Here are some more of the highlights

• $83.5 million savings of over four years with changes to the PIP immunisation scheme
• $233.7m spending over three years to implement the National e Health Program, including the PCEHR.
• $44.0m saving over four years by removing “uncommitted” funding for GP super clinics.
• $8m spending over the next three years to “develop and trial a new compliance approach” for MBS billing,
• $34.9 m spending to extend General Practice Rural Incentives Program
• $49.7 m spending over four years to expand the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program to increase the frequency of bowel cancer screening available to all Australians aged between 50 and 74 years.
• $475 m spending over six years for the delivery of 76 projects through the Health and Hospitals Fund 2011 Regional Priority Round.
• $72.1m spending on new and amended listing on Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
• $102.2m spending over five years for home and community care services for people aged 65 years and over.
• $43.9m saving through new and revised listing on the MBS

Written by Gemma Collins on May 9 2012 for 6minutes.

Susan Hill and the team attended the RACGP 55th General Practice Clinical Update Weekend (5th May and 6th May 2012) — at Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) is Australia’s largest professional general practice organisation and represents urban and rural GPs. The College’s activities focus on the six key areas of standards, quality, education, advocacy, professional leadership
and collegiality.

The RACGP conference informed, inspired and
involved delegates in a program that featured a range
of topics including:

• ƒƒDermatology
• Ophthalmology
• Musculoskeletal health
• e-health
• Women’s health
• CPR
• General Practice research and more!

Catholicism has harnessed this urge to the confessional and many a ripping yarn is predicated on our need to expunge our guilt by repetitive public admissions. Missed a serious diagnosis recently? It’s the same feeling.

So, here goes. I was driving, innocently enough, at a modest pace, along a country road, having completed a gorgeous lunch with a friend and my daughter. We puttered along, discussing family politics, the beauty of the countryside, and what should be done with Tony Abbott, when there, in the middle of the road, was a tortoise. Or turtle.

Whatever. A small, round, shell-covered animal with occasional protruding head. Not a snail. Turtle or tortoise.

For the purpose of this story I shall call it a tortle and I’ll be at least half right. It was literally in the middle of the road. On the double white lines.

My daughter spotted the beastie from the back seat. She is no longer nine years old, but she remains the official Defender of All Things Small and Furry and announced that we must stop and save the tortle. Astute readers will point out that the typical tortle is not completely furry; in fact, hardly furry at all, but is still falls with the gambit “things to be saved whatever the cost”.

Now, at 90km/h things happen quickly. We were half a kilometre past the beast before she announced rescue was required, and another half km while my companion said that this was not a good idea, there was nowhere to turn safely and the tortle would be just fine, and another km while I agreed with everyone and finally another km before I could do a U-ey and head back to the sound of intense silence from my companion and whoops of excitement from the Defender of All Small Things.

I hoped that the tortle might be gone. I was thinking of what to do. How could I know which way the tortle was heading? Even at 90km/h, I had noted he was positioned north-south, directly parallel to the white lines. What if I carried him to the east edge of the road, and he really wanted to go west? What would he think? “I’ve just spent half a bloody day getting this far and you come along and put me back where I started, you dimwit, pinko, Labor-voting city slicker.”

Anyway, I pulled over to the side of the road, just by the tortle and then — if by chance you are reading this story to your nine-year-old child, you may like to insert the following paragraph: “the kindly doctor picked up the tortle and carried it safely across the dangerous road to a swamp, where it lived happily with all its tortle friends for many years” — and then, as I paused briefly to contemplate my options, the truck behind me pulled out, just a bit, just enough to be clear of me, not much really, say, half a metre, just onto, say, for example, the double white line and before our eyes … splatto!

Another word I think the English language needs is one for a flat tortle … perhaps a flortle. I suggested this to my companion but she just closed her eyes and took a deep sigh. My daughter was transfixed, and then said “Oh yuck”. My response rhymed with hers.

So there. I think I feel a bit better for sharing.

By Michelle Hammond
Thursday, 12 April 2012

For those who commute to work via bus or train, cold winter mornings are a harsh reality, with many bored travelers whipping out their smartphones to make the journey go quicker.

However, normal gloves don’t work with capacitive touchscreens because they insulate you electrically as well as thermally. Japanese designer Muji solves that problem.

Muji’s black-and-grey gloves have fine strands of silver yarn woven into the acrylic-spandex fabric, so the gloves conduct the natural current of the wearer’s skin.

The end result? You can use a touchscreen as if you were using a bare finger. The yarn is woven all through the fabric too, so there’s no area where the gloves won’t work.

The gloves, which can be used for iPhones, iPads and Android devices, come in a wide array of colours.

It was only a matter of time before someone designed a pair of gloves to wear while using a mobile phone. What other products could become more mobile-friendly?

Here are some of the most common boo boos – are you or any of your staff guilty?

1. Sounding disinterested or irritated by the interruption

That call is probably bringing business. Smile before you answer and identify yourself. “Good morning, Acme Travel, this is Suzy”. Your name should come last in the greeting so the caller will remember who they are talking to. Be positive and listen carefully.

2. Not bothering to ask who’s calling

Get the caller’s name (and company if you’re B2B) and use it – people love the sound of their own name.

3. Multitasking when on the phone

Just isn’t possible. You can’t pay attention or listen properly if you’re working on your computer or any other task. Give the caller your full attention.

4. Putting callers on hold for extended periods

Always ask callers if they mind being put on hold. If you can’t connect them to the right person quickly, or get them the information they require immediately, offer to call them back with the help they need, rather than waste their time

5. Losing customers on call transfers

Make sure everyone who’s using your phone system understands how to transfer calls effectively – there’s nothing worse than being pointlessly shunted around a phone system.

6. Getting rid of irate callers as quickly as possible

If a caller is annoyed, there’s a reason. They’ve given you a chance to fix the problem – so don’t waste it. Listen carefully – second chances are gold.

7. Not returning phone or voice mail messages

is just rude. Do it promptly. Enough said.

8. Eat – drink – chew gum

While using the phone – I don’t think so

9. You ask the customer to call back – because you’re too busy

Never ask customers to call back. If you’re really stretched, explain why and ask if you can call them back. Agree a time that suits them – as promptly as possible.

Remember – 80% of business transactions involve the phone at some point – so make sure you or your staff don’t blow it.

Original article and author: click here

Dr Ron Cutler, senior lecturer at the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences at Queen Mary, University of London, analysed 200 notes and 45 credit cards and discovered that 26 per cent of the notes and 47 per cent of the cards had high levels of bacteria.

He found E.coli on some notes, together with Staphylococcus aureus which is often carried by humans without causing any problems but can lead to infections.

Overall, 80 per cent of notes and 78 per cent of credit cards tested had some traces of bacteria. Some were so high in contaminants they carried more germs than the average toilet seat.

Dr Cutler said: “Many people may be surprised to learn that bacteria is present on the majority of British banknotes.

“We all handle money and credit cards on a daily basis but it is unlikely that we wash our hands directly afterwards. Good hand hygiene at all times can help prevent the spread of infection.”

The research was commissioned to mark the release of the film Contagion on DVD and digital download.

Original author and article: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/health/8431143/banknote-dirtier-than-toilet-seat

Brain Cell

EnHansen Performance senior coach and facilitator, Kristen Hansen states in an article for HR Daily that understanding just a few key principles of neuroscience can help managers motivate their teams to better performance.

“Neuroscience now sheds light onto what it is that makes people more or less motivated to achieve a particular goal,” she told HR Daily.

And despite the complexity of the topic, it is actually quite simple for managers to employ on a day-to-day basis. “You actually don’t need to know very much about neuroscience to be able to impact motivation.”
The first thing to keep in mind is that the key driver of the brain is to “minimise threat and maximise reward”, says Hansen, an executive and leadership coach and trainer who specialises in neuroscience.
“Everything starts from there. The brain scans the environment five times every second, non-consciously, for whether stimulus in the environment is a threat or a reward.
“If it is a threat, it impacts the thinking capabilities, because the brain goes into ‘fight or flight’ mode, and essentially that reduces the field of view the brain has – it reduces the ability to see options and creativity.
“If the brain is recognising reward, however, it becomes more open to opportunities, more creative. It is more able to have insights, which essentially means new ways forward.”

Create a safe place

Managers who want to motivate their teams must first ensure that people feel “safe”, Hansen says. They can do this by adopting what she calls the SPARC! model, which comprises:

• Status – “If you’re a manager you can give someone status by asking their opinion, seeking permission to give feedback, and giving them positive encouragement, and recognition.”
• Perceived fairness – “The brain requires fairness both in how ‘self’ is treated and how ‘others’ are treated. It very quickly puts someone into a threat space if they perceive they are being unfairly treated.”
• Autonomy – “Managers can give people autonomy very simply by allowing them to make work choices, and by allowing them to have flexibility in work design – in the ‘how to’ of projects – rather than explicitly explaining how to do things.”
• Relatedness – “This is about caring who that individual is, relating to them, finding similarities, and being interested in who they are holistically.”
• Certainty “Managers can provide certainty by ensuring that people are up to date with projects, with management decisions, with expectations of their role and communication. It’s a key one because a lot of people, if they’re feeling uncertain, are in a threatened state.
  “Particularly during restructuring, for example, people need to know what’s going on. It’s important to give people even a small amount of certainty, such as, ‘I’ll get back to you tomorrow at nine AM, even if I may not know more’. It gives them more certainty than saying, ‘I don’t know anything, and I’ll let you know when I know something’. It lets them at least think, ‘My manager will touch base with me tomorrow. I can let that worry go for now.’”

Brain-based coaching

Another way that managers can improve motivation and performance is through solution-oriented questioning, Hansen says.
“Basically, brain-based coaching produces action. Allowing people to have questions around their thinking can help them relax and reflect, which will then allow them to have insight.”
Asking an employee questions such as, “How important is it for you to resolve this?” and “How long have you been thinking about this”? helps their brain not just to try and solve the problem, but to reflect on their thinking.
“That space quietens the brain to allow for insight,” Hansen says. “And insight in itself produces some action, some potential.
“If I suggest, ‘You do this’, you’re just going to do it. You don’t have any insight to what you think the next step is, and you’re not overly motivated, compared to if you came up with the idea yourself, which could be way more creative than what I suggested you do.”

Help workers find “the zone”

A third way managers can motivate their teams is by helping them work in their “zone”.
“Helping people get into the ‘zone’ allows people to be at their peak motivation level,” Hansen says.
This comes about when they have the right balance of challenge versus skill in their work.
“If somebody has enough challenge in their role and just enough skill to do it, they’re most likely to be in the zone.
“If the challenge is too high or the skill is too high for the challenge, they’re not in the zone. Essentially, the brain wants to be excited by challenge, because we get a hit of the neurochemical dopamine when we are excited by a challenge or something novel. When it’s not the same old repetition or the same old job we’ve done 100 times, we’re more motivated to perform.
“But if the job is way too challenging, we’re actually experiencing adrenalin, which then releases the hormone cortisol through our system and that impacts negatively both our motivation to perform and our ability to perform.”
Hansen adds that new developments in neuroscience, which allow people to use biofeedback and neurofeedback to “know whether they’re in the zone, and what it takes for them to get into the zone”, are proving extremely useful for organisations keen to foster peak performance, particularly at the executive level.

“To be able to endure odium is the first art to be learned by those who aspire to power.”
Seneca

 “Nothing is so strongly fortified that it cannot be taken by money.”
Cicero

“Everyone takes the limits of his own vision for the limits of the world.”
Schopenhauer

 “A great mind becomes a great fortune.”
Seneca

“ Twice and thrice over, as they say, good is it to repeat and review what is good.”
Plato

 “Reason has always existed, but not always in a reasonable form.”
Karl Marx

 “The worker of the world has nothing to lose, but their chains, workers of the world unite.”
Karl Marx

 “Veiling truth in mystery.”
Virgil

 “To abstain from sin when one can no longer sin is to be forsaken by sin, not to forsake it.”
Saint Augustine

“ The aim of the wise is not to secure pleasure, but to avoid pain.”
Aristotle

New medical recommendations dispel the myth of “economy class syndrome,” the notion that cramped leg room in the cheap seats on long flights can lead to deep vein thrombosis, or blood clots in the legs.  The clots can travel through the bloodstream to block blood flow to the lungs, causing a pulmonary embolism, deadly in as many as 30 percent of sufferers, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Sitting in roomier first class seats won’t lower the risk of developing DVT, but sitting in an aisle seat will, according to the American College of Chest Physicians.

“Traveling in economy class does not increase your risk for developing a blood clot, even during long-distance travel; however, remaining immobile for long periods of time will,” said Dr. Mark Crowther, one of the authors of the guidelines, in a statement. “Long-distance travelers sitting in a window seat tend to have limited mobility, which increases their risk for DVT.”

Doctors say the best way to prevent DVT is to move around as much as possible, even on long, cramped flights. The ACCP guidelines say passengers on flights of 6 hours or more should get up and walk around frequently, and stretch their calves. For travelers at an increased risk of DVT, the guidelines recommend wearing below-knee graduated compression stockings.

People should also watch for the symptoms of a blood clot in the legs, such as tenderness or pain in the calf, warmth, redness or swelling. Serious signs of a pulmonary embolism can include shortness of breath, rapid heart rate, stabbing pain in the chest and an unexplained cough.

Written by: Carrie Gann
Original article: ABC News