Volume 201 Issue 8

Excess deaths from cancer remain attributable to area of residence and socioeconomic status

Robyn Godding

Partnership with GPs is critical to improving uptake of screening, which has been unacceptably low

Paul B Grogan · Ian N Olver MB BS, MD, PhD

The benefits of keeping our bowel bacteria well fed

David Topping · Michael A Conlon

n/a

We need to increase testing and treatment and keep searching for a cure

Levinia Crooks BA(Hons), DipEd, MBA · Michael R Kidd AM, MD, FRACGP · Robert Lake DCOM · Edwina J Wright MB BS, PhD, FRACP · Edward Reis BA

Biopsy should be routinely considered for intermediate thickness melanoma

David E Gyorki MB BS, MD, FRACS · Michael A Henderson BMedSc, MD, FRACS

A call for ongoing government commitment to rural oncology care

Peter Fox BSc(Med), MB BS, FRACP · Adam Boyce MB BS, FRACP

Does institutional volume matter?

Margaret Lee · Peter Gibbs

In reply: Does institutional volume matter?

Nicola Creighton · Ross C Smith · David C Currow

Combination therapies can help overcome treatment inertia and poor adherence in chronic disease management

Anthony Rodgers · Tracey-Lea Laba · Stephen Jan

For a realistic analysis, all primary care use and all known associations must be taken into account

David J Whyatt · Alistair Vickery · Matthew Yap

In reply: Social factors may, in part, explain the outcomes

Susan L Thomas

Keeping the doctor’s bag relevant to needs

Gerard F Gill

A three-phase model designed to replace not-for-resuscitation orders

Robyn L Thomas MB BS, FRACGP, FRAChPM · Mohamed Y Zubair MB BS, FRACP · Barbara Hayes MB BS, FAChPM, PhD · Michael A Ashby MD, FRACP, FFPMANZCA

Faster implementation of bowel screening can prevent close to twice as many bowel cancer deaths

Dayna R Cenin BSc(Hons), GradDipEd, MPH · D James B St John MD, FRACP, FRCP(UK) · Melissa J N Ledger BSc, MPH · Terry Slevin BA(Hons), MPH · Iris Lansdorp-Vogelaar PhD

In a centralised model of oncological care, rural and urban patients have equivalent survival

Christopher Hocking MB BS, FRACP · Vy Tuong Broadbridge MB BS, FRACP · Christos Karapetis MB BS, FRACP, MMedSc · Carol Beeke BHS, GradCertClinDataMgmt · Robert Padbury MB BS, FRACS, PhD · Guy J Maddern PhD, MD, FRACS · David M Roder BDS, MPH, DDSc(Epidemiol) · Timothy J Price MB BS, FRACP, DHlthSc

South Australians are more likely to settle their financial affairs than their health care and lifestyle advance directives

Sandra L Bradley BSc, BN, MSc · Richard J Woodman PhD · Jennifer J Tieman BSc(Hons), MBA, PhD · Paddy A Phillips MB BS, DPhil, FRACP

Broadening surveillance among Indigenous Australians and centralising care will bring down unacceptably high rates

Christopher Parker MB BS · Steven Y C Tong MB BS, FRACP, PhD · Karen Dempsey BSc, MAE · John Condon MB BS, FAFPHM, PhD · Suresh K Sharma RN · John W C Chen MB BS, FRACS, PhD · William Sievert MD, FRACP · Joshua S Davis MB BS, FRACP, PhD

Differences by area of residence point to the potential to reduce deaths in NSW through increased resection

David C Currow MPH, PhD, FRACP · Hui You BEngSc, MInfSc, MAppStats · Sanchia Aranda PhD, MN · Brian C McCaughan MB BS, FRACS · Stephen Morrell PhD, BA, BSc · Deborah F Baker BAppSc, MPH, GradDipAppEpid · Richard Walton MSc · David M Roder MPH, DDSc(Epid)

This complication is rare, but potentially disastrous

Eugene Ng MB BS · Michelle Lee MB BS

Clinicians need to be aware that older people are increasingly represented among new HIV diagnoses

Olivia C Smibert MB BS, DipTropMed · Michelle Ananda-Rajah MB BS, FRACP, PhD · Jessica O’Brien MB BS · Kumar Visvanathan MB BS, PhD

Assessing capacity to make legally binding decisions requires doctors and lawyers to work together

Kelly J Purser BA LLB(Hons), PhD · Tuly Rosenfeld MB BS, FAAG, FRACP

A case study highlights the complexities of assessing a patient’s capacity to consent to treatment

Hayden A Snow MB BS · Bill R Fleming MB BS, FRACS, FRCS

A story inspired by many trips to western New South Wales as a visiting doctor

David C Shelley Jones MB BS, FRCOG, FRANZCOG

Fast facts: heart failure

Piyush M Srivastava

The art of loss so perfected

Alison Sweet

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Dr Ian Kamerman, president of the Rural Doctors Association of Australia, only has to open his practice door to forget the frustrations of politics and reconnect with his community

Cate Swannell

The Australian Medical Students’ Association (AMSA) has expressed concern that about 240 Australian medical graduates, most of them international students, will not be offered a state or territory internship in 2015. Jessica Dean, president of AMSA, says figures from the National Medical Intern Data Management Working Group were “very disappointing”. “As regions of Australia continue to suffer from doctor shortages, it is nonsensical to be wasting another cohort of medical graduates”, Ms Dean says. “If the government is serious about correcting the ongoing doctor shortage, it makes sense to completely utilise the graduating Australian workforce. “These students have spent up to 6 years immersed in Australian culture, learning our diseases, and training in our health care system. They are perfectly suited to serve Australia. They just need to be given a chance.” The Commonwealth Medical Initiative (CMI), developed for international-born Australian graduates to complete an internship in Australia, is yet to offer positions. “Last year, the CMI was oversubscribed, with 183 applicants for 76 positions”, Ms Dean says. “These graduates not only want to work in Australia, they are even happy to relocate to work in areas of need, especially rural and regional Australia. “By failing to facilitate training opportunities, Australia is allowing itself to become a victim of brain drain.” “Refusing to train local graduates and then filling the deficit with overseas-trained doctors is remarkably myopic. “AMSA is calling on the government to invest in the future of health care and provide Australia with the health care system it needs.”

Cate Swannell

Dr Liz Marles has just ended her stint as president of the RACGP and can now go back to full-time practice. She has loved her time in the “big chair” but her first love is calling

Cate Swannell