Ageing

Data reveal levels of polypharmacy that may suggest a lack of attempts to deprescribe when appropriate

Ruth E Hubbard MSc, MD, FRACP · Nancye M Peel PhD, MPH, BPhty · Ian A Scott FRACP, MHA, MEd · Jennifer H Martin FRACP, MA, PhD · Alesha Smith PhD, MSc, BSc · Peter I Pillans MB BCh, FRACP, MD · Arjun Poudel MScPharm · Leonard C Gray PhD, FRACP, FACHSM

A highly commended entry in the Practising and retired doctors category

Patrick Russell MD, FRACP

Suspected ascites turns out to be an enormous cystic mass

Michael Braude BBiomedSci, MSc, MB BS · Peter Choong MB BS, MD, FRACS

Advanced age should not be the major factor in considering a patient for curative radiotherapy

Richard C Khor BMedSc, MB BS, FRANZCR · Mathias Bressel BSc, MSc · Jo Tedesco MBIT · Keen Hun Tai MB BS, FRANZCR · David L Ball MB BS, MD, FRANZCR · Gillian M Duchesne MB ChB, MD, FRANZCR · Helen Farrugia BAppSc(HIM), GradDip(BIT) · Wai Kuan Yip PhD, GradDipAppStats · Farshad Foroudi MB BS, MPA, FRANZCR

Primary care providers have a particularly important role in recognising and assessing impairment

Paul A Gardiner PhD · Gerard J Byrne MB BS(Hons), PhD, FRANZCP · Leander K Mitchell DPsych · Nancy A Pachana PhD, FASSA

Sustaining human engagement after retirement from medical practice

Alexander K Cohen AO, MD, FRACP, FRCP

Doctors should screen patients with dementia for firearm possession and assess capacity to own and use guns safely

Anne P F Wand MB BS, MPsychiatry, FRANZCP · Carmelle Peisah MB BS, MD, FRANZCP · Julie-Anne Strukovski RN · Henry Brodaty MD, DSc, FRANZCP

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

Let’s implement what we know and avoid deaths from hip fracture

Richard I Lindley MD, FRCP(Edin), FRACP

Ceasing use of medication is at least as complicated as initiating treatment in older people

Emily Reeve BPharm(Hons), PhD · Sepehr Shakib MB BS(Hons), FRACP, PhD · Ivanka Hendrix BPharm, PhD · Michael S Roberts PhD, DSc, FACP · Michael D Wiese BPharm, MClinPharm, PhD

The scale of polypharmacy-related harm is underappreciated

Ian A Scott FRACP, MHA, MEd · Kristen Anderson BPharm · Christopher R Freeman BPharm, PhD, BCACP · Danielle A Stowasser PhD, BPharm, PGDipClinHospPharm

A promising model of collaboration between orthopaedic teams and geriatricians

Justin Zeltzer BCom(Econometrics), LLB · Rebecca J Mitchell MA(Psych), MOHS, PhD · Barbara Toson BStatEc · Ian A Harris MB BS, MMed(ClinEpi), PhD · Laura Ahmad MD, PhD, FRACP · Jacqui Close MD, FRCP, FRACP

Often recommended, but do they work?

Peter J Collignon

Evidence is positive — for now

Robert I Menzies · Vicki L Krause · Peter B McIntyre

Health care providers identify barriers to optimal antibiotic prescribing in nursing homes

Ching Jou Lim BPharm(Hons) · Megan W-L Kwong MB BS, BMedSci · Rhonda L Stuart MB BS, FRACP, PhD · Kirsty L Buising MPH, MD, FRACP · N Deborah Friedman FRACP, MD, MPH · Noleen J Bennett PhD, MPH · Allen C Cheng FRACP, MPH, PhD · Anton Y Peleg MB BS, PhD, FRACP · Caroline Marshall FRACP, PhD, GradDipClinEpi · David C M Kong BPharm, MPharm, PhD

GPs are best placed to begin discussions about end-of-life care, and being well prepared is important

Liz Marles

Dementia occurs more often and at a younger age in the NT’s Indigenous population compared with the non-Indigenous

Shu Qin Li MD, MPHBN · Steven L Guthridge MB BS, MTH, FAFPHM · Padmasiri Eswara Aratchige MB BS, MSc, MD · Michael P Lowe BMed, FRACP · Zhiqiang Wang PhD · Yuejen Zhao BM, MBiostat, PhD · Vicki Krause MB BS, MPH, FAFPHM

The key to accessible and comprehensive aged care is to base general practices in aged care facilities

Ian Maddocks

Older patients are showing improved hospital survival without longer stays and with most returning home

Graeme J Duke MD, FCICM, FANZCA · Anna Barker MPthy(Geriatrics), PhD · Cameron I Knott FRACP, FCICM · John D Santamaria MD, FRACP, FCICM

Because the body is vocal as it nears the end with its querulous list of aches and pains that makes relatives squeamish. Because the body doesn’t care; everything grumbles and complains. The ground has become perilous. Because our bowels are slow, the bladder stings and the body is a mulish obstinate thing, whose hipbones jut out beneath flaps of skin. Because our log-jammed senses no longer grasp the ...

Lisa Jacobson

A 35% drop in invasive pneumococcal disease has been found in older people after 6-7 years of vaccine use

Robert I Menzies BAppSc, MPH, PhD · Sanjay H Jayasinghe MB BS, MSc · Vicki L Krause MD, DTM · Clayton K Chiu MB BS, MPH · Peter B McIntyre MB BS, PhD, FRACP

A physician partners with a filmmaker to create an educational video for clinicians, and reflects on the possibilities and pitfalls of using social media for medical education.

Joseph E Ibrahim MB BS, PhD, FRACP · Prateek Bandopadhayay MB BS, LLB, LLM