Be An Awesome GP Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Welcome to another episode of "Be an Awesome GP"! Today, we are thrilled to sit down with Professor Danielle Mazza, a prominent figure in general practice and women's health. As the head of the Department of General Practice at Monash University School of Public Health and Preventative Medicine, Professor Mazza has played a pivotal role in updating the RACGP's Red Book.

In this episode, Professor Mazza provides an insightful overview of the newly launched 10th edition of the Red Book. She discusses the comprehensive updates and expanded chapters, covering essential topics like cancer prevention, women's reproductive health, eating disorders, and frailty. Professor Mazza also highlights the rigorous evidence-based framework used to develop the recommendations, ensuring they are relevant and trustworthy for Australian GPs.

Tune in to learn about the significant contributions the Red Book makes to preventive care in general practice, and how it aims to combat misinformation and provide GPs with the best tools and resources to serve their patients effectively. Don't miss this enlightening conversation!

Be An Awesome GP is targeted at GP's in the Australian Context. It is not specific medical advice for patients. The presenters views do not necessarily represent those of organisations they are affiliated with. 

In this episode of Be an Awesome GP, Dr. Nicole Higgins, the President of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners shares her insights on the Scope of Practice Review, a crucial topic. As GPs navigate the increasingly turbulent healthcare system, they play a unique role equivalent to pilots ensuring a safe landing in the field of primary care.

This Scope of Practice Review emerges from the 2022 Strengthening Medicare Taskforce. It examines the roles of all primary healthcare providers from GPs to nurses, allied health professionals, and pharmacists. This episode further explores the issues paper 2 concerning health workforce scope, opportunities, and the potential for the inter-professional collaboration in the Australian healthcare system.

Dr. Higgins emphasizes the immense training duration and expertise of GPs in managing complex care. However, she acknowledges that current legislation and regulations often limit their potential. She further discusses matters of duplication, increased healthcare costs, and the risk of care fragmentation.

The concerns revolving around the direction of health reform and the potential for a fragmented, two-tiered health system are also addressed. Members are briefed on how to take actionable steps regarding these reforms and the invaluable role of GPs in advocating for better patient outcomes and a stronger healthcare system.

To conclude the episode, Dr. Higgins inspires other GPs to take initiative in advocacy, emphasizing how anyone can contribute to enhancing the healthcare landscape. This episode is a must-listen for anyone seeking to understand the potential challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for GPs and the broader healthcare workforce.

Dr Craig Hilton is an experienced GP who has published over 4000 comic strips about "DocRat". We chat about what he has learned over many years of cartooning, 20 e-books and how to thread the needle of medical satire that brings patients along for the journey.

Dr Michelle Redford, Parkrun ambassador, sat down to discuss social prescribing, physical exercise and the benefits of volunteering. We talk about how to help your patients stay active and maintaining curiosity in the face of complexity in General Practice.

James Carrington from Mentoring Men talks to us about what his service can offer to supplement General Practice care for men. Are your patients lonely? In need of mentoring? Lacking community? 

Consider a social prescription for Mentoring Men.

Targeted at doctors in the Australian context, this episode is not a substitute for medical advice

Andrew Mellor is director at Healthy Teams. Today he talks to us about coaching and artificial intelligence. How can we use coaching and AI to improve our work as General Practitioners in Australia?

This episode is aimed at doctors in the Australian Family Medicine field. 

Today we delve into the realm of gaming disorders, with a particular focus on the physically associated symptoms. We are thrilled to have Dr. Daniel Stjepanovic from the University of Queensland as our guest. Dr. Stjepanovic has recently published a paper titled 'Extended Hours of Video Gameplay and Negative Physical Symptoms and Pain' in Computers in Human and Behaviour.

This episode stands out as a Journal Club episode, as we shed light on the essentials of Dr. Stepanovic's paper. His research, part of the International Gaming Study 2022, looks at the implications of gaming disorder's recent classification as a diagnosable condition by WHO. The study focusses on the physical harm or discomfort associated with video gaming, a domain seldom touched upon in comparison to the social, emotional, and mental well-being.

The research methodology involved disseminating a comprehensive survey to regular video gamers, with the threshold for "regular" set as at least three hours a week. The concentration was on symptoms like eye fatigue, wrist or hand pain, back or neck pain, and general problems like headaches and muscle aches. Outcomes highlighted age or gender displaying no significant difference. However, a noticeable dose-response connection was observed where players who indulged in continuous gaming for at least three hours signposted significantly increased odds of physical discomfort.

As we continue discussing the evolving field of gaming disorder, we also touch upon the budding genre of esports and its potential translation into an actual career. With this in consideration, we further delve into the difference between aspiring professional players and those diagnosed with internet gaming disorder, in terms of the rate of physical injuries.

Lastly, we recount the chief physical injuries as reported in the survey, which include eye fatigue, wrist or hand pain, back or neck pain, and general physical problems like headaches and muscle aches. The episode ends on an open-ended note, awaiting more organized structure and research in the gaming disorder space, hinting at the probability of witnessing a future where generalized practicing encompasses sub-specialties like 'esports physicians'. Feel free to check out The National Center for Youth Substance Use Research at the University of Queensland's website for more information and findings on the subject.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563224000499?via%3Dihub

What do patient health, doctor health and environmental health have to do with each other? Dr Nicole Sleeman and Dr Kate Wylie run us through it.

I sat down with Dr John O'Bryen owner of Body Scan Clinic. A GP with additional training in skin cancer medicine, John also runs a thriving dermoscopy Instagram account. John is a keen advocate for doctor's health, and a peer reviewer for the AJGP. A family man, a gentleman and a scholar, join us as we hear about John's story.

We sat down with Dr Terrance Lim, psychiatrist and Director at the Mindsight Clinic. We talked about how to improve mental health care in Australia, the utility of general practice to deliver high quality mental healthcare to patients and ADHD.