Australia's premier general medical academic peer-reviewed journal.
Episode 451: MJA Podcasts 2021 Episode 50: Hypertension: a call to action, with Prof Alta Schutte and Prof Markus Schlaich
Vol 215, Issue 11: 6 December 2021. Professor Alta Schutte is Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at UNSW Sydney, and a Professorial Fellow at The George Institute for Global Health. Professor Markus Schlaich is the Dobney Chair of Clinical Research at the University of Western Australia. They discuss hypertension control rates in Australia and why they need urgent improvement, and how we can do that. This podcast accompanies their MJA Perspective, published here. With MJA news and online editor, Cate Swannell.
12/5/2021 • 22 minutes, 42 seconds
Episode 450: MJA Podcasts 2021 Episode 49: Early treatment of COVID-19, with Adj A/Prof James Branley and A/Prof Lucy Morgan
Vol 215, Issue 11: 29 November 2021. Adjunct Associate Professor James Branley heads the Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at Nepean Hospital. Associate Professor Lucy Morgan is a respiratory physician treating COVID-19 patients at Nepean and Concord Hospitals. They discuss how to save lives in the first few days of COVID-19 symptoms. To accompany the full webinar, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQj6SVEsa6M&t=1781s ... CDNA National guidelines for public health units treating COVID-19 -- https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/cdna-song-novel-coronavirus.htm ... National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce Living Guidelines -- https://covid19evidence.net.au/ ... Lung Foundation of Australia resources for patients and doctors -- https://lungfoundation.com.au/lung-health/protecting-your-lungs/coronavirus-disease-covid-19/resources/
11/27/2021 • 42 minutes, 55 seconds
Episode 449: MJA Podcasts 2021 Episode 48: Impact of opening international borders on influenza cases, with A/Prof Sheena Sullivan
Vol 215, Issue 11: 22 November 2021. Associate Professor Sheena Sullivan is Head of Epidemiology at the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza, at the Peter Doherty Institute. She talks about the impact of opening the international borders on influenza cases and severity this coming summer. To accompany her editorial at https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2021/216/1/preparing-out-season-influenza-epidemics-when-international-travel-resumes, and research by Marsh et al, at https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2021/216/1/drivers-summer-influenza-epidemic-new-south-wales-2018-19 ... with MJA news and online editor, Cate Swannell.
11/21/2021 • 16 minutes, 22 seconds
Episode 448: MJA Podcasts 2021 Episode 47: The reality of mental health for young Australians, with Prof Patrick McGorry AO
Vol 215, Issue 10: 8 November 2021. Professor Patrick McGorry AO is the Executive Director of Orygen and a founding director of headspace. He talks with MJA news and online editor Cate Swannell about the realities of youth mental health in Australia and what urgent action needs to be taken. To accompany his editorial at https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2021/216/2/reality-mental-health-care-young-people-and-urgent-need-solutions and research by Iorfino et al at https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2021/216/2/social-and-occupational-outcomes-young-people-who-attend-early-intervention
11/7/2021 • 16 minutes, 19 seconds
Episode 447: MJA Podcasts 2021 Episode 46: Barbiturates have become a drug of self-harm, with Professor Shane Darke
Vol 215, Issue 9: 1 November 2021. Professor Shane Darke is from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at UNSW Sydney. He discusses trends in barbiturate use over the past two decades. With MJA news and online editor, Cate Swannell. WARNING: This podcast contains discussions of self-harm and suicide. If this raises issues for you, please reach out for help -- DRS4DRS: 1300 374 377; Lifeline 13 11 14; beyondblue: 1300 22 4636; Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467. Professor Darke's research can be found at https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2021/216/2/barbiturate-related-hospitalisations-drug-treatment-episodes-and-deaths ...
10/31/2021 • 15 minutes, 9 seconds
Episode 446: MJA Podcasts 2021 Episode 45: Children and COVID-19, with A/Prof Asha Bowen, Dr Brendan McMullan, and Dr David Fraile-Navarro
Vol 215, Issue 9: 25 October 2021. Associate Professor Asha Bowen is a paediatric infectious diseases specialist at Perth Children's Hospital; Dr Brendan McMullan is a paediatric infectious diseases specialist at Sydney Children's Hospital; and Dr David Fraile-Navarro is Research Fellow at Cochrane Australia. They discuss new living guidelines for the clinical care of children and teenagers with COVID-19. With MJA news and online editor Cate Swannell. The MJA summary is at https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2021/216/5/clinical-care-children-and-adolescents-covid-19-recommendations-national-covid ... the full guidelines are at https://covid19evidence.net.au/ ...
10/24/2021 • 30 minutes, 11 seconds
Episode 445: MJA Podcasts 2021 Episode 44: Taking climate change action, with Professor Hugh Montgomery
Vol 215, Issue 9: 25 October 2021. Professor Hugh Montgomery is an intensive care specialist and Director of the Centre for Human Health and Performance at University College London. A long-time climate change advocate, Professor Montgomery talks about the prospects for COP26 and what individual doctors and health care systems can do to mitigate the damage done. With MJA news and online editor Cate Swannell. To accompany the MJA-Lancet Countdown report at https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2021/215/9/2021-report-mja-lancet-countdown-health-and-climate-change-australia
10/24/2021 • 45 minutes, 38 seconds
Episode 444: MJA Podcasts 2021 Episode 43: Improving outcomes for parents following miscarriage, with Dr Melanie Keep
Vol 215, Issue 8: 18 October 2021. Dr Melanie Keep is a Senior Lecturer in Cyberpsychology and eHealth at the University of Sydney. She talks about her own experience of miscarriage and how things can be done to improve the resourcing of post-miscarriage care for both doctors and patients. With MJA news and online editor Cate Swannell. This accompanies Dr Keep's Reflection available at https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2021/215/8/silence-around-miscarriage-hurts-health-care-and-bereaved-parents ... see also PinkElephants Support Network at https://www.pinkelephants.org.au/ ... SANDS at https://www.sands.org.au/ ... and an article by Dr Jade Bilardi at https://theconversation.com/the-dos-and-donts-of-supporting-women-after-a-miscarriage-98163
10/17/2021 • 14 minutes, 34 seconds
Episode 443: MJA Podcasts 2021 Episode 42: Potentially harmful compounds in e-liquids, with Associate Professor Alex Larcombe
Vol 215, Issue 8: 11 October 2021. Associate Professor Alexander Larcombe is Program Head of Respiratory Health at Telethon Kids Institute in Perth. He discusses the potentially harmful chemical compounds he and his colleagues found in a range of e-liquids available for purchase in Australia. With MJA news and online editor, Cate Swannell. The research is free to access and can be found at https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2021/potentially-toxic-compounds-found-vaping-liquids ... Guidance for GPs on the new prescribing legislation for e-cigarettes can be found at https://www.racgp.org.au/clinical-resources/clinical-guidelines/key-racgp-guidelines/view-all-racgp-guidelines/supporting-smoking-cessation
10/9/2021 • 17 minutes, 34 seconds
Episode 442: MJA Podcasts 2021 Episode 41: Health care reform on the frontlines, with Professor Claire Jackson and Professor Diana O'Halloran
Vol 215, Issue 7: 4 October 2021. Professor Claire Jackson is Director of the MRI-UQ Centre for Health Reform and Integration. Professor Di O'Halloran is from the Department of General Practice at the Western Sydney University. They talk about how to reform the 40-year-old Australian health care system to produce better outcomes for both patients and health care providers. To accompany their MJA Perspective at https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2021/215/7/reforming-our-health-care-system-time-rip-band-aid ... with MJA news and online editor, Cate Swannell.
10/3/2021 • 26 minutes, 12 seconds
Episode 441: MJA Podcasts 2021 Episode 40: Treating alcohol disorders in 2021, with Professor Paul Haber
Vol 215, Issue 7: 4 October 2021. Professor Paul Haber is Clinical Director of Drug Health Services, Sydney Local Health District, and professor of Addiction Medicine at the University of Sydney’s Central Clinical School. He discusses the treatment of alcohol problems, to accompany an MJA Supplement and Editorial on the subject. With MJA news and online editor Cate Swannell. Supplement available at https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2021/215/7/new-australian-guidelines-treatment-alcohol-problems-overview-recommendations ... Editorial available at https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2021/215/7/treatment-alcohol-problems-current-status-and-future-directions ... Full guidelines available at https://alcoholtreatmentguidelines.com.au/
10/2/2021 • 14 minutes, 44 seconds
Episode 440: MJA Podcasts 2021 Episode 39: Refugee and asylum seeker health in primary care, with Dr Rebecca Farley
Vol 215, Issue 7: 27 September 2021. Dr Rebecca Farley is a GP and Senior Medical Officer with Mater Refugee Health in Brisbane. She discusses how GPs can make their consulting room a safe and trusted place for refugees and asylum seekers. With MJA news and online editor, Cate Swannell. For more information, see the Australian Refugee Health Practice Guide at http://refugeehealthguide.org.au/ ... For interpreters, see TIS National at https://www.tisnational.gov.au/
9/24/2021 • 27 minutes, 5 seconds
Episode 439: MJA Podcasts 2021 Episode 38: Sex disparities in the treatment of acute coronary syndromes, with Professor Roxana Mehran
Vol 215, Issue 6: 20 September 2021. Professor Roxana Mehran is Director of the Center for Interventional Cardiovascular Research and Clinical Trials at the Cardiovascular Research Institute at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. She discusses why women with acute coronary syndromes are underdiagnosed, suffer delays in treatment and are often sent home undertreated compared with their male counterparts. To accompany her coauthored editorial at https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2021/216/3/sex-disparities-continue-characterise-management-non-st-elevation-acute-coronary ... with MJA news and online editor, Cate Swannell.
9/19/2021 • 10 minutes, 30 seconds
Episode 438: MJA Podcasts 2021 Episode 37: Conversation with Dr Omar Khorshid, Federal President of the Australian Medical Association
Vol 215, Issue 5: 6 September 2021. Dr Omar Khorshid is the Federal President of the Australian Medical Association. He talks with MJA news and online editor Cate Swannell, about COVID-19, the vaccine rollout, how the hospital system may cope with "living with" the virus, and the other important issues the AMA is advocating even while COVID dominates the media.
9/5/2021 • 15 minutes, 50 seconds
Episode 437: MJA Podcasts 2021 Episode 36: Cardiac complications of COVID-19, with Dr Kunwardeep Bhatia
Vol 215, Issue 5: 6 September 2021. Dr Kunwardeep Bhatia is a cardiology advanced trainee at Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney. He and colleagues from 21 hospitals across four states investigated cardiac complications in patients hospitalised with COVID-19 through January 2021. Their research is available, open access, at https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2021/215/6/incidence-cardiac-complications-patients-hospitalised-covid-19-australia-aus ... Dr Bhatia chats with MJA news and online editor, Cate Swannell.
9/5/2021 • 8 minutes, 32 seconds
Episode 436: MJA Podcasts 2021 Episode 35: Doherty Institute's award-winning SARS-CoV-2 research team
Vol 215, Issue 5: 30 August 2021. The winners of the MJA/MDA National Prize for Excellence in Medical Research has been awarded to the team at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity for their world-class study -- Isolation and rapid sharing of the 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS‐CoV‐2) from the first patient diagnosed with COVID‐19 in Australia, which can be found at https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2020/212/10/isolation-and-rapid-sharing-2019-novel-coronavirus-sars-cov-2-first-patient ... Dr Mike Catton, Dr Julian Druce and Dr Leon Caly talk with MJA news and online editor Cate Swannell about the research and impact it's had around the world.
8/29/2021 • 27 minutes, 34 seconds
Episode 435: MJA Podcasts 2021 Episode 34: Dr Karen Price, President of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
Vol 215, Issue 5: 26 August 2021. Dr Karen Price is the President of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. She talks about COVID-19 and the special burden on GPs, new CPD requirements, self-reflection, and the future of general practice. With MJA news and online editor, Cate Swannell.
8/26/2021 • 21 minutes, 53 seconds
Episode 434: MJA Podcasts 2021 Episode 33: COVID-19 in children, with Dr Laila Ibrahim and Dr Nigel Crawford
Vol 215, Issue 4: 16 August 2021. Dr Laila Ibrahim is a paediatrician and researcher at Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne and the Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI). Dr Nigel Crawford is Group Leader of Surveillance of Adverse Events Following Vaccination in the Community at MCRI. They discuss COVID-19 in children, to accompany their coauthored research at https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2021/215/5/characteristics-sars-cov-2-positive-children-who-presented-australian-hospitals ... with MJA news and online editor, Cate Swannell.
8/15/2021 • 19 minutes, 12 seconds
Episode 433: MJA Podcasts 2021 Episode 31: Wood heater pollution and its associated risks, with Dr Dorothy Robinson
Vol 215, Issue 4: 9 August 2021. Dr Dorothy Robinson is an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at the University of New England in Armidale, New South Wales. She talks about pollution caused by wood heaters and the associated excess deaths and costs, to accompany her coauthored research at https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2021/215/6/effects-mortality-and-associated-financial-costs-wood-heater-pollution-regional ... with MJA news and online editor, Cate Swannell.
8/7/2021 • 18 minutes, 2 seconds
Episode 432: MJA Podcasts 2021 Episode 31: Endoscopic bariatric therapies for obesity, with Dr Adrian Sartoretto
Vol 215, Issue 3: 2 August 2021. Dr Adrian Sartoretto is a gastroenterologist and bariatric endoscopist with the BMI Clinic in Sydney. He talks about bariatric endoscopies and where they fit in the range of therapies for obesity. This podcast accompanies his coathored narrative review published by the MJA at https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2021/215/4/endoscopic-bariatric-therapies-obesity-review ... with MJA news and online editor, Cate Swannell.
8/2/2021 • 19 minutes, 1 second
Episode 431: MJA Podcasts 2021 Episode 30: Communicating to patients and the public about COVID-19 vaccine safety, with Prof Julie Leask
Vol 215, Issue 3: 26 July 2021. Professor Julie Leask is a social scientist and professor in the Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery at the University of Sydney. She is affiliated with the School of Public Health and Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity and is visiting professorial fellow at the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance. She talks about public health messaging and how people make decisions about vaccines. With MJA news and online editor, Cate Swannell.
7/25/2021 • 30 minutes, 41 seconds
Episode 430: MJA Podcasts 2021 Episode 29: Sudden cardiac death in athletes, with Dr Jessica Orchard
Vol 215, Issue 3: 26 July 2021. Dr Jessica Orchard is a Heart Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow and an Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the Centenary Institute and the University of Sydney. She talks about sudden cardiac death in athletes -- how we screen for it, prepare for it, treat it and, hopefully, prevent it. With MJA news and online editor, Cate Swannell.
7/25/2021 • 17 minutes, 13 seconds
Episode 429: MJA Podcasts 2021 Episode 28: Pyschotropics and dementia: effect of changing GP, with Heidi Welberry and Prof Henry Brodaty
Vol 215, Issue 2: 19 July 2021. Ms Heidi Welberry is from the Centre for Big Data Research in Health at UNSW Sydney. Scientia Professor Henry Brodaty is Director of the Dementia Collaborative Research Centre and Co-Director of the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing. They discuss the association between changing GP and an increase in prescribing of antipsychotics for people with dementia entering a residential aged care facility. With MJA news and online editor, Cate Swannell.
7/18/2021 • 25 minutes, 51 seconds
Episode 428: MJA Podcasts 2021 Episode 27: Prevalence of PSA testing in asymptomatic men, with Mr Guilherme Franco and Dr Rae-Anne Hardie
Vol 215, Issue 2: 12 July 2021. Guilherme Franco is a biostatistician, and Dr Rae-Anne Hardie is a Research Fellow at Macquarie University's Australian Institute of Health Innovation. They discuss their research into prostate-specific antigen testing of asymptomatic men in Australia. With MJA news and online editor, Cate Swannell.