Internal medicine journal
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Internal medicine journal · Sep 2021
Clinical TrialFeasibility of once weekly exenatide-LAR and enhanced diabetes care in Indigenous Australians with type 2 diabetes. (Long-acting-Once-Weekly-Exenatide laR-SUGAR, "Lower SUGAR" study).
Diabetes is 3-4 times more prevalent in Indigenous Australians with blood glucose levels often above target range. Once weekly formulations of exenatide(exenatide-LAR) have demonstrated significantly greater improvements in glycaemic management with no increased risk of hypoglycaemia and with reductions in bodyweight but have not been studied in Indigenous Australians. ⋯ Weekly exenatide-LAR combined with weekly nurse review demonstrated greater improvements in HbA1c, highlighting its potential for use in remote communities.
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Internal medicine journal · Sep 2021
Barriers and challenges of returning patients back to community after renal transplantation in Central Australia.
The majority of patients living in remote communities of Central Australia must relocate to Alice Springs for their dialysis treatments. There is limited information available about the challenges and barriers that Aboriginal patients encounter in the process of returning back to their communities after renal transplantation. ⋯ Multiple challenges are faced during post-transplantation period in Alice Springs that prolong the time before recipients from remote communities can return home. Some barriers such as titration of immunosuppression are inherent in the transplant journey. However, some factors might be modifiable prior to transplantation.
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Internal medicine journal · Sep 2021
Safety and efficacy of telephone clinics during the COVID-19 pandemic in the provision of care for patients with cancer.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, telephone clinics have been utilised to reduce the risk of transmission. Evidence supporting its quality and safety is required. ⋯ Generally, patients and clinicians viewed telephone clinics favourably. Nevertheless, a large portion of patients still prefer face-to-face clinics. Services should be tailored to individual preferences. Although there were no 'red flags' in terms of mortality or admission rates, further longitudinal research is required.
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Internal medicine journal · Sep 2021
Practical ethical challenges and moral distress among staff in a hospital COVID-19 screening service.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to unprecedented disruptions to established models of healthcare and healthcare delivery, creating a host of new ethical challenges for healthcare institutions, their leadership and their staff. Hospitals and other large organisations have an obligation to understand and recognise the downstream effects that highly unusual situations and professionally demanding policy may have on workers tasked with its implementation, in order to institute risk-mitigation strategies and provide additional support where required. In our experience, targeted ethics-based forums that provide a non-confrontational platform to discuss and explore the ethical dilemmas that may have arisen have been well received, and can also serve as useful and immediate feedback mechanisms to managers and leadership. Using two case illustrations, this article examines some of the ethical challenges and dilemmas faced by these staff, based on discussions of shared experience during a clinical ethics forum for the Screening Clinic staff at Austin Health, Melbourne, Victoria.