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Ministry of Health Library

Health Improvement and Innovation Digest

Issue 129 - 20 October 2016

Welcome to the fortnightly Health Improvement and Innovation Digest (HIID). 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.  You can use this link to subscribe to Grey Matter.

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 (New Zealand)

Developing a national approach to the measurement and reporting of pressure injuries
This report from the Health Quality & Safety Commission outlines a potential national approach to the measurement and reporting of pressure injuries.


Shorter Stays In Emergency Departments (New Zealand)

Comparing the implementation consequences of the immunisation and emergency department health targets in New Zealand
Over the last decade there has been considerable debate about the merits of targets as a policy instrument. The purpose of this paper, published in the Journal of Health Organization and Management, is to examine the implementation of two health targets that were cornerstones of New Zealand health policy between 2009 and 2012: immunisation rates for two-year-olds, and time to treatment, discharge or admission in hospital emergency departments.


Shorter Stays In Emergency Departments (International)

Process redesign for time-based emergency admission targets
Hospitals have used process redesign to increase the efficiency of the emergency department (ED) to cope with increasing demand. While there are published studies suggesting a positive outcome, recent reviews have reported that it is difficult to conclude that these approaches are effective as a result of substandard research methodology. The purpose of this paper, published Journal of Health Organization and Management, is to explore the perceptions of hospital staff on the impact of a process redesign initiative on quality of care.


Primary Health Care (New Zealand)

Changing the balance of social care for older people: simulating scenarios under demographic ageing in New Zealand
The demographic ageing of New Zealand society, as elsewhere in the developed world, has dramatically increased the proportion of older people (aged 65 years and over) in the population. This has major policy implications for the future organisation of social care. The objective of this study, published Health and Social Care in the Community, was to test the effects on social care use, first, of putative changes in the overall disability profile of older people, and second, of alterations to the balance of their care.

Access to primary health care services for Indigenous peoples: A framework synthesis
Indigenous peoples often find it difficult to access appropriate mainstream primary health care services. Securing access to primary health care services requires more than just services that are situated within easy reach. Ensuring the accessibility of health care for Indigenous peoples who are often faced with a vast array of additional barriers including experiences of discrimination and racism, can be complex. This framework synthesis, published in International Journal for Equity in Health, aimed to identify issues that hindered Indigenous peoples from accessing primary health care and then explore how, if at all, these were addressed by Indigenous health care services.


Primary Health Care (International)

Effect of a general practitioner management plan on health outcomes and hospitalisations in older patients with diabetes
Little is known about the impact of a general practitioner management plan (GPMP) on health outcomes of patients with diabetes. The aim of this study, published in Internal Medicine Journal, was to examine the impact of a GPMP on risk of hospitalisation for diabetes.


Primary Mental Health (International)

Psychosocial interventions for psychostimulant misuse
Psychostimulant misuse is a continuously growing medical and social burden. There is no evidence proving the efficacy of pharmacotherapy. Psychosocial interventions could be a valid approach to help patients in reducing or ceasing drug consumption. The objective of this Cochrane Review was to assess the effects of psychosocial interventions for psychostimulant misuse in adults.


Increased Immunisation (New Zealand)

Ethnic disparities in infectious disease hospitalisations in the first year of life in New Zealand
Infectious disease (ID) hospitalisation rates are increasing in New Zealand (NZ), especially in pre-school children, and Māori and Pacific people. The authors of this study, published in the Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, aimed to identify risk factors for ID hospitalisation in infancy within a birth cohort of NZ children, and to identify differences in risk factors between ethnic groups.


Increased Immunisation (International)

Antenatal pertussis vaccination: Are we implementing best evidence into practice?
Maternal immunisation is the most effective strategy to reduce infant morbidity and mortality from pertussis infection, and is now standard of care in many countries, including Australia. However, uptake cannot be guaranteed unless the barriers to implementing programs locally are understood. This review, published in Australian & New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, explores how education and resources for antenatal care providers, which embed vaccination within antenatal care, are integral to a successful antenatal vaccination program.


Better Help for smokers to Quit (New Zealand)

Reducing the nicotine content of combusted tobacco products sold in New Zealand
Large reductions in nicotine content could dramatically reduce reinforcement from and dependence on cigarettes. In this article, published in Tobacco Control, the authors summarise the potential benefits of reducing nicotine in combusted tobacco and address some of the common concerns.

Analysis of the logic and framing of a tobacco industry campaign opposing standardised packaging legislation in New Zealand
The tobacco industry routinely opposes tobacco control policies, often using a standard repertoire of arguments. Following proposals to introduce standardised packaging in New Zealand (NZ), British American Tobacco New Zealand (BATNZ) launched the 'Agree-Disagree' mass media campaign, which coincided with the NZ government's standardised packaging consultations. This study, published in Tobacco Control, examined the logic of the arguments presented and rhetorical strategies employed in the campaign.


Better Help for smokers to Quit (International)

Standardised tobacco packaging: a health policy case study of corporate conflict expansion and adaptation
The objective of this study, published in BMJ Open, was to investigate opposition to standardised tobacco packaging in the UK. To increase understanding of how transnational corporations are adapting to changes in their access to policymakers precipitated by Article 5.3 of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

Experimentation with e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation aid: a cross-sectional study in 28 European Union member states
The objective of this study, published in BMJ Open, was to describe patterns of experimentation with electronic cigarettes as a smoking cessation aid, their self-reported impact on smoking cessation and to identify factors associated with self-reported successful quit attempts within the European Union (EU).


Weight Management (International)

Brief Primary Care Obesity Interventions: A Meta-analysis
Although practice guidelines suggest that primary care providers working with children and adolescents incorporate BMI surveillance and counseling into routine practice, the evidence base for this practice is unclear. The objective of this study, published in Pediatrics was to determine the effect of brief, primary care interventions for pediatric weight management on BMI.

A Systematic Review of the Impact of Multi-Strategy Nutrition Education Programs on Health and Nutrition of Adolescents
The objective of this study, published in Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, was to update evidence on the impact of multi-strategy nutrition education interventions on adolescents' health and nutrition outcomes and behaviours.

Effects of group sports on health-related physical fitness of overweight youth: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Group sports interventions have been developed to improve health-related physical fitness of overweight/obese youth. However, its benefits are not systematically documented. This study, published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, synthesizes the evidence about the effects of group sports on health-related physical fitness of overweight/obese youth.


Childhood Obesity (International)

Improving the implementation of healthy eating, physical activity and/or obesity prevention policies, practices or programmes in childcare services
Despite the existence of effective interventions and best-practice guideline recommendations for childcare services to implement policies, practices and programmes to promote child healthy eating, physical activity and prevent unhealthy weight gain, many services fail to do so. The primary aim of this Cochrane Review was to examine the effectiveness of strategies aimed at improving the implementation of policies, practices or programmes by childcare services that promote child healthy eating, physical activity and/or obesity prevention.

Strength of obesity prevention interventions in early care and education settings: A systematic review
Given the high levels of obesity in young children, numbers of children in out-of-home care, and data suggesting a link between early care and education (ECE) participation and overweight/obesity, obesity prevention in ECE settings is critical. As the field has progressed, a number of interventions have been reviewed yet there is a need to summarize the data using more sophisticated analyses to answer questions on the effectiveness of interventions. The authors of this study, published in Preventive Medicine, conducted a systematic review of obesity prevention interventions in center-based ECE settings published between 2010 and 2015.


Ministry of Health - Manatū Hauora
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