Propaganda Techniques Used by the AVN
The issue of childhood vaccination has lately been forefront in the media. As the great majority of parents have little to no scientific background, they can be vulnerable to scare-mongering …
A missed opportunity for a good death
In February of last year, Dr Ken Murray published a story in the Wall Street Journal story entitled, “Why Doctors Die Differently”. In this, he describes how doctors know the …
The wrong way to talk to students about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health
All medical students in Australia are likely well aware of the health issues faced by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples that must be urgently addressed. There are no …
Patient autonomy in real life
From very early on in our medical training, we are taught the importance of patient autonomy. We all know that this is one of the basic principles of medical ethics …
Health on Australia’s Streets
Rudolf Virchow was an esteemed pathologist known best to medical students for his eponymous triad of factors predisposing patients to thrombus formation. What I didn’t realise until recently was that …
Picture Perfect?
Before reading this, take a moment to go and browse through your Facebook. Don’t be looking for what happened last Friday or what your ex is up to now, but …
Smartphones in the clinical environment: a help or hindrance?
It’s not an uncommon scenario: The medical team arrives at the patient’s bedside for the daily round. A phone rings and the registrar excuses herself from the bedside to answer …
Politics in the Medical Curriculum
“What? Margaret Thatcher is dead!” exclaimed the first medical student. “Um…Who is Margerie Tha-that-sure?” replied the second with a blank expression. I could not help myself overhearing this conversation and …
Being a doctor. Being a patient.
I recently heard that one of my friends – a medical resident, had developed pneumonia and had to be admitted to hospital for a week of intravenous antibiotics. She had …
Student Versus Sleep
In a world where sleep deprivation is the new normal, there are medical students. Most of us spend a third of our lives in this state of suspended consciousness and …