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Medical education podcast for General Practitioners, from the Irish College of GPs.
Email podcast@icgp.ie with feedback and suggestions for future episodes. We read everything we receive!
Hello, and a very warm welcome to the GP Podcast from the Irish College of GPs with me, doctor John Marr. Today, I'm joined by doctor Suzanne Kelly to preview this month's Wednesday webinar, which at the time of recording takes place on Zoom tomorrow at 08:00. That's on Wednesday, May 6. Here's Suzanne.
Suzanne:I am doctor Suzanne Kelly. I am the deputy medical director in the Irish College of GPs, and I'm a GP in practice in Ballengolig in County Cork.
John:If you don't get a chance to log in to the webinar on the night, I'm including a link to the webinar page on the college website where you'll find all the Wednesday webinar recordings. So if you're listening to this after the May 6, check out that webpage to access this month's recording along with all other recordings, which you can play at a time that suits you. So, Suzanne, we plan to discuss three different areas on today's episode. First, we're going to provide listeners with something of a preview of this month's Wednesday webinar lineup. Then we'll discuss details of a new PCS scheme initiative in the form of a poll allowing participants to suggest our vote on educational topics of interest.
John:And as a sidebar, I'm going to include a link to the PCS enrollment page in the show notes. And finally, you're going to share some of your own reflections from the recent college conference, which took place in Dublin at the April.
Suzanne:Brilliant.
John:Great. And just before we begin, I want to give listeners a quick reminder that I'm including chapter markers in the show notes as usual to help navigate through today's episode. Okay, Suzanne. So our first talk tomorrow evening will be with doctor James Thorpe, medical legal consultant with the MPS, who is going to discuss consent and shared decision making.
Suzanne:Which is really interesting. I saw his video in relation to the isotretinoin course module in dermatology in the college, and I was fascinated by the idea of consent being a thing that is ongoing between you and your patient. As doctors, we need to move away from doctors delivering care, delivering what they think is best and the patient accepting that. That for patient satisfaction, they need to be part of that journey and it needs to be a shared decision making. So I think Doctor.
Suzanne:Thorpe is going do a fantastic talk in relation to John practice because we don't just see acute medicine anymore. We're doing chronic disease management. We're doing far more procedures. And I think we all need to learn beyond consent being the patient's signature on a piece of paper.
John:And you mentioned the isoretinone piece, Suzanne. And, of course, the college recently added isoretinone prescribing in primary care to the certificate on dermatology. And I believe that module was delivered in February with Doctor. Dermot Quinlan. And he spoke about isoretinoin prescribing for GPs on the podcast back in episode one.
John:So for anybody who is in any way interested in maybe learning more about that as a topic and potentially getting involved in prescribing themselves. That's really worthwhile listen, isn't it, from the back catalogue as it were?
Suzanne:Fantastic, because more and more GPs are interested in treating complex acne. You know, patients face significant waiting lists for our colleagues in dermatology and hospitals. And acne management is something we can do really well in primary care. And there was a huge uptake of that specific module, which shows great interest of GPs in expanding their repertoire of skills. And again, it highlights that as medicine becomes more complex, consent, it's even more important to understand consent as an ongoing procedure and an ongoing shared care agreement between you and your patients.
Suzanne:And that consent is meaningless if the patient doesn't understand the treatment with which they're engaging. Seeing this video in context of isotretinoin is incredibly important as it's new medicine, but really it has a place in so much of what we do every day.
John:Fantastic. So I for one am really looking forward to seeing that talk tomorrow evening, Suzanne, with Doctor. James Thorpe. And then the next topic that's going to be discussed will be with an old colleague of mine, Doctor. Christina Warren, who I trained with in the North Dublin City GP scheme many moons ago.
John:And she's a GP with an extended role in ENT and she's going to discuss allergic rhinitis not to be sniffed at.
Suzanne:Yes. And so many patients are going come into their GP this month asking about treatments. And there's so many different medications and recommendations on the market that it's really important that GPs understand a sort of a comprehensive approach to managing these symptoms, because it's really debilitating for people. Have members of my own family have hay fever, as we call it, and it's really misery inducing. It can make it very difficult even to go to work.
Suzanne:So I think GP is quickly having a framework of treatments that they can go to support their patients is really important and it's really timely to deliver that education at this time of the year.
John:Super. So yeah, another really timely topic there, which is going to be followed by yet another timely topic, is Bit by a Tick Help with Professor Owen Feeney, consultant in infectious diseases at St. Vincent's Hospital, an adjunct clinical professor with UCD, who's going to talk about tick bites tomorrow evening.
Suzanne:Yes. Owen Feeney, as many GPs in South County Dublin and the Cachent area, will know him from Vincent's. He and I worked many moons ago on the matter, and he is a great colleague. And he is going to talk about a topic about patients presenting to GPs with a tick bite, either with the tick still attached, or a history of a tick bite. And this has certainly happened in my practice in Balenkolig and I do get a little muddled between whereabouts was the person walking through the grass and am I safely taking out the tick and is there a special instrument?
Suzanne:And also that there's a special kind of a rash and I know it is something to do with bullets and targets and patients are very, very tuned in to the concerns around Lyme's disease and yet expect me on the spot to be absolutely up to date. So again, I'm looking forward to hearing Owen talk about how to approach this again in a safe way and considering judicious use of antibiotics as well, which is always a concern of ours in primary care.
John:And I think think there's a good page on antibioticprescribing. Ie Suzanne, is there for Lyme disease?
Suzanne:Absolutely. And I know Owen, Scott and Emer Brannigan, who'll also our colleague from EmeraC will be on the panel to share resources. And I know that they will be sharing links to good resources on how to manage. I know in my own practice, when a patient came in to me from sheep's head with a tick in his leg, the first thing I did was look up antibiotic prescribing dotting because I was sure there would be very good advice there and there was. But again, I think it's a great opportunity to have a refresher on the science and the microbiology of tick bites.
John:Fantastic. So as you said, you know, great time of the year to be discussing things like allergic rhinitis and, tick bites with us all getting outdoors a bit more. Really looking forward to those, Suzanne. And then finally, Kieron O'Farig, who is the college GP officer for, lifelong learning, is going to give a bit of an overview around PCS for the coming year.
Suzanne:Yes. So we all get, our PCS in by the April and sometimes, you know, like a little bit of a breather before you're thinking about education for the new year, but it can be a good opportunity to plan your education, so your PDP. This is the right time of year to do it and have a think about what you might like to learn over the coming twelve months. And Kiran and the PCS team have done a huge amount of work to make this as easy as possible with sample plans. We've also added a lovely new window to the PCS page, which allows you to suggest or vote on topics of education that you'd like to see.
Suzanne:Because we're a membership organization and we would love to hear more from our members. What education do you want? What kind of delivery of education do you want? What topics do you want? So having a poll there that our members can vote on, I think will give everyone a sense of being part of the college and part of the delivery of the education.
Suzanne:So that's exciting. And also, there's a lot of paperwork in that mail around submitting some of the work you've done for accreditation for GMS Wrigleyv. So Kiran and the team have tried to make a single page where you can have all of your activity recorded on a single page. It makes it easier to see what you've completed over the year and hopefully easier to apply for your GMSWEF too. So that's a great new feature.
John:Fantastic. You've given me hope that maybe this year I'll be I'll have a feeling of being somewhat organized for a change, Suzanne, which is always a message of hope for me. So I appreciate that anyway. I look forward to that.
Suzanne:I think it's actually GPs do loads of education. It's not even about the it's not so much about GPs trying to get the required number of hours of education. It's actually about recording it because we know GPs are doing it. They're going to loads and loads of meetings. They're reading.
Suzanne:So it's simply about making the recording of the education as easy as possible for them. So there's no friction in their day in recording the activity that they are already doing.
John:Sounds really helpful. Sounds great. Okay. So that's the speakers for the Wednesday Webinar, Suzanne. And the next thing we're going to talk about then is the conference that we had last week at the April at the Radisson Blu St.
John:Helens that was really successful, wasn't it?
Suzanne:It was a fantastic conference. We had over three sixty people registered. We had a beautiful sunny day which may have pushed some people off attending a whole day education event with surprisingly great numbers in attendance. And we had a combination of great keynote speakers, Ian Robertson and Mike Ryan, and also our own fantastic GP speaking about perennially popular topics, particularly menopause, codeine, managing codeine misuse, and also ADHD. The other topic that was fantastic was, Adine Byrne, who is a paediatrician with a special interest in allergy, talking about urticarial rashes in children and often helpfully showing
John:us
Suzanne:what is not a penicillin allergy and how many children are mislabeled with a penicillin allergy in childhood. So there was really great interest in these topics and a fantastic feedback from the delegates as well, who really felt it was a great day of learning. And also the social aspect, John, I think it's what many GPs are working in their own small practice with a very small number of colleagues. It's fantastic to meet people that you went to college with, people you did GP training with, and just have the cup of coffee and have the chat and see how things are going. And as one of my colleagues said to me, it gave her a kind of a renewed vigor in them going into work the following week, you know, really feeling more armed and ready to help patients and be more certainly more secure in her knowledge on those topics, which is always fantastic to hear from the education department in the college.
John:Absolutely. I I I would just wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment, and it's definitely a must attend, for 2027 for me at least. So I thoroughly enjoyed it, I must say. And you mentioned some of the topics that were discussed on the day. And, again, going back to this podcast, we had Bernard Kenny talking about codeine, and there's a codeine episode in the podcast feed if you haven't had a chance to listen to that.
John:We had Aoife O'Sullivan talking about ADHD. And again, there is a couple of podcast episodes with herself and Brian Osborne talking about ADHD. And we had Kiera McCarthy talking about menopause, and Kiera and Laura Cullen recorded some women's health episodes for us. We're hoping that the first of those will be released potentially as early as this month, May.
Suzanne:And these, you know, these are topics as well that our patients are listening to on the radio, they're on social media. They're, you know, patients are much more educated and knowledgeable about these conditions. And we need to be right up there with them. We need to understand the latest science, latest developments, the pathways for care. And certainly I find that my patients are coming armed to many questions.
Suzanne:I need to be ready with the answers. I also have this ongoing concern about the availability and over the counter coding. So Bernard's podcast is particularly helpful about how to manage patients, have the discussion and not be judgmental, you know, how to manage pain without creating new problems. I think that's also timely and would be of interest for every GP in Ireland right now.
John:Absolutely. Hear hear is all I can say to that, Suzanne. And then finally, from my side, you mentioned Kirill O'Farrig and the college's desire to get feedback and input from members around, educational topics of value and of use to them. And I should highlight for those listeners who aren't aware, are really the driving force behind this podcast, and we meet very regularly about, you know, potential episodes and feedback from listeners. And similarly, we're always looking for feedback, aren't we, and suggestions for future topics.
John:And just as a reminder to listeners, that email address is podcasticgp. Ie.
Suzanne:Yes. We want to deliver education that people want to hear. So I would love to hear from our listeners, what would they like to hear more about? You know, has the podcast helped them? Do they find it a great, a good way to absorb education?
Suzanne:Has it changed the practice? So this is the feedback we would love to hear in the college. So the more people that get in touch, the happier that we are at John, and it'll help you and I plan into our autumn schedule about what topics are important, what topics people, colleagues need to know more about. Are they happy with the GP speaker? Do we need different speakers?
Suzanne:So anything and everything on your thoughts on podcast, please do email us at podcast@icgp.a. That would be fabulous.
John:Great stuff. Well, I really appreciate you taking the time, Suzanne, to speak to me today. And is there anything else that you'd like to update listeners with, or are we done for the Wednesday webinar for May?
Suzanne:I think we'll be I look forward to everyone tuning in tomorrow evening. I'm going to anticipate it'll be a fantastic webinar with great speakers. And we have one more webinar in June before we break for the summer. And then our next major conference will take place in October and that will be online to help our colleagues who are in further flung parts of the country who struggle to travel. And we'll also be advertising some other sort of more niche topics.
Suzanne:So we have an NAGS conference, we have termination of pregnancy education support. So all of those will be advertised tomorrow evening as well.
John:Fantastic. Well, thanks a million for your time today, Suzanne, and the very best of luck with the webinar tomorrow evening, which I'm sure will be a success as always.
Suzanne:That's great. Thank you so much, John.