Programmed Shared Medical Appointments rolling out to more than 40 Medical Centres thanks to COORDINARE
ASLM are pleased to share that the long-awaited roll out campaign of Programmed Shared Medical Appointments (PSMAs) within the Southeast NSW Primary Health Network (PHN) footprint. Initially planned for 2021, the campaign was interrupted due to Covid-19 but is now underway.
COORDINARE is offering incentive packages to pilot PSMAs in medical centres within their region. These programs have been developed and successfully field-tested in a previous collaboration between ASLM and COORDINARE.
The programs include Waist Management for Men, Healthy Weight for Women, Smoking Cessation, Nicotine Resistance for Aboriginal Communities, Chronic Pain Self-Management, and Stress Anxiety and Depression Self-Management.
When implemented, PSMAs have been shown to make a positive impact on patients’ well-being. Staff have also enjoyed the way they have facilitated the development of more meaningful relationships with their patients while giving them the opportunity to fully utilise their knowledge and skills.
Published results of the weight management programs to be found at online here and for weight management and Aboriginal women here.
PSMA packages are specifically designed for GPs and Shared Medical Appointment (SMA) facilitators to deliver a program of knowledge, skill, and motivation to patients, both face-to-face and online, over a series of sessions using the SMA/Medical Yarn Up (MYU) process. Each package has a self-administered facilitator training module as well a patient program and resources streaming to any device.
The roll-out has begun with PSMA in Chronic Pain Self-Management to complement a PHN focus on supporting Chronic Pain management in primary care.
ASLM provides online training in Shared Medical Appointments. To find out more about this training and learn about Shared Medical Appointments, Medical Yarn Ups and Programmed Shared Medical Appointments, please follow the link below.
John Stevens
John Stevens RN, PhD, FACN, FASLM, currently leads the discipline of Lifestyle Medicine at Southern Cross University. He is a Medical Sociologist, a 40-year Registered Nurse and works as a consultant to industry on the implementation of models of care that improve the prevention, management and reversal of lifestyle-related chronic illness by supporting healthcare workers to integrate lifestyle medicine into practice. John is a founder and director of the Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine (ASLM), which he and his colleagues officially established in 2008. John has been pioneering Shared Medical Appointments (aka Group Consultations and Medical Yarn Ups) in Australia and New Zealand and has been acknowledged by his peers with a Lifestyle Medicine, Outstanding Achievement Award for his contribution to the well-being of the community through this work. John has over 100 published articles in matters relating to Lifestyle Medicine and is regularly invited to speak at conferences and public events. He lives and thrives in the rural town of Mullumbimby, NSW, Australia, with his wife and five children.