Ministry of Health Library
Health Improvement and Innovation Digest
Issue 147 - 20 July 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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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
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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)
Cancer Care Coordination: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Over 30 Years of Empirical Studies
According to a landmark study by the Institute of Medicine, patients with cancer often receive poorly coordinated care in multiple settings from many providers. Lack of coordination is associated with poor symptom control, medical errors, and higher costs. The aims of this systematic review and meta-analysis, published in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine, was to synthesize the findings of studies addressing cancer care coordination, describe study outcomes across the cancer continuum, and obtain a quantitative estimate of the effect of interventions in cancer care coordination on service system processes and patient health outcomes.
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Shorter Stays In Emergency Departments (International)
Contributing factors of frequent use of the emergency department: A synthesis
Overcrowding in emergency departments is an issue that has a negative impact worldwide. As attendance in emergency departments has increased, the ability to provide critical services to patients suffering from actual medical emergencies in a timely manner has decreased as these departments are many times at or over capacity. One patient population whose negative influence has been researched with regard to their impact on the overcrowding issue is that of the frequent user. This synthesis, published in International Emergency Nursing, identified factors that frequent users state as their reasoning for using an emergency department.
Telehealth and the Re-Design of Emergency Medical Services
As patient numbers continue to rise Emergency Department's (ED's) are struggling to not only control patient wait times but also to maintain the quality of patient care. Improving patient flow through the ED has been a priority for many years with techniques such as Lean Six-Sigma being implemented specifically to help alleviate the problem. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement recently stated that the best opportunities to improving patient flow relate to the front-end of the ED, namely triage. This contribution, published in Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, examines the use of Telehealth initiatives at the front-end of the ED, specifically tele-consultation, to reduce patient loading, provide timelier healthcare (with improved patient outcomes) and reduce costs.
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More Heart and Diabetes Checks (New Zealand)
Use of and Beliefs About Mobile Phone Apps for Diabetes Self-Management: Surveys of People in a Hospital Diabetes Clinic and Diabetes Health Professionals in New Zealand
People with diabetes mellitus (DM) are using mobile phone apps to support self-management. The numerous apps available to assist with diabetes management have a variety of functions. Some functions, like insulin dose calculators, have significant potential for harm. This study, published in JMIR Mhealth Uhealth, aimed to establish whether people with DM in Wellington, New Zealand, use apps for DM self-management and evaluate desirable features of apps. It also explored whether health professionals (HPs) in New Zealand treating people with DM recommend apps to patients, the features HPs regard as important, and their confidence with recommending apps.
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Primary Health Care (New Zealand)
Barriers to sexually transmitted infection testing in New Zealand: a qualitative study
The objective of this study, published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, to investigate the barriers that prevent or delay people seeking a sexually transmitted infection (STI) test.
Breastfeeding peer support in rural New Zealand: the views of peer supporters
New Zealand has a high rate of breastfeeding initiation, declining sharply during the first six months. Although there is a range of support available to breastfeeding mothers, access can be problematic in rural areas. To extend the accessibility of breastfeeding support to rural women, a Primary Health Organisation established a breastfeeding peer supporters programme (Mum4Mum – M4M). The objective of this study, published in the Journal of Primary Health Care, was to gain an understanding of the impact of the breastfeeding peer supporters training programme on participants, as well as understanding how they utilised the information, both personally and in their communities.
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Primary Health Care (International)
Telephone consultations for general practice: a systematic review
The use of information technology, including internet- and telephone-based resources, is becoming an alternative and supporting method of providing many forms of services in a healthcare and health management setting. Telephone consultations provide a promising alternative and supporting service for face-to-face general practice care. The aim of this review, published in Systematic Reviews, was to utilize a systematic review to collate evidence on the use of telephone consultation as an alternative to face-to-face general practice visits.
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Better Help for smokers to Quit (International)
Evidence for a comprehensive approach to Aboriginal tobacco control to maintain the decline in smoking: an overview of reviews among Indigenous peoples
Tobacco smoking is a leading cause of disease and premature mortality among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) Australians. While the daily smoking prevalence among Indigenous Australians has declined significantly from 49% in 2001, it remains about three times higher than that of non-Indigenous Australians. This overview of systematic reviews, published in Systematic Reviews, aimed to synthesise evidence about reducing tobacco consumption among Indigenous peoples using a comprehensive framework for Indigenous tobacco control in Australia comprised of the National Tobacco Strategy (NTS) and National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan (NATSIHP) principles and priorities.
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Weight Management (New Zealand)
See food diet? Cultural differences in estimating fullness and intake as a function of plate size
Previous research has suggested that manipulations of plate size can have a direct impact on perception of food intake, measured by estimated fullness and intake. The present study, published in Appetite, involved 570 individuals across Canada, China, Korea, and New Zealand. It is the first empirical study to investigate cultural influences on perception of food portion as a function of plate size.
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Weight Management (International)
Controlling Your “App”etite: How Diet and Nutrition-Related Mobile Apps Lead to Behavior Change
In recent years, obesity has become a serious public health crisis in the United States. Although the problem of obesity is being addressed through a variety of strategies, the use of mobile apps is a relatively new development that could prove useful in helping people to develop healthy dietary habits. Though such apps might lead to health behaviour change, especially when relevant behaviour change theory constructs are integrated into them, the mechanisms by which these apps facilitate behaviour change are largely unknown. The purpose of this study, published in JMIR Mhealth Uhealth, was to identify which behaviour change mechanisms are associated with the use of diet- and nutrition-related health apps and whether the use of diet- and nutrition-related apps is associated with health behaviour change.
Behavioral Counseling to Promote a Healthful Diet and Physical Activity for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in Adults Without Cardiovascular Risk Factors: US Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement
Adults who adhere to national guidelines for a healthful diet and physical activity have lower rates of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality than those who do not. The objective of this study, published in JAMA, was to update the 2012 US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendation on behavioural counselling to promote a healthful diet and physical activity for cardiovascular disease prevention among adults without obesity who do not have cardiovascular risk factors.
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Childhood Obesity (International)
Community Policies and Programs to Prevent Obesity and Child Adiposity
Evidence regarding impact of community policies and programs (CPPs) to prevent child obesity is limited, and which combinations of strategies and components are most important is not understood. The Healthy Communities Study was an observational study to assess relationships of characteristics and intensity of CPPs with adiposity, diet, and physical activity in children, taking advantage of variation across the U.S. in community actions to prevent child obesity. The study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, examined the association of CPPs to prevent child obesity with measured BMI and waist circumference, hypothesizing that communities with more-comprehensive CPPs would have children with lower adiposity.
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Māori Innovation
Historical trajectories for reclaiming an indigenous identity in mental health interventions for Aotearoa/New Zealand—Māori values, biculturalism, and multiculturalism
The Treaty of Waitangi (1840), signed between Māori (indigenous people) and the British Crown is today narrated as the foundation of New Zealand’s sovereignty. This article, published in the
International Journal of Intercultural Relations, articulates how historical narratives such as the story of the encounter between Māori and Pākehā (European New Zealanders) and the signing and subsequent violation of the Treaty between them furnish symbolic resources and possibility spaces that construct, mobilize, and manage ethnic identities; deploy this historical narrative to make sense of the changes to Māori identity in the 20th century and its status and construction today; consider the implications of this historical trajectory in describing mental health situations for Māori people today, including how indigenous values, processes, and constructs might be employed in mainstream, bicultural, and indigenous spaces (from clinical therapy and community-based interventions to social welfare delivery).
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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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