Ministry of Health Library
Health Improvement and Innovation Digest
Issue 195 - 18 July 2019
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@health.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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Shorter Waits for Cancer Treatment (International)
Diagnostic spectrum and time intervals in Sweden’s first diagnostic center for patients with nonspecific symptoms of cancer
Fast-track referral is an increasingly used method for diagnostic evaluation of patients suspected of having cancer. This approach is challenging and not used as often for patients with only nonspecific symptoms. In order to expedite the diagnostics for these patients, the authors established Sweden’s first Diagnostic Center (DC) focusing on outcomes related to diagnoses and diagnostic time intervals.The aim of this study, published in Acta Oncologica, was to investigate the diagnostic spectrum, diagnostic time intervals, feasibility, and patient satisfaction at the DC.
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Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes (New Zealand)
Insulin pump initiation and education for children and adolescents – a qualitative study of current practice in New Zealand
Worldwide, the use of insulin pumps for the management of type 1 diabetes is increasing. There are no national or international published guidelines and few guidance recommendations detailing the education and training required to commence insulin pump therapy. The aim of this study, published in the Journal of Diabetes & Metabolic Disorders, was to describe current clinical practice regarding initiation of insulin pump therapy in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes in New Zealand.
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Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes (International)
Prevention of of cardiovascular diseases in children and adolescents
The atherosclerotic alterations that are the basis of cardiovascular diseases can start already in childhood. For this reason the prevention of cardiovascular diseases should be undertaken very early both in the general population and, in a targeted manner, in subjects at cardiovascular risk. The purpose of this review, published in High Blood Pressure & Cardiovascular Prevention, is to indicate lines of intervention for cardiovascular prevention in children and adolescents.
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Primary Health Care (New Zealand)
Barriers to pharmacist prescribing: a scoping review comparing the UK, New Zealand, Canadian and Australian experiences
Legislation supporting pharmacist prescribing (PP) has been implemented in the United Kingdom (UK), Canada and New Zealand (NZ); however, to date, Australian pharmacists have not been extended prescribing rights. The purpose of this review, published in the International Journal of Pharmacy Practice, was to describe the barriers to pharmacist prescribing found in the literature from the UK, Canada, NZ and Australia, and examine the implications of these for the development of PP in Australia.
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Better Help for Smokers to Quit (New Zealand)
'Smokefree 2025’ goal awareness and support among 14 and 15-year-olds: results from the 2018 Youth Insights Survey
In 2011, the New Zealand Government committed to an aspirational goal of making New Zealand a Smokefree nation by 2025, with the aim to reduce smoking prevalence to less than 5%. This brief report, published by the Health Promotion Agency, describes the awareness and support for the ‘Smokefree 2025’ goal among 14 and 15-year-olds who participated in the 2018 Youth Insights Survey (YIS). It also shows trends in awareness of the ‘Smokefree 2025’ goal by ethnicity between 2012 and 2018.
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Better Help for Smokers to Quit (International)
What works in smoking cessation interventions for cancer survivors? A meta-analysis
Published in Health Psychology, the authors of this study conducted a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials designed to promote smoking cessation among cancer survivors to (a) assess how effective interventions are at increasing quit rates, and (b) determine which intervention strategies are associated with effect sizes
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Key Ministry of Health Publications
Medicinal Cannabis Scheme consultation
The Ministry of Health has opened public consultation on the proposals for the medicinal cannabis regulations needed to support the Medicinal Cannabis Scheme. Consultation closes Wednesday 7 August 2019 at 5 pm.
Suicide Facts: 2016 data (provisional)
This 2016 data is provisional. In New Zealand, a death is only officially classified as suicide by the coroner on completion of the coroner’s inquiry. Only those deaths determined as ‘intentionally self-inflicted’ after the inquiry will receive a final verdict of suicide.
Gambling behaviours and associated risk factors for 17 year old Pacific youth
This study, by the Auckland University of Technology, Gambling and Addictions Research Centre, is a component of the Pacific Islands Families Study, which is a longitudinal cohort study of a birth cohort of 1,398 Pacific infants who were recruited into the study from a South Auckland hospital in 2000. In 2017, the cohort children were 17 years old and an extensive set of gambling-related questions was included in their survey. Six hundred and thirty-two youth were surveyed.
SPGeTTI: A Smartphone-Based Problem Gambling Evaluation And Technology Testing Initiative
This study, by the National Institute for Health Innovation (NIHI), Auckland UniServices Ltd, aimed to test the effectiveness of a smart phone app to support people with a gambling problem to promote abstinence or avoid relapse, in particular for those using electronic gambling machines (EGMs or pokies). The research is an example of the Ministry investing in research exploring the use of new technology to promote gambling harm minimisation.
Evaluation report: The Sorted Whānau Financial Capability pilot
This report, by Malatest International, is an evaluation of the Sorted Whānau programme. The programme was developed by Raukura Hauora O Tainui (Raukura), the Commission for Financial Capability (CFFC) and Malatest International (Malatest). It is based on emerging evidence that financial literacy, education and understanding may encourage improved financial decision-making and longer-term behaviour change for harmful gamblers and those affected by harmful gambling.
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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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