CURRENT PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS

The Division's programs are divided into four main quadrants - Disease Management, Clinical Integration, Member Services, Management and Administration. All activities of the Division are designed to provide support, training and/or resourcing of GPs in the Division.

Coronary Heart Disease

The program is aimed at improving the quality and coordination of care for people 'at risk' of developing coronaryheart disease and those already diagnosed through:

• Developing and implementing an integrated role for General Practitioners in rehabilitation and long-term management of cardiac patients.
• Mapping existing cardiac rehabilitation services and service systems.
• Developing 'region agreed' guidelines for a coordinated approach to rehabilitation and long term management for people with coronary heart disease in General Practice.
• Establishing a forum for General Practitioners to contribute to the development of an integrated plan of action for coronary heart disease.
• Improving GP skills in assessment and management of hypertension.

Palliative Care

• The aims of this program are to improve:
• Interface between acute care hospital and the GP.
• Interface between the primary nurse, the palliative care team and the GP.
• GPs knowledge base in palliative care.
• Support and training for GPs involved in the region's hospice.

Youth Health

The aims of the Youth Health program are:

• To continue to provide a quality, accessible and tightly focussed youth health GP service from The Corner, a multidisciplinary centrally located youth health service.
• To provide regional GPs with information, education, advice and resources to improve the quality of the services provided to young people.
• To market and promote the role of the GP as the primary preventative health practitioner to young people in the community.
• To maximise opportunities for effective and ongoing collaboration and communication between all services and stakeholders with an interest in the health of young people.

Diabetes Management

This program is aimed at facilitating the improved management of diabetes within General Practice in Northern Tasmania that focuses on:

• Registration and recall of all patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus(DM).
• Annual complications screening and assessment of all registered patients.
• Improved diagnosis and management of DM.
• Regional cooperative care agreements.
• Multi-disciplinary case conferencing of high risk patients.

Asthma Management

This program aims to develop a model capable of ascertaining the true use of asthma medication in the community, by:

• Determining if inappropriate asthma medication usage contributes to hospital admissions for asthma.
• Recording patients knowledge of a personal asthma plan for those persons seeking asthma management medication from participating community pharmacies.
• Identifying key barriers that exist for the patient in accessing optimal medication management of their asthma.
• Comparing prescribing and dispensing behaviour in the pilot sample with known national prescribing and dispensing patterns for asthma medication.
• Utilising the sample data findings to postulate possible intervention strategies that can be tested as part of a broader Tasmanian research and analysis project.

Mental Health

The aim of the Mental Health program is to increase the knowledge, confidence and ability of regional GPs in diagnosing and managing people with mental illness. Also, to improve systems of communication, referral and follow up between GPs and other mental health services providers. The following are the objectives for 2000/2001:

• Conduct a survey with a sample group of local GPs to ascertain levels of mental health service provision and support needs.
• Identify regionally appropriate models for multi-disciplinary approaches to mental health care.
• Develop and distribute mental health best practice guidelines.
• Offer specific training for the broader GP membership in counselling skills and working with young people and identifying their mental health issues.
• Offer clinical attachment placements for GPs in psychiatric services.
• Explore opportunities for the development of a central referral mechanism or organised systems for improving access to allied health services.
• Provide opportunities for GPs to network with other health professionals, community health services and relevant community groups.
• Conduct a GP wellness weekend.
• Provide opportunity for GPs to play a more active role in prevention and health promotion roles through community education.
• Strengthen the mechanism for ongoing consumer consultation and participation in Divisional activities related to mental health.

Immunisation

To improve immunisation rates within Northern Tasmania through:

• Increased identification of groups in local areas requiring immunisation.
• Improved quality of immunisation service.
• Improved integration and communication of the GP with other existing organisations for the delivery of immunisation services.
• Improved quality of information provided to and received from the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register (ACIR).
• Increased community awareness.

Primary Care Consultancy

The aim of this program is to provide opportunities for regional GPs to update their skills and maintain close working relationships with the principal teaching hospital in the region. It involves the provision of quality teaching hospital based attachment education for GPs, and the integration and increased cooperation between hospital and GPs.

Coordinated Obstetric Care

The aims of the program are to improve the quality of care and health outcomes for pregnant women through an obstetric shared care model, and to improve the birth process for women as well as establish healthy care practices and supportive health care networks for the new mother and child.

Hospital/GP Communication

The Hospital and GP communication program aims to improve the continuity of care for patients transferring between hospital and primary care systems through:

• Developing information-sharing protocols.
• Minimising the manual handling of hospital generated patient information.
• Protecting the rights of the patient by introducing informed consent processes and mechanisms to protect the security of patients' information.
• Ensuring access of information to GPs regardless of their level of computerisation.
• Identify and quantify efficiencies and improved patient outcomes.

Member Services include Continuing Medical Education, Information Technology, National Divisions Communication Project, National Prescribing Service, Practice Support and Cervical Screening.

Rural Injury Research

The Rural Injury Research Program aims to increase GP and community knowledge of the incidence and pattern of rural injuries as well as develop a sustainable injury surveillance program with an effective working relationship with other personnel and agencies outside the health sector with responsibility for injury prevention. This project was funded under an innovations grant.

Information Technology

The Information Technology (IT) program aims to support Northern Division GPs with enhanced computerisation of medical and clinical operations within the General Practice through:

• Providing opportunities for GPs to expand their computing skills and knowledge through specialised training courses.
• Consultation in areas of hardware and software selection for computerisation of Practice medical and clinical operations.
• Availability of technical expertise for GPs when they encounter difficulties with their computer systems or software.
• Assisting with the implementation of IT integration between health care providers and GPs to enable secure and private timely transmission of medical and clinical data.
• Developing or consulting on methods to convert and/or store patient records electronically with complete security, privacy and safety.

PREVIOUS PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS

• Young Men's Health
• Medical Advisory Panels in nursing homes
• Alcohol and Drugs
• Cervical Screening
• Community Nursing
• Admission/Discharge