On The Wards: On The Pods Medical Podcast for Doctors

Associate Professor David Caldicott shares his approach and insights from his experience helping people who present with issues related to drugs and alcohol. Interview by Eamon Merrick.

Script Writer:  Eamon Merrick

Interviewee:  David Caldicott

About David Caldicott

Associate Professor David Caldicott (aka ‘Dr. Platypus’) is an Emergency Consultant at the Emergency Department of the Calvary Hospital in Canberra and a Clinical Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Medicine at the Australian National University.

He is a spokesperson for the Australian Science Media Centre on issues of illicit drug use and the medical response to terrorism and disasters.

David has been a lifelong advocate for a harm minimization approach to drug use, and has extensive experience with in situ “pill-testing/drug checking” in the Australian context, having liaised closely with Enlighten at the Enchanted series of raves in South Australia in the early ‘00s.

He designed and piloted the Welsh Emergency Department Investigation of Novel Substances (WEDINOS) project in the UK, a unique program using regional emergency departments as sentinel monitoring hubs for the emergence and spread of novel illicit products. He is currently replicating this work in Australia with the ACT Investigation of Novel Substances (ACTINOS) Group, and is the clinical lead of the Australian Drug Observatory, based at the Australian National University.

He has published widely in the peer-reviewed literature, and presents nationally and internationally on the subject of the use of the emergency department as an observatory for the surveillance of novel psychotropic substances as they evolve, as well as their effects in acute overdose.

James talks to Dr Oliver Flower about identifying a sick patient and how to examine the critically ill patient.

Summary Writer:  Sam Orton

Editor:  Nhi Nguyen

Interviewee: Oliver Flower

About Dr Oliver Flower

Oliver Flower is a staff specialist in Intensive Care Medicine at Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney.

He is a believer in the power of the big crit care community and a believer in Cadogan’s FOAMed ethos. Oli runs the educational and networking crit care website Intensive Care Network.

James talks to Dr Chris Dalton about communication and patient-centred care. Patient-centered care refers to managing patients according to their needs, wants and capabilities, rather than according to the interest of the doctor or hospital.

Summary Writer:  Cynthia Yang

Editor:  Bruce Way

Interviewee:  Chris Dalton

About Dr Chris Dalton

Chris Dalton graduated from the University of Sydney in 1980 with honours and worked in surgical training as a resident and registrar in Sydney. He then trained in obstetrics, paediatrics and anaesthesia obtaining the Diploma in Obstetrics from the Royal Australasian College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. After working in rural general practice for a few years, Chris returned to surgical training and obtained the Fellowship of the Royal Australian College of Surgeons in ENT surgery in 1993.

After completing post-surgical fellowships in laryngology with Bruce Benjamin in Sydney and head and neck surgery with David Howard and Valerie Lund in London, he worked at Westmead Adult’s and Westmead Children’s Hospitals as an ENT surgeon, with a particular interest in head and neck oncology and paediatric otolaryngology. Chris also practised in the private sector as an ENT surgeon during this period.

Joining Serco and BUPA

He joined Serco in 2012 as a Medical Director, working in business development, clinical governance and the development of new models of health care delivery, especially involving coordinated care. Chris has also completed a Master of Public Health at the University of Sydney and is currently enrolled in the Master of Biostatistics program there.

Chris joined BUPA as a Medical Director in 2014, where he has roles in claims management, development and implementation of policies for health insurance, clinical governance for BUPA’s health provision services and designing and supporting the clinical aspects of BUPA’s new business development. Currently he is involved in a data analytics project to gain deeper clinical insights into Bupa’s datasets.

Chris also serves on committees for the Prostheses List and the MBS review for the Australian Federal Government.

Dr John Sammut talks to James about teamwork. Together, they'll cover the role of patients in the team, and the importance of multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings for effective communication within the healthcare setting. Communication is key to ensure effective teamwork is taking place. This is because the biggest threat to effective, safe, high-quality patient care is poor or a lack of communication. Moreover, MDT and interdisciplinary team meetings are effective for improving communication in a healthcare setting.

In this podcast, you will learn more about MDTs, different team meeting structures and how to manage team communications more effectively.

Summary Writer:  Jeffrey Duncan

Script Writer:  John Sammut

Editor:  John Sammut

Interviewee: John Sammut

About Dr John Sammut

John Sammut is a Senior Emergency Physician with over 25 years’ experience in clinical practice. He has a passion for compassionate, patient-centered care, communication in teams and education of junior staff.

John worked with the Clinical Excellence Commission for over 5 years (2010-2015) contributing to a variety of committees and programs such as:

Between the Flags,

the Surviving Sepsis campaign, and

as Medical lead in rolling out the statewide In Safe Hands Program (SIBR), a patient-centered system for multidisciplinary team communication.

Furthermore, he works as Director of the ICU, as an Emergency Physician and as Executive Clinical Director at Canterbury Hospital. John is also on the NSW Medical Council, and Chair of the Performance Committee.

Claudia Woolf, Clinical Neuropsychologist, talks to James about patient capacity and consent. Together they'll go over the legal and professional responsibility of all clinicians regarding patient capacity and consent. Clinicians are required to obtain consent before treating any patient. In this podcast, we also discuss the questions raised regarding capacity and guardianship. These are often not well understood by clinicians.

Summary Writer:  Nicholas Malouf

Editor:  Bruce Way

Interviewee: Claudia Woolf

About Claudia Woolf

Claudia Woolf is a nationally endorsed Clinical Neuropsychologist. Claudia is a member of the Australian Psychological Society (APS) and College of Clinical Neuropsychologists. She is also a Ph.D. candidate enrolled at the University of Sydney under the supervision of Prof Naismith.

Claudia obtained her Bachelor of Psychology (Hons I) from the University of New South Wales in 2010. She followed that with her Master's Degree in Psychology (Clinical Neuropsychology) from the University of Melbourne in 2013. Since then, she has worked at the Dementia Collaborative Research Centre and the Centre for Healthy Brain Aging on sentinel projects in Psychogeriatrics. These projects include the Sydney Memory and Aging Study (MAS), the Older Australian Twins Study, and the Sydney Centenarian Study as well as coordination of the International Centenarian Consortium. Claudia’s academic track record includes the publication of a number of peer-reviewed manuscripts and international and national consumer and scientific presentations.

Claudia holds an appointment in the School of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine at the University of New South Wales as a Research Associate. She also has an appointment within the APS College of Clinical Neuropsychologists as the Early Career Representative. She currently works full-time as a Clinical Neuropsychologist within the Psychogeriatric Mental Health and Dementia Service at St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney. Here, she recently headed-up the implementation of a group cognitive remediation program for older adults at risk of developing dementia.

Claudia is currently working toward the completion of her Ph.D. which investigates cognitive remediation in a clinical population of older adults with current depressive symptoms. At St Vincent’s Hospital, Claudia also works as the Project Officer for Psychogeriatric SOS (services-on-screen). This is a unique, clinician-to-clinician, e-health solution to provide specialist psychogeriatric expertise to older adults in rural and remote Australia. She has also been heavily involved in developing ‘A Workshop on Capacity – Online Module for Junior Medical Officers’.

James talks to Dr Chris Elliot and Dr Kylie Yates about assessing and treating paediatric patients.

Summary Writer:  Emily Nash

Editor:  Chris Elliot

Interviewee: Chris Elliot and Kylie Yates

About Dr Chris Elliot

Chris Elliot is a Consultant Paediatrician who works in a teaching hospital in Sydney and in private rooms. As well as clinical Medicine he is enthusiastic about health communication and teaching. Chris is a Conjoint Lecturer for the University of New South Wales and writes the occasional article on child health for mainstream media. He also teaches Advanced Paediatric Life Support and sits on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health. Chris completed his Internship at Bankstown Hospital and Paediatric training through the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network. On the days when he is not at work he enjoys playing with his children, and also when they play by themselves.

About Dr Kylie Yates

Kylie Yates is a staff specialist general Paediatrician at St George Hospital. She is an APLS instructor and co-developer of their Paediatric units simulation based training programme. Kylie is enthusiastic about introducing new ideas to hospital practice but still thinks talking to families is the best bit of the job. She graduated from the University of Sydney and was trained in Paediatrics at Children's Hospital Westmead.

Dr Joanna Dargan talks to James about urinary retention. Urinary retention is a common clinical problem afflicting patients both in hospital and as an outpatient.

Summary Writer:  Jeff Duncan

Editor:  Joanna Dargan

Interviewee:  Joanna Dargan

Joanna, a Urology Registrar, is currently working in New South Wales and interested in medical education and training.

James talks to Associate Professor Mark Latt about falls, a common presentation in hospital and the Emergency Department, especially in the geriatric population.

Summary Writer:  Alexandra Bolger

Editor:  Mark Latt

Interviewee:  Mark Latt

About Mark Latt

Mark Latt is a Staff Specialist in Geriatric Medicine and runs a multidisciplinary outpatient Falls Management Service at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. He is a Principal Investigator in NHMRC funded trials examining the prevention of falls in Parkinson's disease, dementia and minor neurocognitive disorder.

In this podcast, James talks to Dr Indy Sandaradura about how to evaluate and manage a febrile returned traveller.

Fever in a returned traveller

Fever in the returned traveller is a common presentation to Emergency Departments across Australia. Estimations suggest that febrile illness occurs in about 2-3% of travellers. Febrile illness occurs when the patient runs a temperature at 38 degrees Celsius or above. For example, returned travellers suffering a fever accounts for about a quarter of post-travel presentations for medical care.

For instance, some common causes of travel-related fever include:

malaria,

influenza,

dengue fever,

rickettsial infections,

non-specific viral syndromes, and

bacterial diarrhea.

However, it can be a diagnostic challenge for junior doctors to determine the cause and management of these potentially contagious patients. Hence, your best chance of accurately evaluating the patient is to take a detailed history, targeted examination and thorough evaluation.

Summary Writers: Jeff Duncan, Viola Korczak

Editor:  Indy Sandaradura

Interviewee: Indy Sandaradura

About Dr Indy Sandaradura

Indy Sandaradura is an Infectious Diseases Physician and Clinical Microbiologist at the Centre for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology at Westmead Hospital, Sydney, and a Clinical Lecturer at the University of Sydney. He completed his medical degree in New Zealand and his specialty training in Sydney.

In this podcast, Stephanie Anderson talks to Dr Paul Hamor about how to prepare for night shift on the wards.

Summary Writer:  Jenny Liu

Editor:  Paul Hamor

Interviewee:  Paul Hamor

Paul is a Respiratory & Sleep Physician and Network Director of Physician Training at the Prince of Wales Hospital. He has had a long involvement in prevocational and undergraduate medical education. Paul has interests in the formulation of educational programs, presentation skills, delivering best evidence based-practice to the ward, as well as change methodology. He is also a strong advocate for work-life balance and has been looking at the prevention and management of junior doctor burnout and programs to promote resilience.

This podcast was originally released on 17 June 2015.