Clinicians redoubled their efforts to advance paediatric training and drove themselves and their laboratory-based colleagues to improve diagnostic techniques and treatments. The outcomes were impressive, both in terms of preventing ill-health and improving the management of sick children. The vitality of this era, rekindled in this Witness to the History of Australian Medicine Seminar by a remarkable group of individuals, was also evident in inter-personal and sub-specialty competition.

The Seminar participants reflected on these hard-fought achievements and rivalries. They also discussed the increasing complexity of the health system in which they operated and the need for hospitals to focus on ethical protocols and risk management. In such an environment, the University Department of Paediatrics would seem to have a growing role in fostering a culture of research and continuing to innovate in paediatric training.

A pdf of this Witness seminar transcript may be downloaded here.

Dr Ann Westmore
Witness Seminar Convener

Professor Glenn Bowes
University of Melbourne Stevenson Professor of Paediatrics and
Director of Postgraduate Education and Training, the Royal Children’s Hospital

Witness to the History of Australian Medicine