The treatment of persistent pain - Australian Pain Society

issue. It is a requirement that all members of IASP Committees and
Taskforces must be IASP members (Australian Pain Society membership
is insufficient) and this is not unreasonable if you think about it.
The current Directory of Members is the appropriate source to see
the options for your consideration. If you are interested, please
contact one of the APS Board members and they will arrange to
have your name considered. Clearly, we are not in a position to
guarantee that you will actually be offered a position of your choice.
What I can say is that historically, there has been regular and
frequent representation; past members have contributed significantly
and this has been appreciated by the IASP. So go to it!
Geoff Gourlay
Directors' Meeting 30th September 2002
� Planning commenced for the 2004 ASM in Canberra
Provisional dates 7-11 March 2004
Convenor Geoff Speldewinde
� Teleconference PIGNI – August 28
� Approval for refundable deposit for block booking of Qantas
flights to Christchurch for the 2003 ASM
� Abstracts online. Website engineering $1,000 approved
� Review of the ACHS/APS pain facility guidelines
Shared costs with ACHS $2,000 approved
� 2005 local organising committee financial support $6,000
approved
� Possibility of a Queensland satellite meeting for 2005 in
association with the World Congress.
� Elections due 2003: call for nominations to be sent by
November 2002
� APS / APRA PhD Scholarship applications to close Nov 2002
� NICS awaiting minutes of exploratory meeting held 29 July 2002
� Possibility of developing clinical practice guidelines on pain in
the elderly with other interested organisations
� Facility directory template to send to members to be developed
C. Roger Goucke
8
Julien P. de Jager FRACP
President, Australian Rheumatology Association
Interviewed by Dr Sue Inglis
Who was/is your most influential mentor? I ‘ve had many, but the
late Dr Brian Billington, gastroenterologist at Prince of Wales Hospital,
and Dr Milton Cohen at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney (still very
much alive) would top the list.
Most challenging patient? A young lawyer with severe destructive
rheumatoid arthritis who was very poorly compliant with treatment,
requiring narcotics for pain relief, bilateral hip replacements, requiring
knee, metacarpal replacements and triple fusions of her feet. We
finally had a showdown where I requested she find another
rheumatologist and since then we have got along famously!
Most rewarding experience in medicine? Seeing a young lady with
severe juvenile arthritis and SLE go into remission on therapy, then
graduate from Uni, and marry a great young man. These rewards come
every week mixed with all the treatment failures and adverse reactions!
What would you advise those starting out in the field?
Never give up, whether it is passing exams or puzzling out a problem,
and do it all for the people we are committed to serve. There is good
in everyone, but make the most of those inspirational patients who
carry you through difficult times with the others.
How has medicine changed since you started out? We have
come full circle, I think. I am from a family of lawyers and was inspired
to do medicine by our family doctor, and family friends who were
doctors, with their incredible dedication. Then during training (70s and
early 80s) the world was all about satisfying the individual, and
technological advances. This isolated many doctors from the very thing
that makes medicine so worthwhile. It is pleasing to see the curricula
of medical schools, and the emphasis in general practice in the last
10 or more years redressing that. We are back to the situation where
our responsibility is first to the patients and their needs.
If you weren’t a doctor what would you like to be?
I have never wanted to do anything else.
What book are you reading at the moment?
Peter Carey's ‘True History of the Kelly Gang’.
Your favourite saying? "Send not to know for whom the bell tolls,
it tolls for thee", by John Donne who was vicar of St Paul's. The
preceding lines are usually omitted, but are even more inspirational
"Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind".
Julien P de Jager, FRACP, President, Australian Rheumatology Association
dejager@ozemail.com.au