A Teams Australia-wide

In this Issue July 2005

A-Teams Australia-wide

Report from Australian Centre for Asthma Monitoring

Heading Towards a Million Pages

The Australian Asthma and Respiratory Educators Association Symposium - Reminder

Research Funding Opportunities

Conference Diary 2005

A-Teams Australia-wide

Taking the asthma management message to rural and remote Australia

In June the National Asthma Council (NAC) completed phase two of its A-Teams project (January through June) - the educational program backing the '3+ visit plan' for asthma care in general practice in June.

The ‘A’ (for asthma) Teams held asthma workshops around the country, discussing how to most effectively apply the principles of the 3+ Visit Plan.

The A-Teams comprise GPs and asthma educators with expertise in both practical care and peer education. Recruited from all parts of the country, the four to 10 person teams were formed, on a state by state basis, in response to a formal evaluation of the asthma 3+ Visit Plan.

Since the implementation of the 3+ Visit Plan as an Australian Government asthma initiative in 2002, there have been many successes. Getting patients to return to their GP for the third visit has required the most consideration.

Across Australia, 37 workshops have successfully been completed between April and June 2005. Divisions of General Practice, through their State Based Organisations (SBOs), were recruited by the NAC to hold asthma management workshops locally. Divisions of General Practice TOOK up an offer of further funding to provide education sessions with NAC trained presenters.

A-Team members have taken their skills to locations as remote as Nganampa Health in South Australia, and Ngaanyatjarra Health in Western Australia.

All in all, 21 rural workshops and 16 urban workshops were held by 23 presenters, working in pairs of one GP and one asthma educator.

Each Division was able to choose the content of the asthma workshop from a range of topics contained in the asthma module, and adapt it to the local environment and needs of its members. The workshop content covered

asthma 3+ Visit Plan requirements,
Medicare Benefits Scheme requirements,

and updates on

spirometry,
medication,
asthma and allergy,
paediatric asthma,
asthma emergency, and
asthma device techniques.

While A-Team presenters in urban Divisions had few problems getting to their destinations and had audiovisual technology on hand at their sessions, those travelling to more remote destinations had adventures comparable to those of the Royal Australian Flying Doctor Service.

Getting materials and presenters to such isolated communities as Pukatja, Warburton and Broken Hill required Herculean efforts by NAC, SBO and divisional staff. Massive mailing and couriering of resources, planning and travel timetabling that would not have disgraced Montgomery in the desert campaign, and reserves of humour and patience beyond most mortals were repeatedly called on.

Even then, their efforts could be frustrated by last minute flight cancellations, which in one case necessitated the cancellation of an asthma workshop in remote Iwantja, South Australia, that had been much anticipated by the staff of both the Iwantja and Mimilli clinics.

These frustrations reinforce the size of this country and the scale of the task of getting resources and information to health care workers in areas poorly served by transport and communication networks. Rural and remote communities that were offered the asthma workshops were keen to take part, with Aboriginal health workers and GPs attending.

Thirty five attendees gathered at workshops in the Northern Territory. The Central Australia Division of Primary Care has been heartened by this success, as workshops are a model for future educational activities.

The A-Teams project has taught the NAC a number of lessons.

There is an enormous thirst in all primary care settings for more information and strategies for providing good asthma care; numbers always exceeded the divisions’ expectations, no matter what part of the country.
General practitioners and their colleagues - practice nurses, health workers and pharmacists - are always willing to make the effort to attend and learn.
Also, the NAC learned that each division or community has its own priorities in terms of information required, and needs to able to choose from a range of options to make a program that ‘fits’.

The A-Team project has proven the principles of good asthma care can be adapted to work within a wide range of general practice settings.

For more information on the 3+Visit Plan go to 3+Visit Plan

Report from Australian Centre for Asthma Monitoring

Health Care Expenditure and the
Burden of Disease due to Asthma in Australia, 2000-1

Released during July, this report provides a summary of two aspects of the economic impact of asthma in Australia:

health care expenditure on asthma and
burden of disease attributable to asthma-related disability and premature mortality.

The Australian Centre for Asthma Monitoring (ACAM), a collaborating unit of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, has released Heath Care Expenditure and the Burden of Disease due to Asthma in Australia, 2000-1.

The report shows that across all age groups 1.4% of total recurrent health expenditure (an estimated $693 million) was spent on treating asthma in 2000-01.

Proportion spent on asthma

It is children, particularly boys aged 5-14 years, that have the highest proportion spent on asthma.

For boys in the 5-14 years age group it was 5.5% while for girls in the same age range the proportion was 3.2%.
For 0-4 year olds the proportions spent on asthma were also relatively high, at 4.1% and 4.2% for boys and girls respectively.
Young children aged 0-4 years also had the highest per capita rate of asthma expenditure among the Australian population. In this age range it costs an average of $76 per boy and $66 per girl to treat the illness each year.
More than a quarter of total asthma expenditure in the health sector (hospital care, out-of-hospital care, and pharmaceuticals) was for children aged 0-14 years.
Nearly half (46%) of all hospital expenditure for asthma was for children aged 0-14 years.

Other points from the report show

Over half (54%) of health expenditure allocated to asthma in 2000-01 was attributed to pharmaceuticals. This is significantly higher than the proportion of the total health expenditure attributed to pharmaceuticals (16%).
Between 1993-94 and 2000-01 there was a 21% real increase in asthma health expenditure, which was less than the 26% increase in overall health expenditure for the same period.
Spending on out-of-hospital care for asthma (GPs and specialists) fell by 18% over the same period while overall out-of-hospital care expenditure rose by 16%.

Heath Care Expenditure and the Burden of Disease due to Asthma in Australia, 2000-1 is available from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare website.

AIHW Publications
http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm/title/10148

Heading Towards a Million Pages

With the launch of the Asthma Information Papers and Brochures in March and the Spirometer Users' and Buyers' Guide in April, the number of pages being viewed from the National Asthma Council website has increased quite markedly.

Graph of Pages from NAC

For the 2004-5 year, over 850,000 pages from the NAC site were viewed. This represents an increase of more than 75,000 pages over the previous year.

The top ten pages viewed are

Home Page
Spirometry Handbook Contents
Asthma Management Handbook Contents
Asthma Facts
On Line Publications
Interpretation of Ventilatory Function Tests (from Spirometry Handbook)
Measurement of Ventilatory Function (from Spirometry Handbook)
First Aid
Information Papers and Brochures Entry Page
Media

The NAC appreciates any feedback you may like to provide about the website.

Feedback

The Australian Asthma and Respiratory Educators Association Symposium - Reminder

The Australian Asthma and Respiratory Educators Association Symposium will be held on August 4 and 5, 2005 at University House, Canberra.

Program, Registration, Accommodation Details

‘Changes and Challenges in Respiratory Care’ Conference Program
(152 KB PDF File)

Registration for Symposium – the 4th and 5th of August 2005
(72 KB PDF File)

Accommodation Price Guide
(17 KB PDF File)

Workshops

Workshops will take place on August 6 in the following areas:

spirometry
pulmonary rehabilitation

AAREA Workshops 6th of August 2005 Spirometry or Pulmonary Rehabilitation (71 KB PDF File)

Travel Funding now Available

The Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing has just provided the Asthma Educators Association (AEA) with funding to help health professionals attend the symposium on August 4 and 5.

The grant is to support participants who work in rural, remote and regional areas of Australia.

The AEA is aiming to fund up to 100% of travel costs depending on the number of applications and the total monies applied for.

DHA Travel Sponsorship 2005 Application (8KB PDF File)

Print and complete the application form and send to:
Symposium Co-ordinator – AEA (NSW)
Department of Respiratory Medicine
Wollongong Hospital
Crown St
Wollongong 2500
or
Fax: (02) 4253 4141
by July 31, 2005.

For further information please contact:

Ken Langbridge:

Adult Asthma Educator
Central Coast Health
Conjoint Lecturer
The University of Newcastle

Phone:

Email:

Post:

(02) 4320 3410 / 0414 192 240

klangbridge@doh.health.nsw.gov.au

Ward 23, Gosford Hospital
PO Box 361 Gosford 2250

Research Funding Opportunities

2006 Research Grant Available

The Asthma Foundation of Victoria will be awarding the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust Grant for general asthma research for a project to be undertaken in the 2006 calendar year. The grant will be for an amount up to $25,000 (plus GST).

Applications are particularly encouraged from young researchers who are resident in Victoria and who may be able to utilise these ‘seed’ grants for investigative projects.

Application Forms and Conditions of Award are available on request from:
The Asthma Foundation of Victoria
491 – 495 King Street
West Melbourne VIC 3003
Ph: (03) 9326 7088
Fax: (03) 9326 7055
email: girving@asthma.org.au

or can be downloaded http://www.asthma.org.au/Default.aspx?tabid=50

Closing Date for Applications: Friday 26 August 2005

The National Asthma Council would be pleased to list funding opportunities that may be available for asthma research. Submit brief details for consideration by email to editor@nationalasthma.com.au.

Conference Diary 2005/6

Submit brief conference/meeting details to the National Asthma Council for possible posting in our Conference Diary by email to editor@nationalasthma.com.au.

The Australian Asthma and Respiratory Educators Association Symposium University House, Canberra. 4 and 5 August 2005 klangbridge@doh.health.nsw.gov.au
Managing Pain Using Self-Management Approaches: Evidence and implementation (Half-day Workshop) Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre Sydney, Australia 19 August 2005 Information/registration (http://www.dcconferences.com.au/pinp2005).
16th Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA) Annual Scientific Meeting Queenstown, New Zealand 31 August - 4 September 2005 ASCIA Annual Scientific Meeting (http://www.allergy.org.au)
10th Congress of APSR 1st Joint Congress of the APSR/ACCP Guangzhou, China November 11-14, 2005 APSR Information (http://www.apsr2005.com)
IPCRG 3rd World Conference "Respiratory Disease in Primary Care – Quality of care" 8 - 11 June, 2006 Radisson SAS Plaza Hotel, Oslo, Norway. theipcrg.org/oslo2006 (http://www.theipcrg.org/oslo2006/)