New figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) show that the mental health workforce in Australia is experiencing consistent growth. Spokesperson for the AIHW, Brent Diverty said the latest workforce information showed the number of psychiatrists (including psychiatrists-in-training) per 100,000 people had increased at an average yearly rate of 1.4 per cent between 2005 and 2009. “The number of nurses who work principally in mental health increased at an average yearly rate of 1.5 per cent over the same period,” Mr Diverty said.
Over the past century life expectancy has increased dramatically and older citizens around the globe will soon outnumber children. By 2050, nearly one out of every four people will be older than 60 years of age.
Continuing the primary health care theme of the previous post, health policy expert Professor Philip Davies investigates the history of the terms “primary care” and “primary health care” – a topical matter given the legal action
The kinds of health systems in place around the world are generally the product of each country’s particular history, culture and politics. Comparisons between the U.S. system and other systems are sometimes dismissed because of the differences between the United States and other countries.
The Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA) has allocated $21 million to the National E-Health Transition Authority’s (NEHTA) for the final scope of the national e-health record system.
A new Accenture study on healthcare IT reveals that Australia’s physicians are behind in their adoption and use of healthcare information technology.
The Accenture study, ‘Connected Health: The Drive to Integrated Healthcare Delivery’, analysed how eight countries’ health systems are utilising healthcare IT and creating ‘connected’ systems of efficient healthcare delivery. The countries surveyed included Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, Singapore, Spain and the United States.
Australia faces the risk of an alarming shortage of qualified nurses by 2025, according to a report commissioned for state and federal governments.
Figures in the yet-to-be-released study, seen by The Age, suggest that, without action, a nursing workforce crisis looms - particularly if Australia wants to reduce reliance on overseas-trained nurses to plug emerging workforce gaps.
[ABERDEEN, UK / Implementations] - There is a wide gap in the use of IT by primary care and secondary care doctors in England, which could undermine the potential for integrated care delivery, according to an eight-country study by Accenture. The study found that primary care doctors in England are the leaders in the use of IT but secondary care doctors use it the least compared to those in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Singapore, Spain and the United States.
Training physicians is a significant public investment. It occurs predominantly in publicly-funded universities and health-care facilities and it’s expected that doctors, in turn, will place the needs of individual patients and society above self interest. But this idea is now being challenged.
Ottawa (March 20, 2012) – The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute (APHCRI) at the Australian National University and the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC NZ) are partnering to fund research on innovative models of Community-based Primary Healthcare (CBPHC). As part of CIHR's Signature Initiative, funded teams will examine how to better prevent and manage chronic disease, as well as improve access to care for vulnerable populations.
In the past two years, there has been a great leap forward in mobile medical technology, primarily catalyzed by the introduction of iPads. About 75 percent of US physicians now own an iOS device, according to a Manhattan Research study released last year, and they are increasingly using them professionally.
Recently published research suggests the aged care planning policy used by the Department of Health and Ageing to provide indigenous Australians with a fair share of resources is based on a problematic assumption and has not worked as intended.
At their inception, rapid response teams seemed a good idea, but now they have become controversial, with questions about their effectiveness and whether there might be better solutions.
RT For Decision makers in Respiratiry Care, March 2012
Apple's iPad is increasingly finding use in health and medicine, with applications ranging from giving individuals instant access to a wealth of reference, educational and personal health information, to helping hospitals streamline their operations, reduce labor costs, improve efficiency, and helping health professionals with analysis and diagnosis.
Canberra's anaemic bulk billing rate is set for a boost when one of the city's largest general practices today scraps patient co-payments for most appointments.
A new online patient feedback platform for the healthcare system in Australia, based on a successful UK model, was launched last week and aged care services are in its future sights.
Kunj Desai, a Zambian-born doctor of Indian descent, now practices in Newark, New Jersey, where salaries are nearly ten times that at home, and he is surrounded by modern facilities.
