Intoxicated by the warm brew of self-righteous indignation: Where has all the courtesy gone?
I phoned a colleague’s surgery recently and heard the recorded message. There were various options about making an online appointment, and what to do about…
Medical Observer
Unique doctor-written opinion and analysis
‘Exhausted and ready to walk’: It’s long past time to recognise the value nurses bring to general practice
We hear a lot about nurses being a cost to general practice, when the truth is they bring tremendous value to any practice. We don’t…
A crying baby was the perfect soundtrack for my online CPD course on human errors
I attended an online CPD interactive workshop to earn a discount on my medical insurance fees. All the attendees had to shift between an online…
Learning Medicare ‘on the job’ is putting GPs at medicolegal risk: Approved education is the solution
When it comes to Medicare compliance, the vast majority of doctors want to do the right thing, but sometimes the complexity of Medicare can make…
It’s time to stop the bandaid solutions and get serious about fixing general practice
The release of the RACGP’s Health of the Nation 2023 report this week has further generated essential discussions about the attraction and retention of the…
I hate telehealth: Sometimes it feels like I am being sucked into my computer
I hate telehealth. If there was a magical Tardis that could transport the patients who need it into my room at the exact time of…
‘You’ll be fine, you have good childbearing hips’: Doctors’ personal beliefs are still a big issue in abortion care
RANZCOG recently released Australia-first guidelines on abortion care. They are a fabulous read — presenting the evidence that medical abortion up to 10 weeks (not…
‘My spidey senses tingled’: the terror of the needle in a haystack diagnosis
One of the many terrors of general practice is the fear of missing a needle in a haystack. How do we find the potentially harmful…
Optus outage exposes an emerging legal risk for GPs
Last week’s prolonged Optus system outage caused widespread disruption to the delivery of healthcare services. In some instances, this unprecedented network failure had the potential…
‘Doctors are wrong — urine should be cloudy’: A day in the alternative world of alternative medicine
Who doesn’t enjoy a good trade fair? Whether it’s the booths outside a conference selling books and the latest equipment, or stalls selling food, tools…
