Department of General Practice and Primary Care

Congratulations to Laura Tarzia on her well-deserved promotion to Professor! This outstanding achievement recognises Laura's eminence and leadership in the field of sexual and reproductive violence. Laura's research explores the contexts and dynamics of sexual and reproductive violence against women. As Co-Lead of the Safer Families Centre and Lead of the new RESTORE Centre for Research Excellence, Laura is transforming our health systems, restoring wellbeing and enhancing access to healing for victim-survivors of sexual violence in adulthood. Her current project MANTRA, examines the benefits of trauma-sensitive yoga for survivors of sexual violence and her most recently funded ARC Discovery Project will look at sexual violence against older women, enhancing recognition and response. Two interesting and very important projects. Congratulations Laura, on this fantastic achievement! #promotion #research #academia #primarycare Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences

If you are one of the many general practices that contribute your EMR data to the Data for Decisions research initiative, we would like to say a big THANK YOU! This data is used by researchers right across Australia with the aim of developing interventions or tools that can help GPs and patients make informed decisions about optimising their health. Find out what research this de-identified data has contributed to by checking out our interactive D4D Flipbook below. https://lnkd.in/gaCZQ3k5 #primarycare #research #data Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences

Did you know that every Wednesday, we host a lunchtime seminar series called "Research Matters"? The aim of the series is to share knowledge and information, discover new clinical trials, present research findings and progress primary care research. We recently had the pleasure of hearing Dr Diana Matovic from Macquarie University speak about the development of a novel primary care screening tool, called the Ageing Well Tool. This early intervention tool can be used to detect common mental health disorders and risk factors for dementia and poor wellbeing for older adults in primary care. The tool can screen up to 18 risk factors, including depression, social isolation, hearing loss, loneliness, diet, cognitive functioning and others. The effectiveness of this tool is currently being evaluated in a clinical trial involving GPs, practice nurses and patients between 60-70 years old. If you are interested in participating in this trial click on the link below. If you are interested in presenting at one of our Research Matters seminars, send us an email at gp-enquiries@unimelb.edu.au with a brief overview of your topic. #research #knowledgesharing #primarycare

Congratulations to Amy Coe on being awarded the Melbourne Medical School's Graduate Researcher (Discovery Researcher) Prize for her work on understanding Australian general practice patients' decisions to deprescribe antidepressants in the WiserAD Trial. This is a fantastic achievement, well done Amy! #primarycare #research #generalpractice Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences

Congratulations to Planning Saw and Bianca Forrester on being named the 2024 Youth Health Award Winners! Planning received the 2024 Rising Star in Youth Health Award for his outstanding youth leadership, advocacy and commitment to collaboration. Co-Founder of Global Health Youth Connect (GHYC), Planning developed and launched the Global Health Masterclass Series to bridge the educational gap in global youth health by achieving a problem-solving, critical and innovative thinking mindset. Bianca is a dedicated GP with a special interest in young people’s health. She is also a Senior Lecturer in Primary Care at the University of Melbourne, Clinical Training Manager for the Victorian Government's "Doctors in Secondary schools" program and Facilitator for Project ECHO. Bianca designs engaging and effective education on a range of topics in young people’s health. Well done to both of you! This is a fantastic achievement and well-deserved recognition of your passion and commitment to progressing youth health. Australian Association for Adolescent Health Ltd #youthhealth #primarycare #winners

On this World Diabetes Day, we wanted to talk about an important research project being undertaken by one of our PhD students, Chiara Beccia. Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is an emergency complication of diabetes that often occurs at the first diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. It can cause lasting cognitive impairment, worsened glycaemic control and can be fatal. However, DKA is preventable if type 1 diabetes is recognised in a timely manner and insulin treatment provided. There are currently 13,200 Australian children and young people living with type 1 diabetes. One in two of them will have received their diagnosis after presenting to hospital with DKA, yet most of these children will have visited their GP in the week preceding the episode. Approximately one third of delayed referrals for insulin treatment in Victoria occur because pre-referral pathology tests are requested for a child with suspected type 1 diabetes instead of referring directly to the hospital. In collaboration with Future Health Today and Dr Mary White, from The Royal Children's Hospital and University of Melbourne, Chiara has developed and evaluated a clinical decision support tool that prompts GPs to perform a point-of-care finger-prick or urine test, providing instant results for immediate guidance regarding the child's safety and wellbeing. The tool, known as DIRECT-T1DM, promotes the The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) Emergency Management of Hyperglycaemia in Primary Care guidelines, which aim to prevent hyperglycaemic emergencies such as DKA at the onset of a diabetes diagnosis. If you are interested in reading more about DIRECT-T1DM there are some links to publications in the comments. #worlddiabetesday #diabetes #research #primarycare

It's World Kindness Day - a global day to promote the importance of being kind to others and to ourselves. It doesn't take much to show a little kindness - a smile, holding the door open, providing directions (although not coming from me - that would certainly be more of a hindrance). Kindness plays an important role in general practice. It helps to build trust and rapport, enhances the patient experience, reduces anxiety and supports healing. It's also contagious, making GPs perfectly placed to help create the next pandemic. A kindness pandemic. 😊 #WorldKindnessDay #primarycare #generalpractice

Roshan Vijayan (Nurse Practitioner) is a current student of our Graduate Certificate in Primary Care Nursing. While studying to expand the type of services he can offer in primary care, Rosh has made the time to mentor other nurse practitioner students. His dedication to nursing through exceptional mentorship contributions has been recognised by the Australian College of Nurse Practitioners (ACNP). Congratulations Rosh on being awarded #MentorOfTheYear! #nursepractitioner #primarycare

We acknowledge and pay our respects to all who served our country, especially the brave doctors, nurses and allied health professionals who lost their lives while caring for others. #RemembranceDay #LestWeForget