Traditional rivals Monash and Melbourne Universities are collaborating to create a new company that will market and sell medicines developed by the institutions to pharmaceutical companies, reinvesting any profit into research. [ + ]

Those crackling sounds of knees in the morning may sound scary, but there’s constant noise coming out of moving joints that we just don’t hear. Normal sounds may indicate healthy knees while unusual ones may point to something not quite right. Researchers at Georgia Tech are now investigating a sort of stethoscope for the knees, consisting of microphones and a film-based vibration sensor, stuck to the leg that listen for and interpret the sounds coming from within. [ + ]

Experts are calling for a national register of cost-effective medicines for public hospitals as medical advances push up the cost of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). [ + ]

Every code blue deserves a figurative autopsy to bolster prevention of the next. We are pretty good at the prevention of deep vein thrombosis [DVT], pulmonary embolism [PE], and line infections. We do some things well like faithfully reciting our "time-outs"; maybe that keeps us from operating on the wrong limb or the wrong patient, but there are old complications emerging that can spell disaster for some. Here are Melissa Walton-Shirley's top six easily preventable causes of patient death and demise in 2016. [ + ]

Health and social workers often choose their profession because they want to help people. But, according to Amanda Lambros, from Curtin University, seeing trauma and suffering on a regular basis can have a deep impact on these workers. “Compassion fatigue” is a response to the stress of caring for people at times of crisis and is often referred to as the cost of caring. [ + ]

Doctors need to be aware of behaviours that may indicate patients are drug seeking, such as doctor shopping or asking for drugs by name, and should have practice policies in place to help them say 'no', according to an Australian expert. The authors say there is strong evidence in Australia of increasing harms from prescription drugs of dependence including deaths from overdose. The authors highlight signs of drug-seeking to watch for and point out that dependency on prescription drugs may occur at any age, within any cultural group, and across any educational class. [ + ]

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An Australian-first study from Royal Perth Hospital (RPH) has found a link between poor traffic records and road trauma. [ + ]

That’s our aim. Not a single road death in Australia for just one day. Just one Fatality Free Friday. Fatality Free Friday continues to resonate with the Australian community and the efforts of this year’s campaign has reflected this. As we know road safety is a complex issue and it is impossible to find one single key to reduce road trauma. [ + ]

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Details given in this document are believed to be correct at the time of printing. While proper care has been taken in the preparation, no liability for injury or damage resulting from its use. © BOC Limited 2014 [ + ]

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Your documentation can be your defense or your downfall. You didn’t become a nurse to spend hours of time writing in your notes or to have them scrutinised by people trying to find fault in the care you provided. But the reality is that documentation is a necessary part of safe clinical care. [ + ]

A new study shows that using a transparent air-tight helmet instead of a face mask helps critically ill patients breathe better and can prevent them from needing a ventilator. Patients with helmet ventilation also spent less time in the intensive care unit and had better survival. [ + ]