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Recent Posts
- Every disease has its queuer
- Australia’s best doctor comes in from the bush
- Tiwi GP – I can run, but can’t hide
- Coleman’s guide to poisoning and the dark arts
- Bad Habits
- Avoiding doctors like the plague
- Podcast 14: Alcohol-related harm in general practice
- Managing diabetes is not all about expensive medication
- My perfect medical statistics day
- GP Sceptics podcast 13: Nurses’ conflicts-of-interest
- A textbook case walked into the room
- Vitamins: mostly harmless, mostly profitable
- Post-truth therapy: alternative medicine with alternative facts
- Drug seeker basted me like a turkey
- 48-second GP consultations
- ‘Junior’ doctors: what’s in a label?
- GP Sceptics podcast 12: Doctors’ resilience
- GP Sceptics podcast 11: Medically Unexplained Symptoms
- How to measure med student empathy
- The Fed endures, and so must we
- Tamiflu: an expensive lesson in panic stockpiling
- GP Sceptics podcast 10: GPs at the Deep End
- Pain clinics: how did such a fresh idea turn sour?
- Not just a GP – I’m your specialist in uncertainty
- GP Sceptics podcast 9: The Environment
- Let’s celebrate the bolt-cutter surgeon
- Greater transparency on specialist fees: a no-brainer
- Four Corners Big Vitamins exposé: cuts both ways
- Five reasons why I’d still encourage my child to do medicine
- GP Sceptics podcast 8: Marketing
- Google Health Cards: the first test drive
- GP sceptics podcast 7: EBM Hijacked!
- Does the weather affect our joints?
- GP Sceptics podcast 6: Obesity – Christmas edition
- Anne Deveson, who destigmatised schizophrenia
- Why ‘medicine for the rich’ is sometimes inevitable
- GP Sceptics podcast 5: Lyme disease…don’t get sold a lemon
- GP Sceptics podcast 4: Addiction
- Homeopathy: US mandates ‘No evidence’ labels
- With Obamacare gone, how will Trumpcare affect US health?
Tag Archives: pharmaceutical
Does high antibiotic use prevent serious complications?
A BMJ article yesterday provided strong evidence that doctors who prescribe antibiotics at high rates for respiratory tract infections are not, in fact, protecting their patients from serious bacterial complications such as meningitis. This finding negates the ‘patient safety’ claim repeatedly pulled out … Continue reading
Posted in medical writing, Naked Doctor
Tagged #FOAMed, antibiotics, GP, Medical Observer, overtreatment, pharmaceutical
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World’s best video animation about pharmacists in GP-land
Disclaimer; my claim of ‘world’s best’ relies heavily on the supposition that this is also the ‘world’s only’ such video animation. It introduces the novel concept of embedding a pharmacist within a general practice (in addition to the pharmacy business owner down the road). … Continue reading
Calling all hospitals: reduce Pharma marketing
My 2014 No Advertising Please campaign, while aimed at all doctors, ended up impacting mainly on GPs. The pledge not to see drug reps is more easily fulfilled when one is in autonomous, private medical practice. However, it is equally important that prescribers working … Continue reading
Posted in medical education, Naked Doctor
Tagged medical student, MJA, naked doctor, NAP, pharmaceutical
5 Comments
Today Tonight: product promotion dressed as health news
Last Friday on the Seven Network’s Today Tonight (TT), an episode on arthritis featured respected GP Dr Robert Menz, who gave a very solid interview – warning about the over-use of opioid medications, and promoting exercise and weight loss. Dr … Continue reading
Posted in Naked Doctor
Tagged advertising, evidence, naked doctor, overtreatment, pharmaceutical, RACGP, TGA, Today Tonight, transparency
13 Comments
The neglected art of stopping medications
Whenever a medication is re-prescribed, some thought should be given to the important art of ‘deprescribing’. Doctors are taught far more about starting medications than stopping them, and most pharmaceutical research ignores the ‘cessation’ question altogether. Each 6-monthly round of … Continue reading
Posted in Naked Doctor
Tagged #FOAM4GP, #FOAMed, antacids, EBM, naked doctor, overtreatment, pharmaceutical, PPIs
3 Comments
Media coverage for ‘No Advertising Please’
In the month since first appearing on the 7.30 Report, the No Advertising Please campaign has gained substantial media interest, reaching the shores of the US and UK. (Updates 6 Nov in red) Below are links to all the TV, radio, print and video … Continue reading
La Trobe Uni climbs into bed with Swisse; Prof Harvey climbs out.
If Victoria’s La Trobe University was in any doubt that accepting $15 million from vitamin manufacturer Swisse Wellness would cause controversy, yesterday’s resignation of Ken Harvey, the University’s most prominent public health academic, clarified the issue. The $30 million Complementary Medicines … Continue reading
Posted in medical writing
Tagged evidence, Ken Harvey, overtreatment, pharmaceutical, vitamins
12 Comments
Statins and sat fats: a sceptic’s look at ABC’s Catalyst programs
My article below was published this week at both The Conversation and in Australian Doctor. I figured I’d get in third. On the past two Thursdays, the ABC’s Catalyst program set off a chain reaction of protest from sections of the medical … Continue reading
Posted in medical writing, Naked Doctor, Uncategorized
Tagged Catalyst, croakey, naked doctor, overtreatment, pharmaceutical, saturated fats, statins, The Conversation
8 Comments
Pharma payments to doctors should be transparent
Back in the good old days, your good doctor could pop any commission from anybody into his left pantaloons pocket, and nobody would question it. These days, the public quite reasonably expects higher standards of accountability. Some would argue that doctors should … Continue reading
TGA Advertising Code needs tiger teeth
At the risk of boring readers senseless, occasionally I write submissions aimed at making the world a better place, one regulatory code at a time. All humour self-edited out, although some sarcasm sneaks through: “…it is not entirely clear why those … Continue reading
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