This article was published in Australian Doctor in the “Grand Rounds” segment.
Authors: Michael Tam and Joel Rhee
This article is also available on the Australian Doctor website (registration required). Continue reading
May 09 2014
Summing it up – could it be rheumatoid arthritis?
May 06 2014
Phone interview on ABC North and West SA
I gave a phone interview with Angela Smallacombe, Producer of the ABC North and West morning program regarding my article on common cold treatments on The Conversation.
May 05 2014
Health Check: can you treat the common cold?
Health Check: can you treat the common cold?
By Michael Tam
With symptoms including a runny nose, sore throat, sneezing, cough, headaches and fever, the common cold can leave you feeling rotten for up to two weeks.
As the name suggests, they’re annoyingly common, with the average adult likely to get two or three colds a year, while children average ten.
Common colds are caused by more than 200 different viruses and tend to be milder than the flu. But while the influenza vaccination can prevent against the most common circulating strains of the flu, there’s no equivalent for the common cold.
So, can you prevent the common cold? Or treat it once you have it? Let’s put four popular therapies to the test: echinacea, garlic, vitamin C and zinc. Continue reading
Apr 22 2014
Interview with NineMSN
I was interviewed today by Kimberly Gillan, a journalist and writer for NineMSN on a Health & Wellbeing article on alcohol drinking. This was in response to the rather controversial claim by Dr Kari Poikolainen that drinking is only dangerous once you go above the equivalent of a bottle of wine a day.
Mar 18 2014
Major inconsistency in AHPRA/National Boards guidelines on social media
AHPRA (Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency) recently announced a number of revised guidelines/codes/policies for health practitioners, which came into effect on 17 March 2014.
The new social media policy, and more specifically, how a part of Section 133 of the National Law (relating to the use of testimonials for advertising) has been interpreted in the Guidelines for advertising regulated health services (advertising guideline), has caused an upswell of anger in doctors who use social media. GP and blogger, Dr Edwin Kruys summarised the events and its fallout. Dr Jill Tomlinson, a plastic surgeon, is leading an online action group to call on AHPRA to review the advertising guideline.
Today, AHPRA made one concrete action that I view as both encouraging, and entirely inadequate. Continue reading
Mar 14 2014
Mediterranean diets in type 2 diabetes
This article was published in Medical Observer.
The article is also available on the Medical Observer website (may need registration).