Dec 2017

Getting down to business
Jane and Professor Charles McGhee
Zeiss – ultra-widefield imaging
Dominating Zeiss’ stand was the company’s
new Clarus 500 ultra-widefield imaging
device, which is currently being introduced to
optometry and ophthalmology practices across
Australasia. For more, see news story on p7.
OIC – DORC
Ophthalmic Instrument Company’s (OIC’s)
Chris Malicdem was on hand on the Dutch
Ophthalmic Research Center’s (DORC’s) stand
to help introduce DORC’s brand new 27 gauge
forceps, for use with DORC’s Enhanced Visual
Acuity (EVA) Vitrectomy System.
The new 27 gauge forceps were developed
in direct response to ophthalmologists’ wishes
given that 27 gauge surgery is developing quite
fast now, said David Maritz, DORC’s regional
director. One of the main drawbacks, however,
with tools this small has been flexibility as they
can bend in the eye. But DORC’s 27 gauge forceps
have been strengthened so they have enhanced
stiffness, said Maritz, and the grasping platforms
have also been increased by 60%. “So you get
a much, much stronger grasping power and
CONTINUED ON PAGE 16
BY DEB BOYD*
Practice managers from New Zealand and
Australia gathered together for their annual
meeting, held as part and in parallel to the
49th RANZCO Congress. This year the meeting
was held in the beautiful city of Perth, which
despite the longer journey to travel there, never
disappoints as a destination.
From accreditation to HR
Day one started with the welcome and AGM,
followed by an open session to allow delegates to
get to know each other and discuss local issues. We
were seated together by region, which was useful.
Medicare changes were a shared concern for all
Australian practices, for instance, but not an issue,
of course, for the New Zealand team.
There was a strong focus on accreditation this
year and Brett Mannison, the founder and director
of Logicq, presented on his company’s software
solution for quality management in the health
sector. He focused on showing us how this solution
assists with managing all of the requirements
for achieving accreditation. It includes registers
for documents, risk management, incidents,
complaints, patients’ feedback, training and
development, contracts and accreditation. It’s a
great tool for assisting practices to manage their
accreditation and is set up for both New Zealand
and Australia, referencing the relevant standards
for both countries.
Other sessions on accreditation included
one from Simon Janda, RANZCO’s professional
development manager, who spoke briefly about
practice accreditation using RANZCO’s Nucleus
programme. This is free for all member practices
and is a wonderful tool for smaller practices who
are new to accreditation. While Anna Maria Gibb
discussed PracticeHub, a software solution that
assists practices in Australia with compliance for
accreditation. It provides many policy templates
and references the Australian Healthcare
Standards, but is not, yet, set up for New Zealand.
Dave Wenban, managing director of the
Australian Health Industry Group, delivered three
sessions covering various human resources (HR)
topics, including performance management,
effective interviewing and staffing contracts.
The sessions were informative and, although the
examples provided were all based on Australian
legislation, the principles were still relevant for
practice in New Zealand.
The last speaker of the day was Chris Johnson,
managing director of Horizon HR, who discussed
the trickier end of HR, including bullying,
harassment and discrimination in the workplace.
Again, this session was informative, but the
references were all to Australian legislation. One
key takeaway, however, was to act quickly to deal
with any issues you become aware of in line with
your country’s legislation.
Legal pitfalls in social media
Highlights from day two included a presentation
from Morag Smith, a senior solicitor from Avant
Law, on social media. Whilst all of the data was
Australian, the content was still very relevant for
all attendees given the influence of social media in
all realms of our lives today. Facebook remains the
most used social media platform and can be used
positively by practices as long as they understand
the risks and how best to manage their account.
There are new legislative changes coming in
Australia in February around privacy, which will
no doubt be followed by New Zealand at some
point. Two key points from Morag’s talk was that
all practices should have a social media policy
and provide training to their staff on privacy, and
to ensure you’ve removed the ability for patients
to write a review or comment directly on your
Facebook site.
St John’s, benchmarking and keeping cool
On day three, Cheryl Bushe-Jones, business
development manager for St John Ambulance,
spoke about St John’s community transport service,
which is now available in Western Australia. It’s a
wonderful service, particularly relevant for elderly
ophthalmology patients who need transportation
support, especially as so many are visuallyimpaired.
The service is run by volunteer drivers
who are all professionally trained. St John’s has
partnered with the Perth Eye Hospital to provide
pick-up and drop-off services for all their surgical
patients. The drivers escort patients into their
Auckland Eye’s Tracey Molloy and Deb Boyd flying the flag for New
Zealand at the RANZCO practice managers’ conference
homes and settle them in. Cheryl encouraged
everyone to go back home and approach their local
St John’s to see if there are any plans to establish a
similar service in their regions.
Another highlight of the last day was Scott
Bell, from Nexus Hospitals, who gave a talk on
benchmarking and using metrics to understand
and grow your practice. He talked about internal
and external benchmarking and shared key metrics
with delegates.
The closing session was run by professional
speaker Rachel Green, director of The Emotional
Intelligence Institute and Job Interviews Australia.
Her session was entitled, ‘Thrive in Your Practice!
How to be Emotionally Resilient in Changing Times’
and it was hilarious; an absolute treat with some
great tips for managing those stressful days that
we all encounter from time-to-time.
The meeting closed on a high and we look
forward to getting together next year in Adelaide to
once again share our successes and our challenges,
and provide that important collegial support.
*Deb Boyd is chief executive of Auckland Eye, a board member of
Health Infomatics NZ (HiNZ) and a member of RANZCO’s Practice
Manager Associates committee.
OZURDEX ® NOW LISTED ON THE PHARMACEUTICAL SCHEDULE
1
FOR YOUR PATIENTS WITH DIABETIC MACULAR OEDEMA (DMO) 1,2
Targeted
inflammation
control 6
Rapid & sustained
vision and anatomical
improvements 3
Known and
manageable
safety profile 2,3
First & only
intravitreal steroid
indicated for DMO
Substantial decrease in
treatment burden compared
to anti‐VEGFs 2‐5
OZURDEX ® intravitreal implant is a funded medicine on the New Zealand Pharmaceutical Schedule – restrictions apply.
BEFORE PRESCRIBING, PLEASE REVIEW APPROVED DATA SHEET AVAILABLE ON REQUEST FROM ALLERGAN BY PHONING 0800 659 912 OR FROM THE MEDSAFE WEBSITE
New Zealand Minimum Data Sheet
OZURDEX ® 700 µg dexamethasone intravitreal implant is a prescription medicine which contains dexamethasone 700 µg. Indications: treatment of macular oedema due to retinal vein occlusion (RVO); treatment of adult patients with visual
impairment due to diabetic macular oedema (DMO) who are pseudophakic or who are considered insufficiently responsive to, or unsuitable for non-corticosteroid therapy; treatment of non-infectious uveitis affecting the posterior segment of the eye. Dosage:
700 µg per eye (entire contents of a single-use OZURDEX ® device). Contraindications: Hypersensitivity to ingredients; active/suspected ocular or periocular infection including most viral diseases of the cornea and conjunctiva, including active epithelial
herpes simplex keratitis (dendritic keratitis), vaccinia, varicella, mycobacterial infections, and fungal diseases; advanced glaucoma; aphakic eye with rupture of the posterior lens capsule; eyes with an anterior chamber intraocular lens (ACIOL), iris or transscleral
fixated IOLs, and rupture of the posterior lens capsule. Precautions: Proper aseptic injection techniques must always be used. Patients should be monitored for infection or increased IOP. Patients who had a tear in the posterior lens capsule or who had an
iris opening to the vitreous cavity are at risk of implant migration, which might lead to corneal oedema. Corticosteroids have been associated with posterior subcapsular cataracts, increased IOP, glaucoma, and may enhance the establishment of secondary
ocular infections due to bacteria, fungi, or viruses; history of or active ocular herpes simplex; OZURDEX ® is not recommended during pregnancy unless the potential benefits justifies the potential risks to the foetus; not recommended during breast-feeding unless
necessary; use in children has not been studied; temporary visual blurring may occur after injection of OZURDEX ® , therefore, patients should not drive or use machines until this has resolved; administration to both eyes on the same day is not recommended.
Adverse Effects (≥1%): cataract, cataract subcapsular, cataract nuclear, lenticular opacities, IOP increased, ocular hypertension, conjunctival haemorrhage*, vitreous haemorrhage*, eye pain*, vitreous detachment*, vitreous floaters*, conjunctival oedema*,
vitreous opacities*, anterior chamber inflammation*, visual acuity reduced, endophthalmitis, hypotony of eye, retinal detachment, complication of device insertion, device dislocation, conjunctival hyperaemia*, visual disturbance, photopsia*, headache,
myodesopsia, blepharitis, abnormal sensation in the eye*, eyelid pruritus, scleral hyperaemia*, visual impairment, migraine, anterior chamber cell*. Note: “*” indicates adverse drug reactions considered to be related to the intravitreal injection procedure.
REFERENCES: 1. PHARMAC Pharmaceutical Management Agency (2017). Decision to fund dexamethasone implants (Ozurdex). Viewed 9 Nov 2017. Available from: https://www.pharmac.govt.nz/news/notification-2017-10-13-dexamethasoneocular-implants.
2. OZURDEX ® Data Sheet. 3. Boyer DS et al. Ophthalmology. 2014; 121: 1904–14. 4. Eylea ® Data Sheet. 5. Lucentis ® Data Sheet.
6. Nehme A & Edelman J. lnvest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 2008; 49: 2030–8.
Allergan New Zealand Limited, Auckland. ® Trademark(s) and registered trademark(s) of Allergan, Inc. © Allergan, Inc. 2017.
All rights reserved. Date of preparation: November 2017. NZ/0016/2017. DA1731CB. AM7187.
December 2017
NEW ZEALAND OPTICS
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