External publications

Journal article with Commission authors.

Growing rates of antimicrobial resistance are a significant threat to many areas of medicine, from cancer treatment to childbirth. A recent drop in antibiotic dispensing in the community provides a glimmer of hope in continuing efforts to protect this precious medical resource.

Around half of planned caesarean births at less than 39 weeks’ gestation in Australia in 2017 occurred without a medical or obstetric reason, putting almost 19,000 children at increased risk of a range of health, learning and developmental issues.

Journal article with Commission authors.

Journal article with Commission authors.

THE multitude of harms associated with opioids are well known to clinicians, but many continue to prescribe these drugs for chronic pain in the belief that the benefits outweigh these risks, a leading pain specialist says.

SOME people in wealthier urban areas are having colonoscopies too frequently, while others in regional and socioeconomically disadvantaged areas are not being tested at the appropriate rate, according to the Commission’s Fourth Australian Atlas of Healthcare Variation.

WHEN a hospital in the St Vincent’s Health Australia group was found to be an outlier in bloodstream infections, all levels of leadership and the local clinical team swung into action to tackle the problem.

A FRAGMENTED healthcare system and poor access to care are contributing to high rates of potentially preventable hospitalisations (PPHs) in some areas of Australia, according to the latest report on healthcare variation.

AUSTRALIA’S focus on healthcare variation has helped improve the appropriateness of care in our healthcare system, reducing the use of low-value therapies and improving access to evidence-based care.