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This year, the CRANAplus annual conference will be held in Perth.  I submitted a paper “Dealing with uncertainty in clinical practice” which was held in reserve as the organizing committee had more papers than they needed.  This was a good thing, as it wasn’t too long ago that CRANAplus struggled to get enough papers toContinue reading “CRANAplus Conference 2011”

Day 5 Our last day on the island dawned clear and cool.  We got up early as this was to be the longest walk of the hike, about 24km with our packs.  The planned route took us from Central Station to Basin Lake, then Lake MacKenzie, then along an old tramway to the remains ofContinue reading “Hiking on Fraser Island – Day 5”

Day 4 Day 4 of the 5-day hike dawned fine and clear at Lake Wabby Walkers’ Camp.  After breakfast of hot oatmeal porridge, we packed up the camp and stashed the packs in a dingo-proof steel box.  Then it was a short, easy backtrack to the Lake Wabby lookout to view the battle between theContinue reading “Hiking of Fraser Island – Day 4”

Day 3. We awoke early on day 3 because it was time to get ourselves organised enough to set up camp in daylight.  This meant we needed to break camp in the morning, have breakfast, and set off by 0800. The motivator was an ooportunity to detour 6.5km from our trail to see the largestContinue reading “Hiking on Fraser Island – Day 3”

Day 2.  We awoke at 0700 to find our campsite wet with rain.  It must have been a good sleep, because I never noticed the rain on my hiking tent overnight!  Everything except the tent flies kept dry.  The food was locked in a steel box to keep it away from dingoes and goannas, andContinue reading “Hiking on Fraser Island – Day 2”

In early July 2011, I spent 5 days hiking on Fraser Island accompanied by two of my three daughters.  Laura (15) and Claire (11) donned their backpacks and camping gear for our first major hiking trip together. In April, we hiked two sections of the Larapinta Trail near Alice Springs as a warm-up, but thisContinue reading “Hiking on Fraser Island – Day 1”

Over the long weekend at the end of July, the Harts Range Amateur Race Club hold their annual race day at their race course near Harts Range on the Plenty Highway.  It is a family weekend, with events and entertainment for children and adults.  Catering is a mix of BYO and a canteen kitchen usuallyContinue reading “Harts Range Races”

During our recent school holidays, I took two of my daughters on a hiking holiday to Fraser Island.  When we were there in 2008 with the 4WD and camper trailer, we said we should return to do the Great Walk.  Then we could see the sights we missed that were inaccessible to vehicles.  The tripContinue reading “Transport troubles on holiday”

I have recently become interested in the concept of uncertainty, particularly as it relates to remote clinical practice.  Uncertainty is a normal part of human existence, and very often it is an uncomfortable part.  People tend to try to minimise uncertainty, to reduce the discomfort it causes.  This occurs in a number of ways, andContinue reading “Dealing with uncertainty”

At my workplace we have recently implemented the Modified Early Warning Score (MEWS) to assist clinicians to decide if their patients are unwell or not.  On the surface of it, you would think this is a great idea, especially as it empowers junior staff to call senior staff to review patients they are concerned about. Continue reading “Thinking by proxy”