AMSA Panacea 2011 Edition 2 American Express Edition

Official Magazine of the Australian Medical Students’ Association Volume 45, Edition 2, 2011

In this edition: Innovation or economisation Putting social media to work The Subconscious Stethiscope 10 Reasons Medical Students should join a Gym

The American Express Edition

The Totipotency of the Medical Student Body Christchurch 198 Youth Health Centre Charity Event Liberal Market Values have a lot to offer patients.

Elective Reports and loads more...

Exercise the power of your degree

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contents

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Final words from AMSA 2011 by Robert Marshall & Lee Fairhead

4

The Autopsy by Yin Lin

7

Innovation or economisation? by Anonymous (Adelaide)

8

Health and Wellbeing Competition by Wendy Wang (UTAS)

’

10

Putting Social Media to Work by By Jeremy Hill, AMSA Treasurer (2011)

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Luck by Andrew Mamo (USYD)

14

The Subconscious Stethoscope by Hamish Gunn (UTAS)

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10 Reasons Students Should Join A Gym By Samantha Stott (Newcastle)

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The Totipotency of the Medical Student Body by Molly Kehoe (UNDA Freo)

18

Global Health Conference 2011 by Jasmine O'Neill (UNDA Freo)

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Mentoring Matters by Prashanti Manchikanti and Stefanie Pender (Monash)

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Australians pay inflated textbook prices by Grant Ross (Melbourne)

24

Elective Report - Vienna, Austria by Jessica McDonald (Bond)

26

Christchurch 198 Youth Health Centre Charity Event by Aysha Al-Ani (Deakin)

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Thank God You're Here by Elliot Dolan-Evans (Griffith)

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Liberal Market Values have a lot to offer patients by Grant Ross (Melb)

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Not At The Movies by Lucy Donlon (UNE)

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The AMSA Rep Reports

panacea

Volume 45, Edition 2

Editor

Proofing & Design

Andrew Dunn

December 2011

Maya Rajagopalan Robert Hand The AMSA Executive

major sponsors

Advertising Enquiries: e: sponsorship@amsa.org.au

AMSA would like to thank its major partners for their ongoing support.

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2

Final words from AMSA 2011 Robert Marshall & Lee Fairhead As 2011 draws to an end, the Christmas parades begin, and medical students around Australia celebrate the end of another (or final) academic year; my term as AMSA President, and that of our Perth based Executive, is drawing to a close. In October, the new Executive from Victoria was elected, headed by incoming President James Churchill, who will take the reigns on January 1 2012.

The importance of recruiting and retaining Indigenous medical students and improved awareness of the discrepancies between Indigenous and non-Indigenous health outcomes

The end of the year inevitably conjures a sense of reflection on what has been an incredibly busy, productive, and successful period for AMSA. I’m sure every AMSA President must think that looking back on the year, as the retrospectoscope inevitably distorts our perception of both the importance and the effectiveness of 12 months’ worth of lobbying, advocacy and representation on a number of important issues. In 2011, however, I think it might just be true.

The need to get the current crop of students through the system before opening any new medical schools

We began the year strongly advocating for an increased focus on the quality of medical education and training and continued to advocate and agitate on core issues affecting medical students in Australia. These have included: Our stance against the re-emergence of fullfee places for domestic students enrolled in the Melbourne MD degree The impact on the quality of training caused by increasing student numbers The issues of student overload and the prospect of International students missing out on internships The importance of medical student wellbeing The importance of ethical electives and opportunities for overseas and developing world experiences for medical students and junior doctors Awareness of issues relating to the use of social media amongst the medical profession Our successful agitation to over-turn student learning entitlement legislation The importance of a workable and effective transition to e-Health The stance against bonding of students to rural areas and the need for support and assistance to recruit and retain rural origin students

Focus on the development of medical education consistent with 21st century medical professionalism

Most of these issues have had, at their core, the problem of a severely overburdened medical education system caused by successive and large increases to the number of medical students in Australia over the last decade - the responsibility of Universities and Governments alike. Finally recognising that this problem was not going to go away on its own, the Government established Health Workforce Australia (funded to the tune of $1 billion) and its National Training Plan. While we have continued to contribute and shape the modelling of the National Training Plan, and the final report released in December this year is sure to be crucial to addressing both workforce shortages and the myriad of problems with clinical training in Australia, it’s worth noting that the name is a bit of a misnomer. A far cry from a detailed “plan”, the best we can hope for at this stage is a series of calculations, models and data. Useful, certainly, but it will still be the politicians on the hill who decide how and when medical education will be expanded, improved and properly funded.

Another big focus for 2011, as with every year, is our community and student events. In July, the AMSA Global Health Conference and AMSA National Convention were both held in Sydney. Attracting over 1600 students to both, these events offered world-class speakers, workshops and networking opportunities for students from all over Australia. In August the AMSA/NRHSN National Rural Leadsership Development Seminar was held in Victor Harbor, South Australia, and was also a resounding success.

In September, the AMSA National Leadership Development Seminar was held in Canberra at Parliament House, with 80 handpicked students from across Australia in attendance with the likes of AMA President Steve Hambleton, Deputy Leader of the Opposition The Hon Julie Bishop MP, HWA DIrector Ian Crettenden, MDANZ President Professor

Justin Beilby and AMA Vice-President Professor Geoffrey Dobb.

Throughout the year, we also held three AMSA National Councils, passing a myriad of new policies which underpins and continues to progress AMSA’s advocacy. We also finished the year with the appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer Ms Helen Jentz, who commenced in Canberra in late November.

AMSA students are also active in the community with over $25 000 raised for the Movember campaign and making over 920 blood donations during the AMSA National Blood Drive across the country, which the Australian Red Cross estimates as a contribution towards improving 2,760 lives. Our Pink Ribbon breakfast held during National Convention in Sydney in July raised a further $10,000 for the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Finally, AMSA has taken the Red Party project, which started at UWA in 2007, to both the national and international medical student communities, raising over $100,000 for HIV/AIDS in the process.

So, I think we can say that it has indeed been a very busy, very important year for AMSA. If I were to pinpoint what it continues to make AMSA so successful - and I think the same would be true of any professional association, the AMA included - it is that our members, the medical students of Australia, are ultimately the people who can affect change and progress the organisation. Students raise the issues, our representatives turn those issues into policies and solutions for a better way forward, and we get to present those solutions to the people making the big decisions in health and education. Throughout the year, it has become increasingly apparent just how important the message of medical student leadership is. All doctors are leaders, and it is our duty to step up to the role and be a part of the process of improving our health care system for the benefit of all Australians.

It has been an incredible opportunity to contribute in some small way to improving the experience of my medical student colleagues, and I know that next year’s Executive and the many medical students who get involved with AMSA in the future will continue to do their best to connect, to inform and most importantly, to represent.

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The Autopsy

by Yin Lin (Bond)

What did you see when your last breath was stolen, swallowed by the impact of the drunk driver ramming into the side of your car Did you see the last glow of light that filters through a closing guillotine

Did you see a womb of stars as life reversed and time got sucked out Now you lie, like a statue in its perfect symmetry. And I examine your lover-kissed lips, curved toes, and fleshed rivulets of a spine.

But the man who snatched your life, a mother of his son and a daughter of his father, lives. Yet he will never understand the ghosts that ride their grief like heartbeats pulsating through veins tunneling through your body like rivers.

He will not know the shadows growing from long to short to long whilst they kneel in prayer.

Show me memories of a heaven filled with shapeless dreams Stitches on your knee – from showing off tricks to your mates on a skateboard A scar down your chin – trying to finish a race first, tripped and landed wrongly Burn marks on your wrist – you tried cooking to impress a first lover The writer’s bump that you acquired while studying in your law degree I am a stranger but you must trust me. I can discover the last moments of your waking life.

Surgeon knives tear apart the poetry of your skin we shall write another day.

4

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6

Innovation or

economisation?

G

uess what kids? Analysis has demonstrated that most students only need to complete one half to two thirds of a normal OSCE before they have sufficiently demonstrated competence. In the proud spirit of innovation that is so strong at this university, we are only going to make the poorly performing students continue for the remainder of your end-of-year OSCE! Such is the wonder and power of statistical analysis.

You know those written examinations that medical students used to complete? The ones where you could explain your reasoning and demonstrate adequate written communication skills? Spending hours marking those assessments is unnecessary! A computer can do all of that now with multiple choice question examinations. We know it might seem like an assessment of your colouring-in skills, and well it may be, but every doctor needs to know how to complete lengthy and irrelevant forms. Our focus at this university is on clinical relevance and life-long learning.

Other recent innovations at this esteemed university have modernised our Medical Program and made it the envy of all others.

So many advances! There is no evidence that increasing tutorial sizes correlate to poorer learning outcomes. Therefore in the spirit of group learning, we have increased tutorial sizes to facilitate the development of teamwork skills.

It is also important for medical students to be culturally aware of all groups within our diverse Australian community.

This explains our deliberate strategy of ensuring there are not enough chairs for all students to sit on.

by Anonymous (of Adelaide origins)

Remember the bad old days, when groups of medical students used to dissect an entire human body during the course of their pre-clinical training under the supervision of a surgical registrar?

Anatomy teaching from cadavers is a thing of the past too: it is all online now! That is right: no more formaldehyde-plus-latex smell sticking to your hands. You can study coronary vasculature in the simultaneous presence of the comforting banality of Facebook.

If you think the Medical School looks old, just wait until you get into the public hospitals! Our seventies decor will ensure you are comfortable with life on the wards, as will the almost complete absence of any information technology.

Furthermore methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureaus and vancomycin-resitant enterococcus are nothing, literally nothing, compared to the potent flora in your student common room. This is why the University does not clean it. Not only have we achieved a suitable environment in which to research the potential effects of biological warfare, but we have also created a generation of microbeinvincible future doctors. You will thank us in time.

The list of innovations goes on.

The compulsory First Aid course that is a necessary component of your assessment for First Year will now be paid for by students.

The benefits of this are clear: if students pay for the course, their engagement with it will greatly increase. The last thing we want is for medical students to be slacking off during their essential First Aid training! Students will also pay for all of their compulsory blood tests

and vaccinations. Remember: your health and wellbeing is paramount, so we need you to take it seriously and pay for it.

Dear students, did you think that is all we had? We have been saving the most exciting innovation for our last announcement. This will set us apart from any other Medical Program in Australia. Remember the long, resource-intensive and rigorous OSCE which you once had to complete to pass your first clinical year? Research has demonstrated that the university simply cannot afford this. We are scrapping your only major summative clinical assessment for the year. Good luck learning for life.

The Medical Deans of Australia and New Zealand (Medical Deans) have calculated that it costs between $50,727 and $51,149 per year to train a medical student. The total amount of funding from the Federal Government (including HECS) is $30,889 per student per year. This means Medical Schools need to find around $23,500.00 per student per year in additional income and savings.

And you wonder why your Medical School needs to keep ‘innovating’?

Australian Medical Schools are functioning on the smell of a formaldehydey rag. This threatens the quality of medical education in this country. AMSA recently passed a policy calling for more Commonwealth funding for basic medical education in Australia. Go to the AMSA website (www.amsa. org.au) to find out more.

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health and wellbeing competition “The mental and physical health of medical students and doctors in Australia is an ongoing concern within the medical profession and community. How do you believe the high rates of suicide, depression, anxiety disorders, substance use and self-medication throughout the profession should be addressed?”

By Wendy Wang (UTAS)

‘Everybody stand up. Now half you of you sit down, those left standing will be depressed at some point in their life. Of those still standing, can the people in these rows sit down? Those left standing will attempt suicide’. I distinctly remember having a lecture of that nature back in First Year.

Or was it Second Year? It all becomes a blur after awhile, as Medical School tends to be. Maybe I remember that lecture so well because I was one of the people left standing in the ‘suicide’ group.

A bit off-putting, yes, but I guess the intended message sank in: ‘it could be you’.

There is no doubt that Medicine is busy and can possibly dominate your life if you’re not careful.

Beyondblue reported that between 14-60% of doctors suffer from depression, while 18-55% experience anxiety disorders. Suicide rates were higher among medical professionals in comparison to the general population. Female doctors and

8

psychiatrists were found to be at highest risk among this group.

Like almost everything in life, staying mentally and physically healthy is about balance. Just think of ‘homeostasis’, for those into physiology.

All medical students will at some point encounter the Frank-Starling law of the heart.

As end diastolic volume increases, myocytes are stretched, resulting in greater force of contraction and increased cardiac output. Cardiac output will decrease if the myocytes are over-stretched.

(Srivastava 2006) We can apply similar principles to our stress levels.

Our productivity can be increased by stress. But if we are too stressed, then our health, happiness and performance suffer.

(Berthume 2011)

Cardiac myocytes function best with a balanced amount of stretch, just like we function best with a balanced amount of stress. As Joshua L. Liebman (author of a book called Peace of Mind) once said, ‘maturity is achieved when a person accepts life as full of tension’.

Ultimately it really does come down to you. Your own attitudes, how you choose to deal with adverse events and bounce back from things

that get you down. Hopefully, simply increasing awareness of mental health problems in Medicine and providing accessible help for students and doctors may help the situation. We could integrate self care into medical education and encourage people to be open to receiving help. Disturbingly, 34% of medical students said that they would not seek help for depression, as reported by Beyondblue.

Some practical suggestions include: • Posters around clinical school and the hospital regarding self care • Computer screensavers promoting self care • Grand Round presentation on the mental health of doctors • Organising a group session with a motivational speaker • Access to confidential sessions with a psychologist • Having a hospital gym open day • Further restrictions/increased surveillance addressing doctors self-prescribing • Continued research about doctors and mental health problems, particularly focusing on sources of stress that could be preventable. For example: understaffing leading to doctors feeling guilty about taking sick-leave

Initiatives such as Health and Wellbeing Week have helped to increase awareness of self care among medical students. It has to be said; anything that involves free lunch will get people’s attention. September the 15th was R U OK? day. This day encourages people to reach out to others who may need help, although we should be looking out for people all the time, not just on a particular day.

Don’t forget that life is to be enjoyed and that we need to look after ourselves in order to help others.

To read more visit beyondblue’s page on Doctors’ Mental Health Program: http://www.beyondblue.org.au/index.aspx?link_id=4.1262 (Plenty of good resources)

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Putting social media to work a student perspective

By Jeremy Hill, AMSA Treasurer (2011)

If this then that or ifttt.com is a website I was linked to recently. The premise is simple: if something happens on the web, it will perform a specific, automated action. These short logical recipes as they are called allow users to arrange a wide variety of triggers that interface directly with various online accounts, like Facebook, dropbox, or Flickr. So for example, every time I am tagged in a photo that someone has uploaded to Facebook, ifttt.com will take that photo and put a copy in my dropbox folder, which is then downloaded to my computer and into my photo album.

This is not new. There are plenty of other services offering ways to redirect, manipulate and record our online activities and it is clear to me that everyone who is active online (that is: pretty much all of us) absolutely must take action to do this. However, the ease and simplicity of ifttt.com brought into focus how social media channels ought to be put to work to serve our goals. But, this involves a shift in approach to social media.

However, as we focus on mitigating the risks of social media, it can be easy to miss the opportunities that social media present to organisations such as AMSA. The real benefits of social media lies in their ease of use.

For the technology generation who don't remember a time before computers and the internet, it is a simple and logical form of communication. This of course comprises part of the risk; in that ill-considered comments posted on Facebook become part of the permanent record.

However, with some thought and intention, this low bar of entry means that anyone can start engaging in online discussions in a way that propels and sustains your online identity and reputation, in line with your real one.

At the end of last year, in partnership with AMA, NZMA and NZMSA, AMSA released Social Media and the Medical Profession: A guide to online professionalism for medical practitioners and medical students.1

On a personal level, social media can be of great benefit. Get a Twitter account, and start posting useful links to positive health messages. Engage meaningfully in online discussions (for example, comment streams in newspaper articles), and link that back to your Facebook profile or blog. Encourage your satisfied patients to post to ratemds.com and link to that as well.

This way, our online identity will not just comprise of the understandable but damaging frustrations, voiced on the web, by the one patient that spent one or two or three hours in a waiting room.

This guide provides thoughtful advice on ways to limit liability and act appropriately with respect to patients and colleagues while we are using social media. Horror stories abound of serious breaches of confidentiality and of defamatory comments being posted in publicly available online forums, and the guide does some excellent work in raising awareness of this.

From an organisational standpoint, social media poses some exciting opportunities, which AMSA is actively using and exploring. One opportunity is the role of social media in managing internal communications. Basically, taking the organisation beyond email. Based on the premise of Facebook, internal social media can allow for personnel to have open discussions, run straw polls,

upload documents and maintain their own personal profile including contact details all in one secure place.

AMSA trialled this platform during our most recent National Council, to resounding success. The softwareas-a-service offering we sampled, Yammer, allowed for members of Council to pose questions, upload documents for information, and to engage in policy discussion before, during and after the meeting. The convenience of having everything in one place, along with a personalised interface, allowed for streamlining of open discussion, and one of the most integrative Councils yet. As the organisation expands, and AMSA Council grows to over 100 people, this efficiency is invaluable.

Likewise, social media provides AMSA with one of the most productive, and easy, ways of connecting with student members and with the mass media. Facebook, which has the market-leading share of online social engagement, really encourages comment, feedback and collaboration on events, issues and promotions. People are willing to comment on Facebook posts, which then forms a conversation that can be managed and directed.

Twitter (the other service that is frequently categorised as a social media channel) is much more unilateral.

It's more like a personally directed broadcast medium, where subscribers seek snippets of useful information for their own information and use. So, instead of expecting Twitter to provide a platform for discussion, AMSA has successfully used this medium to broadcast our activities.

On the delivery side, the social media can work really well as an easy surveillance and notification system that keeps us connected to current discussions. While the unfiltered feed of Twitter posts and Facebook updates is definitely a surfeit of time-wasting trivia, if you really filter down to the sources you want to hear from, there is plenty of valuable information. For example, the Twitter feed from the Australian House of Representatives recently let me know that the inquiry into mental health and jobs was hearing submissions in Perth this week.

While it is important to beware of the dangers presented by unwitting and haphazard engagement with the social media, it is equally important to acknowledge the ways these tools can be made to work for us. Once the risks have been addressed, the next step is to think about how we can make use of this. By looking at ways to shape our online identity, perceiving the marketing opportunities, and by putting our own interests front and centre, the social media can become a reliable means of achieving our goals and aims. Enough from me though. Ifttt. com just called me on skype, to let me know that the Australian Conference of Science and Medicine in Sport has tweeted for registrations of their annual meeting in Freo. Better be off.

1. Mansfield S, Perry A, Morrison S, et al. Social media and the medical profession: a guide to online professionalism for medical practitioners and medical students. A joint initiative of the Australian Medical Association Council of Doctors-in-Training, the New Zealand Medical Association Doctors-in-Training Council, the New Zealand Medical Students' Association and the Australian Medical Students' Association.

Canberra: AMA, 2010. http://www.amsa.org.au/content/documents

Luck

Andrew Mamo (USYD) The undertaking of a career in Medicine is no small feat. It requires a complex measure of personality and perseverance, ingenuity and integrity and in select cases a dash of serendipity to point us in the right direction. As a student of the MBBS Program I have come to understand all of these qualities (and a great deal more) within the context of not only Medical Students, but academics, tutors and practitioners alike. In that regard it would be very easy to sit here and speak testament to that, but if you wanted to read something you know about yourself already, you’d check your Facebook.

What really brought me to where I am today was for someone to say the right thing at the right time to me. It wasn’t my family, nor was it one of my closest friends. It was a co-worker. To be as succinct as possible, we were in the car together, driving back from the coast.

When I got in the car I thought Medicine was an elitist inner sanctum of trust-fund babies with perfect grades; unattainable to me. By the end of the car trip I had resolved to sit the GAMSAT and apply. I could take you to the exact spot of road where I came to that conclusion. It was the beginning. I had had the same conversation with dozens of people prior to this one, none of which ended in me making a life altering decision. The words sounded right coming from this guy; lucky he was in the car.

Again, not wishing to bore you, it was a quick hop, skip and a jump through the admissions process (we’ve all been there) and a magnificent denial from Griffith for admission in 2010 I found myself reapplying for admission in 2011 with my cursor hovering over Sydney University or Griffith as my first preference. The events that followed are testament to this piece’s theme on luck,

happenstance (and, dare I say, kismet) but the catalysis for this was spite.

With Griffith having turned me down already I was too proud to reapply. I thought the interview went well (which it obviously didn’t) and that my GAMSAT score was competitive (which it obviously wasn’t). I decided that I didn’t want much to do with Griffith on that basis. I noticed, also, that Sydney University offered a “Rural” application. All I needed to do was prove that I lived in an outer metropolitan area. Fortunately for me I did; by 700 metres. So even more quickly than I had decided to study Medicine, I had decided to move to Sydney, from Brisbane, if need be. I really wanted to stay in Queensland, but spite drove me away. When the interview offers came out and I found that Griffiths cut off had jumped to one point greater than my score I felt I had dodged a bullet. It was very close to being another year in hospitality. My mind went back to the green couch I was sitting on, on the 4th of June 2010 with my parents when I silently decided to apply for Sydney. Lucky.

So to all my peers, regardless of where you are studying, let it be known that you are all brilliant. You’ve made it this far, and we have that much in common. I suggest, however, asking how some people came to be where they are now. So many of you have had previous careers, completely different lives, incredible achievements to your name or have even overcome incredible hardship and adversity to be where you are. I implore you to stay true to your story. In some ways, it is the only thing that really separates you from the rest of your cohort, once all the nuances and details of your personalities consolidate and you become a syncytium. The only thing that allows me to stand out from my brilliant cohort is the fact that I am a raconteur.

My story is about luck, and I promise it is a damn sight more boring than others out there.

The RACGP journey towards general practice (via the vocational training route)

Medical school (4-6 years)

Postgraduate resident years (PGY2) (this can be completed before or during general practice training)

Internship year (PGY1) If you decide that a career in general practice is the career for you, then you can apply for general practice training in this year and commence your first year of training in the second year after graduation.

General practice training (3 years) Vocational training towards RACGP Fellowship is 3 years full time (or part time equivalent), comprising hospital training (12 months), general practice placements (18 months) and extended skills (6 months).

RACGP Fellowship examination The RACGP assessment is comprised of two written segments – the applied knowledge test (AKT) and key feature problems (KFP), and a clinical segment – the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE).

Successful completion of RACGP training and assessment

RACGP Fellowship

Continuing professional development The RACGP Quality Improvement and Continuing Professional Development (QI&CPD) Program assists GPs to fulfil their personal and vocational continuing professional development (CPD) needs.

While there is no requirement to complete hospital residency (PGY2) prior to entry into general practice training, you can choose to undertake 1 or more years of hospital residency before committing to a specialist training program.

PGPPP (optional) The PGPPP is a great way for you to get a real taste for general practice and is available for junior doctors who are not yet enrolled in a specialist training program.

4th year additional training in advanced rural skills or advanced academic skills (optional) If you decide that you want to become a rural GP or have a strong interest in rural general practice and want to take your training and education further, you have the option to complete an additional 12 months of advanced rural skills training (ARST).

You can also apply for an academic term under the RACGP pathway and work part time in a university department and part time in clinical general practice.

Fellowship in Advanced Rural General Practice (FARGP) (optional) You can work towards an additional RACGP Fellowship – the FARGP – by completing advanced rural skills training, rural general practice placements, core competence modules and learning activities. The FARGP can be completed with or after the FRACGP.

To find out more visit www.racgp.org.au/gpcareer

The Subconscious Stethoscope

by Hamish Gunn (UTAS)

There is a lot to be said about the humble stethoscope. Nothing screams DOCTOR (or physiotherapist) louder than a set of tubes around your neck! In fact, I often wear mine to the supermarket, restaurants and social occasions just so people are aware of my tertiary education status. It could be argued that I should spend more time learning how to use my stethoscope and less time talking about it, but frankly I am sick of studying, so instead I thought I would explore the different ways of wearing this status symbol and what it says about you.

The Sheep

This the most basic, and arguably the most boring way to transport your stethoscope. Yes, it allows you to access it easily, but by wearing a stethoscope around your neck you do imply a level of academic and clinical competence and as a result you may be giving patients a false sense of security. Wearing a stethoscope like this, or actually carrying one at all, is considered inappropriate for those in Med I, II & III.

The Eye Catcher

Nothing encourages a wandering eye more than a stethoscope linked together to form some sort of necklace and placed to rest on the heaving bosom of a female healthcare professional. While these crafty women may deny their intentions, claiming they simply

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didn't want it flapping around", I refuse to believe that it is anything more than an invitation to stare! Who can blame them though? If I got asked by every second patient if I was studying nursing just because I was female, I would certainly try something to distract the creepy old male patients from taking, and nothing says distractions like breasts (well so I've heard)!

The Ego Booster

This is a position donned by those men with nothing to hide, or literally nothing at all! Wearing your stethoscope like this allows for subtle and ongoing penile auscultation throughout the day. Nothing boosts the ego more than a reassuring dorsal artery bruit, because if it's big enough to have a bruit then it must be big, right? Manliness comes at a price though! The slightest head movement can result in pendulum like trauma and a haematocele. Stethoscopes worn in this position should be disinfected on a regular basis as the incidence of stethoscope related Chlamydia infections is on the rise.

The Power Trooper

If you see a girl on the wards with a little bag and a stethoscope attached you know she means business. She is to medicine what Beyonce is to music... fierce! She is doing what she needs to do to get it done, so do not get in her way! Although ease of access might seem like a problem, in an auscultation emergency her lightening quick hands will have untied the stethoscope, diagnosed the tension pneumothorax and begun immediate decompression, while the rest of us are left fumbling with our necks/ pockets/bags/groins. This is a favourite position with strong, independent and non-cleavage reliant medical professionals.

The Belt

Utterly ridiculous, this position provides nothing more than chronic pain, as the stethoscope smacks down on the thigh with each step. For this reason such a position is really only best suited to a sedentary physician, but why would you need such secure stethoscope unless you were running all over the place? Like an insulin injection, the site of attachment must be alternated each day to prevent ongoing injury. Given that you must allow at least 10 minutes to remove from the belt, this position is deemed impractical and should be avoided.

The Head Torch

Bold and cutting edge, the Head Torch is engineering genius, combining both the penlight and the stethoscope. Every medical consultant turns to his junior doctor when in search of a penlight and this position allows you to further impress and excel by giving you the first opportunity to auscultate the patient. This is the junior doctor's best friend to avoid the embarrassment of lacking a light. Much like the iPhone it will allow you to multitask, be customisable and convenient. Pre-order today!

Alternative Positions Include:

The Pseudohandbag and The Tourniquet

The 'Are They / Aren't They?'

This doctor likes to keep them guessing.

Is he actually a doctor or did he just steal that off someone? The advantage of pocket storage is that you are less likely to look like an arrogant student, plus if you ever come across a situation in the hospital where you don't want people to know you are a doctor (Code Blue for example), you can just stick it deeper in your pocket and walk-on-by guilt free! Disadvantages include having to keep one pocket free exclusively for storage. It is never a good look when you are asked to examine a patient and you pull out your stethoscope along with all your pens, a soon to be smashed iPhone and a weeks worth of ward lists (which you were going to shred later?).

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10 Reasons Medical Students Should Join A Gym

By Samantha Stott (The University of Newcastle)

Let me set the record straight. I’m pretty uncoordinated. Totally & utterly hopeless at aerobics, gymnastics, the grape-vine, dancing & synchronised swimming. So why would someone with such a poorly wired basal ganglia be such a massive gym advocate? Well here’s why I think you should join a gym:

1. You may end up in the public eye 7. You’ll beat the Law Society by a greater margin in rugby (like Dr Phil) It’s true. One day, you could be repping a big mo on a HARPO Studios television show. It’s time to put in the leg work now. Trim that tummy, tone that gluteus maximus ready for that big time show. It will happen, you are going to be famous, don’t let your cellulite be the next headline.

Maria Robinson (a prolific blogger) once said, “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” Fortunately, nobody has told the Law Society this, which is why the Newcastle Medical Society is currently in possession of the cup.

2. It’s not procrastination

8. It is so much fun

As a medical student if you aren’t studying, you are procrastinating. Unless you are doing genuinely beneficial things. This can be boiled down into charity work, spending time with family/friends & forms of self-improvement.

Gymming-it is definitely self-improvement – a guilt free way to not memorise the differential diagnoses for diarrhoea.

3. You meet people there FACT: There are other people on campus besides medical students. There are Business students, Law students & almost every degree imaginable! These people are nice.

If you don’t know students from other degrees, you are definitely missing out. You should get to know them over a protein shake & discussion of the circumference of your bicep.

4. Members of the opposite sex squat & bench press there A shallow yet noteworthy point. If you are a little bit pervy, you will love the gym. Here body parts bounce, sweat, wobble & pump. Disturbing for some, delectable for others.

Is it time you studied some more anatomy?

5. You’re less likely to end up as that old person with lots of cats Whilst there’s no research paper in the Lancet or JAMA, I’m 99% sure the statement I just made is legit. If your bod’ is bangin’ & you are out meeting people, you have less time to collate a collection of cats. True Story.

6. You can eat more cake Well really, who doesn’t love cake? But no one loves diabetes. When you attend the gym, you can have your cake AND eat it too.

Grab a friend, grab a mat & go to that pump class. The instructor will be upbeat, the music will be uplifting and your endorphins will lift your mood sky high. Smile, get amongst it and be thankful for your body.

9. It annoys other people Not a personal motivator of mine, but I know I do get irritated when my brother beats me time & time again at every sport. “Argh, you are so fit”, “Argh, why do you do so much exercise?”, “Argh, I wish I had brought my gym gear” are common catch-cries of the people you can perplex if you gym it. What are you waiting for?

10. It improves your health Most importantly, as medical students we are advocates for health & wellbeing. Whilst looking bangin’, eating cake & beating other faculties in sport are all enjoyable perks, you should be fit for your own health. Just remember, salt water is the cure for anything: sweat, tears or the sea.

Totipotency The

of the

Medical Student Body Molly Kehoe (UNDA Fremantle)

W

e’ve all see the flow charts that show you what specialty your personality will lead you into: the jocks head into ortho; those lacking an attention span will be suitable for emergency;but what about while we are medical students? This year I’ve started to see medical students functioning - and often dysfunctioning - as different cells of the body: there are macrophages, melanocytes, osteoblasts and endometrial cells (bear with me as I explain).

There’s at least one macrophage in each Pbl, they’re a loyal friend and ally. Impressively you’re average macrophage will always manage, without fail, to have a circle of food around themselves during every tute/ lecture/anatomy prac… Furthermore macrophages are often seen getting friendly with the Schwann cells, not in a Day’s of Our Lives type setting, the macrophages are merely on the lookout for their number one desire.

You see, Schwann cells are the Mummy types, the ones that support and most importantly nourish the other cells. Schwann cells always bring home cooked goodies to Pbl - even when its not their turn. If a Schwann cell is asked to bring a birthday cake they’ll rock up with a three tired, cream filled masterpiece that Donna Hay would be in awe of.

Over-achieving, over-involved and still able to have everyone love you? Oh yeah, you’re a hepatocyte. These extraordinary individuals manage the unmanageable: process toxins, store glycogen and produce bile?

The med student hepatocyte can get the marks, be everyone’s best friend, fly black-hawk helicopters and win state-championship medals for rowing…. They’re just that good. Personally I’m convinced they don’t sleep, but I’m still impressed.

All medical students are prone to getting a bit bi-polar, one day we are on top of the world loving everything

medicine throws at us, the next we are banging our heads against a brick wall wondering why we ever gave-up being a professional Bear Grylls stalker in the first place. But endometrial cells take this bi-polar nature to the next level, endometrial students float along under the radar for the most part, until like clockwork they hit that week where everything turns them on, their basal body temperature peaks and they become annoyingly obsessed with tenuous things like Fox-Fordyce Disease or ribose-5-phosphate isomerase deficiency. Fittingly those with endometrial tendencies will also come down, complaining and whining to the point where you become momentarily concerned that they may end it all. Typically, after the weekend, they usually manage to slough off the negativity and return to their normal selves… until the cycle starts again.

Whats that I hear you say? What about sperm? A question that often comes up in day to day life and I’m here to answer if for you. Sperm cells are the ones that are turned on by everything, and remain enthusiastic about medicine. These students read about rare diseases and get so animated they post vivid details on Facebook. I know what your thinking, and well I’ve thought it a few times too: there truly is a little bit of sperm in all of us… Consequently, if all med students are sperm, lecturers and tutors are of course Sertoli cells: there to encourage and inspire you along your med school journey from spermatozoon to a fully flagellated sperm ready to spearhead into the uterus that is the hospital system.

So whether you’re an endometrial cell, a melanocyte, a hepatocyte or a mixture of a few remember to embrace you’re attributes and those of the students around you, for it truly takes many specialized cells to make a student body!

Excerpts from lectures, seminars and workshops attended during AMSA GHC Sydney 2011

By Jasmine O’Neill

Thanks to Rural Health West for sponsoring my attendance at the conference!

The AMSA Global Health Conference (GHC) this year held in Sydney united University Global Health Groups, NGOs, the AMSA Global Health Committee and globally minded medical students. GHC packed in 4 days of workshops, seminars, lectures and social events helping to show all that attended that our endeavors as medical students and global health advocates can make a difference and positively impact on global health outcomes and policy at home and abroad.

The conference was centered around education and practical activities in achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals, Indigenous health, refugee health, chronic disease, advancing health care systems, and social and environmental determinants of health.

Read on for some of the highlights & bring on AMSA GHC Cairns in 2012!

Working in Refugee Health

Poverty and discrimination are interlinked

In Australia, 1-2% of our migrants come by boat. Australia receives 14000 refugees per year & 180000 migrants per year. As up and coming medics we were asked to think about - How do you know if a patient has a torture or trauma background?

The first MDG is to eradicate income poverty by 2015. In Papua New Guinea (PNG), Australia’s closest neighbour 25% of the population live below the poverty line with 45% of their population under the age of 15. Due to the lack of human rights, PNG is one of the more difficult areas to reach. With little done to change the hunger statistics the number of people hungry is increasing. This results in drastic measures of pulling kids out of school to go to work.

Pointers we were given were to be aware, and if you aren't aware to go home do your research.

Tips for approaching the issues were along the lines of these 2 vignettes- a) I understand that your people experienced many difficulties in your home country- was your family affected in this way? b) Sometimes people who have been through war or fighting have strong memories and difficulty sleeping....

With 18 out of 20 of Australia’s closest countries being developing countries, it is important that we look at our own lives and ensure we are living ethically.

Notes on Cultural Awareness The top 5 causes of death for refugee children are - malaria, malnutrition, measles, diarrhoea & respiratory tract infections.

Immunizations can present cultural issues and often require a lot of community education surrounding them. In emergency situations nutritional support, measles immunization, control of communicable diseases, reproductive health and public health surveillance are the focus. This in turn means that up until now, mental health issues have largely been neglected.

We were prompted to take into consideration a number of things when speaking with and thinking about indigenous patients. Looking at whether they are internally displaced people, whether they are on their own land, whether they were from the stolen generation. Have an understanding of your own cultural background & beliefs.

Ask the patient what they believe about their disease using the cultural awareness tool. Research the culture and the problems faced by the patients you are seeing.

Problems and barriers. Use interpreters. Big on the agenda - Find a cultural mentor!

The take home message from Naomi Steer's lecture was - Giving people the resources, often very basic resources, refugees take up the opportunities to be involved in their communities.

Take care of yourself- If you are experiencing burnout and compassion fatigue talk to someone. Talk to each other. Watch out for each other.

Meditation, music, sex, exercise, laughter all release endorphins, so ensure you get 30 minutes each day.

To learn more or to get involved, head to unrefugees.org.au

Take home message from Jill Benson - Every encounter is an opportunity to heal the past and bring hope for the future.

Closing the gap in Indigenous Health Closing the gap in Indigenous health is a more difficult task than many people expect or understand. Social factors that contribute take a long time to change in order to close the gap in Indigenous health. Clive Aspin proposed that the life expectancy of Indigenous Australians was higher than that of the English that arrived on the shores of Australia. Obviously, as a broad generalization, this has been reversed now. Clive spoke of, If social factors that contribute to the gap in health can be improved, then improving life expectancy and improving quality of life will go hand in hand.

He put forward that the way to solve the problem is to talk to communities.

Indigenous people have tremendous resources at their fingertips. The general top down approach is counter-productive and never works for public health.

The government has a poor track record - talking to the wrong people, consulting about the wrong things, with most of the money spent in administering the programs rather than on the ground.

Tips I took from Clive were 1. To listen to Indigenous people. This promotes a stronger bond with awareness and culture with the people in the community. 2.

For people working in mainstream services to engage in cultural competence training, & to understand facts surrounding the social, historical and political constructs on which out society was founded. 3. Perhaps most significantly - To be aware that those who are marginalised provide a different view of the world.

It is important to enable them to be heard from the margins.

Australia's Aid Budget What is the national interest? What is included in our aid budget? How do we spend our aid budget?

As global health advocates there is scope for us as medical students to promote a culture of giving in Australia. To foster philanthropy, and advocate through raising awareness of the need for giving. In providing aid, it is important to ask our partners what they need, rather than deciding for ourselves. If we base everything on economics we miss out on the most important things of what aid is about. It is important for Australia and other countries to base aid on need and value, rather than politics and economic interest.

You may not be aware but a lot of the aid budget goes into paying the donating countries own people, rather than funding initiatives in country, which could greatly reduce the expenditure of taxpayers money. The flipside is that this wouldn't be funding our own economy. But really, what is aid about.

I really enjoyed this quote from the lecture - Assistance is about listening, listening some more, talking and planning together, then doing. For aid delivery and aid effectiveness!

’

Mentoring Matters Prashanti Manchikanti and Stefanie Pender (Monash)

Over several years AMSA has focused our attention to pertinent issues for medical students including wellbeing, personal and career development. Achieving a balance between a busy, successful career trajectory and maintaining personal wellbeing can pose difficulties for medical students. However, embarking upon a mentoring relationship may enable medical students to understand the decisions and compromises required to develop this balance.

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What is Mentoring?

Mentoring is a means for shared reflection on the values which guide personal and career decisions. It has been described as a “dynamic and non-competitive nurturing process…that promotes independence, autonomy, and self-actualization in the protégé while fostering a sense of pride and fulfilment, support and continuity in the mentor” [1]. It is this process that enables medical students to develop their career pathways in a manner suited to their needs.

Global Health: an example

Whilst the importance of mentors has been recognised in many medical fields, the growing discipline of global health is recognised as a key area where the role of mentors is critical.

1. Complex field

Not unlike other medical specialities, global health is a complex field. However, the political, economic, environmental and social forces that transcend national boundaries and affect health extend greatly beyond the traditional health-specific issues. Medical students should have an understanding of these matters to develop personal, social and political values which inform their global health practice. Yet, the complexity of these transnational issues often renders students unable to navigate the quagmire of global health problems.

Furthermore, maintaining personal wellbeing with a global health career may raise challenges as professionals confront global inequities and spend extended periods away from home.

2. Growing enthusiasm

Australian medical students have displayed increasing interest in global health. This has been seen through; the growth of global health groups (GHG) and AMSA’s Global Health Committee, the growing participation in Global Health Conferences and AMSA’s increasing role in the International Federation of Medical Student Associations (IFMSA). This is not limited to medical students as seen through the development of numerous junior doctor global health initiatives including the Global Health Gateway and AMA D-i-T’s increasing global health focus.

3. Gap in global health education

Despite the mounting enthusiasm of Australian medical students to learn about global health issues, there continues to remain limited global health education within Australian medical curricula. Subsequently, students may be limited in their ability to translate global health knowledge into practical action, both as a student and future medical practitioner.

The Global Health Mentoring Program

In response to these needs, Ignite, Monash University’s GHG, launched a Global Health Mentoring Program (GHMP). This program pairs selected students with active global health professionals in Melbourne for a year-long mentoring partnership. Students are encouraged to meet monthly with their mentors and to establish mutually beneficial goals for the year.

To provide a conceptual understanding of global health complexities, the GHMP committee developed four modules concerning core issues to facilitate discussion between mentors and students.

Although only in its infancy, great interest has surrounded Ignite’s GHMP. The inaugural program received an overwhelming number of student applications. Mentors have been hugely enthusiastic in their participation despite their frequently high profile and busy careers. Students have been presented with a variety of opportunities including summer internships, research projects and exposure to global health events and workplaces.

Where to from here?

Through this program, Ignite aims to increase student engagement with global health issues, based upon well-considered personal values. Participating students will be empowered to contribute towards achieving global health equity throughout their medical career.

The GHMP program is expected to grow and extend beyond Monash to other medical schools in the coming years.

All medical students should consider seeking mentors as the personal and career benefits for both student and mentor, will translate into benefits for the broader community.

Mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction.

John Crosby [1] Valadez A, Lund C. Mentorship: Maslow and me. Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing 1993;24(6):259-63.

For further information: www.ignitehealth.org.au/ghmp

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Australians pay inflated textbook prices to overseas publishers Grant Ross (Melbourne) Education is the greatest tool we have for social justice. Yet, Australians are paying inflated costs for textbooks owing to legislation that prioritizes the profits of overseas publishing companies against customer savings.

Textbooks overseas are on average 35, often to 50%, cheaper than the cost in Australia in real terms .

These costs are the result of price discrimination practices: where a company that sells the same product in many countries will increase the price in one country while protected from imports from markets where lower prices are charged.

This is all possible owing to Parallel Import Restrictions. PIR are a part of the copyright Act 1968. The act provides that where an Australian copyright holder, usually the publisher, is able to produce a work within 30 days of this same work hitting the market in any country, any import into Australia of the copyrighted work from an overseas market is a breach of copyright and thus prohibited .

Whilst the aim of the copyright act is to balance the propagation of creative materials to the public versus the incentive of the creator to produce it , parallel import restrictions act more as market protection for overseas publishing companies who want to set high

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prices for any book they produce in Australia knowing that it cannot be undercut at the sale point from cheaper overseas editions.

This is a cause for concern because it is the mechanism behind the high cost of books in Australia.

In response to reviews of PIR undertaken in 1991, 1995, 2001, 2005 and 2009 the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission has provided recommendations on every occasion that Australian textbooks prices are markedly higher for the same product compared with overseas. The chief watchdog for price fixing has never produced a report that does not suggest we pay too much for textbooks in Australia and called for the repeal of these laws in every review since 1991.

New Zealand has seen an expansion in business in publishing following the cessation of PIR .

Since the repeal, more people are enjoying more books at lower prices with increased business, increased sales for authors and fundamentally, without significant job losses . For all the talk of the industry folding, it has become more efficient and retained jobs in the sector. The conclusion is simply this: profits may go down, but industry and jobs/hiring will actually expand as book demand

increases. The same was seen in the Compact Disc PIR removals in Australia .

The most ardent defense of PIRs come from authors who are worried that lower book prices will force them out of their livelihoods and destroy the Australian creative industry. This is a hard argument to believe for a number of reasons.

Firstly, most Australian authors write for Australian audiences and do not publish overseas editions of their books . By definition, PIRs are not enacted unless there is an import available.

Secondly, this position argues that PIRs are important in maintaining our cultural heritage. They are not.

PIRs are a poor form of cultural protection because they do not discriminate between items of high or low cultural value. A foreign desert rat cook book gets the same protection as any of Tim Winton’s works and further, PIRs make books more expensive and less available to the citizens who own this cultural heritage.

Thirdly, it is alarming to hear an argument that Australians should be told by the artistic community what is good for them culturally and then to safeguard a so called cultural elite by using trade protectionist profits to buoy an artistic community. Most of the cultural benefit of reading a book occurs for the reader. Any

legislation that aims to transfer money from everyday Australians to a self-styled artistic community is a marked breach of peoples’ rights and not in keeping with the ethos of the copyright legislation.

Textbooks are particularly vulnerable to price discrimination.

If Tim Winton’s novels are too expensive, then we can simply choose not to buy them. This is not the case for textbooks; which are often an outright necessity and furthermore, designated by the University or course requirements.

Everybody is paying for this excess. Students cop higher prices for textbooks to line the pockets of publishers. Doctors in practice are paying higher prices for these textbooks. The Australian government is paying higher prices through the various tax deduction schemes operating for textbook purchases not to mention grants and subsidies for numerous categories of workers. All of us are paying that extra bit at the bookshop just so that we can appease a law that prioritises the excessive profits of a single industry in this country.

As the New Zealand’s experience shows, there is no threat to printing jobs should PIR be removed. It is the profits that are at threat.

Clearly, with cheaper book prices, sales increase and if anything jobs will increase; particularly in the retail sector which is particularly discriminated against by these laws and will do so further in the future as they struggle desperately to keep afloat in the age of internet book purchases. Purchases, it

should be said, that do not create Australian jobs or pay GST to the commonwealth.

Trade Restrictions exist purely to prioritise the profits of one industry over another. They are a perverse way to serve the millions of Australians by making their lives harder.

The ALP have expressed no interest in repealing a protectionist policy, with Kevin Rudd’s cabinet failing to heed the recommendations of the PIR report of 2009 . Naturally, considerable sections of the Coalition are ardently seeking to remove these laws.

by lending their considered support to changing this legislation.

We must lead the community in the responsible advocacy of fair trade effects on academic and health outcomes. Education is the greatest tool we have for social justice. Fair priced textbooks mean better-educated, up to date doctors and better patient outcomes for the most vulnerable in society.

John Shipp, President of the Australian Liberal Students’ Federation has said that: “This Labor government is obviously too reform averse to do what must be done to bring down the price of textbooks. It will be up to the next Coalition government to lift parallel import restrictions on books for the benefit of students, medical practitioners, book retailers and the Australian community more broadly.”

I invite the Australian Medical Students Association and the Australian Medical Association to consider its position on the PIRs and the effect that inflated, unnecessary textbook prices have on their membership and come to a decision about publicly supporting efforts the remove this legislation for the Australian community. These notable organizations have a vital opportunity to makes things better for all doctors and medical students

Productivity commission 2009, restrictions on the parallel importation of books, research report, canberra. P xviii Copyright amendment (parallel importation) bill 2001. Australian lower house. Published by the department of the parliamentary library, 2000.

World intellectual property organisation copyright treaty 1996: geneva. Signed by australia. Preamble.

Network economics consulting group for the ministry of economic development in 2004 ‘the impact of parallel imports on new zealand’s creative industries’ pages 41 and 53 Network economics consulting group for the ministry of economic development in 2004 ‘the impact of parallel imports on new zealand’s creative industries’ Accc press release april 3 2001; 2001, summary of the commission’s march 1999 report on the potential consumer benefits of repealing the importation provisions of the copyright act 1968 as they apply to books and computer software – including price updates for books, computer software and sound recording, agps, canberra.

Nielsen bookscan (database), the nielsen company. 2008A, australian panel. As quoted in the item i, appendix e.

Regulatory regime for books to remain unchanged. Media release for innnovation minister the hon dr. Craig emerson. 11 November, 2009

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Elective Report

Sozialmedizinisches Zentrum Ost – Donauspital (Social Medicine Centre East Donauspital) - Vienna, Austria On the 29th of November I arrived to a very cold and snowy Vienna, Austria to begin my four week paediatric elective rotation at SMZ-Ost Donauspital. ‘Donauspital’ is the second-largest inner city hospital in Vienna and services the East side of the city. I commenced my first working in the general paediatric outpatient and emergency department (Kinderambulanz). This department is open twenty-four hours and manages both referrals from general practitioners and after hours care. Each day there is a general clinic as well as specialty outpatients such as cardiology, neurology, respiratory, endocrine and renal.

At these clinics I worked in with other Medical students and doctors seeing patients and referring them for further investigations and management. I had the opportunity to learn paediatric cannulation and venepuncture as well as assisting with cardiac echocardiograms. Medical students had teaching sessions organised with the radiology department during this time and interesting clinical paediatric cases from patients we had seen in outpatients or the wards were discussed. Wednesday morning also consisted of lectures and teaching on various different paediatric topics from both allied health staff and Doctors.

My second week involved working in the Neonatology Intensive Care Unit. This was a phenomenal experience and I learned so much and was involved in a wide

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range of procedures during this week. The Neo-ICU at Donauspital is a 14 bed, high dependency unit. Each day would begin with a handover meeting to discuss current patients in the unit and possibly deliveries or admissions for the next 24-hour period. Following this ward round would be commenced with the main duties of adjusting and calculating parenteral feed requirements and intubation and respiratory status. It was also the responsibility of the NICU Doctors to perform the discharge physical examination of all newborns on the general maternity ward. It was interesting to observe the differences in the newborn checks and health program in comparison to what I have learnt as the Queensland Health system. The Doctors were quite proud to be able to explain to me the changes they had implemented to sleeping safety following Australian research into Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. During my time on the NICU I was fortunate enough to be involved with the investigation and diagnosis of a child born with dysmorphic features.

This was a worthwhile procedure to be involved with. I also attended the emergency caesarean birth of 24 week old twins who required full resuscitation, surfactant and intubation at the time of delivery. Unfortunately they were very unwell and remained in a critical condition at the end of my elective period.

The final two weeks of my time at Donauspital was spent between the general paediatric ward and paediatric ICU. These wards were large and consisted of four paediatric wards with approximately 35 patients in each. I was involved in the general day-to-day running of the ward including hand-over, ward round, consultations and discharge planning. I had the opportunity to interact with patients and their families and to practice my history and examination skills. Being the middle of winter in Austria, it was interesting for me to see a number of cases of carbon monoxide poisoning and smoke inhalation from faulty home heating systems – not something we really see in hot Queensland. I also saw a case of meningococcal meningitis and Kawasaki Disease. All medical students were expected to present a case report at the end of each week.

During my time at Donauspital I was accommodated at the staff housing quarters for a very economical price of 5 Euro/day making travel to and from the hospital only a short covered walk. Accommodation included own bathroom, cooking and shared washing facilities.

Students are able to cook for themselves or dine in the staff dining room in the main hospital building, also at a very reasonable price. The hospital itself was accessed by its own underground-subway station and made travel and sightseeing around Vienna city very easy. Christmas time in Austria is beautiful with the city decorated and filled with Christmas markets selling crafted gifts and Austrian specialities such as Gluhwein.

The weather is bitterly cold and there was often snowfall in and around the city with

the opportunity to go snow skiing/boarding nearby. As I spent a year living in Austria in 2006 (prior to commencing my medical studies) I enjoyed the opportunity to catchup with friends and family during my time off from hospital work.

There are many other medical students working in the hospital which provided a good opportunity for socialising. Work at the hospital commenced each day with morning hand-over at 8am and finished early afternoon around 2pm when most Doctors would attend to their own out of hospital private clinics. Students were expected to adhere to the staff uniform which will be provided to students with a bond payed to the hospital clothing department (and refunded on return of uniform).

Dress consisted of a long, white hospital embodied coat and white pants or dress. A knowledge of German is not essential for spending time in Vienna or for interacting with the Doctors as many speak good English, however I believe it would be of benefit for students to be mostly fluent in German if they intend to undertake this elective rotation as all consultations, hand-overs, ward-rounds and patient interactions will be undertaken in German and it would be difficult follow without understanding of the language.

Jessica McDonald (Bond)

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Christchurch 198 Youth Health Centre Charity Event by Aysha Al-Ani (Deakin) Tuesday, the 22nd of February 2011, was marked in history as New Zealand’s darkest day.

At 12:51 pm, the beautiful city of Christchurch was rocked by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake, five months after the first earthquake in September of the previous year. The difference was that, this time, the lives of 181 people were taken.

My father, Husam Al-Ani, was amongst those individuals.

On that day, like any other, he was performing his duty as a doctor, servicing and helping his patients, something he did best and loved most.

Dr Husam Al-Ani

As the primary doctor of Christchurch’s 198 Youth Health Centre, Dr Al-Ani had volunteered in the Centre until its closure in 2010. In spite of this, he continued to provide free consultations to those same youth in his other workplace, The Clinic. My father was simultaneously working alongside the founder of the 198 Youth Health Centre, Dr Sue Bagshaw, to reopen the youth facility. It was following the Boxing Day earthquake that The Clinic building was deemed unsafe and so was instead moved to the fourth floor of the Canterbury Television (CTV) building. Unfortunately, it is this structure that collapsed so disastrously, unable to withstand the 6.3 magnitude quake and killing over 100 people.

As tragic as that day was for so many, the only way is forward. So, for my family, emulating and continuing the passion and positivity that my father had lived and breathed was the obvious solution. Since the devastating outcomes of the

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earthquake, it has become our mission to realise this ambition and help recreate the new Youth Health Centre as a dedication to my father.

The 198 Youth Health Centre was a free multidisciplinary health service providing physical, sexual, social, and mental health care prior to its closure. Despite attempts to continue this care in The Clinic, youth resources remained significantly limited. Consequently, the Korowai Trust was established as a means of alternative funding for a new youth one stop shop. Through improving the wellbeing, health, and social inclusion of vulnerable people struggling in the Canterbury community, the Trust endeavours to bridge the gap between young people and health professionals, and in doing so educate and empower youth.

The collapse and red-zoning of several proposed premises have delayed the availability of health services to young people. With over 7500 aftershocks having shaken the city since the first earthquake on 4 September 2010 and as the only facility of its kind in Christchurch, the need for a youth centre has never been greater.

The unpredictable nature of these ongoing aftershocks is feared to result in increased drug intake, alcohol and binge drinking, in addition to the post-traumatic stress and depression that is only now becoming more evident.

Fortunately, there is currently a new premise on which to reopen, however equipment and many building developments are still required.

It is ultimately my father’s aspirations and love of medicine and youth that motivated me to organize the charity event on behalf of the Christchurch 198 Youth Health Centre. This seemed the natural path for me to both honour my father’s memory and pay tribute to the city that has been my home for the past 14 years. It

My Dad and me

was an impromptu decision, but one to which I became committed. The February earthquake was a massive event, but for me, my Dad was just as extraordinary and so I hoped that by holding such an event, he would instead be remembered for the positive person he was and the values he inspired.

I wished to raise awareness and funds for the cause and consequently arranged to host the function as a three-course dinner in Geelong’s elegant Empire Grill. The evening involved an educational presentation from renowned Paediatrician and Adolescent Physician, Professor Susan Sawyer from the University of Melbourne and Royal Children’s Hospital.

There was also an ongoing silent auction, raffle, and a live auction at the end of the night to encourage further charity. Amazing prizes were also obtained for this occasion, including an iPad2; luxury weekend accommodation in Lorne; student sessions with surgeons in theatre; manual labour from 3 almosttradesmen; yoga and gym terms; beauty, gift, and spa packages; home appliances; dinner vouchers; and multiple electrical toothbrushes and many others.

A total of 104 guests attended the event, predominantly staff, students, and medical practitioners from the Deakin Medical and Clinical Schools, as well as other members of the Geelong community. We were also privileged to have Drs Sue and Phil Bagshaw who traveled from Christchurch just for this function.

Christchurch 198 Youth Health Centre Charity Dinner.

Photograph: Zhen Ti Yong

What resulted from that night surpassed anything I had previously envisioned. The weeks of arduous planning, coordination, invitation-, ticket-, and letter-writing and prize-collecting came to fruition, raising an incredible $9,550 AUD ($12,323 NZD).

It is the overwhelming and invaluable generosity, support, and assistance of family, friends, and sponsors that made this night truly special. Without this wonderful team of people who believed in me and the cause, such a successful outcome would not have been

Aysha with Drs Phil and Sue Bagshaw.

Photograph: Zhen Ti Yong

accomplished. Therefore it is to them that I owe my complete gratitude and thanks.

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d o G k r n e a H h T e r ’ u o Y ) h t riffi

(G s an

By

Medicine is serious business, there is no doubting that.

This historically rich and proud profession gives you the opportunity to change a person’s life in the most meaningful way and influence their future; you also witness the absolute pits of human despair, when life and dignity crumbles down to reveal the true pain and suffering that suffocates the fading whim of existence. The realisation of not only this responsibility, but the experience of such a constricting emotional burden upon the person of the doctor is enough to force one to the

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brink of agony - consumed by the ferocity of the pain faced.

However, there are many things we do to cope and protect ourselves from the ugly truth of the lives we face.

Indeed, this author’s favourite is that defence of humour - the armour one wears by releasing a boisterous chuckle in a usually appropriate social context. Though early in my studies, I have utilised such an apt and powerful weapon on many occasions, to relieve stress, to centre myself on which ever chakras are currently ‘chic’, and to just do it

for the ‘lulz’ - which is the only reason anyone does anything really. I mean, laughter is the only reason I went into medicine to be honest - that and the ladies, but they dried up nine months ago if you pardon the expression.

As I am new to the OSCE, I have enjoyed applying my witty and well-rounded humour to this format - offending patients, repulsing examiners, and earning the ire of my peers.

You see, at Griffith each of our OSCE stations are in separate rooms, whereby we enter the said room to begin

addressing the scenario. This seemingly un-funny situation is only conceivably made to be humorous due to my own very recent acquaintance with the TV programme ‘Thank God You’re Here’, as I now imagine every OSCE scenarios to be a hilarious interchange between myself and Shaun Micallef, watched on by hundreds in the studio audience. Although I’m sure many of my peers have long since made such an association, my inability to ever be ‘hip’ has cursed me once more, and I only have found out about this now so please bare with me (as an aside, my entire cohort loathes me for being the only person without an iPhone, especially as I call many of them asking for directions on their portable Google Maps, but I digress).

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For instance, my latest OSCE charade last week yonder has left me facing an early exile from medical school, or my own comedy programme on late night SBS - with all the nudity of myself as required by that timeslot, which will no doubt add to the hilarity. After bursting into the room on this particular occasion, I was faced with a limp and lifeless body lying on the floor, next to a broken power cord that was flicking back and forth like a snake pouncing blindly in every direction with electrical ferocity. This man was an electrician, the briefing told me, who was trying to fix a power cord. What a scenario, I thought to myself, this is what I call drama - this is what I call an OSCE. After not receiving a ‘Thank God You’re Here’ line from the examiner (I

lodged a mental complaint), I proceeded to do exactly what was required from a medical student in this scenario - ‘It seems like this particular electrician did a SHOCKING job!’ I said prior to raising one eyebrow to the cameras - a chorus of laughter boomed from the studio audience. ‘But I’m sure I can still revive him, as there is still a SPARKle in his eye!’ I elaborated to hammer the joke home, which was met with a small chuckle from the crowd - not quite a hit.

Now under significant pressure to perform CPR, and to get the audience back on side, I launched into the ‘C’ component of whatever mnemonic I was suppose to remember. I felt for the centre of his chest gently with one hand, and finding it I used my other hand to pound the spot - to the tempo of a club remix of the Bee Gees ‘Stayin’ Alive’, as this was all I got out of the last CPR certification I did..... ‘Whether you’re a brother or whether you’re a mother, you’re stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive!!’ I sung in perfect harmony whilst pounding the chest - the sweet crackles that resonated upon each blow gave me hope that his heart was crackling back to life. I jumped up and lead the audience to perform a rendition of this hit song, amidst laughter and applause.

From this brief patient-free interlude, I turned my attention again to the electrician. He really was not looking good at all; the singing did not help! Sensing impending doom on this OSCE station, compounded by the growing

pool of blood at my feet, I turned to the audience and asked: ‘What is the definition of a shock absorber?’ silence ensued from the crowd, all in deep contemplation.

After a moment I replied in a rapturous voice ready to break into laughter ‘a careless electrician!!’ The stage shook with the uproar of booming laughter. My job here was done; I was the winner of this night’s ‘Thank God You’re Here’. I strolled out of the room back into the hallway with a dreamy chuckle. What an experience, what drama, what an OSCE station. Maybe I’ll write an article in Panacea about this day if my AMSA representative ever asks me to contribute.

Before this recollection, I asserted that humour was my essential method to cope with the horror. With this un-original, un-funny, and disappointingly crude recap of a genuinely failed OSCE station, this author wanted to demonstrate to the reader that you must find your own way to cope in the harsh realm of medicine - whether that be with friends, hobbies, sport, a life-like blow-up doll of Katy Perry, or going to church; you must find something. Not everyone will have a unique sense of humour such as mine, blindly ignorant of its own baseness. However, the laughter can never trivialise the profession, or its practice of genuinely helping those who need it most - it must be utilised for the power of good, to help those in their darkest times, and to help the physician through theirs.

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Liberal Market Values have a lot to offer patients.

Written by Grant Ross (Melb) Janet Albrechtsen argued in Peter van Onselen’s 2008 book, Liberals and Power: The Road Ahead, that the Liberal party has surrendered the moral high ground to the left. This is particularly the case for education, health and issues of civic morality such as the boat people and industrial relations.

money. In one consultation with a general medical practitioner or GP, you get a one-stop shop for your ills and the patient is satisfied enough to come back and generally to pay for it. Any GP knows that you can’t keep milking the one cow and so the view is towards being efficient with your patient’s resources.

For example, Bob Brown is praised as a saint with his sympathetic pleas for the plight of refugee children. However, no matter how much altruism this evokes, there is nothing saintly about driving thousands of innocent refugees each year to mercilessly lose their lives by drowning in the high seas.

The Roxon reign has not introduced a single reform that worked towards health care efficiency.

Publicly funded Health is a good thing but there is a point where the health stops and the public institution largesse and inefficiency supersedes.

We must be honest about this reality.

‘Nurse on call’ proved to do nothing to ameliorate the doctor workload as the nurses generally had little more clout on whether a patient needed to see a doctor than the patients themselves.

There is a sentiment among doctors lately that the government is bending towards special interest groups who want to usurp doctors’ autonomy, money and power. These include Federal, State and Hospital bureaucrats, allied health professions, Nurse Practitioners and drug companies.

This is a misuse of government power to steal market ground from doctors and exercise the politics of envy. This mechanism has potential to hinder the ability of the individual to decide which practitioner they want to go to, as per market practice.

I learnt very early on in my career that doctors are good value for

The e-health records involved inadequate medical input such that they are a useless diversion that actually increases doctor workload for no appreciable gain.

The Nurse Practitioner scheme, designed to create a new breed of ‘health professional’ to take over in General Practice proved so financially ridiculous that the scheme was shelved. Not only did a patient now have to pay to see a nurse practitioner, but then had to pay twice once they realized that the Nurse Practitioner had little ability to treat any of their presenting complaints and they still had to present to their doctor.

Then there was the push for prescribing rights and Medicare billing rights for allied health.

Pharmacists wanted to be able to prescribe drugs. Psychologists wanted to bill Medicare.

Who was going to pay for all this?

Most doctors know that free health care is wasted health care from over-servicing. Medicare is not there to drum up business for allied health. I am all for providing state dollars to get services when and where needed; but this model has no believable provision for rationalization of those services. Fee for service and GP referral does.

Ideologically, the widening of prescribing rights is just plain dangerous. It makes a mockery of medicine as a craft and brings danger and higher costs to the health industry.

Kevin Rudd’s federal takeover of health excites me as a doctor, but scares me as a Liberal. On one hand, I love the idea of the fragmented state funding being taken out of the equation.

Less fighting and blame shifting between governments, less complexity, less delay in approvals and policy change and greater concordance of workforce planning.

On the other hand, one sprawling enormous bureaucracy with eyes to taking jurisdiction over every patient, health record, nurse, doctor and hospital in the country is a recipe for inefficiency and complexity. I have a concern that this would make it easier for special interests to capture policy making when they only have to do so with a single government, i.e. the federal government.

Medicare Locals were a bad idea from the outset. They take a reasonably well functioning private and independent industry group and more or less nationalise it in order to ‘make it better’; without any extant support or endorsement from the AMA.

This has failure written all over it.

First of all, none of these models worked overseas and we knew that well back when this sorry saga started . Secondly, the Medicare Locals aim to replace the doctor to patient care model by creating schemes and incentives to control chronic disease and use other peoples’ money to do so. This is not about ‘patient care’; it’s about arrogant governments holding the belief that they can get ‘better results than doctors’.

Once you open up this ground to any purpose, you open it to all purposes and I disagree with the replacement of the doctor patient primacy on every level.

Every single doctor I speak to is against the changes to healthcare. This is particularly the case in General Practice. Allowing vocal special interests to manipulate health policy is a perversion of the intention of publicly funded health and is amount to theft from patients.

Consistent in the heart of all recent ALP policies is that there is no distinction between high quality output and low quality output. This will only work to increase bureaucratic inefficiencies, increase political pressure on hiding clinical outcomes such as bed pressure, make rhetoric more valuable than performance and worst of all, is a colossal waste of tax payer dollars which will only rob funds from other desperate health needs.

We should never forget Margaret Thatcher’s dictum: ‘There is no such thing as public money.

There is only tax payers’ money’ .

If you want quality, effective and rationalised medical services in Australia; the General Practice fee for service primacy model is the only one worth supporting. And we won’t see that with Roxon.

References: 1. Australian Doctor October edition 1 (page 2) 2011.

2. Dunbar JA. When big isn’t beautiful: lessons from England and Scotland on primary health care organisations. Med J Aust. 2011 Aug 15;195(4):219-21.

3. Margaret Thatcher addresses the Conservative Party conference in 1983

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Exhausted all 181 episodes of Scrubs? Sick of the Derek and Meredith saga? Ready to toss Talley1 through a window... here are some alternatives when looking for ways to while away the hours at med school.

Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures Vincent Lam Touted ‘International Best Seller’, who could go past the title? This apparent work of fiction interweaves the tales of four doctors beginning at the time they attempt to enter medical school. From the descriptions of early dissection days in the anatomy lab to the perfectly proportioned multicultural foursome we follow: two Asians, an Indian, and a token (alcoholic) white guy, this is a piece many of us will identify with.

(Although, the idea of an anatomy professor getting students to create origami from the pages of her beloved Cunningham’s might be just a little too far fetched for UNE students!) It is a perfect combination of fact and fiction. It also contains just enough medical jargon to justify the procrastination.

3.5 scalpels out of 5 (whether the half is the blade or handle is for you to decide.)

House of God Samuel Shem Given to me by my dad when I finally decided to apply for med, my copy is a well-thumbed original missing its cover. (I think dad heeded the advice of ‘reading this every year of your career.’) Numerous lecturers have told us that this is the must-read medical novel. It is highly amusing in places and utterly filthy in others.

(Funnily enough, the aforementioned anatomy professor includes this in her list of personal favourites).

Scrubs has taken many of the House of God themes and applied them to the next generation of medicos (the generation who have been screened, by interview, before they can enter medical school in an effort to prevent most of what happens in this book!). “Gomers”, “turfing”, and “zebras” – so many references now make sense… I even now know where the elusive “St Elsewhere’s” is.

3 scalpels. (5 if you ask my dad but he’s a pathologist so I’m not sure his opinion counts for much.)

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Life In His Hands: The true story of a neurosurgeon and a pianist

Susan Wyndham There are some medical biographies/novels/textbooks (mainly textbooks)2 out there that should be burned for the mockery they make of the English language. Writing really should be left to those who are good at it, those who are paid to put the words together on a page, those who put words together in such a way you can’t put the book down3. Susan Wyndham tells Charlie Teo’s story in a way even one of the world’s most gifted neurosurgeons could not. In combining Teo’s biography with that of a promising young concert pianist, the story finds balance in its opposition – the doctor and the patient drawn together by differences that are more similar than they may superficially appear. Wyndham sticks to her trade, Teo to his, and Aaron McMillan (the pianist) with his. It works.

4 scalpels (but be careful not to roger a cranial nerve.)

Every Patient Tells A Story Lisa Sanders (MD) 4

If they gave us this book to read for Professional Practice 1 (or whatever your uni equivalent of “How to interact/empathise/communicate/not-get-sued-for-unethical-behaviour with patients 101” is), I think we’d all be better off. It beautifully navigates what they keep trying to tell us: we must learn to listen to our patients (although we were most likely texting/You-Tube-ing/Face-stalking during these mind-numbing lectures and, paradoxically (but maybe not ironically), not listening). As the Australian healthcare system becomes increasingly like the failing American one – and one in which doctors order a bunch of tests in the hope of conjuring a diagnosis – this is a ‘based on true stories’ account of one (mature-aged!) student’s experiences. The book endeavours to remind us that computers cannot replace the human ability to communicate. Engaging from start to finish.

5 scalpels (not to be used for exploratory surgery!) ( and for those of you who would rather tube-time instead of yet more text)

Junior Doctors BBC Version A wise man once said: “They be brave souls who bare their souls on international television.”5 These young doctors risked developing the reputation of w**nker for the entirety of their career by appearing on this show, and some certainly came off better than others. Stereotyping did the show a disservice and has probably served to further ingrain some public perceptions of medicos, however, the also show reinforced the fact that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. One day we will graduate from our respective universities and realise that the Goldmann-HodgkinKatz equation and being able to sing the Citric Acid Cycle to the tune of Waltzing Matilda probably won’t save the cardiac arrest patient whose life lies in OUR hands. I know. This shocked me too. I can hear the panic in your eyes from here.

4 scalpels (I’m looking forward to the perfectly-timed Australian version – did the programmers know we’ll all be stu-vacation-ing/examing?)

1. The book, not the man.

2. For the record, Talley and O’Connor is not one of these.

3. Did someone say irony? Congratulations are in order: you have just used the word correctly! (Ahem, Alanis Morissett, cough.)

4. No comment on the inclusion of the title “MD”. Ahem, cough.

5. Nah, that was just me.

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University of Adelaide Report by Daina Rudaks

Latest News from Adelaide: 200+ delegates descended upon sydney for convention. 3 Cups, 1 state. 120+ 4Th years celebrating at the annual perks halfway dinner. First ever med v dinner (after a large group booking totally unrelated to us in the preceding weeks, warned that if we need to vomit to relieve ourselves we should do so in the toilets and not the carpet). Call to arms - newest med-run uni-wide party. Pre-clinical pubcrawl. A journey through the circle of life for our medrevue - Hakuna-Ma-Doctor.

South Australian Leadership Development Seminar. Third year rural week. Red week.

Red party. Red cocktails. Red bake sale. Inaugural great debate.

Something funny which has happened at your uni: fraud accusations at the pancake kitchen post-medball.

Big news for your uni: 3 cups, 1 state. And a new hospital.

Australian National University No Report Received

Bond University Report by Greg Leeb

Latest News from Bond: The semester started with a gathering of the years at our triennial med eagle. Bond met up with fellow queensland meddies from uq and griffith for tri-uni cocktails. The 3rd years began to see the light at the end of the tunnel while getting slightly plastered at their half way dinner. Mssbu had our big handover to welcome in the new medsoc for 2011-2012.

Something amusing: Some unlucky 2nd years had an incident of perforated bowels during their dissection week – leading to flying faeces and wild exclamations. No one dared to clean it, leaving it to a disgruntled, yet professional member of the anatomy team to scoop out every bit of sh*t out of the abdominal cavity. Kudos to one of the best anatomy lecturers we have.

Other news: Congratulations to the medsoc who have just begun their term and a big thank you to the previous medsoc, who have done an amazing job and we hope we will be able to follow in their footsteps.

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Deakin University Report by Amy Wong

Latest News from Deakin: oh mighty a-ma-zing convention, royal gala ball, christchurch charity dinner, careers night, sports day, mscv academic, wellbeing week, indigenous story telling night, afl game, paintball, transition cocktail night, life in a claim night, movember bbq.

Upcoming events: eox pub crawl, grad ball Something funny which has happened at your uni: Big news for your uni: our first lot of interns will be out and about next year so watch out for them! Also, deakin is proud to be this year's vampire cup winner!!!!

Flinders University No Report Received

Griffith University Report by Justine Cain

Latest News from Griffith: The largest ever cohort of harry's descended to sydney for convention 2011, for an amazing week of awesomeness. We clearly were the best dressed university by day (griffindor scarves, wand, glasses, and scar) and were the most incredible and synchronised by night (i'm not biased at all!). After eventually recovering from conventionitis, griffith donated blood for vampire cup, taking out bronze position. Even more rewarding, was receiving an email from the red cross mentioning that we helped keep the southport donation centre afloat during the quiet winter months, compounded by recent roadworks in the area. We celebrated tri-uni cocktails in fine style on the gold coast, and were set to smash bond in our annual debate, but they couldn't get a team together. Poor form! Our annual trivia night was enjoyed by all and our premier academic event (futures evening) was a resounding success. We are now at the end of the year, where we celebrate finishing exams, congratulating our final years and wishing them the best of luck for next year, before we welcome a fresh lot of newbies.

Something funny Many students from griffith are proud to support movember, but were concerned about how a dirty mo may potentially affect their osce professionalism marks. So we sought clarification from our osce co-ordinator: provided the facial hair does not interfere with the candidates professionalism during the examination or cause anxiety regarding appearance prior to the examination, students with facial hair will not be disadvantaged. Hmmm there are some mo's out there that would definitely cause anxiety - all for a good cause though!

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Big news for your uni Massive win for griffith in changing the 2012 academic calendar. In its original form, it allowed no break for final year students after exams, no travel time to get to electives and (shockingly) placed final year exams on the week of Perth 2012.

Clearly this needed to be changed - fortunately it was and we will see you all in Perth next year! Speaking of convention...

We are so excited that members of Griffith are part of the gold coast executive for convention 2013 - well done on bringing convention to the goldie. It will be incredible!

James Cook University

Report by Laura McAulay Latest News from Tropical North Queensland: JCUMSA has recently elected their new executive for 2012 - introducing Alexandra Hanson as the new AMSA liaison officer! We would like to congratulate and thank all of our graduating 6th years, especially departing President (Dr) Christine Pirrone for all of their hard work and support over the course of their degree - medical school wouldn't be anything without the students!

JCUMSA also held their annual medical revue with astounding success as well as introducing new and improved clinical skills nights which were over 100% capacity! This year will also see the first year of our larger cohorts enter into clinical years - congratulations guys!

Make sure you get on up here for GHC - Cairns is hosting in 2012, and JCUMSA are so excited that you will all get to see how beautiful the tropics are!

Only in North Queensland...

Does your coroner boast about doing an autopsy on a 6m crocodile he found dead on the beach... Including pictures of the procedure.

University of Melbourne No Report Received

Monash University

Report by Catherine Pendrey Latest News from Monash: Since the last edition of Panacea Monash students have had an exceptionally busy time. Monash students arrived in droves to convention and, in particular, GHC where we exceeded all but a few of the host state's universities. Students have returned inspired and are actively working to assist the asylum seekers and refugees through the crossing boarders project, brought back to australia from the international federation of medical students' associations. We had an absolute whale of a time at medball hosted at the melbourne aquarian. The inaugural medorchestra performance gave all a chance to make contact with our cultured side and relish a stunning orchestral version of the pirates of the caribbean theme. Students diligently knuckled down for the enormously popular mumus revision series and eagerly await a host of fun days, end of year barbeques and graduation celebrations. Our new committee has been elected and are preparing to steer mumus to a bigger, better and more environmentally friendly year than ever - under the guidance of our new green charter and sustainability officer.

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Something funny which has happened at your uni: Anatomically iced cupcakes - the latest trend that is sweeping Monash med on facebook!

Big news for your uni: In 2012 Monash students look forward to an even more holistic sense of oneness than ever before as for the first time all postgraduate gippsland and undergraduate central students will share all clinical sites.

University of Notre Dame (Fremantle) Report by Kate Hooper Latest News from NDF: AMSA global health conference, AMSA national convention, MSAND med ball (social), Laproscopic skills night (surgical interest group), Wa leadership development workshop (AMSA), MSAND sig lecture night (surgical interest group), 2Nd semester inter-year mentoring program launch (year reps), Clinical vs pre-clinical soccer game (sports and recreation), Interfaculty touch rugby and football games (sports and recreation), MSAND/wamss touch rugby and football games (sports and recreation), Live well, study well program (sports and recreation), MSAND AMSA thinktank meetings (AMSA), MSAND teddy bear hospital school visits (tbh/social justice), Trivia night (social justice), Gp procedural skills night (education), MSAND emergency medicine interest night (emergency medicine interest group).

News: After attending Sydney 2011 with our largest convention delegation to date, it's fair to say, the convention bug has well and truly bitten undf. There's plenty of excitement building for perth 2012. Many UNDF students are involved in organising the event and looking forward to putting on an incredible week for delegates in 2012.

MSAND continues to grow and add quality events to its calendar for its members. The eagerly awaited MSAND emergency medicine interest group (MSAND emig) was launched this semester. MSAND emig joins the MSAND surgical interest group, MSAND teddy bear hospital and MSAND global health group as official MSAND special interest groups. With murmurs of a physician's interest group keen to enter the fold, you could say that interest is +++++ at UNDF. Finally, we have just graduated our 4th class of students. To the graduating class of 2011; congratulations, we are so, so jealous and we wish you all the best for the years to come!

Overheard at Notre Dame...

Student: "what's castration? Is that a type of car?

Student: "can vegans breastfeed?"

Student after clinical skills: "i didn't let anyone cannulate me because i didn't want to risk becoming septic so close to exams" Student: "i wish i had erectile dysfunction, because then i'd have more time to study" Student 1: "i'm worried that i have sleep apnoea" Student 2: "what's wrong with that?"

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Student 1: "it's really dangerous!!"

Student 2: "yeah, but so is cancer.."

(Gotta keep things in perspective...)

University of Notre Dame (Sydney) No Report Received

University of Newcastle Report by Samantha Stott

Latest News from Newcastle: AMSA national convention, half-way party (80s prom themed), city2surf charity run, charity masquerade cocktail party, medical leadership seminar, las vegas pub-crawl, med revue (glee-p), specialties night, surgical skills night, er party, med v law rugby match Something funny that has happened at your uni: the newcastle medical society had to challenge the law society to this year's rugby match after rumoured cancellations of the traditional event.

Big news for your uni: a new anatomy and cadaver storage building is on the cards!

This is a very exciting addition to newcastle university including main teaching areas, wash-down areas, dissection rooms, a pharmacy teaching laboratory, cadaver storage & hearse reception areas.

The building will also include a pharmacy teaching laboratory, preparation and cold rooms.

University of New England No Report Received

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University of New South Wales Report by Henry Ainge Allen

Latest News from UNSW: Hopefully by the time everyone is reading this exams will fall into this category, though at the moment things like sunlight and "life" appear a distant, almost forgotten legend. But the end of year parties coming up should remedy that and foreshadow all the fun that we'll be having next year. We had our largest delegation to convention (so far) this year, with over a 100 full delegates, and thanks go out to all the people whose hard work made it possible. On the social scene we've all been exceptionally classy at medball, and equally refined at our pubcrawl, end of session and integration parties. Our academics have been extremely busy, running exam surviva nights and practice osce's as well as the weekly grand rounds. Our incoming medsoc exec and council are full of great ideas and i'm sure they'll give us a fantastic year.

What's new: this year we started our highly succesful weekly medsoc grand rounds every wednesday night, with clinicians from all around sydney presenting exciting cases around different specialities, and we will be continuing these next year.

University of Queensland No Report Received

University of Sydney Report by Jessica McEwan

Latest News from Sydney: So much! - Medrevue - beauty and deceased, Msc sports day, Indigenous health forum, Sums 125th anniversary, Women in medicine dinner, Pilates for med students, Lambie dew oration, Annual sums dinner, Rural health night, NAMSA halloween party, Half-way dinner, Graduation dinner, Oh yeah and only the most amazing convention ever!!

Something funny which has happened at your uni: As always there were many memorable moments during convention including members of the usyd delegation tackling rubbish bins along the main street of sydney after chicken and champagne breakfast.

Also to note was the events of the finale scene during the 2nd night of revue. During the end act there is a show down between the zombies and orthapods of the hospital (don't ask - you had to watch the

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whole show to understand!) Where two of our very talented first years show off their karate skills with some mock fighting.

However, on this night they got a little too excited and managed to take each other out. One ended up with a dislocated shoulder and the other with a broken wrist that required surgery and some serious wiring!

Big news for your uni: Sums turned 125! We are officially the oldest society in australia and we celebrated in style with a weeklong series of events. Also i am extremely pleased to say that this year the 1st year upped the anti again with a spectacular medrevue that raised over $65, 000 for charity.

University of Tasmania Report by Golsa Adabi

Latest News from Tasmania: What a year 2011 has been for TUMSS. As we approached the second half of the year, 23 delegates got out of this world and into Syndey2011. We represented and fell just short of returning the Cascade and Pipps trophies back to their homeland. Instead we bled for the nation and placed a record 5th on the AMSA Blood Drive tally. The TUMSS Health and Wellbeing month of September once again raised awareness about the importance of student health and wellbeing, not to mention making disco ice-skating the new cool thing to do! The biggest event for the year, TUMSS MedBall2011 sold out in record time and enchanted all who attended. See you in 2012 and let’s do it all again!

Something funny which has happened at your Uni: To glove or not to glove? Who would have thought the hardest part of a scrotal examination would be answering this question. In true form, Australia's finest fourth year medical students pondered the necessity to qear gloves when faced with the idea of performing this sensitive male examination. Apparently "you don't need gloves when it looks clean" right?

Big News For Your Uni: As a new event in 2011, the TUMSS-AMSA Leadership Development Seminar attracted some big name speakers this year.

Speakers included Senator Eric Abetz, President of AMA TAS and CEO of AMA Federal. With an overwhelming response from students the TLDS will return in 2012 bigger and better than ever. Watch this space medlets!

University of Western Sydney Report by Samuel Rajadurai

Latest News from Western Sydney: The uws medical society (uwsms) kick started the year 2011 with an edition of emuws (muws blast), one of our major publications, which is being delivered to all students on a three-weekly basis to keep them "up-to-date with the need-to-know-now". Another publication, "neoplasm" was released to the new first years before they commenced med school - it is in effect a useful guide containing relevant information about our executive, AMSA, medcamp etc.

After taking over the reins from the previous uwsms exec, the 2011 exec have held a number of successful events: O week 2011, Welcome back bbq's for each year, Med camp 2011 - pirates of campbelltown + "sailing the 7 seas" party, Pbl games + movie nights, Blue moon party, Twilight festival, Uwsms electives night, Uws inter-year sports night, Half way dinner

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for 2013 graduation, Uwsms AMSA leadership development seminar, Medsoc handover for incoming 2012 exec, Uwsms medball: spring fling In 2011-2012 the uwsms is interested in further increasing its services to members via the development of our membership benefits scheme (mbs) and the companion membership benefits card. Experiencing great success in its inaugural year 2010, the mbs established partnerships with many local businesses – allowing students to present their cards and receive a discount on certain goods or services; this attracted students to stores and increased their businesses.

Uwsms looks forward to its first ever 2011 uwsms graduation event!

Most amusing anecdote: It was during the winter of 2009 that a friend went missing for one of the nights of brisbane's AMSA convention, and couldn't recall anything from the night. On the flight back to sydney the next day, he noticed an aching pain in his gluteal region. A little concerned and now curious to find out what was causing the pain, he went to check out this painful region of his body. What he discovered cleared up some of the haziness left from the ‘unrecallable night'. To his surprise, and shock, was a large tattoo of the name of an unfamiliar person (of the female variety)...

Big news for uws med: 2011 has definitely been a well anticipated and exciting year as this is the first time our med school has a full house, with students from years 1 to 5. Especially important is that we will be producing our first ever uws medical graduates – marking the start of a new era! We wish them the best of luck as they tackle life in the real world!

University of Western Australia No Report Received

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University of Wollongong Report by Nishan Yogendran

Latest News from the Gong: Shufflevention 2011, MedRevue (E.C.Glee), Red Week, WUMSS Executive Committee Elections, Med Ball Med Revue - The UOW Med Revue, "E.C. Glee" was a very successful show held on the 12th & 13th august at the illawarra performing arts centre (ipac) in wollongong. Both shows had great positive feedback & were well attended Red week - Red week was held Aug 29 - Sept 2nd 2011, concluding with the official red party at uow unibar. Events included a red bake sale, a guest speaker from positive life nsw and information session with dinner, a bbq with red bull, followed by red party. It was a hugely successful event.

WUMSS Executive Committee Elections An online election was held from Aug 29 - Sept 4th for the new 2011 wumss executive committee elections. We particularly welcome Zach Pancer as the new WUMSS President.

Med Ball - WUMSS Med Ball 2011 was held on sep 9th at portofino function centre, Wollongong Big news for UOW GSM: Prof Nicky Hudson is resigning from phase 3 chair and taking up a position at UNE Our second cohort of graduates will be making their mark in 2012, but in the meantime will fsu gong-style during grad week

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