NorDocs Unconference 2023
After four years the Nordocs Unconference is returning to the North Coast.This year the Unconference will be held on 13 May at Southern Cross University.
For those unfamiliar with the concept, Unconferences allow communities of interest to come together and discuss matters that are of important to them. The focus is on community and participation and floor is open to any who wishes to speak. The presentations may be on short lived matters or minor issues of interest to the community. In the medical context such topics may not normally attract the attention of larger organisations like Primary Health Networks or Local Hospital Districts.
The format for the day is two concurrent streams with each stream comprised of 9 individual slots each lasting 30 minutes. Presentations can vary from a TED Talk style presentation lasting 15 to 20 minutes followed by a discussion for 10 to 5 minutes, to the opposite where a brief outline of a problem can be followed by a 20 minute group discussion. However, all talks finish after 25 minutes to allow time for the next presenter to set up and for participants to change rooms.
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The Lismore experiment
What happens when a community is denied access to general practice?Dr Sue Velovski argues that if the Government’s failure to support Lismore health providers is a social experiment, then the results are in.
This article first appeared in the NSW Doctor in January 2023.
Most of us born after 1970 in Australia do not know life without the privilege of universal healthcare – the ability to see a doctor irrespective of our financial status.
Our healthcare system ranks as one of the best in the world and is praised by the citizens of many other countries… even Presidents. I recall being at a conference in San Francisco in 2011, when the then President Barack Obama spoke to a group of Aussies about our experience of healthcare.
I was fortunate to be born in this country, a first generation Australian. This allowed me access to free healthcare and the ability to complete public high school, and with the benefit of scholarships, complete university. In a world where one-fifth of all girls are denied an education, this is not something to be taken for granted.
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- Written by Dr Sue Velovski
Medicare for prisoners
The interface between ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ is vital for prisoners Australia is a wealthy and well-developed nation but when it comes to the management of our prison systems we lag well behind Scandinavia and various other countries in the world. This is particularly the case for our First Nations people.
Our custodial statistics tell the story. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples makeup: 3% of the general population, 28% of the prison population, 86% of recidivism, 40% of the female prison population, and 98% of youth behind bars in the NT.
There are many reasons for this, including transgenerational trauma. Indigenous prisoners have nearly all suffered from past trauma whether that is physical, psychological, or sexual abuse. That is the medical and psychosocial history they give when asked.
The problem is stark, and the solutions are challenging particularly with the populist ‘tough on crime’ political views behind it. However, the mood may be changing around the Uluru Statement from the Heart process underway in Australia.
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- Written by Andrew Binns
Book Review - Live Younger Longer?
So You Want to Live Younger Longer?
Dr Norman Swan
Hachette 307pp
Book Review by Robin Osborne
Perhaps the indefatigable Dr Norman Swan rarely sleeps, for here he is again, amidst his hosting of ABC Radio National’s The Health Report and co-hosting the Coronacast podcast, with a follow-up to last year’s So You Think You Know What’s Good For You?, also reviewed on these pages.
The telling question mark at the end of both titles may well produce a different answer.
In the case of this book that is likely to be a resounding yes, given the known links between longevity and morbidity. Who doesn’t want to keep well in later life?
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- Written by Robin Osborne
Book Review - Quit Smoking - Weapons of Mass Distraction
Quit Smoking - Weapons of Mass Distraction
Dr Simon Chapman
Sydney University Press 359pp. Published as an e-book ($4.99 on Amazon) and paperback ($34.99)
Book Review by Robin Osborne
From a night-riding graffitist of cigarette posters with Billboard Utilising Graffitists Against Unhealthy Promotions (B.U.G.A.U.P.) in the 1970s, to a semi-retired public health academic, Simon Chapman has conducted an unmitigated campaign against the tobacco industry. He set the tone with his PhD thesis titled Cigarette advertising as myth: a re-evaluation of the relationship of advertising to smoking and despite considerable headwinds has held the course.
Chapman’s latest work is a detailed focus on yet another con associated with the world of smoking, namely that nicotine is so addictive that kicking the habit is impossible without interventions of some kind, mostly provided by the pharmaceutical industry at considerable personal or public expense.
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- Written by Robin Osborne
Read more: Book Review - Quit Smoking - Weapons of Mass Distraction
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Local Medical History e-book
A history of the the local medical fraternity from 1866 to 1986 by Dr Neil Thompson
The book is available from Amazon as a Kindle app for mobile phone and tablets.