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Local news
WEEK COMMENCING 08 AUGUST 2009
What is Medicare Select?
13 August 2009
In its final report to Government, the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission (the Commission) outlined three options for reforming the structure of the Australian health system.
Bush misses out on health recruits
13 August 2009
Canberra is turning away four allied health recruits to the bush for every one it funds under its scholarship programs, despite country Australia's desperate need for better healthcare. Some 1365 students and health professionals, working in fields ranging from pharmacy to physiotherapy, have had their scholarship applications to train and upgrade their skills for rural service knocked back for lack of funding. Yet the federal government's own audit of the rural health workforce last year warned the supply of professionals was poor to very poor, predicting the situation would only get worse as the population and workforce aged.
What’s Elvis Presley got to do with alcohol labelling?
13 August 2009
The Public Health Association of Australia is celebrating the passing of the alcopops tax legislation in the Senate today as “a significant victory for prevention and public health in Australia”. Meanwhile, health policy analyst Jennifer Doggett has been humming some old tunes, and contemplating Todd Harper’s recent Croakey post calling for health warnings on alcohol labels.
Nile calls abortion policy “inhumane”
13 August 2009
Rev Fred Nile
The Rev Fred Nile, leader of the Christian Democratic Party in the NSW parliament, issued this media release today: Australian women are safer aborting their own babies. Multinational Marie Stopes Intl. has succeeded in “convincing” the Federal Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) that in the interests of preventative health, Australian women are safer killing their own children.
NSW Health wins Supreme Court tobacco case against Coles Express
13 August 2009
NSW Health Chief Health Officer, Dr Kerry Chant, said a Supreme Court decision had found Coles Express guilty of breaching tobacco advertising prohibitions within the Public Health Act. Dr Chant said NSW Health had prosecuted the retail chain giant for instructing its employees to verbally encourage customers to purchase tobacco products. When a customer requested a single packet of cigarettes, Coles Express employees were instructed to inform the customer that they could buy a second packet at a reduced rate.
Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza pdate
13 August 2009
NSW Chief Health Officer, Dr Kerry Chant, today confirmed that a woman has died with Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza, bringing the total number of fatalities in NSW to 33. The woman, who was in her mid-40s, had underlying medical conditions. Dr Chant said although occupancy in all ICUs remains high due to routine activity and seasonal impact, the latest figures show there has been an overall reduction in Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza cases in critical care.
Boost for paramedics
13 August 2009
La Trobe University will introduce a revolutionary paramedic course at its regional campuses next year. The Federal Government’s $62 million investment in the La Trobe Rural Health School has helped fund the course. Ambulance Victoria has helped design the course, which will have a stronger emphasis on health promotion and chronic disease management rather than concentrating on emergency care.
Junk food ad bans could save $300 million
13 August 2009
New research claims that if junk food advertising was banned $300-million would be saved each year in health care costs. The research from Deakin University is published in the online edition of the International Journal of Obesity.
Winter warning on meningococcal disease
11 August 2009
NSW Health Communicable Diseases Director, Dr Jeremy McAnulty, today reminded the public to be alert to the symptoms of meningococcal disease, a dangerous infection that historically hits hardest during winter and spring. Dr McAnulty said most people who contract the disease make a full recovery, however meningococcal can strike quickly and be fatal.
Move it or lose it! Sitting at work is unhealthy!
12 August 2009
A study by an Australian health care insurer and a health/medical research organization called "Stand Up Australia" found that most of the average workday is filled with sitting. Such a fixed, unmoving position is a contributor to poor health, and these companies want people to “Stand Up.”
Coalition to modify, not block, Medicare safety net cuts
12 August 2009
The Coalition will tweak rather than block controversial budget cuts to the Medicare safety net, but hold out for more wide-ranging changes to legislation that could force home births underground. Opposition health spokesman Peter Dutton said yesterday while he would consider amendments to the safety net measure, he had to balance his concerns about the cuts with the need to protect the nation's finances. ... The government has also struck growing resistance to one of the centrepieces of its maternity services reforms -- its $25m indemnity scheme for midwives. The taxpayer-supported scheme excludes from its coverage 200 midwives who oversee home births, leaving them unable to register as health professionals again next year and liable to a $30,000 fine if they continue to claim the midwife title.
Binge strategy needs more than just a tax
12 August 2009
The Rudd government was advised to do more than simply increase taxes on alcopops if it were serious about addressing the problem of binge drinking in society. With the Senate expected to pass the alcopops legislation today, on the government's second attempt, documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws show health experts suggested a broader approach was needed.
NBN could “pay for itself,” on e-health savings alone
10 August 2009
The NBN could pay for itself “twice over” thanks to multi-billion savings in the health sector, ASX-listed e-health group iSoft believes. Submitting a paper to the NBN Senate Select Committee, iSoft said IT developments unlocked by the NBN may allow for savings of $8-10bn per year in healthcare – adding that the NBN should pave the way for health sector reforms and cuts to “unsustainable” health spending.
Medical council accepts new code
11 August 2009
The Australian Medical Association has accepted a new version of a national medical code of conduct after rejecting the original draft as ''prescriptive'' and ''authoritarian''. The Australian Medical Council yesterday made public its re-written code, which sets out the ethical and professional standards expected of doctors and aims to let patients know what they can expect from doctors.
The danger of labels
10 August 2009
We need more rigour in diagnosing problem children. Labels help and harm but recent reports suggest we are getting the balance wrong. Research reveals schools appear to be inflating the numbers of children with psychological and emotional disorders in an effort to secure funds to help them with troubled students who need support and discipline rather than a medical diagnosis.
Doctors agree on national code of conduct
10 August 2009
The first national code of conduct for doctors has been released after a controversial start. The code is part of widespread medical reforms that will bring the registration of Australian and overseas doctors under a national body rather than state-based systems. Currently doctors are registered in individual states and territories with different standards, but from next year a national medical registration scheme will be introduced.
Nurses help invent high-tech gadgets
10 August 2009
Healthcare technology is no longer the domain of nursing informatics and IT specialists, according to Susan K. Newbold, RN-BC, PhD, FHIMSS, FAAN, founding member of the Capital Area Roundtable on Informatics in Nursing (CARING). Nurses in many areas and specialties are getting involved with developing and implementing cutting-edge technologies and tools that are revolutionizing the way they work while improving safety and quality of care for patients.
Flu forces PMH waiting time up
10 August 2009
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) says Perth's children's hospital is experiencing the worst overcrowding it has seen, as a result of an influx of patients during the flu season. It comes as the Health Department confirmed another three deaths linked to swine flu in WA. There are now more than three-thousand confirmed cases of the virus in WA, and 14 people being treated in intensive care.
International news
US: Little safe haven for sexually assaulted LGBTQ victims
Being a victim of sexual assault and seeking help is difficult for anyone, but when the victim is lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/or queer (LGBTQ) the thought of reporting a crime may well be laced with added layers of uncertainty and mistrust, according to a study in Oregon. The study, appearing in the August issue of the journal Violence Against Women, found that 94 percent of respondents -- most of them identifying as LGBTQ in Eugene-Springfield -- think sexual violence is a problem, but just 72 percent agreed it is in their community. Eighty-seven percent of respondents also said that that sexual violence prevention tailored to the LGBTQ community is needed, and more than 60 percent felt local agencies and law enforcement were ill-equipped.
US: Interventional radiology treatment for uterine fibroids: Safe, nonsurgical option
Uterine fibroid embolization—a minimally invasive interventional radiology treatment for women that cuts off blood flow to painful fibroids to kill the tumors—is highlighted as an appropriate treatment for women in a Clinical Therapeutics article in the Aug. 13 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
US: Women's health, men in nursing in Johns Hopkins Nursing Summer Issue
11 August 2009
The birth of a baby. A diagnosis of breast cancer. The frailty that comes with old age. They are part of the dynamic, complex, and ever-changing landscape that makes up a women's life span. Whatever the ailment, Hopkins nurses are empowering women to embrace healthier lifestyles.
US: TGen present two lung cancer treatment advancements at conference
11 August 2009
The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and Scottsdale Healthcare have announced two significant advances in treating lung cancer at the 13th World Conference on Lung Cancer in San Francisco. TGen described research which eventually could help prevent lung cancer from spreading to the brain. In non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), brain metastasis is a devastating complication that occurs in as many as one in four patients. TGen believe the ability to identify those at risk for developing brain metastasis may guide new therapies.
US: Potential risk identified in transfusions of platelets before bone marrow transplant
11 August 2009
Research on blood transfusions points to a potential risk of transfusing donated platelets, especially to patients with bone marrow failure syndromes who are subsequently candidates for bone marrow transplantation.
US: Aging with GRACE: New health care delivery model improves outcomes, saves money
11 August 2009
A team approach to preventive healthcare delivery for older adults developed by researchers from Indiana University and the Regenstrief Institute improves health and quality of life, decreased emergency department visits and lowered hospital admission rates. By the second year the new model saved money for the sickest (those with three to four chronic diseases), and in the third year, a year after the home-based intervention ended, it saved even more.
US: Study: Machismo cuts men's lives short
10 August 2009
Tough guys who buy into ideals of masculinity are much less likely to seek preventive healthcare services, such as a prostate exam, compared with other men. The new finding, based on survey data, reveals that such manly beliefs could help to explain the lower life expectancy of men compared with women.
CAN: Canadian clinics still waiting on Aussie isotopes
11 August 2009
Canadian clinics are still waiting for medical isotopes from Down Under. A fledgling Australian nuclear reactor isn't yet making enough isotopes to cover for a downed Canadian reactor that used to produce a third of the world's supply.
US: Medical Tourism: Low cost, but is the quality high?
10 August 2009
Depending on who you believe, anywhere from 50,000 to as many as 750,000 Americans are leaving the country each year to receive medical treatment abroad . No one seems to disagree on the fact that the numbers keep going up. Medical tourism is a growing business.
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