Monthly media digest: January/February 2022
03 March 2022
A digest of college news coverage for January/February 2022
FPM launches campaign against MBS pain rebates
Faculty Dean A/Professor Mick Vagg was interviewed for an exclusive news article "Medicare cuts to chronic pain care" (paywall) by News Limited's national health reporter Sue Dunlevy. The article ran on 26 February and was syndicated to more than a dozen News Limited online and print mastheads.
A/Prof Vagg was also interviewed for ABC radio news bulletins and these were broadcast on the 5.30am and 7pm morning news bulletins on ABC Radio Melbourne with syndications to news broadcasts on ABC Ballarat, ABC Central Victoria (Bendigo), ABC Gippsland (Sale), ABC Goulburn Murray (Wodonga), ABC Mildura Swan
Hill (Mildura), ABC Shepparton (Shepparton), ABC South Western Victoria (Warrnambool), ABC Wimmera (Horsham), and Radio National (Melbourne).
More than one million people were reached with the articles and broadcasts.
You can read ANZCA's media release here.
ANZCA fellow 'I lost compassion': Why it's in all our best interests to fix doctor burnout
Co-chair of ANZCA's Wellbeing SIG, Dr Jo Sinclair was interviewed by stuff.co.nz on 27 February about the reality of burnout and how it is impacting on doctors.
ANZCA Councillor Dr Sean McManus warns about the long-term effects of vaping
Dr McManus was interviewed by several media outlets after one of his patients died after a decade of vaping.
The ABC 7.30 program featured an exclusive report on 21 February about the effect of vaping after one of Dr McManus's patients, Peter Hansen, died at Mackay Hospital in October last year. The issue was also covered in an ABC online article.
The ABC reports reached an audience of more than 800,000 people.
Dr McManus was also interviewed by ABC Radio Perth and Darwin and on the Nine Network's Today Extra program on 24 February.
Doctor Morgan Edwards explains why Covid parties are not a good idea
TVNZ's prime time current affairs show Seven Sharp interviewed Dr Morgan Edwards on 9 February. She explained why COVID-19 parites are "risky on quite a few levels and basically just a really terrible idea".
Qld FANZCA awarded OAM for services to medicine
ABC Tropical North online reported on fellow Dr Deborah Simmons who was awarded an Order of Australia medal in the 2022 Australia Day honours.
Dr Simmons was part of the emergency response team at the Moranbah Hospital who treated burns victims from the 2020 Moranbah coal mine explosion.
How useful are pulse oximeters for managing COVID at home?
A/Professor Stu Marshall and Professor David Story co-authored an article for The Conversation on 13 January explaining what pulse oximeters do and why they can be useful when managing COVID at home.
A/Professor Marshall was also interviewed by ABC news radio about the devices in a five minute interview adn this reached an audience of 150,000 people.
Propofol and anaphylaxis
The extremely rare allergy to propofol (featured in the ANZCA 2021 Summer Bulletin) was the focus of an article in the Herald Sun on 13 January.
The page 5 article "Josh drug shock will save lives" included an interview with Jo Traikos whose personal account of her son Josh's case featured in the ANZCA Bulletin.
Professor David Story, chair of ANZCA's Safety and Quality Committee told the Herald Sun it was a surprise when testing revealed Josh had an anaphylactic reaction to the drug in the same way other children do to nuts or eggs.
As a result, a safety alert as well as a change in hospital and transfer protocols has been issued. Patients going into comas or intensive care no longer receive Propofol or other drugs if there is a remote chance they have caused their situation.
What to have in your at home COVID-19 medical kit
ANZCA fellow Dr Morgan Edwards gives advice on what to to stock up on for your home management COVID-19 medical kit in this Stuff article as New Zealand gears up for the Omicron variant.
Impact of Omicron on Victoria's hospitals
ANZCA councillor Professor David Story, head of the Department of Critical Care at the University of Melbourne, was interviewed for an Age article on 7 January about how Victorian hospitals are coping with the Omicron surge.
Professor Story said medical staff who were not specialists in emergency medicine or intensive care, were increasingly being asked to fill in shifts for furloughed senior doctors, nurses and allied healthcare workers.
“We are trying to provide the best possible supervision of those people but it’s just increasingly hard with more and more people being exposed every day,” the senior anaesthetist said.
FPM dean features in Guardian Australia report on chronic pain and exercise
Associate Professor Michael Vagg was interviewed for a Guardian Australia article "How to move with chronic back pain" on 4 January. “Any single treatment in low back pain is never enough by itself,” A/Professor Vagg said. “But exercise is a fundamental part of recovering from low back pain and managing it if it becomes persistent.”