On personal responsibility in medicine.

Enabling patients to make lasting behavioural change is one of the enduring challenges doctors face. The success of our medical treatment and preventative health measures relies heavily on our patients exercising personal responsibility, however, we rarely question our assumptions about what this looks like and how it is best enabled in clinical practice. Theoretical models of the individual and their ensuing responsibility are important because they influence the nature and expectations of the relationships we engage in with our patients as well as influencing how we interpret patient behaviour.

WOUND Study: A Cost-Utility Analysis of Negative Pressure Wound Therapy After Split-Skin Grafting for Lower Limb Skin Cancer.

Background: Skin cancer rates in New Zealand are estimated to be the highest in the world. Split-skin grafting is a common procedure after skin cancer excision in the lower limb. We sought to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) with same-day discharge in patients undergoing split-skin grafting of the lower limb for the treatment of skin cancer.