Tag Archives: GP

Two online PEPA workshops for General Practitioners – 23 July 2022

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PEPA have two workshops to advertise in your regions. Eventbrite is open for registrations.

Name of workshop: Palliative Care in General Practice

Day and date of workshop: Saturday 23rd July, 10.00am – 12.00pm

Venue: Online

Register at this link: click here

This workshop is for General Practitioners based in Victoria (Australia) who care for people with a life-limiting illness. Practice Nurses are also welcome to attend.

Topics

• Recognising patients who need palliative care

• Communicating about end of life issues

• Voluntary assisted dying in Victoria

• Assessing and managing common symptoms

• Advance care planning

Facilitators:

Dr Rowan Hearn – Clinical Director Palliative Medicine, Calvary Health Care Bethlehem

Dr Rupert Strasser is a palliative care specialist and geriatrician, with Calvary Health Care Bethlehem. He is passionate about providing excellent clinical care for all. Rupert’s clinical interest includes palliative care for neurodegenerative disease.

PEPA is an accredited educator with RACGP (workshops are eligible for category 2 CPD points)

Date: Saturday 23rd July 2022

Time: 10am – 12pm

Online – a WebEx link and guidelines to access will be provided prior to the workshop date.

Workshop Pre-requisite:

To maximise learning PEPA offers 6 online GP learning modules. These modules have been developed by palliative care experts and reviewed by clinicians with extensive palliative care experience. They can be accessed by setting up an account at the PEPA Palliative Care Education and Training Collaborative: https://palliativecareeducation.com.au/

PEPA is an accredited educator with RACGP. Workshops are eligible for Category 2 CPD points

Inquiries:

PEPA Administration – E: pepa@svha.org.au

Margarita Makoutonina, Calvary Health Care Bethlehem

M: 0425 774 195

E: Margarita.Makoutonina@calvarycare.org.au

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An unexpected journey into aged & palliative care

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albany wind farm

Albany wind farm

This post is a year overdue. If I were to have written this in April 2015, the title would have been “The tale of two deaths” where I would have reflected upon the peaceful, managed and expected passing of a 93-year-old aged care patient contrasted with the tragic accidental death of a 19-year-old patient whom I’d seen only a week earlier.

But what I’ve learnt is that tragic accidents are random, unexpected and do not happen often. More importantly I have been involved in the end-of life care of several patients since then, that have taught me a great deal about palliative care medicine, the value of open and frank conversations with family and some of the myths surrounding the management of death.

This is also a story of my maturity through being stretched and learning that the part of medicine that I ran away from the most has ended up becoming my greatest passion and future, aged and palliative care.

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Family doctor involvement in palliative care: what’s its prognosis?

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I feel like such a fraud. What am I doing writing a guest post for Palliverse, when I am a doctor who rarely provides palliative care? My justification for writing here is that it’s this very sense of uncertainty and underqualification that I’m feeling which is the subject of my post.

I’m a “general practitioner” — a “GP” as we’re called here in Australia. If you’re reading this post from North America, think “family physician” — it means much the same thing — but for convenience I’ll use the term “GP” today.

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Decision Assist – education for GPs in EoL care

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GPs in Australia are managing increasing numbers of older Australians with complex progressive conditions. I am managing a project that is producing education and resources to support GPs provide the best care of this patient cohort in the last year of life. Palliative medicine specialists and trainees have an opportunity to participate in this project by letting informing their networks of the activities of the project and participating in educating GPs in their service’s catchment area to help promote linkages.  This blog post is to give you all an outline of this work and information on how to get more involved.

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free smartphone app for GPs providing palliative care

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There’s an app for that! ABC news writes that a new smartphone app can help guide GPs in management of patients approaching the end of life.

It’s free from iTunes and provided to you by the lovely chaps at Flinders University in SA.

We would love to hear from GPs or trainees  – what do you think?

Sonia