There are some fantastic blogs being written in Australia and New Zealand by health professionals. The team of Medical Bloggers over at Life in the Fast Lane are collating and maintaining a list of all the Australasian (Australia and New Zealand) Health, Medical, Nursing and Midwifery blogs, along with their related twitter accounts.
This should be a really great resource. The full ANZ Health Blogger list is available on the website and is updated daily.
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Tagged: Australia, Blog, New Zealand
The HealthEngine team have been hard at work to create a fluid and comprehensive new look to the HealthEngine website.
New HealthEngine Home Page
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Griffith University is undertaking a nationwide survey in an attempt to explore Australian general practitioners’ World Wide Web, Internet and Social Media / Web 2.0 usage to deliver health care in the early 21st century. This survey is the first Australia wide study into general practitioners’ usage trends and impact associated with such modern communication applications and health care delivery. The study is being organised by Dr Wayne Usher and this is the Link to the survey
Specifically this study is designed to
In the spirit of this survey the HealthEngine and Life in The Fast Lane teams will be passing this message to the GP community in Australia through web 2.0 channels ONLY rather than using conventional email…this will help us determine if there really is an online community of physicians communicating via social media! The channels being used are
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Tagged: General Practice, GP, internet, survey, web, web 2.0
The Lifestyle Medicine website is a world first when it comes to supporting Australians in the active management, treatment and prevention of lifestyle related diseases.
Lifestylemedicine.net.au provides professionals exclusive access to a suite of tools and programs that are based on the latest science with the aim of assisting in the identification, management / prevention and monitoring of lifestyle related diseases experienced by their patients. The site also provides members of the public free access to evidence based, reliable and current information along with dynamic tools and programs to support them in actively improving their quality of life. The website provides a wide range of tools to help measure and optimise food intake, activity levels, fitness, stress, anxiety, depression, sexual health, sleep and skin care. The site also provides a series of handouts for all these areas.
There are some informative and entertaining Webinars already up and running on the sitre and are extremely informative such as Dr Ray Seidler (GP Addiction specialist, Kings Cross, Sydney). In addition there is Lifestyle Medicine on Demand – a monthly audio program featuring expert advice to empower your lifestyle. Key topics include: Exercise and Fitness, Diet and Nutrition, Emotional and Psychological Health, and Medical Conditions.
Lifestyle Medicine is a relatively new discipline, which bridges the gap between health promotion and conventional medicine. It involves a range of health professionals working as a team to prevent, manage and treat the ~70% of modern health problems which have a lifestyle-based cause. The Australian Lifestyle Medicine Association (ALMA) is being set up by representatives of professions involved in the field. The association is intended to represent health professional disciplines eligible for medical benefits under the Enhanced Primary Care (EPC) system.
Lifestyle medicine is defined as the application of environmental, behavioural, medical and motivational principles to the management of lifestyle related health problems in the clinical setting. Egger, Binns and Rossner, 2008.
Southern Cross University, in conjunction with the Centre for Health Promotion and Research, is now offering a range of post-graduate training courses in Lifestyle Medicine for General Practitioners, Practice Nurses and other allied health professionals eligible for benefits under the Enhanced Primary Care (EPC) program throughout Australia and the South Pacific.
HealthEngine has added the subspecialty of Lifestyle Medicine to its search so that patients and physicians can locate their nearest practitioner with an intererst in the discipline of lifestyle medicine
Lifestyle Medicine Evidence Base is a central repository for current, peer reviewed research specific to Lifestyle Medicine and its relationship with chronic disease. For a more academic understanding of Lifestyle Medicine, review the textbook launched here in Australia: ‘Lifestyle Medicine Text Book’.
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Tagged: ALMA, lifestyle, lifestyle medicine
A Conversation Could Change a Life
R U OK? is an organisation committed to the prevention of suicide. The group aim to inspire all Australians to recognise they can make an immediate impact on the country’s shockingly high suicide rate by simply connecting with their friends, colleagues and loved ones. A lack of connection is a major contributing cause of many social issues, particularly suicide.
Suicide claims the lives of more Australians each year than the road toll – over 2000 people every year (Source: ABS 2007 statistics). It is the biggest killer of men and women 15-35 years old. For every person who takes their own life, it is estimated that up to 10 people make an attempt. That means each year approximately 20,000 people are directly effected.
R U OK?Day will be held on November 29th, 2009. It is an annual national day of action that aims to get Australians connecting with friends and loved ones, by reaching out to anyone doing it tough and simply asking: “Are you OK?”
Connection is a crucial part of general health and well being to help in coping with issues such as stressful life events, mental health problems, relationship breakdowns and bereavement.
Sign up for the newsletter and show your support.
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Tagged: health, lifestyle, prevention, R U OK, suicide, Support
Will the Prime Minister follow up on his election pledge to take over all public hospitals in Australia?
Kevin Rudd originally gave the States and Territories until the middle of 2009 to get their act together, but the end of the year is fast approaching and the public hospital system still in complete disarray and despite having had a “fair shake of the sauce bottle” – little progress has been made. This is highlighted by the the latest AMA report card which makes for very disappointing reading.
The Australian Medical Association says most hospitals are not operating at safe levels, they’re ‘underfunded and overcrowded’, patients are waiting longer for treatment in emergency departments, while elective surgery waiting lists have lengthened over the past year. That’s despite extra money coming from the Commonwealth for an elective surgery ‘blitz’ of $600 million dollars.
Dr Sally McCarthy (President of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine) speaking today on ABC Radio National with Fran Kelly on October 15 2009.
Read more from the AMA president over at Life in the Fast lane
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Tagged: AMA
The West Australian health budget is currently being spread thinner than iSnack 2.0 and the change is just as bitter.
All public sectors are due to slash three per cent from their budget for the state government’s efficiency dividend and, despite recent promises and rhetoric – ‘front-line health services’ look unlikely to avoid the chop.
As reported by Angela Dorizas in GovernmentNews.com.au this will lead to an interstate migration of health professionals. Queensland currently heads the Eastern States pack with lucrative ‘attraction and retention’ packages on the table. Acting Premier and Minister for Health Paul Lucas said Queensland Health would look to attract health specialists from the Perth Hospitals such as RPH and SCGH whose jobs were under threat.
“Many of the staff at the Royal Perth Hospital hold designated clinical positions within highly specialised areas of medicine and healthcare and we recognise the valuable contribution such staff could make in Queensland,” Lucas said.
“Recruitment of such specialised staff continues to remain a challenge not only in Queensland but nationally, and that’s why we are keen to take-up any opportunity to recruit staff to areas where they are needed the most, particularly in our rural and regional hospitals.”
“From time to time, we advertise employment opportunities in Queensland Health in other states,” Lucas said. “This is an excellent opportunity to advertise in WA again.”
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Tagged: Budget Cuts, SCGH, WA
Emergency Nurses….Prepared for the Unexpected
Emergency Nurses Week
Emergency Nurses Day recognizes the dedication and commitment of all emergency nursing professionals as vital care providers.
Through research, education, quality care and nursing advocacy, the Emergency Nurses Association supports and honours the advancement and professionalism of emergency nurses everywhere. (ENA)
Emergency Nurses see it all. They are at the front line of emergency medical care, and stand resolute in the face of overcrowding and decompensating physical, political and emotional environments. They are the face that greets us, comforts us and cares for us – often in our darkest hours.
They are the mortar which hold the Emergency Department infrastructure together.
Despite the emotional strain and in the face of verbal abuse – they still return to work, knowing they make a difference to sick, injured and sometimes dying people that enter the ER each and every day.
Emergency Nurse’s Day is held on the Wednesday of Emergency Nurses Week each year. It is our chance to recognise and reward the compassion, skills and commitment of emergency nurses around the world…and to say thank you
Emergency Nurses everywhere – I raise a glass and salute you.
Emergency Nurses Day is supported by
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Tagged: emergency nurse
HealthEngine is proud to display Health Information Articles written by Australian specialists for other medical practitioners and the general public. These articles are intended to rapidly communicate information on medical procedures, medical conditions and basic investigations.
These articles are intended to assist in locating the right specialist or medical practitioner for you. The information provideed is not exhaustive but is simple and effective in conveying basic health information.
Check out some of the latest Health Information Articles from HealthEngine.com.au
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Tagged: articles, Health Directory, health information
The HealthEngine team are buzzing! We have just completed the first phase of the HealthEngine project and are in the process of contacting the next group of medical practitioners to ensure our data integrity is maintained.
With 500-1000 unique visitors per day from Australia and >50,000 page views per month HealthEngine is beginning to gain some traction on both Google and Bing search engines with key search terms such as
HealthEngine was designed to assist the general public and medical practitioners in finding out accurate and pertinent information on doctors, hospitals and medical practices in Australia. Indeed the general public are using HealthEngine to search for basic health information; physical locations; doctors names and specialist services.
However, physicians are now becoming increasingly aware of the ability to use HealthEngine to create an online presence and be found for their specific areas of expertise. As a result we have added an extended articles and reference section to the profile which can link directly to pubmed cited articles or textbooks. Recent additions include Assoc Prof Pete Smith , Walid Mohabbat Dr Phil Lockie and Dr Michael Barakate. In this regard HealthEngine is becoming more like a Who’s Who for Australian Physicians.
HealthEngine has just been reviewed in Australia’s first and only Health IT magazine – PulseIT Magazine and by AusMedWeb.
The full PulseIT article can be be found online (pages 12-13 of the July 2009 edition) or if you have problems with the online version you can review a lower quality PDF version.
AusMedWeb provided a very thorough overview of the HealthEngine website showing great insight into the direction that HealthEngine intends to take over the next coming months.
It is a more systematic than Health Directory, a more comprehensive listing than drsref.com.au and a more focused endeavour than the Yellow Pages…. In fact, some people might find a HealthEngine listing a more cost effective method than setting up their own website.
Why not take the time to review the latest poll form AusMedWeb and vote for the ‘Best (most effective) Directory for a Medical Related Website”
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Tagged: AusMedWeb, healthengine, Magazine, PulseIT, Review, search, searchengine
Life in the Fast Lane
