Editorials

The importance of understanding variation

Tony Badrick — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 17:29:05 PST

Extract

The role of the laboratory is to produce results that will be used by clinicians to diagnose disease and monitor response to treatment, but a key issue that is now becoming more apparent is that over ordering of tests can actually lead to patient harm [1]. Inappropriate investigations or treatments which can be invasive may follow results that are imprecise. Clinicians also need sufficient information to identify true change in the patient. For laboratories to reduce the likelihood of these poor outcomes they need to understand not just the imprecision of their assays, but also the variation introduced by collection, biological variation and disease and to communicate these to the clinicians. Laboratory staff must understand not only when to suggest a test may be useful in the differential diagnosis but also when a test should not be repeated because the test results will not be able to be interpreted [2].

Editorial

Jodie O'Leary et al. — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 22:08:34 PDT

Editorial: Autumn 2011

Tina Hunter et al. — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 17:43:50 PDT

Editorial: Spring 2010

Jodie O'Leary et al. — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 18:40:59 PDT

Editorial: Autumn 2010

Tina Hunter et al. — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 16:44:19 PDT

Vertebroplasty versus conservative treatment for vertebral fractures

Rachelle Buchbinder et al. — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 17:25:25 PST

Extract:
Although Caroline Klazen and colleagues acknowledge that the main drawback of their open-label trial of vertebroplasty (Vertos II; Sept 25, p 1085)¹ was the lack of blinding, they do not mention that this is likely to overestimate the true benefit of vertebroplasty. Lack of blinding results in an average over estimate of relative treatment benefit of about 25%², which could explain these results.

Editorial

Michael Regan — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 21:00:37 PST

Extract:

Welcome to Edition 7 of the Public Infrastructure Bulletin. The two articles we feature in this edition are both refereed and deal with matters central to the future of public private partnerships (PPPs) in Australia – state participation in the debt finance facilities used to finance the transaction and the likely impact of volatility in capital markets on public private partnerships (PPPs) in this country.

Editorial

Michael Regan — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 20:32:04 PST

Extract:

Welcome to Edition 6 of the Public Infrastructure Bulletin. This edition is coming to you from the Bulletin’s new home, the Bond University Mirvac School of Sustainable Development on the Gold Coast. The Bulletin will continue to offer short and relevant articles about all aspects of infrastructure and public private partnerships. It will be published twice annually and Issue 7 will feature more book reviews, a list of recently released studies, reports and articles and web links to sites offering useful educational programs, conferences, research and resources.

Editorial

Michael Regan — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 18:19:45 PST

Welcome to the first issue of the Public Infrastructure Bulletin for 2005. Infrastructure looms as a prominent agenda item for government, business and the media this year. The Bulletin will continue publishing articles of interest and this edition is no exception. Our feature article is by the Hon. Patrick Conlon, Minister for Energy, Infrastructure and Emergency Services for the Government of South Australia. Minister Conlan outlines the State’s approach to future infrastructure procurement and highlights three key matters – the need to subject new investment proposals to rigorous economic evaluation, the importance of efficiency to sector performance and South Australia’s willingness to support a national market approach. These are issues central to future infrastructure planning and optimal levels of investment.

Conversations

Toni Campbell — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 17:19:44 PST

Get them talking. It was one of our major aims when we established the Australian Centre for Public Infrastructure. Expertise in the field resides separately in academia, industry and government; what was needed was a way to bring it all together.