Note: This is an update to a draft blog post I've had sitting, unpublished for quite a while, which I began writing after the Digital Health Strategy was published back in August. New stuff is at the bottom. It's been a busy couple of weeks in the digital health
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You might have seen a story doing the rounds about a shortage of a couple of antibiotics - metronidazole and vancomycin. Stripped of some of the sensationalist language, it's actually not a bad coverage of an important issue. Sorting this issue out at the level of our local hospital took
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I spent yesterday in Brisbane at this year's Antimicrobial Resistance Forum. As with last year, it was a joint project of the Queensland Statewide stewardship team, UQ IMB's Centre for Superbug Solutions and the Queensland Health Communicable Diseases Network. It's an excellent forum - one that I don't mind treking down to
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I've thus far avoided commenting beyond a small amount of twitter snark about the woes of Catalyst - once regarded as the ABC's flagship science program, but today I really feel like I have to join the chorus of condemnation. In October 2013, Catalyst broadcast a two-part episode, entitled "Heart
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It was interesting to see that Antimicrobial Stewardship made it to the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald (hat-tip to Krispin Hajkowicz - twitter - for letting me know it was actually on the front page), although I'm equally interested in the fact that it occurred through the lens
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As regular as clockwork, at this time of year, articles appear about the Australian Red Cross Blood Service and their desperate need for blood donations across the holiday period. If you're eligible, please consider giving. If you move in the circles I do, then shortly after this comes the
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(RBWH Head of Antimicrobial Stewardship and A/Director, Statewide Stewardship Network Dr Krispin Hajkowicz, photo from this tweet by Queensland Health Media team) I flew to Brisbane yesterday (and back, very happy the kids got me up at 6 this morning) for the launch of Antibiotic Awareness
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You've probably heard that the word "doctor" comes from the Latin docere - "to teach". The original Hippocratic Oath talked about teaching the art: I will reverence my master who taught me the art. Equally with my parents, will I allow him things necessary for his support, and will consider his
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Me, testing out very fashionable Ebola PPE I reckon every specialty has its unfashionable discipline. I'm not trying to down-play the significance of these conditions to people with them, or to the infrequent specialist who likes these less popular areas. But functional bowel disorders for the gastros, myalgic
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Here's the lecture I gave for Antibiotic Awareness Week in Cairns, November 2014. Thanks to Dr Colin Baskin for recording and editing it.
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