Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Peer Mentoring: Evaluation Of A New Model Of Clinical Placement In The Solomon Islands Undertaken By An Australian Medical School, Janie Smith, Peter Jones, James Fink

Janie Smith

Introduction

Electives and selectives in developing countries are an important part of student learning experiences. During 2013, Bond University on the Gold Coast of Queensland in Australia piloted final year undergraduate medical student placements (n=33) at Kirakira Hospital, on Makira Island in the Solomon Islands. The placement was evaluated that year.

Methods

The clinical placement in Kirakira Hospital required 12 months of planning by the Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine of Bond University in 2012. The evaluation of 2013 placements included a literature review; semi-structured interviews with participating Bond University and Kirakira Hospital staff, and with community …

Performance Analysis Of Professional, Semiprofessional, And Junior Elite Rugby League Match-Play Using Global Positioning Systems, Chris Mclellan, Dale Lovell

Chris McLellan

The aim of the present study was to examine the positional differences in physical performance measures of professional, semiprofessional, and junior elite rugby league match-play using portable Global Positioning Systems (GPSs). Twelve professional, 12 semiprofessional, and 18 junior elite male rugby league players were monitored during 5 regular-season competition matches using portable GPS software. The mean total distance traveled during professional (8,371 ± 897 m) and semiprofessional (7,277 ± 734 m) match-play was significantly (p < 0.05) greater than that traveled during elite junior (4,646 ± 978 m) match-play. Position-specific total distance traveled and distance traveled per minute of playing time were significantly (p < 0.05) less for junior elite backs (5,768 ± 765 m; 74 ± 11 m·min-1) and forwards (4,774 ± 564 m; 82 ± 5 m·min-1) in comparison to those in professional (backs: 8,158 ± 673 m; 101 ± 8 m·min-1 and forwards: 8,442 ± 812 m; 98 ± 12 m·min-1) and semiprofessional (backs: 7,505 ± 765 m; 94 ± 8 m·min-1 and forwards: 6,701 ± 678 m; 89 ± 8 m·min-1) match-play. Maximum running speed, maximum sprints, and total sprint distance traveled by professional players were all significantly (p < 0.05) greater than those traveled by junior elite players but not semiprofessional players during match-play. Professional backs and forwards performed significantly (p < 0.05) more maximum sprints and traveled greater total distance during match-play in comparison to semiprofessional and junior elite players. The present findings demonstrate minimal differences in the physical performance measures of professional and semiprofessional rugby league match-play. The position-specific performance characteristics of junior elite match-play indicate that current junior elite player-development pathways may not provide adequate preparation for players transitioning into professional competition.

Community Antagonism Towards Asylum Seekers In Port Augusta, South Australia, Natascha Klocker

Natascha Klocker

An overtly hostile response to asylum seekers was observed in questionnaire responses provided by residents of Port Augusta, South Australia in April 2002. A social construction approach to identity and representation was used to interrogate this antagonism within its social, cultural, political and geographical contexts. Asylum seekers were constructed as 'burdensome', 'threatening' and 'illegal', and opposition to them was set within the discursive framework of a 'Self/Other' binary. Enmity towards asylum seekers was articulated concurrently with overwhelming support for the Federal Government's exclusive and deterrence-oriented asylum policies. However, vehement opposition was expressed regarding the government's decision to construct Baxter Immigration …

Leadership In Faith-Based Aged And Community Care, Kelly Shaw, Colleen Cartwright, Shankar Sankaran, Jacqueline Kelly, Bob Dick, Alan Davies, Jocelyn Craig

Professor Colleen M Cartwright

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the domains of performance needed by leaders in aged and community care not-for-profit organisations. Design/methodology/approach – Focus groups and individual interviews were conducted with senior managers employed by faith-based aged and community care not-for-profit organisations, academics in ageing and business fields and senior government employees from aged services departments and agencies in Australia. Results were content transcribed and analysed thematically in order to identify the major themes that emerged. Findings – A total of 37 people participated in the study. The domains of performance identified by participants as required of …

Geochemical Consequences Of The Permian-Triassic Mass Extinction In A Non-Marine Succession, Sydney Basin, Australia, M Williams, B Jones, P Carr

B. G. Jones

The identification of the Permian–Triassic boundary (PTB) and Permian–Triassic mass extinction event (PTME) in eastern Australia is based primarily on palynological and plant fossil evidence with limited δ13Corg data from the northern part of the Sydney Basin. Consequently, the PTB in the Sydney Basin has been placed at the top of the last Permian coal measures. Here we report carbon and nitrogen isotopic data, together with major element, trace element and mineralogical data, for a continuous non‐marine Permian–Triassic (P–Tr) section from the southern Sydney Basin. The PTME is identified by a negative shift in δ13Corg of ~ 3.8‰ occurring approximately …

The Influence Of Palaeoenvironment And Lava Flux On The Emplacement Of Submarine, Near-Shore Late Permian Basalt Lavas, Sydney Basin (Australia), Paul Carr, Brian Jones

B. G. Jones

Lava flux and a low palaeoslope were the critical factors in determining the development of different facies in the Late Permian Blow Hole flow, which comprises a series of shoshonitic basalt lavas and associated volcaniclastic detritus in the southern Sydney Basin of eastern Australia. The unit consists of a lower lobe and sheet facies, a middle tube and breccia facies, and an upper columnar-jointed facies. Close similarities in petrography and geochemistry between the basalt lavas from the three facies suggest similar viscosities at similar temperatures. Sedimentological and palaeontological evidence from the sedimentary units immediately below the Blow Hole flow suggests …

Aspartic Acid Racemisation Dating Of Mid-Holocene To Recent Estuarine Sedimentation In New South Wales, Australia: A Pilot Study, C Sloss, C Murray-Wallace, B Jones, T Wallin

B. G. Jones

The degree of aspartic acid racemisation measured in radiocarbon-dated specimens of fossil estuarine molluscs, collected from Lake Illawarra, a Holocene barrier estuary in New South Wales, Australia, is evaluated in the context of results of laboratory-induced racemisation established in heating (simulated ageing) experiments. The general kinetic trend of aspartic acid racemisation in both heating experiments and fossil molluscs Anadara trapezia and Notospisula trigonella conforms to a model of apparent parabolic kinetics. Using the apparent parabolic kinetic model, numeric ages based on the degree of aspartic acid racemisation in the fossil molluscs have been calculated. An aminostratigraphy of the Lake Illawarra …

The Charophyte Lamprothamnium Succinctum As An Environmental Indicator: A Holocene Example From Tom Thumbs Lagoon, Eastern Australia, Adriana Garcia, Brian Jones, Bryan Chenhall, Colin Murray-Wallace

B. G. Jones

The palaeobiota from a middle to late Holocene succession in Tom Thumbs Lagoon, N.S.W., Australia, reflects a range of environmental conditions caused by sea-level changes and active estuarine sedimentation. At the base of the succession (~ -0.4 m AHD) a thin bed, containing molluscs dated at 6.7 ka B.P. by radiocarbon and amino acid racemisation, and foraminifers is indicative of open estuarine conditions. From +0.35 m AHD towards the top of the sequence the charophyte Lamprotharanium succinctum occurs in subrecent deposits. This species is charactedsed here by statistical measurements, and new characters are described and illustrated. The charophytes record a …

Anthropogenic Effects In A Coastal Lagoon: Geochemical Characterization Of Burrill Lake, Nsw, Australia, Brian Jones, Hannah Killian, Bryan Chenhall, Craig Sloss

B. G. Jones

Burrill Lake, a small coastal lagoon on the south coast of New South Wales, developed as an impounded drowned river valley following the post-glacial marine transgression. Marine sand fills the entrance to the lagoon whereas the back-barrier basin has accumulated organic-rich mud and sandy bayhead deltas. The bilobate form of the estuary coincides with two different catchment lithologies and land use patterns. The northern lobe drains an agricultural catchment and has a much larger bayhead delta than the southern lobs that drains natural and state forest. Sedimentation rates within the muddy lagoonal deposits are about 1.7 mm/yr. The distributions of …

Fluvial Architecture Of The Hawkesbury Sandstone (Triassic), Near Sydney, Australia, Andrew Miall, Brian Jones

B. G. Jones

The Hawkesbury Sandstone has long been assumed to represent the deposits of a large braided river system, comparable in style and magnitude with the modern Brahmaputra River of Bangladesh. Such an interpretation is based mainly on the common occurrence of very large-scale crossbedding, but no architectural studies of the unit have hitherto been carried out. This paper represents a first attempt to estimate the magnitude of Hawkesbury channels and bars on the basis of the preserved architectural evidence. Photomosaics were constructed of two cliff sections south of Sydney, one 5.6 km in length. On the basis of these profiles we …

New Ages For Human Occupation And Climatic Change At Lake Mungo Australia, James Bowler, Harvey Johnston, Jon M Olley, John Prescott, Richard Roberts, Wilfred Shawcross, Nigel Spooner

Richard G Roberts

Australia’s oldest human remains, found at Lake Mungo, include the world’s oldest ritual ochre burial (Mungo III) and the first recorded cremation (Mungo I). Until now, the importance of these finds has been constrained by limited chronologies and palaeoenvironmental information. Mungo III, the source of the world’s oldest human mitochondrial DNA, has been variously estimated at 30 thousand years (kyr) old, 42–45 kyr old and 62 +/- 6 kyr old. while radiocarbon estimates placed theMungo I cremation near 20–26 kyr ago. Here we report a new series of 25 optical ages showing that both burials occurred at 40 +/- 2 …

Chronologies Of Carbon And Of Silica: Evidence Concerning The Dating Of The Earliest Human Presence In Northern Australia, Richard Roberts, Richard Jones

Richard G Roberts

No abstract provided.

Tight Entrance Cave, Southwestern Australia: A Late Pleistocene Vertebrate Deposit Spanning More Than 180 Ka, Gavin Prideaux, G Gully, Linda Ayliffe, M Bird, Richard Roberts

Richard G Roberts

No abstract provided.

Elemental Delta C-13 At Allen's Cave, Nullarbor Plain, Australia: Assessing Post-Depositional Disturbance And Reconstructing Past Environments, C Turney, M Bird, Richard Roberts

Richard G Roberts

No abstract provided.

The Celtic Chronologist: Rhys Jones And The Dating Of The Human Colonisation Of Australia, Richard Roberts

Richard G Roberts

No abstract provided.

Early Human Occupation At Devil's Lair, South-Western Australia, Christian Turney, M Bird, L K Fifield, Richard Roberts, Michael Smith, C Dortch, R. Grun, E Lawson, Linda Ayliffe, G Miller, J Dortch, R Creswell

Richard G Roberts

No abstract provided.

Progress Towards Single-Grain Optical Dating Of Fossil Mud-Wasp Nests And Associated Rock Art In Northern Australia, Hiroyuki Yoshida, Richard Roberts, Jon M Olley

Richard G Roberts

No abstract provided.

A Comparison Of Asynchronous And Synchronous Arm Cranking During The Wingate Test, Dale Lovell, Dale Mason, Elias Delphinus, Christopher Mclellan

Chris McLellan

Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare asynchronous (ASY) arm cranking (cranks at 180° relative to each other) with synchronous (SYN) arm cranking (parallel crank setting) during the 30 s Wingate anaerobic test.

Methods: Thirty-two physically active men (aged 22.1 ± 2.4 y) completed two Wingate tests (one ASY and one SYN) separated by 4 d in a randomized counterbalanced order. The Wingate tests were completed on a modified electromagnetically braked cycle ergometer. Performance measures assessed during the two tests include peak power, mean power, minimum power, time to peak power, rate to fatigue and maximum …

The Context Of Clinical Teaching And Learning In Australia: Towards A Reconstruction Of The Relationship Between Medical Schools And Health Services, Julie Ash, Lucie Walters, David Prideaux, Ian Wilson

Ian G Wilson

• Gaining clinical experience for an extended period of time in teaching hospitals is one of the enduring strengths of medical education. • Teaching hospitals have recently faced significant challenges, with increasing specialisation of services and workload pressures reducing clinical learning opportunities. • New clinical teaching environments have been established in Australia, particularly in rural and regional areas; these are proving to be ideal contexts for student learning. • The new clinical teaching environments have shown the importance of developing symbiotic relationships between universities and health services. Symbiotic clinical learning is built around longitudinal, patientbased learning emphasising priority health concerns. …

Only The Best: Medical Student Selection In Australia, Ian Wilson, Chris Roberts, Eleanor Flynn, Barbara Griffin

Ian G Wilson

Over the past two decades there has been a significant change in the way Australian medical schools select their students. Where once a school leaver’s matriculation score was the predominant criterion,1 there is now a range of selection procedures for entry into school-leaver, graduate-entry and mixed-entry medical school programs. The change in selection procedures has in part been driven by a desire to assess broader suitability than just academic performance, and the need for medical schools to be socially accountable and reduce discrimination in selection procedures.2 We provide an overview of medical student selection in Australia, including the aims and …

A Tale Of Two Towns: Observations On Risk Perception Of Environmental Lead Exposure In Port Pirie And Esperance, Australia, Jane Heyworth, Chris Reynolds, Alison Jones

Alison L Jones

Environmental lead exposure in Port Pire, South Australia and Esperance, Western Australia led to differing perceptions of risk among these communities. This paper describes our observations of the social and economic context of these cases of environmental lead exposure and how this influenced responses among the community. Lead had been transported out of the Esperance Port since 2005. However, much of the community was unaware of this until it became public as part of the investigation into bird deaths in the local environment. Esperance saw itself as an idyllic rural community, with a sound economic basis, but removed from the …

Study Of Leukemia Inhibitory Factor Polymorphism Within An Australian Multiple Sclerosis Population, Jason Mackenzie, Lotti Tajouri, Attila Szvetko, Verena Weth, Julie Moreau, Judith Greer, Peter Csurhes, Michael Pender, Lyn Griffiths

Lotti Tajouri

Objective: To examine a polymorphism within the 3′ untranslated region of the leukemia inhibitory factor gene for an association with multiple sclerosis within an Australian case-control population.

Methods: A test group of 121 unrelated multiple sclerosis patients, of Caucasian origin, and 121 controls, matched for ethnicity, sex and age (+/- 5 years) were included in the study. The LIF 3′ UTR StuI polymorphism was genotyped by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. Statistical analysis of genotype and allele frequencies included Hardy-Weinberg law and conventional contingency table analysis incorporating the standard chi-squared test for independence.

Results: Allelic and genotype frequencies did not …

Defining Remote Medical Practice: Results From A Consensus Meeting Of Medical Practitioners Working And Teaching In Remote Medical Practice, Janie Smith, Stephen Margolis, Jeff Ayton, Victoria Ross, Elizabeth Chalmers, Patrick Giddings, Louise Baker, Martin Kelly, Catherine Love

Janie Smith

More than three-quarters of Australia is classified as geographically remote. Remote areas are characterised by geographic isolation, cultural diversity, socioeconomic inequality, resource inequity, Indigenous health inequality, and a full range of extreme climatic conditions. Although several descriptive definitions have been developed for “remote health” and “remote practice”, definitions of “remote medical practice” or “remote medicine” have not been previously published. In 2007, a working group of doctors and academics with experience in remote medicine was formed to develop the first advanced specialised remote medicine curriculum for remote doctors undertaking training with the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine. The …

Developing The Accredited Postgraduate Assessment Program For Fellowship Of The Australian College Of Rural And Remote Medicine, Janie Smith, David Prideaux, C Wolfe, T Wilkinson, Tarun Sengupta, D Dewitt, Paul Worley, Richard Hays, Marita Cowie

Janie Smith

Introduction: Accreditation of the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) as a standards and training provider, by the Australian Medical Council (AMC) in 2007, is the first time in the world that a peak professional organisation for rural and remote medical education has been formally recognised. As a consequence, the Australian Government provided rural and remote medicine with formal recognition under Medicare as a generalist discipline. This accreditation was based on the ability of ACRRM to meet the AMC’s guidelines for its training and assessment program. Methods: The methodology was a six-step process that included: developing an assessment …