Ministry of Health Library
Health Improvement and Innovation Digest
Issue 139 - 30 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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Shorter Waits for Cancer Treatment (International)
Implementation of evidence-based patient navigation programs
Patient navigation refers to a direct patient care role that links patients with clinical providers and their support system and provides individualized support during cancer care, ensuring that patients have access to the knowledge and resources necessary to complete recommended treatment. This study, published in Acta Oncologica, explores patient navigation in cancer screening, diagnosis, and during treatment.
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Shorter Stays In Emergency Departments (International)
Emergency Department Holding Orders
Holding orders help transition admitted emergency department (ED) patients to hospital beds. The aim of this study, published in the Journal of Emergency Medicine, was to describe the effect of ED holding orders.
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More Heart and Diabetes Checks (International)
Risk scoring for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease
The current paradigm for cardiovascular disease (CVD) emphasises absolute risk assessment to guide treatment decisions in primary prevention. Although the derivation and validation of multivariable risk assessment tools, or CVD risk scores, have attracted considerable attention, their effect on clinical outcomes is uncertain. The objective of this Cochrane Review was to assess the effects of evaluating and providing CVD risk scores in adults without prevalent CVD on cardiovascular outcomes, risk factor levels, preventive medication prescribing, and health behaviours.
Primary prevention of cardiovascular disease: A review of contemporary guidance and literature
Cardiovascular disease is a significant and ever-growing problem in the United Kingdom, accounting for nearly one-third of all deaths and leading to significant morbidity. The review, published in JRSM Cardiovascular Disease, explores the guidance and literature around the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease.
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Primary Health Care (New Zealand)
Minding the Gap: Factors Associated With Primary Care Coordination of Adults in 11 Countries
Care coordination has been identified as a key strategy in improving the effectiveness, safety, and efficiency of the US health care system. The objective of this study, published in Annals of Family Medicine, was to determine whether population or health care system issues are associated with primary care coordination gaps in the United States and other high-income countries (including New Zealand).
Recovering from disaster: Comparing the experiences of nurses and general practitioners after the Canterbury, New Zealand earthquake sequence 2010-2011
This paper, published in Nursing & Health Sciences, summarizes, elaborates upon, and contrasts the findings of two research projects that explored how general practitioners and nurses coped with the dual challenge of personal and work demands following the earthquakes in Canterbury, New Zealand, in 2010 and 2011.
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Primary Health Care (International)
What do young Australian women want (when talking to doctors about contraception)?
Access to most contraceptives in Australia requires a prescription from a doctor, and it has been shown that doctors can influence women’s decision-making with respect to contraception. However, little research has documented how women experience their interactions with doctors within the context of a contraceptive consultation. This study, published in BMC Family Practice, seeks to understand how such experiences may contribute to our knowledge of factors that may influence women’s contraceptive decisions more broadly.
Systematic meta-review of supported self-management for asthma: a healthcare perspective
Supported self-management has been recommended by asthma guidelines for three decades; improving current suboptimal implementation will require commitment from professionals, patients and healthcare organisations. The Practical Systematic Review of Self-Management Support (PRISMS) meta-review and Reducing Care Utilisation through Self-management Interventions (RECURSIVE) health economic review were commissioned to provide a systematic overview of supported self-management to inform implementation. The authors of this study, published in BMC Medicine, sought to investigate if supported asthma self-management reduces use of healthcare resources and improves asthma control.
Preventive healthcare for young children: A systematic review of interventions in primary care
High rates of preventable health problems amongst children in economically developed countries have prompted governments to seek pathways for early intervention. This systematic review, published in Preventive Medicine, explores the literature to discover what primary care-targeted interventions increased preventive healthcare.
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Weight Management (International)
Can Communicating Personalised Disease Risk Promote Healthy Behaviour Change? A Systematic Review of Systematic Reviews
The assessment and communication of disease risk that is personalised to the individual is widespread in healthcare contexts. Despite several systematic reviews of RCTs, it is unclear under what circumstances that personalised risk estimates promotes change in four key health-related behaviours: smoking, physical activity, diet and alcohol consumption. The present research, published in Annals of Behavioral Medicine, aims to systematically identify, evaluate and synthesise the findings of existing systematic reviews.
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Childhood Obesity (New Zealand)
General practitioners and preconception weight management in New Zealand
Childhood obesity is a growing concern internationally and a top priority for the World Health Organization. Preconception overweight, obesity and excess gestational weight gain significantly increase childhood obesity risk. Optimising preconception weight is a key preventative measure toward reducing childhood obesity. In 2014, the New Zealand (NZ) Ministry of Health released guidance for health practitioners on healthy weight gain in pregnancy in an effort to reduce the burden of childhood obesity. The aim of this study, published in Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, was to explore the knowledge and practice of NZ general practitioners (GPs) regarding preconception and gestational weight management.
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