RACMA - The Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators

Member Login

Links and Resources

Please Note: Links to these and other websites are provided for education and research convenience only and do not constitute endorsement by RACMA of material at those sites, or an endorsement of the function, policy or status of any associated organisation, or endorsement of any product or service.

The information provided below is taken from publicly available information on web sites. The information is subject to privacy laws. The information below is provided for the purposes of training and continuing education of RACMA Fellows, Members and Candidates. If you require to use the information for other purposes you should seek permission from the owner.

The Australian Commission's Medication Safety Update for January 2009
A revised National Inpatient Medication Chart (NIMC) is now available for implementation by hospitals from January 2009. A 2009 long-stay version (for acute care) is also available. Both low and high resolution versions can be found in the Medication Safety Program section of the Commission web site at www.safetyandquality.gov.au

The new NIMC 2009 is the outcome of a quality improvement project undertaken during 2008. This included an evaluation of existing audit data, consultation with users and a workshop.

For further information click here

Clinical Handover Literature Review
The eHealth Services Research Group at the University of Tasmania has produced this substantial review with funding by The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. The review selected 110 publications for discussion and presentation within the body of the report and addresses the following three themes:

1. High Risk Scenarios in Clinical Handover;
2. Interventions, Critical Success Factors and Effectiveness; and
3. Evidence Gaps in Clinical Handover.

Clinical Handover Literature Review view pdf file | download pdf file

Submission to the Australian Law Reform Commission's review of privacy laws
The ALRC released it's Discussion Paper 72 Review of Australian Privacy Law (DP 72) in September 2007. The Office of the Privacy Commisionaer has now prepared a comprehensive submission which responds to all of the proposals and questions raised in DP 72.

Copies of this and previous submissions to the ALRC's inquiry are available at www.privacy.gov.au/publications.

New Information Sheets and Frequently Asked Question on Health Privacy
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner has announced the release of five new information sheets and seven new FAQs related to health privacy.

Information Sheets
Denial of access to health information

Denial of access to health information due to serious threat to life or health
Fees for access to health information under the Privacy Act
Use and Disclosure of health information for management, funding and monitoring of a health service
Disclosure of health information and impaired capacity
Sharing health information to provide a health service

These can be accessed via www.privacy.gov.au/publications.

Frequently Asked Questions
The seven new FAQ's cover similar issues to the five new information sheets and can be accessed alongside existings FAQ's at www.privacy.gov.au/faqs.

1. Safety and Quality

http://www.health.wa.gov.au/safetyandquality/news/squire.cfm

The W.A. Department of Health has established an $8 million Safety and Quality Investment for Reform (SQuIRe) program to provide a clinical governance approach to administering the Department of Health’s investment in safety and quality at a patient and health service level.
There are several resources available here that may be of interest:

Overview of the Safety and Quality Investment for Reform (SQuIRe) Program [PDF / 2.85MB]

Clinical Practice Improvement (CPI) Programs

Fact Sheet 1 – Clinical Practice Improvement Program - Overview [PDF / 165KB]
Fact Sheet 2 – Clinical Practice Improvement Program - 2006-07 Proposals [PDF / 154KB]
Fact Sheet 3 – Clinical Practice Improvement Program - Clusters 2006-07 [PDF / 147KB]
Fact Sheet 4 – Clinical Practice Improvement Program - Timelines 2006-07 [PDF / 155KB]
Fact Sheet 5 – Clinical Practice Improvement Program - Model for Improvement [PDF / 355KB]

Cluster 1 - Evidence-Based Care Processes

Venous Thrombo-embolism (VTE) [PDF / 166KB]
Pressure Ulcers [PDF / 166KB]
Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI) [PDF / 161KB]
Preventing Falls [PDF / 171KB]

Cluster 2 - Medication Safety

Medication Reconciliation [PDF / 155KB]

Cluster 3 - Infection Control Practices

Surgical Site Infections (SSI) [PDF / 162KB]
Central Venous Catheter-Associated Infections (CVC) [PDF / 163KB]
Hand Hygiene [PDF / 155KB]

The Queensland Health publication "Safe Doctors - Fair System"

(PDF) Safe Doctors - Fair System for document

2. Lessons From the Coroner

http://www.health.wa.gov.au/safetyandquality/docs/From_Death_We_Learn.pdf

3. National Inpatient Medication Chart (NIMC)

http://www.health.wa.gov.au/nmic/home/

Gives charts and guidelines, implementation tool kit, audits, reporting and evaluation and some other useful links:

Australian Commission for Safety and Quality in Health Care
WA Therapeutics Advisory Group
Victorian Medicines Advisory Committee – National Inpatient Medication Chart

4. Correct Patient, Correct Site, Correct Procedure Policy and Guidelines

The Correct Patient, Correct Site and Correct Procedure Policy and Guidelines, released by the WA Council for Safety and Quality in Health Care.

The revised and updated Correct Patient, Correct Site and Correct Procedure Policy and Guidelines for WA Health Services and associated resource materials will soon be accessible on the Office of Safety and Quality in Health Care (OSQH) website at the following address:

http://www.health.wa.gov.au/safetyandquality/programs/correct.cfm.

5. Patient First (booklet, pamphlet, poster)

Available at http://www.health.wa.gov.au/safetyandquality/news/patientfirst.cfm

Covers a range of matters including patient rights, consent, risk, medication, correct patient/site/procedure, emotional wellbeing.

6. Clinical Governance

Clinical Governance Implementation Project

The Office of Safety and Quality in Health Care (OSQH) has established a Clinical Governance Implementation Project under the auspices of the Health Reform Implementation Taskforce. See

Publications

The Clinical Governance Series of documents, developed by the Department of Health's Office of Safety and Quality, sets out the vision, goals, and methods for implementing a standardised clinical governance system in the Western Australian health care system. These documents include the:

Introduction to Clinical Governance: A Background Paper [PDF / 98KB]
Clinical Governance Guidelines [PDF / 84KB]
Clinical Governance: Issues Paper [PDF / 391KB]
Clinical Governance: References by Topics [PDF / 174KB]
Clinical Governance: A Framework of Assurance and Review for Clinical Responsibility and Accountability in Western Australian Health Services [PDF / 141KB]
WA Clinical Governance Framework Poster (2005) [PDF / 78KB]
1.2 Clinical Governance Guidelines (2nd Edition) [PDF / 188KB]
1.3 Setting Standards for Making Health Care Better [PDF / 344KB]
1.4 Clinical Governance Standards [PDF / 250KB]

7. Clinical Risk Management

See resources at:

http://www.safetyandquality.health.wa.gov.au/programs/risk_management.cfm

Clinical Risk Management Guidelines for the WA Health System [PDF / 311KB]
Pocket Guide to Clinical Risk Management [PDF / 290KB]
Desktop Guide to Clinical Risk Management [PDF / 272KB]

Health Risk Management Policy and Framework and Health Risk Management General Procedures Manual
The Clinical Risk Management policy is consistent with the Department of Health’s Whole of Health Risk Management Policy and Framework and Health Risk
Management General Procedures Manual. These documents and are available on Holii on the Insurance and Risk Management intranet site at:

http://intranet.health.wa.gov.au/RiskManagement/framework/index.cfm (Requires Access to DoH Intranet Website)
http://intranet.health.wa.gov.au/RiskManagement/manual/index.cfm (Requires Access to DoH Intranet Website)

9. Informed Consent

The WA Department of Health has developed a revised Consent to Treatment Policy for the WA Health System ('WA Consent Policy') which outlines the process and requirements for obtaining a patient's consent to treatment for clinicians working in WA hospitals and health services. See:

http://www.safetyandquality.health.wa.gov.au/programs/informed_consent.cfm

Policy Documents

Consent to treatment policy for the Western Australian Health system [PDF / 813KB]
Operational Directive OD 0005/06 [PDF / 36KB]
Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists – Guidelines on Consent for Anaesthesia or Sedation [PDF / 144KB]

Generic Consent Forms

Form A – Patient consent to treatment or investigation [PDF / 45KB]
Form B - Consent for a minor requiring parental/guardian approval for treatment or investigation [PDF / 45KB]
Form C - Adults unable to consent to treatment or investigation [PDF / 46KB]
Form D - Authorisation to proceed with surgery on a patient without a valid consent form [PDF / 43KB]
Form E - Consent form for electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) [PDF / 45KB]

Other Useful Links

13. You can become a registered member of mckinseyquarterly.com and have subscribed online mailings.

Quite useful and they have sections on various areas of interest that you can register for. You can pay a subscription to access Premium articles. Love the diagrams they develop. Maybe useful.

14. Therapeutic Goods Administration

www.tga.gov.au

15. Department of Health, UK

http://www.dh.gov.uk

16. Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, USA

http://www.acgme.org Interesting and useful resources

17. Healthcare Leadership Alliance

http://www.healthcareleadershipalliance.org

18. The British Association of Medical Managers (BAMM)

http://www.bamm.co.uk/CMS/index.php

19. American College of Physician Executives http:/www.acpe.org

Have a look at the Toolkits at http://www.acpe.org/ACPEHome/Toolkit/Index.aspx

They also have short course at http://www.acpe.org/Education/Courses/Listing.aspx

See also the site of the American College of Healthcare Executives
at www.ache.com

20. Want a list of Australian hospitals and services offered? Try:

http://www.hoslink.com/aushelserv.htm

20. A selection of Victorian legislation and supporting information relevant to health service providers:

http://www.health.vic.gov.au/legislation

Page content includes: Health legislation/regulations | Supporting information | Contacts
The Acts and Regulations listed are also available for reading at the Victorian Legislation and Parliamentary Documents website, which is maintained by the Department of Premier and Cabinet, Victoria and provides free internet access to Acts and Regulations in operation in Victoria.

21. Health Records Act (Victoria) 2001

http://www.health.vic.gov.au/healthrecords

22. The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA), (part of the Health and Ageing Portfolio) is a Federal Government agency with responsibility for protecting the health and safety of people, and the environment, from the harmful effects of ionizing and non-ionizing radiation. You can find it at:

http://www.arpansa.gov.au/

24. Office of the Victorian Health Services Commissioner

http://www.health.vic.gov.au/hsc/index.htm

On this site see: Great Expectations Conference powerpoint presentations at: http://www.health.vic.gov.au/hsc/resources/gexpec.htm

25. Victorian Legislation and Parliamentary papers

http://www.dms.dpc.vic.gov.au/

26. Culturally & Linguistically Diverse Patient Issues

You might want to start here: http://www.health.vic.gov.au/cald/

The following resources are available through the Victorian site and may be of use as a starting point:
Health service cultural diversity plans: http://www.health.vic.gov.au/cald/hlth_service.htm

Hospital staff awareness training projects

http://www.health.vic.gov.au/cald/staff_awareness.htm

Available on the site for download:

Eastern Health- Transcultural Communication Project (65kb, pdf)
Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital - Many Voices, Equal Service Working with interpreters in a specialist clinical setting (184kb, pdf)
Peninsula Health - Language Services Strategy Project (107kb, pdf)
Robinvale district Health Services - Cultural Awareness Program (45kb, pdf)
Northern Health - Interpreter Awareness and Cultural Diversity Training (111kb, pdf)
Latrobe Regional Hospital - Cultural Awareness Program (49kb, pdf)
Kilmore & District Hospital - Multi cultural Staff Awareness (31kb, pdf)
Northeast Health Wangaratta - Hospital Interpreter Project (134kb, pdf)
Western Health - Keeping in touch – Creating new language services infrastructure at Western Health (40kb, pdf)
Kyabram - Hospital Staff Awareness Training Project (55kb, pdf)

27. Australian/Commonwealth Law

See ComLaw http://www.comlaw.gov.au/

ComLaw is part of the Australian Law Online initiative to bring low or no-cost access to the law for the community and is maintained by the Australian Attorney-General's Department.

Comlaw incorporates the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments (FRLI) which was established under section 20 of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003
For Commonwealth, state and territory law also see Law internet resources at:

http://www.aph.gov.au/library/intguide/law/auslaw.htm#legislation

28. Queensland RACMA

29. Governance

The ASX has some good material on this. It’s a ‘distance’ away from Health but the concept and the principles are well presented in its material. Have a look at:
http://www.asx.com.au/supervision/governance/principles_good_corporate_governance.htm

30. Lean Thinking

Australian Health Review, 2007; 31 (1): 10-15.

There is an article on “Lean thinking across a hospital: redesigning care at the Flinders Medical Centre”, by David I Ben-Tovim, Jane E Bassham, Denise Bolch, Margaret A Martin, Melissa Dougherty and Michael Szwarcbord .

31. Centre for Research Excellence in Patient Safety

http://www.crepatientsafety.org.au

32. Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare

http://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/internet/safety/publishing.nsf

33. European Forum on Quality Improvement in Healthcare has powerpoint presentations and PDF files on a range of presentations given 2006.

Watch for later years. These look interesting. See them as www.bmjpg.com/europeanforumslides

34. From Clinician to Manager

Video conference series comprising four sessions , focussing on the major issues relating to medical management.

Video Conference series click to download pdf program

35. Media Training for Health Professionals Program

Media Training click to download pdf program

Last entry date: February 2007

36. Credentialling & defining the scope of clinical practice for medical practitioners in Victorian health services - a policy handbook

Credentialling click for Policy handbook pdf

The policy is to provide guidance to all managers and senior medical practitioners appointed to a health service, with respect to the implementation of credentialling and defining the scope of clinical practice. Further information regarding the statewide policy can be found at

www.health.vic.gov.au/credentialling

Last Updated ( Friday, 23 January 2009 )

[ Back ]