Pomegranate Health
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Pomegranate Health presents compelling stories about medicine and society: how doctors make difficult ethical and clinical decisions, how they can communicate with patients and how health delivery can be made more equitable. The podcast is produced by the Royal Australasian College of Physicians to inspire excellence in practice.
You’ll hear from clinicians, researchers and advocates. Episodes are developed with the guidance of RACP members and listener input is always welcome. Discuss any episode in our comments section, or send your feedback to podcast@racp.edu.au
On each episode page there is a MyCPD link for Fellows to log credits for listening.
Why a pomegranate? The fruit has featured on the coat of arms of the Royal College of Physicians since 1546, on which the RACP was modelled almost four hundred years later. The pomegranate is an ancient symbol of sanctity, fertility, and regeneration in all the major religions.
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Latest episodes
Episode 37: Ethical Dilemmas—Congress 2018
As medicine becomes more sophisticated, discussions about clinical ethics become more common. It’s now possible to support life in dire clinical circumstances, but physicians are not always sure if this is the right thing to do. This episode centres around ethical decision-making in two case studies. The first describes a three-year-old boy with a severe neurodegenerative disorder, whose parents are desperate to try an expensive experimental drug. The second is about a man ravaged by bowel cancer who has spent months on life-sustaining care.
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Episode 36: Acute Coronary Syndrome Part 2—Secondary Prevention
This is the second of two episodes about ACS, and deals with secondary prevention and adherence to therapy. One-fifth of people given a diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) have another ischaemic event with six months of discharge. For secondary prevention, guidelines recommend pharmacotherapy, cardiac rehabilitation and lifestyle management. However, many patients are discharged from hospital without best-practice care, setting a trend for inadequate therapy long-term. Cardiac rehabilitation also needs to be modernised and personalised to keep patients engaged.
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Episode 35: Acute Coronary Syndrome Part 1—Diagnosis
Chest pain and other symptoms suggestive of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) make up the majority of presentations to hospital, but no more than 17 per cent of patients end up having the diagnosis confirmed. Diagnosing acute coronary is complex, and should be guided by the 2016 guidelines of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand. This podcast outlines how ECG is used to diagnose ST segment elevation myocardial infarction, and which life-threatening differential diagnoses to look for. The role of high sensitivity troponin assays is also discussed, in the differentiation of non-STEMI and unstable angina, and also in risk stratification of patients for safe discharge.
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Episode 34: Diagnostic Error Part 2—Systems
In Episode 32 of Pomegranate Health, we discussed cognitive error in diagnostic reasoning. On this episode, we take a look at systems pressures that increase the likelihood of medical error, crystallised by the recent prosecution of U.K. National Health Service (NHS) paediatrician Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba. Almost half of diagnostic errors are due to a combination of systems errors and individual cognitive error. Obvious systems effects come into play in understaffed acute care units; if a clinician is forced to see too many patients without enough time to make careful examinations or reasoned decisions, errors become more likely. The stepping stones of ordering, receiving and reviewing diagnostic tests and scans also allow much opportunity for error and delay. Guests on this episode discuss mechanisms to improve efficiency.
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Episode 33: Early Days for Cannabis Therapy
Cannabis is a plant rich with potential therapeutic compounds and centuries of cultural resonance. However, only a few of the claimed medical effects of the plant have been proven by rigorous clinical trials in people. These include spasticity and pain in multiple sclerosis, chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting and some cases of epilepsy. But for many other conditions, systematic reviews have concluded that meaningful clinical recommendations cannot be made. In this episode, we explain how important it is to separate the effect of various cannabinoids in a systematic way, and why well-regulated research and prescribing will be safer for patients.
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Episode 32: Diagnostic Error Part 1—Cognitive Bias
This is the first of two episodes about errors in diagnostic reasoning. Misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis occurs in 10-15 per cent of acute presentations, although fortunately only a tenth of these lead to serious consequences. But of concern is the fact that this figure hasn’t changed in three decades, despite progress in clinical knowledge. Cognitive errors result from jumping to conclusions on the basis of intuition and incomplete information. There are a hundred different types of such bias. On this episode, the most common types will be discussed, as well as strategies to force a more considered process of diagnostic reasoning.
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Episode 31: Ngā Kaitiaki Hauora
‘Ngā Kaitiaki Hauora’ translates as ‘guardians of health’. This podcast emerged from a meeting near Auckland organised by the RACP’s Māori Health Committee in November 2017. Members of various medical colleges and institutions came together to share perspectives on the delivery of health care to New Zealand’s population of Māori and Pacific Islander people. This conversation comes in the context of the Wai 262 claim, which is forcing a re-examination of the Crown’s obligations to the Māori population under the Waitangi Treaty of 1840.
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Episode 30: Being Human
Figures about burnout, depression and suicide are often reported on in the health workforce. These rates are typically twofold higher than they are in the general population, according to studies from New Zealand, Australia and around the world. Causes often given for psychiatric distress in the medical profession are the gruelling hours, the pressure of perfection, the unforgiving culture and the stigma associated with mental health issues. This episode examines how the system affects the individuals within it, and what can be changed for the better.
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Episode 29: Drug Interactions and Deprescribing
Drug-drug interactions might be responsible for a million hospitalisations in Australia every year. They have become more frequent over the decades, as more medications reach the market. More than half of people over the age of 75 are on five or more prescriptions—a state referred to as polypharmacy. This episode examines some of the systems that have led to current rates of polypharmacy, and some strategies for deprescribing. We also discuss a review from the Internal Medicine Journal on the common drug interactions physicians should be most concerned about.
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Episode 28: Transitions to Fellowship
Transitioning from trainee to consultant marks an exciting and daunting and step in a clinician’s career. Suddenly you take on responsibility for everyone on the ward—both patients and other staff. While the clinical skills have been hammered in over years of training, the ‘hidden curriculum’ can be harder to pick up. This episode captures the experience of striking out as a leader, manager and mentor to others. At the same time, recognising limitations and knowing when and how to seek help is all important.
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Episode 27: Severe Asthma
For years the management model for asthma has been empirical. The more serious the disease, the more the dose of controller therapy is increased. But this doesn’t work for everyone and a more rational approach involves identifying one of three distinct pathological pathways. This episode describes emerging diagnostic tools therapies such as monoclonal antibodies that are targeted to specific disease phenotypes.
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Episode 26: Dealing with Uncertainty – Part 2
Uncertainty is a frightening but unavoidable fact in every speciality. In the second of a two-part series, we look at the stigma and disorientation experienced by patients with medically unexplained syndromes, and some behavioural interventions for functional disorders. Since treatment outcomes are never guaranteed, we also discuss how a patient’s expectations must be managed from the beginning of a consultation, and the importance of long-term coping strategies.
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Episode 25: Dealing with Uncertainty – Part 1
Uncertainty is a frightening but unavoidable fact in every speciality. In the first of a two-part series, we examine the culture within the profession and general public that expects nothing less that perfection in medicine. We also ask whether hospital training might shelter younger doctors from the experience of complex, chronic conditions, and how much the simplicity of protocol can be relied upon.
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Episode 24: Social Medicine – Themes from Congress 2017
At May’s RACP Congress, there was great interest in sessions examining the moral obligations physicians have to society. On this episode of Pomegranate, three speakers from these panels reflect on some of the themes raised at the event.
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Episode 23: Managing Autism in the ED
People with autism spectrum disorder can become very agitated when experiencing pain, as they often have trouble making sense of their own emotional and physical states. Many also have difficulty communicating, and are thus difficult to assess in the emergency department. This episode covers techniques to calm distressed patients with autism and make medical assessments.
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Episode 22: Transitions to Retirement
It’s common to avoid thinking about retirement, and the idea can sometimes come as a shock—professionally, personally, or financially. This month, we speak with physicians both in and out of retirement, as well as two psychiatrists whose research focuses on medical professionals’ identity.
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Episode 21: Genomics for the Generalist – Part 2
This is a two-part series looking at how modern genomics is changing clinical practice. In our second episode, we consider genetic risk, the ethics of consenting patients, and gene-targeted treatments in cancer research.
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Episode 20: Genomics for the Generalist – Part 1
This is a two-part series looking at how modern genomics is changing clinical practice. In our first episode, we look at the differences in gene-testing technologies and their practical utility in clinical practice.
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Episode 18: Integrating Health and Social Care
Sir Harry Burns and Dr Ruth Hussey OBE are public health physicians involved in “whole-of-system change” in Britain’s health and social care. They were invited to Australia in 2016 to advise NSW Health on such delivery models; this episode of Pomegranate features a special lecture presented at the RACP during their trip.
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Episode 17: Better Practice in Paeds
EVOLVE is the RACP’s initiative to minimise clinical practices not supported by the current evidence base. This episode takes a look at the recently published list of low-value practices in general paediatrics and some alternatives that can be adopted.
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Episode 16: Mind the (Gender) Gap
While more than half of all medical students and trainees are women, they make up only about 30 per cent of registered physicians. On this episode, guests discuss challenges for equity in medicine, and how role-modelling and leadership may offer strategies to support the next generation of women doctors.
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Episode 15: Methamphetamine – Beyond the Hype
Crystal methamphetamine, or ice, has been sensationalised in the media over the past decade. This episode puts straight some of the facts and figures about ice use, and talks about the damaging stigma of the media narrative.
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Episode 14: Fever of Unknown Origin
With the evolution of diagnostic technologies, the diverse conditions that underlie pyrexia of unknown origin (PUO) are changing. This episode explains how to rationally investigate patients with persistent fevers, and alleviate their anxiety throughout the process.
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Episode 10: Evolving Your Practice
Costly or prolonged treatment doesn’t always translate into better outcomes for patients. In response, the College has launched EVOLVE.
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Episode 9: The Gut Microbiome and IBD
Understanding the gut microbiome offers potential new insight for treating a number of diseases—gastrointestinal and otherwise. But what’s the evidence base? This episode is presented in partnership with the Internal Medicine Journal.
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Episode 8: Obesity Inside Out
Obesity can seem like what strategists call a “wicked problem"—a problem with so many parts that it's impossible to solve. But some things are changing.
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Episode 7: The Art of Supervision
Supervision shapes the next generation of physicians. This month, a mix of Fellows and Trainees considers different aspects of being a supervisor and why they find the process worthwhile.
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Episode 4: Stem Cell Therapies Today
This month we’re presenting an overview of stem cell research—looking at ongoing clinical trials for stem cell therapy around the world, and the current treatments available in Australia and New Zealand.
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Episode 3: Law at End-of-Life
Doctors may have gaps in their knowledge of end-of-life law. In this episode, the last of our end-of-life series, we review the relevant legal frameworks.
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Episode 2: Cultural Humility
Treating a dying person goes beyond understanding their disease. In the second of a three-part series, we examine the importance of family and culture in end-of-life care—from the ICU to the neonatal unit.
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Episode 1: Recognising Death
End-of-life decision-making is a hard topic to discuss with patients, but it might be the most important conversation we’re not having.
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