Welcome to this week's edition of the AFOEM eNews

These ebulletins are best viewed in html. Simply click on the item of interest (left) and you will be taken straight to that item. Please note that the previous editions of the eNewsletter are archived on the Faculty website.

As always, if you would like to contribute an item to the next eNewsletter please email a paragraph to afoem@racp.edu.au.

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Unless stated otherwise, this email represents only the views of the sender and not the views of AFOEM.

Victorian Bushfire Appeal

Shop at Coles, Bilo, Pick n Pay this Friday 13, February and Coles will donate all profits to the Red Cross Bushfire appeal. Donations may also be made at any checkout register.

Upcoming Events & Meetings

Detailed calendar can be viewed via the Faculty website.

P&A Committee of AFOEM Meeting

• Tuesday 17, February 2009
• 5:00PM-6:00PM (Sydney time | UTC+10)

Remote Area Trainee Teleconference

• Thursday 19, February 2009
• 1:00PM-2:30PM (Sydney time | UTC+10)
• Further details: Daniel Cheung or Tim Rumball

Hunter Region Scientific Meeting

• Thursday 26, February 2009
• 6:00PM (Sydney time | UTC+10)
• 5/500 High St, Maitland NSW
• RE: Cardiac fitness
• Further details: Maurice Harden

WOMIG 2009 Workshop

• Friday 27, February - Sunday 1, March 2009
• Westpac Stadium, Wellington, New Zealand
• Further details and registration: Claude Preitner
• Registration form (PDF | 10KB)

WHO Millennium Development Goals Seminar

• Monday 9, March 2009
• 1:30-3:30PM (Sydney time | UTC+10)
• RACP, Education Centre, Lv8, 52 Phillip Street, Sydney
• RE: WHO Millennium Development Goals for Child & Adolescent Health and WHO regional priorities for Asia Pacific

Infectious Diseases Workshop

• Saturday 21, March 2009
• Mirvac Quay West Hotel, Brisbane
• Topics include: travel medicine, TB, zoonoses
• Further details: Dr Therese McGrath or on (07) 3404 8162

Dates For Your Diary

For a more detailed AFOEM calendar, please visit the Faculty website.

Trainee Annual Subscription (Early Bird) Deadline

• Tuesday 31, March 2009
• Forms available from Documents & Forms

CPD/MOPS for 2008 Submission Deadline

• Thursday 30, April 2009
• Online submission of points from MyCPD
• Access requires online login/password (contact the Faculty if you do not have member's access to the Faculty website)

AFOEM 2009 ATM

• Saturday 16 - Sunday 17, May 2009
• James Packer Auditorium, RPA Hospital, Camperdown, NSW
• Full details of program schedule and fees released shortly

AFOEM 2009 ASM

• Tuesday 19 - Wednesday 20 May, 2009
• Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour, NSW
• Full details of program schedule and fees released shortly

RACP College Ceremony

• Sunday, 17 May 2009
• Bayside Auditorium A, Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour, Sydney
• 4.00 - 6.00PM (Sydney time | UTC+10)

EPO Report

Education Project Officer Report

This is the first of a series of monthly reports on what’s happening in education in our Faculty. I am the AFOEM Education Project Officer, a part-time position. My brief this year is to assist our Education Committee to:

• clearly specify what trainees should learn,
• offer ways for trainees and their mentors to plan, enhance and assess the progress of learning on-line, and
• articulate for individuals what varied mix of work experience and other learning are suitable for an accreditable training package.

Faculty needs to report progress with these things to the Australian Medical Council annually.

To care for people in work is important. Our Faculty wants our trainees to learn to do it well. Our job is to foster good medical practice in the ever-changing ambit of occupation and environment.

The second draft of the Faculty training curriculum will soon appear for comment. It is detailed and embraces the full RACP Professional Qualities curriculum and those parts of the RACP Physician Training curriculum that can be usefully applied to health in workplaces and the environment.

To prepare for its implementation in 2011, we will create an on-line pilot to make sure it is as useful to trainees, mentors and regional directors of training as it can be. This will be complimented with a communications strategy of the implementation to all trainees and Fellows. We are also working with the Education Deanery and IT staff at the College to develop an online learning plan for implementing later this year. Gradually appearing along with the new curriculum will be items of on-line learning and self-assessment materials for trainees to supplement on-the-job learning.

We want these changes to serve your learning so that you can steward your abilities to your communities with pleasure and effectiveness.

Dr David Goddard

Positions Vacant

Two (2) new job vacancies have been listed on the Faculty website

• Occupational Medical Practitioner with UHG (VIC)
• Occupational Medicine Opportunity with Air New Zealand (NZ)

Job advertisements may be submitted to the Faculty. Listings are free of charge as long as the advertisement is relevant to our members. Once accepted, the advertisement will be viewable within 3 business days. All submissions are manually reviewed.

Find a Consultant

Thank you to all who have responded with the requested details. The Find A Consultant webpage has now been updated.

Should you wish to have a photo displayed along with your details, kindly forward an appropriate file (jpeg, bmp, png) to the Faculty email.

Ergonomics Society Professional Development

The Human Factors Ergonomic Society of Victoria is organising a number of professional development session on a regular basis

The aim is to provide sessions

• On the first Wednesday of every second month
• Starting in March 2009
• Arrive at 6.30pm (Sydney time | UTC+10) and meet in the foyer of 222 Exhibition St
• Be escorted to room 24-BCD
• Session starts at 7.00pm (Sydney time | UTC+10)
• The sessions will run for approximately 1-1.25 hours
• All the sessions will be held in 222 Exhibition St. Room 24-BCD

Schedule:

• Wed 04/03/2009
  Topic: A WorkSafe prosecution involving a WorkSafe lawyer and ergonomist Johnathon Grey Senior Lawyer WorkSafe Vic & Ros Kushinsky Manager of the WorkSafe Vic ergonomics unit
• Wed 06/05/2009
  Topic: Providing expert opinion in court Mr Mark Dohrmann
• Wed 01/07/2009
  Topic: Manual handling solutions Mr Peter McCubbery Senior Ergonomist Work Safe Vic
• Wed 02/09/2009
  Topic: TBA
• Wed 04/11/2009
  Topic: TBA

These sessions are free and available to Faculty members.

To confirm your attendence, please contact:

Glen Smith
Ergonomics Unit | Hazard Management Division
0408 412 923
glen_smith@worksafe.vic.gov.au

Understanding And Managing Patient Complaints

Health Care Complaints Commission

Excerpt:

"One of the many challenges of professional life as medical practitioner is to appropriately deal with a patient complaint. If you hope it will never happen to you, chances are that at some stage during your professional life there will be an occasion. A complaint does not necessarily mean that you did something wrong. Often it is the result of poor communication and differing expectations..."

Download the article (PDF| 251KB)

Advancing Leadership

2009 Clinician Leadership STEPS Program
16-19 April, 2009 | Sanctuary Cove, QLD

The Australian Centre for Clinicial Leadership (ACCL) is association with the International Centre for Excellence in Clinician Leadership in Ontario, Canada proudly presents the third in the series of annual STEPS - Strategic Thinking Enhancement Program for Specialists - programs designed to give clinicians a commanding lead in many aspects of healthcare management and strategic leadership.

Commencing with lunch on Thursday 16, April this mini MBA-style accelerated learning program provides an A-Z approach that will enhance your knowledge, skills, and tools in key areas.

For further information and registration, visit Clinician Leadership.

Musicus Medicus

Sunday 8, March 2009 | 2.30pm (Sydney time | UTC+10)
Verbrugghen Hall, Conservatorium of Music, Macquarie St, Sydney

NSW Doctors Orchestra presents a ... DOUBLE DELIGHT!

Further details can be found on the Faculty News & Announcements section.

Impact 2009

National Conference of the Christian Medical and Dental Fellowship of Australia (CMDFA)
Friday 3, July - Monday 6, July 2009 | Geelong Grammar School, VIC

The theme for 2009 will be "Mercy". For students and graduates.

Keynote speakers include Rev Tim Costello, Rev Dr David Williams, Dr Rosemary Isaacs, Dr Alan Gijsbers and Dr Malieka Selwyn.

Bible speaker: Dr Andrzej Turkanik

For further details visit CMDFA.

Australian Refugee Health Conference

1-2 September, 2009
Perth Convention & Exhibition Centre, Perth WA

For updates and current program information go to TheMHS.

Download the Flyer | PDF 803KB

Media Release: AIHW

PEOPLE WITH CHRONIC DISEASE WORK LESS-DEPRESSION, ARTHRITIS AND ASTHMA KEY CULPRITS

A report released today by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows that chronic diseases are associated with more days off work and/or being out of the workforce, and some of the biggest culprits are depression, arthritis and asthma.

The report, Chronic disease and participation in work, looked at selected chronic diseases to provide an estimate of the loss to the Australian economy due to reduced participation in work among people who have chronic disease.

Report author, Karen Bishop, said, 'As one might expect, chronic diseases are associated with lower participation in the labour force and more missed days of work.'

'Even after adjusting for age, people with chronic disease were 60% more likely to not be in the labour force than people without chronic disease. They were also less likely to be employed full-time, and more likely to be unemployed,' she said.

People with chronic disease who were in the labour force had, on average, about a half a day off work in the previous fortnight due to illness, compared with about a quarter of a day on average for those without chronic disease.

Of approximately 10.5 million Australians aged 25-64 years, about 33% reported at least one of the following chronic diseases: arthritis, asthma, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), depression, diabetes and osteoporosis.

The report also found that men with chronic disease were more than twice as likely to be out of the labour force, whereas women with chronic disease were 20% more likely not participate in the labour force.

'This difference may reflect the different labour force distribution for males and females. Males are more likely to be in the labour force, and females more likely to be out of the labour force for a number of reasons, including caring and parenting,' Ms Bishop said.

Deaths of working age people from chronic disease also decreased the potential workforce.

Loss due to deaths could be primarily attributed to cancers (52%) and heart attacks (19%).

The report estimates a loss of nearly 540,000 full-time workers associated with the presence of chronic disease.

'Given that in 2004-05 the Australian full-time workforce numbered 5.7 million, a loss of half a million people represents nearly 10% of the full-time workforce,' she said.

• Wednesday 11 February 2009
• Further information: Karen Bishop, tel. 02 6244 1085, mob. 0418 271 395.
• For media copies of the report: Publications Officer, AIHW, tel. (02) 6244 1032.
• Availability: Check the AIHW Publications area for the availability of Chronic disease and participation in work.

Download a copy (PDF | 9.88KB)

Invitation From The Dean (RACP)

Dear all,

On Monday 9 March 2009, the World Health Organisation (WHO), Director, Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Development, Dr Elizabeth Mason and Marianna Trias, WHO Regional Advisor Western Pacific Region, will hold a seminar at the College. This seminar will focus on WHO Millennium Development Goals for Child & Adolescent Health and WHO regional priorities for Asia Pacific. We will also discuss linkages with WHO.

All Fellows are welcome to attend. There is no fee payable to attend this seminar.

Details are as follows:

• Date: Monday 9 March 2009
• Time: 1.30pm 3.30pm (Sydney time | UTC+10)
• Venue: Royal Australasian College of Physicians, Education Centre, Level 8, 52 Phillip Street, Sydney

If you would like to attend please RSVP by Friday 20 February 2009 to Simone Chetcuti, Telephone 02 8247 6236.

Professor Kevin Forsyth
Dean | Royal Australasian College of Physicians

Nominees: Australian Prescriber

The purpose of the Advisory Editorial Panel is to provide a channel by which comments, views and suggestions and needs of RACP can reach the Editorial Executive Committee. Representatives may be asked to referee or to comment on a matter within their expertise.

• The appointment is for an unspecified time
• The names of the Panel members appear on the back cover of Australian Prescriber
• The first meeting is planned for 19 or 20 March, 2009 in Sydney

Please send nominees to Mary Osborn by Friday 13, Feburary 2009.

Monash Certificate in Clinical Occupational Medicine

June 22-26, 2009 | Melbourne, VIC

The Monash Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health (MonCOEH) offers a five day course for occupational medicine trainees, GPs, and other medical practitioners who assess and manage patients with work-related problems.

The aim and objective of MonCOEH are to provide medical pratitioners with the knowledge and skills to:

• Diagnose and manage common occupational injuries and diseases
• Document and investigate complex and less common problems in occupational medicine
• Perform a medical assessment, including history and examination, aimed at pre-placement, medical surveillance or return to work
• Write a medico-legal report

Enrolments will be capped at 30. The deadline for registrations is Friday 22, May 2009.

Visit the MonCOEH website for further information and registration details, or download the flyer and registration form.

Office of Postgraduate Medical Education

University of Sydney

The Master of Medical Education is aimed at those who have an interest in medical teaching and learning or have an interest in educational research. It has been designed to meet the needs of working healthcare professionals within a professional community.

Download the Flyer

CPD Grant Available For Remote Specialists

The Support Scheme for Rural Specialists (SSRS) is now calling for applications for CPD grants of up to $5,000. These grants are available to support individual medcial specialists access to education and professional learning opportunities, who are living and working in towns and regions classified as Rural Zone 2-3 or Remote Zone 1-2, according to the "Rural, Remote and Metropolitan Areas Classification" (RRMA).

For further information, please visit the SSRS website.

Case Studies Needed

The My Medical Career website would like to profile various doctors, junior doctors, registrars and medical students on our website as case studies. We believe real life profiles have a significant impact on the career decision making process.

We would appreciate if you could assist us with the provision of three profiles we could include on the website. An example of how this will be presented on the site can be seen here.

Should you be interested in helping out, fill out the Questionnaire and forward it to Chris Edwards at chris.edwards@metisinternet.com.

National Primary Health Care Strategy Discussion Paper

Towards a National Primary Health Care Strategy

In June 2008 the Minister for Health and Ageing, the Hon Nicola Roxon, MP, announced that the Rudd Government would develop a National Primary Health Care Strategy to better tackle the health challenges of the 21st century and make sure that families can get the health care they need.

The Strategy will form a roadmap for the future direction of primary health care in Australia. The development of the Strategy is being undertaken by the Department of Health and Ageing with the assistance of an External Reference Group chaired by Dr Tony Hobbs.

As a first step in developing the Strategy, the Minister launched a Discussion Paper entitled 'Towards a National Primary Health Care Strategy: A Discussion Paper from the Australian Government' which sets out a range of issues for stakeholder consultation, including:

• access issues;
• patient centred care;
• a greater focus on prevention;
• safety and quality;
• information management;
• workforce shortages; and
• fiscal sustainability.

Download the full paper

You will note that each chapter closes with questions for consideration. If you would like to comment on these, or other issues regarding the strategy, please submit your suggestions to Karen Steadman by 18th February, 2009.

Other details regarding the process can be found at health.gov.au/primaryhealthstrategy.