Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Rhea Liang @liangrhea.bsky.social · 6h

The legendary @lfallowfield.bsky.social speaks about clinician communication with patients. When clinicians attending communication skills programs are asked who is a 'difficult' patient, it's basically... everyone.

Tag yourself! I'm 'over-educated academics and teachers' 🤣
#ASBD2025

Picture of slide with text:

Patients perceived as difficult attending our communication skills programmes

-Those with limited intelligence

-Those asking 'intelligent sounding questions' who don't understand the answers

-Over-educated academics & teachers

-Demanding middle-class patients

-Men

-Women

2 2 8

Rhea Liang @liangrhea.bsky.social · 6h

Prof Vivienne Milch gives a peek at the Breastscreen Australia review (soon for release). In welcome news, breast density will be routinely communicated. However, BSA cannot offer additional screening for density, so resources are being developed to enable GPs to lead this instead. #ASBD2025

Slide with text:

BreastScreen AUSTRALIA

A joint Australin, State and Territory Government Program

BreastScreen Australia Clinical Advisory Group
BreastScreen Australia Position Statement on Mammographic (Breast) Density and Screening

Women to be informed of their breast density

SA, WA, NSW & VIC already provide this info

Other states working toward implementation

L

Picture of slide with text:

BSA Position Statement on Mammographic (Breast) Density and Screening - GP Guidance

Mammography: still effective across all breast densities

Lower sensitivity in dense breasts

Slightly higher risk of cancer in dense breasts

Discuss options with patient: MRI, CEM, DBT, ultrasound

Consider using risk tools: iPrevent, Tyrer-Cuzick

GPs support shared decisions

1 4

Reposted by Rhea Liang

Annie Parker @annieparker.bsky.social · 8h

Giselle Pelicot is an extraordinary badass woman.
What courage & strength she has shown the world from such a fucking hideous situation.
Back in court again & being a fucking legend.

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...

Gisele Pelicot tells rapist appealing guilty verdict to 'take responsibility'

Gisele Pelicot returns to court to face the only man, out of 51, who appealed against his guilty verdict in a mass rape trial that gained worldwide attention.

www.abc.net.au

3 10 68

Rhea Liang @liangrhea.bsky.social · 8h

Powerful talk from Emily Duncan at #ASBD2025 about how being diagnosed with #BreastCancer meant being seen as a disease, making her own self and experiences invisible. A timely reminder that clinicians can better validate patient lived experience, and normalise discussing QoL.

Picture of slide with an image of Emily as a patient and the text

'When was diagnosed, I became breast cancer.

Consumed by tests, appointments, and
treatment

Seen as a disease, not a person

Repeatedly invisible in care'

Picture of a slide with a triagular diagram featuring EMPOWERMENT at the centre and the words PRACTITIONER, PATIENT and CONSUMER ORGS at the corners.

Additional slide text:

Success is not just survival - it's living well

Individual (in the room):
• Ask human-first questions
• Validate lived experience
‣ Connect to BCNA

System (shaping care):
• Raise QoL in MDTs
• Make BCNA referral routine
• Model empowerment for colleagues

1 4

Rhea Liang @liangrhea.bsky.social · 9h

I'm with you. Even in metro areas it's a struggle to get to the doctor if you are a parent, a carer, have disabilities, lack transport etc. Of course there are things that are better assessed F2F, but telehealth can improve access for so many.

1

Rhea Liang @liangrhea.bsky.social · 9h

Yep, I hear you. The leotards get into several hundreds of dollars but they don't get *that* much friction, hence pretty mesh panels etc. Doubt that would last long on men's tights, which get put through a lot more.

Rhea Liang @liangrhea.bsky.social · 12h

Things I've learned today from Lisa Birmingham, pelvic floor physio:

-80% of women are getting pelvic floor health info from social media

-assessment and treatment can happen via telehealth, because there are Bluetooth enabled pressure-sensing pessaries 🤯

#BreastCancer #ASBD2025

Screenshot of slide with text:

Patient Voice - Qualitative Insights

• Colombage et al. (2022): Barriers to PF care -> lack of awareness & clinician focus.
• Zurowska et al. (2025): 1,775 survivors surveyed online
- 89.5% reported sexual health changes
-84.8% distressed by these changes
"No one asked me about sex"
"I was told to be grateful I survived"
• Women want information and 80% are getting it through social media (Zurowska et al 2025).

Screenshot of slide with text:

What Physiotherapists Can Target

• Trauma-informed, evidence-based care for body, mind, and lived experience.
• Biopsychosocial screening and goal setting.
• Education to empower women in pelvic, vulval and sexual health, modern pain science.
• Adress bladder & bowel concerns.
• Pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) - improves strength, continence, prolapse, sexual function -> the most effective non-medicated treatment for pelvic and sexual health!
• Whole-body movement & breath- restoring control, mobility, strength & independence.
• Sexual ergonomics - comfortable positions, supportive devices, confidence in pleasure.
• Adjuncts: moisturisers, lubricants, dilators, vibrators.
Collaborative care with oncology, psychology, gynaecology & sexual medicine.

1 1 6

Rhea Liang @liangrhea.bsky.social · 13h

Such a sensible, compassionate and gently humorous take on menopausal side effects from Dr Virginia Baird. First of all, define what the *patient* thinks 'libido' is, because it can vary from 'inability to self-pleasure to orgasm' to 'inability to meet partner expectations'.
#BreastCancer #ASBD2025

Screenshot of slide with text:

Management options for MSE - Libido

Identify the patient's definition
Is it causing distress?

POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS

Address contributing factors
Healthy lifestyle - SNAP
Stress management and relaxation
Improve communication
OUTERCOURSE
Rosie King's "Where did my libido go?"
" REFER to an expert!!

Consider contributing factors

Hormones
Medications eg SSRI
Lifestyle/situation
Psychology
Intimate relationships
Medical conditions - vaginismus

Sexual brakes > sexual inhibitors

5

Rhea Liang @liangrhea.bsky.social · 1d

'I've been waiting for an event like this for almost 40 years'.

Hear from #HeartOfMedicine faculty below. And please do consider joining us in the heart of next year, in the heart of the country, in the heart of healthcare. 🤗
youtu.be/fi-jFgSmjHw?...

HEART OF MEDICINE 2026 - International Gathering for Healthcare Workers (Coaching for Doctors)

YouTube video by Coaching for Doctors - Sharee Johnson

youtu.be

1 5

Rhea Liang @liangrhea.bsky.social · 2d

Woohoo Dr Jamie Lee Rahiri! 🎉🎉🎉
Can someone convince her to get on Bluesky? We SO need her voice here.
www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2025...

Jamie-Lee Rahiri named L’Oréal-UNESCO fellow - The University of Auckland

Championing Māori health equity and cultural safety in surgery has seen Dr Jamie-Lee Rahiri named 2025 L’Oréal–UNESCO For Women in Science Fellow.

www.auckland.ac.nz

4 9

Rhea Liang @liangrhea.bsky.social · 3d

Thank you for your kind words! I had to drop my back knee to avoid it hitting the wall (the constraints of a narrow room) so it's a bit turned in. My old ballet teacher would have words 🤣

1

Reposted by Rhea Liang

ChaparritaAF 🇨🇦🇨🇴 🇸🇬🇩🇪 (She/Her/Ella) @chaparritarola.bsky.social · 4d

You are truly a renaissance woman! Politics, women leadership topics, human rights, knitting, crocheting , quilting, cooking, ballet, feijoas & all the amazing science you share! Absolutely wonderful person and you even color coordinate you outfits to the hotel!! Beautiful way to start a Saturday!

1 1 2

Rhea Liang @liangrhea.bsky.social · 3d

I would have said I am a magpie or bowerbird- a deep interest in an entirely eclectic collection of things- but thank you for your kind words 🤗

1

Rhea Liang @liangrhea.bsky.social · 3d

Why thank you! I'm a bit spoilt because the teeny tiny 'women's' sizes are often on sale at our local dance shop. Too small for many women and too, um, 'shapely' for the stick-thin serious dancers 🤣

1 1

Rhea Liang @liangrhea.bsky.social · 5d

By chance, I've packed a leotard that matches the artwork in my hotel room. That's never happened before! 💜🩰🤣

Rhea wearing a purple leotard in front of a large artwork featuring the exact same colour. She is en pointe with legs in a slightly soggy attitude derrière and arms in 'Schroth'.

4 1 48

Rhea Liang @liangrhea.bsky.social · 5d

It's a good question. The decision seems to be based on 'feels' (subject to bias, I fear) because, unlike other Fellowships I've applied for, there are no clear benchmarks or exemplars for what counts. And I know I out-research, out-teach, out-lead, and out-policy some of the existing Fellows.

5

Rhea Liang @liangrhea.bsky.social · 5d

SO many complexities to consider. But using the principle of 'nothing about us without us' I'm very much going over with the intent of listening+++ when I'm not speaking at podium. The one thing that will definitely be an absolute disaster is an AI 'solution' that doesn't account for local context.

1

Rhea Liang @liangrhea.bsky.social · 5d

Tech thankfully tends to get more efficient with time- compare the early transistor computers that took up entire rooms to what we have now, for example. But delaying the (appropriate) use of AI until it can run 'lite' risks worsening existing global inequity... and is also rather colonial.

2 2

Rhea Liang @liangrhea.bsky.social · 5d

I haven't! I'll give it a play.

2

Rhea Liang @liangrhea.bsky.social · 5d

The PISA/G4 meeting in Fiji late this month. Planning the delivery of surgical services in the Pacific. The appropriate use of AI in resource-constrained settings and the vulnerability of low lying islands to climate effects induced by AI, and more- all need consideration.

1 2

Rhea Liang @liangrhea.bsky.social · 5d

After all, we all have days where we just want utter dross for a bit of a brain break. At which point I would just turn the algorithm aaaallll the way up 🤣

1

Rhea Liang @liangrhea.bsky.social · 5d

Agree- at times I've wished there was a sort of 'algorithm slider' where we can easily adjust how heavy or lighthanded we want it to be, rather than the current binary 'off' (Following) or 'on' (Discover) choice.

2 2

Rhea Liang @liangrhea.bsky.social · 5d

I just love how structural/architectural they are.

1

Reposted by Rhea Liang

Ian Davis @profiand.bsky.social · 5d

Leucadendron strobilinum (Peninsula Conebush). Firm splayed pale green leaves, surrounding a striking globule yellow flower on its way to turning bright orange.

Melaleuca rugulosa (Bottlebrush). Flower made up of scarlet bottlebrushes tipped with white or yellow.

Grevillea. Bright red curling flowers and pistils.

Grevillea longifolia. Long red pistols with yellow/green tips.

1 1 2

Rhea Liang @liangrhea.bsky.social · 5d

Mmmmm biblichor. One of my faves.

7