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Loretta Marron OAM BSc: Health Watch
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Pharma News
Hospital News
Health Politics
James Ellerson: GPs were the ‘gatekeepers’ to the health system. Will they remain so? | open full screen
Chris Wright: Health: The Pollies are playing us as well as Orianthi plays the guitar. | open full screen
Climate Change
GP Super Clinics
EPublications
News Flash
Newslflash updates for June 2010
Regular updates from the global world of pharmacy.
Access and click on the title links that are illustrated.
Feature Contribution
Do the Maths - 1200 Graduates a Year and Increasing
Pharmacists graduating within Australia must have a reasonable assurance that on graduation they will have some form of a job available for them, after due diligence and reasonable effort on their part to get themselves recruited.
The current maths do not stack up - 5000 pharmacies to accommodate 1200 graduates nationally, and increasing.
Who is responsible for the planning for graduates?
GPs were the ‘gatekeepers’ to the health system. Will they remain so?
It’s often hard to tell which party is in favour of what outcome when reading some of the media coverage on doctor, pharmacy, nurse practitioner prescribing issues. Here are a few examples to ponder:
• the Guild is opposed to pharmacist prescribing
• pharmacists and nurse practitioners are to be given limited prescribing rights
• most GPs do not actually consult with a patient before issuing a repeat script.
Is eHealth critical to navigating the world of primary care?
Primary health care reform is firmly on the political agenda. For reforms to succeed they must be underpinned by the successful deployment of ehealth; absolutely.
The last decade has witnessed a major lost opportunity for ehealth in Primary Care. Many hundreds of millions of dollars have been wasted on unrealistically ambitious and poorly managed ehealth projects; many of which have failed.
Aptly named Primary Health Care Organisations (PHCO), recently inappropriately renamed ‘Medicare Locals’, will be the centre point of the reform process. Consequently a palpable sense of urgency has developed around ehealth as its central role in the health reform process becomes increasingly apparent to politicians and bureaucrats.
PSA Future of Pharmacy-Technicians to manage dispensing
Comment has been recently made in pharmacy media on the PSA Issues Paper on the “Future of Pharmacy in Australia” in respect of the upskilling of dispensing technicians to dispense without pharmacist oversight.
Comments offered on this aspect included reduced job opportunities for pharmacists, pressure to lower dispensing fees, opportunity to develop clinical services e.g. the ability to perform HMR’s.
No doubt more comment will follow as the paper is digested and potential flow-on impacts are thought through.
Writers will be participating through the pages of the i2P e-magazine to hopefully help build the future version of this PSA paper.
Health: The Pollies are playing us as well as Orianthi plays the guitar.
Our politicians are spinning like fury as we head towards the election and despite the fact their gift for spin doesn’t match Orianthi Panagaris’ gift for playing guitar they are getting away with electoral blue murder.
As for “fixing” the health system, the rhetoric is never matched by performance. After all, it is questionable that “fixing” health actually translates to votes, simply because the money required to make an impact is too great an amount compared to the votes gained…besides “fixing” is subjective anyway.
What is it with pharmacy?
The colleges are churning out Pharmacists at a rate that would embarrass the most discerning “people-smuggler”……..
Apologies for the errant humor leading to an election.
Some 1,200 bright-eyed and bushy-tailed fine and mostly young pharmacists are hitting the job market and will somehow try to squeeze into 5,000 pharmacies.
Worse, a similar number will follow them fairly smartly.
What’s it all about, I wonder?
Looking for answers
Everyone, it seems, is looking for answers. For most there are none “out there”. Those who ask the right questions generally find the right answers “within”.
Solutions abound, looking for problems. Few can define and even fewer recognise the nature and presence of specific problems. Resources are being liberally allocated to furnishing, deploying or paying for preset solutions. Disappointment and dissatisfaction seem inevitable.
Experts are readily accessible. Expertise is harder to find. The business landscape appears to be lush with new green shoots, yet barren. Much like the desert and the Lake Eyre regions of central Australia.
The climates of regions throughout the world are changing. Temperatures are rising. Record cold snaps are also being recorded. Extended dry spells are evident, offset by deluges of flooding proportions.
Prognostications by some economists conclude “boom times” have arrived or are on the near horizon. Many consumers have obviously not heard or read of the confidence building forecasts. They are constraining purchases and outlays. Retailers, particularly smaller entities, are confused, and are finding trading is tough.
In recent times we have worked with clients from a broad spectrum of sectors producing formats, templates and frameworks which enable them to “look within”.
Real riches are being rediscovered, refined and celebrated. Positive and embracing corporate cultures, are being revisited and pride inculcated, because of what made entities great and competitively advantaged in the first instance.
Distinctive symbols and myths are being recognised, valued and applied for internal cohesion, self motivation and for external profiling.
The article text which features later in this transmission unveils and outlines encouraging lessons and principles on the role and nature of a positive corporate culture.
I commend it to the former executives, the players and besieged supporters of the once high achieving, now disgraced Melbourne Storm Rugby League team.
Barry Urquhart
NAPE begs more questions than answers- for the moment
The ideal of having quality continuing pharmacy education, delivered in digestible “bite-sized” chunks plus convenience of delivery at an economical cost has been a dream for pharmacists for as long as I can remember.
With the advent of the new Australian Pharmacy Board there will be requirement for all pharmacists to undertake suitable education to maintain their registration.
While there are many acceptable education streams coming from the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA), the Pharmacy Guild of Australia (PGA) and the Australian College of Pharmacy Practice (ACPP), there is not a high degree of planning to anticipate all pharmacist needs.
For example, the delivery of professional services for a fee – there is no identifiable pathway enabling individual pharmacists to develop a professional practice that could be incorporated into a community pharmacy, a primary health care organisation, a medical centre or other suitable location.
Hmmm, I’m not convinced
A Woolworths “spokesman” (they are all still so very alpha at Woolies) has come out (excuse the expression) and declared the loss of interest in not only their “pharmacy” type trademarks but the industry of pharmacy itself.
980218 Pharmacist at Woolworths and 980219 PHARMACIST @ WOOLWORTHS, both previously registered trade marks, have been cancelled.
3Naturopathy and my Doctor.
To my pleasant surprise the family doctor offered a choice to address a painful problem highlighted by scans.
Acupuncture or an anti-inflammatory drug?
Acupuncture any day thank you, without the fries.
2 
Better patient advice loses out to costly prescription errors
A University of Otago study which shows pharmacists spend too much time seeking clarification for minor prescription errors has prompted a call for greater awareness among doctors and prescribers of this time-wasting problem.
Lead author and School of Pharmacy Senior Lecturer Dr Rhiannon Braund says the study of 20 Dunedin pharmacies found that in most cases unnecessary minor bureaucratic errors were the reason for pharmacists needing to confirm the intent of prescribers - usually doctors.
Study shows Australian quality of life varies widely
A survey of 5000 Australians conducted by the University of Technology Sydney has shown middle aged people express the lowest level in quality of life compared with people in their early 20s or mid 60’s.
The finding which throws the ‘life begins at 40’ cliché into serious doubt is among a number of revelations gained from the study.
Findings of the research will be discussed in a public lecture held at the UTS Great Hall on Tuesday 25 May 2010. Details for the lecture which is open to the public for free can be obtained from the UTS web site www.uts.edu.au/new/speaks/2010/May/2505.htm
Public participation heats up on climate change
Australians believe that climate change is here to stay, but their expectations about the severity of change fall well short of what scientists predict.
This is one of the key findings from a three-year study led by The Australian National University. The Climate Change and the Public Sphere project has interviewed more than 100 randomly selected citizens from the ACT and Goulburn about their views on climate change in various, increasingly severe, situations and how they are likely to react to it in the future.
Killed by cold: heart and stroke deaths peak in winter
* Perth and Sydney lead the country in winter heart-related deaths
* Tasmanians cope best with the cold
* Brisbane not far behind Sydney for winter deaths
* Darwin fares the best because it doesn't get so cold
Rates of cardiovascular disease increase dramatically in Australian winters because many people don't know how to rug up against the cold, a Queensland University of Technology (QUT) seasonal researcher has found.
Traumatic brain injury linked to sleep disturbance
A Monash University study has shown that sleep disturbances and depression symptoms are common among people who have suffered Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).
The team of researchers from the School of Psychology and Psychiatry measured in a laboratory setting the sleep of 23 patients with TBI with 23 healthy people who had not suffered trauma.
Study leader, Associate Professor Shantha Rajaratnam said patients with TBI showed increased sleep disturbance and reported poorer sleep quality, and higher anxiety and depressive symptoms than healthy volunteers.
Blood Thinners May Prevent Malaria
New treatments for malaria are possible after Walter and Eliza Hall Institute scientists found that molecules similar to the blood-thinning drug heparin can stop malaria from infecting red blood cells.
Malaria is an infection of red blood cells that is transmitted by mosquitoes.
The most common form of malaria is caused by the parasite Plasmodium falciparum which burrows into red blood cells where it rapidly multiplies, leading to massive numbers of parasites in the blood stream that can cause severe disease and death.
PAC 10- A Focus on Pharmacy Practice Change
Pharmacy practice must shift its primary mission from supplying medicines to helping people make the best use of medicines in order to meet the needs of the public and ensure its survival as a health profession.
This is the view of leading US pharmacy expert Professor William A. Zellmer who will present on the topic of The Imperative for Change in Pharmacy Practice at PAC10 in October this year.
Drug Company Battles with NZ Pharmacy Guild
In a recent news item reported in the New Zealand Stuff.co.nz highlights a drug recall problem that had significant associated costs involving community pharmacy participation.
It is a problem that could occur within Australia and is currently before the courts in New Zealand.
The problem does reflect on the existing culture within the pharmacy profession where for too long pharmacists have virtually donated their services in instances where there should have been an expectation of payment for a professional service.
PGA (Australia) could monitor the legal process in New Zealand and adopt a protocol, if the result proves favourable to pharmacy.
The story (found online here) follows below:
Hmmm, I’m not convinced
A Woolworths “spokesman” (they are all still so very alpha at Woolies) has come out (excuse the expression) and declared the loss of interest in not only their “pharmacy” type trademarks but the industry of pharmacy itself.
980218 Pharmacist at Woolworths and 980219 PHARMACIST @ WOOLWORTHS, both previously registered trade marks, have been cancelled.
3Sunlight shines on clean energy future
Dr Zhiguo Yi and Professor Ray Withers have found a simple inorganic compound can efficiently oxidise water to release oxygen.
The production of clean energy and the treatment of waste water are set to become easier thanks to ANU researchers.
The scientists – Dr Zhiguo Yi and Professor Ray L Withers of the Research School of Chemistry at ANU, along with colleagues from Japan and China – have demonstrated that a simple inorganic compound, silver orthophosphate, can efficiently be used to oxidise water with only the power of light.
The oxidisation process can be used to convert solar energy to clean energy or break down contaminants in water.
The research is published in Nature Materials.
The Ascendancy of Warwick Plunkett
Prior to negotiations commencing for the Fifth Community Pharmacy Agreement (5CPA) the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) and the Pharmacy Guild of Australia agreed that the two organisations would present a unified front in their dealings with government.
That did not happen and many details of the 5CPA were completed in secrecy and without the appropriate input by the PSA.
Explanations were later offered by the PGA, but they rang a little hollow and were certainly outside of the spirit of a unified front.
Certainly, on the surface it appears that the PGA did not honour an agreement and was prepared to discount their formal agreement to the extent that it seemed not to exist at all.
The news item reporting the rift between the two organisations follows and Mark Coleman has been asked to provide a commentary at the foot of this news item.
Weekly Australian Health IT Links - 31-05-2010
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From a Medical IT Perspective: I am vitally interested in making a difference to the quality and safety of Health Care in Australia through the use of information technology. There is no choice.. it has to be made to work! That is why I keep typing. Disclaimer - Please note all the commentary are personal views based on the best evidence available to me - If I have it wrong let me know! This blog has only three major objectives. | |
Here are a few I have come across this week. Note: Each link is followed by a title and a paragraph or two. For the full article click on the link above title of the article. Note also that full access to some links may require site registration or payment. The most fun we are going to have in the near future is coming up with Senate Estimates as mentioned in a blog a day or so ago. See here: http://aushealthit.blogspot.com/2010/05/senate-estimates-alert-wednesday-june-2.html I am hoping that we will get some clarity from these sessions as to just what the Government is planning for the e-Health space. Other than this anticipated future fun there is of course just the ongoing concern about just how well the implementation of the larger health reform agenda is going. I note the drip feed of announcements is continuing with the announcement of another $58M to support so called clinical leadership groups.General Comment:
PM flags leadership groups for hospitals
ISABEL HAYES
May 28, 2010 - 6:09PM
AAP
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has pledged more funding for the federal government's health reform program, after fronting the nation's largest doctors group.
Speaking at the Australian Medical Association (AMA) annual conference on Friday, Mr Rudd promised an additional $58 million to create lead clinician groups to guide local hospital networks.
The move was welcomed by the AMA, with President Dr Andrew Pesce saying it meant doctors would have a stronger voice in the management of public hospitals.
----- End Extract.
Why wasn’t the need for this discovered during the policy development and consultation process?
Why is it we keep having this drip feed rather than a coherent and planned policy? One really wonders about the quality of the policy formation process in DoHA if this keeps happening – and who knows what the same problem might cause with e-Health?
Just another minor gripe. Why is it that we keep getting press releases saying a solution to some major problem has been found (e.g. the CSIRO / SNOMED releases below) when whatever is being promoted is only a small part of the solution? Overhyping such information does nothing for credibility and public understanding!
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E-health reforms demand proper chief
Monday, 24 May 2010 13:20
Australia’s urgent need for a chief to drive e-health reforms was highlighted today, by the chief information officer of Singapore’s Ministry of Health Holdings who is driving a ten year investment strategy for the nation costed at up to S$1.5 billion.
Speaking about Singapore’s move toward an electronic health record Dr Sarah Muttitt told a packed session at CeBIT today that such reforms; “Clearly need someone at the helm to influence the decisions...and try to do master IT planning.”While Muttitt was speaking about progress in Singapore her remarks would resonate for many locals who are still wondering who is in charge of e-health here.
Many consider NEHTA – the national health transition authority – led by Peter Fleming and chaired by David Gonski as the natural candidate, but it would need its mandate expanded and more clout. At present the organisation has been focussed on developing health identifier numbers for the national e health record, and acting as a form of clearing house for discussions on e-health governance, standards and the like.
Comment: What a silly suggestion – where is the evidence of capable leadership from NEHTA?
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http://www.itwire.com/it-industry-news/market/39306-cebit-opens-with-gonski-innovation-plea
CeBIT opens with Gonski innovation plea
Monday, 24 May 2010 11:13
David Gonski, chairman of Investec and also the chairman of the National e-Health Transition Authority, gave the keynote at this morning’s opening of CeBIT in Sydney, with an impassioned plea for the nation to lift its game in terms of innovation.
CeBIT Australia 2010, which has brought together 500 companies to showcase their wares, and organisers hoping they can attract more than 35,000 attendees, was officially opened by NSW premier Kristina Keneally. While the focus of the exhibition is innovation in ICT and the way that is leveraged by business and government, Gonski lamented Australia’s relatively poor international innovation ranking.He called for continued investment in infrastructure in Australia – particularly in the area of the national broadband network and an e-health network. Although the Opposition has in recent days pledged to dismantle these and the Digital Education Revolution investment of the Rudd Government, Gonski said that “In my role as the chair of NEHTA I am acutely aware of the NBN and what an e-heath strategy could achieve.”
Comment: Pity David Gonski is not aware we already have one! Jinx even.
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http://www.reportageonline.com/2010/05/e-health-system-raises-privacy-concerns/
E-Health system raises privacy concerns
24 May 2010 No Comment
A recent boost in federal funding for a shared e-Health report system has re-opened the debate about the protection of patient medical records. Alberto De Angelis reports.
CeBit Australia, the annual global business conference begins today at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre and will be running e-Health workshops and conference to discuss the potential for a nationalhealth record database.
The Federal Government’s $467 million push for the establishment and implementation of an e-Health system however, has raised questions over the protection and control patients will have over their medical records.
The database would allow the health details of voluntarily registered users to be viewed and added to, by registered healthcare providers.
However, while the sharing of healthcare records is voluntary, every person who is in the database will still be issued a healthcare identifier.
These identifiers are numbers that not only link an individual to their health records, if they have volunteered to do so, but also personal information such as name, gender and date of birth.
Dr Chris Mount, acting assistant secretary of the e-Health branch of the Department of Health and Ageing confirmed the automatic assignment of identifier numbers at a privacy forum last week.
-----
http://www.smh.com.au/national/patient-data-under-threat-say-auditors-20100524-w85r.html
Patient data under threat, say auditors
May 25, 2010
FEDERAL government auditors have overruled Medicare, calling on the agency to improve security of patient details held by pharmacists.
Patient information on the 2o0 million prescriptions pharmacists dispense each year are largely electronically held, which the Auditor-General, Ian McPhee, says ''continues to be an area of growing threats''.
In an audit report on the administration of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme released yesterday, Mr McPhee revealed a long-running turf war among three health agencies over responsibility for the PBS.
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http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/052610-patients-key-to-nurse-national.html
Patients key to nurse national e-health
By Darren Pauli, Computerworld Australia
May 26, 2010 10:53 AM ET
Health experts have warned that Australia's national $466.7 million e-health records system is being rushed and lacks a consumer focus.
Industry pundits from Australian health services joined representatives from the UK National Health Service (NHS) and the Singapore Ministry of Health at the CeBIT 2010 conference in Sydney today in proposing the Federal Government should engage consumers before deploying its e-health initiative.
NHS "Connecting for Health" clinical architect, Dr Mike Bainbridge, said the government needs to engage consumers now about how e-health should be deployed.
"You have to move now to engage citizens," Dr Bainbridge said. "You don't have the luxury of 7 years of mistakes like we did."
-----
CeBIT 2010: Barcodes pushed for national medicine recalls
National medicines body looks to implement national barcoding system to ensure recall compliance
- James Hutchinson (Computerworld)
- 28 May, 2010 12:23
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) may introduce a new barcode-based product recall notification system as early as June next year, according to the company that built it.
The new system will be based on a global product database created by not-for-profit organisation, GS1, which is also used in sectors ranging from grocery and retail to transport and defence supply chain management.
According to GS1 Australia's chief executive officer, Maria Palazzolo, the RecallNet system would ensure compliance among individual healthcare providers for pharmaceutical and medical goods.
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http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/tony_collins/2010/05/officials-nervous-over-morecam.html
Officials nervous over Morecambe Bay's planned go-live
By Tony Collins on May 27, 2010 10:58 AM
NHS staff and executives at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust are planning for an important go-live of iSoft's Lorenzo system this Bank Holiday weekend.
A spokeswoman for the Trust said this morning (27 May 2010) that she was unaware that any definite decision for a go-live had yet been taken, but all the signs are that the Trust wants it to happen this weekend.
Not all officials at Richmond House, the headquarters of the Department of Health, share Morecambe Bay's conviction that a go-live this weekend is a good idea.
-----
http://www.theage.com.au/national/mentally-ill-turn-to-etherapy-20100529-wml9.html
Mentally ill turn to e-therapy
JILL STARK
May 30, 2010
MENTALLY ill Australians are increasingly being diagnosed and treated online in virtual psychiatric clinics, without ever seeing a doctor.
Patients suffering from depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder are being assessed by computer and given ''e-prescriptions'' for online counselling courses instead of medication or treatment sessions with a psychologist or psychiatrist. Doctors who provide e-therapy say it produces better results than face-to-face treatment but at a fraction of the cost.
Private appointments with mental health specialists cost an average of $100 an hour.
With e-therapy, patients are clinically diagnosed after completing psychiatric reviews by answering online questions. They then have the option to enrol in a free electronic self-help treatment program or receive assistance from an online therapist at limited cost.
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Coalition claims commitment to e-health, despite plan to axe e-records
24th May 2010
THE federal Opposition says it believes in electronic health records - even though it's promised to reverse Labor's decision to introduce them by mid-2012 if elected to government.
Earlier this week, the Coalition announced it would "abolish individual electronic health records" as a way of saving $467 million over the next two years.
The announcement drew criticism from health experts, and from the Government, which took the opportunity to underline that in 2007, then Health Minister Tony Abbott said “failure to establish an electronic patient record system within five years... would be an indictment against everyone in the system”. (Abbott attracts criticism for plan to axe e-health program, MO 21 May)
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Crisis meeting over Qld Health payroll software
AAP
Queensland nurses are to hold an urgent meeting with health authorities at the state's Industrial Relations Commission (QIRC) on Thursday.
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http://www.zdnet.com.au/qld-health-must-stop-system-docking-pay-339303504.htm
QLD Health must stop system docking pay
By Josh Taylor, ZDNet.com.au on May 28th, 2010
The Queensland Industrial Relations Commission (QIRC) has ordered Queensland Health to stop making unauthorised deductions from employees' pay, as troubles with the roll-out of the agency's new payroll system continue.
The Queensland Nurses Union (QNU) summoned Queensland Health to a meeting at the QIRC yesterday to address member concerns that the SAP-based payroll system had been making deductions from employees it incorrectly deemed to have over-paid.
Employees who had been underpaid using the payroll had been given ad-hoc payments. The system had taken these ad-hoc payments as overpayments above the normal wage, and had deducted that amount from the employee's next pay cheque.
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e-health experts fan hospital waiting list style rage
Tuesday, 25 May 2010 15:09
To properly engage Australians in the e-health debate, it has to become an issue as significant to voters as hospital waiting lists, according to experts in the field speaking at CeBIT today.
During a panel session bringing together international experts on e-health, Mary Foley the national health practice leader for PricewaterhouseCoopers, said that although its recent surveys had found that 36 per cent of Australians supported having an electronic file containing their health records in a doctor’s office or hospital , and 30 per cent would like web based access to those records, the e-health sector was guilty of largely speaking to itself rather than the broader community.
She suggested electronic health records had to become as important an issue to the community as were hospital waiting lists in order to really engage health care consumers or patients.
------
Opposition to address e-health privacy
- Karen Dearne
- From: Australian IT
- May 25, 2010 5:19PM
THE federal Opposition plans to tighten up aspects of the controversial Healthcare Identifiers Bill before debate in the Senate next month.
Coalition spokesman for regional health services Andrew Southcott said while supporting the Bill's intent, a number of amendments aimed at greater parliamentary oversight would strengthen protections for patients.
"In particular, the Bill as it stands continues to raise concerns about privacy and the possibility of function creep," Mr Southcott said in a statement.
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E-health the 'right thing' to do: expert
- Andrew Colley
- From: Australian IT
- May 25, 2010 4:42PM
THE economic arguments for rolling out tele-health services in Australia maybe tough to prove, a US e-health expert has warned.
Robert Bosch Healthcare business development director Suneel Ratan today warned that the economics of rolling out tele-health were strongest in the US where healthcare costs were high relative to other markets.
Mr Ratan was commenting on RBH's experience providing healthcare services for the US Department of Veteran Affairs at the CeBIT technology conference in Sydney.
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'E-health needs a lot of work to become reality'
- By Alice Downey
- From: news.com.au
- May 25, 2010 2:19PM
NEW e-health initiatives to connect patients with doctors won't work because of a lack of infrastructure, experts say.
Health and IT experts at the CeBIT expo in Sydney yesterday met to discuss the need for tele-health initiatives such as video conferencing to take pressure off the current Australian health system.
Brendan Lovelock, health practice Head at Cisco Systems, said Australia’s current health system was not sustainable for the future.
"There are not, and will not be, sufficient resources to meet our expectations of care in Australia," Mr Lovelock said.
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http://www.reportageonline.com/2010/05/australia-not-ready-for-e-health/
Australia not ready for e-Health
25 May 2010 One Comment
By Alice Downey | Health Editor
New E-Health initiatives to connect patients with doctors won’t work because of a lack of infrastructure, experts said at the CeBit Conference in Sydney yesterday.
One of these initiatives is the implementation of Tele-Health practices such as video conferencing to take pressure off the current Australian health system.
Brendan Lovelock, the Health Practice Head at Cisco Systems, says Australia’s current health system is not sustainable for the future.
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Web portal Warrior Gateway helps digital-age vets
BARBARA ORTUTAY
May 24, 2010
For young veterans returning from duty in Iraq or Afghanistan, the process of re-entering society can be daunting, especially if they have been injured or have struggled with mental health problems.
A new, free Web portal wants to help these warriors find the services they need in an environment they are comfortable in: the Internet.
Warrior Gateway is designed with Google Inc. and social media in mind to make its intended audience as comfortable as possible. Veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, generally in their mid-20s, grew up with e-mail, keep in touch using Facebook and are familiar with online communities that stretch across time zones.
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http://www.nehta.gov.au/media-centre/feature-story/644-act-ug
Opportunity to join the new NEHTA Australian Clinical Terminology User Group (ACT-UG).
The purpose of the group is to:
- Harness the Australian Clinical Informatics Community’s interest and willingness to contribute to the development of clinical terminology components that support the national e-health agenda.
- Support safe, effective and efficient implementation of clinical terminology in Australian healthcare.
- Disseminate information and feedback between the IHTSDO, other relevant clinical terminology standards bodies and the Australian Clinical Informatics Community.
- Through the above, help expand the pool of clinical terminology expertise available in Australia to support the national e-health agenda.
The first meeting of the ACT-UG will be held on 30 June 2010, via web and teleconference, with agenda items covering rationale for the group; terms of reference, meeting schedules and calls for Co-Chair nominations. We will also use this opportunity to brief participants on current NEHTA and IHTSDO structures and goals. For those who would prefer to attend in either Sydney, Brisbane or Canberra meetings rooms can be made available. Please advise if you do wish to use this facility.
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NEHTA snaps up CSIRO technology for e-health records system upgrade
Software will help computers ‘talk the same language’
- Lisa Banks (CIO)
- 24 May, 2010 10:03
The federal government’s national e-health transition authority (NEHTA) is using CSIRO software in its SNOMED CT infrastructure.
SNOMED CT, or systematised nomenclature of medicine - clinical terms, provides a consistent framework from which healthcare providers can share health records.
Inaccurate or missing data from patient records in previous systems led to unnecessary hospitalisations and a waste of about 25 per cent of clinicians’ time, according to the CSIRO.
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http://www.environmental-expert.com/resultEachPressRelease.aspx?cid=25559&codi=170362&lr=1
Relieving the electronic health records headache
Source: CSIRO, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
May 21, 2010
Inaccurate or missing data in patient records has resulted in people being hospitalised unnecessarily and wastage of an estimated 25 per cent of clinicians' time spent collecting patient data.
As part of the Federal Government's e-health initiatives, the National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) is implementing an internationally agreed standard for the dictionary of clinical terms used in electronic health records software, called SNOMED CT.
CSIRO E-Health Theme Leader, Dr David Hansen, said that while SNOMED CT has been customised for Australia, health practitioners are still encountering problems with the system.
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Little scientific credibility behind health scare headlines
ZOE WILLIAMS
May 24, 2010
News reports about mobiles giving you cancer aim to entertain.
MOBILE phones give you brain cancer, and a bacon sandwich a day puts up heart disease by a half. It makes the choice pretty simple: bacon is tastier than ceaseless phone chat, and myocardial infarction a lot less painful than a brain tumour. That said, it would be foolish to rule out the possibility that you've eaten a bacon sandwich while on the phone - in which case it's not a choice but a double whammy.
Both of these appeared as headlines in the right-wing London tabloid The Daily Mail: on the mobiles and brain cancer risk, its report was a marked contrast to those of the broadsheets, who agreed that the study on which the story was based had found no statistically significant raised risk. The author of the study, Professor Anthony Swerdlow of Britain's Institute of Cancer Research, clarified the findings for me (as he had already, in a press conference - the misreporting here isn't accidental): there were 10 usage groups, ranging from very low to very high. In the very highest group - those reporting using their phone for 12 or more hours a day - there was a raised chance of both glioma and meningioma.
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http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/filtering-by-computer-fails-on-judgment-20100524-w7w1.html
Filtering by computer fails on judgment
GEORGE WILLIAMS
May 25, 2010
The plan to filter the internet for material refused classification under Australian law is legally flawed. Australia's classification law is not compatible with the Rudd government's proposal, and in fact has its own problems that make it unsuitable as a basis for any internet ''clean feed''.
Publications, movies and computer games ''refused classification'' cover a wide spectrum. They deal with child pornography, explicit sex and extreme violence, and controversial areas such as euthanasia and abortion which are outlawed in all or part of Australia.
Working out whether something should be refused classification cannot be undertaken in any mechanical or formulaic way, like using word recognition or other automated techniques. The decision requires a personal, individual judgment that is, by its nature, highly subjective.
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Commercial filters on the side of web censorship
- Karen Dearne
- From: Australian IT
- May 26, 2010 12:08PM
GOVERNMENT firewalls and censorship are not the only threat to online freedom, with commercial filters increasingly blocking user access to websites, Tor Project founder Roger Dingledine warns.
As companies and public-sector organisations adopt unified security products and web content security, many more employees may find legitimate websites are blocked, along with known nasties.
"The Tor Project website is often blocked by filters used by news organisations, for example," he said.
"Journalists in the US are being censored by commercial filters such as SmartFilter or Websense which prevent access to the internet as the rest of the world sees it.
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Enjoy!
David.
Posted by Dr David More MB, PhD, FACHI at Monday, May 31, 2010 0 comments
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Sunday, May 30, 2010
Why is It Taking So Long to Have a Useable and Complete Medicines Terminology? NEHTA is Just Dragging the Chain On This.
The following announcement appeared a day or so ago.
NEHTA announces the availability of Australian Medicines Terminology (AMT) Release 2.11
28 May 2010
RELEASE NOTE
AMT Statement of Purpose
The Australian Medicines Terminology (AMT) has been developed to be fit for the purpose of unambiguously identifying for clinicians and computer systems, all Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) identified 'Registrable' medicines marketed in Australia, and is therefore available to be represented in acute sector clinical information systems for the following activities:
• Prescribing
• Recording
• Review
• Supply
• Administration
• Communication of the above in a Discharge Summary
While systems developers and end users might choose to deploy AMT or information generated from AMT enabled systems for purposes other than those described, no assessment with regards to fitness for purpose has been made by NEHTA.
NEHTA Announces the Availability of Australian Medicines Terminology Release 2.11
The latest update, Release 2.11 of Australian Medicines Terminology (AMT) has been published, and is available for download from NEHTA’s Secure Website. AMT is freely available for e-health software developers to use in their Australian products, under NEHTA’s licensing arrangements with the International Health Terminology Standards Development Organisation (IHTSDO®1).
AMT does not provide total coverage of all products used in the Australian health sector. As a result, it is continuously updated and releases are issued on a monthly basis. Updates include additional data items, and refinements as identified by stakeholders.
The 28 May 2010 release of AMT contains all the Australian marketed products that are included on the Schedule of Pharmaceutical Benefits, including the Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Schedule (RPBS). This release includes products that become available as PBS products on 1 June 2010.
The full release notification can be found here:
This has all been going on for quite a long time.
AUSTRALIAN MEDICINES TERMINOLOGY RELEASE 1.0.0
Release Notes
19 December 2007
NEHTA publishes the Australian Medicines Terminology Release 1.0.0
Australian Medicines Terminology (AMT) Release 1.0.0 has been published. This comes after an extensive development phase incorporating feedback from our stakeholders. The scope of this release is limited as described below, and information on upcoming releases and their contents will be published as they become available.
Australian Medicines Terminology (AMT) Release 1.0.0 is an extension to SNOMED CT and access is limited to those holding license agreements managed by NEHTA.
The development of Australian Medicines Terminology has involved analysis and review by NEHTA, and has incorporated feedback from stakeholders.
The Australian Medicines Handbook (AMH) reviewed AMT and provided a report of recommendations. This is available on NEHTA’s website1. Key recommendations, as identified by NEHTA, have been incorporated into this release. A meeting held by NEHTA with stakeholders in December considered the remaining recommendations from the AMH report; the outcomes from this meeting will be posted on the NEHTA website and incorporated into subsequent AMT releases.
This release contains medicines from the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG) that are included in the Schedule of Pharmaceutical Benefits as published on the 1st December 2007, and includes over 3,500 products. More Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) items will routinely be added to the AMT through monthly updates to the Schedule of Pharmaceutical Benefits.
Inclusion of non-PBS items listed on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods will also be added to future releases of AMT. NEHTA will work closely with TGA and PBS to identify issues and ensure AMT is updated as new products become available.
----- End Extract.
Indeed it goes back much further:
In a NEHTA document dated 14 August, 2006 we have the following:
Document Title:
FACT SHEET - NATIONAL MEDICINES TERMINOLOGY
NEHTA’s Task
There are numerous systems that document drug information in Australia, all of which require slightly different information and perform slightly different functions. These include: TGA (ARTG) Register, PBS Schedule, state-wide and local hospital drug formularies and proprietary drug files such as those used by the medical software and knowledge resource industry.
NEHTA aims to ensure that terminology used for the naming and identification of all medicines registered and listed with the TGA is standardised across all e-health systems used in Australia. This will be done by developing a standard medicines terminology which is accessible to all.
NEHTA’s medicines terminology will deliver:
• A standard means of identifying branded and generically equivalent medicines; and
• Standard naming conventions and terminology, to accurately describe medications.
NEHTA will work with industry and international experts to develop the standards, specifications and infrastructure necessary for this task.
The Australian Catalogue of Medicines (ACOM) is an important contributor to this project and will be the central source of up-to-date trade product information to the medicines terminology. ACOM is available to the pharmaceutical industry to populate with current and standardised product data.
Additional Requirements
The Australian medicines terminology is also designed to:
• Be an extension to the nationally agreed terminology for all clinical terms used in Australian healthcare, SNOMED CT;
• Be used by e-health systems in both hospital and community settings;
• Be extended to include the identification of extemporaneous formulations as well as clinical trial drugs; and
• Have the ability to be extended to include medical devices.
----- End Extract.
The purposes for having a medicines terminology (among others) include:
- Facilitating e-Prescribing and Medication Management.
- Reduction of Medication Errors
- Enabling Improved Accuracy of Medication Recording.
- Improving Clinical Trials and Medication Research.
- Assisting in Providing Quality Clinical Decision Support
For this to work properly and practically ALL prescribeable medications must be covered and covered in all their presentations (packaging etc). That is why this incomplete coverage is a major barrier to effective use.
They say:
“AMT does not provide total coverage of all products used in the Australian health sector. As a result, it is continuously updated and releases are issued on a monthly basis. Updates include additional data items, and refinements as identified by stakeholders.
The 28 May 2010 release of AMT contains all the Australian marketed products that are included on the Schedule of Pharmaceutical Benefits, including the Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Schedule (RPBS). This release includes products that become available as PBS products on 1 June 2010.”
You simply can’t make effective use of a terminology that only covers a proportion of what is prescribed and used.
I am also told the present data formats in which the terminology is provided are less than ideal.
Just why is it – after so long - this is just not done and dusted so the only updates are for new and deleted medications - as it has been promised and should have been.
Some good questions on this in Senate Estimates would not hurt! It is just hopeless.
David.
Posted by Dr David More MB, PhD, FACHI at Sunday, May 30, 2010 22 comments
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Saturday, May 29, 2010
Senate Estimates Alert - Wednesday June 2, 2010
I understand the e-Health Area will be addressed at Senate Estimates next Wednesday when the Community Affairs area is addressed. The following link provides access to a .pdf which has the various ways of watching etc.http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/estimates/budget1011/schedule.pdfThis page shows how you can watch the session live – which might just be fun given all the things happening in e-Health.http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/estimates/index.htm
Live broadcasts:
Senate estimates hearings are broadcast live over the Internet. Details can be found at www.aph.gov.au/liveExpect some commentary once the transcripts become available!Enjoy.David. Posted by Dr David More MB, PhD, FACHI at Saturday, May 29, 2010 0 comments
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Friday, May 28, 2010
Here is the Reason We Are Getting Nowhere with Ms Roxon!
The following appeared today.
Expert criticism won't help: minister
KATHARINE MURPHY
May 28, 2010
HEALTH Minister Nicola Roxon has signalled to a group of eminent mental health experts they would help their cause more if they toned down some of their public criticism.
The Health Minister met yesterday with her National Mental Health Advisory Council in Canberra. Sources say the one-hour closed-door meeting turned frosty when one of the council members, the former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chief Allan Fels, queried the Rudd government's commitment to mental health. Ms Roxon is understood to have told the members present that she looked forward to the group's support for advancing the cause of mental health.
.....
According to sources, Ms Roxon replied that public criticism was not a good way to get results - and did not advance the advocates' cause.
Full Article Here:
http://www.theage.com.au/national/expert-criticism-wont-help-minister-20100527-whol.html
Sad this – seems like “speaking truth to power” is forbidden by those in power and that their approach is the paternalistic (maternalistic?) Joh like “don’t you worry about that!”. We will get round to e-Health (and mental and dental health) when we feel like it!
Looks like we all just meant to shut up and wait for goodness to be rained on us! She just does not want to be bothered by experts telling her she is not doing a great job.
No wonder the polls are now showing the next election will be a contest, an unthinkable thought just a few months ago, with attitudes like this. Another self-inflicted bullet to the foot I reckon.
David.
Posted by Dr David More MB, PhD, FACHI at Friday, May 28, 2010 0 comments
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