ASCIA’s role in the National Allergy Council Shared Care for Allergy project is to facilitate anaphylaxis and allergy education and training for health professionals, and to promote patient/carer support organisations. This is being achieved in several ways, including:

• Development and updating of ASCIA educational resources to include weblinks to patient/carer support organisations at the top of each topic.
• Promotion of new and updated ASCIA educational resources through newsletters and social media.
• Participation as exhibitors in 12 medical conferences throughout Australia (with more than 14,000 delegates) to promote educational resources with Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia and National Allergy Council staff.

Medical conference participation in 2024 has enabled ASCIA to:

• Reach a widespread audience of health professionals, in addition to newsletters and social media.
• Promote updated ASCIA educational resources for patients/carers and health professionals through printed ASCIA Quicklinks.
• Engage with health professionals and receive feedback to assist in future development and updating of ASCIA educational resources.

Promotion of ASCIA Quicklinks

In response to feedback from ASCIA members and to coincide with medical conferences starting in March 2024, ASCIA Quicklinks was developed.

The aim was to promote improved access to ASCIA website information using QR codes in an A4 format which can be printed or accessed from the ASCIA website:

• In 2024 ASCIA Quicklinks have been promoted at 12 medical conferences held throughout Australia attended by more than 14,000 health professionals.
• ASCIA Quicklinks were promoted and included in presentations at the ASCIA 2024 Conference, with very positive feedback from ASCIA members who routinely use and share this resource.
• More Quicklinks (on the reverse side of Quicklinks) promotes links to other resources. This was developed in response to feedback from health professionals attending the HealthEd Adelaide Women's & Children's Health Update in March 2024. This demonstrates that ASCIA staff interacting with health professionals facilitates better anaphylaxis and allergy education.

The positive response from ASCIA members and other health professionals to ASCIA Quicklinks has exceeded expectations. This resource is proving to be extremely useful in patient consultations and waiting rooms.

ASCIA Quicklinks are widely used by ASCIA members and other health professionals, which is reflected by increased visits to the ASCIA website.

Read the report here

This news item was issued on 22 October 2024 by Jill Smith, CEO of ASCIA, the peak professional body for clinical immunology and allergy in Australia and New Zealand.