Aussie Med Ed- Australian Medical Education

Content note: this episode discusses female genital mutilation, including its physical and emotional effects. Support is available 24/7 through 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).
More than 230 million women and girls alive today have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM). It’s rarely covered in Australian medical training, yet GPs, emergency doctors, obstetricians and registrars will meet these women, often without realising it.
Orthopaedic surgeon Dr Gavin Nimon talks with Dr Fariba Behnia-Willison, an Adelaide gynaecologist specialising in female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery, founder of the not-for-profit Desert Flower South Australia, and a South Australian nominee for the 2027 Australian of the Year awards.
In this episode:
The WHO definition and classification of FGM (Types I–IV)
Why the practice continues, and why a non-judgemental approach matters
Immediate and long-term complications: menstrual problems, recurrent UTIs, dyspareunia, obstetric issues and fistulas
Antenatal planning and what Australian law allows after childbirth
Mandatory reporting obligations when a child may be at risk
A practical approach for GPs: routine trauma history, confident vulval examination, and knowing when to refer
The role of psychological and social support alongside medical care
Disclosure: Dr Behnia-Willison provides restorative surgery through Desert Flower South Australia and her private practice.
This episode is general medical education for health professionals and students, not individual advice. It reflects one clinician’s approach; practice varies, and may differ from what is taught or offered in your area. Always seek advice from a health professional where you live.
Aussie Med Ed is sponsored by -HealthShare:
is a digital health company providing solutions for Health Professionals.

🎙️ Proudly Supported By Our Sponsors
Aussie Med Ed is independent and free — made possible by these amazing Australian organisations. 
HealthShare — Australia's health information and referral platform, connecting GPs, specialists and patients. Visit HealthShare
Avant Medical Defence Organisation — Protecting over 80,000 Australian healthcare professionals. Visit Avant
eMedici -an Australian-made medical education platform for med students, junior doctors, and IMGs. Visit eMedici.com/MEDED
Better Medical- GP clinics across QLD, SA, VIC and TAS – offering you the freedom to practise your way, backed by a strong support network. Visit BetterMedical

Thanking the organisations that make Aussie Med Ed possible. Visit our full Sponsors page

Close to four in ten Australian women experience urinary leakage. Many quietly change how they live and assume it’s simply part of having children or getting older. In this episode, Host, Dr Gavin Nimon (Orthopaedic Surgeon), interviews Adelaide gynaecologist Dr Fariba Behnia-Willison, who explains why prolapse and incontinence are common, but not something women should be expected to put up with.
Fariba specialises in female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery. She walks through:
The difference between pelvic organ prolapse, stress incontinence and urge incontinence (overactive bladder)
Risk factors, including childbirth, menopause, chronic cough, constipation, smoking and raised intra-abdominal pressure
The key history questions a GP or registrar can ask in every consultation
A sensitive, trauma-informed, consent-based approach to vaginal examination
POP-Q staging, and why surgery is considered for symptoms rather than stage alone
The central role of pelvic health physiotherapy, before and after any surgery
How pessaries work and the types available
Surgical options
Practical vulval care, continence products and lifestyle measures
The conversation is aimed at medical students, junior doctors and GPs, but it will be useful to anyone who has wondered whether their symptoms are “just normal”.
Aussie Med Ed is sponsored by -HealthShare:
is a digital health company providing solutions for Health Professionals.

🎙️ Proudly Supported By Our Sponsors
Aussie Med Ed is independent and free — made possible by these amazing Australian organisations. 
HealthShare — Australia's health information and referral platform, connecting GPs, specialists and patients. Visit HealthShare
Avant Medical Defence Organisation — Protecting over 80,000 Australian healthcare professionals. Visit Avant
eMedici -an Australian-made medical education platform for med students, junior doctors, and IMGs. Visit eMedici.com/MEDED
Better Medical- GP clinics across QLD, SA, VIC and TAS – offering you the freedom to practise your way, backed by a strong support network. Visit BetterMedical

Thanking the organisations that make Aussie Med Ed possible. Visit our full Sponsors page

Almost every anaesthetic involves a decision about ventilation — and the patient’s lungs shape every one of those decisions. The asthmatic needing an appendicectomy, the COPD patient listed for a knee replacement, the patient with undiagnosed sleep apnoea whose riskiest period is two nights post-op on the ward, and the patient whose record says “previous difficult intubation”.
In this episode Dr Gavin Nimon, (Orthopaedic Surgeon), talks with consultant anaesthetist Dr Nick Harrington about what happens to the lungs the moment someone lies flat on the table, and how an anaesthetist assesses and plans for respiratory disease. They cover the pre-operative history and examination that matter most, smoking and recent chest infections, when to investigate (and when an echo is more useful than lung function tests), asthma and bronchospasm, COPD and CO₂ retention, interstitial lung disease, how the lungs and the right heart interact under positive-pressure ventilation, obstructive sleep apnoea and positioning, bedside airway assessment and the difficult-airway plan, malignant hyperthermia, lung-protective ventilation, extubation, post-operative analgesia and the role of respiratory physiotherapy — ending with Nick’s three take-home messages for medical students and junior doctors.
Dr Nick Harrington graduated from the University of Queensland while serving part-time in the Australian Army, worked with the Royal Flying Doctor Service in the Pilbara and holds a fellowship of the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine. He is now a consultant anaesthetist in Adelaide with fellowship training in paediatric and trauma anaesthesia, a special interest in regional anaesthesia, and is an examiner for the ANZCA primary exam.
This episode is general education for medical students, junior doctors and GPs. It is not medical advice and reflects Australian practice at the time of recording.
Aussie Med Ed is sponsored by -HealthShare:
is a digital health company providing solutions for Health Professionals.

🎙️ Proudly Supported By Our Sponsors
Aussie Med Ed is independent and free — made possible by these amazing Australian organisations. 
HealthShare — Australia's health information and referral platform, connecting GPs, specialists and patients. Visit HealthShare
Avant Medical Defence Organisation — Protecting over 80,000 Australian healthcare professionals. Visit Avant
eMedici -an Australian-made medical education platform for med students, junior doctors, and IMGs. Visit eMedici.com/MEDED
Better Medical- GP clinics across QLD, SA, VIC and TAS – offering you the freedom to practise your way, backed by a strong support network. Visit BetterMedical

Thanking the organisations that make Aussie Med Ed possible. Visit our full Sponsors page

Peptides in Medicine: What They Are, How They’re Used, and Why Australian Regulators have concerns about those that have not been approved for use.
In this Aussie Med Ed episode, Orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Gavin Nimon speaks with Dr Ian Musgrave, a molecular pharmacologist and toxicologist, about what peptides are (short amino-acid chains) and how they are used as major medicines such as insulin, oxytocin, erythropoietin, and GLP-1 receptor agonists. They discuss why  peptide medicines cannot be taken orally, how peptide therapeutics are discovered and developed, and the evidence pathway required for approval in Australia, including clinical trials and manufacturing under good manufacturing practice. The conversation explains why Australian regulators are concerned about unapproved peptide products.
Aussie Med Ed is sponsored by -HealthShare:
is a digital health company providing solutions for Health Professionals.

🎙️ Proudly Supported By Our Sponsors
Aussie Med Ed is independent and free — made possible by these amazing Australian organisations. 
HealthShare — Australia's health information and referral platform, connecting GPs, specialists and patients. Visit HealthShare
Avant Medical Defence Organisation — Protecting over 80,000 Australian healthcare professionals. Visit Avant
eMedici -an Australian-made medical education platform for med students, junior doctors, and IMGs. Visit eMedici.com/MEDED
Better Medical- GP clinics across QLD, SA, VIC and TAS – offering you the freedom to practise your way, backed by a strong support network. Visit BetterMedical

Thanking the organisations that make Aussie Med Ed possible. Visit our full Sponsors page

Every doctor writes notes. At some point in your career, someone will ask you for a report — an insurer, a lawyer, an employer, or a court — and the rules change. You are no longer simply documenting care; you are providing evidence. 
In this episode of Aussie Med Ed, host Dr Gavin Nimon (Orthopaedic Surgeon) welcomes back Dr Mary Obele, Specialist Occupational and Environmental Physician (FAFOEM, RACP), to demystify the medical report. Medical reports sit at the heart of Dr Obele’s day-to-day work — treating doctor reports, independent medical examinations and permanent impairment assessments across the workers’ compensation and personal injury systems — and she explains what happens to these documents once they leave the doctor’s desk and enter the courts and tribunals.
Topics include:
·       How a medical report differs from clinical notes 
·       Who requests reports and why
·       The three main types defined: treating doctor’s report, independent  and permanent impairment assessments
·       Whole person impairment: what the percentage measures, what it does not, and why two 20% impairments do not equal 40%
·       The AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment 
·       Training, accreditation and ongoing reaccreditation for permanent impairment assessors
·       The standard structure of a medicolegal reportonduct and AI disclosure
·       Where reports end up 
·       The expert witness’s primary duty to the court, and what examination-in-chief and cross-examination actually involve
·       Practical take-home messages for a junior doctor or GP writing their first report
Suitable for GP CPD, junior doctor education, medical students, and any clinician or health professional who may be asked to write a report or attend as an expert witness.
Aussie Med Ed is sponsored by -HealthShare:
is a digital health company providing solutions for Health Professionals.

🎙️ Proudly Supported By Our Sponsors
Aussie Med Ed is independent and free — made possible by these amazing Australian organisations. 
HealthShare — Australia's health information and referral platform, connecting GPs, specialists and patients. Visit HealthShare
Avant Medical Defence Organisation — Protecting over 80,000 Australian healthcare professionals. Visit Avant
eMedici -an Australian-made medical education platform for med students, junior doctors, and IMGs. Visit eMedici.com/MEDED
Better Medical- GP clinics across QLD, SA, VIC and TAS – offering you the freedom to practise your way, backed by a strong support network. Visit BetterMedical

Thanking the organisations that make Aussie Med Ed possible. Visit our full Sponsors page