Article Types
Reflections
History of the LIME Network and the development of Indigenous health in medical education
The Leaders in Indigenous Medical Education (LIME) Network has developed over time as an avenue for sharing, developing and improving upon the emerging discipline of Indigenous health in medical educationThe Leaders in Indigenous Medical Education (LIME) Network (a program of Medical Deans Australia and New Zealand, funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing [DoHA]) has an 800-strong membership of Indigenous and non-Indigenous ...
Timothy M Haynes BHIth · Margo E Collins BA, GradDipCounselling · Odette Mazel BA, LLB(Hons), GDLP · Louise M A Lawler BHSc, GradCertArts, MEd · Caitlin Ryan BA, MSocSc(International Development) · Shaun C Ewen BAppSc(Physio), MMIL, DEd
Sharing Place, Learning Together: the birthplace of new ways?
Diversifying educational opportunities for remote Indigenous students is a key step to improving health outcomesYoung people and old people, Bininj, Yol and Balanda; we need to stand together for the future. The health and wellbeing of our people and our country depends upon us all.1 Djelk Rangers Victor Rostron, Wesley Campion and Ivan Namarnyilk. (Djelk Indigenous Protected Area, Arnhem Land.) The terms Bininj and Yol are ...
Jessie C Webb BA(Hons) · Sally C Godinho BEd, MEd, PhD · Marilyn F Woolley BA(Hons), MEd · Kenneth D Winkel MB BS, PhD, FACTM
Traditional healers help close the gap
IN 2009, THE ROYAL Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists awarded the Mark Sheldon Prize for Indigenous mental health to ngangkari (traditional healers) Andy Tjilari and Rupert Langkatjukur Peter. The two were further honoured in 2011 by the World Council for Psychotherapy with the Sigmund Freud Award (bestowed by the City of Vienna, Austria). The awards recognised their distinguished contributions in mental health to the ...
Robert M Parker
The drover’s wife
Family stories provide the key to understanding the patient’s wishes and open doors to plain speaking, in this reflection on caring for a woman who is unable to communicate.
Matthew J Links MB BS, PhD, FRACP · Theodora Bikou BSW
Remote supervision in postgraduate training: a personal view
Telehealth could enable real-time interactions between registrars, patients and remote supervisors, and create medical training places in outback Australia
Susan M Wearne MMedSc, FRACGP, FACRRM
The drama of zoonoses
MY CAREER choice was based on non-fiction reading as a teenager. Starting with American journalist Berton Roueché, who adapted material from the terse Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report covering investigations by the US Centers for Disease Control, I have been reading popular accounts of epidemics for a while.And epidemics fascinated the earliest writers: pestilence as one of the horsemen of the Apocalypse in the Bible; ...
Charles S Guest
Franklyn Gilbert Bell MB BS, FRCS, FRACS
Frank Bell was an outstanding orthopaedic surgeon, known for his strong work ethic, forthright nature and integrity, and excellent teaching and mentoring. Frank was born on 6 July 1926, the third of five children of Maston and Bessie Bell. He spent his childhood on the family’s 2-acre property in Mount Lawley (now an inner suburb of Perth). His daily chores included helping at the Albany Bell chicken ...
Kathryn Stark
Iron deficiency anaemia in a young woman: a plea for early investigation
A tragic case of delayed diagnosis prompts a question from the patient’s father: are current guidelines appropriate and correctly interpreted in practice?
Anonymous
Investigating iron deficiency anaemia
Persistent unexplained iron deficiency should always be investigated, but iron deficiency is common and colorectal cancer rare in young women — the risks of investigation must be balanced against the risks of serious pathologyWe would like to express our sympathy to the family and to acknowledge the tragedy of the circumstances in regard to the death of their 29-year-old family member from metastatic colon cancer. To ...
for the Gastroenterological Society of Australia
Enough?
A new registrar on secondment typically lacks confidence, but contributing to a positive outcome can start to make a difference.
Rebecca C Rowe BSc(Med), MB BS, DRANZCOG
Esther
A medical student’s experience of a simple public health message that spread “like a message stick passed from house to house, summoning all and sundry to devotion”.
John E Farey BA(Media
The challenge of suicide prevention
Alarge military truck slowly rolls up to the small emergency unit in Mullaitivu, a remote town on the north-eastern coast of Sri Lanka. In the back of the truck are two bodies. A young man and woman still entwined. Tied to each other with muddied strips of saree cotton, once vibrant and colourful. A double suicide pact outlined in a simple letter in the hands ...
Ruth Y Lim MB BS
The boy who didn’t cry wolf
Someone once told me that during his life, Winston Churchill would often refer to his depression as a “black dog” — a vile, loathsome creature that would shadow every decision and thought in his mind. But to me, it was not just a dog, but something more sinister and predatory. The beast followed me in the same way that a lapdog would follow its master, though ...
Anonymous
Emphysematous cystitis due to Klebsiella pneumoniae
A 72-year-old woman with type 2 diabetes mellitus presented with sudden-onset back pain, fever, rigors and suprapubic tenderness. An abdominal x-ray and pelvic computed tomography scan (Figure) confirmed the diagnosis of emphysematous cystitis. Klebsiella pneumoniae was cultured from blood and urine samples, and the patient was treated with intravenous cephazolin followed by oral cephalexin. She had a complete recovery. Emphysematous cystitis is an uncommon but severe infection ...
Mohammad Bagherirad · Hasan Al-Khayyat
Damien John Jolley MSc(Stat), MSc(Epidemiol), BSc(Hons), DipEd, AStat
Damien Jolley was born in Melbourne on 23 March 1954. He graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1976 with a combined Bachelor of Science (Honours) and Diploma of Education. After a short period teaching mathematics, he moved to Papua New Guinea with Australian Volunteers International and began his epidemiological studies. Five years later, he returned to Melbourne and completed a Master of Science in statistics while ...
Judy A Lowthian · John J McNeil
The case for CBT over antidepressants
THIS BOOK is by a doctor with an abiding interest in the philosophy of medicine. Paul Biegler is an Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Human Bioethics, Monash University, and a recipient of the 2011 Australian Museum Eureka Prize for Research in Ethics.The book describes the therapeutic use of antidepressant medication (ADM) versus cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), and concludes that it is unethical ...
Kay A Wilhelm
Neuropsychology beyond psychometry
WHEN ONCE ASKED about the qualities of a good clinician, I replied that, as well as a fundamental interest in the human condition and the skills to fully appreciate the meaning of people’s stories, good clinicians should be good storytellers themselves. Why good storytellers? History-taking requires much more than a few words jotted down or typed out — it needs compassion and understanding, informed by ...
John D G Watson
Early obstetric simulators in Australia
The authors outline the development of obstetric training and simulation in 18th and 19th century London, and describe the historical obstetric simulators on display in Australia.
Harry Owen MB ChB, MD · Damian J McDonald BA, MA
Honouring choices — life postmortem
A young doctor, co-opted as a surgical assistant, learns a valuable lesson about life, death and generosity.
Nancy L Merridew BA, BSc, MB BS
Dr Burnt’s consultation
Early recognition and rectification of burnout in oncology registrars and oncologists is needed to ensure the wellbeing of both doctors and patients.
Muhammad A Khattak MB BS
The brain painting: “the snake eating away the life of your memory”
In a highly commended artwork entry for the 2012 Dr Ross Ingram Memorial Prize, a traditional dot painting style and storytelling is used as the basis for a health promotion poster addressing the risks and signs of dementia in Aboriginal people.
Anna L Dwyer AdvDipAustLanguage
Brian Haldane Parker Heber MB BS, DObstRCOG
Brian Heber was born on 22 March 1929 in Finsbury Park, London, into a family of 13 doctors. His mother was widowed when Brian was 6. At the age of 11, he won a scholarship to Christ’s Hospital School, West Sussex. On leaving, his classics master remarked to him that going into medicine would be a “waste of intellect”. After National Service, Brian obtained an ex-serviceman’s grant to study ...
Roger Wickins
Gaining a patient’s perspective while becoming a doctor
A medical student’s painful learning experience provides a glimpse of the medical system from the other side.
Lloyd Reeve-Johnson DVM
Medicine on the walls of the art gallery
Distinguishing medical conditions from artists’ stylistic embellishments in old master paintings can contribute to our historical understanding of diseases like arthritis.
George M Weisz MD, MA, FRACS · William R Albury BA, PhD
German doctors apologise for the crimes perpetrated by Nazi doctors
The recent apology from the German Medical Association is commendable, but it fails to mention many of the victims of Nazi medicine.
George M Weisz MD, FRACS, MA