Pomegranate Health

158 Episodes

Reverse

$Ep158: Iron infusions and fracture risk. A safety signal for ferric carboxymaltose$

Ep158: Iron infusions and fracture risk. A safety signal for ferric carboxymaltose

2026-10-0101:00:32

One in twenty Australian women of reproductive age are treated with intravenous iron supplementation, almost exclusively with ferric carboxymaltose. Usually sold under the name Ferinject or also Ferricarbo and Ferivo, this formulation is well-known to reduce serum phosphate in 50 to 70% of patients taking it, recently published findings reveal that it is associated with a significant increase in fracture risk and osteomalacia. Cohort studies presented in July in the journal Blood show...

Ep157: AI models for discharge letters and clinical coding

2026-09-2236:18

In part 1 of this series we talked about the efficiency gains from use of ambient scribes observed in some hospital settings. In this episode we discuss other opportunities that arise from granting large language models access to all the notes and test results in the patient record. The potential comes most clearly into perspective in regards to discharge summaries. Discharge from hospital is a notorious example of discontinuity in care, with up to half of discharged patients experienci...

Ep156: AI scribes in hospital

2026-09-1436:51

The burden of clinical documentation is one of the top reasons given for job dissatisfaction in medicine. Physicians typically give up an hour of personal time per shift to complete paperwork and the frustration is experienced by patients too, who sometimes feel that their doctors are more focused on the computer. The promise of ambient AI scribes is that they could slash the time you spend hovering over the keyboard and in general practice some 40 percent of Australian GPs are using scribes ...

[Contagious Conversations] H5N1 avian flu hits our shores

2026-08-3133:54

The avian flu H5N1 known as 2.3.4.4b has been tearing around the globe since 2021 causing significant mortality in sea birds and mammals. The Australian and New Zealand mainland were the last holdouts, but this virus was first detected near Esperance, WA on June 20th 2026 and then near Wellington, NZ on Jul 14th. Both cases involved a bird known as the brown skua, which travels across the Southern Ocean, and by August 24th the H5N1 had also been confirmed in fur seals in South Australia and a...

Ep154: Delabelling penicillin allergy FAST

2026-08-1746:59

Allergies to first-line antibiotics complicate care, and use of broad-spectrum alternatives is associated with prolonged hospital stays and increased rates of admissions to ICU. It also makes emergence of antimicrobial-resistant pathogens more likely. Ten to 16% of adult patients are marked in the record as being allergic to penicillins but the majority of these labels are applied inaccurately or have become outdated over time. While skin-prick testing is a safe and reliable way to del...

#box-pro-ellipsis-17908207280794{-webkit-line-clamp:2;}Pomegranate Health