In a step forward for patient safety, a new electronic “safety net” for hospital medical tests has had significant success, with no results going missing under the new system.
There’s certainly no good rationale for using hypnotic drugs for the long-term, and there are effective non-drug options for treating insomnia that are not pursued nearly often enough, argues Ric Day.
Death rates are greater if a patient is admitted to hospital via the Emergency Department over the weekend than during the working week, UNSW research finds.
The current debate on disclosure thresholds obscures the much larger question of why doctors need to receive “tea and biscuits” from pharmaceutical companies at all, write Wendy Lipworth and Ian Kerridge.
Scandals implicating pharmaceutical companies show we need better strategies if “corporate integrity” is to mean anything in the globalised medicine market, write Wendy Lipworth and Ian Kerridge.
It’s in the public interest to establish consumer groups' independence and to expect their relationships with industry to be both disclosed and appropriately managed, write Wendy Lipworth and Ian Kerrige.
Consumers are the strongest driver for change and innovation. Their voice has been surprisingly subdued about Australia’s public health system, but that could be about to change, writes Enrico Coiera.
The challenge is to restore integrity and critical independence to research, while placing community interests above that of industry, write Adam Dunn, Ian Kerridge and Wendy Lipworth.
