NORDOCS 2019 - a matter of communications
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- Written by Robin Osborne
The topics were as diverse as could be imagined, ranging from life as a JMO on the Northern Rivers to medical cannabis and a surgical aid program in Timor Leste (East Timor) involving doctors from Australia, Cuba and China.
The second annual NORDOCS gathering received sponsorship from the Northern NSW Local Health District and the North Coast Primary Health Network, with the Lismore venue being provided by the University Centre for Rural Health. It was held under the barrier-less “unconference” format .
The 30 attendees also heard about the history of the local medical fraternity from 1866, the challenges of rural surgical training, managing obstructive sleep apnoea, the prospects (and challenges) of greater longevity, lifestyle medicine and modern stroke management.
An icy wind blows through NSW
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- Written by Robin Osborne
Despite a passing resemblance to Kenneth Hayne AC QC, who headed the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry, Professor Dan Howard SC presides over a very different kind of inquiry. Known as the Special Commission of Inquiry into the Drug ‘Ice’, the NSW Government-convened roadshow held two days of hearings in Lismore in mid-May.
According to Professor Howard, a former president of the NSW Mental Health Review Tribunal and former acting judge of the District Court of NSW, “Lismore is one of the regional communities where the use of crystal methamphetamine is of particular concern.”
Homeless services are a “field of dreams”
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- Written by Robin Osborne
They call it the “field of dreams” scenario – build it and they will come, and they have been doing just that in Tweed Heads and Coffs Harbour where the St Vincent de Paul Society, a.k.a. Vinnies, has developed weekday drop-in centres offering a range of services to people who are homeless or at risk of becoming so
In the border location, where it is the only such centre in a highly populated area, Fred’s Place – named after the Society’s founder, Frederic Ozanam – is now seeing more than one hundred people a day through its doors. While registration is requested, anonymity is respected and no IDs are checked, hence a number of visitors from “Mars’” and clients claiming to be “Superman” and “Mickey Mouse”. Mental health issues are relatively common amongst the homeless population.
Discharge summary versus clinical handover: language matters
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- Written by Katrina McLean, Micha Rice, Nick Tellis
This article first appeared in MJA Insight+. The authors and administrators of the GPs Down Under Facebook group.
In our earlier article we described the concept of “passing the baton” when talking about transfers of patient care. All patients come from their communities and to their communities they shall return. In this transition from tertiary hospital to primary care, they benefit from timely, safe, effective clinical handover as defined in the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards.
Read more: Discharge summary versus clinical handover: language matters
Time to wake up to “sleep apathy” risks
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- Written by Robin Osborne
The report of a federal parliamentary inquiry into sleep health awareness was released in April 2019
It was drafted by eight Members of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Sport, following a reference from the Health Minister. Over several months it held interstate hearings, received 138 expert submissions and 30 exhibits, and considered key previous studies, including 318 NHMRC-supported research grants relating to sleep or sleep disorders from 2000-2018.
It seems fair to ask, given the exhaustive (and expensive) nature of the exercise, whether all this work tells us anything new. The temptation is to suggest not, as clinicians and the broader community seem well aware that, “Sleep is a fundamental human need and, along with nutrition and physical exercise, it is one of the three pillars of good health.”
As everyone agreed, “Sleep is a crucial element in the maintenance of health and wellbeing.”
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