5-Minute Catchup

The Check-Up | 09 September 2022

Episode Summary

The Check-Up is a weekly news segment of the 5-Minute Catchup, bringing notable news in a convenient medium. In this week’s podcast we’ll talk about Moderna’s bivalent COVID-19 vaccine, COVID-19 isolation changes, asthma, the monkeypox vaccine, the ACT Community Assistance and Support Program, CHN events and more.

Episode Notes

TGA - TGA provisionally approves Moderna bivalent COVID-19 vaccine for use as a booster dose in adults

Asthma Australia – Asthma Week 2022

Australian Prescriber - How to step down asthma preventer treatment in patients with well-controlled asthma – more is not always better

Department of Health and Aged Care - ATAGI clinical guidance on vaccination against Monkeypox

ACT Health - ACT Community Assistance and Support Program (CASP)

Capital Health Network - Cultural Awareness Training

Capital Health Network – CPR training

Capital Health Network - COVID Care@Home Clinical Update - Specialists

Capital Health Network - Events

Questions? Contact our Primary Care Team via email and we'll be in touch.
primarycare@chnact.org.au

Episode Transcription

Welcome to the five-minute catch up my name is Gill O’Donnell from the Quality Improvement Team, and this is your weekly Check-up.

In this week’s podcast we’ll talk about Moderna’s bivalent COVID-19 vaccine, COVID-19 isolation changes, asthma, the monkeypox vaccine, the ACT Community Assistance and Support Program, CHN events and more.

To start things off, the TGA has provisionally approved Moderna’s bivalent COVID-19 vaccine, SPIKEVAX Bivalent original/Omicron, for use as a booster dose in adults 18 years and older. The adapted vaccine triggers an immune response against two different COVID-19 variants: the original virus and the BA.1 Omicron variant and is the first bivalent vaccine approved for use in Australia. The provisional approval is subject to strict conditions, including the requirement for Moderna to continue providing information to the TGA on longer term benefits from ongoing clinical trials and post-market assessment. The bivalent vaccine is now under consideration by ATAGI who will provide their advice in the coming weeks. See the link below for more details.

The National Cabinet has agreed to reduce the isolation period for COVID-19 positive cases from seven to five days following a positive test for people with no symptoms at five days. Workers in high-risk settings, including aged care, disability care and those providing care in the home, will need to continue to stay away from work for seven days. These changes will come into effect from Friday 9 September.

This week is Asthma week and Asthma Australia is asking Australians to remove the stigma from asthma. Their recent survey showed that 1 in 2 people with asthma feel their workplace doesn’t view asthma as a valid reason to take sick leave, or they feel unsure if they can. It also showed that despite the majority of people surveyed being supportive of someone using their asthma puffer in public, more than a quarter of people with asthma admit they feel uncomfortable doing so. Further information is in the link below.

Staying with asthma, a new paper published in Australian Prescriber has found that seven out of ten Australians with asthma aged over 12 years may be prescribed too much preventer medicine. The paper provides a guide to the asthma treatment step-down process to assist with managing patients. Depending on the patient’s current therapy there are several step-down options, with the step-down process individualised for each patient. A link to the paper can be found below.

And now monkeypox, ATAGI has updated its clinical guidance on the use of smallpox vaccines for protection against monkeypox virus infection. The changes include: new advice on intradermal administration of JYNNEOS®; new advice on smallpox vaccination after confirmed monkeypox infection; and updated storage and handling advice for JYNNEOS®. Links to the clinical guidance as well as the Department of Health and Aged Care monkeypox web page are available below.

Now it’s time for the titbits…

The ACT Community Assistance and Support Program or CASP supports people who live in the ACT, are under 65 years and require home and community support for ctivities of daily living due to a health issue. Further information is available through the link below.
Capital Health Network, through the National Indigenous Australian’s Health Programme invites all primary healthcare providers in the ACT and surrounding areas and their staff, to participate in our upcoming Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Awareness Training event. Returning to face-to- face training, this free event will be held on 25 October at The Glasshouse, Pialligo Estate. The link to register can be found below.

Finally, upcoming CHN events include the Canberra Script webinar on 15 September, face-to-face CPR training on 19th September and the COVID Care@Home Clinical Update – Specialists webinar on 20th of September. See the links below for more details and to register.

And that wraps up your weekly check-up. Did you know that Capital Health Network is always available to answer your queries? If you have any questions about any of the information in this podcast, get in contact with us via email at primarycare@chnact.org.au

Our Quality Improvement Team here at Capital Health Network can assist you and your practice in developing QuIK Cycle Activities – a Plan-Do-Study-Act Quality Improvement Activity which could award participating General Practitioners with RACGP CPD Points by undertaking Self-Directed Quality Improvement. Get in contact with our team to discuss your opportunities for Continuous Quality Improvement.

On behalf of everyone here at Capital Health Network through the ACT’s PHN Program we thank you for tuning in and we’ll see you next Thursday for your next Check-up.

LINKS