Category: Professional

An overview of the safety, clinical application and antiviral research of a novel repurposed therapeutic for the Omicron (B.1.1.529) COVID-19 variant

by Dr Nick Tellis, posted in #coronavirus, #covid19, Comprehensive, Empowering, General Practice, Glenelg, GP, GPsCAN, health, Influence, Information, News, PartridgeGP, Professional, recruitment, sustainable

Since a novel coronavirus pneumonia outbreak in late December 2019, coronavirus disease -19 (COVID-19) epidemic has gradually spread worldwide, becoming a major public health event. In November 2021, the Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant was seen in various undervaccinated countries. No specific antiviral therapeutics are currently available for COVID-19 caused by this variant. The treatments for COVID-19 were mainly based on the experiences of similar virus such SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, HIV and influenza viruses. Scientists have taken great efforts to investigate the effective methods for the treatment of COVID-19. In this article, we review a novel option for COVID-19 therapy with the repurposing of Macrogol 3350. We systematically reviewed clinical safety, clinical applications and the progress of antiviral research into this therapeutic. This is summarized and compared, hoping to provide a new clinical option for COVID-19 treatment due to the Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant and inform thought for life-threatening future variants.

Hello! Did you read this far? Many won’t. Many didn’t. This article is a total fiction and yet it has spread far and wide. Why write it? Why post it?

Your GP is a great source of information about this and other health related topics. Don’t be scared. Don’t stress. Outsource your medical reading and worries about new variants, existing variants, vaccines, and restrictions to your trusted GP. We are here to help! Here’s some actual medical info on a potential new vaccine!

PartridgeGP is here to help and serve our valued patients and community. PartridgeGP works with you to help you make your best health decisions, and we won’t back away from being your companion, guide, advisor, and sounding board through your health journey. We pride ourselves on great communication and we’re ready to share our professional skills and knowledge with you. This is only MORE important now, in the time of fear and a global pandemic with actual vaccines and therapeutics here now. The way forward is clear: make your appointment with us conveniently online right here – or call our friendly reception team on 82953200.

Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com

For everyone, we believe that having a usual GP or General Practice is central to each person’s care and recommend that people with any health issues that come to the attention of other health professionals should be advised to attend their usual GP or General Practice rather than a specialised service (ie a place not providing the holistic care a specialist GP would).   If  they say that they don’t have a usual GP or general practice, they should be helped to find one and to actually attend it. Call PartridgeGP on 82953200 or make an appointment online here.

(Hat tip: Dr Oliver Frank)

(TL;DR – Get a regular GP or General Practice and use them!)

Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com

If you’re employed, get a side hustle and get into business. If you’ve already got a business, get a network. Want to get started? Find your tribe here!

Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com

If you are a great GP, nurse, or other great Allied Health Professional, and you want to serve your clients or patients to the best of your ability, without worrying about all the non clinical things that get in your way, lets talk. Call Dr Nick Tellis or Mrs Alison Mibus on 8295 3200 and have a coffee and chat with us as to how PartridgeGP can help you to help others.

PartridgeGP is seeking wonderful Medical Receptionists

by Dr Nick Tellis, posted in Comprehensive, Empowering, General Practice, Glenelg, GP, GPsCAN, health, Information, News, PartridgeGP, Professional, recruitment, sustainable

Medical Receptionist – Casual

PartridgeGP

Adelaide

Healthcare & MedicalMedical Administration

Casual, potential for FT/PT





PartridgeGP is growing and we have an opportunity for a Casual Medical Receptionist to join our practice team.



The hours will vary so flexibility and availability to cover leave and shifts with minimal notice is a pre-requisite. Regular Saturday afternoon shifts or the ability to cover these on a rotating basis will be required.



You will contribute to the smooth and efficient day to day running of PartridgeGP:



Answering phones and presenting a cheerful face for PartridgeGP as part of the front of house team

Document scanning, supporting our GPs with administration and follow up, and general office duties

There will be times that you will work on your own so being a self starter will be important.



The successful applicant will be working in a fast paced busy practice and must have an excellent phone manner, communication skills and be capable of triaging, making appointments over the phone, and managing our online appointments.



We are looking for character and spirit and will have some amazing training for successful applicants. A willingness to learn, curiosity, and comfort with technology and computers are also key attributes.





We are seeking a friendly, adaptable and resilient person with a team spirit who pays attention to detail. You will be part of a supportive practice team who focus on upholding our Practice Ethos of professional, comprehensive and empowering healthcare.



PartridgeGP is a fully computerised and AGPAL accredited practice.



Short-listing for this position will commence immediately, however, we reserve the right to close this position earlier than stated. Only short-listed applicants will be contacted.



Please submit your current Resume and Cover letter for consideration to our Practice Manager Mrs Alison Mibus by emailing pm@partridgegp.com.au

All of our doctors here at PartridgeGP are fully qualified ‘Fellows’ (or are studying towards this ‘Registrars’) holding a specialist qualification with either the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (FRACGP) or the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (FACRRM) or both (3-4 years of full time study and 3 exams on top of an undergraduate university medical degree and supervised trainee ‘intern’ year in a hospital). This is our minimum specialist standard and you can see more about what this involves here. Our Fellows provide supervision and advice to our Registrars.

Founded in 2013, PartridgeGP (formerly Partridge Street General Practice) is a General Practice, based in Glenelg, South Australia, providing better services and facilities to GPs, Allied Health Professionals, and our staff, so that we can all provide the best clinical care to our valued patients. We are fully accredited as a General Practice and we are an award winning training practice, training students and GP Registrars, the future of our profession. Our core purpose is to help practitioners help patients. 

PartridgeGP is here to help – and we will continue to serve our valued patients! PartridgeGP works with you to help you make your best health decisions, and we won’t back away from being your companion, guide, advisor, and sounding board through your health journey. We pride ourselves on great communication and we’re ready to share our professional skills and knowledge with you. This is only MORE important now, in the time of a global pandemic with a new vaccine on the horizon. The way forward is clear: make your appointment with us conveniently online right here – or call our friendly reception team on 82953200.

Where to from here?

Please submit your current Resume and Cover letter for consideration to our Practice Manager Mrs Alison Mibus by emailing pm@partridgegp.com.au

Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com

For everyone, we believe that having a usual GP or General Practice is central to each person’s care and recommend that people with any health issues that come to the attention of other health professionals should be advised to attend their usual GP or General Practice rather than a specialised service (ie a place not providing the holistic care a specialist GP would).   If  they say that they don’t have a usual GP or general practice, they should be helped to find one and to actually attend it. Call PartridgeGP on 82953200 or make an appointment online here.

(Hat tip: Dr Oliver Frank)

(TL;DR – Get a regular GP or General Practice and use them!)

Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com

If you’re employed, get a side hustle and get into business. If you’ve already got a business, get a network. Want to get started? Find your tribe here!

Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com

If you are a great GP or a great Allied Health Professional, and you want to serve your clients or patients to the best of your ability, without worrying about all the non clinical things that get in your way, lets talk. Call Dr Nick Tellis on 8295 3200 and have a coffee and chat with us as to how PartridgeGP can help you to help others.

The Golden Month v2.0

by Dr Nick Tellis, posted in #justagp, Comprehensive, Empowering, General Practice, Glenelg, GP, health, How to, Information, Medical, Men, Men's health, New doctor, News, Occupational medicine, Partridge Street General Practice, Professional, Return to work, Self help, Workcover

A guest post by the excellent Dr Kar Loong Ng of Next Generation Occupational Medicine – NGOM.

 

 

 

 

Time. Timing. Such a critical aspect of Medicine. When a patient is in VF (Ventricular Fibrillation) the medical team has seconds, tens of seconds to act before the probability of successful resuscitation decreases exponentially. Act too fast (not yelling ‘CLEAR’) whilst activating the defibrillator and they risk hurting a team member and losing further precious seconds whilst the machine recharges. Act too slow and the patient is lost forever.

 

The same principles apply for non-emergency musculoskeletal workplace injuries. More often than not, I encounter patients, employers and insurers who request for MRIs at early stages of injury when there is no medical indication. The fact of the matter is, there is very little correlation between most MRI findings and the patient’s current injury or problem. Kind of like seeing all the imperfections on footy player’s faces on a 4K TV during a game. Additionally there are quite a large number of studies that show that early spinal MRIs that are not medically indicated often result in poorer outcomes and disability. I once saw a worker who was in such severe pain due to his belief that his ‘discs are squashed, bulged and spinal cord and nerves crushed’. When viewed I his MRI scans and told him that there is mild bulging of his lower 2 lumbar discs , his immediate response was “That’s where my pain is !! Between my shoulder blades……..”

Another example is that of shoulder impingement syndrome. A subacromial injection early on the injury is not going to be of benefit if the patient is not aware of how to perform rotator cuff exercises. An injection too late will also have less chance of success.

It is all about timing. Right, Roger Federer?

I previously wrote about Specialised Early Intervention and Second Opinion Medicine. With both services, we have been able to successfully rehabilitate a good proportion of complex worker injuries to normal work, alternative work, new employment or community restoration. Unfortunately some patients do not do so well. Being a sub-specialist practice, all our patients are referred from GPs. Despite extensive communication to the GP community, employers, insurers and rehabilitation providers emphasising the importance of early referrals, our earliest referral over the past few years has been 7 weeks post injury. This was an outlier, with the average referral being 6 to 9 months old. Well…….it beats my record a few years back when I saw a 50 year old man (with a six-pack) who had been on benefits since 19 and could not remember which leg his sciatica was on………..

Successful Early Intervention requires implementation at 2 to 3 weeks post injury. Some people refer to it as ‘The Golden Month’. For complex worker injuries, there is now good evidence that screening and intervention at day 1 of injury result in a significant reduction in disability and cost.

We are now in the process of implementing this with the introduction of services to GPs. The aim is to provide patients, workers and employers with a personally tailored comprehensive suite of medical and allied health care, as well as quick but well-timed access to medical sub-specialists.

I feel like I have been playing the game of RISK over the past few years. Disability is the enemy. I hope this strategy contains it.

Thanks Kar – it’s inspiring to see the passion you have for returning injured workers to work! Getting you better is what we’re about at PartridgeGP and so we’ll be working together with NGOM whenever we see injured workers.

 

Here to Help

 

Our Doctors at PartridgeGP are Here to Help Injured Workers – you can meet them here.

 

 

Want more?

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is pexels-photo-1061142.jpeg
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com

For everyone, we believe that having a usual GP or General Practice is central to each person’s care and recommend that people with any health issues that come to the attention of other health professionals should be advised to attend their usual GP or General Practice rather than a specialised service (ie a place not providing the holistic care a specialist GP would).   If  they say that they don’t have a usual GP or general practice, they should be helped to find one and to actually attend it. Call PartridgeGP on 82953200 or make an appointment online here.

(Hat tip: Dr Oliver Frank)

(TL;DR – Get a regular GP or General Practice and use them!)

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is pexels-photo-1061141.jpeg
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com

If you’re employed, get a side hustle and get into business. If you’ve already got a business, get a network. Want to get started? Find your tribe here!

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is pexels-photo-1061140.jpeg
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com

If you are a great GP or a great Allied Health Professional, and you want to serve your clients or patients to the best of your ability, without worrying about all the non clinical things that get in your way, lets talk. Call Mrs Hayley Roberts on 8295 3200 and have a coffee and chat with us as to how PartridgeGP can help you to help others.

Happy Mindset Monday

by Dr Nick Tellis, posted in Empowering, General Practice, Glenelg, GP, health, How to, Influence, Information, PartridgeGP, patient info, Professional, Self help

Mondays are no different to Fridays except in your perception. How many of you think TGI Monday? How would Mondays be different if you did?

Remember the thoughts from previous posts:

be mindful as to the type of content you consume – the news you watch, the things you read

be mindful as to the people you associate with – you are the average of the five people you spend most time with

be mindful in regard to diet and exercise, get that anchoring going

Make a great start to Monday, the week, the month, and your year! (are you humming the Friends theme yet?) You can make your appointment with us conveniently online right here – or call our friendly reception team on 82953200.

You know the drill!

Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com

For everyone, we believe that having a usual GP or General Practice is central to each person’s care and recommend that people with any health issues that come to the attention of other health professionals should be advised to attend their usual GP or General Practice rather than a specialised service (ie a place not providing the holistic care a specialist GP would).   If  they say that they don’t have a usual GP or general practice, they should be helped to find one and to actually attend it. Call PartridgeGP on 82953200 or make an appointment online here.

(Hat tip: Dr Oliver Frank)

(TL;DR – Get a regular GP or General Practice and use them!)

Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com

If you’re employed, get a side hustle and get into business. If you’ve already got a business, get a network. Want to get started? Find your tribe here!

Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com

If you are a great GP or a great Allied Health Professional, and you want to serve your clients or patients to the best of your ability, without worrying about all the non clinical things that get in your way, lets talk. Call Mrs Hayley Roberts on 8295 3200 and have a coffee and chat with us as to how PartridgeGP can help you to help others.

idea sex

by Dr Nick Tellis, posted in Empowering, General Practice, Glenelg, GP, health, How to, Influence, Information, PartridgeGP, patient info, Professional, Self help

First up – there is no sex in this blog post! Now that only two of you are left, let’s crack on. Lifelong learning is a great thing. For doctors as a group and for GPs in particular, a lack of curiosity is terrible. Listen and learn – the patient will tell you their story, and often the diagnosis. The average doctor interrupts the patient in less than a minute. Don’t aspire to be average.

Patients appreciate it when their GP takes the time to listen to them. They like it. Patients don’t sue doctors they like AND taking that time improves your diagnostic skills. If you listen, you learn, and the more you learn, the more you earn. We see that while good medicine is not the entirety of good business, it’s certainly a component (but an essential one for us at PartridgeGP). Why not anchor listening and learning together?

What is anchoring? James Clear, in his excellent book Atomic Habits, calls it habit stacking but credits the concept to BJ Fogg. It is linking a new habit to an old one, with the old habit acting as an anchor that keeps the new habit in place. If we combine listening and learning in the modern age, we get the podcast (For those that don’t know,a podcast is a digital audio file made available on the internet for downloading to a computer or mobile device, typically available as a series, new instalments of which can be received by subscribers automatically). These are a fantastic way of learning while you do something else. Whether it’s the washing, the shopping, driving to work, or even getting to sleep, your chosen podcast app can deliver some learning gold to you. I like listening to most things at 1.5 times speed – because who wants to learn slowly! I use Google Podcasts or Castbox (these do 95%+ of what I want a podcast app to do).

Now, you are being exposed to ideas every day. These ideas can get together in your head, and have idea sex. Of course, idea sex can lead to idea babies. Innovation, creativity, even wisdom can be born from this approach. For those that are a bit disappointed by the rather tame appearance of sex in this post, I give you an alternative wording. Consuming better content, as per the theory of maximum taste, will improve your cognitive foundation and you’ll start connecting ideas across books and disciplines. You will develop deep fluency. I like the idea sex and idea babies, if you want more of the alternative wording, hit up the Farnam Street Blog (highly recommended).

I’ve started doubly anchoring my podcast listening by replacing music during my running. I have found that rather than high energy dance music, an informative podcast improves my time and cadence during a run! I look forward to reporting on further success with this in a future post. Perhaps I will develop a small amount of wit and wisdom as I run.

Good luck with lifelong learning and making those mental connections that lead to wit and wisdom. You can do this in your personal and professional interactions as well as in your learning – and that can start with your GP! You can make your appointment with us conveniently online right here – or call our friendly reception team on 82953200.

You can continue the process further!

Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com

For everyone, we believe that having a usual GP or General Practice is central to each person’s care and recommend that people with any health issues that come to the attention of other health professionals should be advised to attend their usual GP or General Practice rather than a specialised service (ie a place not providing the holistic care a specialist GP would).   If  they say that they don’t have a usual GP or general practice, they should be helped to find one and to actually attend it. Call PartridgeGP on 82953200 or make an appointment online here.

(Hat tip: Dr Oliver Frank)

(TL;DR – Get a regular GP or General Practice and use them!)

Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com

If you’re employed, get a side hustle and get into business. If you’ve already got a business, get a network. Want to get started? Find your tribe here!

Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com

If you are a great GP or a great Allied Health Professional, and you want to serve your clients or patients to the best of your ability, without worrying about all the non clinical things that get in your way, lets talk. Call Mrs Hayley Roberts on 8295 3200 and have a coffee and chat with us as to how PartridgeGP can help you to help others.

Breached as, bro

by Dr Nick Tellis, posted in Ehealth, Empowering, General Practice, Glenelg, GP, health, How to, Influence, Information, PartridgeGP, patient info, Privacy, Professional, Self help, technology

Once upon a time, as all the oldest stories start, data was kept in peoples brains. This data wasn’t clearly visible and could only be accessed via direct download from the source. The person had to tell you what was in their brain. This is how the oldest stories were passed on, with an oral tradition. There were secrets. Some things were private. There was value in this. Secrets have always been valuable – and many methods have been tried to extract this value, from persuasion, coercion, interrogation, and worse. Lots of secrets equals big value equals a big incentive to try some of these methods. That said, it’s a lot harder to use these methods to find a lot of little secrets in a lot of places, when you don’t really know where to look.

What if someone took a lot of secrets, including your secrets? What if that someone took those secrets and put them all in the same place? Is this sounding familiar? What we have in this situation is motive (lots of valuable secrets – data), opportunity (you know where it is – a big database), and then all you need is the means…

We all know that more mistakes can be attributed to stupidity than malice and I suspect poor systems have led to the situation below. Big health databases are big targets, and data breaches, where your data, your secrets, become public, are becoming more and more common. One big database belongs to Ambulance Tasmania.

The private details of every Tasmanian who has called an ambulance since November last year have been published online by a third party in a list still updating each time paramedics are dispatched.

Key points:

  • Ambulance Tasmania uses a paging system in initial communications between the dispatch team and paramedics on the ground
  • Pager messages dating back to November have been uploaded to a website, which is still live and continually updating
  • The health union has described the data dump as “horrific”

The breach of Ambulance Tasmania’s paging system has been described as “horrific” by the Health and Community Services Union, which has suggested the data dump could leave the Government open to litigation.

The biggest health database in this country is MyHealthRecord. The website states that ‘My Health Record lets you control your health information securely, in one place. This means your important health information is available when and where it’s needed, including in an emergency’. There are some issues with this – many hospitals and health service providers neither use nor access MyHealthRecord and, as I’ve said above, big databases have a big target on them. Hackers and criminals see this target. So do governments and non-criminals.

2018 saw the Federal Government quietly release its long-awaited framework for secondary use of information contained within the my health record. It was controversial. The release of the framework to guide the secondary use of My Health Record (MyHR) system data came just months before the participation rules for the Australian national health record change from opt-in to opt-out. Consent for secondary use is implied if consumers don’t opt out of the MyHR. In other words, people need to take action if they don’t want their health data to be used for purposes other than direct clinical care.

What does this all mean? For patients and individuals it means being mindful about your data. Only give what you need to give, for good reason, and consider time limits and limiting further usage of your data for unconnected reasons.

For doctors, consider clinically appropriate data entry – never forget who you serve and why, and work in and with good practices and practitioners who will take the same care and attention with patients data as you do.

For practices, good policies and solid hardware and software solutions are the key!

For a little bit of further reading:

John Stronner is a guru in this area – a Certified Data Protection Officer, and CEO of Loftus Technology Group. I had the pleasure and privilege of speaking after him on a recent podcast from This Pathological Life! Another podcast I found super useful was the story of the white hat hacker turned protector, Bastien Treptel of the CTRL Group.

Be mindful with your data and your health – we can help with both (with your medical data at least!). Just one little example of how your data can help you is here, where I explain how your GP can upload your immunisation details to MyHealthRecord, allowing you to prove your vaccination status – super important in 2021! You can make your appointment with us conveniently online right here – or call our friendly reception team on 82953200.

Where to now?

Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com

For everyone, we believe that having a usual GP or General Practice is central to each person’s care and recommend that people with any health issues that come to the attention of other health professionals should be advised to attend their usual GP or General Practice rather than a specialised service (ie a place not providing the holistic care a specialist GP would).   If  they say that they don’t have a usual GP or general practice, they should be helped to find one and to actually attend it. Call PartridgeGP on 82953200 or make an appointment online here.

(Hat tip: Dr Oliver Frank)

(TL;DR – Get a regular GP or General Practice and use them!)

Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com

If you’re employed, get a side hustle and get into business. If you’ve already got a business, get a network. Want to get started? Find your tribe here!

Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com

If you are a great GP or a great Allied Health Professional, and you want to serve your clients or patients to the best of your ability, without worrying about all the non clinical things that get in your way, lets talk. Call Mrs Hayley Roberts on 8295 3200 and have a coffee and chat with us as to how PartridgeGP can help you to help others.

Body Shaming

by Dr Nick Tellis, posted in #justagp, carb, Care plan, Comprehensive, Diet, Empowering, Exercise, General Practice, Glenelg, GP, GPsCAN, Grass fed, health, How to, Influence, Information, LCHF, lowcarb, Natural, PartridgeGP, patient info, Physiotherapy, prevention, Professional, Self help

We all know that COVID19 is around. Luckily in SA we have stuck to

Social Distancing
Hand Washing
Cough Etiquette

And so we have the following stats!

July 8 – well done so far SA

But those extra pounds and kilos have snuck in where even COVID19 hasn’t reached. PartridgeGP is here to help and therefore we posted this on our Facebook page:

Facebook – 13 July

The text was as follows:

Has a little isoweight crept on, even before the #secondwave ?
@partridgegp has you covered! 👍🏼

> diet and exercise help
> physiotherapy to keep you moving
> medication advice

Movement Theory

Rod Ventura providing awesome #physiotherapy and all of our GPs below

Call 8295 3200 or http://bit.ly/2XmM0n5

Dr Monika Moy
Dr Penny Massy-Westropp
Dr Nikhil Tamminedi
Dr Zoe Teh
Dr Nick Mouktaroudis
Dr Phil Maddocks
Dr Gareth Boucher
Dr Nick Tellis

HIT THE BIG BLUE BUTTON!

We’re here to serve you during this difficult time as we always have
To make a phone appointment click here http://bit.ly/2XmM0n5 or call us on 8295 3200

So we tried to boost this post, but Facebook said no. It was body shaming!!! Well, we shall post here and see what you think. Leave your messages in the comments!

To be or not to be?

PartridgeGP and Dr Nick Tellis are Here to Help – here are three ways we can do this:

1. You’re a patient and you want a Great GP! Make a booking online for Dr Nick or one of the caring GPs at PartridgeGP by clicking right here!

2. You’re a great GP or Allied Health Professional and you want a practice that will provide you with the awesome services, facilities, and team so you can serve patients to the best of your ability. Say hi Dr Nick Tellis (Facebook) or LinkedIn or call Mrs Hayley Roberts on 08 8295 3200

3. You’re a small business owner looking to network and grow your amazing business. Touch base with Dr Nick Tellis (Facebook) or LinkedIn and we will share a socially distanced coffee (or three)!

COVID clearance certificates and PartridgeGP

by Dr Nick Tellis, posted in #coronavirus, #covid19, #justagp, General Practice, GPsCAN, How to, Information, Occupational medicine, PartridgeGP, Professional, Return to work, Virus, Workcover

Did you know medical certificates expire? They have an end date! So when an employer or other entity asks for a clearance certificate, this is what we are going to write:

Dear Employer,

The whole point of a medical certificate is to certify someone unwell or unfit. This is why there is a beginning date AND an end date. At the end date, the patient is no longer certified unwell/unfit. I have enclosed the negative COVID results and you will note your employees certificate has reached its end date. I further enclose professional advice from our professional organisation in regard to this. It follows that the certificate of ‘clearance’ you are suggesting is unprofessional and those who would provide one are acting similarly.

I hope this information finds you well.

Regards

Doctor Nick
Specialist GP

Hope this helps! If you are still unwell or need any further information, say hi to your PartridgeGP and book in here for a phone or face to face consult!

Divided, the Empire must unite…

by Dr Nick Tellis, posted in #justagp, Aged care, Comprehensive, Empowering, future, General Practice, Glenelg, GP, GPsCAN, health, How to, Influence, Information, Medical, News, PartridgeGP, Professional, sustainable

Romance of the Three Kingdoms is
one of China’s four Great Classical Novels. The title of this blog post is more fully:

The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide. Thus it has ever been.

PartridgeGP is based on a triple promise that we will be great for our patients and our community, GPs and our staff, and for the owners and the practice. Further, we will provide a comprehensive, professional, empowering, and sustainable service at all times.

Our friendly neighbourhood pharmacist sent this to me (see below). He was a little worried about the threat to his full service pharmacy and also to great General Practice.

Hmmmm

Now different companies will have different service offerings at different levels of the market. Think Porsche and Hyundai. Both very acceptable to different groups. Maybe even acceptable to the same group at different times. I’m not sure they are competitors.

I put my thoughts down here:

Upon reflection…

So keep playing to your strengths, keep doing your best, and unite not divide.

If you want to join a team that’s here to guide and help our valued patients, give Dr Nick Tellis or Dr Nick Mouktaroudis a call at PartridgeGP on 8295 3200!

PartridgeGP | Telehealth | COVID19 | Physical Examination

by Dr Nick Tellis, posted in #coronavirus, #covid19, #justagp, Empowering, future, General Practice, Glenelg, GP, GPsCAN, health, News, PartridgeGP, patient info, Professional, Virus

We all want to provide great general practice care. Most of this comes from time, curiosity, and interest in our patients. When we turn our attention and medical skills to their problems and issues we do better work.

Physical examination has been around since antiquity and is a useful adjunct to taking a great history. Much like over investigating, physical examination is not always needed.

General practice is so much more than compliance and paperwork.

So much can be pared away to reveal the essence of what we do.

In the time of #COVID19, perhaps we can chip away to reveal our statues of David rather than be inflexible blocks of government marble.

More ideas here!

Another set of thoughts, better expressed…

It’s time for emergency physicians to put away our stethoscopes

By Jeremy Samuel Faust

Since 1986, federal law has mandated that any patient requesting emergency medical care must be evaluated by a physician to assess for any threatening conditions. The law, often referred to as the “anti-dumping law,” requires that physicians perform a medical screening evaluation, including a physical examination.

Over time, the interpretation of this mandate has slowly expanded, not by law so much as by custom. This is why emergency rooms have become our nation’s safety net for care. Despite increasing popularity of urgent-care clinics and telehealth, many patients who could have safely been cared for elsewhere still end up in emergency rooms.

While many of us embrace that mission with pride, it is dangerous and wasteful in the coronavirus pandemic. We need to course-correct to keep everyone safe. Exposing patients to emergency rooms is now far riskier than it was before. In turn, health-care workers must assume that all patients are infected. This forces us to blow through personal protective equipment that we desperately need so that we do not become infected ourselves.

Over the past few decades, we have learned that many, if not most, of our physical examination maneuvers provide little reliable information. In most cases, the information we need can be obtained simply by interviewing patients. But old habits die hard, and patients seem to love our stethoscopes. In our current situation, that simply won’t do.

We need the federal government to allow us to perform medical screening exams via video or through glass doors, even for patients entering emergency rooms. The removal of the requirement that we evaluate every patient by hand will save resources and keep everyone safer.

In recent meetings and phone calls with stakeholders, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has signaled that it is seriously considering making this change. But it has not materialized, and time is of the essence. The moment to act is now.

Jeremy Samuel Faust is an emergency physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in the Division of Health Policy and Public Health, and an instructor at Harvard Medical School.