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Medcast news and blog

Bots and ‘digital humans’ in mental healthcare – the next wave of technology?

Are you having difficulty getting your head around the use of technology in mental health care? The idea that computer programs might interact with humans in a humanlike way has been around for decades but ideas about implementation are getting more and more sophisticated.

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Measles: Rare, but Still There
Measles: Rare, but Still There
Sue Brown

Thankfully, Australian doctors nowadays will rarely see a case measles. Recently however, most states have issued measles outbreak alerts, largely linked to travellers visiting or returning from overseas.

Hearing Loss in Adults: Assessment and Management
Hearing Loss in Adults: Assessment and Management
NB Medical Education

There is a tendency to consider hearing loss a wasted consultation, a referral wasted time. But hearing loss leads to marked isolation, significant reduction in quality of life and has a huge economic impact.

Is it time to put a CAP on the number of PSA screening tests we are doing?
Is it time to put a CAP on the number of PSA screening tests we are doing?
NB Medical Education

'All screening programmes do harm; some do good as well, and, of these, some do more good than harm at reasonable cost’.

The Status Symbol of Being ‘Busy’ Comes at a Cost to Our Wellbeing
The Status Symbol of Being ‘Busy’ Comes at a Cost to Our Wellbeing
Dr Carol Newall

I was called in by my Head of Learning and Teaching to discuss my ‘workload’ recently. My first thought was “oh no, they will add more to my workload as they’ve discovered that I’ve been working under my contracted hours”.

Adding mirtazapine to SSRIs or SNRIs... does it work?
Adding mirtazapine to SSRIs or SNRIs... does it work?
Dr Genevieve Yates

Imagine you are seeing Sue with major depression. You have referred her for talking therapy, tried a SSRI then an SNRI and she is still no better. What next? Is it worth adding in mirtazapine?

Where is the evidence...?
Where is the evidence...?
Dr Ahmed Rashid

Although evidence-based medicine has undoubtedly been a force for good and has transformed clinical practice for the better, it has also been responsible for a subtle change in power dynamics when it comes to clinical policymaking.

Better than a Thousand Words
Better than a Thousand Words
Dr Jan Orman

A friend of mine came to have coffee with me recently. She was very anxious and upset about her husband’s upcoming prostatectomy. He had developed a fairly aggressive cancer that needed immediate action.

KISS: Mycoplasma genitalium
KISS: Mycoplasma genitalium
Medcast Medical Education Team

There’s been increasing attention on the little known organism Mycoplasma genitalium as an emerging cause of sexually transmitted conditions in women and men.

Professional identities – where do they come from, and why are they important?
Professional identities – where do they come from, and why are they important?
Dr Janette Randall

Our professional identities play out in tangible ways such as our language, clothes and everyday behaviour. Our identity is the external representation of our inner feelings, beliefs, experiences and values. We all have a number of identities which reflect our day to day experiences and the environments within which we operate.