2024 has been a busy year for the Emerge Australia clinical education team. We continue to build our capacity to educate as many Australian Health Practitioners as possible on ME/CFS and long COVID. As an important step, this year saw Emerge Australia becoming an RACGP CPD approved provider and delivering two RACGP CPD approved webinar series, attracting over 250 registrations.
May Webinars 2024
In May 2024, we launched an online, revised version of our successful GPCE education course with the help of an unrestricted educational grant from Moderna. The webinars were delivered by Emerge Australia’s (former) Medical Director, Dr Richard Schloeffel, OAM. This course covered diagnosis, treatment of symptoms and co-morbidities and the place of vaccination for COVID-19 in preventing long COVID.
Before attending, many participants noted concern about missing something during the diagnostic process, or how to assess vaccine safety and eligibility in the ME/CFS and long COVID community. Many had practical questions about how to organise their booking and billing.
Evaluation feedback was very encouraging:
“Very well organised. A wealth of knowledge delivered multimodally. I have walked away feeling more confident in treating my patients”
For the statistically minded, pre and post measurement of knowledge and confidence demonstrated a significant increase in scores.
GPCE Melbourne 2024
Over 15-17 November, Emerge Australia once again participated in the Melbourne General Practitioners Conference and Exhibition (GPCE). Over three days, more than 260 GPs visited our stand. Of particular interest were the webinars with Dr Mark Donohoe: Emerge Australia staff ran out of flyers twice!
GPCE is a valuable opportunity for Emerge Australia to speak directly with GPs and other health professionals. We use this opportunity to raise awareness of ME/CFS as a medical condition and inform them of useful information around diagnosis and management.
End of year webinars
In the last week of November and the first week of December, Emerge Australia held a further two webinars presented by Dr Mark Donohoe, proudly supported by the John James Foundation. Dr Donohoe is a sitting member of our Medical and Scientific Advisory Committee (MSAC) and current president of the Australasian College of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine (ACNEM).
Titled “ME/CFS and long COVID: An evidence-based guide for General Practitioners”, Dr Donohoe bought his considerable experience to navigating a diagnosis and implementing management plans that are safe for patients. We had over 50 participants at each live session, with many registrants who were unable to attend the live events catching up with the recordings – we even had two from New Zealand.
A particular focus for these webinars was diagnosis, rational testing and the “low hanging fruit” for management such as dysautonomia, and low dose naltrexone (LDN). Dr Donohoe educated GPs to support their patients and not abandon them when things became complex or difficult.
When asked why they would recommend the webinars to colleagues, one participant wrote:
“Because it actually deals with the reality of ME/CFS and helps us GPs to help our patients with it.”
We emphatically agree with a comment made by another participant:
“This is a huge topic and there is lots more that could be said. Within the time available, this was a very good introduction and overview”.
Next year, we plan to run deep-dive education sessions into relevant topics, as resources allow.
Thank you Dr Schloeffel OAM
You may have noticed the word “former” above. In October, Dr Schloeffel announced his retirement, stepping down as Medical Director of Emerge Australia and ceasing medical practice. Over the past three years as Emerge Australia’s Medical Director, Dr Schloeffel attended six GPCE events and delivered clinical education to over 1000 GPs at GPCE, as well as Emerge Australia webinars. He has provided invaluable support and advice to Emerge Australia staff on a range of matters. We would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank Dr Schloeffel for his support, expertise and guidance in his role as Medical Director as well as for his many years advocating for and supporting patients living with ME/CFS.
