Quality Improvement
Our Quality Improvement focus this month, December 2024, is Whooping Cough Vaccines.
Pertussis
Pertussis, also known as whooping cough, is a highly contagious respiratory infection caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis.
Tasmania has seen an increase in Pertussis (Whooping Cough) cases. There have been 72 confirmed cases to end of June 2024. This compares to five cases in the same period to 2023.
Vaccination Advice
It is important to maintain an up to date vaccination status. This is particularly important for:
- Pregnant Women (recommended between 20-32 weeks in each pregnancy). This protects infants in the first few months of life (Government Funded)
- Babies and young children (Government Funded)
- Adults who care for/or are in frequent contact with infants under 6 months of age who have not received a booster in the last 10 years. This may include partners of pregnant women, grandparents, older children living with an infant and people who work with infants (including healthcare and childcare workers)
Continuous Improvement Statement
We thrive to improve our quality of service and access to medical care for our community. Our most recent improvements include:
Quality Improvement - We identified that we had a large number of patients that are eligible for a health assessment or GPMP. To successfully improve this, we employed two new chronic disease nurses and nominated one of our receptionists to be our Health Assessment coordinator responsible for bookings etc.
In 2023 we undertook an osteoporosis quality improvement through Reframe Osteoporosis Bone Bus. The plan was to identify and recall patients at risk of osteoporotic fractures on the search list and commence appropriate treatment for patients diagnosed with osteoporosis.
This was very successful, and we will recommence this again in 2024.
Doctors – We continue to maintain the number of doctors at the practice, including 12 doctors and one registrar. We will have 2 new registrars joining the practice from July 2024.
Education
Plans are in place to organise training for our team including customer service elements.
Updated website
We have redesigned our website to become more attractive to the prospective appointment of GPs and registrars, optimizing the opportunity to recruit.
This is an ongoing project.
Computers – Consulting rooms now have dual computer monitor screens for ease of use and increased productivity.
Telephones
A new cloud-based phone system has been purchased. This phone system has helped to create a more flexible and efficient workflow for reception and includes an automated call logging system.
Theatre Equipment - Equipment and upgrades
We have a doctor that is very interest in Skin Procedures and eventually we would like to be able to run more of a skin clinic.
We have a dedicated theatre room for Removal of Lesions and small procedures. We currently run 3 procedure clinics per week
We are currently improving our waiting room to reflect a calming environment by updating the paint and adding some additional plants. We have listened to our patient feedback and have removed our “Church Pew” in the nurse waiting area and replaced it with waiting room chairs.
