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Here you will find the latest information about my career and my writing. Please click on the tabs above for more information.
Latest News
I’ve been invited to speak at the next Hear the Roar conference, which is entitled Roaring on Aotearoa. There will be a full-day conference on Saturday, 3rd November 2018 in Hamilton. Details are all on Facebook. If you’re in the South Island, there is a workshop in Christchurch the following day.
In August I was elected to the Chair of the National Obstetric Anaesthesia (NOA) Network, a nationwide group comprising lead Obstetric Anaesthetists from each of NZ’s 20 or so District Health Boards.
At the end of August, the New Zealand Ministry of Health published a document, Diagnosis and Treatment of Hypertension and Pre-eclampsia in Pregnancy in New Zealand: A clinical practice guideline. I was one of the members of the multi-disciplinary team who helped to draw up the document.
I had a lovely time back in April at the Literary Salon, at which I was invited to talk by Rachel Pope at Browsers, one of my favourite bookshops. This took place at The Meteor in Hamilton. Two other local authors, poet Mere Taito and historical author Jenny Harrison also spoke, and it was an inspiring evening.
With the recent renewal in interest in medicinal cannabis, I was invited to prepare a talk for the University of Waikato Department of Psychology, with a review of cannabis in a medical context. They recorded the talk, and have given me permission to include the link on this website. If you have a spare 90 minutes, you can hear the entire talk here. Variations on this talk have been given to the Waikato Postgraduate Medicine meeting, and Waikato Hospital Grand Rounds.
The 4th edition of the Oxford Handbook of Anaesthesia was Highly Commended in the 2016 BMA Book Awards, and will also be translated into Polish and Romanian.
Reviews of my book Anaesthesia: A Very Short Introduction have appeared in Anaesthesia, the Bulletin of the Royal College of Anaesthetists and the British Journal of Anaesthesia. The reviews have all been very favourable. For a sample chapter, click here.
The book was also highlighted on the official Very Short Introductions Facebook page. Oxford University Press filmed a series of short interviews with me. The three interviews can be seen on its webpage The Truth About Anaesthesia, or on YouTube.
Aidan.
Aidan,
A great article about Casey Nathan and the Swiss Cheese. The airline industry has adopted the no blame policy which has led to this industry being a world leader. I work in Engineering and we too try this approach, although less successfully.
Your article is a breath of fresh air in an ever less accountable and blame apportioning, litigious society.
Regards
Colin Millen
Thanks for dropping by to post your comment Colin. I am delighted you liked the article.
Just found this and bought the book of short stories. Do you know Dr Steve Barker, GP in Warkworth? A British immigrant, has written several children’s novels including the secret of Spirits Bay.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16164273-the-secret-of-spirits-bay
Hi Aidan
Just found your ‘very short’ book while looking for an undergraduate text on anaesthesia. This will save me hours of lectures. Hopefully you will get some royalties from my students!
Interesting that you are in Waikato. I’m in Lancaster, the UK’s smallest medical school and am reading with fascination about the politics of Waikato’s bid to have a small medical school. Our experience is that these things are worth striving for! Do you think they will get one?
Hi Andrew. Thanks for getting in touch. I am delighted that you like my book and I hope it proves useful to your students. I think its main desirability as a textbook is that it is (1) short, (2) cheap, (3) readable (if I say so myself). And did I mention it’s short?
I am extremely supportive of the plan for Waikato to get its own medical school. There are moves afoot to make it graduate-entry (which I think is a broadly a great idea). There are also moves afoot to tailor the curriculum (and thereby tie the graduates) to our chronic rural GP shortage. I am very opposed to the idea of us having a shorter, “medicine-lite” curriculum, creating a two-tier system of medical graduates in NZ.
Very happy to discuss the book or medical schools further, perhaps by email?
Aidan.