Leaders in Indigenous medical education from Australia, Aotearoa, Canada and Hawai’i gathered in Townsville last week, on the country of the Bindal and Wulgurukaba Peoples, for the sixth conference of the Leaders in Indigenous Medical Education (LIME) Network. With the conference theme of “knowledge systems, social justice and racism in health professional education”, many sessions […]
As Australian moves to bring about marriage equality again floundered on Tuesday, this post below from New Zealand campaigner Kirk Serpes looks at the need to shift away from problem-focused messaging that’s aimed at “raising awareness” to tackle some of the most complex issues: poverty, inequality and crime. He discusses how “framing” is a powerful […]
How do we evaluate complex health interventions? It is not a new question, as our understanding of the complex nature of health and its determinants has grown, so too has the search for an evidence-based approach. Does a focus on housing and environment work to improve health? How will we know? Thankfully a new study in […]
The recent decision by the Supreme Court of the US (SCOTUS) on marriage equality has been heralded as a milestone in addressing discrimination against people in same-sex partnerships and also broader issues of injustice affecting the lesbian, gay and bi-sexual, transgender, intersex, queer and allied (LGBTIQA) communities. The implications for health care may not […]
We are often keen to adopt the latest medical technology or new ‘wonder drug’ from other countries but seem less eager when it comes to importing their innovations in health workforce practices. Yet if we are to meet our health care needs in the future, we will need a health workforce that is continually evolving […]
This fortnight’s Health Wrap has been prepared by my colleague Ellice Mol, Digital Communications Manager at The Sax Institute. Send your ideas for The Health Wrap to me on Twitter via @medicalmedia. By Ellice Mol Huff and puff on windfarms Prime Minister Tony Abbott sparked renewed discussion […]
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners has launched a promotional video as part of a community awareness campaign – and the early reviews are mixed, particularly depending on which side of the consulting desk you sit and how you feel about diversity and gender issues. Thanks very much to GP Dr Edwin Kruys for […]
The BMJ recently described evidence-based medicine as ‘one of the most important medical advances in the past 150 years, alongside the discovery of vaccines and antibiotics’. However, until quite recently the idea of basing clinical decisions on scientific and mathematical data was a controversial concept, resisted by many in the medical profession who argued that […]
This week the Four Corners expose on bullying in the medical profession has been all over mainstream (see here and here) and social media. An article by Kimberley Ivory and Helen Scott in The Conversation looked at the scope and devastating impact of bullying on both staff and patients. In Victoria it has previously been announced […]
There’s plenty of confusion, contention and concern emerging still out of last week’s Federal Budget on health, with particular uncertainty around after hours GP services. Here’s a quick wrap on some of the issues – complete with glossy illustration from the government’s (once far more dreary-looking) official Budget website pages. Health doesn’t get a big […]
