PHC5303 - Challenging issues in primary care - 2017

Synopsis

This unit has been created in collaboration with the Department of General Practice for students undertaking studies in ONE of the following six topics:

• Depressive and anxiety disorders in General Practice
• Issues in General Practice prescribing
• Chronic disease management
• Mindfulness-based stress management
• Dermatology
• Prevention in General Practice and Primary Care.

Students undertaking this unit must choose only one topic.

Each topic is equivalent to 6 credit points.

Upon successful completion of this unit, students will be able to;

Depressive and anxiety disorders in General Practice

1. Interpret the principal psychiatric classification system currently in use, and apply it, in conjunction with appropriate clinical reasoning skills, to determine whether or not a patient has a depressive or anxiety disorder.
2. Determine the risk factors and underlying causes of depressive and anxiety disorders, and argue how these influence treatment.
3. Devise and implement a systematic approach to assessing the severity of different types of depressive and anxiety disorders, including their morbidity and mortality.
4. Devise and implement a systematic approach to the management of depressive and anxiety disorders, which includes a synthesis of the best available evidence, in addition to considering patient wishes and circumstances, community resources and the clinician's experience.
5. Distinguish between the presentations in General Practice of different types of depressive and anxiety disorders.
6. Devise a plan for future personal practice and professional development in the diagnosis and management of patients with depressive and anxiety disorders.

   Issues in General Practice prescribing

7. Discuss the Australian and international use of prescribed medication in terms of research directions, funding, rates of prescribing, the major stakeholders, the influences on prescribing and policy directions such as quality use of medicines initiatives
8. Demonstrate the use of a particular model for deciding the most appropriate therapeutic medication for a particular condition
9. Demonstrate knowledge, practice and skill in a chosen prescribing situation in general practice, including the therapeutic medications used, and the particular steps necessary for safe prescribing
10. Demonstrate critical thinking in reviewing the evidence about a medication via a planned and recorded interview with a pharmaceutical detailer
11. Create a plan for improving the quality of prescribing in your own practice or within the clinic, using audit and feedback

    Chronic disease management

12. Describe the burden, distribution and determinants of chronic disease within their own country and internationally
13. Analyse the place of Primary Care (General Practice) in the management of chronic diseases with particular reference to their own country and health care system
14. Describe responses to the challenges of chronic disease management as embodied in models such as the chronic care model (Wagner) and their own country's responses to the challenges of this field
15. Evaluate their current work-place performance in managing chronic disease, utilising audit and comparison with chosen standards or guidelines
16. Plan change within the student's current work-place to improve chronic disease management, utilising their previous evaluations, known effective interventions and published guides, templates and financial modelling

    Mindfulness-based stress management

17. Critically review the significant body of research linking psychological states like stress with a range of illnesses and lifestyle including disciplines within mind-body medicine such as neuroplasticity, psychoneuroimmunology and psychogenomics.
18. Critically review research demonstrating the benefits of psychological interventions like stress management and mindfulness
19. Practice the mindfulness meditation exercises in their various forms and critique their effectiveness.
20. Apply the principles of the mindfulness-based cognitive strategies and critique their effectiveness.
21. Critically reflect on their own experience of stress and ways in which they manage it.
22. Develop and implement mindfulness-based stress management in practice.
23. Demonstrate professional skills as a counsellor in mindfulness-based stress management.

    Dermatology

24. Analyse how the structural components of the skin function in both healthy and diseased states
25. Demonstrate a systematic approach to generating and exploring an appropriate list of differential diagnoses, in a patient with a dermatological complaint
26. Deduce what further investigations, if any, are required, to aid diagnosis
27. Devise and implement a systematic approach to the management of dermatological disorders, which includes a synthesis of the best available evidence, patient wishes and circumstances, community resources and the clinician's experience
28. Devise a plan for future personal practice and professional development in the diagnosis and management of patients with dermatological conditions

    Prevention in General Practice and Primary Care

29. Explain why prevention is a priority for general practice and primary care with particular reference to chronic disease and the prevalence of lifestyle risk factors in the student's country of origin
30. Reflect on the role of General Practitioners and members of the General Practice and Primary Care team in delivering preventive care
31. Appraise the evidence supporting preventive care interventions in General Practice and Primary Care and identify current evidence practice gaps
32. Critically analyse patient perceptions of prevention and the role of General Practitioners in preventive care
33. Identify the barriers and facilitators to optimal delivery of prevention in General Practice and Primary Care settings
34. Describe and evaluate strategies to improve delivery and uptake of preventive care in General Practice and Primary Care settings
35. Locate, retrieve and use current evidence based guidelines, tools, resources and recommendations for prevention in General Practice and Primary Care settings and suggest an implementation plan for their application in practice

See individual topic guides for details - some topics will require students to write up cases on patients they have seen in practice, to write up journals based on clinical activity and/or to perform audits on clinical activity

Depressive and anxiety disorders in General Practice

• Case study - Depressive Disorder (2,500 words) (40%) (hurdle)
• Case study - Anxiety Disorder (2,500 words) (40%) (hurdle)
• Clinical decision tasks (1 hour) (20%)

Hurdle requirement:

Throughout this unit there are a number of activities (eg: discussion forums, individual wikis, group wikis, quizzes and virtual patients).

Satisfactory participation in ALL of these activities is a requirement in order to progress through this unit.

Issues in General Practice prescribing

• Clinical Research Task - Written essay (1,500 words) (25%)
• Clinical Decision Task - Case report (1,500 words) (25%)
• Clinical Decision Task - Case report (1,500 words) (25%)
• Clinical Decision Task - Case report - hurdle
• Clinical Research Task - Written plan for quality improvement (1,500 words) (25%)

Chronic disease management

• Clinical Research Task -Essay (1,500 words) (25%)
• Clinical Research Task - Best practice audit (1500 words) (25%)
• Clinical Research Task - Change management plan (1,500 words) (25%)
• Clinical Decision task - Case report (1500 words) (25%)

Mindfulness-based stress management

• Scientific stream:
• Clinical decision tasks (1,500 words) (25%)
• Essay (1,500 words) (25%)

Practical stream:

• Journal - personal (2,000 words) (30%)
• Journal - clinical (1,000 words) (20%)

Hurdle: Throughout this unit there are a number of activities (eg: discussion forums, individual wikis, group wikis, quizzes and virtual patients).

Satisfactory participation in ALL of these activities is a requirement in order to progress through this unit.

Dermatology

• Pictorial case studies (1.5 hours) (25%)
• Pictorial case studies (1.5 hours) (25%)
• Case report (2,500 words) (50%) (hurdle)

Hurdle requirements:

Throughout this unit there are a number of activities (eg: discussion forums, individual wikis, group wikis, quizzes and virtual patients).

Satisfactory participation in ALL of these activities is a requirement in order to progress through this unit.

Prevention in General Practice and Primary Care

• Literature review (2,000 words) (30%)
• Practice policy document (2,000 words) (40%) (hurdle)
• Case study: Preventive care intervention report (2,000 words) (30%)

Hurdle requirement:

Online activities comprising 15-20 short written tasks (2,000 words)

Equivalent of 12 hours a week in 6 credit point units run over 12 weeks

See also Unit timetable information

Dr Eli Ristevski

Students must NOT choose a topic previously competed in PHC5301 or PHC5302