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”.