Category Archives: Uncategorized

Most of my education has been by one form or other of distance education.  My first 2 years of schooling were Grade 1 and Grade 2 at Meadows Primary School, then just as I was starting Grade 3, we moved out bush.  Our farm was 20km from the nearest bus stop, and the school wasContinue reading “Distance Education”

One of the things that makes work worthwhile is the opportunity to make a difference.  In my experience, this is a factor which is often underestimated, or perhaps undervalued, by managers.  It goes part of the way to explain why throwing money at remote health jobs does little to resolve the chronic shortage of personnel. Continue reading “Making a difference”

One of my long-held beliefs is that people who live in rural and remote areas need to support their local businesses, or risk losing them.  After all, city-based people are not going to drive to the middle of nowhere for the privilege of paying higher prices for a restricted range of lower quality goods.  SoContinue reading “Bush Orders – bringing competition to remote areas”

I received a call from a bank while sleeping in preparation for night shift.  It seemed a reasonable call.  Let’s start at the beginning…   Some time ago I completed an application for a new credit card which would facilitate Bush Orders from our chosen supermarket.  As part of the application, I naturally had to provideContinue reading “Banking on frustration”

One of my favourite places near Alice Springs is Redbank Gorge, about 220km west of Alice Springs in the West MacDonnell Ranges. The road is sealed except for the entry into the gorge carpark, which is about 8km of rutted dirt track. It can be accessed by normal car most of the time, but you’dContinue reading “Redbank Gorge”

I received my registration renewal notice via email recently for the Landcruiser.  Don’t know how much it is because I can’t open it!  And yes, I elected to have renewals sent to me via email not post.  Whatever the cost, I know it’s due for a roadworthy inspection, so once again it’s time to checkContinue reading “Registration inspection looming”

For many years I have been dismissive of the trend towards what I call “cookbook practice”.  This is clinical practice in which all the decisions are pre-set, and the clinician just fills in the blanks and follows the resulting algorithm for treatment or referral.  My objection was based on the idea that clinical judgement isContinue reading “Cookbook clinical practice”

Yesterday I had the dubious pleasure of having an appointment to discuss my blood pressure control.  I spoke with a Registered Nurse, a renal specialist, and a dietician.  It seems that I have reached a plateau in my use of medications, currently at 4 tablets per day.  Now the focus is on shifting the lardContinue reading “Losing weight”

I recently accepted an invitation to speak to a group of staff at TCH about critical thinking in clinical practice. The attached file is the one I used for the presentation. …  Well, that was the plan anyway.  Seems the file didn’t attach!  Maybe this will work instead:  Try this link

I have an app on my iPhone that tells me that we go on holidays in 38 days.  In the Northern Territory we get 4 weeks school holidays in the middle of the year, so this is when our family tries to go on a big trip. This year the plan is to go toContinue reading “Holidays are coming!”