Monthly media digest: February/March 2024

20 March 2024

A digest of college news coverage for February/March 2024

Anaesthesia and childbirth

FANZCA Dr Nicole Sheridan was interviewed for a 19 March ABC report on pain relief during childbirth as part of its Birth Project series.

Dr Sheridan, chair of the Obstetric Anaesthesia Special Interest Group, said access to pain relief was a basic human right.

Dr Sheridan said myths about epidurals pervaded maternity wards, where staff were keen to keep medical interventions to a minimum. 

"The common ones I hear is you're more likely to need a caesarean section, which isn't true," she said. 

"With advancing epidural medicine techniques we're using more and more dilute local anaesthetic solutions and we're delivering it in a different way." 

She said pain was highly individual, and anatomy, pelvic size or the positioning of the baby could influence a woman's discomfort.
 

Does anaesthesia affect memory?

ANZCA President Dr Chris Cokis was interviewed on ABC Adelaide's Afternoons program on 14 March by host Nikolai Beilharz for their "producer's challenge segment".

Dr Cokis was asked if having an anaesthetic can affect memory.

Dr Cokis said there was no clear evidence that anaesthesia affects memory. The interview starts at 2:09 and runs for five minutes.

How doctors struggle in silence during menopause

NSW anaesthetist Dr Andrea Binks was interviewed for a 29 February article in Australian Doctor (paywalled) about her research into menopause among anaesthetists.

Dr Binks presented her survey findings at the 2023 ANZCA Annual Scientific Meeting in Sydney.
 

Calls for more specialist training in regional Victoria to encourage doctors to work there 

Gippsland fellow A/Prof Rob Dawson was quoted in an article on abc.net.au about the need  for medical specialist colleges to expand medical training outside of cities.

 He said the common belief that the best training was provided at metropolitan hospitals was not necessarily true.