Here’s the sound track from Lateline 090910. (more…)
September 12, 2009
September 11, 2009
September 9, 2009
To Australian Doctor
Re: Adam Cresswell’s ‘Nothing but the truth’ (11/9). (more…)
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Working together to strengthen codes of conduct
To: Parliamentary Secretary for Health (more…)
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September 8, 2009
Good call, Bob.
Comments Off on Good call, Bob.
September 7, 2009
Is uptake of genetic testing for colorectal cancer influenced by knowledge of insurance implications?
MJA article
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September 6, 2009
Canada’s H1N1 vaccination plans
CMAJ September 4, 2009 Flu vaccination campaign poses monitoring difficulties
……………… EDITORIAL The H1N1 vaccine race: Can we beat the pandemic
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Aug 31
Angela Ireland from Family Drug Help.
Victor Bilous, Manager Alcohol & Drug Family Servies, Centacare Catholic Family Services.
NDGP has part-timer to work with GPs on dual-diagnosis (Nicola)
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September 4, 2009
IdM
090904 how will new Vic licence data interact with other identifiers, including RFID cards
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September 2, 2009
Pertussis on 7.30 Report
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September 1, 2009
More Medicare rorts
..Ten per cent of GPs, for example, claim 54 per cent of all Medicare items for chronic disease management care plans, (more…)
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Another windfall for KPMG
Health policy wonks spin the revolving door in Toolkit to cut hospital errors.
(more…)
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August 31, 2009
Patrick Soon-Shiong
Vision for EHR at Forbes
I am convinced that in order for you, as a patient, to be protected, it has to be transparent, evidence-based, objective information. Not self-serving information. Not pharma-driven information. Not ad-driven information. It is transparent, objective, evidence-based information.
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August 29, 2009
August 28, 2009
090828
Letter, The Australian. Trying to do a good job and being managed by idiots (more…)
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August 27, 2009
Public services contracted to private surgeons
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August 25, 2009
August 24, 2009
Returning home
Primo Levi, The Truce, page 286
But if we were Jews, then so were all those others, she said to me, pointing with a circular gesture to the eight hundred Italians who filled the room. What difference was there between us and them? (more…)
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Performance of Public and Private Hospital Systems
See Rick Harper’s submission.
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August 23, 2009
Out-of-pocket costs for prostheses
The manufacturers of more than 2100 products on the list want health funds to pay between $1 and $7125 more for their devices than the price set by government. (more…)
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August 21, 2009
Multidose vials
How many thousand vaccinators are needed to vaccinate 10m people? (more…)
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August 18, 2009
Medicare Select = Managed Competition?
Background Note from Parl’y Library, Social Policy Section. (more…)
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August 17, 2009
Research into addiction
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August 16, 2009
Beth Wilson on advertising food
…The junk food industry has been accused, with much justification, of ”deceit, denial and delay”… In The Age. (more…)
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August 15, 2009
August 14, 2009
August 13, 2009
Progressive Business
Who sat next to Brumby during lunch @ $5k per head?
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August 12, 2009
Some sort of balance?
In The Oz Decriminalise abortion (more…)
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August 11, 2009
NHMRC
H1N1 medical research projects fast-tracked
| 604925 | A/Prof Heath Kelly | Estimating the protective effect of seasonal influenza vaccine against medically attended ILI due to novel influenza A (H1N1) | Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory | Vic | $156,125 |
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August 10, 2009
Look up – in AFR
Martin Tolar
http://www.compliance.org.au/www_aci/default.asp?menuid=42
Dreyfus
Inquiry into whistleblowing protections within the Australian Government public sector http://www.aph.gov.au/House/committee/laca/whistleblowing/report.htm
August 9, 2009
Tw down
Practicing respiratory etiquette. … into your elbow or shoulder, not into your hands http://bit.ly/2T7h2W into the hand is OK in Oz
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August 8, 2009
Post-marketing surveillance
The most prudent course today would be to conduct careful clinical trials with due scientific deliberation; use the vaccine on high-risk groups, phasing in the full population only as evidence of safety and effectiveness becomes clearer; and conducting post-market surveillance for adverse effects. (more…)
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Ian Frazer on gene patents
Sharing genes is patently obvious
Five years ago the Australian Law Reform Commission completed a seemingly exhaustive review of gene patenting in Australia. Nowhere in its report did it make the simple point that gene patents should no longer be granted because sequencing genes amounts to tailoring pre-existing technology to discover something in our bodies.
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August 7, 2009
Mechanics of voting
Ed Killesteyn Australian Electoral Commissioner on RN
See Mr Killesteyn’s evidence to Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters
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Hinted at national identification scheme
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Medical Observer Aug 7th
- GPs better equipped to monitor resistant H1N1
- Production problems could delay swine flu vax supply
- p13 Warts data needed to gauge HPV vaccine’s success – Julie Brotherton of National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance wants a ‘new surveillance system to monitor … genital warts’.
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August 6, 2009
Paul Valent on disasters
Meeting of the minds needed for warnings to work
As for communities, in the absence of clear warnings, the need for inner equilibrium takes over. Rumours, false reassurance, magical thinking, and groupthink become rife.
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August 5, 2009
Lawyer’s feast
The PM was taking on ABC radio 774 today about the Turnbull-Grech business. The PM mentioned ‘matters of fact’. (more…)
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DT104 outbreak
Food Poison Journal More antibiotic-resistant Salmonella cases reported in Colorado ……. H.R. 1549 – Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act of 2009 proposes the restriction of antibiotic use in feed animals to therapeutic purposes only
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August 4, 2009
Entertaining
Ang San Sushi Tue 04 Aug 09 (12:47pm)
How about threatening with a knife? “Just kidding, Your Worship”?
Oh, Mark! If a drunk is being loud and annoying in a public bar, but passes off his behaviour as “entertaining”, he may be asked to button up with high expectation of a meaningful result. (more…)
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At-risk children lack help
Carol Nader in The Age
The number of at-risk children could be even higher. A document received by The Age indicates that one-quarter of child-protection cases on the books of the Department of Human Services have no assigned case worker. (more…)
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Minister for Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs
Craig Emerson
Performance of Public and Private Hospital Systems (Current)
The Commission is to consult with relevant experts and others as necessary and produce a final report within six months of receipt of this reference. The report will be published.
August 3, 2009
Sheridan boosting Abbott?
First Byte, July 31 Ang San Sushi Fri 31 Jul 09 (08:04am)
That frightening image of Abbott as PM makes Turnbull look pretty good … oh, I get it now. Is that a script out of the playbook of Sun Tzu, Machiavelli, Alexander the Greek or Irving Kristol (the “godfather of neoconservatism”)?
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2Day
Ang San Sushi Copping flak for tack Mon 03 Aug 09 (07:01am)
Oh, yes, Mark, not to mention the shareholder value.
Anyway, if ACMA issues an adverse finding, then we’ll hear what fills the air at any footy match – the umpire is a “fucking idiot”. Hilarious, but, by golly, good for the ratings.
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August 2, 2009
A Medicare number is not unique.
Why not use the Medicare number?
A Medicare number is not unique. Some individuals are members of more than one family and may be on multiple cards with multiple numbers. Also, not everyone who needs healthcare will have a Medicare number.
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Misc0907
Ang San Sushi Tue 28 Jul 09 (11:53am) .Abbott seeks to position his political leaning as neutral
Mal Turnbull as Abbott’s lackey, Robt? Yer dreamin’.
First, find a job for Malcolm. Then think about leadership change.
How about Governor-General Turnbull? (more…)
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HealthIT
RWW spss IBM Snatches Up Companies Left & Right
Itw AIIA proposes ‘opt-out’ plan for eHealth card
Smh Health’s black hole (more…)
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Food
SD Sweet, Salty, Sour, Bitter And Umami: Variants Of ‘Umami’ Taste Receptor Contribute To Our Individualized Flavor Worlds
Oz Food labelling decision shelved (more…)
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Bill Marler: costs of food-borne illness
Bottom lines from Five cases (more…)
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July 30, 2009
We can cut costs, say pharmacists
First, Kon, declare your alprazolam sales figures.
July 28, 2009
DentiCare should be extracted from the grand vision
Why?
Well, will taxpayers shell out for lazy blighters who can’t be bothered looking after their teeth?
Why don’t public hospitals install dental chairs so the indigent and those with chronic health problems can have quick and easy solutions for teeth that cannot be saved?
Abstinence based recovery programs, Jul 27th 2009
Two speakers – (more…)
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July 25, 2009
July 24, 2009
Healthcare identifiers and privacy legislative proposals
Call for submissions: Healthcare identifiers and privacy legislative proposals (more…)
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July 20, 2009
July 16, 2009
Maternal deprivation in rats, cannabis, opioids
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July 11, 2009
Clancy Martin, LRB
Diary, his alcoholism, baclofen, clonazepam, lorazepam, lamotrigine.
On this account, alcohol is like Xanax: Xanax perfected through millennia of human effort and experimentation, and therefore with lots of benefits that Xanax doesn’t have, but also several menacing side-effects that it doesn’t.
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July 10, 2009
June 30th, training session, Turning Point
A two-hour symposium* presented by Mal Doreian, speakers Suzi Nielsen and Matt Frei, on prescription medication use/abuse by users of illicit drugs. (more…)
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July 8, 2009
Are the homeless mentally ill?
Paper [.doc] 😦 by Guy Johnson and Chris Chamberlain
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July 3, 2009
A Passion for Policy
Essays in Public Sector Reform from ANZSOG
The Role of Departmental Secretaries
Personal refections on the breadth of responsibilities today
Andrew Podger
July 1, 2009
The new face of drug addiction
In Medical Observer (trevork) July 3 2009
An added problem is the fact that, as Dr Nielsen says, pharmacists are unable to check whether a patient is a doctor shopper when dispensing prescriptions and the program only tracks PBS-listed medications.
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June 26, 2009
June 25, 2009
Let pharmacists prescribe methadone
In OzDoc 26/6/09 – Angelo Pricolo – Alex Wodak money quote “If we want to have more heroin users in treatment, fewer heroin overdose deaths, less crime, fewer prisons, and fewer HIV infections, we would … stuff the mouths of Australian GPs with gold in order to entice them to provide opioid substitution treatment. This would end up being a lot cheaper than continuing to rain gold bars on police, courts and prisons.”
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Aggressive pill shoppers
Article in Australian Doctor and on-line responses re BZDs and opioids.
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June 23, 2009
Health of young offenders
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June 22, 2009
Heroin according to Fairfax
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June 18, 2009
Submission to Drug Policy Expert Committee (Dec 1999)
Drug Policy Expert Committee (David Penington) reported in stages throughout 2000.
Re: Stage 1B. The implementation of a trial of safe injecting facilities.
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June 16, 2009
June 15, 2009
June 14, 2009
Warning: Alprazolam (Xanax, Kalma, Zamhexsal)
(From June Bulletin MPBVic) This item has been prepared by the Department of Human Services.
Recent evidence suggests that alprazolam is more subject to non-medical use, and causes a disproportionally higher level of serious harm, than other benzodiazepines. (more…)
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June 13, 2009
Medical response in chaos in swine flu pandemic
Articles in The Oz, SMH, etc expose IdM.
At one extreme, compliant household in self-imposed quarantine, but not ill, only marked as contacts, wait for days to get call back about meds and supplies. Eventually tests are negative.
At other extreme, sick person roams around, even interstate or o/s, while authorities try to contact him.
With a national IdM system, flags could be set to pick up card transactions, even mbl locations.
June 9, 2009
Seroquel in Scotland
Drug addicts getting high on mental health pills
…
Some addicts even feign mental illness to get the drug, which sells on the streets for around £5 a tablet.
The Sunday Mail was also told the drug is being abused in jails, with inmates faking symptoms to get the pills. …
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June 8, 2009
Prescription opioids
Rise in addiction prompts call for painkiller policy
The current situation – in which potent opioid painkillers such as morphine and oxycodone can be freely prescribed by GPs while the addiction treatments methadone and buprenorphine are highly regulated – is irrational and puts lives at risk, according to a policy document quietly released in April and set for formal submission to government within weeks.
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June 5, 2009
Notifications
From:
Sent: Tuesday, 2 June 2009 2:37 PM
To: Trevor Kerr
Subject: Re: Notifications
Hello Trevor
A good set of questions there. I can give you the position on each, although it might not be just what you want to hear.
(more…)
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June 3, 2009
Extra soft and sorbent
Jimmy Carr is on Twitter. He’s signed a letter to Guardian, along with Gordon Brown and a few other identities. (more…)
May 31, 2009
090427
alcohol
case – RK
stable environment, but intra-family trauma +++ as child and teenager
Fa dies, Mo suicide -> PTSD
-> alcohol, binges, relapses, detoxes, campral etc, Bridgehaven, hepatitis clinic
NECASA, diazepam daily dispense, zoloft, dePaul house, zyprexa -> edema, seroquel,
my impressions – sis is constant reminder of the abuse as child, anniversary dates of parents deaths also
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090330
Planning session
requirements – planning + 8 hours + review (? 22/2/10)
list of topics
dates – last Mon
time – 7.15-9.15
legislation
testing
dispensing
reducing
diversion
MBS
financial cousnelling
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090525
SS presented case of low back pain
- discussion re use of bzd, non-drug, counselling, non-opiate analgesia
KA mapped out regulations applying to drugs of dependence
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May 29, 2009
Lou Irving talks sense
Lou Irving on ABC radio 27/5/09 gave three good reasons why all the effort is being put into trying to contain the imminent spread of the new H1N1. (more…)
May 28, 2009
ANEX 28/5/09
Today, May 28th, at ANEX half-day conference at St.Vincent’s with about 100 others.
Topic was XANAX, four speakers, all good, some overlap.
Suzi Nielsen (pharmacist, Turning Point)
. last two years of data (07-08) alpraz was most common BZD injected by IDU, previously diazepam.
. a rare side-effect is paradoxical aggression, and it may not be remembered or even recognised
. side-effects most common with pre-existing BPD, EtOH, high doses or IV, any brain injury
. features – short T1/2, inc w/d symptoms, larger quantities, more toxic in o/d (more ICU, more flumazenil)
. see DHS drugservice report on misuse
. evidence of disproportionate harm (cf equivalent others) – seizures, crime, traffic offenses
. small study of use in OST – mental impairment esp recall **dec O2 saturation only with concurrent methadone**
Malcolm Dobbin
. PBS (authority) script $5.30, off-line Kalma 2mgx50 $15 at Chemist Warehouse
. 2mg is the “brick” format, $5 ea
. anterograde amnesia, fugue (stealing), Rambo
. policy steps needed to control temazepam liquid caps – extensive back & forth between committees, pharma resistant to any change, Temaz was in top 10, solution was to get it off PBS bec tablet form availible which killed sales and by time it was made S8 the problem was solved
. then the focus shifted to Unisom Gelcaps
Fran Bramwell (GP at Health Works, Footscray and Living Room,CBD)
. bricks 3 for $10 at Footscray
. binds to GABA-a receptor (inhibition) 80-100% bioavailable, peak 1-2hr,
. legal implications of impairment ?
. harm reduction tips for cocktail users – know potency of heroin, carry only small quantities of pills (amnesic), don’t mix with EtOH, never use alone, if group use one should abstain
Damon Brogan (VIVAIDS)
. doctor shopping in Vic -> drug dependence register (doctor shopper database) and may interfere with later legit needs for analgesia
5/6/09 – pdfs here
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May 26, 2009
May 14, 2009
Making a fat buck
From the newsletter: The Role of Obesity Surgery in Diabetes Management (more…)
May 9, 2009
The world through the prism of The Age
Another half million or so refugees on the road, World trembles as Pakistan teeters.
The Age flogs the share-price of CSL-Merck, by boosting the power of the HPV vaccine to prevent genital warts. How long before we are told tax-payers have to pay to vaccinate 12yo boys?
May 6, 2009
O, Caroline.
May 3, 2009
Chemotherapy
Link to comment at Gene Patenting.
..
Budget to unveil $600m in cancer drug subsidies
April 23, 2009
Steppe by Steppe on the Quike
Follow Roger and Megan at http://www.steppebysteppe.com.au/
April 15, 2009
April 14, 2009
April 13, 2009
Name change
Had to find new name because previous was already in use by Matt Tilley. Am pretty sure this one is OK.
April 11, 2009
090411KTZ
The Kazakhstan railway system could be a template for Australian Government plans for national broadband network (NBN). (more…)
November 22, 2006
November 20, 2006
Mind the gaffe
Yourdemocracy down – boo!
Webdiary in the poo.
Bloglines at the cleaners – boo hoo!!
The big question for this week, with Parliament sitting the final two weeks next Monday – will Kim survive his next doorstopper? Will he read from prepared texts?
How will Labor tolerate itself becoming a diminishing target, when the next Big Thing in Iraq, Indonesia, etc, requires a crisp, accurate, relevant and durable response?
What is the Don’s lifetime batting average?
Kissinger Says Victory in Iraq Is No Longer Possible
Warning on weak points in pandemic planning
Preparing for an influenza pandemic
** Infection control and pandemic influenza
From the Editor’s desk: The doctor’s dilemma Med J Aust 2006; 185 (10): 529.
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