Monthly media digest: March/April 2022

02 May 2022

A digest of college news coverage for March/April 2022

FPM Dean interviewed about symposium for Sydney news

FPM Dean Associate Professor Mick Vagg was interviewed about the program on Friday 29 April for Sydney’s Radio 2SM 3pm news bulletin.

The bulletin reached 50,000 people. 

Doctors to kick 'opioid-first' habit 

Associate Professor Jenny Stevens, FANZCA and FFPMANZCA, was interviewed by Australian Associated Press and News Limited about new standards of care on opioids by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care.

The 27 April articles quoted A/Professor Stevens in her role as an anaesthetist and pain management specialist at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital.

The clinical care standard encourages simple analgesics like paracetamol and anti-inflammatories, and non-medication for mild and moderate levels of pain.

"Compared to many European and Asian developed nations, Australia places a high reliance on using opioids as first-line analgesia, despite evidence those countries with significantly lower reliance do not have poorer pain outcomes," she said.

Anaphylaxis and anti-inflammatory painkillers 

FPM Dean Associate Professor Mick Vagg was interviewed by the Medical Republic about the findings of new research that found 16 per cent all emergency admissions for anaphylaxis were caused by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory steroids (NSAIDS).

The Victorian report, published in the Medical Journal of Australia, found that a surprisingly high number of Australians are hospitalised due to the common anti-inflammatory painkiller each year. 

Associate Professor Vagg said prescribers were likely to underestimate the risks of anaphylaxis from NSAIDS.
  

ANZCA welcomes focus on Australian specialist regional training opportunities  

College past president Dr Rod Mitchell was interviewed for the ABC flagship AM program on 23 March about the need for increased funding for specialist regional training opportunities and indigenous specialist training.

The three minute segment was broadcast to 49 ABC metro and regional ABC radio stations and reached an audience of more than 700,000 people.