The Health News Australia October 18 2017

• Health experts are cautioning asthma patients not to rely solely on reliever medications, saying people are putting their health at risk. A study by the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research surveyed almost 2,700 people with asthma and it found 39% only used a reliever medication, which just treats asthma symptoms, instead of a long-acting preventative medication. About one in nine Australians have asthma, which adds up to about 2.5 million people.
• A child has died in Darwin after being struck down with meningococcal disease. Last week the 25th case of the W strain of the deadly disease was confirmed in the central Australian indigenous communities of Barkly and Katherine. All of those affected had been Aboriginal people while 19 of the recorded were kids younger than 10.
• The Enhanced Medical Mixed Reality (EMMR) is a new technology that creates a virtual consultation room allowing a nurse and patient real-time interaction with a specialist or other health care professionals who appear as a hologram in the home, visible through special goggles called Microsoft HoloLens. The technology is developed by Silver Chain Group in consultation with Microsoft.

News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 18th of  October 2017. Read by Tabetha Moreto. Health News

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-17/asthma-study-patients-use-inhaler-only-putting-health-at-risk/9054490

Health experts are cautioning asthma patients not to rely only on reliever medications, saying people are putting their health at risk. A study by the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research surveyed almost two thousand seven hundred people with asthma. It found thirty nine percent only used a reliever medication, which just treats asthma symptoms, instead of a long-acting preventative medication. Lead author of the study Professor Helen Reddel said it was worrying that a quarter of patients who only used relievers and no preventer medication had to seek last-minute treatment for a dangerous flare-up in their condition.
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CEO of Asthma Australia Michele Goldman said reliever-only treatment was only an option for people with mild, infrequent asthma. She said “Only people who have infrequent asthma symptoms and use their reliever less than twice per month, and who have no risk factors for asthma flare-ups, should use a reliever-only treatment approach.” The study, published in the BMJ Open journal, found the patients most likely to use relievers only were more likely to be male, hold a health concession card, and be smokers. About one in nine Australians have asthma, which adds up to about two point five million people. According to Asthma Australia, it is more common in males under the age of fourteen, but among those aged fifteen and over, asthma is more common in females. Preventer medications help to control asthma symptoms and prevent attacks. It reduces the inflammation in your airways, making them less sensitive.
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Many adults with asthma take a preventer, usually as an inhaler, which delivers a low dose of corticosteroid to the lungs. Preventers are usually prescribed for: an adult who has had asthma symptoms twice or more in the past month; an adult who who is sometimes woken up by asthma symptoms;  an adult who has had a flare-up requiring an urgent visit to a general practitioner or emergency department in the past twelve months.

The rate of asthma deaths and hospitalisation in Australia has fallen dramatically since nineteen ninety. But the study suggested some doctors and patients had become complacent about the seriousness of asthma.

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2017/10/16/child-dies-meningococcal-darwin

A child has died in Darwin after being struck down with meningococcal disease.
The Northern Territory Health Department said in a statement: “It is unlikely that this is connected to the current outbreak of meningococcal W in Central Australia. ” Last week the twenty fifth case of the W strain of the deadly disease was confirmed in the central Australian indigenous communities of Barkly and Katherine. All of those affected had been Aboriginal people while nineteen of the recorded were kids younger than ten.

NT health authorities have mounted a large-scale immunisation campaign in the affected regions in an attempt to prevent it from spreading to the Top End. A free vaccine will be offered to all people aged between twelve months and nineteen years living in remote communities and all Aboriginal people aged between twelve months and nineteen years living in Alice Springs, Tennant Creek and Katherine. The NT government is also coordinating with other jurisdictions after a spate of cases were reported on South Australia’s traditional APY lands.

https://www.thesenior.com.au/health/doctor-here-there-anywhere/

Having a consultation with your doctor may soon be a lot easier thanks to the development of new holographic technology by a leading care agency. Called the Enhanced Medical Mixed Reality (EMMR, pronounced as EM-R), the technology creates a virtual consultation room allowing a nurse and patient real-time interaction with a specialist or other health care professionals who appear as a hologram in the home, visible through special goggles called Microsoft HoloLens.

The technology, developed by Silver Chain Group in consultation with Microsoft, will soon be available to the group’s six hundred fifty clients and will reduce the need for frail patients to visit a hospital. It will also allow some in-patients to go home while still having regular access to their specialist or hospital doctor. The experience begins when a Silver Chain Group nurse visits a patient.

By using the HoloLens goggles the nurse sends the patient’s clinical data, such as vital signs, in real time to a doctor sitting in a specialised room at the hospital. Once the patient puts on the goggles the doctor appears to them as though sitting in their own home and can talk about their condition and progress. The technology also allows family members to access the consultation via their own computer from anywhere in the world; and to contribute to the discussion.
“EMMR will enhance the delivery of our services, further supporting our clients to remain at home, rather than be transferred to a hospital,” said Silver Chain Group chief executive Christopher McGowan.
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Doctor McGowan said the company’s research indicated about thirty per cent of people don’t need to be in hospital and “could be receiving the same safe, quality treatment while at home where they feel more comfortable, with the added benefit of freeing hospital beds for critically unwell patients”.
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EMMR is in the final stages of software development and will be trialled in coming months at a variety of locations and settings before being rolled out to Silver Chain Group clients on a larger scale.