The global COVID-19 pandemic has come off the back of a hellish summer of bushfires and floods in Australia, and the mental health of many Australians is, understandably, under strain. Everyone will be feeling a bit anxious right now - and that’s totally normal. But some people will be feeling it worse than others - and some people may need help. Today I’m interviewing Dr Jodie Lowinger, a clinical psychologist at Sydney Anxiety Clinic, and Associate Professor John Allan, the President of the Ro...
Apr 01, 2020•13 min•Season 3Ep. 17
Telehealth just became the number one priority for every GP clinic in the country due to the COVID-19 crisis. But it's daunting to get telehealth up and running in just a few days when you’ve never so much as heard of a VPN before, you don’t even have a headset and you’ve lost your skype login details. Don’t stress, we’ve produced a quick and dirty guide to telehealth. Listen in! This podcast was recorded during the week starting 16 March. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informat...
Mar 27, 2020•37 min•Season 3Ep. 16
This episode we talk to a GP practice that is rapidly fighting to keep its doors open in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic which has dried up its cash flow and left staff vulnerable Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mar 26, 2020•15 min•Season 3Ep. 15
Patients often rely on doctors for accurate information about end-of-life law, but surveys show that doctors aren’t always up to speed on this topic. Ben White, a professor in the faculty of law at QUT, explains why the law matters in navigating this difficult area of medicine. Resources: End of Life Law in Australia – a website to help explain end of life law: https://end-of-life.qut.edu.au/ End of Life Law for Clinicians – a training program for clinicians about end of life law, funded by the ...
Mar 22, 2020•12 min
GPs are gearing up for an inundation of COVID-19 patients, but there’s a lot of confusion out there about what needs to be done. In this episode, we talk with a Sydney-based GP and a hospital radiographer about what’s happening at the frontlines of the COVID-19 response. The situation is evolving quickly – this podcast was recorded on 11 March. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mar 12, 2020•23 min•Season 3Ep. 14
How can prison be improving people’s health when the services are so limited? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mar 10, 2020•22 min•Season 3Ep. 13
You’ve probably been hearing a lot of common sense advice about coronavirus, such as ‘wash your hands properly’, ‘don’t take a train and sneeze everywhere’, ‘wear a mask if you’re ill’, ‘call the GP instead of visiting in person’, ‘self-isolate at home’ and definitely ‘don’t touch your face’. But what does self-solation actually look like? And what happens if your patients live with family or live in a sharehouse? Does everyone in the house have to self-isolate? How do they prevent the infection...
Mar 06, 2020•23 min•Season 3Ep. 12
A burns and general surgeon, Dr Carl Lisec, shares his top tips for managing minor burn injuries in general practice Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mar 01, 2020•12 min
As governments struggle to contain the unfolding pandemic, you might think we have little to learn about public health from 100 years ago. But as the 1918-19 flu pandemic was causing havoc around the world, Australia put up a surprisingly strong and sophisticated fight. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Feb 25, 2020•14 min
Human language is hard for AI to wrap its circuit boards around at the best of times. But the typos, abbreviations, spelling mistakes, redundancy and messy structure of clinical notes makes it the worst-case scenario for text mining. Lots of research teams are trying to solve this problem – but it’s proving much more difficult than anyone expected. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Feb 24, 2020•27 min•Season 3Ep. 11
We sit down with a virologist to answer some of the most pressing questions surrounding the unfolding SARS-CoV-2 or 'coronavirus' pandemic Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Feb 18, 2020•15 min
The Australian Defence Force is turning to ACRRM to train their next generation of soldier-doctors Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Feb 16, 2020•13 min
Receiving a notification is one of the most stressful events that can happen in a doctor's career – but it's become so common, it's just another cost of doing business. Dr Anne Tonkin, the chair of the Medical Board, makes an appearance on The Medical Republic podcast this week to soothe some of the concerns and fears that doctors have about the process. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Feb 09, 2020•18 min
A new type of GP clinic is trying to appeal to young men with a hipster/man cave vibe and an entirely virtual service. But should GPs be concerned about these text-based clinics? What gap are they trying to fill in the market? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Feb 02, 2020•33 min•Season 10Ep. 10
Welcome to a new year, and the start of a new decade! This week we’re catching up with two of the leaders in macular degeneration treatment in Australia – the CEO of the Macular Disease Foundation Australia Dee Hopkins and a clinical ophthalmologist Professor Paul Mitchell. They’ve got some important messages about how GPs can help prevent blindness and vision loss in older people. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Jan 23, 2020•23 min•Season 3Ep. 9
Two weeks ago, the Morton National Park fire crossed the Shoalhaven river, destroying four homes in Bundanoon. The last time the Southern Highlands saw a fire like this was 1965, so no one was really prepared. The residents of Bundanoon only got an emergency phone call 30 minutes before the fire hit the town. By that time it was too late to leave. It was hard not to feel trapped when you looked at the giant dark patches moving in on the Fires Near Me app. There were fire fronts descending from t...
Jan 21, 2020•9 min
You might have heard of Cobargo. It’s that small town on NSW’s south coast that fires tore through on New Years Eve. It’s the town that prime minister Scott Morrison, perhaps unwisely, decided to pay a visit. While there, he got heckled and had a rather awkward moment attempting to shake the hand of a local. Today, I’m speaking with a GP at Cobargo Doctors, Dr Tracey Lucas-Ramadan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Jan 19, 2020•16 min
A fortnight ago, a fire jumped the river on the NSW border and headed for Walwa in north east Victoria. The weather conditions have meant the fires are an ongoing threat. Luckily there have only been minor injuries to humans but the emotional toll has been huge and lots of farm animals have perished. Dr David Hunt is a semi-retired GP who occasionally fills in at the local clinic. He joined me on the podcast this week. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Jan 15, 2020•13 min
As we draw to the end of an exciting year (and the first year that we've had The Medical Republic podcast) we were thinking to ourselves, what's medicine at the end of the day without a colourful patient story or two to share? So, here’s our final podcast episode for 2019 – it’s a letter from GOD (Grumpy Old Doctor) to his daughter about how to really hurt yourself by having fun. Thanks to everyone who helped bring this podcast to life and all the contributors who supported us along the way. And...
Dec 15, 2019•10 min
If you’ve been following any of the news stories on CPD over the past week, you might have noticed the rolling thread of angry comments from GPs. Essentially, the medical board has decided to up the number of CPD hours to 50. And GPs feel like the sudden need for all this extra paperwork came out of nowhere. The CPD proposal is giving some GPs a sinking feeling in their stomach – that feeling they’re just mice on those little wheels, running faster and faster to stay on the same spot. TMR report...
Dec 08, 2019•19 min•Season 3Ep. 8
For this week’s ‘potcast’ we’re weeding out the myths around medical cannabis. Patients in Australia are just starting to get their hands on medical cannabis and, for some, it’s made a huge difference to their ability to cope with chronic pain. This field is moving rapidly so in this episode we’ll look at what the experts are saying right now about the scientific evidence. And we’ll look at what barriers are still holding GPs back from prescribing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more...
Dec 01, 2019•32 min•Season 3Ep. 7
Why is the war on obesity being waged by skinny people? Well, until a few weeks ago, there was no organisation that you could join as a person with obesity to publicly advocate for your healthcare rights in Australia. There are now two groups that are positioning themselves as the go-to representative body for people with obesity, but they have fundamentally different ideas about what their members want. And the rivalry has already started to turn ugly.... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy ...
Nov 24, 2019•39 min•Season 3Ep. 6
Cost is often a barrier for NIPT screening, but is it a screening test every pregnant woman should have? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Nov 17, 2019•7 min
The plan to future-proof rural and remote medicine is off to a great start but there’s still a long way to go Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Nov 10, 2019•32 min•Season 3Ep. 5
Everyone knows medicine is a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous career. But how can you maintain good practice culture, trust in your team and avoid burnout? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Nov 04, 2019•8 min
We’ve read the numbers and attended GP19 to bring you an analysis of where the RACGP stands and what this means for members Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Oct 29, 2019•31 min•Season 3Ep. 4
Pregnancy can often exacerbate asthma symptoms but there may be a way to personalise medication and ensure best outcomes for both mother and baby Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Oct 20, 2019•19 min•Season 3Ep. 3
Historically, people at high risk of getting HIV or hepatitis have been excluded from the organ donor registry in Australia. Researchers are now calling for a re-think on this long-standing policy as a review of the data shows that the actual risk of infection in people who test negative is very low. Meanwhile, the word on vaping from the European Respiratory Society is: don’t. TMR reporter Penny Durham has the latest from the international experts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for mor...
Oct 13, 2019•25 min•Season 3Ep. 2
People in the freezer business are now claiming that cryotherapies can cure almost any disease, infertility and even death.We take a look under the freezer lid to see whether these cryo-crazes have any evidence to back them up. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Oct 07, 2019•32 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Who’d want to own a pathogen? Turns out, nation states are very interested in retaining sovereignty over their viruses and bacteria. But will this attempt to monopolise the vaccine market slow down the global response to pandemics? The WHO is starting to get very nervous, and so are we! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sep 08, 2019•25 min•Season 2Ep. 12
