Author: healthprofessionalradio

Overview:
• Colleen Stefanyszyn died in December 2008, four days after elective hysterectomy surgery performed by Dr Oliver Brown at Newcastle Private Hospital. In the judgment handed down, the decision said: “The result was that the blockage caused by the suture material was not identified or addressed and infection set in.”

• Opposition Leader Bill Shorten’s claim the Government wants to privatise Medicare. Mr Shorten’s assertion is based on the fact the Government had been considering outsourcing what Dr Michael Gannon has dubbed Medicare’s antiquated and rusty payments system. He said privatising the payments system n no way amounted to privatising Medicare, as Mr Shorten has claimed.

• Neuroscientists at the University of Wollongong have published the results of the first comprehensive study on the long term use of anti- psychotic medications in children. The study looked at three commonly prescribed drugs. They found using the drugs during childhood and adolescence could have significant lifelong impacts on levels of hyperactivity, depression and anxiety.

Overview:
• Summer Jamsek was born at Frances Perry House in Melbourne, in April 2010, but died 16 hours later after being transferred to the Royal Children’s Hospital. The eight-day inquest investigated the cause of death and whether her condition should have been detected and treated earlier.

• The Grog Survey iPad app, which allows people to electronically keep track of their alcohol consumption and to submit the information anonymously. tablet app being trialled in South Australia and Queensland could boost efforts to curb alcohol addiction in Australia’s Indigenous communities, researchers say.

• The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is taking food giant Heinz to court over its Little Kids Shredz products. The products’ packaging is covered in images of fresh fruit and vegetables and statements such as 99 per cent fruit and veg when they contain more than 60 per cent sugar.

Overview:
•  The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has lodged a case in the Federal Court against Queensland-based companies Social-Lites and Elusion New Zealand. The ACCC alleges the companies claimed on their websites that their e-cigarettes did not contain the carcinogens or toxic chemicals found in regular cigarettes.

• There has been a slow uptake of the heroin-reversing drug Naloxone since being made available over the counter, and experts say the cost is a barrier for drug users. Chris Gough, a past drug user and now a spokesman for several peer-based drug user groups, including the Canberra Alliance for Harm Minimisation and Advocacy, said not every pharmacist had been welcoming the change.

• Nine of 11 specialist doctors from the Launceston General Hospital’s emergency department are resigning, retiring or reducing their hours. The emergency room nurse who did not want to be named for fear of reprisal said doctors and nurses were leaving because of the stress.

Overview:
• Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has abandoned plans to outsource the Medicare payments system, declaring “every element” of Medicare would remain in Government hands. Labor seized on the idea, claiming it was evidence the Coalition was planning to sell off Medicare.

• Studies on mice have revealed that the presence of excessive stress hormones in a male parent prior to conception can cause the following two generations to be moody and depressed. Professor Anthony Hannan, who led the research team, from the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, said that they focused on fathers because researchers have known for awhile that the mother’s experiences and lifestyles have a big impact on their offspring.

• Fears for nurse safety and their professional well-being at Launceston General Hospital have prompted the union to demand an urgent intervention by Health Minister Michael Ferguson. The union claims an increased reliance on locums and general understaffing had pushed the workforce to the brink, prompting a raft of senior resignations.

Overview:
• Ten leukaemia patients at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and Flinders Medical Centre were under-dosed with a chemotherapy drug over a six-month period. The mistake was identified in mid-January 2015, but one of the patients continued to receive the incorrect dose even after that date. A parliamentary committee was told the problem should have been immediately logged in SA Health’s Safety Learning System (SLS).

• A group of five mates, most of them teachers, are preparing to climb Mount Kosciuszko in July in nothing but their cossies to raise $100,000 for childhood depression for beyondblue.

• The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) had previously rated coffee as "possibly carcinogenic" but changed its mind. It says its latest review found no conclusive evidence for a carcinogenic effect of coffee drinking and pointed to some studies showing coffee may actually reduce the risk of developing certain types of cancer.

Overview:
• The Melbourne Royal Children’s Hospital music therapy room is an essential part of the hospital’s oncology care. Music therapist Lauren Miller designs her sessions to give patients back part of their childhood pre-diagnosis.

• Twenty-seven babies survived late-term abortions in Queensland hospitals last year but were not rendered care and allowed to die, figures released by Health Minister Cameron Dick have shown. Queensland senator Larissa Waters, who has been campaigning for abortion to be removed from the criminal code, says decriminalising abortion would lead to less late-term terminations.

• Australian Medical Association President Dr Michael Gannon said the nation’s public hospitals are under severe pressure to meet growing demand for their services, and Labor’s plan to restore the National Health Reform Agreement and provide an additional $2 billion for public hospital funding over four years would help relieve some of the strain on the system.

Overview:
• Shaun Inguanzo from The Australian Red Cross Blood Service said about half of all first-time donors never made further
donations. He said that they are hoping that by targeting people who are at risk of not coming back, they will be able to boost that
repeat donation rate among our donors and we won't have such a struggle during times like winter where other regular
donors drop off due to colds and flu.

• According to researchers, the results of the first survey of antibiotic use in Australian nursing homes were very concerning,
particularly for those residents who had very prolonged prescriptions of antibiotics for very unclear reasons. Health authorities say
frequent and inappropriate use of antibiotics can lead to the kind of antimicrobial resistance that creates superbugs.

• In the past week more than 220 civilians have been killed as violence has increased across Syria. The majority of deaths are the
result of government and Russian bombing with 50 of the dead listed as children. Muskilda Zancada, Head of Medicines san
Frontieres Head of Mission in Syria said she is deeply concerned about the growing death toll in the northern city of Aleppo.