North Queensland general practitioners and other primary care professionals are encouraged to access these opportunities that are already benefitting many health professionals across our region.

Award-winning trainer Margaret Haynes has been a passionate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) instructor for almost 30 years.  

“I have a passion for teaching and seeing someone ‘get it’ is rewarding,” Ms Haynes said. 

Ms Haynes recently conducted CPR training sessions for health professionals working in general practices and pharmacies in the Mackay region, as part of the North Queensland-wide Continuous Professional Development (CPD) Program funded by Northern Queensland Primary Health Network (NQPHN). 

“It’s important for clinical and non-clinical staff in general practice and pharmacy to update their CPR knowledge and skills as part of their professional duty of care to help ensure patients receive care in response to a deteriorating condition,” she said.  

“It also shows the credibility of the healthcare provider. 

“The training in Mackay was well received at the sessions and participants as a group contributed to a relaxed environment to learn and demonstrate skills.”  

More than 180 health professionals attended eight CPR courses run across Cairns, Townsville, Ayr, Atherton, and Mackay after NQPHN received 249 expressions of interest (EOI) for the fully funded training. 

The Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) course covered the knowledge and skills required to provide CPR, manage and assess an emergency situation, use an automatic external defibrillator (AED), understand the Danger, Response, Send, Airway, Breathing, CPR, and Defibrillation (DRSABCD) steps, and a first aider’s legal responsibility. 

One Mackay participant said it was very informative and a great group size.  

“I had fun while learning and the presenter answered questions with confidence,” they said. 

Of the 182 participants across northern Queensland, an Ayr participant said it was an excellent program and “great to have it delivered in Ayr.” 

 A Cairns participant echoed that sentiment saying: “Professional, informative, relevant, educator was passionate and enthusiastic”. 

While a Townsville participant said: “The CPR education session was very well organised and run. Very informative and interactive. Great overview of the subject with real-life examples made it very interesting.” 

Ms Haynes received a Vocational Education Trainer Award in 2021 and has conducted CPR training in a variety of settings including acute care, TAFE, private registered training organisations (RTOs), community healthcare providers, and retail organisations.  

She encourages practices that have an automated external defibrillator to register their defibrillator at Heart of the Nation to allow first responders to access the life-saving devices.  

The most recent CPR courses funded by NQPHN were delivered by Australia Wide First Aid in Cairns, Atherton, Townsville, and Mackay, with The Job Shop delivering the course in Ayr. Participants are trained and assessed in line with Australian Resuscitation Council (ARC) guidelines. 

NQPHN funds access to a range of CPD courses for health professionals in North Queensland.   

The development of Nurse Prompts is a response to a high volume of requests to provide nurses with the ability to receive their own set of prompts - tailored specifically to their needs.

As with GP Prompts, Nurse Prompts are intended to focus on the most at-risk patients and provide on screen prompts to highlight potential gaps in care, including use of the Johns Hopkins complexity and hospital risk scores. Over time, as more nurse prompts are developed, Primary Sense will allow for up to three items to be displayed at a time; these will be ordered by clinical priority.

Child Due Vaccination is the latest Nurse Prompt to become available.

A Nurse Prompt will only generate when a nurse (who has the desktop application installed, and is logged in to the clinical software) opens the patient’s record.

The Child Due Vaccination prompt will trigger for patients aged under five years who are currently due or overdue for a vaccination and will also display (where available) the due date and the date of the last vaccination dose. (Note: due dates are guidelines only, based on recommendations from the Department of Health and Aged Care).

Actions available for Nurse Prompts are:

• Agree – Action
  • The prompt is appropriate and will be actioned.
• Agree – Override
  • The prompt is appropriate, but will not be actioned.
• Next Time
  • The prompt is appropriate, but the user would like to be reminded/prompted again the next time the patient’s record is opened.
• Wrong
  • The prompt is not appropriate for this patient. When this action is chosen, the user is encouraged to submit a comment; this comment can then be used to update the logic of Primary Sense for all users.
• Dismiss
  • This action is for prompts that are part of a series; (i.e. prompts for vaccinations that require multiple doses, where each dose can potentially trigger a separate iteration of the prompt). Selecting the ‘Dismiss’ option, which will disable the entire series of prompts for the patient, rather than just the prompt for the current dose.
• More Info
  • Displays the rationale behind the prompt, as well as links to relevant literature.

Once again, as per GP prompts, Nurse Prompts will stay visible for three minutes. Users can exit the prompt by selecting one of the actions, by selecting “Prompt not meant for me”, or by clicking close (the “x” symbol in the top right corner of the prompt window). It is important to note that selecting any action other than “next time” or “prompt not meant for me” will disable the prompt for the patient for 12 months.

For more information about using Primary Sense, or if you would like Northern Queensland Primary Health Network (NQPHN) to deliver a Primary Sense demo at your practice, please contact the NQPHN Primary Sense team at primarysense@nqphn.com.au or on (07) 4034 0300.  

If you would like to have the desktop application installed for your nurses, please contact us or contact your IT provider directly.

Community members, service providers, and carers came together for the Charters Towers Compassionate Communities Legacy Leaving event recently. 

The purpose of the event was to provide a safe and supportive space to talk about what matters most at the end of life and offer a practical workshop to record and preserve life experiences and memorabilia. 

Charters Towers Compassionate Communities Chair Barbara Dennis said people could feel more supported about death and dying if they had more conversations about it. 

“Lunch is always a good conduit to opening up about feelings, fears, and hopes,” Ms Dennis said.  

“Coming together to talk about death and dying puts death where it belongs … as part of life. By talking about death or dying, fear and uncertainties can be dispelled or diluted.  

“Talking within a group is a form of grief support, anticipatory or current, and knowing that other people have similar thoughts, doubts, or anxieties provides a level of reassurance. 

“They also pick up tips or information that provide practical options for dealing with the formalities of death.” 

Ms Dennis said the general feedback on the event was that it was fun, supportive, thought provoking, and “provided insight into what actions could support leaving their legacy”.  

The 28 attendees engaged in discussions about how they wanted to be remembered and learned about the creation of legacy letters and memory boxes, and the benefits of aromatherapy. 

“The aromatherapy activity was both fun and practical, and created a lot of conversation as people gathered around the table to choose the oil blends that best reflected their needs and mood,” Ms Dennis said.  

The event included a light lunch, and attendees also heard from guest speaker Councillor Julie Mathews. 

Held on International Dying to Know Day at the Charters Towers RSL, the event was a partnership between Northern Queensland Primary Health Network (NQPHN), Charters Towers Compassionate Communities, and the Charters Towers Regional Council and reflected a shared commitment to having meaningful conversations and building connections at a critical time in life. 

Breathing life into death in Port Douglas 

Meanwhile, The Tin Shed - Douglas Community & Sports Club recently transformed into a Death Cafe for Dying to Know Day, with community members, service providers, and carers gathering to talk about death. 

More than 60 people attended the luncheon to hear presentations about advance care planning, wills and estate planning, the Compassionate Communities movement, and other available helpful resources. 

The Death Cafe, a partnership between NQPHN and the Port Douglas Neighbourhood Centre, gave attendees the opportunity to increase awareness about end of life and how to support others who are dying, caring for someone who is dying, or grieving the loss of a loved one. 

Event organisers said, “feedback about the event was wonderful”. 

A new program aims to upskill and increase primary care providers to help address the comprehensive health needs facing North Queensland’s families and children during their first 1,000 days. 

The Maternal and Child Health Workforce Uplift Program, funded by Northern Queensland Primary Health Network (NQPHN), has been developed to identify and grow the workforce, upskill health professionals, and support organisations with increased access to maternal and child health education and training. 

NQPHN is now inviting individuals and organisations to apply for financial support. 

The program is a collaborative initiative between NQPHN and Health Workforce Queensland, and aligns with the Better Health North Queensland Alliance First 1,000 Days Framework. 

NQPHN Chief Executive Officer Sean Rooney said eligible primary healthcare professionals and organisations providing services to rural and remote communities in North Queensland could now apply for financial support. 

“Professionals working in primary healthcare in northern Queensland can apply for funding to upskill in maternal and child health individually or as an organisation,” Mr Rooney said. 

“The Maternal and Child Health Workforce Uplift Program provides an opportunity for healthcare professionals to access financial support for education and training focused on better meeting the health needs of mothers and their children in their first 1,000 days of life.”  

Mr Rooney said workforce capacity and capability building in North Queensland was a priority for NQPHN. 

“The program offers a range of workforce opportunities for health professionals to develop new skills and contribute to increasing access to maternal and child health services for North Queensland communities,” he said. 

“Financial support is available for courses, face-to-face and online workshops, conference attendance, some undergraduate supports, and postgraduate professional development directly related to primary care child and maternal health capability development.”  

Health Workforce Queensland Chief Executive Officer Chris Mitchell said: “This is a very important support that will directly improve the health of mothers and babies by improved local access to training and ongoing supports, which have not been available until now.” 

Applications close 6 June 2025. For more information visit the Health Workforce Queensland website here. Those interested can apply here.