Australian Doctor

Dr Lane Hinchcliffe started producing caricature-based skits of general practice consultations just to provide light relief for fellow GPs. But to his surprise, the TikTok and Facebook videos he makes with his partner and mother-in-law have attracted a wider audience, particularly women and people aged 45-65. “When we did three skits, they did not go viral, but they did get 20,000-30,000 views. And people were like, ‘Are you making more?’ “Some of the comments have been lovely.

It is not often you see detailed analysis of one of the most fundamental elements of the health system: the decision-making underpinning a patient’s journey from primary to secondary care. Or put another way, the GP referral. Published on Tuesday, the medical defence organisation Avant released survey results on this very topic compiled from some 357 GPs, a broadly representative sample from around Australia. Do GPs think the specialists to whom they are sending patients are any good?

The TGA has suspended the registration of Australia’s only self-test for gonorrhoea and chlamydia after independent testing raised concerns about false negatives. The TGA said it was aware of patients who had received a negative result using the TouchBio chlamydia and gonorrhoea self-test, which relies on self-collected vaginal swabs, but had subsequently tested positive using other methods.

“How is a regular mum that doesn’t train and has one pair of joggers on the back deck going to do this?” That was Sarah Langby’s first thought when her son, Dusty, suggested they embark on a 540km fundraising walk across Central West NSW. But despite her nerves, the child and family health nurse is joining her son on the two-week trek to try and raise $1 million for Little Wings, a not-for-profit organisation that helps regional and remote children access paediatric care.

Renewing my licence in the ACT turned out to be more of a test of my vision — and my patience — than I expected. During the paperwork, a staff member asked about my vision. I explained that I have never required glasses for driving and that my -1.00 prescription has been stable for eight years. Still, the staff member requested a visual check, which I thought was fair. He couldn’t just take my word for it.

AI has been used to predict breast cancer recurrence risk and disease-free interval more accurately than the standard 21-gene assay, a study in Nature Communications suggests. The AI test uses routine clinical data — such as age, cancer stage and hormone receptor status — and the patient’s digital pathology biopsy slides to produce a continuous risk score between 0 and 1.

The debate on AHPRA’s decision to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s Working Definition of Antisemitism is complex. Does it risk health practitioners being targeted for speaking publicly on Palestine and the Gaza conflict? Does it help make clear what anti-Semitism is and protect both Jewish patients and doctors from fear, intimidation and abuse? This month, we published two opinion pieces and invited you to respond. Both are worth reading.

The Federal Government should axe five-year pharmacy agreements and instead task an independent authority with setting dispensing fees based on pharmacies’ costs, the Grattan Institute says. Its 92-page report on pharmacy funding, published this week, says that the $3.8 billion paid to pharmacies each year is based on “almost no public evidence” and that the Pharmacy Guild of Australia is “calling the shots” on policy.

Australia’s biggest nursing union has demanded that AHPRA immediately suspend its use of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s anti-Semitism definition, warning it could expose nurses and midwives to regulatory action for legitimate criticism of Israel. The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) says it has “serious concerns” about the watchdog’s decision to use the definition to guide its regulatory work.

Patients admitted to hospital with AMI during Australia’s largest annual cardiology conference face an 18% higher 30-day mortality rate, research suggests. The brief report in Internal Medicine Journal compared NSW hospital admissions for AMI during the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSANZ) Annual Scientific Meeting with admissions four weeks either side of the conference.