Australia has more doctors per population than most comparable countries, yet many living in rural and remote areas don’t receive the care they need. Changing the way we train doctors will fix this.
Almost one-third (32%) of nurses and midwives are considering moving on.
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Nurses and midwives are among society’s most highly valued professionals. But a disturbing national picture is emerging of escalating levels of over-work and burnout.
When doctors aren’t engaged, things can go tragically wrong.
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Highly engaged doctors do much better on a wide range of important measures, from clinical performance, financial management and safety indicators to patient experience and overall quality standards.
Ineffective care exposes patients to complications and side-effects and waste precious health care resources.
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Victoria’s Royal Commission into Family Violence will today hear how the health system can better respond to partner abuse, with the help of trained professionals and broader, government support.
England’s NHS is taking implementing seven-day services in an attempt to reduce excess deaths on weekends.
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If you present to a hospital on the weekend, you have a higher chance of dying than if you present during the week. This is known as the “weekend effect”.
The gift of time makes patients happy.
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Much of the fear of cancer arises from a lack of control, so I’m at my happiest when a patient with a new diagnosis comes in bewildered and shaken and leaves my office feeling a modicum of control.
Bullying is not just a problem for women, or surgeons or even just the medical profession.
'At Their Mercy' Four Corners
The widespread bullying of doctors during training is not just an issue for surgeons, or women. It’s a problem for all medical professionals – and it poses a risk to patient safety.
If you need doctors to work in the country, you need a selection system that picks people with those values and commitments.
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Three features of a medical school help predict where medical students will eventually work as doctors: selection, the curriculum, and the professionalism of the newly-qualified doctors.
Fewer than one in three surgical trainees are women and the numbers fall as doctors reach advanced training.
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In a high-pressure surgical environment, where older male consultants dominate, and there is great competition for training positions and jobs, women are vulnerable to sexual harassment.
Physician assistants provide high-quality care and can help fill Australia’s rural doctor shortage.
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At a ceremony in Townsville today, four people will graduate from James Cook University’s physician assistant program. They will be Australia’s first bachelor’s graduates in that field. This is an important…
Elderly patients increasingly have multiple illnesses and are much more difficult to care for.
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New medical technologies and treatments over the past few decades have led to remarkable improvements in treating older patients. The annual death rate for an 80-year-old male in 2011 was just 5.6%, compared…
It seems anyone can call themselves a doctor these days.
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Qualifications and their associated titles allow for quick identification of appropriately trained or recognised experts within a given field. They bestow legitimacy on the information provided to people…
The number of doctors in major cities is ballooning, but we need are more doctors in rural areas.
becky bokern
Health care is a tough nut for governments because it’s the largest source of growth in government spending. Salary costs are the major part of this cost so workforce policy decisions have profound implications…
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne