Category Archives: health and medical education

Some solutions to health workforce shortages

May 4, 2012 – 11:58 am

Health Workforce Australia recently released the first two volumes of its three-volume report, Health Workforce 2025, which provides medium to long-term national workforce planning projections for doctors, nurses and midwives up to 2025. The main contribution of the report, according to Professor Richard Murray, President of the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine, is to show that ‘more-of-the-same’ [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in health financing and costs, health reform, health workforce, rural and remote health | Tagged , , | Comments (6)

What does social media mean for health and medical education?

April 30, 2012 – 6:52 pm

The digital revolution will profoundly change the face of academia by unbundling the roles of research and teaching, and slashing the need for academics, due to the routine use of online learning tools and the opening up of access to premium content and sources. These predictions were put forward recently at The Conversation by Chris [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in public health, social media and healthcare | Comments (0)

Tackling some of the tribal divisions within health

March 29, 2012 – 1:38 pm

Attending recent conferences, I was struck by two comments which, in their own ways, say much about the silos and divisions within the health sector. During a session where GP registrars were brainstorming ideas for improving the image of general practice, someone suggested that specialists should be re-named “partialists”, as a way of highlighting the [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in general practice, health reform, health workforce, quality and safety of health care | Tagged , , , | Comments (2)

Assault on alternative medicine: worthwhile or witch-hunt?

February 23, 2012 – 8:15 pm

The fight over the teaching of complementary medicines by Australian universities has drawn international coverage, including this piece by the New York Times. In his latest column in this week’s BMJ, Australian journalist Ray Moynihan talks with some of the key protagonists. Ray Moynihan writes: The campaign by the Friends of Science in Medicine to shut down [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in complementary medicines | Tagged , , | Comments (3)

The latest wrap of health and medical reading from The Conversation

December 23, 2011 – 9:05 am

Below is the final wrap for this year of health and medical reading at The Conversation. Thanks to Froncesca Jackson-Webb and Reema Rattan for compiling these wraps for Croakey readers. Vaccinations in the news in 2011 By Dr Julie Leask, National Centre for Immunisation Research & Surveillance, a conjoint Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Medicine, University [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in child health, childbirth and maternity services, Food, Health inequalities, Indigenous health, National Preventive Health Agency, public health, TGA, The Conversation, tobacco control, vaccination | Comments (2)

The backlash against universities offering complementary medicine courses

December 9, 2011 – 2:29 pm

Loretta Marron writes: Like to be a ‘doctor’? Interested in ‘new age’ medicine? Maybe you want to go to Uni but your entrance score is not up to scratch.  Don’t give up!  Why not check out your local college and see what’s on offer as there just may be a course tailor-made for you. Nearly [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in complementary medicines | Tagged , | Comments (16)

A wrap of recent health news at Croakey

October 5, 2011 – 5:40 pm

Hola – I am back on deck. A large thanks to Jennifer Doggett for driving Croakey while I was away, and to Ben Harris-Roxas for looking after the Twitter feed. As previously mentioned, Croakey readers are welcome to sign up for (rather irregular) summaries of posts. If you’d like to join the mailing list, please [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in aged care, alcohol, cancer, chronic diseases, climate change, Cochrane Collaboration, complementary medicines, Croakey Register of Influencers in Public Health, diabetes, disabilities, evidence-based issues, health and medical research, health financing and costs, Health inequalities, health reform, health regulation, health workforce, Indigenous health, Journal articles, Media Doctor Australia, Media-related issues, Medicare Locals, mental health, obesity, pharmacy, prevention, primary health care, private health insurance, public health, quality and safety of health care, rural and remote health, social determinants of health, The Conversation, Uncategorized | Comments (2)

THE ROLE OF DOCTORS* IN HEALTH SERVICES PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT:ALTRUISM, EXPERTISE AND LACK OF ENGAGEMENT AS PERCEPTUAL DISORDERS

September 26, 2011 – 3:04 pm

The following comes from Enrico Brik an anonymous self-employed consultant and sometime writer and blogger who has worked for over a decade in various roles in health services policy and planning. “The name and pretence of virtue is as to self-interest as are real vices.” Francois de La Rochefoucauld On 20 July 2011 Dr Steve [...]

By Jennifer Doggett | Also posted in Australian Medical Association, health workforce, Hospitals | Comments (10)

Advanced Health Research Centres – what can they offer Australia?

September 21, 2011 – 3:57 pm

Croakey strongly believes that the best health care occurs when it is informed by rigorous research and that the best research is that which is informed by clinical practice.  However, bringing these two often disparate worlds together is  a continual challenge in the Australian health care environment. A new proposal, modelled on a successful UK [...]

By Jennifer Doggett | Also posted in education, health and medical research, health financing and costs, health workforce, Hospitals, medical education, NHMRC, primary health care, The Conversation | Comments (0)

Some interesting insights into rural health matters

August 7, 2011 – 10:22 pm

Judging by the tweets, it seems there were some interesting sessions at the National Rural Leadership Development Seminar, which wrapped up at Victor Harbour in SA yesterday. You can get a flavour from the reports below. Jim Birch is chair of Rural Health Workforce Australia (And just to confirm Jim Birch’s point about universities failing [...]

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