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Obama names nurse to head healthcare access agency

20 February 2009

U.S. President Barack Obama has named a University of North Dakota rural healthcare expert to head the federal agency in charge of improving access to care in the United States, the White House said on Friday.

Social factors linked to poor health

20 February 2009  

Catholic Health Australia has released a new report, showing that people's health and life expectancy are more affected by where they live than their lifestyle or their genes.

Health programs available free on DVD

From time to time the Rural Health Education Foundation is generously funded to provide limited resources free of charge to bona fide Australian health professionals (one copy or set per individual or organisation).

Rural Health Education Foundation

The Rural Health Education Foundation is Australia’s pre-eminent provider of television-based health education for doctors, pharmacists, nurses and allied health professionals. We produce and deliver topical, high quality, evidence-based educational programs enriched by the voluntary participation of the best health and medical experts in Australia.

Health report contains high hopes

19 February 2009

Put a group of health experts together in a room for a year and what do you get? Plenty of ideas for making the health system fairer and delivering better value for money: everything from a universal dental insurance scheme and a federal financial takeover of hospitals to a whole new system with full-blown competition between government and private health insurers.

SCAN: Delivering bone disorder diagnosis, fracture healing

18 February 2009

The fight against bone disorders that affect millions of Americans will soon receive a boost from an ultrasound device being developed by space biomedical researchers. The technology under development will allow early prediction of bone disorders such as osteoporosis and guided acceleration of fracture healing.

Australian Guidelines for the Treatment of Adults with Acute Stress Disorder and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

The Australian Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health (ACPMH) has developed the Australian Guidelines for the Treatment of Adults with Acute Stress Disorder and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. The program aims to improve practitioner and community knowledge regarding best practice approaches to the management of mental health conditions following trauma.

Royal College of Nursing eHealth web pages

We use the term ‘eHealth’ to mean all applications of information communication technology (ICT) which relate to health care – for example, telemedicine, telecare, decision support systems, electronic patient records, and many more.

Cosmetic surgery: A mania for makeovers

18 February 2009

Just seven years after the injectable anti-wrinkle treatment Botox was approved for its cosmetic debut in Australia, people from all facets of life are hooked and aficionados of the instant age-defier incorporate it into their beauty maintenance regimens.

Health minister cool on federal control proposal

17 February 2009

A Federal takeover of all health services has been proposed by the Government's chief advisory body on health reform, but the health minister has declined to endorse the move.

Unshackle our Leninist hospitals

18 February 2009

A senior colleague told me that the biggest change he had seen during the course of his long career within the public hospital system was that the client had changed from the patient to the state minister of health.

Roxon: Dental Health Failing in the Bush

17 February 2009

A new report shows that Australians in rural and regional areas struggle to get the dental care they need, when compared with people in cities.

Big holes in rural dental health: report

17 February 2009

A report into the parlous state of dental health in rural Australia has added weight to a recommendation from the Rudd government's own reform commission for a universal dental system.

AMSANT backs Commonwealth take over

17 February 2009

The Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance in the Northern Territory (AMSANT) has backed calls for the Commonwealth to take over Aboriginal primary health.

Our hospitals need intensive care now

17 February 2009

A new structure, not just more money, is urgently required.

Pick a plan: states on notice to get it right

17 February 2009

The debate over who should run the health system has reignited calls for the Rudd Government to act on its election promise to assume control of public hospitals if the states do not improve their performance by the middle of the year.

Tax hike to fund dental care plan

17 February 2009

Australians face bigger tax bills to fund their future health needs and the commonwealth could take control of hospitals from the states under major reforms being considered by Kevin Rudd.

Dental scheme targets the poor

17 February 2009

A dental scheme, funded by increased taxes and costing up to $5 billion annually, would be set up to allow every Australian for the first time to access affordable preventive and restorative treatment, including the provision of dentures.

Health Commission recommends Federal health takeover

16 February 2009  

Australia's health system could be in line for an overhaul if the Federal Government accepts the advice of its own reform commission.

All health reform options will be considered: Roxon

16 February 2009

The Federal Government has described some of the health reform options proposed by its advisory body as "radical" and "ambitious".

US: Recession affects graduates’ career choices

16 February 2009

With many college graduates struggling to find employment amidst a staggering economy, some undergraduates are preparing for the tough times ahead by choosing “recession-proof” career paths and making themselves more marketable to employers.

US: Nursing faculty needed

16 February 2009

It's no time for a shortage of these jobs.

Federal govt urged to take over health

16 February 2009

The federal government's health reform body has called for a commonwealth takeover of primary care but stopped short of recommending the same step for hospitals.

Other news

Report recommends Commonwealth
takeover of health service

16 February 2009 

A Federal takeover of health services may be one step closer with the first report of Kevin Rudd's Hospitals Reform Commission.

SA keen on primary health reform

16 February 2009

South Australia's Health Minister John Hill says the Government would welcome any federal takeover of primary health services.

 

Male menopause a drug-inspired 'myth'

16 February 2009

A medical researcher has debunked decades of theories about male menopause, claiming the condition is an invented syndrome created by drug companies to sell testosterone replacement therapies.

Kevin Rudd pushes for Medicare-style national dental system

16 February 2009

A new Medicare-style tax would fund a universal dental health scheme as part of a radical plan to fix the ailing health service.

Proposal for one-stop-shop health centres

16 February 2009

One-stop-shop health clinics aimed at reducing reliance on hospitals are proposed by the Rudd Government's reform team as a centrepiece of a federal takeover of community-based health.

Patient 'enrol' plan for treatment at health clinics

16 February 2009

People would be asked to register as patients at local clinics to be eligible for ongoing care by a range of health care professionals under a new system to be managed by the Federal Government.

Baby toll lower in private hospitals

16 February 2009

Babies die in public hospitals – during labour or shortly after birth – at three times the rate in private hospitals.

Decoy molecules kill cancer cells: study

16 February 2009

French specialists on Sunday unveiled a new weapon against cancer - a molecular "decoy" that mimicks DNA damage and prompts cancerous cells to kill themselves.

Mentally ill, serious conditions linked

15 February 2009

People with schizophrenia and other severe mental illnesses are twice as likely to suffer from a number of life-threatening conditions known as "metabolic syndrome".

Fears over alcohol test for mothers

15 February 2009

Screening breast milk could increase women's drinking and harm their babies, say doctors.

Salma Hayek emphasizes importance of breastfeeding by nursing African baby (video)

14 February 2009

Salma Hayek made headlines recently for breastfeeding a week old African baby boy whose mother was unable to feed him herself. Hayek's willingness to share her breast milk with a baby other than her own (her own daughter is one year old) has evoked strong emotions.

USA: Professor's blood pressure research will focus on Hispanic women

14 February 2009

DeLeon received a $5,000 grant to start the study. A Del Mar College associate nursing professor is studying how to best get Hispanic women to control high blood pressure.

Father's anger at anorexia death

15 February 2009

The family of a young woman who lost her eight-year battle with anorexia last week has accused the NSW health system of gross incompetence, saying she could have been saved.

US Medicare rates nursing homes 1–5 stars

15 January 2009

Welcome to Nursing Home Compare. This tool has detailed information about every Medicare and Medicaid-certified nursing home in the country.

Diabetes in spotlight as babies arrive supersized

15 February 15, 2009

Babies are being born bigger across NSW, prompting a study that involves women with gestational diabetes following special low-GI diets.

Ecstasy use shoots up across the city

15 February 2009

The use of ecstasy in Sydney has skyrocketed by as much as 112 per cent in the past two years, highlighting the ineffectiveness of deterrent strategies such as sniffer dogs, a drug expert has said.

Kearney: Nurses perfectly able to do more

14 February 2009

Autralia's healthcare system is in desperate need of change. Tinkering around the edges will not do the job. The National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission (NHHRC), expected to release its long-awaited interim report next week, was charged with a vital task. The commission consulted widely and has an opportunity to take the bull by the horns by recommending bold reforms to improve access and health outcomes for everyone.

National dental scheme urged for needy

14 February2009

THE ailing state of public dental care has prompted a call from the Government's health reform experts for a national scheme to provide care to needy patients with bad teeth.

Health package to offer better care outside hospitals

14 February 2009

Better care for the seriously ill outside hospitals is tipped to be part of a major health reform document to be released on Monday.

Indigenous ills listed for special focus

14 February 2009

Smoking, poor diets, excessive drinking and physical inactivity among indigenous Australians need to be targeted by a broad range of specific, community-based prevention programs.

UK: Missing kit wasting nursing time

14 February 2009

More than a third of nurses waste up to two hours a shift searching for missing medical equipment, a survey suggests.

WA: Frontline services not affected by three per cent efficiency savings

Health Minister Dr Kim Hames today reassured nurses that their jobs were not at risk following the leak of an internal discussion paper aimed at identifying possible savings at Fremantle Hospital.