GPs and the health of the nation
The RACGP has released its 2020 General Practice Health of the Nation Report. In the survey, GPs recounted some of their major concerns treating patients during the pandemic. Read More...
Clinical Articles
Voluntary Assisted Dying – what are the choices?
Depending on jurisdiction, a person eligible for voluntary assisted dying (VAD) may have a choice from one of three possibilities. Read More...
Case Study: Comprehensive pathology, histopathology and molecular typing in customising cancer treatment
A 40-year-old female presented to the ED with intermittent abdominal pain of two to three months duration, as well as PR and PV bleeding. Her past medical history included an appendectomy two years prior, and primary hyperparathyroidism. She had no family history of malignancy. On examination, the patient had a tender abdomen with absent bowel sounds. Read More...
Christmas infectious diseases and ‘bush biteys’
With border restrictions easing, travel within Australia at Christmas will be popular. We cannot predict COVID transmission, but vigilance and ongoing community engagement will hopefully control outbreaks. It is interesting that widespread hand hygiene and social distancing have reduced other respiratory viruses and gastroenteritis presentations to extremely low levels. Read More...
Demystifying the mildly abnormal FBC
Abnormal results on a full blood count (FBC) can cause significant angst. Yet, there is no such thing as a ‘normal range’. Reference ranges are derived from thousands of samples taken from healthy people. They vary with ethnicity, gender and age. The reference range is the middle 95% (two standard deviations from the mean) thus excluding the top and bottom 2.5% of healthy people. Read More...
Modern surgical management of breast cancer
Breast cancer management has changed dramatically over the years. With overall survival rates now above 90%, safe de-escalation of surgery is now being emphasised, to minimise surgical morbidity and preserve aesthetic outcomes and quality of life. Read More...
Sarcopenia and Osteoporosis, where bone muscle and fat collide
Sarcopenia is defined as an age-related disease of low muscle mass and low muscle strength or function. It is of increasing clinical importance due to growing evidence of its health implications and the increasing proportion of older people in the population. Read More...
Preventing burnout in the mental juggling act of medicine
“Just one more patient, one more meeting, one more hour of study…” It is easy to keep adding that “one more thing” to our day but doing that “little bit extra” can be a slippery slope and, before we know it, we are overwhelmed and experiencing burnout, seldom realising it until after we have started experiencing the ill-effects. Read More...