, visit our website.

    Register now    

2022 RACGP Foundation research grants now open

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Applications for the 2022 RACGP Foundation research grants are now open.

An RACGP Foundation research grant can help support you to investigate an area of interest in general practice and discover new ideas and solutions to improve primary healthcare for all Australians.

Applications close on 2 May 2022. Learn more at on the RACGP Foundation website.

Introducing mixed billing in your practice

Date: 24 March 2022
Time: 7.00 pm (AEDT)
Venue: Online
Cost: Free

 

Learn about the benefits of a mixed-billing model and how to manage the transition to mixed billing, including discussing fees with patients. The webinar will also include examples of billing changes/strategies to help you evaluate your options and what would work best for you.

    Register now    

The RACGP does not accept any responsibility for any loss or damage that may result from reliance on, or the use of, any information contained in this newsletter.

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