NorDocs Webinar Series

in our 2019 webinar archive at Vimeo. Trafford has a particular interest in upper gastro-intestinal surgery and he will present on that topic in our 14 April Webinar.

Dr Helen Lloyd joined the Board last year and will continue on in 2021. Helen is a GP in Mullumbimby and is pursuing research on mammalian meat allergy which is one of the subjects in our next podcast on 17 March 2021.

We are sad to see Dr Bronwyn Hudson leave the Board. Bronwyn has organised our most recent webinar along with colleagues David Helliwell and Anthony Solomon on opiate dependence treatments. Bronwyn’s article from 2018 on opioid treatment in general practice along with the associated webinar is found on our website. Bronwyn presented to the National Ice Taskforce in 2019 as we reported in GPSpeak magazine. We appreciate the work she has done for NorDocs and the general community over the last three years.

Dr David Guest remains as secretary, a position he has held for 10 years. However, he is now ably assisted by our administrative officer, Linda Ward. Linda has a background in nursing and practice management. She runs her own practice management consultation business and in the past has worked for the Improvement Foundation and the North Coast Primary Health Network.

NorDocs runs a number of open email lists. The pracman list goes to all Practice Managers in the Network’s footprint. NorDocs-members is an announcement list for North Coast doctors, particularly those who are not on Facebook, and gptalk goes to North Coast GPs. It mainly publishes announcements and subsequent discussions from the webinars and other general practice/NorDocs matters. Practice managers and members can subscribe from the list page at https://lists.nordocs. org.au/postorius/lists/.

The Board is keen to hear from members on ideas for activities, education events or any other matters of concern. The Board can be reached at “Nordocs Board” <nordocs-board@lists.nordocs.

org.au> and for general inquiries and administrative matters contact “Info @ Nordocs” <nordocs-info@lists.nordocs.

org.au> which is monitored by Linda Ward, our administrative officer.

The NorDocs webinar series commenced in August 2020 and is continuing in 2021. Meetings are now scheduled on a regular basis for 7.30 pm on the second Wednesday of the month.

NorDocs is an independently run organisation and receives no funding from the government or government related entities. As such it relies on its own activities, and sponsorship and advertising from its supporters. It is a model used by most publications around the world and by podcasts on the web.

Our webinars policy is to acknowledge our sponsors at the beginning and end of each podcast and grant them the opportunity to address the audience for one to two minutes. This occurs at the beginning of the meeting. To date only one of our sponsors has taken up this option.

It is understood by our sponsors and advertisers that they exert no control over the content or format of the presentations, which are determined solely by the presenters and the NorDocs webinar committee.

There are many webinars and podcasts available on the web today, some of excellent quality. However, the particular advantage of the NorDocs webinars is that they give local GPs the opportunity to hear and see the specialists to whom

Date Topic

they refer regularly. We believe this makes for a better understanding of the issues that both GPs and specialists face in providing a sound, efficient and affordable service.

Our preferred structure is for case based learning that spans all sectors of the health system from primary and secondary to tertiary care, involving doctors, nurses and allied health professionals. The sessions are live and interactive, allowing practitioners to pose questions to the presenters in ‘real time’ as well as being recorded if members are not able to make it at the allotted time. However, we feel that the greatest value derives from being a participant.

The first meeting for 2021 held on 10 February 2021 was on opiate dependency treatment and was given by the North Coast D&A team of Bronwyn Hudson, David Helliwell, Anthony Solomon, Petra Liedel and Michael Burgess.

The schedule for the first half of 2021 is ‘pencilled’ in below but is subject to change.

GPs wishing to stay up to date with the webinar series or who have recommendations for future topics should join the gp-talk email list at https://lists.nordocs.org.au/postorius/ lists/gp-talk.lists.nordocs.org.au/ or

write to “Nordocs Webinars” <nordocswebinars@lists.nordocs.org.au>.

Presenters

10 Feb Opioid Dependence Riverlands Drug and Alcohol unit

Susan Tyler-Freer, 17 March “Too much meat” Helen Lloyd and Louise Imlay-Gillespie 14 April Upper GI surgery Trafford Fehlberg, Gratian Punch

19 May Fertility Problems TBA