Researchers in Australia have developed and tested a conversation guide for pharmacists conducting medication reviews with older people. It addresses matters such as general health understanding, health priorities for medicines, the person’s goals and fears, views about what activities are important to them, and making [...]
When a doctor performs an echocardiogram, about one per cent of people will be found to have a 'spongy heart' — typically benign, but sometimes associated with other heart problems. When a more sensitive MRI test is used, the number of people with spongy heart shoots as [...]
When men say “no” to treatment for prostate cancer, they don’t walk away feeling unburdened and free of concern. They’ve made a difficult decision and, as the diagnosis stays with them, they live with complex consequences.
The Royal College of General Practitioner's response to the BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine paper on definitions of disease (April 2019 - see publications page)
Did you know the definition of high blood pressure (hypertension) in the United States was recently greatly expanded? Overnight, tens of millions of people were reclassified, leaving one in every two adults with a diagnosis of hypertension. The move has been welcomed by some but [...]
Medical researchers are calling for restraint on the use of aggressive life-saving treatments for frail elderly patients at the end of their lives, saying the focus should instead be placed on making patients' last days comfortable and dignified
Profs Rachelle Buchbinder and Chris Maher share their thoughts on how big pharma creates markets and influences organisations and government - profit-driven healthcare in the age of too much medicine.
Forty-one per cent of cancers detected by PSA screening can be classed as overdiagnosis, researchers say. Overdiagnosis of prostate cancer is a concern across the developed world, but researchers from Bond University say they are the first to quantify the problem in Australia.
More than 40 per cent of prostate cancers detected by basic screening tests are overdiagnosed in Australia, potentially leading to unnecessary treatments.
Professor Paul Glasziou, Bond University, says that we know that quite a lot of cancers are these dormant cancers that never would have disturbed the person in their lifetime... the most common complication would be impotence... Associate Professor David Smith, Cancer Council NSW, says we [...]
