ANZCA Bulletin June 2011 - Australian and New Zealand College of ...

ANZCA in the news
Two television programs, Channel 10’s
The Circle and 7pm Project, have set
out to debunk some of the mysteries of
anaesthesia and discuss the incidence
of awareness during anaesthesia
procedures.
For the programs, ANZCA President
Professor Kate Leslie and Royal
Children’s Hospital anaesthetist
Associate Professor Andrew Davidson
were filmed in surgery explaining how
an anaesthetic is administered and
how patients are monitored for signs
of awareness.
The television features were just two of
the media follow-ups to come out of last
month’s combined scientific meeting in
Hong Kong, which attracted widespread
media interest.
Three medical journalists from
mainstream Australian media outlets
attended the meeting and covered such
topics as opioid misuse, anaesthesia
and the ageing mind, a genetic test for
pain tolerance in childbirth, improving
patient care in intensive care units, and
the effect of psychological factors on
pain perception.
These stories prompted further debate
and discussion in the media back home.
Melbourne’s St Vincent’s Hospital’s
Director of Anaesthesia, Associate
Professor David Scott, hit the airwaves,
responding to many requests for radio
interviews following his paper on
making anaesthesia as safe as possible
for the elderly, especially those who may
be in the very early stages of dementia.
Media releases sent to media outlets
in Australia, New Zealand and Hong
Kong were also followed up, leading
to coverage on issues such as parallels
between anaesthesia and aviation
training, and epidural research.
All up, the meeting generated more than
25 stories in newspapers, more than 70
on internet sites, 15 radio mentions and
two television features. More than 20
speakers were interviewed and ANZCA
greatly appreciates their contribution.
Media Monitors estimated that the media
coverage was worth nearly $680,000 in
advertising dollars.
In the lead-up to the meeting, The Age
ran a large feature on recent fraudulent
medical research and quoted ANZCA
Fellows Dr Neville Gibbs and Professor
Paul Myles on lessons to be learnt from
such cases.
Media releases distributed by ANZCA
since late February
“New online training program to tackle
pain” (June 2)
“De-stressing the distressed: is the ICU
making patients sick” (May 16)
“Bridging the gap: helping patients
control postoperative pain” (May 15)
“Anaesthesia and the ageing mind”
(May 14)
“Flying high: lessons from the aviation
industry” (May 13)
“East meets west at pain medicine
meeting” (May 12)
“Anaesthetists share pearls of wisdom
in Hong Kong” (May 9)
“ANZCA Bulletin out now
– anaesthetists on the frontline,
eyes on Ethiopia” (April 4)
Since late February 2011,
ANZCA has generated...
28 print stories
72 online stories
21 radio mentions
2 television stories
Earlier this month, the Faculty of Pain
Medicine and the Royal Australian
College of General Practitioners jointly
received $200,000 from the Bupa
Health Foundation to develop an online
learning program to help GPs treat
people with chronic and acute pain.
Faculty of Pain Medicine Vice Dean
Dr Brendan Moore was interviewed by
several journalists resulting in radio
coverage in NSW (2UE, 2SM and WAVE
FM), Canberra (2CC), Adelaide (5AA) and
Perth (RTR FM), which have a combined
listenership of more than 100,000
people.
In April, the Courier Mail’s weekend
magazine, Qweekend, ran a feature
on doctors, substance abuse and
depression, which looked at the welfare
of doctors and the impact of mandatory
reporting. The article quoted the chair
of the Welfare of Anaesthetists Special
Interest Group, Dr Diana Khursandi, and
Queensland Regional Committee chair
Dr Sean McManus.
Meaghan Shaw
Media Manager, ANZCA
ANZCA Bulletin June 2011 69