Library Clippings

UK campaign to reduce alcohol consumption

noreply@blogger.com (Adele Miles) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 03:02:00 +0000

Change4Life’s is a new nationwide campaign from the United Kingdom to warn people that drinking over the lower-risk alcohol guidelines can seriously impact their long-term health is now live. The campaign highlights that regularly drinking around two large glasses of wine or two strong pints of beer a day triple the risk of developing mouth cancer and double the risk of developing high blood pressure.

A new online calculator will be available on the Change4Life website to help people check how much they are drinking and work out whether they need to cut down.

British Journal of Surgery- trauma articles

noreply@blogger.com (Sally Toms) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 02:57:00 +0000

The BJS special issue on trauma, highlights established and emerging areas in injury care ranging from epidemiology to epigenetics. It does not attempt to cover the complete trauma chain of survival; rather, the collection reflects areas of current and ongoing interest, explores translational aspects of pathophysiology in trauma care, discusses changes in concepts and paradigms, and gives 'best evidence' even where this is still guided largely by expert opinion and limited data."

The Editorial, Leading Articles and Reviews are all free to read. Read these articles and more online now.

On the Radar

noreply@blogger.com (Sally Toms) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:37:00 +0000

On the Radar is a summary of some of the recent publications in the areas of safety and quality in health care. Recent content includes:
*Hospital Incident Reporting Systems Do Not Capture Most Patient Harm;
*Toward Improving Patient Safety Through Voluntary Peer-to-Peer Assessment;
*Effects of nurse staffing and nurse education on patient deaths in hospitals with different nurse work environments.

You may need to use your CIAP logon or contact your Library Staff to access the fulltext.

Drinking cultures and social occasions

noreply@blogger.com (Adele Miles) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 04:36:00 +0000

Drinking cultures and social occasions : Alcohol harms in the context of major public holidays and cultural events is a study conducted by Turning Point Drug and Alcohol Centre and Eastern Health in Victoria. It provides evidence that acute intoxication increased numbers of injuries due to assaults and traffic accidents on public holidays and other major celebratory events, as well as rises in incidents on the day before.

The authors conclude that a focus on specific events or occasions for public education may present good opportunities to target prevention and intervention, but there are limited resources, particularly during periods of high demand. Key experts identified the importance of communication and collaboration across services for planning, intervention and harm reduction.

Diabetes indicators in Australia

noreply@blogger.com (Adele Miles) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 04:19:00 +0000

Diabetes has increased significantly among the Australian population over the past 20 years, however the rate of diabetes-related deaths is falling, according to a report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), Diabetes Indicators in Australia. The report shows the prevalence of diabetes in the Australian population increased from 1.5% to 4.1% over the 20 years to 2007-08. However, diabetes-related deaths dropped by 18% between 1997 and 2007 and hospitalisations for lower limb amputations among people with diabetes have also been falling.

The report further shows that the rate of diabetes among Indigenous Australians was more than 3 times that of non-Indigenous Australians, and Indigenous Australians had higher rates of diabetes-related deaths than the general population. The prevalence of diabetes was also slightly higher among those born overseas and people living in regional and remote areas.

The AIHW has also released a new diabetes dashboard, providing easily accessible and navigable facts and figures on diabetes.

Child deaths - suicide intent

noreply@blogger.com (Adele Miles) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 04:10:00 +0000

The reasons why children and young people take their own lives are complex. Each death is unique and is influenced by a series of physical, psychological and environmental conditions and associated risk factors. There is evidence, however, that many young people provide an indication of their intent, prior to their suicide – usually to a significant person in their lives.

Child Deaths - Suicide intent is a paper from The Commission for Children and Young People, and it focuses on understanding suicidal intent: how it is communicated and to whom, what it can mean for young people at risk of suicide, and that any threat of suicide needs to be taken seriously.

The Commission’s review of the circumstances of deaths suggests that a number of children and young people had been communicating their suicidal intent in the weeks, months or years prior to their suicides. Some children were as young as 9 years of age when they first indicated they were suicidal.

Monitoring acute coronary syndrome - report

noreply@blogger.com (Adele Miles) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 03:30:00 +0000

Monitoring acute coronary syndrome using national hospital data : an information paper on trends and issues is a new report by the AIHW, which reviews the current algorithm for monitoring the incidence of Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in Australia. It presents a detailed analysis of hospitalisations for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and unstable angina.

Safety and quality in health care links

noreply@blogger.com (Adele Miles) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 03:26:00 +0000

ISQua is the International Society for Quality in Health Care. The ISQua Newsletter continues to have links to presentations from the 2011 ISQua Conference and the latest is one from Rajesh Aggarwal on the topic of whether medical students should practice on patients.
There is also a link to a blog convened by Karen Luxford on Patient-Centred Care which has some thought-provoking comments.

National Medication Management Plan

noreply@blogger.com (Adele Miles) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 03:22:00 +0000

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care have released a National Medication Management Plan for use throughout Australia. This is based on the Medication Management Plan developed by the Safe Medication management Unit of Queensland Health. It is for use in the reconciliation of patient medication to ensure the use of a standardised form.

For further information, including a training presentation, see the ACSQHC website.

Sources of Evidence database

noreply@blogger.com (Adele Miles) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 03:19:00 +0000

The Health Evidence Network (HEN) new database Sources of Evidence is now online: The database replaces the previous Sources of Evidence section on the HEN web site, allowing the user easier access to the selected resources. It provides easy access to a systematically updated collection of resources selected for their relevance, depending on factors such as WHO priority areas, current trends and geographical/strategical debates etc. It is not a collection of all materials produced by the organizations, nor is it a library.

Indigenous nutrition and governance resource sheets

noreply@blogger.com (Adele Miles) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 03:16:00 +0000

Two new resource sheets have been released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare this week:

Healthy lifestyle programs for physical activity and nutrition
This paper assesses the evidence regarding the effectiveness of physical activity and nutrition programs for Indigenous Australians, and identifies strategies that have been demonstrated to be effective. It also reviews strategies that have the potential to be effective, based on their short-term effect or their effectiveness in non-Indigenous populations.

Improving Indigenous community governance through strengthening Indigenous and government organisational capacity
This paper found that strategies that worked to strengthen Indigenous organisational capacity included long-term partnerships between government and Indigenous people, those that recognised local contexts and took a developmental approach, and those that had clarity of purpose.

UK heart attack deaths halved

noreply@blogger.com (Sally Toms) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 02:56:00 +0000

The death rate from heart attacks in England has halved in the last decade, says an Oxford University study.
"Determinants of the decline in mortality from acute myocardial infarction in England between 2002 and 2010 : linked national database study," published in the British Medical Journal, looked at more than 800,000 men and women who suffered heart attacks between 2002 and 2010.

The researchers found that fewer heart attacks occurred in later years and, of those that did occur, fewer were fatal, and concluded that improvements in NHS care and better prevention measures have contributed to the decline. National hospital and mortality data was used to analyse 840,175 men and women in England who had suffered a total of 861,134 heart attacks over eight years. Comparing 2002 with 2010, they found death rates falling by 50% in men (78.7 per 100,000 population to 39.2) and by 53% in women (37.3 per 100,000 to 17.7). A declining mortality rate was also seen in all age groups and for both sexes.

BMJ 2012;344:d8059

'State of the Art' in Airway Management

noreply@blogger.com (Sally Toms) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 02:49:00 +0000

This special issue of Anaesthesia, guest edited by J. J. Pandit and T. M Cook, includes a range of articles that demonstrate advances in the art and science of airways management. Both basic science and clinical techniques are discussed, guidelines are analysed and training and education are considered.

The option to read these articles for free ends March 25, 2012.
Anaesthesia volume 66, Issue Supplement S2. Pages 1-118, December 2011.

Chronic Pain: Empathy for Patients

noreply@blogger.com (Adele Miles) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 01:03:00 +0000

Doctors and other health professionals have been urged to have greater awareness of their own potential to inadvertently contribute to the stigmatisation of their chronic pain patients through negative empathy. Stigmatization of Patients with Chronic Pain: The Extinction of Empathy is a paper published recently in the journal Pain Medicine. It warns health professionals they could be unintentionally contributing to the negative community stereotypes of chronic pain sufferers and can be challenged when confronted with a clinical problem, such as chronic pain, that they cannot readily understand.

Pain Medicine is the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine and of the Faculty of Pain Medicine of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists and of the International Spine Intervention Society. Contact your library to access the fulltext of this article.

Pain Medicine; Volume 12, Issue 11, November 2011, Pages: 1637–1643, Milton Cohen, John Quintner, David Buchanan, Mandy Nielsen and Lynette Guy

Brain trauma guidelines

noreply@blogger.com (Adele Miles) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:50:00 +0000

The Brain Trauma Foundation has made freely available their Guidelines on traumatic brain injury and coma, as well as checklists and videos on concussion. The goal of the BTF is to better educate coaches, nurses, athletes, parents and all citizens about the importance of recognizing concussions and taking the appropriate steps to ensure people receive appropriate care. Research has proven that all brain damage does not occur at the moment of impact but rather evolves over the ensuing hours and days after the initial injury, due to brain swelling and inadequate oxygen and blood flow to the injured brain.

Australian Health Review free articles

noreply@blogger.com (Adele Miles) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:46:00 +0000

The Australian Health Review, which is the journal of the Australian Healthcare & Hospitals Association, is offering open access to the following articles:

Worker representation and participation guide

noreply@blogger.com (Adele Miles) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:38:00 +0000

The Worker Representation and Participation Guide published by Safe Work Australia, provides information on the representation and participation of workers in health and safety matters at the workplace, as well as guidance on resolving health and safety issues. It supports one of the objects of the Work Health and Safety Act (the WHS Act), which is to provide for fair and effective workplace representation, consultation, co-operation and issue resolution in relation to work health and safety.

Pain management in rheumatoid arthritis

noreply@blogger.com (Adele Miles) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:35:00 +0000

This month's Cochrane Reviews include 2 on pain management in rheumatoid arthritis:

Muscle relaxants for pain management in rheumatoid arthritis

Neuromodulators for pain management in rheumatoid arthritis

Australian National Cancer Statistics 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Adele Miles) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:32:00 +0000

The Asia-Pacific Journal of Clinical Oncology has extracted key data from the AIHW publication Cancer in Australia: an overview, 2010 and presented a summary of the key points.

Cancer has a greater overall impact on the health of Australians than any other disease group. On average, one in two Australians will develop cancer and one in five will die from it before the age of 85. This article provides an overview of statistics on cancer in Australia, focusing on incidence, mortality, survival, and participation in national cancer screening programs.

Problem gambling and health

noreply@blogger.com (Adele Miles) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 01:55:00 +0000

The Australian Greens political party has published Problem Gambling and Health, which outlines the debate around gambling reform in Australia and looks at some proposed reforms through health policy. The paper aims to present some concrete options for gambling reform as well as avenues for further investigation. The authors argue that continuing reforms, with a focus on public health, should complement but not supplant existing plans to regulate poker machines and other forms of gambling.

"The evidence is clear that problem gambling has important individual medical as well as population health aspects. If therapies exist that can be harnessed to limit the harm where population-level measures fail, they should be investigated as a matter of priority. For these reasons, the Greens feel the debate should also include areas for further research, more funding and most importantly a national approach for identifying the best programs that can bring help to where it is needed most."

Cochrane plain language summaries

noreply@blogger.com (Adele Miles) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 01:48:00 +0000

The Cochrane Summaries website aims to deliver "credible, accessible, and impartial information for patients and carers to improve understanding and promote shared decision making." Each Cochrane summary page displays the full plain language summary and provides links to the abstract, the full review on TheCochraneLibrary.com, other reviews by the same review group and to podcasts, journal clubs, Practical Evidence About Real Life Situations (PEARLS), and news items where these are available. It's a good place to start for an overview of a broad topic, and for referring to patients.

National Safety & Quality Health Service Standards

noreply@blogger.com (Adele Miles) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 01:39:00 +0000

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care has released a new edition of their National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards.

The Standards provide a nationally consistent and uniform set of measures of safety and quality for application across a wide variety of health care services. They propose evidence-based improvement strategies to deal with gaps between current and best practice outcomes that affect a large number of patients.

Work-related injuries in Australia 2009-10

noreply@blogger.com (Adele Miles) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 01:34:00 +0000

In 2009-10, 567 500 employees were injured while working but only 38 per cent of them received workers' compensation. Work-related injuries in Australia: Who did and didn't receive workers' compensation in 2009-10 is a report from Safe Work Australia which analyses the results of the Australian Bureau of Statistics Work-related Injuries Survey (Catalogue No. 6324.0) in relation to workers' compensation claims.

Some key findings of the report are that only 32% of casuals received workers’ compensation, and young workers were less likely to receive compensation compared with their older counterparts. 9% of employees were not aware of their rights to workers’ compensation or thought they were not eligible for it. The survey also found that 27% of employees who took five or more days off work due to their injury did not apply for workers’ compensation with many using sick leave instead.

New online Australian health publication

noreply@blogger.com (Adele Miles) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 01:32:00 +0000

The Health Reporter, an online publication dedicated to covering Australia’s health system, was launched this week. One of the founders, journalist Michael Riley, says the publication "was born of the belief by its owners that Australia’s health system is important and large enough to have its own daily online news site producing original news content and opinion". He sees their readership as being people from the health industry, policy makers, influencers, health innovators and those working in and around the health system.

New infection control implementation guides

noreply@blogger.com (Adele Miles) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 01:19:00 +0000

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care has developed three implementation guides for Australian hospitals and organisations to support the implementation of surveillance for Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia (SAB), Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) and Central Line Associated Bloodstream Infections (CLABSI).

Each of the guides detail interpretation of the definitions, flowcharts, inclusions and exclusion for each of the surveillance topics, as well a list of examples to assist with decisions on those more difficult cases. "The guides are not intended to replace or inform clinical management of infections or patient management but to standardise how key infection data is collected and reported. All comments and feedback will be reviewed and responded to as part of the consultation process."

Implementation guide SAB Consultation Edition November 2011
Implementation guide CDI Consultation Edition November 2011
Implementation guide CLABSI Consultation Edition November 2011