A report addressing issues relating to cancer control education in general practice and other primary care settings by examining existing practices and barriers to continuing education.

It includes copies of PowerPoint presentations given by leading Australian cancer professionals.

A report produced following the Australian govenrment commitment to fund $5.6 million for cancer research including funding for increasing the role of primary carers in cancer prevention, detection, treatment and care.

Primary care is seen as an increasingly important health care sector in the management of cancer in Australia. In "Towards a National Primary Health Care Strategy: Comments in response to Department of Health and Ageing discussion paper", the Cancer Council Australia/COSA provide recommendations for achieving improved cancer outcomes through primary care reform in response to the discussion paper by the Government‘s National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission and Preventative Health Taskforce.

Information on Chronic Disease Management (CDM) items, including MBS item descriptors, explanatory notes, questions and answers, an overview fact sheet and example scenarios regarding the use of CDM items.

Links to the Australian Clinical Cancer Treatment Guidelines for General Practitioners section on the Evidence and Latest Treatment resources page.

The BMJ Group offers a number of interactive, online continuing professional development modules, designed to help Primary Carers stay up to date with training, practice and appraisal.

The GP CPD, Practice Nurse CPD and Other Health Professionals CPD modules include 25 oncology themed learning modules including:

• Basal cell carcinoma: diagnosis and treatment
• Cancer and genetics: an up to date guide
• Caring for patients with bowel symptoms
• Cervical cancer vaccination: an up to date guide
• Colon cancer: an up to date guide
• Common skin tumours: a guide to diagnosis
• Drug treatment of nausea and vomiting related to cancer
• Malignant melanomas: diagnosis and management
• Managing the impact of a diagnosis of cancer
• Palliative care in the community
• Patients with recurrences of cancer: a guide to diagnosis and management
• Prostate cancer risk management
• Prostate cancer: diagnosis
• Screening for bowel cancer
• Screening for breast cancer
• Screening for cervical cancer
• Side effects of chemotherapy: a practical guide for primary care
• Squamous cell carcinoma
• Sun related skin conditions: diagnosis and treatment
• Suspected breast cancer: when you should refer?
• Suspected lower gastrointestinal tract cancer: when you should refer?
• Suspected lung cancer: when you should refer?
• The role of opioids in cancer pain: an up to date guide.

The Cancer Council Australia has compiled a directory of cancer resources to support GPs and other health professionals.

Developed by Cancer Council‘s General Practice Committee, the directory provides a single point of access to state, territory and national cancer resources.

Developed in collaboration with the Australasian College of Dermatology, this comprehensive dermatological course is aimed at improving the knowledge, clinical skills and experience of Medical Practitioners in diagnosing and treating patients presenting with skin cancers.

The course comprises four online study modules that can be completed at your own pace, one 2 day face to face, hands on workshop  and a 12 session clinical placement with a qualified dermatologist.

The aim of Education Program in Cancer Care (EPICC) is to improve the quality of cancer control particularly in rural and regional Australia by providing greater opportunities for interested medical practitioners to increase their expertise in cancer management.

The objectives of EPICC are:

• To enable interested medical practitioners, particularly those in regional and rural Australia who are not specialist oncologists, to acquire sufficient knowledge and skills to play a more active role in the delivery of quality, evidenced based cancer care; and
• To develop modular learning packages in oncology to increase knowledge and skills of generalist medical practitioners in the management of cancer, including training regarding safety of chemotherapy administration and management of common complications of cancer treatments.

The outcomes of EPICC are:

• Increased skills and expertise of registered medical practitioners in implementing evidence-based cancer risk reduction interventions
• Promoting and supporting patient participation in cancer screening programs
• Facilitating early diagnosis of cancer
• Providing appropriate referral and greater coordination of care
• Increased knowledge of evidence based cancer treatment options and clinical trial participation
• Increasing awareness of chemotherapy and radiotherapy toxicities and their management
• Provision of psychosocial support
• Appropriate referral and working in multidisciplinary teams
• Increased involvement of general practitioners in multidisciplinary care of cancer patients.
• Greater provision of routine cancer care in rural areas by medical practitioners to reduce the need for patient travel to metropolitan centres for care.
• Better educational opportunities for non-cancer specialist medical practitioners to improve skills in care coordination thereby increasing patient satisfaction.
• Increased opportunities for general practitioners in cancer education and multidisciplinary care provision to increase practitioner confidence in providing cancer care.
• Improved cancer care through coordination and education of medical practitioners in order to improve overall outcomes, especially in rural and remote areas of Australia.

Engaging General Practitioners (GPs) in professional development often requires creative thinking and an understanding of appropriate incentives. GPs are key stakeholders in the health system and many people demand their time. Some of the most successful incentives are ones that require minimal change to their practice and work through systems and organisations they are already familiar with. Involvement must offer something GPs see as valuable to both their professional learning, and the quality of care they can provide.

The resources in this toolkit can assist health services and educators to find a way to engage GPs in professional development and service improvement activities.

gplearning is an interactive online CPD education service. gplearning offers a multitude of activities, which covers both Group 1 and Group 2 QA&CPD points, which are released on a monthly basis across a wide range of health topics, including cancer.

gplearning features a number of approved Category 2 activities focusing on the screening and management of cancer including:

• Screening for early detection of cancer
• National Bowel Cancer Screening Program v2
• Strengthening cancer care: psychosocial support module
• Managing gynaecological malignancies in general practice
• Cervical cancer multiple choice questions
• Cancer multiple choice questions.

Activities are accredited for CPD points with RACGP and members can track their accrued points online via the website.

For more information contact the gplearning helpdesk on 1800 284 789, email contactus@gplearning.com.au

NBOCC General Practitioner Education Series has been developed to support GPs in investigating symptoms that may be due to breast or ovarian cancer and in caring for patients with breast or ovarian cancer. The resource comprises a series of four evidence-based topic-specific workshop modules for presentation by GPs for implementation by GPs through the Divisions of General Practice:

• Module 1 - Investigating a new breast symptom
• Module 2 - Assessing symptoms that may be ovarian cancer
• Module 3 - Younger women and breast cancer
• Module 4 - Communication skills training for GPs.

Also available: The management of secondary lymphoedema workshop module for health professionals; and Secondary lymphoedema: workshop module for Indigenous health workers.

A workshop kit can also be ordered.

The PGPPP represents an opportunity for postgraduate year (PGY) 1 to 3 doctors to gain exposure to rural and remote practice.

Providing junior doctors with experience in this specialised area of medicine, the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) manages 140 training placements across Australia.

The placements are an average of 12 weeks duration but in some remote locations can be up to 26 weeks.

The overall aim of this program is to improve the quality and accessibility of palliative care services to all people with life-limiting conditions and their families by providing primary carers with an ideal opportunity to learn from experienced specialist staff to enhance skills, knowledge and experience in the palliative approach.

PEPA provides primary carers (nurses and allied health; GPs and rural medical staff; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers; and other health professionals) with an opportunity to develop their knowledge and skills in the palliative approach to care through:

• funded clinical workforce placements or workshops
• integration of learning into your workplace
• establishing networks of support.

The PEPA learning experience helps primary carers to:

• gain a clear understanding of principles of good palliative care identify the needs of patients with life-limiting conditions
• understand the role of their discipline in managing common problems faced by palliative care patients
• recognise their own knowledge base/scope of practice in regard to optimal palliative care provision
• identify personal coping strategies for effective management of personal issues related to working in this area.

The toolkit was derived from a pilot project conducted in Western Australia by Professor Moyez Jiwa and his team at the Curtin University of Technology. The pilot involved recruitment of GPs and specialists in Albany and Perth. The project used a process of review and feedback to rate the importance of a range of information in letters regarding colorectal, breast, urological, gynaecological, upper gastroenterology and respiratory cancers.

The result is a checklist of information that the group of GPs and specialists consider to be of importance in providing treatment and care. This toolkit is designed to be used by health service professionals who are able to enlist general practitioners and specialists in their area to participate. It is designed for use by relatively small groups of practitioners (up to 15 participants).

The Rural Health Education Foundation is Australia‘s pre-eminent provider of television-based health education for doctors, pharmacists, nurses and allied health professionals. They produce and deliver topical, high quality, evidence-based educational programs enriched by the voluntary participation of the best health and medical experts in Australia.

The Foundation broadcasts the programs across our own satellite network of more than 660 sites, as well as other television services. See our broadcast timetable for details. All programs are accredited and are available via video webstreaming and audio podcasting on this website, and can be ordered via the website on DVD.

ThinkGP (previously known as Genesis Ed online education) is a leading provider of online education solutions to GPs and other health care providers.

In collaboration with leading cancer organizations, including The Cancer Council of Australia, ThinkGP have developed several Active Learning Modules that are accredited by ACRRM and RACGP for continuing education points.

Each module includes clear learning objectives and access to relevant clinical guidelines:

Topics include:

• Cancer in General Practice. Module 1: Prevention and screening
• Cancer in General Practice. Module 2: Bowel cancer
• Cancer in General Practice. Module 3: Familial cancers and family history
• National Bowel Cancer Screening Program
• Prostate Cancer Risk Management ALM
• Prostate Cancer Risk Management - Case 1: Jack
• Prostate Cancer Risk Management - Case 2: Bill
• Prostate Cancer Risk Management - Case 3: Max
• Young Men's Health. Case 2 - Dylan

A/Professor Mark Frydenberg discusses prostate cancer testing, management and treatment and the importance of the GPs role in the diagnosis and treatment of testicular cancer.

The audio file can be downloaded as an mp3 (10MB).

The Australian Practice Nurses Association is the peak national body supporting nurses in primary health care.

The professional development section of the website provides information regarding CPD requirements for practice nurses, information regarding available courses and links to online learning opportunties, including National Bowel Cancer Screening Program education and non-clinical skills such as understanding the MBS Items, IT and business skills. Some fees may apply for courses and to non-members completing online courses.

Coming soon is the APNA CPD portal which will allow members to securely record, store and print their CPD points and information.

Membership is available to both individual and groups of practice nurses.

Funded by Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing, this competency toolkit provide a useful framework that reflects nursing practice in the general practice setting for both registered and enrolled nurses and reflect the new ANMC competency standards for registered nurses. Included on the website are:

• Tool-kit introduction 
• Competency standards for nurses 
• Competency standards for RNs 
• Competency standards for ENs 
• Using the standards for employment purposes 
• Role statement for RNs 
• Role statement for ENs 
• Performance management tool for RNs 
• Performance management tool for ENs
• Scope of nursing practice
• Professional supervision of ENs
• Glossary

A variety of tools and resources have been developed overseas and in Australia to assist health services and health professionals in successfully managing change and implementing service improvement strategies. This section of Cancer Learning provides a brief overview of key steps to be considered as well as links to national and international tools and information sources. Some sites provide case studies with information about benefits, barriers and enablers.

Developed in consultation with some of Australia‘s leading clinicians and health care managers, this module aims to address some of the workplace issues and sources of conflict that may impact upon the professional relationship between clinicians and health care managers.

Over three sections, Exploring the Divide, Identifying Common Ground, and Working Together toward Change, the module provides information, first-hand advice, case studies, practical skills and other activities to assist clinicians and managers to understand the others perspective to enhance their relationship in order to better support each other in the shared goal of providing optimal patient care.

A suite of eight small group learning modules designed to aid professional development and help general practitioners and their staff to prevent, detect and manage cancer in their practices.

Modules use case studies, reflective practice activities, journal articles and evidence-based guidelines to stimulate discussion and encourage knowledge sharing. Each module is free of charge and takes about 1 to 2 hours.

The Cancer Council Victoria recommends that groups complete Modules 1 and 2 as an introduction. All modules can also be undertaken as stand-alone education activities.

Modules cover the following topics:

• Module 1 - What can general practice do about cancer?
• Module 2 - Prevention and screening
• Module 3 - Familial cancers and family history
• Module 4 - Bowel cancer Module 5 - Prostate cancer
• Module 6 - Cervical cancer Module 7 - A whole-of-practice approach to cancer care
• Module 8 - Understanding and using cancer services Workshops.

In addition to the small group learning activities, The Cancer Council Victoria runs a series of workshops for general practice.

Topics include:

• Family bowel cancer
• Family breast cancer
• Can you spot the difference? (early detection of melanoma)
• National bowel cancer screening program
• Smoking cessation in general practice
• Educating patients about breast health (for practice nurses)

Designed in collaboration with Australian Practice Nurse Association (APNA), the Australian Association of Practice Managers (AAPM) amd Department of Health and Ageing, MyPracticeTeam is a free, downloadable computer application providing quality clinical information, resources, research, services and links to many relevant websites for practice nurses, practice managers and practice staff, as it has recently become increasingly clear that participation by all members of the practice team, including nurses and managers, can be of great benefit in providing the highest quality of care to the community.

Involvement of these staff can assist GPs in fulfilling their educational requirements as well as improve patient outcomes. Therefore, the RACGP has developed resources that can be either downloaded from the site http://www.mygeneralpractice.org.au/practiceresources that can structure and guide various educational and quality improvement activities for all practice team members to further enhance and expand the services provided to patients by the practice.

Templates can also be accessed from the site to be used to conduct risk assessments to identify where improvements need to occur in order to enhance the quality and safety of care provided by the practice.

Free, online training is available for medical practice staff to advance their computer and professional skills.Courses are available in medical terminology, effective communication and Microsoft Office (PowerPoint, Excel and Word).

AAPM is a non-profit, national association recognised as the professional body dedicated to supporting effective Practice Management in the healthcare profession.

The website provides links, resources and information for members to assist them in their practice, in areas including:

• Financial and legal
• IT
• Government
• Human Resources
• Medical Services 
• Careers

AAPM holds regular professional development, member events and conferences, including the Annual GP Conference, held in combination with the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.

A range of membership categories are available.

The quality framework is a tool that can be implemented within a practice to facilitate the systematic analysis of the general practice environment in terms of the quality of care - current status and activities for enhancement, barriers to achievement, and initiatives for future improvement.

Several supporting documents are also available to assist in the implementation of the framework and the evaluation of the practice, including:

• A Quality Framework for Australian General Practice background paper (520Kb)
• A Quality Framework for Australian General Practice companion guide (295Kb)
• Gap Analysis (213Kb)
• Quality Framework Diagram (85Kb)
• Dimensions of Quality (75Kb)

From their collective experience in Australia and the USA, Anthony Dixon and Scott Hall have compiled a list of golden rules for general practitioners to help reduce errors and problems with skin cancer management. It is anticipated that these tips will provide a brief yet informative reference when faced with skin cancer management concerns in general practice.

These rules were first published in Australian Family Physician in August 2005 and were updated in 2008.

CareSearch is an Australian website supporting health professionals providing palliative care and patients receiving palliative care and their families by providing evidence based materials.

The new GP pages are designed to support GPs caringfor palliative patients by addressing the clinical and practical issues associated with providing palliative care in the community.

These issues include managing symptoms, caring for a dying patient, supporting families and making it work in the general practice setting.

There is also an extensive resources list of palliative care tools, documents and agencies organised by topic that can be directly accessed by GPs.

This practice resource was developed as part of a training workshop on discussing pros and cons of PSA testing in general practice (workshop approved as Group 1 continuing Education Activity by the RACGP. It incorporates current Australian recommendations about screening for prostate cancer.

Also includes a drug calculator for health professionals, which requires a password. An online application form needs to be completed for access to the drug calculator function.

eviQ Cancer Treatments Online is a single repository of standardised, current, evidence based, peer reviewed information about clinical cancer treatments. Designed by medical oncologists to reduce unneccesary practice variation, eviQ provides clinicians, primary carers, patients and carers in all clinical and geographical settings with free 24 hour access to comprehensive information, relevant to the Australian context.

In scope and presentation eviQ represents a significant advance on its forerunner CI-SCaT. The eviQ information system offers standardised and comprehensive information that aligns to the clinical workflow and supports the clinician at the point of care. eviQ also provides treatment and procedure specific patient information for use by clinicians delivering care to cancer patients.

Information is targeted via categories:

• Cancer Genetics
• Haematology
• Marrow Transplantation
• Medical Oncology
• Medical Physics
• Nursing
• Palliative Care
• Patient Information
• Primary Health Care (Cancer Australia funded section)
• Radiation Oncology

eviQ also includes a searchable database of cancer symptoms and cancer medications including information about adverse reactions, an opioid calculator and links to many other credible sources of cancer information.

Based on the clinical practice guidelines for melanoma developed by NHMRC, this brief guide assists general practitioners to develop diagnostic skills to recognise melanoma in the early stages, including practice points, clinical diagnosis guides and examples of visual appearances of melanoma.

A guide for General Practitioners to assist in the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program to assess positive tests and refer patients appropriately. The guide includes information regarding faecal occult blood tests (FOBT), duty of care and payment arrangements.

Doctors can use risk assessment tools to identify patients who may be at higher risk for developing a certain type of cancer to discuss the situation with their patients, to develop a risk reduction plan and to develop a screening schedule.

Interactive tools for estimating risk for breast, melanoma and colorectal  cancers are available on the website.

Providing guidance about the diagnosis/ evaluation/ risk assessment of cancer in Family Practice in the UK, this guideline offers advice on the referral of adults and children with suspected cancer to specialist services.

Sydney Cancer Centre has the largest concentration of cancer specialists in NSW, and are nationally and internationally renowned for the treatment of melanoma, myeloma, head and neck cancer, lung cancer, colorectal cancer, sarcoma, and gynaecological cancer, and for clinical cancer research.

The website hosts a directory of cancer specialists, based mostly in Sydney, NSW, across each of the tumour streams to support GPs to make appropriate referrals. The Sydney Cancer Centre treats all cancers and provides all treatment modalities.

They have specific multidisciplinary services for the major cancer groupings, each with regular meetings for planning and monitoring patients' care plans.

The Sydney Cancer Centre is happy for general practitioners or referring specialists to participate in these meetings, in person or via videoconferencing, either when their patient is being discussed or more generally for professional development and support.

The Leukaemia Foundation has developed a tool to assist GP’s in the diagnosis of myeloma.

Myeloma (also called multiple myeloma) is the most rapidly increasing blood cancer in Australia. The diagnosis of myeloma can be challenging as it is reasonably rare with approximately 1500 people diagnosed each year in Australia. A GP may only encounter a few patients in their career and this may lead to limited awareness of the condition.

Diagnosing lymphoma is often challenging as patients may present with a varied range of clinical features. To assist GPs, this decision support tool was prepared by the Leukaemia Foundation’s Medical and Scientific Advisory Committee.