The Medical journal of Australia
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The current system of prevocational training does not meet the needs of junior doctors because of a high administrative workload, insufficient funding for education, and a lack of centralised guidance for trainees, teachers and hospitals. The Australian Curriculum Framework for Junior Doctors is designed to identify the training objectives for the prevocational years. ⋯ Stringent accreditation of training institutions is vital to the effective implementation of the Framework. The Framework should be used to promote teaching and learning, not as a barrier to vocational training or as a check-list to complete.
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Comparative Study
Entry tests for graduate medical programs: is it time to re-think?
To examine the relationship between medical school applicants' performances in the Graduate Australian Medical School Admissions Test (GAMSAT) and structured interviews and their subsequent performance in medical school. ⋯ We did not find evidence that GAMSAT and structured interviews are good predictors of performance in medical school. Our study highlights a need for more rigorous evaluation of Australian medical school admissions tests.
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From Australian coronial records, we identified five deaths involving implantable naltrexone between 2000 and 2004. One man died from acute narcotism with a naltrexone implant in place and a blood naltrexone level of 0.3 mg/L. A woman died of combined drug effect (including naltrexone) accompanied by severe pain from a naltrexone implant site. These cases indicate that patients can die from opioid overdose with a naltrexone implant and blood naltrexone levels higher than reported blockade levels.