In the provision of healthcare, the building container – both design and execution is a critical determining factor. Accommodating people in a highly vulnerable state is an enormous challenge for architects. Specifically, the ability to combine architecture and art with medical science, logistics, technical equipment and building technology is of great importance when it comes to environments that meet the needs of patients, relatives, medical staff and researchers. [ + ]

A new general practice centre operated by four Aboriginal doctors on Palm Island is streamlining healthcare in the region and creating a blueprint for Indigenous healthcare across Australia. The move heralds a new dawn in healthcare in the remote corner of Australia, a fantastic milestone for the community. [ + ]

The Pharmacy Guild of Australia and the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia have developed jointly a suite of resources to help pharmacists meet changes to Commonwealth Privacy legislation which are effective from today, 12 March [ + ]

Australia’s largest health union, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF), is supporting the need for the introduction of a simpler, more transparent food labelling system. [ + ]

A new report released today, Crossroads - Rethinking the Australian Mental Health System, shows an additional cost to the taxpayer of $9b if the structure and emphasis of the current system is maintained. [ + ]

Get it in Black and White, an Australian-first campaign, is encouraging Australians to find out what medical or health treatment their parent would or would not want. [ + ]

A review of more than 64 studies has shown that women with diabetes have a 27 per cent higher risk of stroke than men with diabetes. [ + ]

The Therapeutic Goods Administration is inviting medical software vendors to participate in a pilot project to facilitate reporting  adverse events by health professionals. The project is to develop a TGA web service to assist software vendors who wish include access to reporting adverse events for health professionals in medical software. Following this pilot project, which is expected to run until April 2014, a TGA web service will be available to software vendors at no cost. Any company providing software to health professionals - such as general practitioners, hospital and community pharmacists, specialists and nurses - who submit reports of adverse events to medicines is welcome to participate. The web service will be compatible with both mobile and desktop devices. Involvement in the pilot will require vendors to develop a reporting interface within their own software program and to test transmission of reports using the web service from their software to the TGA in XML format. Reports of adverse events from health professionals are essential to the TGA’s safety monitoring activities. Feedback to the TGA indicates that the time required to report is a significant barrier to reporting by health professionals.  Providing an adverse event reporting mechanism in medical software, particularly one that allows reports to be automatically populated from clinical record data, has been suggested as a way of reducing the time required to find, complete and send reporting forms. Development of the adverse event report web service is one of a number of projects that the TGA is currently undertaking to encourage adverse event reporting by health professionals and consumers by: [ + ]

University of Adelaide researchers have identified a key step for the future prevention of liver failure resulting from taking too much of the everyday painkiller paracetamol. [ + ]

Possible risks associated with medical staff using mobile digital technologies for professional purposes have been raised in a leading study at Monash University. [ + ]

A University of Queensland researcher has developed new guidelines for psychiatrists and dermatologists prescribing and treating acne with a drug linked with suicide and depression. [ + ]

Professor Peter Shergold AC will chair the Aged Care Sector Committee, tasked with building the foundation for a constructive and lasting partnership between the Australian Government and the aged care sector. [ + ]

The Australian Medical Association has released an updated Position Statement on Women’s Health, which includes the impact that domestic violence and sexual assault has on women’s health. [ + ]

A new Grattan Institute Report, Controlling Costly Care: a Billion-Dollar Hospital Opportunity reveals a better pricing  system for public hospital treatment will show where costs are too high, and free up $1 billion for better health care. [ + ]

A new study led by the University of Melbourne and Orygen Youth Health Research Centre is the first to discover that the brain develops differently in adolescents who experience depression. [ + ]