Tackling rheumatoid arthritis among first Australians

In an Australian first, a national charity, Dragon Claw, is promoting Indigenous health in remote Indigenous communities in their own languages.

Rebalancing the patient and the system

Focusing more attention on the patient and less on the clinical process should increase satisfaction for both doctors and patients and reduce unwanted side effects.

Implications of the Internet of Things for the health sector

It’s predicted that by 2020, 50 billion devices will be connected to the Internet. Michael Gill explains what this means for our health system and health care delivery.

Why patient centricity is a myth

Most health care for people with chronic conditions happens in the community, not with any clinician. Michael Gill, founder of Dragon Claw, says we need to encourage care-coordination and self-care.

Virtual Maternity

Collaborative internet based technologies have a positive role to play in improving the reach and quality of ante-natal and post-natal services that can (largely) be delivered outside of the hospital.

Maternity is about wellness not illness, and this has major consequences for the entire health system. For instance, there is a well established link between breastfeeding and subsequent health in adult life, which consequently impacts on the health system itself.

In developed nations most pregnancies and births involve some form of intervention from a ‘systemic’ maternity service, such as a public or private midwifery service or a community health service.

The ‘clients’ of  ‘maternity services’ are pregnant mothers-to-be, or mothers of infants, their partners and in some cases grandparents. 

Web 2.0 democratising health