Category Archives: The Conversation

Aged care reforms an important step in the right direction, but many questions and concerns remain

April 25, 2012 – 8:14 pm

The Federal Government’s aged care reforms seem to have met a generally positive response, but “a long and uncertain road” lies ahead, cautions Hal Kendig, a Research Professor of Ageing and Health at the University of Sydney. In the article below, first published by The Conversation, he outlines some of the critical challenges and concerns about [...]

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

Efforts to minimise harm from media reporting of Breivik trial may have wider application

April 23, 2012 – 2:14 pm

The trial in Norway of Anders Behring Breivik for the murder of 77 people is generating some useful reflection about the role of media at times like this, and what can be done to minimise the suffering of those exposed to related coverage. If you’ve been following the tweets of Trygve Sorvaag (see a selection [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in child health, Media-related issues, mental health, trauma | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

The latest wrap of Croakey’s coverage of public health, health reform and the works

April 10, 2012 – 8:37 pm

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 articles posted since the beginning of the year. The latest readership figures are now also available, showing that more than 39,000 [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in alcohol, Food, general practice, Indigenous health, Media-related issues, Naked Doctor, physical activity, private health insurance, public health, rural and remote health, social determinants of health, social media and healthcare, tobacco control, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

What does the changing media environment mean for health reporting?

April 2, 2012 – 3:12 pm

The latest analysis of the state of the US news media was recently published by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism. Amongst other things, it notes a continuing trend for technology giants to move into the news business. For example, as part of YouTube’s plans to become a producer of original television content, it [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in Media-related issues, social media and healthcare | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Health & medical celebrations at The Conversation, plus a wrap of other health media news

March 29, 2012 – 10:54 am

Twitter celebrated its sixth birthday last week, and this week it is the turn of The Conversation to be marking its first anniversary. According to the site’s co-founder, Andrew Jaspan, The Conversation has had more than 2.5 million unique visitors in its first year, almost 4 million total visits, and 8 million page views. Over 300 [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in environmental health, health and medical research, Media-related issues, social media and healthcare, Uncategorized, vaccination, vaccines | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (1)

Latest wrap of health and medical reading from The Conversation

February 7, 2012 – 9:44 am

Thanks to Fron Jackson-Webb for providing this latest wrap of reading from The Conversation (http://theconversation.edu.au/). It includes articles about universities teaching complementary medicine, the Medicare Safety Net, new research on caesarean sections, e-prescriptions and hospital errors, and urban development. You can also read an article from The Conversation’s editor, Andrew Jaspan, on mining magnate Gina [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in adverse events, childbirth and maternity services, complementary medicines, e-health, environmental health, health reform, Hospitals, Media-related issues, public health, road safety, Uncategorized | Comments (1)

Beyond band-aids: Medicare needs structural reform

January 19, 2012 – 3:46 pm

The crew at The Medical Journal of Australia must be feeling rather pleased this week by the publicity and debate generated via this week’s edition, particularly the articles on Medicare by Dr Tony Webber and on corporatisation of medicine by Ray Moynihan. Below is some wider commentary, reproduced from The Conversation, with articles from: • [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in Australian Medical Association, dental care, general practice, health reform, health regulation, health workforce, Journal articles, primary health care | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (2)

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, quality and safety of health care, rural and remote health, SensaSlim, social determinants of health, social media and healthcare, TGA, tobacco control, vaccination, vaccines, WHO | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

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 and medical education, Health inequalities, Indigenous health, National Preventive Health Agency, public health, TGA, tobacco control, vaccination | Comments (2)

Some wide-ranging conversations on death and dying

December 4, 2011 – 5:46 pm

In Canada, The Globe and Mail has recently published a detailed series on death and dying, “Navigating life and death in 21st century critical care”. In Australia, The Conversation has recently published a series, “Talking about death and dying”. Thanks to Reema Rattan for providing this summary of the series: We make all kinds of [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in death and dying, euthanasia, Hospitals | Tagged , , | Comments (0)