Yersiniosis outbreaks in Gold Coast residential aged care facilities linked to nutritionally-supplemented milkshakes, January-April 2023.

In January 2023, an outbreak of in residential aged care facilities (RACF) was identified by the Gold Coast Public Health Unit and confirmed using whole genome sequencing. During the outbreak period there were 11 confirmed and 14 probable cases of notified in RACF and 30 suspected cases with compatible illness. Eleven cases (20%) were confirmed as Biotype 1A non-typable (BT1A NT) sequence type (ST) 278 within 4-15 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) of each other.

Introducing a competency based Fellowship programme for psychiatry in Australia and New Zealand.

Objectives: The aim of this paper is to summarise the new psychiatry Fellowship programme and its rationale, highlighting the new inclusions, revised assessment structure, the benefits and structure of the programme.

Conclusions: The 2012 Fellowship programme is based on the CanMEDs educational framework. The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) underwent a comprehensive process, adapting the CanMEDs competencies to a psychiatric framework and mapping the curriculum to Fellowship competencies, learning outcomes and developmental descriptors of the various stages of training.

Arsenic in rice and diets of children.

Levels of arsenic in Australian and imported rice (n = 36) were evaluated using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) for total arsenic and a hyphenated high-performance liquid chromatography ICP-MS system for arsenic species. The study also assessed the daily intake of total As from diets of healthy children (n = 15), collected over three consecutive days. A wide variation of total As levels (range: <0.

Trajectory to Fellowship: further examination of the road to becoming a psychiatrist.

Objectives: In 2003 a revised RANZCP training program was implemented. This involved a revised training structure with Basic (years 1-3) and Advanced (years 4-5) requirements. All summative assessments occur during Basic Training and generalist or sub-specialty streams are available in Advanced Training.

Drama as primary prevention: my life as a producer.

Objective: This paper documents use of a historically accurate and psychiatrically relevant play written by a couple of visiting academics.

Conclusion: The high recognisability of first author Samuel Shem's name was used to attract interest from both within the medical profession and the media, which was intrigued by the curiosity of a psychiatrist turning producer. Far-reaching publicity was achieved at no financial cost.

Trajectory to fellowship: an analysis of the current pathway to becoming a psychiatrist.

Objective: This study sought to examine the pathway and barriers to attaining The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists'(RANZCP) Fellowship for those undergoing the current training program, which was implemented in November 2003. This program involved a new training structure, with basic (years 1-3) and advanced (years 4-5) requirements. All formal assessments occur during Basic Training, while either generalist or sub-specialty streams are available during Advanced Training.

Alcohol and substance use by patients with psychosis presenting to an emergency department: changing patterns.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of alcohol and other substance use in patients presenting to an emergency department with acute psychiatric illnesses and to clarify the role of urine drug screens.

Method: This was an unblinded prospective (observational) cohort study incorporating retrospective review of patient medical records, history of alcohol and substance use, results of urine drug screens and blood alcohol concentrations.

Results: Of 196 acute psychotic patients, 104 were diagnosed with schizophrenia and 92 with "other psychosis".

The marketing of pharmaceutical agents: friend or foe?

Objective: The aim of this paper is to provide a viewpoint regarding the marketing of pharmaceutical agents to psychiatrists and examine the results of a brief survey of the nature of booths, and gifts they offered, during 2009 RANZCP Congress in Adelaide.

Conclusions: The pharmaceutical industry is highly organized and scientifically sophisticated. Efforts to influence our prescribing are likely to have a proven scientific base and to be responsive to evidence.

Putting 'addiction' back into psychiatry: the RANZCP Section of Addiction Psychiatry.

Objective: The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the history and activities of the RANZCP Section of Addiction Psychiatry, as well as its current challenges and opportunities.

Conclusions: From initial exclusion to an active and growing membership, the Section of Addiction Psychiatry continues to ensure that problematic substance use and gambling remain core issues within Australasian psychiatry. In addition to commenting and contributing to ongoing clinical and policy initiatives, the Section has recently introduced an advanced training curriculum and maintains a strong partnership with the relatively new Australasian Chapter of Addiction Medicine.

Naltrexone in alcohol dependence: a randomised controlled trial of effectiveness in a standard clinical setting.

Objectives: To determine whether naltrexone is beneficial in the treatment of alcohol dependence in the absence of obligatory psychosocial intervention.

Design: Multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

Setting: Hospital-based drug and alcohol clinics, 18 March 1998 - 22 October 1999.

What is the psychiatrist's role in drugs and alcohol?

Objective: This article describes a consensus view of the role of psychiatrists in respect of alcohol and other drug (AOD) problems, in response to the view expressed by Wodak [1].

Method: The data were selected on the basis of the knowledge and experience of the authors.

Results: Psychiatrists have made major contributions in the primary, secondary and tertiary prevention of AOD problems over many years in Australia and New Zealand.

Is in-patient treatment justified for alcohol dependence?

Three lines of argument support the use of in-patient treatment for alcohol dependence. The first of these is that of natural justice. People ailing from their dependence on alcohol have a right to as full a range of treatment options as other people have for other disorders.

Why alcoholism is a disease.

Objective: To present the evidence that alcoholism is a disease.

Summary: Most specialists have been led by their clinical experience to believe that alcoholism is a disease and it is classified as such in ICD-9 and DSM-III-R. Alcoholism has both biological and psychological elements.

The diagnosis of alcohol-related brain damage: a retrospective study in alcoholics undergoing in-patient rehabilitation.

Alcohol-related brain damage (ARBD) is a common and prognostically relevant complication of alcohol dependence. Clinical sensitivity for ARBD by routine mental state examination (MSE) is important, but unlikely given the documented insensitivity of the MSE in detecting less subtle disorders. We sought to determine the predictive capacity of a well-documented MSE in 32 detoxified alcohol-dependent patients who had undergone neuropsychological testing.

Attitudes to alcoholism in a Sydney teaching hospital.

The physical and psychosocial tolls that are attributable to alcohol are well-documented. However, our community has been slow to respond to this serious problem. A survey of attitudes to alcoholism at a Sydney teaching hospital found an acceptance of the disease model and an acknowledgement of alcohol as Australia's main problem drug.