Category Archives: quality and safety of health care

What can we learn from healthcare reform in the UK? (part 2)

May 4, 2012 – 6:24 pm

Following on from the previous post about the impending visit of UK health reformer, Professor Lord Ara Darzi, the article below profiles another NHS transformer, Jim Easton, who is also heading for Australia later this month. It identifies some of the ingredients of successful quality improvement, including ensuring leaders have the narrative skills to engage key [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in health reform | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

What can we learn from the history of health reform in the UK? (part 1)

May 4, 2012 – 6:12 pm

Some of the world’s leaders in health reform and quality improvement are heading to Australia as part of a series of workshops organised by the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association, in conjunction with various partners. In the first of a series profiling some of these visitors and their contributions to health reform, the AHHA’s Terrie [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in evidence-based issues, health financing and costs, health reform | Tagged , , , | 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 and medical education, health reform, health workforce | Tagged , , , | Comments (2)

A welcome development: public disclosure of infection control performance of hospitals

March 20, 2012 – 8:50 am

The recent release of data about how well hospitals perform when it comes to ensuring staff wash their hands drew widespread media coverage. In the article below, Professor Lyn Gilbert, an infectious diseases physician and clinical microbiologist with a strong interest in preventing healthcare-associated infections, provides some of the wider historical context. *** Making sense of [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in evidence-based issues, Hospitals, infectious diseases, MyHospitals website, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments (2)

What to do about the problems caused by super specialisation in medicine?

February 10, 2012 – 8:03 pm

Among the many competing principles in healthcare delivery and policy are the notions of providing the ‘best possible care for any individual’ versus ‘doing the best for the most at a population level’. Tied up with this are questions of how to achieve the fairest distribution of healthcare resources, and of health. On such themes, [...]

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

What many patients want to know, but many doctors don’t want to tell

February 10, 2012 – 4:57 pm

Here is an interesting juxtaposition of two sets of research findings about doctors’ disclosures of their financial relationships with pharmaceutical companies… In the US, a survey of almost 2,000 doctors found nearly two-fifths did not completely agree they should disclose their financial relationships with drug and device companies to patients. The survey, by researchers from [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in consumer health information, health ethics, pharmaceutical industry | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Tackling the overuse of antibiotics: a call to action

February 10, 2012 – 1:53 pm

(Update, Feb 27: Links to further reading have been added to the bottom of the post) The NPS recently launched an education initiative for health professionals as part of a new five-year effort to address “the critical issue” of antibiotic resistance. A campaign targeting the general public is due to start in April. The NPS [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in adverse events, general practice, health and medical research, Journal articles, pharmaceutical industry, primary health care, public health | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

A call for regulatory action on unregistered health practitioners

January 24, 2012 – 7:52 pm

An ACCC investigation into breast imaging highlights broader concerns about a lack of regulation of unregistered health practitioners, writes Rebecca Johnson, Policy Advisor, Cancer Council Western Australia. *** Why are health regulators leaving the heavy lifting to the ACCC? Rebecca Johnson writes: Early in January, the ACCC launched legal proceedings  against two commercial breast imaging [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in cancer, health & medical marketing, health regulation, public health, screening | Tagged , , , | Comments (3)

Introducing the National Campaign for Consumer-Centred Health Care

January 19, 2012 – 4:41 pm

The information below has been provided by a new group, the National Campaign for Consumer-Centred Health Care. It gives some background on the campaign’s aims, principles, membership and plans. It also includes a call for people interested in working with Medicare Locals on behalf of consumers. If you’ve any questions or comments for the new [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in chronic diseases, consumer health information, e-health, health reform, Medicare Locals, mental health | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (1)

A rather large wrap of recent Croakey articles: public health, health reform, media coverage of health and more

January 11, 2012 – 10:25 am

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 send your email or leave it below. Here is the latest compilation, covering from 6 October – December 23, 2011. The latest readership figures are now also available, showing that [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in abortion, alcohol, cancer, child health, childbirth and maternity services, climate change, complementary medicines, conflicts of interest, consumer health information, death and dying, dental care, evidence-based issues, Food, global health, health and medical research, health financing and costs, Health inequalities, health reform, health workforce, Hospitals, Indigenous health, infectious diseases, Media Doctor Australia, Medicare Locals, mental health, MyHospitals website, obesity, pain, palliative care, pharmacy, physical activity, prevention, primary health care, public health, rural and remote health, SensaSlim, social determinants of health, social media and healthcare, TGA, The Conversation, tobacco control, vaccination, vaccines, WHO | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)