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Care workforce challenges

In a wide ranging report looking at the carer needs across Australia, PwC Australia published Reimagine Care Workforce Solutions in October 2022.

Australian Health Journal spoke with Kerryn Dillon, Director Ageing and Reablement and Health Workforce at PwC Australia about the community care sectors of aged care, disability care and childcare the report covers.

Role of the Chief Nursing Officer

Professor Alison McMillan PSM spoke with Australian Health Journal about the role of Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer at the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care. 

Alison was appointed as our Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer in November 2019.

In June 2021 Alison was awarded a Public Service Medal for outstanding public service to driving the Government’s national health response priorities during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly to infection prevention measures. 

Addressing Wound Management

The cost of chronic wounds in Australia is estimated to be $3 Billion per year, impacting 420,000 Australians. Not only is this a national economic concern, but more importantly, is the suffering the person may be going through.

Australian Health Journal met with Hayley Ryan, Board Director and Chair at Wounds Australia and Director at WoundRescue to hear her work in chronic wound management, palliative wounds and pressure injury prevention to comfort those living with a wound.

Message from former Australian Health Minister Hon Greg Hunt

The Honourable Greg Hunt served in the Australian Government as Minster for Health and Aged Care from 2017, previously as Industry, Innovation and Science Minister and before that the Environment Minister.

Elected as the Member for Flinders in 2001, Greg announced his retirement from politics late 2021 and in 2022, ahead of the Federal Election, having completed 20 years as a public servant.

Australian Health Journal recently caught up with Greg in a relaxed interview at his home in the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria to hear how a 9 month sabbatical has allowed him to focus on family, fitness and future. This has even included some “brutal spin cycle classes!”.

Making clinical trials participant friendly

Clinical trials are essential in developing new, improved, and more effective treatments and interventions. Without trials, researchers and professionals in the field cannot properly determine whether these new treatments and interventions are safe and effective.

The Clinials platform is geared towards patient centric trials and reducing site burden. The aim is to accelerate lifesaving medicines coming to market by connecting participants and researchers. The platform allows participants to come to researchers with their eligibility in hand among other capabilities.

Job-ready clinical trial interns

The Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre Alliance, or VCCC Alliance for short, is a Victorian partnership of 10 research, academic and clinical institutions looking at improving cancer outcomes for patients.

The VCCC Alliance SKILLED clinical trial internships program is a pathway for scientists to build role-specific clinical trial knowledge, experience and in a clinical trials unit through theoretical and on-the-job training. The internship program is a 40 week intensive program to get science student interns job ready for clinical trial assistant and study coordinator internship roles.

Warning signs of substance abuse and addiction

Tara Hurster, is the CEO of The TARA Clinic and a psychologist who started working within the area of addiction in 2010. The TARA clinic, short for Therapeutic Addiction Recovery Assistance, recently started offering online programs to overcome and recover from addiction.

Tara spoke with Australian Health Journal about the early warning signs of anxiety and stress in health staff and executives, including irritability, changes in sleep patterns and diet leading to more serious mental health decline. These behaviours and symptoms increase the risk of substance abuse that could take the form of excessive smoking, drinking alcohol and drug use, porn, sex and gambling.

Surgeon receives global award for kidney transplant science

Commencing a new series called Pioneers in Health Care, is an interview with Professor Jeremy Chapman AC who for over 40 years, has been involved in nephrectomy, or kidney transplantation.
Honoured “for eminent service to medicine, particularly in the areas of clinical and biomedical research, to the development of ethical policy and practices for organ donation, acquisition and transplantation, and to renal medicine organisations and publications, Jeremy Chapman AC has played significant roles in development of kidney, pancreas and unrelated Bone Marrow Transplantation in Australia.

Sovereign capability uplifted

Skilled labour, in particular skilled in the manufacture of MTP products, namely competency in Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), was identified as one of the key priorities, according to Jarrod Belcher, Director of the REDI Program at MTPConnect. Through a competitive process, MTPConnect selected additional industry training providers to deliver new programs addressing key skills gaps in the sector workforce.

Launched in September 2022, one of these programs is GMP Uplift developed by the Centre for Biopharmaceutical Excellence (CBE). CBE bring experience across large and small Biologics, Pharmaceuticals and Regenerative Medicine companies, both in consulting and GMP related enterprise training. CBE staff also have extensive experience in GMP operations, compliance, auditing and QMS design, a wide industry network for guest lecturers and readily available case studies.

Continuing education program leads to better conversations

Medicines Australia’s Continuing Education Program (CEP) is designed to educate medical representatives to a recognised industry standard. Dr Tristan Ling, CEP Academic Lead and Project Manager at the College of Health and Medicine, University of Tasmania talks about the 900 students that come through the program each year.

The CEP is primarily directed at medical representatives working within the prescription medicines industry, but is also recommended to people who may not be currently employed within the industry but would like to pursue a career as a medical representative. It is also available to personnel working for organisations interacting with the pharmaceutical industry.

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