Kim Oates
Kim Oates is an Emeritus Professor of Paediatrics, a former CEO of the Children’s Hospital at Westmead, a former President of the International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect and an elected Founding member, International Academy of Quality and Safety.
Kim's recent articles
8 January 2024
Professionalism and compassion in healthcare
We dont have to take off our compassion, or our ability to show it, when we drape a stethoscope around our neck. The need for doctors to be professional is not synonymous with being emotionless.
19 October 2022
Bringing Australian children here from Syrian refugee camps is just the start
Our government is doing the right thing. But bringing Australian children in Syria to Australia without an individualised long-term plan of support for each child will achieve little. The complexity of the task to help these children must not be underestimated. It will be a long process and a long-term investment, but it will be worth it.
3 April 2022
Children suffer the most in war
The nightly television coverage of the war in Ukraine is increasingly bleak. We see a distraught mother who has lost all her possessions. The camera moves to her three-year-old daughter in a pink coat, playing while her mother speaks. She seems happy enough. We are tempted to think At least the children are OK. But the children are not OK. In war it is the children who suffer the most.
1 August 2021
We aren't just laggards in Covid immunisation
I recently watched the superb film Jimmy Carter, Rock & Roll President. It is available on SBS. Its not about politics. Its about the man. Watch it, enjoy the fabulous music and interviews with the music legends he befriended. Then weep. Weep for a time when honesty, integrity, self-effacement, and sincere humility were the consistent hallmarks of a fine political leader.
20 January 2021
Australian government's refusal to recognise 2017 Nobel Peace Prize winners a stain on decency
On 22 January, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons will put nuclear weapons in the same category as other banned inhumane weapons including biologic and chemical weapons, cluster bombs and antipersonnel land mines. This was largely the work of ICAN, the International Campaign Against Nuclear Arms.
23 December 2020
Lets all shout out for our nurses in 2021
During COVID-19, it is the nurses who are predominantly in the front line. Doctors can come into a ward, see patients and then move on. The nurses stay there. They are the ones most exposed to infection. They put their lives on the line. And they are true professionals, to be valued and respected. Lets celebrate them
15 July 2020
In this pandemic, children will suffer far more than we realise
We are told, quite correctly, that one of the few bright spots of the Covid-19 pandemic is that children are at significantly lower risk of being infected, and less likely to have a severe illness should they become infected. But this is only part of the story.
11 May 2020
KIM OATES. Anxiety and the Etiquette of Walking
When we meet people walking towards us, have you noticed how anxious many look? Anxiety can be damaging to mental health. What can we do to help reduce damaging anxiety?
30 March 2020
KIM OATES.-COVID-19. Good news and bad news for children
There is good news for most children and bad news for some in this pandemic. Unlike most epidemics, where those at both ends of the age spectrum are more likely to succumb, the good news is that we are seeing a smaller proportion of deaths and infections in children.
11 February 2020
KIM OATES. Ten questions patients should ask their doctor.
Although patients are the people who have the best knowledge of themselves and their particular concerns and who obviously have a strong interest in achieving a good outcome, they are often reluctant to ask their doctor questions.
25 September 2019
KIM OATES. An insidious tragedy
Imagine what would happen if a fully laden 747 airliner crashed in Australia every week for a whole year. There would be public outcry, an outrage, swift political action and an enquiry at the highest level, possibly a Royal Commission.
2 November 2018
KIM OATES. If we listened to children the world would be a better place
Last week was National Childrens week, with a theme that children's views and opinions should be respected, that they have a right to be heard.
14 September 2018
KIM OATES. Viewpoint: "Always say something positive about the child" (Berry Brazelton 1918-2018)
Over 40 years ago, I was fortunate to do some of my paediatric training with Berry Brazelton. He wasnt famous then, but there was something about him that set him apart from the purely organic focus of most of the senior staff at Boston Childrens Hospital. He was interested in babies as individuals with their own sets of skills. Here was a paediatrician prepared to question the status quo about the abilities of infants and young children who based his views, not on the prevailing dogma, but on careful observation. He was the first to recognise that a baby is...
19 December 2017
KIM OATES. The Royal Commission, a beginning, not an end.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is testament to both the evil in our society and to the courage and determination of many of the victims. But we need to be aware that most child sexual abuse occurs in places other than churches and institutions.
29 August 2017
KIM OATES. Infections in healthcare: common but eminently preventable
Infections acquired in hospitals are a major contributor not only to avoidable deaths but also to the cost of health care. Among preventative measures the simple but often neglected practice of hand-washing stands out.
7 August 2017
KIM OATES. The health gap.
The problem is . that we have been pursuing economic policy that benefits the one per cent. Trickle-down economics is defunct and does not work. Politics quickly departs from evidence into the realm of ideology ..... But evidence must be a key part of the conversation. One senior Conservative politician in Britain put it to me that my agenda is closer to Social Democrat than to Conservative thinking ...... I make my case on the evidence, not on prior political beliefs. These quotes are from Michael Marmot's book, The Health Gap. Some may find them controversial, or...
9 January 2017
KIM OATES. Respecting patients and keeping them safe
Some words of advice from Kim Oates for doctors and other health workers. The patient is the reason for health services. Health workers are means to that end.
20 January 2016
Kim Oates. Excuse me doctor, have you washed your hands?
Imagine you are a patient in hospital. The doctor draws back the bed sheet to examine your abdomen. Before you are touched, you say Excuse me doctor, have you washed your hands? Would you dare? Would you be too embarrassed, awkward or even afraid to ask? Would you worry that it would be rude to ask, or that it could undermine the doctors authority? Would you risk upsetting the person taking care of you if it led to your doctor taking offence? Or you might think its just not your role to ask this type of question. Hospitals...
1 January 2016
Kim Oates. Don't forget children when talking about domestic violence
Children are victims of domestic violence too. Last week the Children's Commissioner released this year'schildren's rights report. It provided new data about the prevalence of child physical and sexual abuse and their links with domestic violence. Christmas, traditionally a time of peace and goodwill is sadly, a time of increased domestic violence, thought to be due to increased alcohol consumption and family gatherings where there can be the potential to cause resentment and open old wounds. Our awareness of the extent of domestic violence has been slow in coming. It parallels the way awareness of child sexual...
16 February 2015
Kim Oates. The Forgotten Children
I have just read the report of the Australian Human Rights Commission on Children in Detention The Forgotten Children. It is clear, factual and unemotional. It is supported by evidence and is non-partisan. It is not on the side of any political party. It is on the side of children. It made me ashamed about what is being done to these children. It made me sad that our nation can be so cruel. It made me angry about the way the two main political parties responded on the release of the report. The Labour Party was largely silent,...
8 April 2013
Child sexual abuse: who are the abusers? Guest blogger, Professor Kim Oates
The awareness of the existence of child sex abuse, particularly its frequency, has only occurred in relatively recent times. Now, we read or view daily stories about it. Whether this widespread public awareness of the problem has done much to prevent it and to help the victims is questionable, but it is better than our previous state of ignorance. Child sex abuse is not a new phenomenon. There is no good evidence that it is more common now than in the past. However, before it started to be studied and publicised in the 1970s, it was hardly ever recognised...