Category Archives: medical education

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 education, health and medical research, health financing and costs, health workforce, Hospitals, NHMRC, primary health care, The Conversation | Comments (0)

An evidence-based call to get pharma out of medical education

October 20, 2010 – 9:24 am

A team of researchers from Australia, Canada and Malaysia has published a systematic review investigating the impact of pharmaceutical promotions in the online journal PLoS Medicine. The editor’s summary of the review concludes: “The findings support the case for reforms to reduce negative influence to prescribing from pharmaceutical promotion.” Thanks to the lead author, Dr [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in conflicts of interest, pharmaceutical industry | Comments (5)

What could Web 2.0 do for the health sector? Nicholas Gruen

September 2, 2010 – 4:24 pm

Dr Nicholas Gruen, economist, blogger and Web 2.0 explorer, will join a panel at the NewNews conference tomorrow discussing the opportunities for the online revolution to transform public health. Gruen, who chaired the Government 2.0 Taskforce, argues that there are many barriers to the health sector making greater and better use of Web 2.0, and [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in Government 2.0, health reform, health regulation, Media-related issues, primary health care, public health | Tagged , , | Comments (6)

Do we really have to wait for the next generation of health professionals for safer health care?

July 5, 2010 – 6:02 pm

Patient safety issues have been in the headlines recently in the wake of the conviction of surgeon Jayant Patel. A timely editorial in the latest Medical Journal of Australia reminds us that such cases, while tragic and sensational, are merely the tip of the patient safety iceberg. One of the pioneers of patient safety, Professor [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in adverse events, health and medical education, health regulation, health workforce, Journal articles, quality and safety of health care, surgery | Tagged , , , , | Comments (2)

A wrap of the latest news in conflicts of interest

February 11, 2010 – 8:33 pm

Conflicts of interest in the health sector continue to offer rich pickings for journalistic and academic inquiry. Following is a wrap of some recent COI news that I’ve been collecting over the past several weeks. • Medical schools get an F on ghostwriting policies This study looked at 50 academic medical centres in the US [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in conflicts of interest, health & medical marketing, health and medical education, health and medical research, health ethics, Journal articles, Media-related issues, obesity, pharmaceutical industry, tobacco control, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

Sounding a wake-up call for postgraduate medical education

October 14, 2009 – 1:47 pm

Australia’s international reputation in education has been taking something of a hammering lately. Attacks on overseas students have generated bucketloads of adverse publicity, and the uncertain future facing many international medical students is another issue that won’t go away anytime soon. Professor Bruce Robinson, dean of medicine at the University of Sydney, thinks one solution [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in education, health and medical education, health workforce, Hospitals, international medical graduates, primary health care | Comments (4)