feeds from physicians.com.au http://physicians.com.au/rss/ en-au http://physicians.com.au/rss/ http://physicians.com.au/static/campfire/layouts/images/omg-logo-small.png http://www.physicians.com.au/news/2011/3/27/doctors-and-verses/ Sun, 27 Mar 2011 00:00:00 EST news A new collection of stories from writers who trained in medicine illustrates the intimate connection between the two disciplines, writes Simon Webster. IN AN Australian hospital, one Christmas Eve in the 1980s, a six-year-old boy with terminal cancer spiked a fever in the middle of the night. The junior doctor on duty, 25-year-old Leah Kaminsky, phoned a consultant for advice. She was told to check for meningitis by performing a spinal tap, an invasive and uncomfortable procedure."The child ...

You need curiosity as a doctor and as a writer. You have to know about people, so you ask questions and you listen very carefully.

http://www.physicians.com.au/news/2011/3/25/boy-has-serious-disease-doctor/ Fri, 25 Mar 2011 00:00:00 EST news A BOY is in a stable condition in a Hunter hospital with confirmed meningococcal disease.It is the second confirmed case in the Hunter New England Local Health Network this year.The latest incident follows 13 confirmed cases of meningococcal disease in the Hunter New England region in 2010.The health service said yesterday the boy's close contacts were contacted to receive prescribed clearance antibiotics.Public health physician Craig Dalton said seeking medical attention quickly might prevent s ...

A BOY is in a stable condition in a Hunter hospital with confirmed meningococcal disease.

http://www.physicians.com.au/news/2011/3/12/the-mystery-of-the-migraine/ Sat, 12 Mar 2011 00:00:00 EST news The triggers may be different, but the end result is always the same : Excruciating pain. And while the treatment of migraines is improving , their cause remains elusive. Long-time sufferer Amanda Hooton reports I had my first migraine at 14. i was at school, doing a test, and I realised that although I knew (some of) the answers to the questions, I couldn't write them down: I couldn't transfer the words from my brain to the paper. Nor, for that matter, could I actually see the paper; strange b ...

The triggers may be different, but the end result is always the same : Excruciating pain. And while the treatment of migraines is improving , their cause remains elusive. Long-time sufferer Amanda Hooton reports

http://www.physicians.com.au/news/2011/3/7/intrepid-surgeon-an-athlete-and-adventurer/ Mon, 07 Mar 2011 00:00:00 EST news Russel Pardoe, 29 years old, freshly graduated in medicine with scant surgical experience, was working at Mawson Base in Antarctica in 1961, with the Australian National Antarctic Expedition. When mechanic Allan Newman suffered a cerebral haemorrhage, he was challenged.Having never witnessed or participated in neurosurgery, Pardoe nevertheless had to act.He got in touch with a surgeon in Melbourne and, communicating by Morse code, got advice on what to do. He was required to fashion medical equi ...

RUSSEL PARDOE 1932–2011

http://www.physicians.com.au/news/2011/2/27/memo-mr-baillieu-youre-not-in-favour-of-discrimination/ Sun, 27 Feb 2011 00:00:00 EST news Victoria's premier has chosen an odd way to show off his progressive credentials, writes Melissa Fyfe. VICTORIA is home to Australia's most small-l Liberal government. Ted Baillieu and his moderate Liberals are supposed to be more progressive than your average Coalition outfit.At least, that's what some said before the election. Leslie Cannold, an archetypal left-wing feminist and ethicist, wrote a piece for The Age concluding that progressive voters should (gasp) consider voting Liberal.She arg ...

Victoria's premier has chosen an odd way to show off his progressive credentials, writes Melissa Fyfe.

http://www.physicians.com.au/news/2011/2/26/diagnosis-murder/ Sat, 26 Feb 2011 00:00:00 EST news He was the respected head of psychiatry at a top New Zealand university, yet his colleagues - despite their training - did not see that Colin Bouwer was also a psychopath. Carl Elliott dissects the mind of a killer.Dunedin - the second city of new Zealand's South Island, and the home of the University of Otago - is an uncommonly peaceful place. Once, at tea in the university's Bioethics Centre (where I've had a visiting appointment for some years), a nurse leaned towards me and said, "In Du ...

He was the respected head of psychiatry at a top New Zealand university, yet his colleagues - despite their training - did not see that Colin Bouwer was also a psychopath. Carl Elliott dissects the mind of a killer.

http://www.physicians.com.au/news/2011/2/26/no-bones-about-it-got-to-love-a-murder/ Sat, 26 Feb 2011 00:00:00 EST news AT 9PM last Sunday, 6.5 million Australians were watching a murder mystery. They weren't all tuned to the same murder mystery, of course, but they were unanimous in their devotion to sleuths in search of solutions, whether that sleuth was Jane Marple, Patrick Jane, Dr Temperance Brennan, Steve McGarrett or, on pay TV, Hercule Poirot, Inspector Kurt Wallander, or Lieutenant Anita Van Buren.At other times of the week, you could expand that list with such names as Richard Castle, Catherine Willows, ...

AT 9PM last Sunday, 6.5 million Australians were watching a murder mystery. They weren't all tuned to the same murder mystery, of course, but they were unanimous in their devotion to sleuths in search of solutions, whether that sleuth was Jane Marple, Patrick Jane, Dr Temperance Brennan, Steve McGarrett or, on pay TV, Hercule Poirot, Inspector Kurt Wallander, or Lieutenant Anita Van Buren.

http://www.physicians.com.au/news/2011/2/24/lost-in-cancers-great-unknown/ Thu, 24 Feb 2011 00:00:00 EST news Being diagnosed as having cancer of unknown primary provides few answers, writes Julie Robotham. Lethally efficient, it kills more than three-quarters of the 3000 Australians it affects each year, typically within three months. Treatment usually makes little difference and there is no screening test for worried families. Doctors do not specialise in it, patient-support groups do not exist and there are no ribbon-day fund-raisers or celebrity sufferers. Most people have never even heard of it.The ...

Being diagnosed as having cancer of unknown primary provides few answers, writes Julie Robotham.

http://www.physicians.com.au/news/2011/2/19/lifeanddeath-healthcare-needs-reform-says-expert/ Sat, 19 Feb 2011 00:00:00 EST news THE extremely premature baby whose life could be saved at great cost is allowed to succumb. A 90-year-old patient is denied a life-supporting cardiac valve because of age.Such care-rationing decisions are already being made in resource-strapped hospitals but "off-stage" and without public discussion, says the former federal health minister Peter Baume.Professor Baume, a former physician, has called for an urgent debate on the issue he says health reformers have missed.He cites cases of ...

THE extremely premature baby whose life could be saved at great cost is allowed to succumb. A 90-year-old patient is denied a life-supporting cardiac valve because of age.

http://www.physicians.com.au/news/2011/2/11/lets-talk-about-sex-baby/ Fri, 11 Feb 2011 00:00:00 EST news Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman play friends with benefits in No Strings Attached, writes Donna Walker-Mitchell. Ashton Kutcher has been acting since the late 1990s and has worked on more than 20 films with some of the world's most beautiful stars. Yet when it comes to filming a love scene, the 33-year-old admits he isn't completely comfortable."I think you're always waiting, wondering when the word 'Cut' is going to be said when you're doing those scenes," Kutcher says.His latest f ...

Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman play friends with benefits in No Strings Attached, writes Donna Walker-Mitchell.

http://www.physicians.com.au/news/2011/2/9/letters/ Wed, 09 Feb 2011 00:00:00 EST news BUDGET CUTS A political choice we don't needSANITY and the voice of reason prevail. I congratulate Julie Bishop for having the foresight and courage to speak some sense in this debate and stand up for election promises, in this case to lift foreign aid to 0.5 per cent of gross national income by 2015 ("Lib row on budget cuts", The Age, 8/2).What is in question is our $200 million aid program to Africa. This money saves thousands of lives every year. In Ethiopia midwives are trained so ...

BUDGET CUTS

http://www.physicians.com.au/news/2011/2/9/take-a-close-look-at-life/ Wed, 09 Feb 2011 00:00:00 EST news MICROBIOLOGISTS are the polar opposite of celebrities, in that they live their lives over the microscope. They peer down at all manner of lifeforms, figuring out how they can be used to improve our lives, working among agar dishes and Petri plates.Much of microbiologists' work is at the cutting edge of science. They fight infectious diseases, develop antibiotics and are involved in genetic engineering. They have been responsible for unearthing much of what we know about the spread of germs. They ...

MICROBIOLOGISTS are the polar opposite of celebrities, in that they live their lives over the microscope. They peer down at all manner of lifeforms, figuring out how they can be used to improve our lives, working among agar dishes and Petri plates.

http://www.physicians.com.au/news/2011/2/7/last-rights/ Mon, 07 Feb 2011 00:00:00 EST news [WHO] Dr Rodney Syme, medical carer who has helped hundreds of people die [WHAT] Our laws cause the terminally ill unnecessary suffering and deny rights [HOW]Take morally compelled action and lead through the legal fogConscience and compassion can lead ethical people into difficult situations, writes Michael Short. THIS is about you. This is about your death. But this is not morbid. We know death is certain, yet we so often fail to factor it into life, choosing instead to act as if existence is ...

[WHO] Dr Rodney Syme, medical carer who has helped hundreds of people die

http://www.physicians.com.au/news/2011/2/5/a-trailblazer-for-female-physicians/ Sat, 05 Feb 2011 00:00:00 EST news GWEN FLEMING 1916-2011Some time before she died, Gwen Fleming reacted to a get-well wish by paraphrasing Don Quixote: "To get well when you are dying is a terrible waste of good health."This wry humour characterised her life, which she began as Mary Gwenyth Lusby in Taree on June 9, 1916, the third of John and Caroline Lusby's six children. At age 11, Gwen took charge of the family when Caroline was ill. During the Depression the children shared shoes and went without.John, a schoolmas ...

GWEN FLEMING 1916-2011

http://www.physicians.com.au/news/2011/2/4/victorian-melodrama-cloaks-a-modern-vibe/ Fri, 04 Feb 2011 00:00:00 EST news The isolation of playwright Sarah Ruhl’s characters can hit a nerve with audiences, writes Bryce Hallett. In The Next Room, or the vibrator play opens at the Opera House Drama Theatre on February 11. Previews begin on Monday.A rriving at a French cafe near the heart of East Village, New York, Sarah Ruhl is heavily rugged up to combat the elements. For good reason. The scene outside could be straight from one of her vividly mundane and mythic plays: near-desolate streets blanketed in ...

The isolation of playwright Sarah Ruhl’s characters can hit a nerve with audiences, writes Bryce Hallett. In The Next Room, or the vibrator play opens at the Opera House Drama Theatre on February 11. Previews begin on Monday.

http://www.physicians.com.au/news/2011/2/2/third-day-of-heat-is-the-one-to-beware-of/ Wed, 02 Feb 2011 00:00:00 EST news HOSPITALS are bracing for a rise in heat-related admissions today as NSW swelters through a third day of hot weather.Temperatures are expected to nudge 40 degrees in the western suburbs after they peaked at 43 yesterday and 41 on Monday.Public health experts said day three of a heat wave was more dangerous than earlier days with hotter peaks, with people calling ambulances or visiting emergency departments as their bodies gave in to the immense pressure placed on them by the weather."The lo ...

HOSPITALS are bracing for a rise in heat-related admissions today as NSW swelters through a third day of hot weather.

http://www.physicians.com.au/news/2011/1/28/the-original-speed-demon/ Fri, 28 Jan 2011 00:00:00 EST news The Red Devil set records once thought unachievable, writes Don Sherman. He was an electric-car pioneer - and the first man to break the magical 100km/h barrier - but Belgian Camille Jenatzy earned little lasting acclaim for his achievements.This son of a wealthy rubber-goods manufacturer was one of the first car enthusiasts and the designer, engineer and driver of La Jamais Contente (Never Satisfied), the first car to top 100km/h.Jenatzy, nicknamed "Le Diable Rouge" (The Red Devil) be ...

The Red Devil set records once thought unachievable, writes Don Sherman.

http://www.physicians.com.au/news/2011/1/26/a-rare-allrounder-among-medical-specialists/ Wed, 26 Jan 2011 00:00:00 EST news SOME medical specialists excel at patient care and teaching while others make their names in research, but Professor George Jerums is considered a rare all-rounder.The Austin Hospital endocrinologist will become a member in the general division of the Order of Australia for his work on treating diabetes over the past four decades, and showing great care and humility in the process.The father of three's major contribution to the specialty has been in the early detection and treatment of diabetic ...

SOME medical specialists excel at patient care and teaching while others make their names in research, but Professor George Jerums is considered a rare all-rounder.

http://www.physicians.com.au/news/2011/1/24/health-myki-faces-the-axe-360m-technology-program-botched/ Mon, 24 Jan 2011 00:00:00 EST news THE state government is considering abandoning Victoria's trouble-plagued $360 million health technology program, with Health Minister David Davis admitting he faces "a genuine dilemma with 'the myki of the health system' ".The HealthSMART program — five years late and $35 million over budget — is supposed to link computer systems in hospitals and introduce processes such as electronic prescribing.But clinical applications are only partially running in just four ...

THE state government is considering abandoning Victoria's trouble-plagued $360 million health technology program, with Health Minister David Davis admitting he faces "a genuine dilemma with 'the myki of the health system' ".

http://www.physicians.com.au/articles/a-career-as-a-physicians-assistant/ Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST A career as a Physician’s Assistant An increasing popular option for a career in the various medical fields. Careers in the physicians industry are not limited only to fully fledged physicians with a surge in popularity for the role of physicians assistant. A physician’s assistant is a licensed professional who practices medicine under the supervision of a licensed physician and are primarily concerned with the treatment and prevention of ...

An increasing popular option for a career in the various medical fields. Care ...