Happy Birthday, AusDoc! Best wishes from the great and good of general practice
AusDoc is marking its 40th anniversary this week.
Below are a selection of tributes from some of Australia’s leading GPs, ranging from Professor Simon Willcock and Emeritus Professor John Murtagh to Dr Barri Phatarfod and Professor Jane Gunn.
We start with Adjunct Clinical Professor Karen Price.
Adjunct Clinical Professor Karen Price
Immediate RACGP past president, adjunct clinical professor at Monash University and WONCA executive
Happy Birthday, Australian Doctor. We are lucky to have you regularly supporting GPs and interrogating the latest policy twist from deep-space Canberra.
The medical profession needs good dialogue and good journalism, and I have been impressed, and sometimes challenged, with the journalistic interpretation of our profession.
My favourite memories include your unwavering support of the GPs Down Under community, of which I am a co-founder.
During the initial set-up back in 2014, there was plenty of opposition from the powers that be.
Australian Doctor understood the necessity of a large, free-flowing dialogue in the GP community. God forbid that professional isolation should continue.
You have also understood the challenges of free, open-access medical education, which also spans peer advocacy and peer support but exists in a flat hierarchy.
Although I am now challenged by your insistence on me sharing a photo of my 1980s big hair, so be it, I guess.
Thank you.
From the AusDoc archive: RACGP: It’s time for GPs to abandon universal bulk-billing
Professor Jane Gunn AO
Dean of the faculty of medicine, dentistry and health sciences, University of Melbourne
My first interaction with Australian Doctor was discovering and then stockpiling the How to Treat (HTT) supplements when I was a third-year medical student.
I was labouring under the demands of biochemistry, pathology, anatomy and physiology — and the clinical application of my knowledge seemed a distant glimmer.
Studying for my RACGP fellowship and RANZCOG diploma exams, I would diligently rip out the HTT sections for revision. And as a practising GP, I continued to find them useful and engaging.
Fast-forward to the 2000s, and I had the honour of contributing my own HTT.
Now, I wonder what ChatGPT would make of the query “read all the HTTs and list the top 10 recommendations for a GP”!
From the AusDoc archive: Breathless without you — premature babies and the limits of viability
Dr Mukesh Haikerwal AC
Melbourne GP and former AMA president
I have been following AusDoc in one form or another since advent of Medicare.
I arrived in Australia, from Leicester in the East Midlands of England, with my wife Dr Karyn Alexander and started in practice in 1991 to the furore of “VR”.
In the intervening 30 years, not a week has gone by without some upheaval being meted out to us GPs by some agency or other. The list seems endless. We also saw a gallery of players in health, from the practices, the various primary care organisations (such as divisions), the politicians, the academics, the soothsayers and the medico glitterati!
I have been grateful from the get-go of the magazine for an authoritative, thoughtful sane voice to report on what often seems a madness. It has given us the chance to understand the machinations in our faces.
In terms of my personal gratitude to AusDoc, it is for providing a platform to garner opinion and change directions when necessary.
As I wrote to the AusDoc editor recently: “Don’t ever underestimate the huge contribution of your team and the magazine to the massive gains in health for all Australians; not just by your reporting but by ‘keeping people honest’. You have allowed the class of agent provocateurs to do their stuff in holding those in power to account!”
From the AusDoc archive: The Pharmacy Guild, its lobbyists and its money
Emeritus Professor John Murtagh AO
GP, educator and author of the specialty’s most influential textbook, John Murtagh’s General Practice
Congratulations to Australian Doctor on its 40th anniversary of bringing the publication to the medical profession.
In particular, I would like to commend the team on its contribution to the education of GPs, especially through the regular reviews under the title of HTT and the clinical segments.
AusDoc’s award-winning multi-media feature: Fallout — The medical aftermath of the day that changed the world
Professor Simon Willcox
Honorary professor of general practice and primary care, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW.
So, Australian Doctor is turning 40! In 1984, I was wondering if I should listen to the naysayers, who warned me that GPs were the Neanderthals of the medical ecosystem, doomed for extinction.
Australian Doctor gave a voice to those of us who believed in primary care underpinning an accessible health system for all Australians.
Fast-forward 20 years to my appointment as chair of General Practice Education and Training — an entity representing a forced partnership between various medical groups, each with its own strident (and often discordant) voice.
In my dealings with Australian Doctor, I remember the kindness of its team. It was a platform to communicate with colleagues the importance of general practice and its future.
Looking back now, the following decade was a halcyon time for the specialty, with governments of all persuasions invested in nurturing a GP workforce fit for purpose.
Sadly, it only took Peter Dutton’s brief tenure in the health portfolio to end it, cancelling the initiatives (those exposing junior doctors to real-world general practice) that were succeeding.
Thank you, Australian Doctor for your commitment to the cause of general practice. We need your support now more than ever!
From the AusDoc archive: Exit Peter Dutton – Australia’s worst health minister?
AusDoc’s 2014 petition to stop Dutton’s co-payment plan signed by 3000 doctors.
Dr Barri Phatarfod
GP based in Byron Bay, NSW, and founder of Doctors for Refugees
In 1984 I was a couple of years into my medical degree at Monash University and started to become more aware of world issues.
In our early 20s we were convinced our advocacy could right the many global wrongs. It was an optimistic time, with initiatives like rock music’s Band Aid and LGBT+ rights, among other progressive causes, getting some traction.
In the pursuit of medical and scientific progress, human rights can sometimes be forgotten. The World Medical Association formed in 1947 to keep these fundamental rights front and centre for the medical profession.
I am grateful to Australian Doctor for its continuing support for this, even when issues have been politically contentious.
From the AusDoc archive: Doctors vs bureaucrats and the death of asylum seeker Hamid Khazaei
Dr Bruce Willett
Brisbane GP and former RACGP vice-president
I have been an Australian doctor for about the same time as we have had Australian Doctor.
In the early days the magazine was seen as friendly and as easy to digest as a kebab on a late night out.
But it grew to be a great conversation starter and an essential part of every practice lunchroom.
I remember one article in particular. It was published about 35 years ago and it was about the difficulties facing two young GPs simultaneously starting a family and a tiny practice together.
In that article my wife, Gertrude, spoke about such challenges as breastfeeding between patients and finding childcare for the crazy GP working hours.
This is a small example of the stories Australian Doctor ran about our lives as GPs, but our stories define us and it’s the ability to share such stories and knowledge that has helped to build our profession.
From the AusDoc archive: Why aren’t they screaming?
Dr Sue Page
Past president of the RDAA
When Australian Doctor was first published, it allowed a blending of hot-off-the-press news with social content that understood our dark medical humour. It revved us up and brought us together.
During my various political roles, walking the corridors of the federal Department of Health, you could also feel the excitement (or angst) that each edition created. It gave us shared language in the way that The House of God shaped our university years.
In the ’80s, two-thirds of doctors were GPs, specialists were in a minority, a quarter of my graduating year were female and just 2% of surgeons were women.
There have been changes. But there are constants. The people who most need medical care can least afford to pay for it. And general practice is still seriously under-resourced for the differences it can make to people’s lives.
But without Australian Doctor to help us advocate for general practice, many of the changes for the better we have made over the past 40 years would not have been possible.
From the AusDoc archive: Murder, riots and a GP’s extraordinary after-hours consult
Dr Meryl Broughton, GP, Albany, WA
Author of Autopsies for the Armchair Enthusiast
Since my divergence from anatomical pathology into general practice in 1987, Australian Doctor has managed to accompany me ‘around the block’ quite a few times.
How to Treat helped me meet my CPD requirements and the daily Meddle currently reduces my risk of dementia.
Best of all, over the last 25 years it has given me opportunities to regale readers with my stories of autopsies and encounters with unusual patients.
These experiences have linked me to other doctors, encouraged me as an author, and enriched me as a person.
Thanks, Australian Doctor! And happy 40th anniversary.
From the AusDoc archive: Professor Eddie Holmes and his split-second decision to reveal SARS-CoV-2 to the world
Dr Chris Mitchell, rural generalist, Lennox Head, NSW
RACGP president from 2008 to 2010
Happy birthday, and congratulations on 40 years of influence and reflection that has left a legacy of which to be proud.
About 40 years ago, I was with Kerri Parnell completing a clinical undergraduate rotation from Newcastle University.
She went on to attain an RACGP fellowship before becoming the Australian Doctor medical editor and then its editor.
While at the magazine, she performed her roles with skill and balance. At times that included offering a challenging analysis of the state of general practice and the RACGP itself.
It says something that the college awarded her with an honorary fellowship, a rare award for a medical journalist and for me very well deserved.
Many in our profession miss Kerri. She was one of the specialty’s brightest sparks taken too soon from us in 2017.
I also want to mention Paul Smith, the magazine’s current editor. It’s a personal view but to me he has the skills of an investigative journalist worthy of the mainstream press.
With articles looking at our flawed funding model, the role of donations in political decisions (oblique reference to Pharmacy Guild intended), he has also called out both the good and bad decisions of past college presidents with both goodwill and at times a wicked sense of humour.
He is the most honourable journalist I’ve ever dealt with.
The strength of an editor is the strength to build a strong team of independent thinkers and Paul has certainly done that at Australian Doctor.
I wish all the team a very happy birthday.
Unfortunately, I was also asked for a photo from 40 years ago. Sadly, not everything improves over that time.
From the AusDoc archive: From coal miner to doctor: The extraordinary career of Professor Peter O’Mara
Emeritus Professor Max Kamien AM, GP
Former chair of general practice at the University of WA and winner of the Rose-Hunt award, the RACGP’s highest honour
My conscious relationship with Australian Doctor began In November 2002. I wrote about a dinner with a group of high school teachers where we discussed the qualities (or lack thereof) of good and bad educators, medical and otherwise.
I emailed it to Australian Doctor and received a same day acceptance from one of its editors, Dr Deidre O’Dea.
She added: “Your wonderful tribute to teachers is a Christmas present to teachers everywhere.”
How different to writing research papers for ‘learned’ medical journals where the process from submission to acceptance can take many painful months.
My relationship with succeeding chiefs of staff and editors has been an equal pleasure.
I have often thought that they could teach a thing or three about courtesy and communication to our professional organisations.
Australian Doctor continues to be my main source of information about what is happening in the world of medicine especially in the Australian part of it.
I also enjoy reading the sometimes wise and knowledgeable comments on articles. Yes, I wince at those that are overly opiniated, rude and sarcastic, especially over something that I have written, but I feel a bond with the regular correspondents.
We belong to the same club.
I am a fellow of three different medical colleges and a member of the AMA.
Their non-academic publications are, as would be expected, largely self-promotional.
I feel Australian Doctor strips away the hype and BS and gives space for more objectivity and importantly for any profession at risk of becoming insular, a much wider debate.
From the AusDoc archive:
Limpets, Saudi princes and the life of Professor Chris Del Mar
GP ban on aged care prescribing: ‘A simplistic, expensive recipe for disaster’