Latest news with #UniversityOfSouthAustralia
Daily Mail
7 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Urgent warning over hospitalisation risk from common medications that Aussies use daily
Medicines like paracetamol and antidepressants are contributing to an alarming number of children visiting emergency wards. Parents grabbing over the counter medicine to help their children is causing a startling number of hospital visits, researchers say. Almost 100 children and teenagers are being taken to emergency departments every day after taking over-the-counter medicines such as paracetamol and antidepressants. At least half of these visits are preventable due to being accidental or intentional overdoses on adult-only medication, University of South Australia researchers said. The Royal Children's Hospital emergency medicine director says intentional overdoses can be particularly concerning. '(Paracetamol) is one of the scary medications where early on, there may be very minimal symptoms,' Stuart Lewena told AAP. 'It's only going to be when the paracetamol is starting to cause damage to the liver (when) we'll start to see symptoms of nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.' In the case of accidental ingestions, he said parents and carers can be 'flustered, anxious, worried about the error they've made', delaying treatment. 'We've spent a lot of our time decreasing how confronting they're finding it,' he said. Dr Lewena said hospitals are stretched and urged parents to keep medication out of children's reach. Parents should particularly keep an eye on prescription medications as one tablet can cause harm to children. 'Kids are incredibly resourceful at getting to things that they know they're not meant to get to,' Dr Lewena said. 'It's worthwhile having a discussion with your pharmacist or doctor to know ... "how risky is this in my household?".' Imaina Widagdo, who led the UniSA research, says more needs to be done to protect the health of children, who have more adverse reactions to medicine than adults. 'Unlike adults, children have developing bodies, which means they can respond to medicines differently than adults,' Dr Widagdo said. 'Secondly, because medicines are rarely trialled with children, the doses, safety and efficacy of certain medicines may not be fully known or always accurate.' In February, the federal government changed the number of paracetamol tablets per pack from 20 to 16 in general stores. The number is 50 in pharmacy medicine packs.
Forbes
29-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
The Most Important Human Skill: How Creativity Drives Innovation
Turning insights into innovation, with AI. getty Built on our ability to create (creativity), innovation remains an area where there are distinct human advantages when compared to AI. The ability to see new possibilities, access innovation, and discover novel solutions, regardless of an individual's role or an organization's industry, is a skill that AI does not possess. Innovation is proving to be the essential driver that allows companies to not only navigate boundaries but to thrive within them - assisted by the compute power of AI. According to The World Economic Forum, human innovation remains vital in the workplace, as AI can not replace human creativity. At least, not yet. With the ability to instantly access every cranny of the internet, as well as all of recorded history, it often appears that AI possesses creativity. David Cropley, a professor at the University of South Australia, says, "In our research we explored the relationship between AI and humans, finding that generative AI is not a replacement for human skills like creativity, but rather a supplement or a tool that we will need to manage." When confronted with the extraordinary output of AI, such as a rendering of the Mona Lisa looking at a smartphone, Copley admits that the picture has the appearance of creativity. 'But this does not mean that the AI is creative. Yes, the resulting picture is novel and effective, but it's not because AI had any special ability, but because I produced a creative prompt. The only thing the AI really did was save me the trouble of learning how to paint.' If necessity is the mother of invention, creativity is the father of innovation. Does that make AI the midwife? It seems that every metaphor has its limits. However, when it comes to unique human advantages, (aka: how you make progress in your career) it's wise to remember the power of innovation. There are four key areas, centered around innovation and creativity, that separate human beings from AI: Leah Cooper is the Chief Digital Officer at Sedgwick, a leading global provider of technology-enabled risk, benefits, and integrated business solutions. As a technologist, she echoes the importance of human innovation in collaboration with AI. Sedgwick helps organizations manage claims and mitigate risk, operating within a highly structured environment where adherence to regulations is as Cooper explains, creativity is central to their success. When it comes to AI, she says, "The reality is that we're talking about innovation inside of very bounded processes, and you can't be innovative if you can't be creative." Sedgwick's solutions empower examiners to navigate complex regulatory frameworks while simultaneously fostering creative problem-solving. This seemingly paradoxical approach is precisely where creativity shines. By embracing new ways of thinking, even within stringent guidelines, Sedgwick helps its clients achieve superior outcomes. "Creativity is about asking 'what if?' and then daring to find the answers. It's the essence of progress," Cooper shares. 'When we talk about creativity in this context, it's about solving a problem with a better solution, a more streamlined process,' with or without AI in the picture. 'AI doesn't do anything new," Drauschak says. "It can synthesize things from lots of different domains, and the labor of synthesizing things can seem to generate insight. Like a brilliant intern - with the ability to process billions of data points at once - it's going to come up with good ideas and contribute. But it's a really good idea to check on the work,' he explains. "The future belongs to those who create it" is a quote allegedly attributed to Abraham Lincoln. But, in the future of work, those who create the future faster will do so in collaboration with AI. Perhaps 'Trust, but verify' is another good reminder around working with AI. Understanding what AI can and can't do can help you to position your skills - and leverage the power of innovation. The advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents a transformative opportunity to amplify human creativity and accelerate innovation. The key for the future of work is being able to play to AI's strengths - like Drauschak's advanced intern model. Far from replacing human innovation, AI can serve as a powerful co-pilot on the journey of discovery and co-creation. By providing access to vast amounts of data, surfacing new insights, and accelerating research, AI augments human cognitive abilities, allowing individuals and teams to explore possibilities more rapidly and thoroughly than ever before. For leaders today, the question isn't when are we going to use AI to access greater innovation, it's how.
ABC News
19-05-2025
- General
- ABC News
How micro-feminism in the workplace can support your colleagues
Small acts of resistance known as "micro-feminism" can help women feel empowered at work. Micro-feminism began trending on TikTok last year when a video from Ashley Chaney went viral. She shared that whenever emailing a team, she will always addresses the women first. Since then, creators have continued to share examples ranging from practical to tongue-in-cheek, including asking men to take the notes in meetings, and holding doors open for male colleagues and insisting they enter first. Alice Rose is a gender and psychology researcher from the University of South Australia's Centre for Workplace Excellence and says although "maybe not highbrow", micro-feminism is a nod to systemic inequalities and a "small push back" against them. "The broader feminist movement is about equality for all, so feeling like you can belong to that movement, that you are in some way doing something that makes the world either a better place, it's small, but improves things … I think that can be really powerful," she says. A great example of when micro-feminism can be used, explains Ms Rose, is when a male colleague presents a female colleague's idea as his own. "The manager says, 'That's a great idea, James, I also liked it when Sarah said it three weeks ago.'" Sara Charlesworth is a professor emerita at RMIT's College of Business and Law. She says an obvious illustration of micro-feminism is recognising there are women in the room and making sure they feel heard. For example, actively asking for their input in meetings. Other examples include: While the more humorous cases of micro-feminism might not land for everyone, Ms Rose says "we have to bring some humour because the reality of [gender inequality] will weigh us down". Engaging in acts of micro-feminism is an opportunity to meet the three basic psychological needs of Self-Determination Theory, explains Ms Rose. Those are autonomy, competence and relatedness. "Acts of micro-feminism are a chance to exercise autonomy, build up confidence to be assertive and call things out, which leads to self-efficacy, and when you're supporting others in the workplace by speaking up on behalf of each other, that increases relatedness," Ms Rose says. Using micro-feminism to draw attention to inequality or sexism in the workplace can help highlight the issues to those who may not be aware, says Professor Charlesworth. "I often think of a former colleague who used to see all-male panels, and viewed it as his job to call that out by sending a quick email to the organisers saying, 'Have you thought about the optics?' "That's all he would say, but it was a way to get them thinking." She says for people who otherwise feel alienated in the workplace by everyday sexism, for example, it can be helpful to see other people are prepared to speak up. "It's certainly not going to change the world, but it is of great comfort, and in my experience, particularly with sexual harassment [research], it's empowering for women to know the problem is not them." Ms Rose encourages people to think about micro-feminism with "not just a gendered lens", but also in intersectional ways. "There are multiple aspects of a person's identity that bring with it privilege or marginalisation. "If we take an exclusively gendered lens, we might harm people of colour or people with disabilities or people of different faiths." She says men should feel encouraged to participate in acts of micro-feminism, too. What are you favourite acts of micro-feminism? Share with us: lifestyle@ Acts of micro-feminism are considered low risk, says Ms Rose, because they're unlikely to cost people their jobs or create "major backlash". "It's effective and gentle, and I hope it will encourage others to see bias." She says it's important that these micro acts remain micro. "Anything too big of a push back could attract negative attention [for an individual] — we don't want that. "There needs to be changes at a systemic level, they need to be done by people in groups, so people can stay safe while these goals are being achieved." If organisations aren't committed to gender equality, she says it can be really hard to make change. Professor Charlesworth agrees that while micro-feminism can help people feel seen and empowered, more needs to be done. "In the longer term, you're going to want some of those acts of resistance to become more structural or systemic."
