Australian Medical Student Journal

A new biomedical, scientific journal for Australian medical students has been launched in an Australian first. The Australian Medical Student Journal (AMSJ) is the brainchild of a group of NSW medical students with aspirations to build the next generation of medical researchers.

The inaugural issue features guest authors, including Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Australian of the Year Prof. Patrick McGorry and Australian Medical Association President, Dr Andrew Pesce. Articles include:

• The Internet as a health information source for students


• Respiratory disease in Indigenous communities


• Ovarian cancer classification


• Minimally invasive mitral valve repair

The AMSJ is calling on students and doctors to submit, critique and get involved. It is distributed free of charge to 14,000 medical students across the country via print and online editions. To download a free copy, visit http://www.amsj.org

Reposted from GWAHS Libraries Blog

Public dental care and the Teeth First trial: A history of decay

This report examines the implications of the lack of timely dental treatment for people on low incomes.
Based on the state of dental services available to low-income Australians, the costs of not providing timely treatment, and the findings of the Teeth First trial, recommendations are made for changes to the public dental scheme, including:

• Fully incorporate dental care within Medicare;
• Offer dental scholarships with similar conditions to those of the Commonwealth Bonded Medical Places Scheme and
• Increase remuneration for public sector dentists and ancillary staff; Launch a government-funded national dental health campaign.

Perinatal Deaths, Australia, 2008

Australian Bureau of Statistics has published Perinatal Deaths Australia 2008. This publication presents statistics on the number of perinatal deaths, by state or territory, sex and cause of death classified to the World Health Organisation's International Classification of Diseases (ICD).

Modelling options for the public funding of hospital medicines in Australia

The National Health and Hospital Reform Commission (NHHRC) has published a report which:

• reviews hospital pharmacy in Australia and the current system for the public funding of hospital medicines in Australia;
• identifies the key issues and problems that exist with the current funding and bureaucratic arrangements;
• develops a system dynamics model to estimate the clinical, economic and organisational consequences of proposals for reform; and identifies possible options for reform and evaluate the likely impact of a select few within the policy context of NHHRC deliberations and recommendations.

Read the full text in pdf here.

Dementia and Residential Care

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has released two new reports.
1. Dementia and the take-up of residential respite care (bulletin)
2. Dementia and the take-up of residential respite care an analysis using the PIAC cohort
The reports are accessible on the AIHW website.

Ageing, Participation & Health!

The Australian Journal of Occupational Therapy is giving free access to a special issue on how occupational therapy plays a central role in the future health and wellbeing of an ageing Australia. It provides some perspectives on the major issues that occupational therapists face with ageing clients and adds some views on how occupational therapists core principles can make greater contributions to the 'bigger picture' for an ageing Australia. Click here for access.

Suicide in Australia

"Suicide in Australia: meta-analysis of rates and methods of suicide between 1988 and 2007" is the title of an article in the Medical Journal of Australia, by Olav Neilssen and Matthew Large this month. In 1997, there was a peak in the number of suicides in Australia, when 2720 deaths were classified as suicide. Over the next 10 years, the total number of suicides fell so that in 2007, 1880 deaths were classified as suicide. But although the number of deaths from suicide fell, the authors argue that this does not appear to be the result of a decline in suicidal ideation or rates of attempted suicide. They conclude that there has been a reduction in the availability of lethal methods, such as chemicals and firearms.

Mental Health carers' report

The AIHW has recently released "Adversity to advocacy: the lives and hopes of mental health carers." This report outlines the difficulties and concerns of Australians caring for someone with a mental illness and is Australia's first ever comprehensive national survey of mental health carers. It reveals the key issues identified by mental health carers, which are all based directly on the stories,experiences and ideas from over 1500 carers who attended a series of workshops delivered by the Mental Health Council of Australia. Fifteen key issues were identified, the first being that carers be listened to and respected.

Understanding statistics

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has included a page called Understanding Statistics on its website. This is a fantastic place to go if you would like to update your comprehension of statistical information - so important when trying to make informed decisions based on any sort of data.
On this site you will find online training courses, PowerPoint presentations you can use, explanations of statistical terms, and much more.

Computers beat doctors at diagnosing child illnesses

A computer has proved more accurate in diagnosing severe fever in children than doctors using their clinical judgement, researchers have found.
Specialists in Australia who developed the computerised diagnostic model say it may improve early treatment in children with conditions such as pneumonia and meningitis who need an urgent administration of antibiotics.
One of the toughest tasks in medicine is distinguishing between children with ordinary viral illnesses, from which they normally recover without treatment, and those with bacterial infections which require an urgent administration of antibiotics. Family doctors have sleepless nights worrying about whether they have made the right call.
Now researchers at the Westmead Children's Hospital in Sydney, Australia, have developed a 28-item checklist which, when used with a statistical modelling technique, successfully distinguishes between the two.

Read the full BMJ article: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/340/apr19_2/c1594

There's No Anaesthetist On the Road

"Mind you, there's no anaesthetist on the road" : women's experiences of labouring en route. Women in over 130 small Australian rural communities can no longer deliver their baby in their home town. Instead they face the hazards of many hours road travel to their planned birthing centre while in labour. This qualitative study shows the profound impact of this change on many. (NRHA eforum - 20 April 2010)

Transfer of Learning to the Nursing Clinical Practice Setting

"..This is the way we do it in the real world." The transition from theoretical setting to a clinical practice site can be an anxious time for student nurses. When there is a difference between what is taught and what is practised, do students fall into the theory-practice gap? This interesting article explores a crucial issue. (NRHA eforum - 20 April 2010)

A National Health and Hospitals Network: Further Investments in Australia's Health

Stage two of the Government’s National Health Reform Plan is now available to download from the Department of Health and Aging website.

Decoding Pancreatic Cancer

Each year around 1900 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in Australia and almost all are dead within the year. Panceatic cancer is the 4th most likely cancer to cause death with only 5% living beyond five years of diagnosis. The diagnosis of actor Patrick Swayze with late-stage pancreatic cancer graphically documented the quick physical deterioration of the disease.
The Australian Pancreatic Cancer Genome Initiative is the Australian project arm of an association of research organisations in 11 countries, known as the International Cancer Genome Consortium and their collective aim is to catalogue 25,000 full genomes of the 50 most common types of cancer and make the information freely available online. The public can see summaries of the data and researchers worldwide can access detailed reports.
Last week Australia and three other members of the ICGC were the first to publish results online.
The NSW Cancer Council has a DVD on Pancreatic Cancer that can be viewed on their website.

Completion of Suite of Guidelines on Arthritis

The last in a suite of four NHMRC approved Arthritis Guidelines, the Clinical Guideline for the Prevention and Treatment of Osteoporosis in Postmenopausal Women and Older Men have been released by the Royal Australian College of General Practioners.

NHMRC Nutrition Subsite

The NHMRC Nutrition Portal Subsite now hosts a nutrition blog which is free to register. The blog is intended to encourage dialogue and exchange of ideas on the overall revision of the Dietary Guidelines, on documents released for consultation and other nutrition topics.

Also on the subsite are guidelines, risk factors and nutrient reference values.

Cardiovascular Disease Mortality

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has released a report titled "Cardiovascular disease mortality trends at different ages". Despite a dramatic reduction since the late 1960s, cardiovascular disease remains the largest cause of death in Australia. This report examines recent data to determine if the observed decrease in cardiovascular disease deaths since the 1960s is shared across disease subtypes and among different population groups. This report includes information on the past and recent trends of key cardiovascular diseases such as coronary heart disease and stroke, and describes how trends vary on the basis of age group and sex. International trends are also presented for comparison. (From: Media release)

A Snapshot of Men's Health

The Australian Institute of Health (AIHW) has released a report "A Snapshot of men's health in rural and remote Australia". Men in rural regions of Australia may face distinct health issues because of their location, work and lifestyle. This report provides a snapshot of some of these issues and compares the illness and mortality of men in rural and urban areas. Overall, men in rural areas are more likely than their urban counterparts to experience chronic health conditions and risk factors. This report is a useful resource for policymakers, researchers and others interested in emerging men's health policies in Australia. (From: AIHW media release)

10 out of 10 Deadly Health Stories

10 out of 10 Deadly Health Stories: Nutrition and Physical Activity.
The Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council has compiled stories from NSW Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services to demonstrate the success and potential of several Aboriginal community health initiatives. This booklet presents the stories of ten successful nutrition and physical activity programs from NSW Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHSs).
Click here for a copy of the booklet

Health Systems Evidence

Health Systems Evidence is a continuously updated repository of syntheses of research evidence about governance, financial and delivery arrangements within health systems, and about implementation strategies that can support change in health systems.
It contains details about all policy briefs, overviews of systematic reviews, systematic reviews, and protocols of systematic reviews relevant to health systems, as well as links to user-friendly summaries of these syntheses, scientific abstracts and full-text reports (when freely available).
Health Systems Evidence is a collaboration between the McMaster Health Forum and three partners: McMaster University’s Program in Policy Decision-making, the Canadian Cochrane Centre and Rx for Change.

Nursing and Web 2.0

Nursing and Web 2.0 is a new collection of resources on Webicina.com that features selected nursing blogs, news sites, podcasts, Youtube channels, mobile applications and slideshows, among others.

Building an Australian Aged Care System

As part of the Rudd Government’s $739 million investment in aged care to better support older Australians, for the first time the Commonwealth will take full policy and funding responsibility for aged care.This will allow the Government to build a nationally consistent aged care system allowing people to seamlessly move from basic help at home through to residential care as their care needs change, assisted through improvements to aged care information and assessment services.Currently, the aged care system is fragmented, with divided responsibilities between Commonwealth and state governments. This makes it difficult for older people and their carers to find and access the care that best suits their needs.
You can read the full media releases here.

New tool aims to unlock the secrets of engaging patients

A recent BMJ article published on April 1, 2010 promotes a new online tool, where doctors will be able to discover the lessons learnt from global research into areas including patient experience, health literacy, shared decisions to choose appropriate treatment, self management, health promotion, and public engagement. It gives a comprehensive review of the best worldwide evidence, of what works to engage patients and the public in healthcare.Although it is an English site, it gives information on delivering higher quality and more efficient care and treatment, which:
* empowers patients with greater knowledge
* gives patients a better experience
* makes the best use of healthcare resources, and
* contributes to improved health behaviours and better health.
The tool can be seen here.

National Best Practice Guidelines for Collecting Indigenous Status in Health Data Sets

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has released a new report containing national best practice guidelines for the collection of Indigenous status. All clients of health services should be asked if they are of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin during routine data collection. These guidelines have been developed to ensure the standard Indigenous status question is asked correctly and consistently of all clients of health services, and that this information is correctly recorded.

Writing Case Reports

Do you need to write case reports? PubMed has prepared a bibliography for writing case reports. Some of them contain checklists or specified criteria which may be useful. Some articles are available free from the bibliography. Try the Library Ejournal list for full text of others. Your Network Library will help with those not available from the list.

Emergency Department Demographics at a Small Australian Rural Hospital

Providing acute, 24 hour healthcare services in small rural communities is a real challenge. This study in the Journal of Rural and Remote Health offers important data about the type of patients who use such small health units.

Less Heart Disease, More Dementia: ABS

The proportion of Australian deaths by heart disease has decreased over the last ten years, according to figures released on 31 March 2010 by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). In 1999, 22% of all deaths in Australia were due to heart disease, compared to 16% of all deaths in 2008. Despite the decline, with 16% of deaths heart disease remains the biggest killer.

Over the same period, deaths due to dementia and Alzheimer's disease more than doubled. Further information is available in Causes of Death, Australia, 2008.

Key documents in Australia's health reform

This infobyte on the Primary Health Care Research and Information Service provides links to key government documents, information, articles and resources relevant to Australian health reform.
InfoBytes are updated regularly and provide a portal to the array of resources available on the world wide web. PHCRIS is funded by the Federal Department of Health and Aging.

What works with adolescents?

A new paper published by the Australian Institute of Family Studies, explores the literature regarding adolescent-parent relationships and the evidence for family involvement in interventions, such as family therapy, to address adolescent problems. Examples of practice are provided.