Category Archives: allied health care

A personal story of living with pain

December 5, 2011 – 11:41 am

Further to the previous post describing efforts to improve pain management, Geri Badham, a Canberra-based freelance journalist/researcher, writes below of her experiences with chronic pain. (Please bear in mind that everyone’s experiences differ, and Croakey articles are not intended to provide individual medical advice.) Geri Badham writes: Prior to becoming a chronic pain sufferer, that [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in chronic diseases, consumer health information, pain, pharmacy | Tagged , | Comments (0)

A swag of recommended reading on health and medical news

May 13, 2011 – 7:17 pm

Below are some links to recommended reading. They cover everything from the challenged role of doctors, and the federal health budget, to inequality, AMA chest-beating, health policy – and the NT Intervention, the NBN and remote Indigenous health… *** Questioning the role of doctors The Drum and The Conversation have embarked on an interesting collaboration [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in alcohol, Australian Medical Association, dental care, e-health, emergency departments and care, Federal Budget 2011, general practice, health financing and costs, Health inequalities, health reform, health workforce, Indigenous health, Journal articles, Media-related issues, mental health, nurses and nursing, rural and remote health, social determinants of health | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)

University of Queensland to drop its physician assistant program

May 11, 2011 – 8:15 pm

The University of Queensland has announced it is dropping its pioneering physician assistant (PA) program. You can read the official reasons in the media release. No doubt there is also a back story (which I don’t have time to research more fully just now). Professor David Wilkinson, Dean and Head of the School of Medicine, [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in health workforce, rural and remote health | Tagged , | Comments (1)

Why James Cook University is starting a Physician Assistant program

March 31, 2011 – 4:44 pm

This is the third article in a Croakey series examining the potential of physician assistants to help improve access to health care, particularly in rural, remote and other under-served areas. Allan Forde and Sharon Barnwell write: This American term – PAs – has been whispered more around health circles in Australia over the last few [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in health and medical education, health reform, health workforce, Indigenous health, nurses and nursing, rural and remote health | Tagged , , , | Comments (2)

A bright idea for encouraging innovation in general practice

March 30, 2011 – 2:03 pm

The Eastern Ranges GP Association tweeted recently that they were holding a “GP Think Lab”. I asked if they’d write a piece explaining what this means, and here is their response. Mark Caldwell and Belinda Franken write: Throughout the country, general practitioners are busily working away in their practices, often struggling with the systems they [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in general practice, health reform, health workforce, Medicare Locals, primary health care | Tagged , , | Comments (2)

Some searing critique of the health system from John Menadue and others at the national rural health conference

March 17, 2011 – 7:09 pm

Two particularly searing critiques of the health sector were given yesterday on the final day of the national rural health conference in Perth. John Menadue, of the Centre for Policy Development, titled his paper, “Beating the hospital obsession; the key to rural health reform is in primary care”. (Update: you can now watch his presentation [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in aged care, Australian Medical Association, childbirth and maternity services, chronic diseases, conflicts of interest, dental care, e-health, general practice, health financing and costs, Health inequalities, health reform, health workforce, Hospitals, Indigenous health, Media-related issues, Medicare Locals, mental health, nurses and nursing, obesity, pharmaceutical industry, pharmacy, prevention, primary health care, private health insurance, public health, rural and remote health, social determinants of health | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (11)

What will we learn from the Medicare Locals tender documents?

February 21, 2011 – 11:29 am

The tender documents for the first of the new primary health care organisations known as Medicare Locals are expected to be released any day now. Presumably, this is the place to keep an eye for them. Dr Harry Hemley, president of the Australian Medical Association Victoria, has some questions about how they will work, as [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in Australian Medical Association, chronic diseases, diabetes, Health inequalities, health regulation, Medicare Locals, primary health care, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments (1)

Thanks for the suggestions re how Medicare Locals might engage their communities

November 16, 2010 – 10:32 am

As you may have seen, in recent weeks Croakey has been crowd-sourcing ideas for how the general public could be engaged in the planning and development of the new primary health care organisations to be known as Medicare Locals. The Government’s discussion paper on Medicare Locals highlights the need to improve community engagement in primary [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in general practice, health reform, Media-related issues, Medicare Locals, primary health care | Tagged , , | Comments (1)

How a smile could change the course of history

June 3, 2010 – 8:00 am

A recent newspaper photograph suggested that Mark Tedeschi, QC, the senior NSW Crown prosecutor, was celebrating after his successful prosecution of Des Campbell.  Not quite the done thing for someone of his position. But according to a rival newspaper’s subsequent account, Mr Tedeschi had been “fitted up”. He had refused to comment on the Campbell [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in health and medical research, Media-related issues | Tagged , , , | Comments (1)

What are the implications of the new primary health care organisations?

April 13, 2010 – 7:31 am

In The Australian today, Adam Cresswell describes the Government’s drip by drip approach to health policy release as “water torture”. I’m sure plenty of people would agree with him. Meanwhile, amid the deluge of COAG sweeteners, how to make sense of it all? Professor Mark Harris, Executive Director of the Centre for Primary Health Care [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in aged care, general practice, health reform, primary health care | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)