I am happy to report that this study is now well underway. Aliza began interviews at the Shellharbour Medical Centre in mid March and she visited Culburra Beach General Practice last week; where she also conducted interviews with practice staff. I have attached some smiling faces from Culburra Beach.

Aliza with Professor Andrew Bonney

After Easter Aliza will be visiting the Junction Street Family Practice to complete her interviews with the General Practice staff there. Much of her time will then be spent analysing the interviews and discussing the results with the co-researchers, before sharing the findings with each Practice.

Best wishes to all for the Easter break,

Karen Walton

Hello,
My name is Dr Karen Walton.
Today I write to introduce a new research study that involves collaboration between the Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute (IHMRI), the Illawarra Shoalhaven Medicare Local and the University of Wollongong. The study is titled, ‘Engaging General Practitioners to improve health service delivery to older patients: an action-based research project’.

This study is funded by IHMRI and has three phases. The first phase involves a qualitative, exploratory study to better understand the context that general practice staff work within and to identify barriers and opportunities to nutrition screening in older patients. Recruitment of General Practice staff members is currently underway at the three General Practice settings involved in this first phase of the study.

The research team includes: Dr Andrew Dalley, Associate Professor Karen Charlton, Professor Jan Potter, Dr Karen Walton, Mariana Milosavljevic, Dr George Albert, Dr Adam Hodgkins, Dr Andrew Bonney and Aliza Hamirudin.

Regular updates will be provided once the exploratory interviews have started.

Three members of the research team –Dr Karen Walton, Aliza Hamirudin (Dietitian & PhD student) and A/Prof. Karen Charlton

ISPRN would like to ask if there are any interested practices who would like to participate in the following project which is being conducted by Prof Andrew Bonney, Prof Sandra Jones and Lyn Phillipson in the Centre for Health Initiatives.

Project Details

The project aims to develop resources to improve older patient interactions with general practice registrars (GPRs).

The research will involve construction and target group testing of the following practice and patient resources:

a) Three, A4-size, dot-point recommendation sheets for practice change to improve older patient acceptance of GPRs. The sheets will be individualised for practice staff (x1), GPs (x1) and GPRs (x1).

b)  Waiting room posters promoting general practice, GP training and the role of GPRs, along with templates for posters introducing new GPRs to patients.

Benefits of the project

The findings of this research will help to improve older patient interactions with GPRs. This is significant because previous research has demonstrated a significant reluctance by older patients to consult GPRs for chronic problems. This is likely to have a detrimental impact on current training in chronic disease management. However, as the population ages and the incidence of chronic illness increases, this reluctance will pose a major impediment to appropriate clinical exposure for GPRs.

If you are interested in this project and would like further information to be emailed/mailed to you, please let Bridget know.

You can also click here to access the participant information sheet.

Email: bdh@uow.edu.au
Phone: (02) 42215958

In Feb 2012 Professor Wilf Yeo started a fortnightly outcomes research clinic at the Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute (IHMRI) for the purpose of trying to improve the management of hypertension for patients whose BP is difficult to control. Together with IHMRI clinical doctors, he will provide patients with treatment for hypertension according to the Heart Foundation guidelines and will undertake research to evaluate the success of the guidelines, with the aim of advancing knowledge about the best way to manage the condition. Professor Wilf Yeo is a specialist physician and clinical pharmacologist with 20 years experience in the treatment of hypertension.  He also holds academic positions in the Graduate School of Medicine Associate Dean for Illawarra Hospitals, Professor of Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology and the ISLHD (Director of Medicine and Emergency).

Practices in the Illawarra Shoalhaven region will shortly receive a letter from Prof Yeo asking for referrals of patients to the IHMRI Hypertension Clinic. Flyers with extra information for the patient and the practice will be included with the letter. Patients referred to the clinic will receive treatment according to rigorous application of the Heart Foundation guidelines as well as 24hr ABPM. They will be bulk billed for clinical services and 24hr ABPM is provided free of charge. Referring GPs will receive regular correspondence and copies of management plans. At the conclusion of the 3-6 visit clinic treatment protocol, GPs will resume care for the patient and their blood pressure control.

If you have any further questions please contact Professor Wilf Yeo on the following details:

Phone: (02) 42528839
Email: aleithea@uow.edu.au
Fax: (02) 42534838

The ISPRN newsletters have been uploaded to our webpage: http://www.uow.edu.au/gsm/research/affiliations/UOW106762.html.

ISPRN has now released a December 2011/January 2012 newsletter.  This edition includes an update on current ISPRN projects, outcomes from the ISPRN research development workshop held in November 2011 and much more.

Dear ISPRNers,

It is the end of a successful year for ISPRN!  We would like to thank everyone for their participating in the various research development activities throughout the year! We are hope to head out to the various rural regions next year!

Here is a short summary of the six research projects that are at various stages of development in 2011.

These include four primary care investigator driven projects:

•        Fornasier D, Bonney A, Mullan J. Development of an insulin self-management competency assessment tool for type 2 diabetes mellitus patients
•        Stanford L, Ivers R, Bonney A. Chaperone use in Australian general practice
•        McKinnon D, Bonney A, Barnett S, Mayne D. The effect of regular weighing by a GP on weight maintenance in 20-70 years old attendees
•        Vyas, S. Pilot study to assess feasibility of regular health assessments by practice nurses to reduce emergency admissions of high risk elderly patients

As well as two Externally Funded Research Partner Projects:

•        Bonney A, Jones SC, Phillipson L. Development of a training practice resource to improve the interaction between older patients and general practice registrars for chronic disease management
•        Dalley A, Charlton K, Potter J, Walton K. Engaging General Practitioners to improve health service delivery to older patients: an action-based research project

This is an amazing effort by all those involved!  Next year we hope to involve more members of ISPRN in the next phase of the projects.

I would like to wish you all a safe and Merry Christmas.

Regards,

Prof Andrew Bonney

Dear ISPRN Members,

Just a reminder that you are invited to attend the ISPRN Research Development Workshop to be held at The Sebel Harbourside Kiama on Saturday 19 November 2011.

What is the Research Development Workshop?

The aim of the workshop is to build research capacity by developing your knowledge of qualitative and quantitative research methods as well as providing an opportunity to network with others interested in primary health care research.

When?

The conference will be held from 9:00am– 5:00pm, Saturday 19th November 2011.

Where?

The Sebel Harbourside Kiama
31 Shoalhaven Street, Kiama

Who?

Members of ISPRN including: GPs, practice nurses and practice managers, Graduate School of Medicine Clinical Academics and members of the Primary Care and Rural Health Theme in IHMRI. A limited number of places will be available for staff and HDR students in other UOW Faculties.

How Much?

The Network will pay for the forum registration costs for all delegates (including meals), for two staff member from each practice.

The dinner cost on Saturday night is covered by the Network plus alcohol at own expense.  Partners are also welcome to attend the Saturday night dinner at own cost- $65 each plus drinks.

If you require accommodation please contact Bridget Dijkmans-Hadley (bdh@uow.edu.au or 42215958) and she will be able to help arrange it for you.

If you live outside of the Illawarra/Shoalhaven region we may be able to help with subsidising your accommodation costs as well.

RSVP: Numbers are limitedso if you are interested in attending please fill in the registration form and fax it on (02) 42218130 (attention Bridget Dijkmans-Hadley) or email bdh@uow.edu.au  by the 27th October 2011.

Hosted By

The Illawarra and Southern Practice Research Network working in partnership with the Graduate School of Medicine and the Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute.

The workshop is funded by the Australian Department of Health and Ageing under the national Primary Health Care Research, Evaluation and Development Program.

Kind regards,

Bridget

 The following three projects were approved by the ISPRN Advisory Committee on Thursday 15^th August 2011. Below is a short outline of each project, the methods that will be used, and information about where the project is up to and how you can become involved.

1. Development and validation of an insulin proficiency assessment tool for insulin self management in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus – Ms Dianna Fornasier

Aims

A mixed methods study is proposed to develop and validate an insulin proficiency assessment tool for insulin self management in people with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The study will take place in the Illawarra/Shoalhaven and Riverina region in multiple primary care sites on patients at point of primary care over a period of six months.

Methods

Insulin Proficiency Assessment Tool Development

No tool was identified in database searches in CINAHL, ProQuest, Medline or PubMed which specifically has been designed and validated for use in assessing people with type 2 diabetes who are already using insulin. Therefore, this tool has no other validated tool to be assessed against to meet criterion validity. This tool was therefore designed for this research proposal to identify problem areas in self management of insulin.

This assessment tool was designed with the focus on the criteria for tool validation set forth by Eigenmann et al (2009). The study design is purposefully designed to achieve concurrent/convergent validity by assessing both quantitative and qualitative outcomes of the tool.

Content, Face and Construct Validity

Once ethics has been approved the assessment tool will be circulated to an expert review panel for comment on the questions and to assess the face and content validity.

Interpretability

Once the review panel is satisfied with the content of the assessment tool it will be tested for interpretability with a Read Aloud Focus Group (RAFG). The RAFG will consist of 12 participants: 8 T2DM patients recruited from the Shoalhaven Family Medical Centre, 2 registered nurses in general practice, and 2 non health care adults who do not have diabetes.

Pilot of the Insulin Proficiency Assessment Tool to assess inter-rater reliability

The project plans to recruit FORTY subjects from up to 8 practices in the Illawarra/Shoalhaven and Riverina regions over a period of six months. Credentialed Diabetes Educators will be involved in the implementation of the Pilot Insulin Proficiency Assessment Tool.

The credentialed diabetes educator will complete the survey tool for each patient that has consented to participate in the study as part of routine care.

Where is the project up to?

A literature review is currently underway and the project is currently under review by the Human Research Ethics Committee at the University of Wollongong.  

2. What is the effect on weight by regularly weighing of 20-70y old attendees in General Practice – Dr Duncan MacKinnon

Aims

The aim of the study is to establish if the weighing of patients at every consultation, followed by usual care, has an impact on healthy weight maintenance of 20-70-year-old general practice attendees.

Methods

The study will be a quantitative, prospective cohort of 151 patients in 6 general practices to establish if the weighing of patients at every GP consultation, followed by usual care by their GP, has an impact on weight maintenance.

The intervention will use Southern IML Pathology data to map the average BMI of the population up to the point of the study. This would act as control baseline data. National weight data will be used as an additional control. Following the intervention the mean weight gain of the sample will be compared with the population weight gain during the study, and will exclude data from practices that participated in the study to see if the intervention had an effect on weight maintenance of participating patients. 

Where is the project up to?

A literature review is currently underway and an ethics application is being prepared for submission to the Human Research Ethics Committee.  

3. Chaperone use in Australian General Practice – Dr Lucie Stanford

Aims

The project aims to investigate the current use of chaperones for intimate physical examination of adults in Australian general practice. It also aims to explore the attitudes of both GPs and patients to chaperone use.

Methods

This study will perform cross-sectional surveys of patient attitudes to chaperone use, as well as a pilot survey of a general practitioners’ attitude and their current practice regarding chaperone use. The data for both groups will be collected using separate survey instruments.

Where is the project up to?

A literature review is currently underway and surveys are under development for submission to the Human Research Ethics Committee.

How can I get involved?

If you are interested in any of the projects above please contact Bridget Dijkmans-Hadley on (bdh@uow.edu.au or (02) 42215958) and she will forward relevant information on to you.

The first Skype educational workshop was held on Tuesday 30th August 2011.
A small but good group of enthusiastic members were able to attend. There were some minor technical difficulties however, we hope to iron out for the next educational workshop. Some feedback about the workshop included that participants liked that they could do it from home and enjoyed the interaction with the presenter.

The literature review slides and handout have been uploaded onto the ISPRN Blog Educational Module page for download for those that missed out (https://www.uowblogs.com/isprn/educational-modules/)

We will be trialling a webinar version for the next workshop. We are currently arranging a Critical Analysis Webinar.  Details will be forwarded to you soon, so keep your eye on this space!

Dear All,

ISPRN is proud to present its first newsletter: ISPRN News!

Click here to view our first edition of ISPRN News!

New upcoming events have been uploaded to the ‘Upcoming Events’ page click here to view them.
Don’t forget that ISPRN is able to support a number of members to attend educational events in this calendar year up to the maximum value of $1000 dollars each.

To apply for one of the above courses please fill in an Expression of Interest form and email it to bdh@uow.edu.au.