Ministry of Health Library
Health Improvement and Innovation Digest
Issue 138 - 16 March 2017
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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If you have any queries, please email us at library@moh.govt.nz.
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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.
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Quality Improvement (New Zealand)
Hand Hygiene NZ – findings from the 2016 survey
This publication, from the Health Quality & Safety Commission, presents findings from the August 2016 survey conducted in district health boards (DHBs) to gain a better understanding of their approach in delivering the HHNZ programme.
Health system frameworks and performance indicators in eight countries: A comparative international analysis
Performance indicators are a popular mechanism for measuring the quality of healthcare to facilitate both quality improvement and systems management. Few studies make comparative assessments of different countries' performance indicator frameworks. This study, published in SAGE Open Medicine, identifies and compares frameworks and performance indicators used in selected Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development health systems to measure and report on the performance of healthcare organisations and local health systems. Countries involved are Australia, Canada, Denmark, England, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland and the United States.
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Shorter Waits for Cancer Treatment (New Zealand)
Individualised follow-up booklets improve recall and satisfaction for cancer patients
The New Zealand Provisional Standards of Service Provision for Cancer recommend providing patients with written information about their diagnosis, treatment and follow up. This project, published in the New Zealand Medical Journal, aimed to develop and evaluate a resource that could be used to provide essential information to patients who were nearing completion of the surgical treatment of their cancer.
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Shorter Stays In Emergency Departments (New Zealand)
New Zealand Healthline call data used to measure the effect of travel time on the use of the emergency department
Telephone triage is a health tool increasingly used to connect geographically distant populations. Such services are also utilised to address issues of Emergency Department (ED) overuse. New Zealand's tele-triage service, Healthline, has existed since 2001 but is yet to be the focus of analysis. This research, published in Social Science & Medicine, sought to understand the role that travel time to ED had upon Healthline users' compliance with telephone advice.
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Primary Health Care (New Zealand)
Family-centred interventions by primary healthcare services for Indigenous early childhood wellbeing in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States: a systematic scoping review
Primary healthcare services in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States have embraced the concept of family-centred care as a promising approach to supporting and caring for the health of young Indigenous children and their families. This scoping review, published in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, assesses the quality of the evidence base and identifies the published literature on family- centred interventions for Indigenous early childhood wellbeing.
Mobilising culture against domestic violence in migrant and ethnic communities: practitioner perspectives from Aotearoa/New Zealand
Studies on domestic violence in ethnic minority communities highlight that social norms, family structures and cultural practices are among the key triggers of violence against women. Not surprisingly, most anti-violence interventions in these communities aim to redeem women from the oppressive features of these cultures. More recently, however, emergent scholarship advocates mobilising, rather than erasing, culture within existing anti-violence strategies. This paper, published in Health and Social Care in the Community, explores the nature of culturally informed interventions used by front-line workers.
First Presentation Acute Rheumatic Fever is Preventable in a Community Setting: A School Based Intervention
Robust evidence is lacking for community initiatives to prevent first presentation acute rheumatic fever (ARF) by group A streptococcal (GAS) pharyngitis treatment. This study, published in the Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, measured the effect of introducing a sore throat clinic program on first presentation ARF.
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Primary Health Care (International)
Support for healthy breastfeeding mothers with healthy term babies
There is extensive evidence of important health risks for infants and mothers related to not breastfeeding. In 2003, the World Health Organization recommended that infants be breastfed exclusively until six months of age, with breastfeeding continuing as an important part of the infant’s diet until at least two years of age. However, current breastfeeding rates in many countries do not reflect this recommendation. The objective of this Cochrane Review was to describe forms of breastfeeding support which have been evaluated in controlled studies, the timing of the interventions and the settings in which they have been used.
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Primary Mental Health (New Zealand)
Integrative review of older adult loneliness and social isolation in Aotearoa/New Zealand
The objective of this study, published in the Australasian Journal on Ageing, was to conduct an integrative review of empirical studies of loneliness for older people in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Loneliness is a risk factor for older people's poor physical and cognitive health, serious illness and mortality. A national survey showed loneliness rates vary by gender and ethnicity.
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Primary Mental Health (International)
Preventing Youth from Falling Through the Cracks Between Child/Adolescent and Adult Mental Health Services: A Systematic Review of Models of Care
Optimizing the transition between child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) and adult mental health services (AMHS) is a priority for healthcare systems. The purpose of this systematic review, published in the Community Mental Health Journal, is to identify and compare models of care that may be used to facilitate the transition from CAMHS to AMHS, and discuss trends and implications to inform future research and practice.
Efficacy of Self-guided Internet-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in the Treatment of Depressive Symptoms: A Meta-analysis of Individual Participant Data
Self-guided internet-based cognitive behavioural therapy (iCBT) has the potential to increase access and availability of evidence-based therapy and reduce the cost of depression treatment. The objective of this study, published in JAMA Psychiatry, was to estimate the effect of self-guided iCBT in treating adults with depressive symptoms compared with controls and evaluate the moderating effects of treatment outcome and response.
Closing the False Divide: Sustainable Approaches to Integrating Mental Health Services into Primary Care
Mental disorders account for 25% of all health-related disability worldwide. More patients receive treatment for mental disorders in the primary care sector than in the mental health specialty setting. However, brief visits, inadequate reimbursement, deficits in primary care provider (PCP) training, and competing demands often limit the capacity of the PCP to produce optimal outcomes in patients with common mental disorders. This study, published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, explores the randomized trials have shown the benefits of collaborative care (CC) models for improving outcomes of patients with depression and anxiety.
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Key Ministry of Health Publications
Disability Information and Advisory Services and Needs Assessment and Service Coordination Review – A Proposed Design and Framework
This report is the result of the Ministry of Health's independent review, undertaken by Sapere Research Group, of disability information advisory services (DIAS) and needs assessment service coordination (NASC) functions. The report will help inform the work the Ministry is doing over the next few years to transform the disability support system. It identifies how the interface between disabled people and support services can be improved to better support people to have a good life.
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