Murray PHN

Assessing workers exposed to respirable crystalline silica dust: The current state of play | Online
2024-12-04 18:00 - 19:00 (Australia/Melbourne)
Hosted by Lung Foundation Australia
More than half a million Australians are exposed to silica dust in their workplace. Do you know which workers are at risk and how, when and why to monitor their lung health?
Recent years have seen the resurgence of accelerated silicosis linked to the cutting, grinding and polishing of engineered stone, which often contains a high percentage (>90%) of crystalline silica. In a world-first decision, effective from 1 July 2024 the use, supply, and manufacture of engineered stone products was banned across Australia. Whilst occupational and respiratory experts work to update clinical guidelines to reflect these landmark changes and progress in industry and evidence, how can at-risk Australian workers be identified and assessed for silica-related disease?
Hear from our panel of clinical experts on the most up-to-date evidence and the future of assessing, diagnosing and monitoring workers exposed to respirable crystalline silica dust. Submit your questions for our panel at registration, or during the live session. Register now to view live or on-demand from the following day.
Audience: GPs
Click here for more information and to register.

Let’s get physical: the role of exercise in cardiovascular health | Online
2024-12-04 19:00 - 20:30
The Heart Foundation is excited to announce the final health professional clinical webinar of 2024, “Let’s get physical: the role of exercise in cardiovascular health” taking place on Wednesday, December 4 from 7-8:30 pm AEDT.
The event will be chaired by Prof. Garry Jennings, Chief Medical Advisor of the Heart Foundation, joined by a stellar panel featuring international expert Prof. Martin Halle (Germany), along with Australian experts. Watch live as they uncover the latest benefits of exercise in enhancing cardiovascular health, offer practical insights and explore strategies to enhance CVD risk factor management in primary healthcare settings.
This webinar has been accredited with the RACGP for 1.5 hours.
(Activity number: 1037982)
Audience: Healthcare professionals
Click here for more information and to register.

Breast density reporting in the BreastScreen Victoria program | Online
2024-12-11 18:00 - 19:00
Learn about breast density reporting in the BreastScreen Victoria program, including:

An overview of the BreastScreen Victoria program
The rollout of breast density reporting
What breast density is
How breast density is measured
Why breast density is important
What the recommended options are for a patient with dense breast

Click here for more information and to register.

Initial assessment and referral for mental healthcare training | Online
2025-01-15 10:00 - 12:30, 2025-01-30 09:30 - 12:00, 2025-02-13 10:00 - 12:30, 2025-02-17 12:00 - 14:30 | Webinar
The Initial Assessment and Referral – Decision Support Tool (IAR-DST) is an initiative of the Department of Health and Aged Care. It supports clinicians in matching a person’s treatment needs with the right intensity of mental health support, at the right time.
General practitioners, registrars, mental health clinicians and other health professionals within the Murray PHN catchment, are invited to attend this two-hour CPD-accredited group training workshop on how to use the IAR-DST.
Click here to register

GP/GP registrar initial assessment and referral training | Online
2025-01-22 18:30 - 21:00, 2025-02-11 18:30 - 21:00 | Webinar
The Initial Assessment and Referral – Decision Support Tool (IAR-DST) is an initiative of the Department of Health and Aged Care. It supports clinicians in matching a person’s treatment needs with the right intensity of mental health support, at the right time.
This workshop is for GP/GP registrars to learn how to use the IAR decision support tool to help people seeking mental health support.
A $300 payment is available for eligible GPs who complete the two-hour training. This training is an approved CPD activity for RACGP/ ACRRM members.
Click here to register

Using effective communication to deal with aggressive behaviours | Online
2025-01-30 11:30 - 13:30 | Webinar
This workshop for staff from primary healthcare settings, particularly those who work in reception and administration, will provide participants with knowledge of effective communication strategies to reduce aggression and maintain a safe working environment for staff, patients and the community.
Click here to learn more and register.

Contemporary TGD Health for GPs and Prescribing Clinicians
2025-02-03 18:30 - 2025-02-17 20:30 | Online
Created specifically for the unique needs of General Practitioners, this CPD-accredited and free-of-charge course is designed to empower and equip Victorian GPs in transgender and gender diverse (TGD) primary care.
Co-designed and delivered by leading General Practitioners in the field and TGD health professionals, this initiative has been created to improve health outcomes and access for the trans and gender diverse population across the state.
The course combines interactive, didactic, and case-based learning covering topics such as:

Gender Affirming Hormone Therapy
Affirmative Practice & clinical logistics
Surgical options and referral
Mental health referral and support
Medicare considerations
Finding a community of practice.

There are three sessions in this series, taking place on Monday 3, 10 and 17 February 2025.
Click here to learn more and to register.

RACGP member meet-up | Wangaratta
2025-02-04 19:00 - 21:00 | Quality Hotel Wangaratta Gateway, 29-37 Ryley Street, Wangaratta, VIC, 3677, Australia
Join the RACGP for drinks, nibbles and networking with RACGP President Dr Michael Wright and RACGP Rural Chair A/Prof Michael Clements. We’ll share some of the RACGP’s key achievements and provide an update for Victorian members and stakeholders.
Date: Tuesday 4 February 2025
Time: 7.00pm – 9.00pm
Venue: Quality Hotel Wangaratta Gateway, 29-37 Ryley Street, Wangaratta VIC 3677
Cost: Free
This event is open to RACGP members, practice staff, medical students, and rural health stakeholders.
RACGP members please register via the link, non-members please email rural@racgp.org.au
Click here for more information and to register

Suturing | Bendigo
2025-02-05 08:45 - 16:30 | Lakeside Hotel, 286 Napier Street, Bendigo, 3550, Australia
Delivered by Health Education Collaborative
This course provides the theoretical and practical essentials to close and manage noncomplex traumatic laceration, biopsies and surgical excisions.
This course is ideally suited to nurses, medical students and doctors that have little or no suturing experience or wish to advance their current basic skill of only using single interrupted suturing technique.
Click here for more information and to register.

Spirometry Training Course | Mildura (Fully booked, join waitlist)
2025-02-06 09:00 - 16:30 | Quest Mildura Apartment Hotel, 119 Madden Avenue, Mildura, Victoria, 3500, Australia
The Spirometry Training Course is brought to you by Murray PHN and the National Asthma Council Australia as part of the National Asthma Council Australia’s Asthma Education Program.
This six-hour interactive workshop is for local practice nurses, GPs and other primary healthcare professionals. It will provide comprehensive training in the application, measurement and interpretation of expiratory spirometry in general practice.
This event is fully booked. Click here to join the waitlist.
Accreditation:

This activity has been approved by RACGP for 4.5 hours of Educational Activities and 1.5 hours of Reviewing Performance. RACGP Activity ID 409754.
This activity has been approved by ACRRM as an educational event for 6 hours. ACRRM Activity ID 35243.

Immunisation Coalition 26th Annual Scientific Meeting | Hybrid event
2025-02-09 17:00 - 2025-02-10 16:00 | Pullman Melbourne Albert Park, 65 Queens Rd Albert Park VIC 3004, Melbourne
The 26th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Immunisation Coalition will be held on Sunday 9 and Monday 10 February 2025 at the Pullman Melbourne Albert Park. Participants can register to attend online or onsite at the venue.
The meeting will be chaired by Prof Lou Irving from the Royal Melbourne Hospital, who is also a long-standing member of the Immunisation Coalition.
This is a CPD accredited free event.
Audience: GPs, Nurses, Pharmacists
Click here for more information and to register.

Motivational Interviewing Training | Swan Hill
2025-02-11 09:00 - 16:00 | Murray ACE, 429 Campbell St, Swan Hill, VIC, 3585, Australia
Aboriginal health practitioners, allied health professionals, nurses and other primary healthcare professionals working in the Murray PHN catchment, who would like to offer extended client support or brief interventions, and increase their skills, knowledge and confidence in their motivational interviewing approach can attend this training.
Learning outcomes:

Describe the key skills and principles of motivational interviewing and its benefits
Evaluate the client’s readiness, willingness and motivation to change
Use effective communication and practical strategies to encourage conversation with a client
Identify the client’s discrepancy between current and preferred behaviour through the decisional balance tool
Prepare a plan with realistic goals with clients to help facilitate and motivate them towards change.

Presenter:

Stavroula Zandes, Health & Wellbeing Training Consultants.

Stav has a background in psychology and counselling and worked with Quit Victoria and the Cancer Council Victoria for 20 years in a range of roles. From 2005 – 2012, she was responsible for Quit’s statewide smoking cessation intervention training programs for health, community, workplace and education professionals. Stav is currently lecturing and tutoring at Monash University in the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine. In 2013, she founded Health & Wellbeing Training Consultants – a training and education business focusing on health and wellbeing, and specialising in behaviour change and communication skills, such as motivational interviewing.
Click here to register.
Check in from 8.45am.
Enquiries to education@murrayphn.org.au

Motivational interviewing training | Shepparton
2025-02-12 09:00 - 16:00 | Quality Hotel Parklake, 481 Wyndham Street, Shepparton, VIC, 3630, Australia

Improving Childhood Asthma Management Community of Practice | Online
2025-02-12 18:30 - 20:30 | Webinar
This community of practice (CoP) session will focus on asthma action plans (AAPs), communicating with schools and managing asthma in children and adolescents in a school-based setting.
It aims to improve clinician confidence in managing childhood asthma, and foster collaboration between asthma care services, the Royal Children’s Hospital, Asthma Australia and the National Asthma Council Australia.
Facilitators:

Dr Katherine Chen, paediatrician and the clinical lead of the short stay unit at Royal Children’s Hospital, and aa clinician scientist fellow in the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute’s health services and economics group.
Dr Kirsty Tamis, a GP and member of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Royal College of General Practitioners and Royal College of Physicians in the UK.
Dr Shivanthan Shanthikumar, paediatric respiratory specialist and clinician-scientist at Royal Children’s Hospital.

Learning outcomes:

Implement best practice management for asthma in children
Describe resources and local services available for children living with asthma
Identify collaborative, multidisciplinary opportunities to improve care for children living with asthma
Interpret local data and identify potential solutions to improve asthma care locally.

Click here to learn more and register.

Skin Cancer Community of Practice | Bendigo and online
2025-02-13 18:15 - 20:00 | Bendigo Health – West Wing, Lecture Room 1, Enter from Hope Street, Bendigo, Victoria, Australia
GPs, surgeons, medical and radiation oncologists, nursing staff and allied health professionals in the Loddon Mallee region can attend this online or in-person event.
The presenters and topics for the February event include:

Dr Clare Bajraszewski, Radiation Oncologist, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Bendigo: Which BCCs and SCCs should be referred for adjuvant radiotherapy?
Tamara Dawson, Founder/CEO of Melanoma & Skin Cancer Advocacy Network (MSCAN): Experience as a melanoma patient and her path to commencing the advocacy group

Click here for a flyer.
Click here to register.

Motivational Interviewing Training | Castlemaine
2025-02-14 09:00 - 16:00 | Buda Historic Home & Garden, 42 Hunter Street, Castlemaine, Vic, 3450, Australia

General practice update – Understanding the Practice Incentives Program (PIP) and Workforce Incentive Program (WIP) | Online
2025-02-18 11:30 - 13:30 | Webinar
GPs, healthcare professionals, nurses, practice managers, general administration staff can attend this webinar to hear from Wendy O’Meara, Associate Education Consultant, Larter Consulting. Wendy has worked in the general practice sector for 22 years, with the last 12 years as practice manager in a large regional general practice in Victoria.
Learning outcomes:
1. describe the Practice Incentives Program (PIP) and Workforce Incentive Programs (WIP)
2. outline PIP and WIP eligibility and reporting requirements
3. identify the PIP and WIP payment streams including how they are calculated.
Click here to learn more and register.

GP/GP registrar initial assessment and referral training | Wangaratta
2025-02-18 18:15 - 21:00 | Quality Hotel Wangaratta Gateway, 29-37 Ryley Street, Wangaratta, VIC, 3677, Australia
The Initial Assessment and Referral – Decision Support Tool (IAR-DST) is an initiative of the Department of Health and Aged Care. It supports clinicians in matching a person’s treatment needs with the right intensity of mental health support, at the right time.
This workshop is for GP/GP registrars to learn how to use the IAR decision support tool to help people seeking mental health support.
A $300 payment is available for eligible GPs who complete the two-hour training. This training is an approved CPD activity for RACGP/ACRRM members.
Click here to register.

Introduction to Aboriginal Cultural Safety | Online (Fully booked, join waitlist)
2025-02-19 10:00 - 15:00 | Webinar
This training is suitable general practice and mental health services staff and other primary healthcare professionals working in the Murray PHN catchment.
Facilitated by the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO), the training will offer foundational knowledge and awareness on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, identities and cultures while exploring the basics of cultural safety and simple ways to put it into practice.
VACCHO’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander facilitators enhance participant experience and learning by sharing cultural knowledge and lived experience in a safe learning environment where questions are encouraged and welcome.
This event is fully booked. Click here to join the waitlist.

Loddon Mallee Nurse Practitioner Network | Online
2025-02-19 12:00 - 13:00 | Webinar
The Loddon Mallee Nurse Practitioner Network connects current and future nurse practitioners for professional development and support to contribute towards high quality, accessible and sustainable health care for rural and regional communities.
Nurse practitioners, nurse practitioner candidates, RIPRN and other advanced scope registered nurses who might be interested in obtaining nurse practitioner qualification and endorsement, who are working in the Loddon Mallee region and/or neighbouring or border towns are welcome to attend.
Click here to join the Network and receive a calendar invite and meeting link.

Paediatric Asthma Care Masterclass: practical engagement strategies | Online
2025-02-19 19:30 - 21:00
Hosted by Asthma Australia.
Despite advances in asthma care, many families face challenges implementing consistent management strategies, leading to preventable emergency department visits and hospitalisations.
This webinar will tackle strategies to empower children with asthma and their families through effective education and shared decision-making. We will use scenario-based learning to provide practical, real-world examples of shared care and multi-disciplinary approaches in primary care. You will gain access to practical tools from Asthma Australia to integrate seamlessly into your daily clinical practice.
Panellists:

Dr Chris Pearce, General Practitioner and Health Informatician, Victoria
Dr Tim Senior, General Practitioner, Tharawal Aboriginal Corporation, New South Wales
Dr Shivanthan Shanthikumar, Paediatric Respiratory Specialist, RCH and Clinician-Scientist Fellow, MCRI, Victoria
Gaylene Bassett, Nurse Practitioner Paediatric Respiratory and Allergy, North West Regional Hospital, Tasmania
Kirsty Porteous, Asthma Educator, Asthma Australia, Queensland
Rebecca Smith, parent of child with asthma, Tasmania

Learning outcomes:

Understand how person-centred care drives better asthma control, quality of life and patient satisfaction.
Build confidence in using educational tools and behaviour change techniques to enhance family understanding and reduce overwhelm.
Develop skills in shared decision-making to empower effective self-management.
Learn to integrate Asthma Australia’s resources and tools into everyday clinical practice for improved outcomes.

Audience: Health professionals
Click here to learn more and register.

GP/GP registrar initial assessment and referral training | Albury
2025-02-20 18:15 - 21:00 | Mantra Hotel Albury, Southern Cross Room, 524 Smollett Street, Albury, New South Wales, 2640, Australia

Motivational Interviewing Training | Mildura
2025-02-25 09:00 - 16:00 | Quality Hotel Mildura Grand, Corner Seventh Street and Langtree Avenue, Mildura , Victoria, 3500, Australia

Clinical webinar series: Updates in management of non-melanoma skin cancer
2025-02-25 19:00 - 20:00 | Online
Join Melanoma Institute Australia (MIA) for an educational webinar tailored for Skin Cancer Doctors, GPs, Nurses, and other healthcare professionals with an interest in skin cancer.
Hosted by A/Prof Paul Fishburn (Skin Cancer GP), this engaging webinar will feature multidisciplinary experts sharing the latest updates on managing non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) through interactive case study discussions.
Speakers:
• Dr Christoph Sinz (Dermatologist, MIA)
• A/Prof Sydney Ch’ng (Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeon and Head & Neck Surgeon, MIA)
• A/Prof Matteo Carlino (Medical Oncologist, MIA)
Accreditation: 1 CPD hour. A certificate of attendance will be provided. Accreditation details coming soon.
Audience: Skin Cancer Doctors, GPs, Nurses, and other healthcare professionals with an interest in skin cancer
Click here for more information and to register

GP/GP registrar initial assessment and referral training | Mildura
2025-02-26 18:15 - 21:00 | Botanica Restaurant, 413 Deakin Avenue, Mildura, VIC, 3500, Australia

Spirometry Training Course | Shepparton (Fully booked, join waitlist)
2025-02-27 09:00 - 16:30 | Quality Hotel Parklake, 481 Wyndham Street, Shepparton, VIC, 3630, Australia
The Spirometry Training Course is brought to you by Murray PHN and the National Asthma Council Australia as part of the National Asthma Council Australia’s Asthma Education Program.
This six-hour interactive workshop is for local practice nurses, GPs and other primary healthcare professionals. It will provide comprehensive training in the application, measurement and interpretation of expiratory spirometry in general practice.
Click here to join the waitlist
Accreditation:

This activity has been approved by RACGP for 4.5 hours of Educational Activities and 1.5 hours of Reviewing Performance. RACGP Activity ID 409754.
This activity has been approved by ACRRM as an educational event for 6 hours. ACRRM Activity ID 35243.
