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Ministry of Health Library

Health Improvement and Innovation Digest

Issue 163 - 15 March 2018

Welcome to the fortnightly Health Improvement and Innovation Digest (formerly the HIIRC digest). The Digest has links to key evidence of interest, with access to new content arranged by topic.

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Have you heard about Grey Matter?

We'd like to introduce you to another newsletter that the Ministry of Health Library prepares.  The Grey Matter newsletter provides monthly access to a selection of recent NGO, Think Tank, and International Government reports related to health. Information is arranged by topic, allowing readers to quickly find their areas of interest.  If you'd like to subscribe to Grey Matter, email library@moh.govt.nz

Article access

For articles that aren't open access, contact your DHB library, or organisational or local library for assistance in accessing the full text. If your organisation has a subscription, you may be able to use the icon under full text links in PubMed to access the full article.

Quality Improvement (International)

Are antimicrobial stewardship programs effective strategies for preventing antibiotic resistance? A systematic review
Antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) have been proposed as a solution for the global burden of antibiotic resistance, despite the lack of evidence on the subject. The aim of this study, published in the American Journal of Infection Control, was to analyse the role of ASPs in reducing bacterial resistance to antibiotics in hospital settings.

Improving adherence to Standard Precautions for the control of health care-associated infections
'Standard Precautions' refers to a system of actions, such as using personal protective equipment or adhering to safe handling of needles, that healthcare workers take to reduce the spread of germs in healthcare settings such as hospitals and nursing homes. The objective of this Cochrane Review was to assess the effectiveness of interventions that target healthcare workers to improve adherence to Standard Precautions in patient care.


Shorter Waits for Cancer Treatment (International)

Patient navigators for people with chronic disease: A systematic review
People with chronic diseases experience barriers to managing their diseases and accessing available health services. Patient navigator programs are increasingly being used to help people with chronic diseases navigate and access health services. The objective of this review, published in PLoS One, was to summarize the evidence for patient navigator programs in people with a broad range of chronic diseases, compared to usual care.

Effects of patient navigation on satisfaction with cancer care: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Patient navigation (PN) is a model of healthcare coordination designed to reduce barriers to achieving optimal health outcomes. This systematic review and meta-analysis, published in Supportive Care in Cancer, evaluated whether patient navigation is associated with higher patient satisfaction with cancer care.


Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes (New Zealand)

Accuracy of point-of-care HbA1c testing in pregnant women
In New Zealand, it is recommended that all pregnant women have a haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) test performed with their booking antenatal bloods to identify previously unrecognised diabetes. However, screening rates in some groups are low. Use of a point-of-care device may improve compliance with screening. The aim of this study, published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, was to assess the accuracy of the COBAS b101 point-of-care system referenced against a laboratory method, for measurement of HbA1c levels in pregnant women.


Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes (International)

Can doctors and patients correctly estimate cardiovascular risk? A cross-sectional study in primary care
Accurate cardiovascular risk estimations by patients and doctors are important as these affect health behaviour and medical decision making. This study, published in BMJ Open, aimed to determine if doctors and patients were accurately estimating the absolute cardiovascular risk of patients in primary care.


Primary Mental Health (New Zealand)

Wellbeing and Mental Distress in Aotearoa New Zealand: Snapshot 2016
This snapshot report, published by the Health Promotion Agency, summarises key findings from the 2016 Mental Health Monitor and 2016 Health and Lifestyles Survey.


Primary Mental Health (International)

Effectiveness of brief alcohol interventions in primary care populations
Excessive drinking is a significant cause of mortality, morbidity and social problems in many countries. The objective of this Cochrane Review was to assess the effectiveness of screening and brief alcohol intervention to reduce excessive alcohol consumption in hazardous or harmful drinkers in general practice or emergency care settings.

A personalized intervention to prevent depression in primary care: cost-effectiveness study nested into a clustered randomized trial
Depression is viewed as a major and increasing public health issue, as it causes high distress in the people experiencing it and considerable financial costs to society. Efforts are being made to reduce this burden by preventing depression. A critical component of this strategy is the ability to assess the individual level and profile of risk for the development of major depression. This paper, published in BMC Medicine, presents the cost-effectiveness of a personalized intervention based on the risk of developing depression carried out in primary care, compared with usual care.


Better Help for smokers to Quit (New Zealand)

Smoking cessation therapy in Australian and New Zealand intensive care units: a multicentre point prevalence study
The objective of this study, published in Critical Care and Resuscitation, was to obtain an accurate estimate of smoking prevalence and smoking cessation support practices, including nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), in Australian and New Zealand intensive care units (ICUs).

E-cigarette use in New Zealand-a systematic review and narrative synthesis
This study, published in the New Zealand Medical Journal, aimed to systematically review the literature on e-cigarette use in New Zealand, focusing on prevalence, rationale for use, perceptions and exposure to the devices.


Weight Management (International)

Nutritional labelling for healthier food or non-alcoholic drink purchasing and consumption
Nutritional labelling is advocated as a means to promote healthier food purchasing and consumption, including lower energy intake. Internationally, many different nutritional labelling schemes have been introduced. There is no consensus on whether such labelling is effective in promoting healthier behaviour. The objective of this Cochrane Review was to assess the impact of nutritional labelling for food and non-alcoholic drinks on purchasing and consumption of healthier items.

Weight management programmes: Re-analysis of a systematic review to identify pathways to effectiveness
Previous systematic reviews of weight management programmes (WMPs) have not been able to account for heterogeneity of effectiveness within programmes using top-down behavioural change taxonomies. This could be due to overlapping causal pathways to effectiveness (or lack of effectiveness) in these complex interventions. This study, published in Health Expectations, used a Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) can help identify these overlapping pathways.


Childhood Obesity (New Zealand)

Prenatal stress exposure and early childhood BMI: Exploring associations in a New Zealand context
The primary purpose of this study, published in the American Journal of Human Biology, was to examine associations between prenatal objective vulnerability and subjective stress, and investigate the relationships between prenatal vulnerability and subjective stress and early childhood BMI at 24- and 54- months of age after controlling for covariates.


Childhood Obesity (International)

The longitudinal relationship between community programmes and policies to prevent childhood obesity and BMI in children: the Healthy Communities Study
Although a national epidemic of childhood obesity is apparent, how community-based programmes and policies (CPPs) affect this outcome is not well understood. This study, published in Pediatric Obesity, examined the longitudinal relationship between the intensity of CPPs in 130 communities over 10 years and body mass index (BMI) of resident children.


The information available on or through this newsletter does not represent Ministry of Health policy. It is intended to provide general information to the health sector and the public, and is not intended to address specific circumstances of any particular individual or entity.

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