Internal medicine journal
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Internal medicine journal · Jul 2022
ReviewSustaining the Australian respiratory workforce through the COVID-19 pandemic - a scoping literature review.
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2019 and in 2020 presented challenges to healthcare workers (HCW) around the world that were unexpected and dramatic. The relentless progress of infection, starting in China and rapidly spreading to Europe, North America and elsewhere gave more remote countries, like Australia, time to prepare but also time for unease. HCW everywhere had to readjust and change their work practices to cope. ⋯ Respiratory medicine HCW found themselves at the frontline, developing critical care services to support intensive care units and grappling with unanticipated concerns about safety, risk and the need to retrain. Several studies have addressed the need for rapid changes in the healthcare workforce for COVID-19 and the impact of this preparation on HCW themselves. In this paper, we present a scoping review of the literature on preparing HCW for the pandemic, explore the Australian experience of building the respiratory workforce and propose evidence-based recommendations to sustain this workforce in an unprecedented high-risk environment.
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Internal medicine journal · Jul 2022
Prevalence and factors associated with Advance Health Directives in frail older inpatients.
Advance health directives (AHD) can be used to explore and document patient preferences for treatment and are therefore an important aspect of care planning. ⋯ The presence of AHD is associated with sociodemographic factors, as well as higher frailty levels. Prevalence of AHD among inpatients has increased over the past decade but remains modest.
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Internal medicine journal · Jul 2022
Caustic ingestions over 10 years in Victoria, Australia: High rates in migrants and women.
Caustic ingestion is relatively common in developing countries and can result in life-threatening sequelae. There is limited understanding of the epidemiology and incidence in Australia. ⋯ Caustic ingestion remains a significant cause of morbidity and health expenditure in Victoria, particularly among vulnerable groups such as recent female migrants from areas in Africa and India. The high frequency of events seen in migrant populations highlights the significant need for awareness of risks in these groups for the development of possible prevention strategies that are required.
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Migraine is a common malady cutting across socioeconomic and ethnic divides in Australia. It is typically diagnosed late with significant impact on quality of life. Management options have emerged over the past several years that promise simpler treatment regimens with less potential for side-effects. The development of rationally designed migraine preventives is the most significant advance in treatment since the development of the triptans and delivers significant hope to many headache sufferers.