Monday 29 January, 2007
How to do a good hospital discharge
Original article: Michael Tam :: Printer friendly
Consider a discharge of a patient from hospital (be it a ward or emergency department admission); what is the goal? You are trying to achieve a smooth transfer of care from the hospital team to the general practitioner. Thus, this article has an alternative title:
“How not to annoy the general practitioner with hospital discharges”
As a hospital JMO (the “turfer“), discharging a patient back into the community is often a relief. For the general practitioner who is on the receiving end (the “turfee”), there can often be many things that are frustrating and annoying. Having worked on both sides of the system, this article is about how to discharge patients without annoying the general practitioner (too much), and thereby, improving continuity of care.
Develop your “outside” interests
Original article by: Michael Tam :: Printer friendly
Cycling is fun! |
As a junior medical officer, your time is often not your own. Between work, study, medicine related projects (e.g., research papers, presentations), family, meals and sleep there is often precious little time left!
Do not sacrifice your interests and hobbies for medicine as a junior medical officer. These “outside” interests makes you a holistic rounded person and in doing so, gives you a better understanding of humanity. This can only make you a better doctor.
Saturday 6 January, 2007
The new cervical cancer vaccine
Original article by: May Su :: Printer friendly
There has been much in the media recently about the new cervical cancer vaccine, “Gardasil”. The first vaccine was initially produced in the 1990s by a team of researchers in Queensland, headed by Professor Ian Frazer; who received Australian of the Year in 2006 for his work. The vaccine was then marketed by CSL pharmaceuticals and released in 2006. It is a vaccine aimed at preventing infection with the human papilloma virus (HPV), also known as the wart virus.
There is a clear relationship to human papilloma virus (HPV) and the development of cervical cancer (1). There are more than 100 different forms of human papilloma virus (HPV), but not all of them are linked to causation of cervical cancer (2). HPV 16 and 18 are indicated in causing over 70% of cervical cancers detected. The other genotypes linked to developing cervical cancer are types 45 and 31. Types 6 and 11 are linked to the clinical manifestation of genital warts and are low risk for developing cervical cancer.
