AFOEM eBulletin - 28 February 2024
It is already mid-February, and the Christmas and New Year holiday period seems a distant past. I trust you all had a peaceful, enjoyable and well-deserved break.
Planning is well-advanced for Congress 2024, which will be held on Thursday, 16 May and Friday, 17 May at the International Convention and Exhibition Centre, Sydney. The keynote address will be the Ferguson-Glass Oration and will be delivered by Professor Neil Greenberg. He is a consultant academic and occupational psychiatrist at King’s College, London. He is a past chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Special Interest Group in occupational psychiatry and led the World Psychiatric Association position statement on mental health in the workplace. He is the President-elect of the UK’s Society of Occupational Medicine, and we expect his presentation to be of considerable interest to many members of the RACP.
The Ramazzini Prize is awarded annually for the best scientific paper related to occupational and environmental medicine (OEM) presented by an Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (AFOEM) trainee. The primary purpose of the Ramazzini presentation is to assess trainees on their presentation and communication skills in the context of presenting research to a scientific audience. Come along and support our Trainees at the RACP 2024 Congress. The session is on Thursday, 16 May.
Congress registration may be made via the RACP Congress website.
The 2024 Annual Training Meeting (ATM) will immediately follow Congress on 18 to 19 May. The ATM will be held at the RACP premises on Level 27, 1 O'Connell St, Sydney. The view over Sydney Harbour is worth a visit on its own. Worksite visits are being planned for Monday, 20 May.
The Stage A Written Exams will be held on Saturday, 7 September 2024. The Stage B Written Exams will be held on Saturday, 7 and Sunday, 8 September 2024. The Stage B Practical Exams will be held at the Royal North Shore Hospital on Saturday, 16 and Sunday, 17 November 2024. Dates are also available on the RACP website.
We extend our congratulations to Dr Jane Muir of Maroubra, NSW, as the recipient of the 2023 Deane Southgate Award for the highest score in Stage B Occupational and Environmental Medicine exams. We also congratulate Dr Rebecca Dingle, who will be taking over as President of ANZSOM from Dr Dominic Yong.
This year looks as though it will continue to be busy. Consultations are continuing regarding the options presented by the Education Governance Review Working Group. AFOEM members are strongly encouraged to provide feedback on these options to ensure the specific Faculty requirements are considered and addressed.
In other news, the RACP has welcomed the successful passing of Federal legislation on Friday, 22 November 2023 to introduce a National Occupational Respiratory Disease Registry. This places the commencement date for the National Registry as no later than Wednesday, 22 May 2024. There was an editorial in the Lancet on Thursday, 11 January 2024 on the banning of engineered stone in Australia.
In other news, a clinical pathway for biotoxins has been published and is now available.
Dr Warren Harrex
AFOEM President
RACP Congress returns in May 2024 at the International Convention and Exhibition Centre, Sydney. Be part of Australasia's leading specialist event and help us drive the conversation on "Shaping Healthcare". This two-day event provides a forum to exchange knowledge, engage with thought leaders, receive the latest specialty society clinical updates and networking opportunities. Don't miss your chance to help shape the future of healthcare - mark your calendar for RACP Congress 2024 on Thursday, 16 and Friday, 17 May.
RACP Congress 2024: Shaping Healthcare is a forum for physicians to unite, collaborate, and drive the future of healthcare. Join us and take this opportunity to engage with the broader specialist community.
Register now
We are pleased to announce the AFOEM Annual Training Meeting (ATM) will be held in Sydney from Saturday, 18 to Monday, 20 May 2024. Site visits will take place on Monday, 20 May.
Registrations will shortly open. More detail regarding site visits and the full program will be uploaded to the website closer to the event.
Join us for a special online event - Making it happen: Work flexibility in healthcare webinar on Wednesday, 6 March - where we convene a panel of doctors from different specialisations to discuss how to effectively implement flexible workplace practices in a variety of healthcare settings and how to sustainably continue a career in medicine after career breaks or life changes.
This special event will occur in the lead up to International Women’s Day 2024 on Friday, 8 March, which features the theme Count Her In: Invest in Women. Accelerate Progress and examines pathways to greater economic inclusion for women and girls everywhere.
Find out more about International Women’s Day 2024 or register for the webinar.
The theory that certain fatty acids are essential to the diet and associated with reduced cardiovascular risk has been controversial since it was floated in the 1950s. In 1971 Danish researchers published the results from a cross-sectional study of Inuit people living on the west coast of Greenland. They ate a fish-based diet rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids known as omega-3s, which were found in their tissues along with much lower levels of pre-β-lipoprotein and plasma-triglycerides when compared to controls. That association between a fishy diet and lowered cardiovascular risk has been replicated in multiple population studies since then and there are several ways omega-3 fatty acids could mediate the effect. They have anti-inflammatory and antithrombotic properties, lower circulating triglyceride concentrations and keep vessels impermeable to plaque forming lipoproteins.
For many years now clinical guidelines like those of the American Heart Association and the National Heart Foundation of Australia have explicitly encouraged dietary intake of omega-3s fatty acids for those at high cardiovascular risk. But such recommendations come despite considerable inconsistency in the outcomes from intervention studies on omega-3 supplementation over the past 25 years.
From several large RCTs there have been just as many negative or neutral associations as there have been positive ones. Professor Christian Hamilton-Craig has published a viewpoint review in the December edition of the Internal Medicine Journal attempting to explain these inconsistencies.
Guests:
- Paul Bridgman MB ChB MD FRACP FCSANZ FASE (Christchurch Hospital; St George Hospital; University of Otago)
- Professor Christian Hamilton-Craig MBBS PhD FRACP FCSANZ FSCCT FSCMR FACC (Director, Noosa Hearts Cardiology; Noosa Hospital; Griffith University; University of Queensland)
Please visit the Pomegranate Health web page for a transcript and supporting references. Login to MyCPD to record listening and reading as a prefilled learning activity. Subscribe to new episode email alerts or search for ‘Pomegranate Health’ in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Castbox or any podcasting app
The RACP podcast, Pomegranate Health, has published over 100 episodes since starting out eight years ago.
To provide more frequent and focused content we’re seeking contributions from our speciality societies, committees and affiliated professional organisations.
To hear what this would sound like, listen to the episodes tagged [IMJ On-Air]
These episodes feature authors published in the Internal Medicine Journal being interviewed by the relevant section editor.
They have covered themes as varied as asthma management, hospital-acquired complications, causes of readmission and the JEV outbreak.
You already spend considerable time preparing lectures and webinars for your colleagues.
Audio podcasts provide an easy way to reach thousands more around the world.
Each episode gets downloaded around 6500 times over the first 12 months from publication, with 21 per cent of listeners located outside of Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.
All you need to do is to organise one or more presenters and an interviewer familiar with the material. The podcast producer will coordinate an online recording lasting about one hour and then edit it down before publication. The intention would be to ‘brand’ regular episodes from your specialty society or organisation in the same way that we’ve done with [IMJ On-Air].
Please send any questions or ideas to podcast@racp.edu.au
In December 2021 the Australian Department of Health and Aged Care ran compliance activities in relation to concerns they had regarding Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) rebates for hospital (75%) and non-hospital (85% and 100%) services. The activities resulted in some providers adjusting their claiming, however other providers continue to claim the 85% rebate for what appear to be hospital-based treatments.
The Department has written to the College to ask us to let you know that they will shortly be re-running this compliance activity to recover overpayments and to influence behavioural change. They will be conducting audits in tranches of approximately 30 providers which are expected to commence in late February 2024.
If you have any comments or queries about this compliance activity, please email Marisa Skinner, acting Director, Public Hospital Compliance Section at hospitalcompliance@health.gov.au.
If you missed or would like to re-watch the ‘Culturally Safe Supervision and the Referendum’ webinar, a recording is now available. This resource aims to enhance cultural safety in supervision within various health settings and is designed for RACP members and other medical professionals who are supervisors of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander trainees.
To support further learning about Culturally Safe Supervision, the panel of speakers have provided some additional resources.
Fellows of the RACP and other Colleges can claim CPD Category 1: Educational activities for time spent viewing the recording.
Watch the webinar
Did you know that you can now update your address details online? Simply log in to MyRACP and go to 'Edit my details'.
By completing your ‘work profile’ you will provide us with valuable insights which we can use to make evidence-based and informed advocacy decisions for improving workforce planning. All you need to do is log in to My RACP, click ‘update my work profile’ and answer a few questions about your work activities.
Complete your ‘work profile’
Do you know that as part of your membership, you now have access to the ROC (RACP Online Community)? The ROC is a secure online platform where you can post questions, share information, and start discussions which other members can immediately see and respond to. If you haven’t used this type of platform before, think of it as a virtual town hall for the entire College and a series of different online common rooms for different Divisions, Faculties and Chapters. It’s prompt and more accessible than email and is a great way to expand your network across the College.
Download the app from the App Store or Google Play, or log in via MyRACP.
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Save on all your favourite lifestyle and service brands from leading retailers across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand – with RACP Benefits. Our new lifestyle benefits portal offers you exclusive discounts and genuine savings on items in a range of popular categories. To celebrate the launch of RACP Benefits, we have some great offers for you to explore.
So log in today and take advantage of your RACP Benefits.
AFOEM contact details
AFOEM Faculty enquiries (including Council and committees):
Melinda Edwards
AFOEM Executive Officer
Email: afoem@racp.edu.au
AFOEM Education and Training enquiries:
Education Officer
Phone: +61 2 8247 6268
Email: occenvmed@racp.edu.au
AFOEM Examination enquiries:
Examination Coordinator, Assessment Services
Email: faculty.examinations@racp.edu.au
AFOEM training site accreditation inquiries:
Site Accreditation Unit
Email: accreditation@racp.edu.au
AFOEM CPD enquiries:
Email: mycpd@racp.edu.au