Category Archives: Policy

Fellowship in health care policy and practice – 12 months in the USA

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Got an interest in health care policy?

Check out the Harkness fellowship for a paid 12 month period in the USA for you and your family. It’s available to applicants from Australia and New Zealand (due by 8th Sept) and also Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom (due in November).

You will probably need a Master’s degree or a PhD, or at least a bachelor’s degree plus applicable work experience.

They would like “a research proposal that falls within the scope of The Commonwealth Fund’s mission …… the Fund’s priority areas include: expanding access to affordable health insurance coverage; transforming the health care delivery system to improve patient outcomes and control costs through payment reform, primary care, and coordinated care systems, with a particular focus on the sickest and most vulnerable patients; learning from successful international delivery system innovation.”

Love that they are looking for “the kinds of game-changing ideas that can potentially disrupt the current health care system in positive ways.”

http://www.commonwealthfund.org/grants-and-fellowships/fellowships/harkness-fellowships

Posters from the 11th Asia Pacific Hospice Conference

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Here is a collection of posters from the recent Asia Pacific Hospice Conference in Taipei – primarily by researchers and clinicians from Australia and New Zealand. Enjoy!

IMG_4012 IMG_4040 IMG_4042 IMG_4057 IMG_4060 IMG_4063 IMG_4064 IMG_4066 IMG_4102 IMG_4114 IMG_4121 IMG_4122 IMG_4123 IMG_4124ICC versus pleurodesisPC in disasters

Equity and access: Palliative care drugs in Australia

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The recent senate inquiry into “Availability of new innovative and specialist cancer drugs in Australia” brought timely attention to our Australia’s approach to access and funding of cancer medications.  Perhaps unsurprisingly the matter of access to medications for palliative care was not seen as the chief focus of this review, but on closer attention perhaps it received more discussion than was realised.

Capsules

By Photo taken byAney CC-BY-SA-3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

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Elsewhere in the Palliverse – Weekend Reads

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Hope everyone is enjoying the live tweet-feed from the 11th Asia Pacific Hospice Conference in Taipei, Taiwan #APHC2015. Just between you and me, I think James has gone slightly crazy as he morphs into a rapid-fire, live-tweeting demon from Taiwanese folklore. For a more measured account of the first few days of the conference, check out this article from ehospice.

Other interesting things to help you while away your weekend:

  • Weather forecasting and prognostication (Pallimed)
  • Global atlas of palliative care at the end of life (WHO / WHPCA)
  • Rita Charon on honouring the stories of illness (YouTube)
  • Anything but the D word in this famous sketch from Monty Python (YouTube)
  • The latest issue of the ANZSPM Newsletter

Happy May Day / International Workers’ Day!

Elsewhere in the Palliverse – Weekend Reads

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Botanic Gardens 3

(Jacaranda tree in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney)

A comprehensive review of Medicare was announced this week, which has the potential to significantly impact how healthcare is delivered in Australia. Opinions abound (a small sample here, here, here, and here) but details are scarce. This announcement is timely, with the release of Australian Medical Association’s annual report card on public hospital services last week (reactions here and here) and the upcoming launch of Choosing Wisely Australia on April 29th (more on this here, here and here).

Also this week, Queensland and Victoria joined New South Wales in conducting clinical trials on the use medicinal cannabis (other reports here, here and here). Information about the trial and law reform process can be found here, here and here. Palliative Care Australia has also provided a submission.

Other reads:

  • Physician suicide, burnout and self-care
  • How to answer the question: “Am I dying?”
  • Book of abstracts for the 14th World Congress of the European Association for Palliative Care

Finally, it’s ANZAC Day: Lest we forget.

Elsewhere in the Palliverse – Weekend Reads

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(Another beautiful day in Apollo Bay)

Conversations that Count Day took place across New Zealand this week (on April 16th). Read a selection of the various conversations and discussions generated around this event here, here, here, here, here and here.

At the same time, the US National Healthcare Decision Day promoted similar conversations across the pacific. An excellent collection of resources from Pallimed can be found here.

The Victorian Auditor-General’s Office released its report on the provision of palliative care services in the state this week. It’s findings and recommendations are both heartening and  worrying. Mainstream and palliative care media responses can be found here and here.

The Australian Medical Association also released its position statement on Palliative Approach in Residential Aged Care Facilities earlier this week.

Many of us love a great TED talk. Haven’t heard of them? Or simply looking for a few more to feed your addiction? Check out this playlist on “New ways to think about death”.

A few reflective pieces to fill your head and heart this weekend:

And finally, here’s another plug for our new fellow survey.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!