Opinions

The cosmetic surgery industry in Australia has undergone significant regulatory reform in recent years in direct response to horrifying media reports of appalling patient stories and devastating outcomes. Plastic surgeons have been advocating for various reforms to the industry for many years, informed by our own experiences of seeing patients who had been harmed by those with inadequate surgical training and experience.

David Morgan

Clinical guidelines and consensus statements provide systematic aids to making complex medical decisions. These documents integrate various forms of evidence—including from scientific research, clinician experience, and patient perspectives—with the aim of improving patient care and health outcomes. In this issue of the MJA, Anneliese Synnot and colleagues report findings from their scoping review on the extent and nature of consumer engagement in the development of Australian clinical practice guidelines. Despite recommendations from major guideline bodies that the guideline development process include people with lived experience, Synnot and colleagues found that extensive lived experience engagement was not reported for the majority of guidelines that they assessed. These findings suggest the need for guideline developers and publishers to pay much closer attention to lived experience engagement in Australian guideline development.

Elizabeth Zuccula

With strengthened standards now in place, organisations have the mandate and the tools to treat transitions of care as a core unit of safety in aged care.

Simon Grof

Laura Purcell shares a lived experience perspective demonstrating how cycle-aware clinical care transformed premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) management, reinforcing the need for broader awareness, informed diagnosis and tailored support.

Laura Purcell

As we mark International Women’s Day, it is time to recognise that gender justice in health requires more than improving access within existing systems, it demands redesigning how those systems are funded, governed, and led.

Adeline Tinessia, Emily Zhou, Heather Keighley, Zohra Lassi, Jennifer Gersbeck, Meru Sheel

Since 2023, 137 Urgent Care Clinics have opened across Australia, in all states and territories. They’re usually located within or partnered with a general practice, an Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation or a community health centre.

Grant Russell

New research suggests that a specific group of brain cells acts as a master regulator for the brain’s waste clearance system, offering a potential new target for treating dementia.

Kai-Hsiang Chuang

To realise the potential of biography programs, doctors at the frontline of delivering life-limiting diagnoses need to understand the vital role of spiritual care for these patients.

Elizabeth Summerfield

Pancreatic cancer must be recognised as a national health priority, supported by long-term investment in research, clinical innovation, workforce capability, and equitable access to care.

Mark Buzza, Melanie Regan