Thread by @CroakeyNews

Opening plenary of #ASMIRT2023 set to begin - thread to follow of presentations by @benbravery @johnhewis & panel discussion ft @venusdvh, @MikeNeep, Karen Dobelii, Elizabeth Brown, @pkench, Justine Trpezanovski, led by @MYradres

Here's the full #ASMIRT2023 program conference.asmirt.org/2023/wp-conten…

You can bookmark @CroakeyNews coverage of #ASMIRT2023 here

croakey.org/category/croak…

Brendan Kerin from the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council is delivering a Welcome to Country to #ASMIRT2023, being held on the lands of the Gadigal peoples of the Eora nation - he talks of the devastating impact of colonisation on the traditional owners

Brendan Kerin talks about the frontier wars, the trauma of being among the Stolen Generations (who he calls the Kidnapped Generations)

"We are the world's oldest living continuous culture, we've always been here," he says.

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"Their spirit is still in the land and the waters," says Brendan Kerin, talking about the 29 tribes who made up the people of the Eora nation.

He talks about the power and protocols of the Smoking Ceremony

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Brendan Kerin starts the Smoking Ceremony, playing a healing song with his Yidaki (didgeridoo is a white man's word, he says)

"Welcome to Gadigal Country. By having me here, you've played a part in the rejuvenation and revitalisation of our peoples back on Country," says Brendan Kerin (noting he has to go pay a man called Wilson (Parking) "for parking on my own land"!)

Now #ASMIRT delegates being welcomed by conference convenor @johnhewis (here's background to the theme: Champions of Change - "aiming to inspire, generate new ideas, share our practice, think about where we want/need change" conference.asmirt.org/2023/conferenc…

Hearing from @ASMIRTorg president Carolyn Heyes, talking about research grants and scholarship awards #ASMIRT2023

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Now hearing from @benbravery on his journey from being a busy zoologist in China to being a bowel cancer patient and later becoming a doctor, writing The Patient Doctor - see our preview with his story croakey.org/your-everyday-…

"18 months of treatment, lots of complications, infections etc, lots of times things were dire”

When you’re spat back out after this kind of experience, you’re kind of left floundering. Things had shifted inside me, it took me a long time to work it out."

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"When you get this cancer at a young age, there’s an adrenalin rush and a race …a momentum that carries you through treatment and then it all stops and you’re left processing …..

It took me a while to work out I wanted to go back into this system…." @benbravery #ASMIRT2023

"I saw everything through the patient experience.

I wanted to give back, but also there were things about my treatment I wanted to improve. Not the technical treatment …but at key points some of the human aspects of care were lacking." @benbravery #ASMIRT2023

Having graphic description from @benbravery of his CT scan launching his radiation treatment - a gown that wouldn't fit or behave, fears about impacts.....

"Cancer has won, I can't get any lower here," he said of his feelings that day amid discomfort/stress/embarrassment/fear.

"I was Bed 4 who wasn't getting better, I was being dehumanised," @benbravery talks about lack of understanding of the patient in acute stress.

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. @benbravery talks about the stress and failings of medical school, with a bloated curriculum that misses empathy, leadership, teamwork but also important cancer knowledge.

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"Your world is weird and scary, don’t ever forget that.
Your normal is your patient’s abnormal. Each interaction is an opportunity to connect - we’re working in a system that forgets it’s actually inhabited by people." @benbravery (author of The Patient Doctor) #ASMIRT2023

#ASMIRT2023 - marking 10 years of JMRS

First panel discussion at #ASMIRT2023 is on: Exploring the research journey. It's being led by the UK's Prof Beverly Snaith @MYradres

Panel includes: @venusdvh, @MikeNeep, Karen Dobelii, Elizabeth Brown, @pkench, Justine Trpezanovski

#ASMIRT2023 Research journey panel

"It's an interesting and exciting time for the profession," says @MYradres, opening the research panel discussion, saying it is important that research is relevant, tangible, engaging, that this is the generation that embraces research.

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Hearing about panellists' personal research journey, who are highlighting importance of mentors and other supports, gaps in evidence needed for service improvement #ASMIRT2023

Elizabeth Brown talks about being "an accidental researcher":

"Research was a bit like a drug….seeing direct translation of work we’d done into better patient outcomes, experiences ….I thought what else can we look at, what else can we do."

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#ASMIRT2023 talking about best ways to connect with research/collaborations, including education pathways, conferences,

Research is a team sport says @MYradres - as a novice can be daunting, (the imposter syndrome) but you don't need to be an expert at everything.

It does take courage to take first step into research, veterans still get butterflies - but start conversations to find shared visions/values, go to conferences outside your direct field, put yourself on committees, persuade people to let you pursue

#ASMIRT2023 #ResesarchPanel

"Research needs to be part of core business," says @venusdvh - and head to Twitter, where she has been able to make important connections and collaborations #ASMIRT2023

"Let's start to build those networks," says @MYradres - #ASMIRT2023

#ASMIRT2023 Research awards

#ASMIRT2023 Research awards

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Winner of 2022 award for outstanding achievement in radiation therapy at #ASMIRT2023 is Dr Nigel Anderson: frmr Principal Research Radiation Therapist at Peter MacCallum Cancer Center, now adjunct senior lecturer at @MonashUni, also Radiation Therapy Manager at Austin Health

Final presentation at #ASMIRT2023 opening plenary:

Hearing a story about the power of music therapy via Chris O’Brien Lifehouse Choir – was on Australia’s Got Talent facebook.com/watch/?v=99260… #ASMIRT2023

A woman in 50s who had invasive cancer treatment, struggled to speak, “when we played music, she found her voice”. She went on to join the choir, she said it gave her back her sense of belonging. Some patients schedule their appointments around it. #ASMIRT2023

#ASMIRT2023 music therapy choir

Actor/former Play School presenter Benita Collings (far left) among the members of the Chris O'Brien Lifehouse choir singing at #ASMIRT2023 (read about the choir and her participation here smh.com.au/lifestyle/heal…)

And that's a wrap for the #ASMIRT2023 opening plenary and an end to livestreaming. @AlisonSBarrett and I (@mariemcinerney) will continue to tweet through the conference from interviews, presentations, abstracts etc. Hope you can keep tuning in.