AFOEM eBulletin - 28 June 2024
It was pleasing t
Dr Warren Harrex
AFOEM President
AFOEM Council has approved two occupational and environmental medicine promotional videos which were recently developed by the College. The first video can be viewed on the AFOEM webpage. However, the second video requires worksite photographs to further enhance the message.
If you have photographs of a worksite that you are willing to share, we would appreciate it if you would email them to AFOEM@racp.edu.au for possible inclusion in the video. If you have any queries, please contact the Faculty office using this email address.
Through the RACP Foundation, the College offers financial support to Fellows and trainees pursuing careers in medical research. Over 50 different fellowships, scholarships and grants are available annually, totalling over $2.5 million in funding.
In 2025, the following Faculty awards are available:
- AFOEM Registrar Travel Fellowship – ($10,000) provides support to an AFOEM registrar to undertake overseas study in an aspect of occupational and environmental medicine.
- AFOEM Research Development Grant – ($30,000) available to fund smaller research projects to support and encourage research in the field of occupational and environmental medicine.
Applications for Research Development Grants and Travel Grants close Wednesday, 31 July 2024. Faculty Fellows and trainees across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand are eligible to apply for most awards.
Please refer to the RACP Foundation webpage for information on specific eligibility requirements for each award.
The RACP Trainee Research Awards (TRAs) provide a valuable opportunity for trainees to present their research at an Australian regional or Aotearoa New Zealand event. The best presenters from each local event will be invited to present their work alongside recognised researchers.
Applications open on Monday, 1 July to Saturday, 31 August 2024.
Please visit the webpage for further details and eligibility criteria.
Neil Hamilton Fairley Medal
The Neil Hamilton Fairley Medal is one of the RACP’s most prestigious awards, acknowledging an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the field of medicine.
The Award honours the internationally renowned work of esteemed Australian physician, Brigadier Sir Neil Hamilton Fairley KBE CStJ FRACP FRCP FRCPE FRS. Sir Neil Hamilton Fairley is remembered as a visionary whose knowledge and persistence led to numerous vital contributions in medicine.
Nominations close Wednesday, 31 July 2024.
Eric Susman Prize
The Eric Susman Prize is a prestigious award for the best contribution to the knowledge of any branch of internal medicine. The Eric Susman Medal is presented at the RACP Convocation Ceremony.
Nominations close Saturday, 31 August 2024
More details are available on the RACP Foundation webpage or email foundation@racp.edu.au for more information.
This free hybrid event will take place on Friday, 26 July 2024. Members and non-members are invited to attend and support our 2023 award recipients as they present their research in the Council Room at 145 Macquarie Street, Sydney.
Registrations open soon. More information to follow.
ANZSOM, in conjunction with AFOEM as Scientific Program Partner, is pleased to invite you to the ANZSOM Annual Scientific Meeting on Sunday, 20 to Wednesday, 23 October 2024 in Perth, Western Australia.
The theme for ANZSOM’s ASM is ‘Innovate, Integrate, Inspire: Navigating the future of occupational medicine’ and will highlight cutting-edge innovations, foster collaboration across various sectors, and inspire fresh approaches that will shape the future of our profession.
Early bird registrations will be open until Friday, 9 August, with AFOEM Fellows and trainees eligible for discounted rates. Register and view the program.
Call for contributed Papers
Paper submissions are now open. Successful Papers will be allocated a 15 minute oral presentation at the ASM ‘Contributed Papers’ session. Please submit your paper by Sunday, 30 June 2024.
Not an ANZSOM member?
Click here to join ANZSOM
Click here to subscribe to ANZSOM news
Congratulations to the 24 RACP Fellows recognised in the 2024 King's Birthday Honours list. These awards highlight the outstanding work RACP members do and the importance of that work in local, national and international communities.
Aotearoa New Zealand
Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM)
Associate Professor Rohan Valentine Ameratunga FRACP
For services to immunology.
Professor Phillippa Poole FRACP
For services to medical education.
Australia
Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the General Division
Professor Jo Anne Douglass FRACP
For distinguished service to medical research, to clinical immunology and allergy, to respiratory medicine, and to tertiary education.
Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the General Division
Clinical Associate Professor John Stanley Cullen FRACP
For significant service to geriatric medicine as a clinician, researcher, health innovator and advocate.
Professor Katina D'Onise FAFPHM
For significant service to public health through translational research, and policy and legislative reform.
Dr Kathleen Margaret Eagar FAFRM (Hon)
For significant service to community through health services research and development, and as a mentor.
Dr Eileen Gallery, Roseville FRACP
For significant service to nephrology, to obstetric medicine, and to tertiary education.
Professor Sharon Ruth Goldfeld FAFPHM, FRACP
For significant service to paediatric medicine as a clinician and academic, and to public health research.
Associate Professor Christine Jeffries FRACP
For significant service as a paediatrician, to rural and remote medicine, and to the Indigenous community.
Conjoint Professor Tracey Anne O'Brien FRACP
For significant service to cancer medicine, to medical research and education, and to professional bodies.
Emeritus Professor Michael Paul Pender
For significant service to medicine, particularly neurology and multiple sclerosis research, and to tertiary education.
Professor Helen Kathryn Reddel FRACP
For significant service to respiratory medicine, and to medical research.
Clinical Associate Professor Christine Philippa Rodda FRACP
For significant service to paediatric endocrinology, to medical research, and to tertiary education.
Professor David McRae Russell FRACP
For significant service to general medicine, to clinical education, and as a mentor.
Professor Gregory Michael Scalia FRACP
For significant service to cardiology as a clinician, academic and mentor.
Sister Isobel Moran FRACP
For significant service to medicine, and to the church. Congregation of the Sisters of St John of God
Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the General Division
Professor Asha Clare Bowen FRACP
For service to medicine in the field of clinical disease.
Dr John Edward Gault FRACP
For service to the community of Bendigo.
Professor Anne Marie Kavanagh FAFPHM
For service to medicine, particularly disability health research.
The late Professor Emeritus William John Louis FRACP
For service to medicine as a clinical pharmacologist.
Dr Lynette Therese Masters FRACP
For service to medicine as a neuroradiologist.
Dr David Speers FRACP
For service to medicine as a microbiologist.
Awarded the Public Service Medal (PSM)
Dr Stephanie Davis FAFPHM
For outstanding public service through sustained leadership in supporting Australia’s primary health care system throughout and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
Associate Professor Elisabeth Murphy FAFPHM
For outstanding public service to child and family health programs in NSW.
As doctors, your career is all about improving the health of others — but sometimes this can come at the cost of looking after your own. While you may be less likely to suffer from lifestyle-related illnesses, reports have shown that you are more vulnerable to mental health and wellbeing issues compared to the general population.
The RACP’s previous work on the Health of Doctors identified that one reason you may struggle with self-care is due to your natural tendency to prioritise others before yourself. This risk can lead to negative impacts on your own health, which can in turn affect patient care and their families.
To raise awareness about the importance of prioritising your health and wellbeing while supporting your professional journey, the College’s Member Health and Wellbeing Committee developed the RACP Member Wellbeing Framework. The Framework sets out overarching domains of wellbeing, provides links to relevant resources for each domain and includes a link to an evidence-based self-assessment tool, plus so much more.
Read the Framework or find out more
Did you complete an RACP Advanced, Faculty or Chapter training program between 1 April 2022 and 31 May 2023? Then you are invited to complete this year’s New Fellow Survey to share your experience as an early career physician.
The 15-minute anonymous online survey will ask respondents how their RACP training program has prepared them for Fellowship. Feedback will help us provide tailored resources and support for members and make evidence-informed improvements to our training programs.
The survey is open until Sunday, 14 July 2024 at 11.59pm AEST.
For more information about the anonymous 15-minute survey, including confidentiality and how the data will be reported, please visit the New Fellow Survey page on the RACP website.
Thank you to those Fellows who have already participated in this year’s New Fellow Survey.
Find out more and take the survey here.
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’
Australia is a big and sparsely populated continent. Twenty-eight percent of Australians live in areas classified regional, rural or remote and their access to health services is much more limited. It’s estimated that between 2009 and 2011 there were 19,000 excess deaths in regional and remote areas as compared to the major cities. No doubt, socioeconomic disadvantage is a factor in that mortality gap, but inequitable access to healthcare is also a major driver. In this podcast we focus specifically on the shortage in health practitioners in the regions.
Even in regional centres, the density of physicians by population count is two thirds what it is in the major cities. By the time you get to large rural towns it’s just over a third that baseline. In this podcast we discuss opportunities to lift recruitment and retention. This means improving the experience for trainees and the esteem for rural medicine in the eyes of the profession at large.
Guests
Adjunct Professor Graeme Maguire PhD FRACP MHM MPHTM (President Adult Medicine Division, RACP and Director of Medical Education, WA Country Health Service).
Dr Sarah Straw FRACP (WACHS Kimberley Regional Physician Team; Northern Hospital, Melbourne; Rural, Regional and Remote Working Group, RACP).
Associate Professor Matthew McGrail PhD (Head Regional Training Hub Research, 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.
https://www.racp.edu.au/pomegranate/view/ep109-cultivating-a-rural-workforce
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
Do you have a project idea aimed at supporting non-GP specialist medical trainees and workforce in regional, rural, and remote Australia? Apply for a Commonwealth funded Flexible Approach to Training in Expanded Settings (FATES) program grant.
FATES offers an innovative funding pool to encourage projects that support:
- flexible specialist training
- training support
- accreditation practices
Applications for FATES Round 4 funding open Monday, 22 July to Wednesday, 31 July 2024.
Please refer to the STP page of the RACP website for details on how to apply, key dates and what are the priority areas the Department is looking to support.
If you have questions or need clarification around the eligibility of a planned project, please email stp@racp.edu.au.
In September 2023, the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) approved updates to the Clinical practice guidelines for the prevention, early detection, and management of colorectal cancer. These updates are based on the latest scientific evidence and informed a recommendation to lower the entry age for population bowel cancer screening from 50 to 45.
As part of the 2024-25 Budget, the Australian Government has announced that from 1 July 2024 people aged 45 to 49 will be eligible to screen with the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program. Eligible people aged 45 to 49 will be able to join the Program by requesting their first bowel screening kit at www.ncsr.gov.au/boweltest or by calling the National Cancer Screening Register Contact Centre on 1800 627 701. They will also be able to talk to their doctor about getting a kit through the Program’s alternative access to kits model.
Once people aged 45 to 49 request their first kit, their next kit will automatically be mailed to them two years after their last test result—consistent with existing program practice for people aged 50 to 74.
There is no change to current program practice for eligible people aged 50 to 74 who will continue to automatically receive a bowel cancer screening kit in the mail every two years. This approach was taken after carefully considering the implications for the broader health system, including the costs and flow-on effects.
The change in age eligibility will be communicated via the Program’s website at www.health.gov.au/nbcsp and at www.ncsr.gov.au from today. Upcoming campaign activities will also include changes in age eligibility. We will also share this information with healthcare providers engaged in the alternative access to kits model; PHNs; and other key program stakeholders. Relevant program resources will be updated and be made available by 1 July 2024.
Effective 1 May 2024, new amendments to the Queensland Government's medicines and poisons legislation will enhance access to certain medicines for Queenslanders. Her Excellency the Governor, with the advice of the Executive Council, approved the Medicines and Poisons (Medicines) Amendment Regulation 2024.
Key updates include:
For Registered Nurses (EPA-RN):
- COVID-19 vaccine: Removal of the mandatory COVID-19 vaccination training requirement.
- Expanded vaccine list: Inclusion of Cholera, Rabies (pre-exposure), Typhoid, and RSV immunisation.
- Administration locations: Registered nurses can now administer vaccines in more locations, including aged care facilities, general practices, community pharmacies, relevant health service facilities, and approved immunisation program facilities.
- Hormonal Intrauterine Devices: Addition of devices like Mirena® and Kyleena® to EPA-RN Part C.
- Educational requirements: Employers can approve rural and isolated practice area programs of study for RNs under EPA-RN Part B. A supporting factsheet is available.
For Midwives (EPA-Midwives):
- COVID-19 vaccine: Removal of the mandatory COVID-19 vaccination training requirement.
- Expanded vaccine list: Inclusion of RSV immunisation and remaining National Immunisation Program Vaccines.
- Family immunisations: Midwives can now administer immunisations to the entire family unit.
- Hormonal Intrauterine Devices: Addition of devices like Mirena® and Kyleena®.
For more information, please contact Mrs Una Schumacher, Director of Nursing, Office of the Chief Nurse Officer, at 07 3328 9678 or OCNMO_ProfessionalCapability@health.qld.gov.au.
The Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care is excited to announce the launch of the National Lung Cancer Screening Program (NLCSP) website. You can visit the website here: National Lung Cancer Screening Program.
The NLCSP website offers valuable information for participants, healthcare providers, and other stakeholders, including:
- Importance and eligibility: Learn why lung screening is crucial, who qualifies for the program, and how the screening process works.
- Implementation details: Get updates on the program's rollout and the ongoing efforts to ensure it is equitable, accessible, and culturally safe from July 2025.
- Healthcare providers' role: Understand the vital role healthcare providers play and the support available to ensure the program's success.
- Advisory bodies and contacts: Find information about the program's advisory bodies, clinical and jurisdictional contacts, and how to reach the Department.
The website will be regularly updated with the latest information on the program’s design and implementation, including opportunities for stakeholder consultation and collaboration.
Please share this information with your networks and contacts. For any questions or to suggest additional information for the website, please email lungcancerscreening@health.gov.au.
Services Australia has been working with the Department of Health and Aged Care to increase the number of PBS items that can be approved in ‘real time’ using the Online PBS Authorities System (the system).
Prescribers can submit certain Authority Required ‘Written’ (written) PBS medicines on the schedule using the system. Over time, more written PBS medicines across broader medicine groups will be added to the system for ‘real time’ approval.
In the future, they will also be improving the system’s digital capability to support the transition of Authority Required (Written) medicines for online access.
For more information about the online PBS Authorities system, visit www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/hppbsauthorities
Mentor Match is designed to support your professional development needs. It’s an innovative, online tool that facilitates the establishment of mentoring relationships. It is user-driven, allowing registered Mentees to search among registered Mentors using specified criteria to find individuals whose experience and expertise match areas in which they wish to be mentored. Likewise, registered Mentors can search for and identify potential Mentees. Mentor Match is a benefit of membership and is available only to members via the RACP Online Community (ROC).
Log in to the ROC and find out more
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
The RACP is seeking your feedback on gaps and opportunities for improvement in the College Learning Series (CLS). We also need your help to identify exemplar lectures. Tell us which CLS lecture/s you liked and why. Your feedback will help future presenters deliver high quality, engaging lectures that meet your needs and expectations.
Did you know that you can now update your address details online? Simply log in to MyRACP and go to 'Edit my details'.
Visit the RACP website to view more Expressions of Interest
AFOEM contact details
AFOEM Faculty enquiries (including Council and committees):
AFOEM Executive Officer
Jane Konjevic
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
Aotearoa NZ AFOEM office:
Email: AoNZ_AFRM@racp.org.nz