JANUARY/ FEBRUARY ISSUE 2018

PRESIDENT'S WORD How can we do better? At this critical juncture in history, doctors need to unite for a better, more equitable healthcare approach for all patients under Australian Government care. For many years, the medical profession has fought an outward battle. The medical indemnity crisis, the doctors’ dispute, the Medicare provider number disaster – [...]

FROM THE CEO Change for the better A new year signifies change. Here at the AMA, we’re focused on effecting change that will improve the medical profession and the healthcare system. Welcome to the first edition of The NSW Doctor for 2018, and for our intern members, welcome to the AMA. We know how long and [...]

DIT DIARY Counter productivity Doctors-in-training need to be a part of the conversation around productivity, if they are to have a say in the healthcare system they inherit. The shape of healthcare in Australia is set to evolve over the next decade. As doctors-in-training, we are likely to find our eventual roles quite different from [...]

STUDENT VIEW A prescription for a healthier planet Calling for action on climate change is consistent with doctors’ advocacy on other social issues that impact the health of Australians, argues medical student Damian Gill. My dad was a veterinary pathologist. Although he mainly worked with sick, dying or deceased animals, he was fond of all [...]

EVENT Best & Brightest The annual Doctors-in-Training Awards celebrate not only the achievements of the profession’s best junior doctors, but it also recognises the teachers and managers who support them. It was a night of celebration and a chance for junior doctors to relax, mingle and toast their peers. The AMA (NSW) / ASMOF (NSW) [...]

FEATURE Doctors for Refugees Dr Barri Phatarfod, GP and President of Doctors for Refugees, urges medical professionals to fight for the healthcare needs of asylum seekers and refugees. Politics should never compromise healthcare. This was the overriding message from the World Medical Association at its inaugural meeting in 1947, when in the aftermath of World [...]

FEATURE A safe environment The Family Medical Practice in Mount Druitt is more than just a health service to refugees in the community. For the doctors and practice staff at the Family Medical Practice in Mount Druitt, it’s not unusual to see ‘consultations’ in the waiting room, in the corridors, or at the front desk. [...]

FEATURE Calling Australia Home Dr Mitchell Smith, director of the NSW Refugee Health Service, explains how NSW has helped settle the influx of refugees in western Sydney. Over the past two years the Australian Government increased its refugee intake by an additional 12,000 places for refugees fleeing the Syrian crisis. Around half were actually Iraqi [...]

FEATURE Beyond Five Head and neck cancer experts created Beyond Five as a resource for medical professionals, as well as their patients and carers. For a disease that manifests itself in such a visible way, head and neck cancer has a low profile in the public consciousness compared to many other common cancers. As a [...]

FEATURE When patients become professors A new program uses ovarian cancer survivors to raise awareness of symptoms among medical professionals to improve early detection. Women diagnosed with ovarian cancer today have about the same survival chances as they did three decades ago. It’s no wonder that ovarian cancer has the sixth highest mortality rate of [...]

FEATURE Tackling obesity High school students highlighted healthy lifestyle issues at a recent SALSA – or Students as Lifestyle Activists – event. WESTERN SYDNEY high school students, who recently spoke at a health event aimed at reducing childhood obesity, identified several local issues impacting healthy eating and exercise for kids. Students from Blacktown Girls High [...]