The Communiqués Podcasts

Welcome to Episode Thirteen of our podcast series. This features material from our October 2024 print edition of the Future Leaders Communiqué. Our guest editor is Dr Erica Musgrove, a doctor in training at Alice Springs Hospital, who presents a compelling edition highlighting some of the challenges of providing patient care in rural and remote settings.

This podcast presents a case from rural Australia where a culmination of missed opportunities and systemic issues resulted in a poor patient outcome during an interhospital transfer.

Our expert commentators are Dr Simon Judkins is an Emergency Physician and the Past President of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine and Dr Bridget Honan who is an emergency physician working in Grafton Hospital (Bundjalong Country), and with the Central Australian Retrieval Service in Mparntwe (Alice Springs).

Episode Contents

• 04:08 Guest Editorial by Dr Erica Musgrove
• 08:29 Editorial by Professor Joseph Ibrahim
• 11:04 Case: Midnight in the Outback by Dr Erica Musgrove
• 32:42 Expert Commentary #1: Navigating systems and pathways by Dr Simon Judkins
• 39:12 Expert Commentary #2: A junior doctor's guide to retrieval by Bridget Honan
• 44:41 Comments from our peers

Welcome to Episode Twenty-two of our podcast series. This features material from our November 2024 print edition of the Residential Aged Care Communiqué. This podcast presents two cases highlighting the challenges of facilitating and supervising community access for residential clients. Our expert commentary addresses ‘The influence of the system's design on tragic failures of governance and care’ in this edition is written by Mr Anthony Black.

Episode Contents

• 00:58 Editorial by Prof Joseph Ibrahim
• 03:49 Case #1: Always ready to help by Dr Chelsea Baird
• 12:45 Case #2: A Man Who Loved Walking by Dr Supriya Rama Krishnan
• 16:00 Expert Commentary: The influence of the system's design on tragic failures of governance and care. by Mr Anthony Black
• 24:02 Comments from senior nurses
• 31:06 2024 National Mental Health Webinar Series

Welcome to Episode Twenty-one of our podcast series. This features material from our August 2024 print edition of the Residential Aged Care Communiqué. This podcast presents two cases highlighting the poorer outcomes that can occur for older persons following trauma and the how the desired goals of care may influence decision-making in a trauma scenario. Our expert commentary on ‘Trauma Geriatricians’ in this edition is written by Dr Kate Gregorevic.

Episode Contents

• 00:40 Editorial by Prof Joseph Ibrahim
• 03:10 Case #1: A small fall but major injuries by Prof Joseph Ibrahim
• 12:19 Case #2: A fall with head strike by Supriya Rama Krishnan
• 17:07 Expert Commentary: Trauma Geriatricians by Dr Kate Gregorevic

Welcome to Episode #12 of the Future Leaders Communiqué podcast. In this episode, we review a coroner’s investigation into the unexpected death in hospital of a complex major trauma patient. As the case unfolds, issues around protocols, junior doctor autonomy, and senior supervision within the treating team arise.

Episode Contents

• 01:20 Guest Editorial by Dr Kee Whye Chin
• 05:17 Editorial by Dr Brendan Morrissey
• 07:40 Prescribing a protocol unsupervised by Dr Kee Whye Chin
• 21:46 Expert Commentary #1: The building blocks of solid foundational years—Supervision, safeguards, and structural supports in junior doctor training by Dr Emma Ku
• 30:58 Expert Commentary #2: Empowering our interns—The learning of professionalism, and the attributes and responsibilities that define the role of the junior doctor by Associate Professor Bruce P Waxman
• 39:18 Comments from our peers

Welcome to episode 16 of the Clinical Communiqué, based on the June 2024 edition of the Clinical Communiqué. In this episode we feature two surgical cases that each portray several clinical themes, but at the heart of both is the theme of communication. In their ensuing inquests, the coroners explored how the treating teams communicated with the patient and their family members - where conversations around consent, post-operative complications, and open disclosure were lacking; and how those treating teams communicated with their own colleagues - where missed opportunities in communication hindered timely diagnoses.

Episode Contents

• 00:59 Editorial by Associate Professor Nicola Cunningham
• 06:46 Case #1: Closing the loop by Dr Rachel Marr
• 23:30 Case #2: A critical procedure by Dr Kristin Boyle
• 36:52 Expert Commentary: At the Core: communication as a key to patient safety by Dr Mary Dahm
• 48:05 Expert Commentary: The Australian Open Disclosure Framework – past, present and future by Mr Peter McDermott

Welcome to Episode Twenty of our podcast series. This features material from our May 2024 print edition of the Residential Aged Care Communiqué. This podcast examines particularly challenging aspects of palliative care for persons with dementia, for those who have lost decision-making capacity and terminal sedation. We present two clinical cases that provide contrasting narratives. Our expert commentary is written by Dr Kylie Staggard and Dr Aaron Bak Ong Wong drawing on their combined extensive experiences in geriatric medicine and palliative care medicine.

Episode Contents

• 01:03 Editorial
• 03:08 Case #1: Live and let die by Dr Huong Nguyen
• 14:38 Case #2: An inconsequential error by Prof Joseph Ibrahim
• 20:22 Expert Commentary: Frontotemporal dementia and terminal sedation by Dr Kylie Staggard and Dr Aaron Bak Ong Wong
• 31:12 Reflections from senior nurses

Welcome to Episode Nineteen of our podcast series. This features material from our February 2024 print edition of the Residential Aged Care Communiqué. In this episode we examine the case of a resident who died due to being administered a medication to which he had a known allergy. The case highlights lessons about how we gather and evaluation information. Our expert commentator is Dr Natali Jokanovic, a practising pharmacist with a research background.

Episode Contents

• 01:21 Editorial
• 03:58 Case #1: Credible but not reliable
• 17:32 Expert Commentary: Medication allergies and challenges in residential aged care
• 23:33 Reflections from senior nurses
• 25:58 Obituary: Vale Maree Amanda Cameron PSM

Welcome to Episode 15 of the Clinical Communiqué Podcast, based on the March 2024 print edition of the Clinical Communiqué. In this podcast episode the two cases demonstrate two main risk profiles in older drivers – the driving risks when a patient is bodily capable but easily disorientated, and the driving risks when a patient is mentally sharp but physically slow.

Episode Contents

• 01:20 Editorial by Associate Professor Nicola Cunningham
• 06:20 Case #1: A determined risk
• 18:39 Case #2: Lost and confused
• 25:27 Expert Commentary: Driving in older age: A complex challenge

Welcome to Episode Fourteen of our podcast series. This features material from our December 2023 print edition of the Clinical Communiqué. This podcast presents key learnings from the coroner’s inquest into the 2016 thunderstorm asthma event in Melbourne in which ten patients tragically lost their lives. We reflect on the terrifying rapidity with which their conditions changed from mildly short of breath to being in extremis, highlighting that it can be a matter of minutes between life and death in thunderstorm asthma.

Episode Contents

• 01:13 Editorial by Associate Professor Nicola Cunningham
• 05:37 Case #1: Something in the air by Dr Kristin Boyle
• 20:06 More on the Matter: In the blink of an eye by Associate Professor Nicola Cunningham
• 34:30 Expert Commentary by Associate Professor Matthew Conron and Associate Professor Eve Denton: Thunderstorm asthma: what causes the "perfect storm"?

Welcome to Episode Thirteen of our podcast series. This features material from our September 2023 print edition of the Clinical Communiqué. This podcast presents the lessons to be learned by examining the failure to hear the concerns of those that should be at the centre of every health care interaction. We present two cases where the patient's families told the coroners that they had not been listened to by the nurses and doctors caring for their loved ones.

Episode Contents

• 01:25 Editorial by Associate Professor Nicola Cunningham
• 08:14 Case #1: Missing the moments by Dr Angela Sungaila
• 19:12 Case #2: "I told them but no one came" by Associate Professor Nicola Cunningham
• 27:36 Expert Commentary by Ms Belinda MacLeod-Smith: Stolen moments and lost lives
• 38:39 Expert Commentary by Ms Elizabeth Deveny: Engaging patients (and their families) to improve safety