Articles
World Immunology Week 2015
And don't forget to get your flu vax before winter hits! [ + ]
Natural Conception for HIV-Positive Parents
More good news for HIV-positive people hoping to conceive: a combination treatment that allows for natural conception may soon be available in Australia. But what will it mean for addressing the stigma attached to those living with HIV? And what about those born to HIV-positive parents? [ + ]
Pharmacy Dispensing Affects Painkillers and HIV Medications
The Therapeutic Goods Administration will decide via Advisory Committee whether to move painkillers containing codeine such as Nurofen Plus, Mersyndol and Panadeine from their current Schedule 3 category to a Schedule 4 classification, thus requiring a doctor’s script. [ + ]
X-Rays reveal key research in Alzheimer’s Treatment
Image (developed from Australian Synchrotron data) courtesy of Dr Luke Miles, St Vincent's Institute. [ + ]
The forgotten Australian women doctors of the Great War
Image: Australian troops in France in the first world war – and one of Australia’s women medics, possibly Dr Laura Foster. Heather Sheard The War Office regrets it cannot utilise the services of women doctors – Sydney Morning Herald, May 10, 1915. From the outbreak of the first world war until late 1916, military officialdom throughout the British Empire denied women doctors the right to enlist with the Allied medical corps. Nevertheless, more than 20 Australian women doctors acted as surgeons and medical officers in military base and field hospitals in Belgium, France, Serbia, England, Egypt, Malta and across Europe between 1914 and 1919. [ + ]
New Chemotherapy Drug for Ovarian Cancer
A new chemotherapy drug for ovarian cancer has received United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Orphan Drug Designation. Cantrixil is now scheduled to enter Australia in late-2015/early-2016 for clinical treatment of patients with the condition malignant ascites, a terminal condition associated with cancers such as ovarian cancer and for which no effective long-term therapies exist. [ + ]
Digital App Technology Benefits the Trauma Room
Trauma specialists at Sydney’s Westmead Hospital have reported a positive response to the six-month trial of a new app designed specifically for the facility to assist with critical decision-making processes in time and resource restricted situations. [ + ]
Victoria and Queensland join Marijuana Trials
The states will join with New South Wales in three separate trials to test for the benefits of medicinal marijuana with a total cost of $9 million to commence in mid-2016. [ + ]
Review of the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards - Development of version two
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Carnage and Contagion: Can Zombie Pop Culture be used to improve infection prevention and control practices
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Better Patient Consultation Needed on Funding of Medical Technologies
There needs to be improved consultation with patient advocacy groups about public health funding for new medical technologies according to a study by the University of Adelaide's School of Population Health. [ + ]
Improving Medication Safety: Safer Together
Medication safety is a critical issue for health professionals and their patients. Although medicines make a significant contribution to preventing and treating illness, increasing life expectancy and improving quality of life, they also have the potential to cause harm. As a result, medicines are not only associated with providing therapeutic benefits to patients, but also with adverse events caused by errors in systems and processes within prescribing, dispensing, administration and monitoring practices. Medication incidences have negative impacts on patient outcomes and public confidence of healthcare delivery and they are costly to the health care system, its health professionals and regulatory bodies. Safe use of medicines is a high priority in the healthcare sector. [ + ]
