Are we selling ourselves short?

Food security and sustainability: Are we selling ourselves short?

This paper deals with the question: do some food systems engender a more positive social environment than others, and does this matter? The pressure to generate financial capital from food production is enormous, especially for a country like Australia, and financial imperatives clearly drive choice of food production methods. Many have argued that environmental costs of food production are har...

Data quality: not selling ourselves short.

Routinely coded hospital data ('administrative data') have been criticised as invalid and unreliable, without due regard for how Australian data differ from those of other healthcare systems. The skills and education of coders, degree of professional coding supervision, and the existence and rigour of coding audits all strengthen Australian routine hospital data.

Are We Over-Drugging Ourselves ?

he repeats the statement in substance, but softens the blow just a little by the qualification that ninetenths of all the bottles of medicine are mere placebos, having none but a psychological effect on their recipients. The doctor's calling is a high one, and he is engaged against powerful opposing forces in a struggle for the existence of his patients. But doctors have to live like lesser mor...

Child-resistant containers: are we kidding ourselves?

A 20-month-old child was accidentally poisoned after biting through the bottom of a medicine container and ingesting the tablets inside. Consequently a study was carried out to determine the force required to fracture 20 randomly selected 25 and 32 ml polystyrene containers to see whether this exceeded the bite force of a child's jaw. Tests were performed at displacement rates of 0.5 and 10 cm/...

Why are we not taking care of ourselves?