An essential part of a GP’s work is controlling long term (chronic) medical conditions. Asthma is a common chronic respiratory condition that can cause a big impact on a person’s wellbeing, and can at times be life threatening. Many asthmatics are resigned to being regularly inconvenienced by poor lung function and frequent emergency visits to a GP or hospital, naïve to what triggers asthma attacks as well as how and when to use treatments available to them.

GPs work diligently to educate asthmatic patients on such matters but this is often not enough. This is where doctors are urged to empower their patients through the use of asthma action plans to ensure patients are receiving the right medication and recognizing when higher amounts of medication are required.  Research has shown how effective action plans can be, especially for children, for controlling asthma. Its benefits include:

• Reduced chance of needing to go to hospital, or for an urgent GP visit
• Improved lung function
• Reduced number of days off work or school due to asthma

Asthma action plans are effectively a contract of written instructions agreed upon by the doctor and patient to gain control of a person’s asthma, documenting:

• Usual symptoms when well, eg no symptoms, intermittent tight chestedness.
• Usual management, eg quick action ventolin reliever inhaler, daily preventer inhaler
• Triggers for worsening asthma, eg pollen, dust, viral infection, cold, exercise.
• Signs of worsening asthma, eg tight chest, wheeze, cough, increased use of ventolin inhaler.
• How to manage worsening asthma, eg increased use of a preventer inhaler, oral steroids.
• Signs of an asthma attack and how & where to access help, eg GP or hospital.

The asthma action plan is given to the patient or parent, is stored in a safe place for future reference and copies given to kinder, school, babysitters, sports coaches, workplaces etc. The patient is urged to study and refer back to the asthma action plan to become an expert in their disease, get to know what works and hopefully achieve a much better control and avoid bad symptoms and asthma attacks entirely. The asthma action plan can be reviewed with their GP yearly to see if any modifications need to be made to assist with asthma control.

For more information visit: http://www.asthmaaustralia.org.au/asthma_action_plan.aspx
Author: Dr Chris Madden, GP, Emerald Medical Centre

Emerald Medical Centre welcomes Amy Page, our consultant in-hous pharmacist. Amy will be working with us and providing our patients with ‘Home Medicine Reviews’. A Home Medicines Review will help you to use your medicines effectively and avoid any unwanted effects you may have, meaning that you get the most out of your medicines.

A Home Medicines Review may be of benefit if you:

• Take medicines that need close monitoring of their effects on your body
• Take medicines that can have serious interactions with other medicines
• Feel unwell when you take your medicines
• Don’t experience the positive effect from your medicines that your GP expected
• Have recently been discharged from hospital and had changes to your medicines

There is no cost for a Home Medicines Review. Our GP will bulk bill you for the GP consultation, and Amy will visit your home and the report is paid for by the Australian Government. So, it won’t cost a thing. Call us today to see if you qualify.

Our patient feedback report is now available for viewing. Click through to download the report.

Click here to read the results of our recent patient survey.

Emerald Medical Centre welcomes Amy Page, our consultant in-hous pharmacist. Amy will be working with us and providing our patients with ‘Home Medicine Reviews’. A Home Medicines Review will help you to use your medicines effectively and avoid any unwanted effects you may have, meaning that you get the most out of your medicines.

A Home Medicines Review may be of benefit if you:

• Take medicines that need close monitoring of their effects on your body
• Take medicines that can have serious interactions with other medicines
• Feel unwell when you take your medicines
• Don’t experience the positive effect from your medicines that your GP expected
• Have recently been discharged from hospital and had changes to your medicines

There is no cost for a Home Medicines Review. Our GP will bulk bill you for the GP consultation, and Amy will visit your home and the report is paid for by the Australian Government. So, it won’t cost a thing. Call us today to see if you qualify.

Our patient feedback report is now available for viewing. Click through to download the report.

Click here to read the results of our recent patient survey.

Our patient feedback report is now available for viewing. Click through to download the report.

Click here to read the results of our recent patient survey.

Emerald Medical Centre are thrilled to announce our application for a second-storey extension has been approved. Here’s the new plans:

Proposed extension

Proposed elevation

To compare, here’s the Current floor plan and the Existing site plan

Simply go to our online appointments page and choose the time that suits you best. If you have any trouble with the new system, let us know on 5968 4622.

Despite exceeding the requirements of a Doctor Workforce Shortage area, Emerald is not classified as such because the classifications are done at the shire level. Our own George Somers travelled to Canberra to meet with politicians to discuss the problem of the doctor shortage in Emerald. Read the full story at the Ranges Trader.

Flu season is here again! For your flu vaccination, you may book an appointment with our nurse, who is available every weekday, Wednesday evening & alternate Saturday mornings. Flu vaccinations are free to over 65 year olds and most patients with a chronic disease.

About Immunisation

There has been a lot of discussion lately in the press on the topic of immunisation. Even Bill Gates put in his opinion when he was here recently. As is the case for all medical doctors and the well informed in the community, the very strong advice is that everyone who does not have a true allergy to the components should be immunised. Natural therapies cannot adequately protect you from these diseases.

There has been comment by some scientists in the past that there may be a link with conditions such as Aspberger’s syndrome. Even though some continue to quote it, this “research” has been found to be flawed and has been discredited, even to the extent that the journal in which it was published has retracted the article.

But you may say that the needles hurt (a bit for a short while) and who wants to inflict pain? While there can be local reactions, and occasionally febrile reactions, these are very rarely serious. So why have your children and indeed yourselves vaccinated? Really, these minor pains are insignificant compared to the risks of the diseases which we are lucky enough to have immunisations against.

Anyone who has sat beside a small child dying from tetanus will not hesitate to tell you. These children die in the state of total-body muscular spasm, such that they can no longer breathe. In their last days, they are nursed in silence and in the dark with minimal contact, lest the spasms start up again. Modern medicine allows us to put them into a coma and to paralyse them, but there is no cure, and death is commonly the outcome.

Anyone who has sat beside a small child dying from whooping cough will not hesitate to tell you. They cough and cough and cough and cough, eventually taking in a deep “whooping” breath. This goes on and on and many die in pain, exhausted. Some of these innocents are too young to be immunised.

Anyone who has sat beside a child (or adult) affected by polio will not hesitate to tell you. They suffer from paralysis, usually of the limbs, which requires long-term rehabilitation. Many have post-polio syndrome with painful recurrence of the paralysis in later life. The less lucky suffer from paralysis of the chest muscles, so that they can no longer breathe. It they have access to a ventilator (or an iron lung) they may survive after many months of assisted breathing.

Too many people forget how recently these diseases were rampant in our community. They have not seen a case. Yet, there has been a resurgence of some of these diseases because there are so many who “choose” not to vaccinate, often because they are ill-informed. Unfortunately, some have a preference to let the rest of their community take the burden, hoping that their own children will be protected by “herd immunity.”

Herd immunity means that if a great enough proportion of a community is immunised, there are not enough ‘susceptible’ children to allow an epidemic to occur, protecting them as well. I sometimes refer to the bushfire analogy. If enough people in a bushfire prone area thin out the trees in their back yards, the remaining trees should be safe from a major fire. Unfortunately, there are now so many people who choose not to immunise, that there is a major risk of an epidemic.

I am not all that ancient, but I have sat beside children and adults as they died from all of the diseases I discussed above. I will not hesitate to tell you that it is your responsibility to have your children immunised.

Dr George T Somers

We are pleased to announce that we now offer after-hours nursing availability for patients unable to attend appointments during normal daytime hours. We now have a nurse available for consultation every Wednesday evening and alternate Saturday morning. For more information about our nurses, please click here.