‘Unrelenting’ patient violence triggers call for improved security
Bed block, drug use and the failure to equip EDs for acute mental illness are responsible for rising rates of patient violence, doctors warn. Patients…
Tag: Doctors’ health
My unwanted detour to the ED took me back to the 1980s
I recently had the illuminating experience of being a hospital patient. I’d been postponing surgery for a long-term umbilical hernia — until one day, complications…
By the time you read this, I hope a new and improved Dr Pam has been zapped into being
At a recent visit to an electrophysiologist, I was asked about my recurrent SVTs, which were getting to be more frequent and more difficult to…
Diagnosed with cancer as an intern: ‘Everything was white noise — I didn’t know what to do or say’
“When I walked into my postop review, the look in my gynaecologist’s eyes gave me the hint it was not good news. “I have had…
The King’s Birthday honours: The amazing career of medicine’s Guardian of the Dead
Forty years ago, Emeritus Professor Roger Byard was working as a hospital pathology registrar with an interest in forensics when he was tasked with performing…
DVA’s first chief psychiatrist on Afghanistan, PTSD and the struggle of doctors to manage their own trauma
“Every doctor reading this will have experienced traumas in their working life. “As a profession, we do not deal with that well. “It was part…
Call for AHPRA’s emergency suspensions to be lifted after 12 months
Medical defence organisation Avant is calling for doctors’ emergency suspensions to be lifted after 12 months if AHPRA has not finalised its investigation into their…
As a doctor, how would you feel going to ED, telling other doctors you planned to kill yourself and being sent away? Let me tell you
When we have an MI come through ED, they are given the gold-star treatment — because MIs will kill you. Never are you told, “Sorry,…
‘It looks like I will be passing away,’ says Professor Richard Scolyer after glioblastoma returns
Professor Richard Scolyer says he only has months to live after surgery confirmed the return of his glioblastoma but he remains grateful to have outlived…
From psych inpatient to ECT and now medical school: Sam Diprose’s story
At 4am on a psych ward, inpatient Sam Diprose met the doctor who changed his life. “He shared with me that he had a friend…
