Avant’s Chair, Dr Beverley Rowbotham introduces Connect while highlighting how all issues, no matter big or small, can affect our
day-to-day practice.

Nicola is a psychiatry registrar at Toowoomba Hospital in Queensland, completing a Master of Public Health and a Graduate Certificate in Clinical Education. She shares her experience and views on tackling junior doctor burnout and suicide.

Doctors strive for the best standard of care for their patients and often go the extra mile, but unwanted things happen. You face a range of medico-legal challenges and whether big or small, you may need good and timely advice to provide the best care.

Despite doctors’ best efforts, some patients won’t comply with the treatment advice they are given. When things go wrong for these patients, the doctor is often in the firing line, so there are important steps to take in managing these patients.

Sharing patient information with colleagues is sometimes necessary, but careful consideration is required in view of the privacy laws.

A complaint made to a health regulator against you can be confronting and overwhelming. However, if dealt with appropriately the best outcome can be achieved, as one member experienced.

One in 10 GP members had a complaint or claim raised about their care in 2018-19. While the GP’s care was found to meet the standard expected in the majority of matters, facing an allegation is often stressful, even if your care is appropriate.

It’s sometimes difficult to keep a clear head when facing urgent medical situations and pressure from family members. These situations can lead you to ignore your gut instincts and cloud clinical decisions, but how you manage them can make all the difference.

Sometimes a doctor’s desire to help a patient when empathising with their situation can backfire. Knowing when to say no and remain supportive, can often avoid medico-legal issues down the track.

Practices often find the situation tricky when an employee refuses to sign an updated employment contract. So how do you handle these situations, to get everyone on board?

Indiscretions or mistakes under Medicare can seem like a small issue, but can lead to penalties and disciplinary action, so it’s worth brushing up on the common issues.

The COVID-19 pandemic threw up a situation that neither our members nor the wider profession has experienced before.

Wherever you work, viruses are a serious issue, and not just the sub-microscopic infectious agents. Viruses are disrupting life through infecting IT systems, with health service providers being the most common target.

For all the fantastic technology advances in medicine, the pager is still a mainstay tool for doctors, but this is changing. Research shows over 95% of doctors currently use private messaging apps to coordinate care, with tailored tools becoming available.

Two years ago, a series of reforms were introduced by the government to simplify private health insurance and address its affordability. Looking at this ‘first wave’ of a reform package that remains ongoing, there have been successes while some key objectives are yet to be met.

When it comes to home loans, doctors need the right guidance to ensure being time-poor and under pressure doesn’t prove costly.

Obtaining patient consent is a fundamental, yet tricky skill and some doctors don’t always get it right. Our data shows consent is a factor in one in 10 claims. The Avant Foundation was pleased to support members’ research into assessing trainees’ abilities in performing this task.