We live in extraordinary times. One could be forgiven for wishing we could skip 2020 altogether for it has been a year of firsts in most unfortunate ways with significant bushfires over Christmas, and now the threat of Pandemic SARS-COV-2.
As a practicing Rural Generalist, I am working hard to support and protect my community, as many of you are too. The rapid pace of change in the health status of our communities and the lack of clarity that has existed from day one around these events has meant that that our clinicians in remote, rural and regional Australia, as well as our ancillary support staff, have had to adapt and lead with minimal information and high degrees of uncertainty.
Yet, I have witnessed a quick and innovative response of members and Fellows of this College to the challenges. In the last few weeks, we have seen the initiation of telehealth as a tool to protect clinicians and the community, the clarification of pandemic plans, and a growing recognition of the role of Primary Care in the response to the pandemic.
This week, my community has banded together to build a new clinic expressly to assess patients for SARS-COV-2, and ACRRM Registrars are champing at the bit to run it. We will continue to receive and mentor medical students during this crisis for it is critical that their learning is not disrupted.
There is still much to do as we shift from containment to community-spread infection with the development of rural fever clinics and pop-up centres to deal with localised events. As well, we must strengthen remote, rural and regional Emergency Departments and recognise our GP/RG Anaesthetists as a key resource in the fight to mitigate the worst outcomes of SARS-COV-2. Colleagues in the retrieval services will also be busy in preparing for the coming winter.
Supporting rural and remote medical practitioners and their communities is a continuous commitment of the College and while we contend with COVID-19 it is vitally important we maintain our course.
The College is working to ensure our voice is heard. As a collective, the ACRRM Board, College Council, CEO and staff are engaged in maintaining open communication lines between major stakeholders, including state and federal government departments, health agencies and leading medical authorities, as well as our members and colleagues.
In the past week, representatives across the College have engaged in many important decision-making meetings. We have attended regular teleconferences to discuss the pandemic response at both state and national levels, the urgent need for a rural action plan that ensures that supply lines for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), pharmacy and other needs remains in the national consciousness.
The college continues to work internally to ensure our staff are safe and cared for, and that our trainees and supervisors are supported. The College wishes Registrars well in upcoming assessments, noting that we have procedures to ensure that clinicians are not delayed in attaining Fellowship. The College has always focussed on distance means of assessment and the use of non face-to-face means, it is time to continue to strengthen those technologies.
We are also active in the media, ensuring rural and remote GPs are recognised for their part in fighting this pandemic. In conjunction with the Rural Doctors Association of Australia, we are collaborting to comment on the announcement of the extension of telehealth MBS numbers and distribution of P2 masks to GPs, and the call for the public to book in for a flu vaccination, as extra precaution during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This pandemic has raised issues across the health landscape, including concern over supply of prescription and over-the-counter medicines. The College liaised with the Department of Health on this topic and supports calls for limits on sales.
We have fed back our view on the need to broaden the telehealth Items to enable complete non face-to-face consultations for the spectrum of patients we would normally see, not just those related to SARS-COV-2.
PPE, access to airway management equipment including non-invasive ventilation kits and ventilators are high on our list of priorities. Developing greater clarity around broader testing criteria once adequate test capacity is achieved will be clear to managing community spread disease.
The College recognises that our sectoral partners the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and the Australian Medical Association, among many others, are also working with us and government to deliver the best outcomes possible.
I am also sure you, like me, are receiving Coronavirus information from a multitude of sources. To make it easy to find and refer, the College is collating the information on a dedicated COVID-19 page on the new website. If there is anything you think should be included, don’t hesitate to contact the team at marketing@acrrm.org.au
Dr Ewen McPhee, ACRRM President
As a practicing Rural Generalist, I am working hard to support and protect my community, as many of you are too. The rapid pace of change in the health status of our communities and the lack of clarity that has existed from day one around these events has meant that that our clinicians in remote, rural and regional Australia, as well as our ancillary support staff, have had to adapt and lead with minimal information and high degrees of uncertainty.
Yet, I have witnessed a quick and innovative response of members and Fellows of this College to the challenges. In the last few weeks, we have seen the initiation of telehealth as a tool to protect clinicians and the community, the clarification of pandemic plans, and a growing recognition of the role of Primary Care in the response to the pandemic.
This week, my community has banded together to build a new clinic expressly to assess patients for SARS-COV-2, and ACRRM Registrars are champing at the bit to run it. We will continue to receive and mentor medical students during this crisis for it is critical that their learning is not disrupted.
There is still much to do as we shift from containment to community-spread infection with the development of rural fever clinics and pop-up centres to deal with localised events. As well, we must strengthen remote, rural and regional Emergency Departments and recognise our GP/RG Anaesthetists as a key resource in the fight to mitigate the worst outcomes of SARS-COV-2. Colleagues in the retrieval services will also be busy in preparing for the coming winter.
Supporting rural and remote medical practitioners and their communities is a continuous commitment of the College and while we contend with COVID-19 it is vitally important we maintain our course.
The College is working to ensure our voice is heard. As a collective, the ACRRM Board, College Council, CEO and staff are engaged in maintaining open communication lines between major stakeholders, including state and federal government departments, health agencies and leading medical authorities, as well as our members and colleagues.
In the past week, representatives across the College have engaged in many important decision-making meetings. We have attended regular teleconferences to discuss the pandemic response at both state and national levels, the urgent need for a rural action plan that ensures that supply lines for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), pharmacy and other needs remains in the national consciousness.
The college continues to work internally to ensure our staff are safe and cared for, and that our trainees and supervisors are supported. The College wishes Registrars well in upcoming assessments, noting that we have procedures to ensure that clinicians are not delayed in attaining Fellowship. The College has always focussed on distance means of assessment and the use of non face-to-face means, it is time to continue to strengthen those technologies.
We are also active in the media, ensuring rural and remote GPs are recognised for their part in fighting this pandemic. In conjunction with the Rural Doctors Association of Australia, we are collaborting to comment on the announcement of the extension of telehealth MBS numbers and distribution of P2 masks to GPs, and the call for the public to book in for a flu vaccination, as extra precaution during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This pandemic has raised issues across the health landscape, including concern over supply of prescription and over-the-counter medicines. The College liaised with the Department of Health on this topic and supports calls for limits on sales.
We have fed back our view on the need to broaden the telehealth Items to enable complete non face-to-face consultations for the spectrum of patients we would normally see, not just those related to SARS-COV-2.
PPE, access to airway management equipment including non-invasive ventilation kits and ventilators are high on our list of priorities. Developing greater clarity around broader testing criteria once adequate test capacity is achieved will be clear to managing community spread disease.
The College recognises that our sectoral partners the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and the Australian Medical Association, among many others, are also working with us and government to deliver the best outcomes possible.
I am also sure you, like me, are receiving Coronavirus information from a multitude of sources. To make it easy to find and refer, the College is collating the information on a dedicated COVID-19 page on the new website. If there is anything you think should be included, don’t hesitate to contact the team at marketing@acrrm.org.au
Dr Ewen McPhee, ACRRM President