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General Practice Queensland

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Nursing in General Practice (NiGP)

Overview

The Nursing in General Practice (NiGP) Program is the key program under the Australian Government’s Nursing in General Practice Training and Support Initiative. The ‘Initiative’ aims to:

  • Relieve workforce pressure in general practice
  • Improve the prevention and management of chronic disease
  • Improve access to, and the quality and integration of, patient care

The key strategies to achieve the aims of the ‘Initiative’ is to support the recruitment, retention and effective use of Practice Nurses (PN) and/or Aboriginal Health Workers (AHW) to maximise their contribution to quality and safe patient care.

For this Program, ‘Nursing’ in General Practice includes: ‘practice nurses’, ‘primary health care nurses’, registered nurses’, ‘enrolled nurses’ and ‘aboriginal health workers’ (where the AHW is a Certificate Level III in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health or above from a recognised institute).

Objectives

The General Practice Queensland NiGP Program objectives are:

  • To build the capacity of Divisions to deliver support services for nursing in general practice, in particular to recruit and retain nurses in general practice .
  • To broker, coordinate and fund education and professional development opportunities for nurses in general practice in collaboration with Qld Divisions.

General Practice Queensland provides funding, resources and support to QLD Divisions to help them build their capacity in their work with Practice Nurses and Aboriginal Health Workers. General Practice Queensland also provides funding for and/or facilitates training and education opportunities for Divisional staff and Practice Nurses at both regional and metropolitan venues.

Program Detail

The Nursing in General Practice Program is funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing and the agreement expires on 30th June 2008.

General Practice Queensland works closing with the Australian General Practice Network (AGPN), the other State Based Organisations (SBOs) of the Divisions Network and all 18 Divisions in Queensland.

Other partners/stakeholders include: Queensland Health, Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council (ANMC), Australian Practice Nurse Association (APNA), The Council of Remote Area Nurses in Australia (CRANA), Royal College of Nursing Australia (RCNA), Australian Nursing Council (ANF), Queensland Nursing Council (QNC), Queensland Nursing Union (QNU), The Association for Australian Rural Nurses (AARN), Aboriginal Medical Services, Family Planning Queensland (FPQ), North Queensland Workforce Unit (NQWU), Diabetes Australia Queensland (DAQ), Asthma Queensland and other non-government agencies (NGOs).

Achievements

In 2006-07 the following key priority areas have been addressed:

Support Divisions to set-up/update practice nurse databases and networks

  • General Practice Queensland funded those Divisions that didn’t have a current practice nurse database (8 Divisions) to set-up/update their databases and email networks. This funding wasn’t applied for, but General Practice decided that it was important to ensure that all Qld Divisions had knowledge of their PN workforce, so that needs could be identified and funding applied for appropriately.

Orientation Workshops

  • General Practice Queensland supported the Urban workgroup to design and run an orientation workshop in each of their Divisions. There has been an increase in the numbers of nurses entering general practice over the last two years. With an aim to improve the retention of new practice nurses, the Urban workgroup decided that an orientation workshop could be delivered as part of their support strategies for these new nurses. The orientation workshop program kit has been developed and will be trialled over the next six months. It will be available to all Divisions after June 2007.

Queensland Workgroups

  • General Practice Queensland has provided ongoing facilitation and support to the NiGP workgroups. The aim of the workgroups is the develop capacity building projects to address common needs through collaboration. Each workgroup has identified a specific project and the urban workgroup is developing a kit of employment model for general practice nursing, with an aim to increase recruitment and retention of practice nurses; the provincial workgroup is formulating a generic tool to be used by Divisions staff to assist with running practice nurse education events so that the education is used to bring about change in general practice; and the rural workgroup is building a website for their rural practice nurses which will include information, resources and a discussion forum, the aim is to provide support to their nurses across the large geographical area of rural Qld.

Diabetes Resource Course

  • Funded General Practice Cairns to develop a diabetes resource course specifically for nurses in general practice. Current courses are not specific enough for general practice and so this course will build on current programs to provide education pertinent to practice nurses. The course curriculum has been developed and is currently being piloted, with completion due in June 2007.

Graduate Certificate Enrolments

  • General Practice Queensland is supporting practice nurses to complete the graduate certificate in nursing (general practice) with the Sunshine Coast University, by funding Divisions to provide a tutor to their practice nurses. There are 6 Divisions in Qld that have a total of 74 practice nurses enrolled in the course.

The following key partnerships have also been established to address priority areas:

  • General Practice Queensland worked collaboratively with AGPN and the other SBOs to deliver the first National NiGP Divisions Forum. The aim of the Forum was to build capacity within the Network, to showcase models and build on educational knowledge and network links. The forum was very successful and representations from all 18 Qld Divisions attended. General Practice Queensland developed stronger links within the NiGP network and with AGPN and the other SBOs.
  • General Practice Queensland  has successfully brokered with Family Planning Queensland to provide 6 practice nurse pap smear provider courses in 2007. Following on from the pap smear provider pilot program in 2006 and the release of the new pap smear related MBS item numbers, General Practice Queensland chose to offer the pap smear provider course to all Division practice nurses in Qld. Family Planning Qld will run six courses in both regional and metropolitan areas including; Rockhampton, Sunshine Coast, Brisbane (x2), Ipswich and Toowoomba. The courses will only be available to practice nurses and General Practice Queensland will be funding over 80 practice nurses from 14 Divisions to complete the course.  It is anticipated that this increase of credentialed pap smear provider practice nurses will increase cervical screening rates in Queensland.

Resources

Links

Feedback

Emma Whitehead
Program Coordinator - NiGP
Email: ewhitehead@gpqld.com.au
Phone: 07 3105 8300

Elise Gorman
Program Officer
Email: egorman@gpqld.com.au
Phone: 07 3105 8300



Together we can build a better health system

Last updated: 25/08/2008 Print this page