How I Came to Love The Syringe Driver

The GP Palliative Care Course continues to be popular and the 2011/2012 sessions started on the 16th March, with Dr Katie Soden talking about Pain Management. Feedback from the evening was excellent and eye witnesses commented on the excellent group dynamics!

There is now a short hiatus for the education team to draw breath, before we recommence refreshed and reinvigorated on the 11th May.

If you are interested in applying for the 2012/2013 course then please email Sandra            ( Sandra.Taylor@nchc.nhs.uk ) for more information.

Last Wednesday night was  “Anxiety and Depression” a topic dear to our hearts in Primary care. Stephanie Barker’s (Nurse Consultant and Family Therapist)  combination of presentation and discussion worked particularly well and everyone came away with a number of tools they were keen to experiment with!

It was really encouraging to see the lively discussion and productive interaction over the course of the evening, and to read the particularly glowing feedback afterwards.

Next month Dr Phil Wilkins (Consultant in Palliative Medicine) will be leading the session on Nausea and Vomiting, with an opportunity for discussion of some cases  from the floor.

If you haven’t yet chosen a Christmas present for that special Norfolk GP in your life then don’t despair as we still have several places left on the course for next year.  The next course will  kick off in March and again will run one a month for six months. We have held the cost for 2011 so don’t delay, because nothing says “I love you” like a place on the “must have” GP Course of 2011!

Well we are well into our swing now with the course. We have had two very busy evenings now on Pain and Breathlessness. Everyone seems to be learning an awful lot and the feedback has been really positive. It is really great to see how keen the group are. You know that you are doing something well when people want to start earlier and finish later!

It will be interesting to see what the feedback is after the Anxiety and Depression session next month. This cohort, in common with a lot of us GPs, feel that they manage anxiety and depression really well already. Wonder whether there will be any surprises?

With Sandy (the education unit secretary) moving offices off site I cant wander down and have a chat as I normally would, however I think we still have one or two places left for the 2011/2012 course. I would suggest that if you have any interest you contact Sandy quickly because I suspect these places will not hang around! Her contact details are on the leaflet if you have one or she can be emailed on sandra.taylor@norfolk-pct.nhs.uk

It is just a few short days until we start the GP Palliative Care Education course and I for one am really excited!

The fact that I am planning to have a long overdue haircut must give you  some idea of the gravity of what is to come!

We sent out the pre-course reading a few weeks ago, so we can cram even more into the evening sessions. Having had a taster hopefully everyone else is as excited as us at the prospect of what is to come.

If you applied but missed out this year then you will have been put on the waiting list, if you didn’t apply this year but wish you had then there are still a few places left on the waiting list for 2011/2012.

You may be aware that the education team at PBL have just launched the leaflets for the new GP Palliative Care Course which will be running as a series of two hour evening sessions, from September 2010.

Topics will include Pain, Breathlessness, Anxiety and Depression, Nausea and Vomiting, Palliative Care Emergencies and End of Life . Each topic comes with its own course notes prior to the session and will be interactive and case study based. Participants are encouraged to bring their own experiences. Each session is lead by one of the Palliative Medicine Consultants as well as an appropriate senior community nurse or AHP.

For the very reasonable price of £195 you even get a light supper, “Symptom Management in Advanced Cancer ” by Twycross and Wilcock-the definitive symptom control textbook, and the possibility of arranging an individually tailored clinical placement at PBL thrown in!

Spaces are deliberately limited so please contact Sandy Taylor (Course Secretary)  on 01603 255702 for more information or to book your place. Applications close on the 13th August 2010 or as soon as the course is full.

We are pleased to announce that we now have Stephanie’s excellent presentation on communication at the end of life.

It can be found in the article below, along with the really useful drug chart and drug kit.

As with any of these new documents we would welcome your feedback, either as comments below or via email to the usual address.

Feedback on the presentation at the refresher course has so far been excellent, with many people requesting copies of the Drug Kit and Drug Chart either in electronic or paper copy.

I have now uploaded these forms to my previous post for your enjoyment. Please remember that the drug chart has not yet been fully sanctioned by the PCT DTB but is still at a pilot stage.

It would be really helpful if you use these forms for us to get some feedback on them. Please either email your comments and suggestions to me or post them as comments under this post.

Last Wednesday I was invited to lecture on our local GP Revision Course. This is always a good chance to meet colleagues I haven’t seen for a while as well as some familiar faces and is usually fun. This year I was presenting with Stephanie Barker who is our Nurse Consultant and a very well respected and qualified family therapist. We were looking at End of Life Prescribing and Communication skills at the End Of Life.

It all seemed to go well and there weren’t too many left field questions!

Below are the presentations we gave along with the associated documentation discussed. Some of the documents are awaiting approval by the DTB at the PCT but once this is completed we will post them.

End of Life Prescribing:  Dying to Talk-End of Life Prescribing

End of Life Communication : Communication at the End of Life

Drug Kit Documents : Drug Kit Documents

Drug Chart: Drug Chart