Commonwealth Grant April 2023 update
19 April 2023
From Alex Sweetman
The primary care education and implementation activities of the Commonwealth Grant program are progressing well! Here is a brief update on everything that has been happening over the last two months:
Education programs and events
We have established a collaboration with GPEx, an Adelaide-based primary care education group, to co-ordinate a series of in-person and online sleep health education events for primary care clinicians throughout Australia. These events will improve recognition and adoption of evidence-based sleep health information, assessment tools and treatment/referral pathways throughout primary care.
I recently had the opportunity to present a webinar alongside Dr Sumit Samant, Prof Bruce Arroll, and Dr Chris Seton, on the assessment and management of insomnia with Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia techniques to the GoodFellow Unit in New Zealand. Approximately 450 primary care clinicians and researchers joined to watch the webinar.
Primary care articles
Our collaboration with the RACGP’s Australian Journal of General Practice is progressing well, with the first of 9 sleep health/sleep disorder articles accepted, and the remaining articles in different stages of preparation and review. This will be published as a longitudinal series to increase exposure of sleep health information in general practice over the next 6-8 months.
Researchers at the Woolcock Institute and Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health have collaborated on an article for Australian Doctor on the use of digital sleep health interventions in Australian primary care, currently under review. This article de-mystifies the landscape of digital sleep health assessment tools and interventions which are becoming more widely present in primary care.
Qualitative feedback on the GP Guideline
We have completed a small qualitative study to understand the acceptability, usability and feedback on the Sleep Health Primary Care Resources website from the perspective of general practitioners. Independent qualitative general practice researchers at the University of Adelaide conducted interviews with GPs, after they had used the online resource for 2-4 weeks during patient consultations. This feedback will be used internally by the original CRE development team and ASA to continue updating and promoting this ‘living’ resource.
The ASA on the World-Stage
We have had a skill-building workshop on insomnia assessment and management accepted at WONCA, the World Organisation of Family Doctors, in Sydney this October. Our group of GPs, sleep physicians, psychologists, and researchers will present a hands-on workshop focusing on insomnia screening, assessment tools, GP/nurse delivered behavioural treatments, and online/psychologist referral options.
As always, please contact me with any suggestions or questions about the Commonwealth program ([email protected]).