Every week counts
Australia’s world-first national collaborative to safely reduce rates of preterm and early term birth held its final session in Brisbane for more than 260 obstetricians, midwives, GPs, sonographers, neonatologists, consumers and quality improvement experts from more than 63 maternity hospitals.
The two-day Every Week Counts National Preterm Birth Prevention Collaborative learning session included presentations on a midwifery continuity model of care for women having a First Nations baby. Other topics included cervical length measurement, the importance of continuity of care, pathways for women with high-risk pregnancies, and quit smoking strategies for pregnant women.
Being born too soon is the single greatest cause of death in young children and one of the major causes of lifelong disability, including cerebral palsy, blindness, deafness and behavioural and learning problems at school age.
Each year more than 26,000 Australian babies are born preterm, while the rate of preterm birth for Aboriginal mothers is almost double that of non-Aboriginal mothers.
The collaborative is jointly run by the Australian Preterm Birth Prevention Alliance, Women’s Healthcare Australasia, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Safer Care Victoria, and WA’s Women and Infants Research Foundation.
Push for more obesity surgery
The Royal Australasian College of Physicians says that the Australian Government should be increasing access to bariatric surgeries to help reduce rates of diabetes and obesity.
The college says that many patients are being forced to wait years to access bariatric surgery and cannot afford to pay through the private system.
RACP President Dr Jacqueline Small said prevention measures were important, but attention should also be given to improving access to treatments for people who are living with obesity, such bariatric surgery and effective medicines.
“The Federal Government should also increase the PBS subsidies for obesity and diabetes medicines to ensure that treatment for these often-linked conditions isn’t limited by individual affordability,” she said.
The RACP submission to the Federal Inquiry into Diabetes also called for:
- Early involvement of physicians in team-based care for patients at risk of hospitalisation through innovative care pathways
- Introduce national regulations to restrict marketing of unhealthy diets to children
- Fully fund the effective implementation of the National Preventive Health Strategy
- Mandate the Health Star Rating System for all packaged foods
- Implement a tax on sugar-sweetened drinks.
Stemming the flow
A new cold-stored platelet product that could reduce bleeding during complex heart surgery and potentially triple the existing product shelf life has been transfused to Australia’s first patients as part of a world-first trial.
Currently platelets in Australia are stored at room temperature with gentle agitation, based on evidence from the 1970s, and have a shelf-life of only seven days. The Chilled Platelet Study is the first international clinical trial to test if platelets stored at 4°C are better at reducing blood loss during complex cardiac surgery than room temperature platelets.
The US Department of Defence funded clinical trial is being led by the University of Pittsburgh and in Australia by Australian Red Cross Lifeblood and the University of WA. The RCT will involve 1000 complex cardiac surgery patients across Australia and the US. In Australia, the study is open to patients from Fiona Stanley Hospital and Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, and will use platelets collected at Lifeblood’s Perth Donor Centre.
Exam success for Aboriginal GPs in training
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners has welcomed a recent 100% exam pass rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander GPs in training as a phenomenal achievement.
It comes following the recent results of the College’s Clinical Competency Exam, designed to assess clinical competence and readiness for independent practice as a specialist GP.
The latest CCE exams show Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander GPs in training are excelling, with 100% of self-identified candidates passing the exam.
RACGP Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Council Chair Dr Karen Nicholls said that not only are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander GPs in training passing this exam, they were achieving very strong results.
RACGP Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Censor Dr Olivia O’Donoghue said she was focused on boosting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander GP numbers, and while progress is being made, more work needed to be done.
“Numbers of self-identified Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander trainees have been steadily increasing. The RACGP currently has 60 GPs in training and 124 Fellows. The aim is for greater than 3% representation across training and for Fellows.”
A RACGP analysis of all three Fellowship exams – the CCE, Applied Knowledge Test and Key Feature Problem – showed that since 2018, success in these assessments for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander GPs in training had markedly improved. Pass rates across all exams had increased from 46% in 2017 to 75% in 2022.
Education support for primary care
Silverchain has launched a GP Education Series in WA, with the first session looking at managing co-morbidities in patients.
The series of free interactive and practical education sessions are aimed at GPs, practice managers and specialists and will discuss ways to provide effective integrated care. It kicks off with its first session on October 18, focusing on management of chronic and complex diseases.
Each event for the series will feature presentations from industry and Silverchain experts to help GPs, clinic-related staff and specialists to build their expertise across a range of health topics. Presentations for each event will be followed by a panel discussion.
Silverchain Medical Director Dr Sayanta Jana said the series would also provide insights on the services available for referral and the best referrer pathways.
“These sessions are designed around the multi-faceted needs of our major referrers, our external GP networks, who play a major part in the health system to support our Silverchain clients in primary care, community care and home care environments,” Dr Jana said.
The panel for the first session, “When Chronic Disease and Mental Illness Coexist”, comprises Dr Stefan Schutte, Head of Psychiatry, St John of God Midland Public and Private Hospitals, Dr Michael Christmass, Consultant Addiction Medicine, Fiona Stanley Hospital and Next Step Drug and Alcohol Services and Jaclyn Geraghty, manager of Silverchain’s Primary Care and Chronic Disease program.
The event will be held at the Joondalup Resort in Connolly and includes a two-course dinner and refreshments. Register by October 6 by visiting silverchain.org.au/gp-education-series or
email ReferrerEngagement@silverchain.org.au