Explore the Pomegranate Health Podcast library
Browse all episodes below, starting with the most recent releases.
Latest episodes
[IMJ On-Air] Making sense of HACs
Hospital-acquired complications are assumed to be preventable and to provide some metric of quality of care. But HACs may be more strongly associated with patient-related factors than they are with deviation from best practice.
Ep85: The ASD Odyssey- a reply
Despite guideline recommendations for assessment and diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorders there are drivers in the health system that dissuade clinicians from implementing these. These include reimbursement and training in the area of developmental disorders.
Ep84: The ASD Odyssey
Autism spectrum disorder is often diagnosed late in Australia due to gaps in developmental surveillance and long waitlists for diagnostic evaluations. This podcast discusses a national guideline intended to streamline this process.
Ep54: My Health Record in Practice
Australia’s personal health record has been around for seven years, but it’s been hard getting health providers to upload data the MyHealth Record routinely. The uptake differs wildly between primary, secondary and tertiary care, so in this podcast we visit each of these settings and hear what the different expectations are of this new tool, what are the benefits gained, and how well it fits into the workflow of a consultation.
Ep44: Cervical Screening–Less Is More
Pap testing has been one of the most successful public health interventions in history. But in Australia, that classic cytology test now plays second fiddle to HPV testing and New Zealand intends to follow suit by 2021. The most noticeable shift is that the interval between screens will now be five years rather than two. And women will enter the program at age 25 instead of 18. This episode will answer some questions that women and health professionals might have about the renewed cervical screening program.
Ep36: 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.
Ep34: 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.
Ep29: 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.
Ep17: 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.
Ep10: Evolving Your Practice
Costly or prolonged treatment doesn’t always translate into better outcomes for patients. In response, the College has launched EVOLVE.