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Don ’ t trawl online when it seems fishy
Govt workers will get a dose of reality
Australia ’ s abusive coil campaign
The danger of unknown unknowns
A courageous stand for badly needed change
You stick to one-liners , we ’ ll handle flatliners
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VIEWS FROM YOUR ONLINE COMMUNITY
Don ’ t trawl online when it seems fishy
Is Googling information
Dr about your patients ethical ?
I thought that , once people posted on social media , they wanted the world to know about them .
Surely one cannot expect privacy in this case ?
Dr Mal Mohanlal GP , Redcliffe Peninsula , Qld
And how would doctors looking at patients ’ social media accounts even be investigated ?
Is AHPRA going to watch our internet use ?
Dr Aaron Lewis GP , Sunshine Coast , Qld
I think there ’ s a lot of complexity to this question .
It depends on why you ’ re googling them .
If you ’ re checking a patient ’ s social media / Facebook / Instagram in order to get more background information , I ’ m not sure it would be very useful . What people put online is not always reality .
Better to work on your realworld relationship with the patient .
If you feel something is fishy , it probably is . You don ’ t necessarily need to go trawling online .
Dr Louisa Ennis GP , Melbourne , Vic
Govt workers will get a dose of reality
GPs excluded as govt
Dr signs $ 7 million deal for nurse-led urgent care clinics
As a GP in the ACT , I look forward to being referred patients from the nurse clinics for anything that doesn ’ t fit a tick-box protocol .
Tympanic membrane a bit sclerotic ? See your GP . Viral rash but also on an antibiotic ? See your GP .
All followed by a discharge summary with no clinical reasoning or diagnosis .
Dr James Manley GP registrar , Canberra , ACT
Perhaps the organisation running these clinics could not recruit doctors who were prepared to work for 65 % of a bulk-billed rebate after hours in an urgent care setting .
I am unsure how these clinics will remain viable when employing nurses with very small nurse practitioner rebates and with no accreditation and therefore
no Practice Incentives Program payments .
I have worked with many very good nurse practitioners in the past .
I have no doubt they will do a good job if well trained and supported , but surely this can be done co-located in local EDs or existing GP practices .
Dr Michelle Porter GP , Gympie , Qld
The evidence shows that walk-in clinics staffed by clinicians with a limited scope of practice result in more testing and more referrals to ED .
The costing of such services should include the additional costs of those avoidable tests and referrals , including the additional load on ED attendances .
Dr Sue Ieraci Emergency medicine specialist ,
Sydney , NSW
No need to be stressed .
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics , some 19.6 % of the working Canberra population are employed by the Federal Government compared with 1.2 % nationally .
So it is likely that many of the customers to these uncertain care centres will be the very public servants who have participated in the winding back of general practice .
Dr Donald Rose GP , Launceston , Tas
Australia ’ s abusive coil campaign
Doctors fitted women
6 with IUDs without their knowledge
While working in an Aboriginal medical service in Victoria , I was caring for a female Elder with abdominal complaints .
I undertook some radiological investigations and noted an IUD .
I asked when she ’ d had the IUD inserted , what it was placed for and how long it was supposed to remain .
She looked at me blankly . She had no idea she had an IUD and had only ever had one pregnancy after which she could not get pregnant again .
It was a normal vaginal delivery with a healthy female baby she was allowed to keep .
The Elder told me she had always wanted more children — ideally , she had wanted a large family .
She did not want to cause a fuss after I told her about the IUD ; she was clearly upset but contained it .
We arranged for referral to a public hospital to get it removed as she did not want anyone at the
medical centre to know this had been done to her .
The entire patient encounter left me with deep sadness and anger .
She declined to be referred to a psychologist and simply wanted this thing removed and to put the entire discovery behind her .
I can only assume the practice of fitting IUDs without knowledge or consent was occurring here in Australia as well as Greenland .
Dr Nino Scuderi GP , Townsville , Qld
This also happened to teenagers in some Australian girls ’ homes and juvenile detention centres from about 1965 to 1980 .
The Lippes loop was inserted as part of their first medical examination .
The first they knew about it was years later when they sought medical advice about their inability to get pregnant .
In the early 1980s , I broached this subject with a GP who was involved .
He believed he was doing good for “ feckless Aboriginal teenagers ”.
It took him another five years to agree that there were major ethical problems with the practice .
Professor Max Kamien GP , Perth , WA
The danger of unknown unknowns
End seven-day ‘ lock ’ on
Dr patients seeing tests results in My Health Record : Mark Butler
I responded to the consultation on whether the results should be posted in real time .
The survey was incredibly tedious , but most bureaucratic government processes are .
Part of my answer was the Donald Rumsfeld quote about there being “ things we don ’ t know we don ’ t know ”.
They are the most dangerous : the ‘ unknown unknowns ’.
In risk management , it is known as unfathomable uncertainty .
So it is the health provider ’ s role to help guide people through this to either ‘ known knowns ’ or ‘ known unknowns ’.
When the burden of result interpretation is placed on the patient , it is effectively shipwrecking them in an ocean of information / misinformation without a life raft and hoping they make it to land .
Dr Jessica O ’ Loughlin GP , Brisbane , Qld
A courageous stand for badly needed change
Drugged and assaulted
Dr by her would-be supervisor : Dr Dominique Lee tells her shocking story
Dr Lee , that must have taken a lot of courage to say .
I ’ m sorry for how much this experience has taken from you , but my thanks and respect for standing up and speaking out .
Dr Jo Maclean Sexual health specialist , Cairns , Qld
Dr Lee , we owe you an enormous debt of gratitude for speaking truth to power and showing us the magnitude of change needed in our legal system and health professions .
You have highlighted the current concerns relating to sentencing decisions , where leniency is given to a guilty person because of their work and social standing and the lesser punishments are often given to a person who has more of life ’ s advantages .
Thank you for taking a courageous stand for badly needed change .
My deepest admiration and respect to you .
Dr Mary Holland GP , Castlemaine , Vic
You stick to one-liners , we ’ ll handle flatliners
6
Hamish Blake apologises to GPs : ‘ I broke your Hippocratic oath to do no harm ’
What comes out of comedians ’ mouths reflects the general opinion of the community at large but usually a general opinion not often discussed .
Is this a reflection of the sorry state of general practice , as well as the lack of respect from the public and government regarding the specific skills we offer ? Does it reflect why so few graduates are choosing the specialty ?
Dr Katriona Herborn GP , Wollongong , NSW
Spot on , Katriona . We live in the age of information ( often too much information ). The thing is , I can google how to fix car brakes , but really , do I want to do that ? Is it not better to take it to the professional mechanic ?
That ’ s how I think about it .
Dr Richard Au GP , Sydney , NSW