Latest news

15 July, 2022

Online forum for GPs - Deferred Care - What's the Cost?

• Decreased rates of cancer screening
• Increased rates of family violence
• Increased workplace stress due to safety concerns
• Increased number of people relying on government payments for an income
• An increase in people who report being isolated
• Increased demand for homelessness services
• Disease deterioration among residents of aged care homes

Upcoming webinar - What’s Next for COVID-19 Care in General Practice 

Alcohol and Other Drugs Learning Platform for health professionals

Improving efficiency with technology in your practice

Case Conferencing in Primary Care and Residential Aged Care Facilities

Reproductive options for mitochondrial disease
 

General practitioners are pivotal in diagnosing and managing mitochondrial disease (mito) patients and in response to requests for ongoing education, the Mito Foundation has launched a dedicated GP webinar series.

Join Professor David Thorburn for the first webinar as he takes a closer look at mitochondrial donation and other reproductive options designed to support conversations involving your patients’ family planning. Prof Thorburn will briefly revisit mitochondrial disease genetics before discussing prenatal diagnosis, preimplantation genetic testing, donor conception and mitochondrial donation.

Visit Maybe It's Mito GP education page.
 

Australian Prostate Centre  - GP Education Series
 

In this GP Education Series session, urological surgeon and uro-oncologist, Dr Pras Sivam, will discuss the presentation and management of benign and malignant conditions of the testes and scrotum as well as the diagnosis and management of testicular cancer.

As part of the multidisciplinary approach to patients’ treatment plans, exercise physiologist Molly Lowther will outline the benefits of incorporating a tailored exercise program for patients with cancer.
 

SaferFamilies - domestic and family violence training

Pivoting to the perpetrator: How to engage with patients who use domestic and family violence is the topic for this training from SaferFamilies.
 
The training is for general practitioners and other primary care providers to enhance knowledge and confidence to safely engage with people who use domestic and family violence.
 
Part 1 is the introduction level and Part 2 the advanced level. CPD points available.
 

Family Violence AOD Community of Practice
 

The Victorian Government has provided support to VAADA to administer a fully-funded, centralised workforce development program for the AOD sector until December 2022. This training and professional development program - Elevate! - is available to all AOD workforce currently employed within funded AOD services across Victoria. 

The modules cover a shared understanding of family violence, an introduction to MARAM and the assessment tools, the Structured Professional Judgement model, risk assessment, risk management including working with specialist family violence services and safety planning.

For details go to eLearn: MARAM Brief and Intermediate eLearn course for practitioners working with victim survivors.

Webinar - Social Isolation and Social Prescribing

This webinar on Social Isolation and Social Prescribing Webinar will feature a panel of speakers with a Q&A session to finish.

The panellists will cover topics that include:

• Horticulture therapy: therapeutic benefits & facilitating social connection
• Bendigo Social Prescribing Program Referral Pathways and Progress 
• Findings from the Wellbeing Scripts Program and what's next
• Barossa's Steps to Better Health: utilising social determinants of health based online social prescribing tool to link local people to local community-based services and support

Interactive workshop in suicide first aid

Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) is a two-day interactive workshop in suicide first aid.

ASIST teaches participants to recognise when someone may be at risk of suicide and work with them to create a plan that will support their immediate safety. Although ASIST is widely used by healthcare providers, participants don’t need any formal training to attend the workshop.
 

Mental Health Victoria - training and development

Mental Health Victoria has partnered with Fundamental Training and Development to offer a series of courses that build leadership skills with a special focus on mentally healthy practice.

You can foster your leadership skills with ‘Leading others through change’, build on your existing leadership practice with ‘Resilience building’ and ‘Courageous conversations’ and prepare to lead change in your organisation with ‘ChangeAbility’.
 

Mental Health Victoria - Continuing Professional Development points

Mental Health Victoria is presenting a new set of accredited training and courses that allow accrual of Continual Professional Development (CPD) points.

In partnership with Suicide Programs, MHV is now offering ‘Accidental Counsellor’, a program that provides participants with an understanding of the counselling process and strategies for dealing with people in crisis.

For those looking to improve their awareness and ability to respond to people considering suicide, MHV now offers CALM Suicide Intervention Training. This short course, as well as ‘Accidental Counsellor’, allows accrual of CPD points.

In accredited training, MHV is joining with the Health Issues Centre in offering a Graduate Certificate in Consumer and Community Engagement and for those beginning their journey as a leader in the lived experience space, ‘Consumer Leadership’.
 

Strategies for working with cognitively impaired AOD clients

Working with cognitively impaired clients can be a significant challenge, particularly when access to assessment services and resources are limited.

This workshop will provide practical and realistic strategies for working with clients who present with, or have complaints, of cognitive difficulties.  It is only available for staff working for Victorian Department of Health funded organisations.
 

Health Complaints Commissioner - training courses

The Health Complaints Commissioner is still providing two online modules, the General Code of Conduct and Health Records.

You can access the list of available seminars here. All training and education seminars are free to attend and are currently delivered in an online environment.
 

Standby Support After Suicide
 

Standby Support after Suicide is a national suicide postvention service that provides practical support to anyone who has been bereaved or impacted by suicide, at any stage in their life. This includes individuals, families, friends, witnesses, first responders, service providers, groups and communities.
 
This free service is delivered in Gippsland by Jesuit Social Services.
 
StandBy is accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week, providing free face-to face and/or telephone support at a time and place that is best for each individual 1300 727 247 or email standby.easternmelbourne&gippsland@jss.org.au
 

How do you know it's an eating disorder?

 Listen to How do you know it's an eating disorder? - Butterfly Foundation to learn more about what is – or isn’t – an eating disorder
 

National HIV nursing webinar

This training from the Victorian HIV and Hepatitis Integrated Training And Learning (VHHITAL) is supported by an unconditional education grant from ViiV Healthcare.

Sponsorship is governed by the Australasian Society for HIV, Viral Hepatitis and Sexual Health Medicine’s (ASHM) sponsorship policy and the sponsor has no input into the content, tone, emphasis, allocation of funds or selection of recipients. ASHM does not endorse or promote any sponsor’s product or service.
 

Trauma Informed Practice
 

Latrobe Regional Hospital and the Victorian Government are presenting these workshops on Trauma Informed Practice Education Complex Childhood Trauma.
 
The training is free of charge as part of Bushfire Recovery.

DOWNLOAD FLYER

Eating Disorder Core Skills

The Eating Disorder Core Skills training has been developed specifically for mental health professionals. It is evidence-based, nationally recognised and free to access here.
 
This training builds on National Eating Disorders Collaboration (NEDC) Core Skills series, the first of which was accredited Eating Disorder Core Skills: eLearning for GPs, developed for GPs and accessible here.

Search the interactive national database of credentialed mental health professionals and dietitians with expertise in treating eating disorders here.

Grief, Loss and Bereavement webinar
 

The Grief, Loss and Bereavement webinar education package comprises four pre-recorded education sessions, which will be released weekly on the Gippsland Region Palliative Care Consortium website from August.

These sessions will be complemented by an experiential online workshop in September that will allow for the trialling of some practical strategies and the development of an individualised self-care plan, plus a Q&A session later in September. This workshop will also be available on the website.

DOWNLOAD FLYER
 

Child safety and wellbeing training
 

The Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA) is working with the Victorian Department of Education and Training - Child Information Sharing Scheme (CISS) to improve child safety and wellbeing and family violence outcomes.

This is being done by improving information sharing across sectors including primary health care. This 30-minute lunchtime information session is titled CISS Project Education Information Session #3 Child Information Sharing - How it works in Practice.

Two-day Advanced Wound Management Course
 

This course from Regional Wounds Victoria Gippsland is aimed at experienced nurses who want to advance their skills in clinical assessment, compression therapy and wound debridement.
 
 This is an interactive and hands-on event, covering wound assessment and the workshop.
 

Medical practice viability workshop
 

This workshop from Community-owned Primary Health Enterprises (COPHE) is titled the 10 Commandments of Medical Practice Viability and focuses on how to operate or establish a viable medical practice in a public health or NGO setting.
 
COPHE has been engaged to review numerous medical practices in private and public settings in metro, rural and remote areas throughout Australia. The results of these reviews have many similar themes which will be examined in this online workshop.
 

High Risk Opioid Management

Latrobe Community Health Services is facilitating this workshop on High Risk Opioid Management.
 
The topics include:

• Clinical Boundaries – presented by Dr Ferghal Armstrong
• High Risk GP Prescribing – presented by Dr Ann Saunders
• Transfers – presented by Thileepan Naren

Butterfly Foundation professional development - term 2 virtual workshops

Register now for one of the Butterfly Foundation term 2 small group, interactive, professional development virtual workshops. 

Sessions include: Let’s talk body confident children and teens, body Image and boys for educators, body esteem educator training and understanding eating disorders in young people.

Murra Mullangari:
Introduction to Cultural Safety and Cultural Humility

This course is appropriate for practising nurses and midwives from all career stages, clinical and non-clinical roles and backgrounds who may or may not have built an understanding of Cultural Safety and/or Cultural Humility.

The cost of the program is $495 (inc GST) which allows access to approximately eight hours of self-paced online learning and reflection activities.

New free Microcredential training

Women’s Health Victoria and 1800 My Options have announced some training news.

A new free Microcredential is now available on their learning platform.

This free two-hour Microcredential is the perfect professional development opportunity for health professionals, support workers and interested students to build their knowledge around abortion, contraception and sexual health care access in Victoria.

To access WHV's existing suite of online training, including flexible online courses and a suite of Gender Equity and Workplace Equity Microcredentials, visit the website

Primary health care and palliative care

Caresearch, a palliative care knowledge network, has developed a hub that provides evidence based guidance including triggers for consideration and recommendations for action, for health professionals working within primary care.

Visit Primary Health Care - Settings of Care - Health Professionals (caresearch.com.au) and learn about Pathways and Frameworks, roles in palliative care and multidisciplinary teams.
 

Pathways to Safety training program promotion in Gippsland

This domestic and family violence training is available for primary care providers in Gippsland. 

The 'Pathways to Safety' training program strengthens the capacity of primary care providers to effectively recognise, respond and refer domestic and family violence. 

• Self-directed e-learning nodules
• Online workshops and virtual classrooms
• RACGP Webinar series

Improving clinical psychology competencies in working with older adults in Rural Residential Aged Care Facilities

This series of workshops has been developed to upskill psychologists working in regional and rural Victoria to work therapeutically with aged care residents.
 
Each workshop will comprise a one-hour webinar followed by a one-hour peer supervision discussion.

The workshops aim to provide psychologists with opportunities to improve their competence and confidence in working with older adults, enhance peer networking opportunities, and provide aged care residents greater access to evidence based mental health interventions.

Digital Health training

New My Health Record eLearning Modules

The Digital Health Agency has launched two new eLearning modules for healthcare providers:

• Using My Health Record in Nursing (2021)
• Electronic Prescriptions in Community Pharmacy

These CPD accredited activities are practical, tailored and self-paced.

Promoting participation in the National Immunisation Program

ONLINE AND FACE-TO-FACE

For:

ONLINE COURSE:

Promoting Participation in the National Immunisation Program

Further information contact: 
courses@benchmarquegroup.com.au

Culturally Responsive Practice with Older People in Health and Aged Care Course

This online course with the Migrant and Refugee Health Partnership outlines appropriate clinical practice for working with aged care recipients from CALD backgrounds, targeting clinicians and health practitioners working in health and aged care settings.
 
Participation in this training may attract CPD for participants. Read details about the material in the flyer outline.

A systemic approach to Investigating Symptoms of Lung Cancer

In collaboration with Cancer Australia and clinical experts in lung cancer, Lung Foundation Australia has developed a free, accredited eLearning course for primary care health professionals based on Investigating Symptoms of Lung Cancer: a guide for all health professionals

A systematic approach to investigating symptoms of lung cancer is accredited for 40 RACGP CPD points.

Foundations of Chronic Disease program

The Benchmarque Group has recently launched its new free online-only Foundations of Chronic Disease program.

Delivered completely online, the program is aimed at a range of health professionals working within Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Health or have Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander clients, and is estimated to take less than 10 hours to complete.

 

Topics include Nutrition, Foot Health and Chronic Disease care planning.

Completing the Foundations of Chronic Disease Program will enable students to register directly into these programs once they are available.

READ MORE 

Rural Workforce Agency of Victoria Scholarship

Focussed psychological strategies skills training for general practitioners.

RACGP and the Rural Workforce Agency of Victoria (RWAV) are offering 100 scholarships to Victorian GPs in Modified Monash Model (MMM) 3-7 and GPs working in an Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation in (MMM) 1-2 + (MMM) 3-7  locations to complete Focussed Psychological Strategies Skills Training (FPS ST).

GPs can apply for this fully subsidised training by submitting an expression of interest on the RACGP website.
 
For further queries and information contact RACGP 1800 472 247

• ONLINE - Cancer Council - 60min module
  Talking to patients about health and weight 
   
• PODCAST - Dementia in Practice
  Dementia in Practice: Now we’re talking!
   
• eLEARNING for GPs - National Eating Disorder Collaboration
  Eating Disorder Core Skills
   
• COURSE - ACRRM
  Pre-Hospital Emergency Care
  Transgender Primary Care
   
• ONLINE - Asthma Australia
  Online Spirometry Training
   
• ONLINE - Centre for Excellence in Rural Sexual Health
  CERSH: Facets of Rural Sexual Health - 12 Modules 
   
• Webinars and other online learning through the Victorian-Tasmanian PHN Alliance can be accessed here.

See Gippsland PHN Events calendar for further details and registration for all events