Ministry of Health Library

Health Improvement and Innovation Digest

Issue 213 - 16 July 2020

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.

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.

Māori Innovation

Chronic conditions in the community: Preventative principles and emerging practices among Māori health services providers
The pressing chronic conditions prevention needs of Māori are yet to be adequately addressed using mainstream approaches. This study, published in the Health Promotion Journal of Australia, investigated how Māori health service providers (MHSP) are positioning themselves to better meet the chronic conditions prevention needs of Māori.

Bereaved Families' Perspectives of End-of-Life Care. Towards a Bicultural Whare Tapa Wha Older person's Palliative Care Model
The views of family carers who provide end of life care to people of advanced age are not commonly known. The authors of this study, published in Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology, conducted a bicultural study with bereaved New Zealand Maori (indigenous) and non-indigenous family carers who, on behalf of their older family member, reflected on the end of life circumstances and formal and informal care experienced by the older person.

Health Equity (New Zealand)

What do indigenous communities want from their surgeons and surgical services: A systematic review
This systematic review, published in Surgery, was undertaken to define the factors determining the optimal and most productive relationship among indigenous communities, surgeons, and providers of surgical services.

Reaching out to reduce health inequities for Māori youth
This paper, published in the International Nursing Review, describes an initiative facilitating comprehensive assessment and delivery of brief interventions for Māori youth in Northland, New Zealand.

Quality Improvement (International)

Repositioning for pressure injury prevention in adults
A pressure injury (PI), also referred to as a 'pressure ulcer', or 'bedsore', is an area of localised tissue damage caused by unrelieved pressure, friction, or shearing on any part of the body. Immobility is a major risk factor and manual repositioning a common prevention strategy. The objective of this Cochrane Review was to assess the clinical and cost effectiveness of repositioning regimens(i.e. repositioning schedules and patient positions) on the prevention of PI in adults regardless of risk in any setting.

The effectiveness of continuous quality improvement for developing professional practice and improving health care outcomes: a systematic review
Efforts to improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of health care provision have often focused on changing approaches to the way services are organized and delivered. Continuous quality improvement (CQI), an approach used extensively in industrial and manufacturing sectors, has been used in the health sector. Despite the attention given to CQI, uncertainties remain as to its effectiveness given the complex and diverse nature of health systems. This review, published in Implementation Science, assesses the effectiveness of CQI across different health care settings, investigating the importance of different components of the approach.

Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes (New Zealand)

How do we support walking prescriptions for type 2 diabetes management? Facilitators and barriers following a 3-month prescription
Prescribing physical activity is an inexpensive method to promote patients' long-term health, but determinants of adherence with physical activity prescriptions are seldom considered. The aim of this study, published in the Journal of Primary Health Care, was to identify facilitators and barriers experienced by adults with type 2 diabetes when prescribed regular walking.

Primary Health Care (New Zealand)

Primary care improvement case study: The Fono ‘Happy Skin’ project: Skin and soft tissue infections in the Tuvaluan community
The population of Pacific peoples in New Zealand has a much higher rate of skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) than the rest of the New Zealand population. Among Pacific peoples, the Tuvaluan community has the highest rate of SSTI, indicating a large equity gap that needs to be addressed. The Fono initiated a quality improvement project that used a community-based public health approach with the aim of reducing the rate of SSTI by 25 percent by November 2018 in the West Auckland Tuvaluan community.

Primary Health Care (International)

Successful care transitions for older people: a systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of interventions that support medication continuity
Medication-related problems occur frequently when older patients are discharged from hospital. Interventions to support medication use have been developed; however, their effectiveness in older populations are unknown. This review, published in Age and Ageing, evaluates interventions that support successful transitions of care through enhanced medication continuity.

Primary Mental Health (International)

Psychological therapies for women who experience intimate partner violence
Intimate partner violence (IPV) against women is prevalent and strongly associated with mental health problems. Women experiencing IPV attend health services frequently for mental health problems. The World Health Organization recommends that women who have experienced IPV and have a mental health diagnosis should receive evidence‐based mental health treatments. However, it is not known if psychological therapies work for women in the context of IPV and whether they cause harm. The objectives of this Cochrane Review were to assess the effectiveness of psychological therapies for women who experience IPV on the primary outcomes of depression, self‐efficacy and an indicator of harm (dropouts) at six‐ to 12‐months' follow‐up, and on secondary outcomes of other mental health symptoms, anxiety, quality of life, re‐exposure to IPV, safety planning and behaviours, use of healthcare and IPV services, and social support.

Behavioural activation therapy for depression in adults
Behavioural activation is a brief psychotherapeutic approach that seeks to change the way a person interacts with their environment. Behavioural activation is increasingly receiving attention as a potentially cost‐effective intervention for depression, which may require less resources and may be easier to deliver and implement than other types of psychotherapy. The objectives of this Cochrane Review were to examine the effects of behavioural activation compared with other psychological therapies for depression in adults. To examine the effects of behavioural activation compared with medication for depression in adults. To examine the effects of behavioural activation compared with treatment as usual/waiting list/placebo no treatment for depression in adults.

Better Help for smokers to Quit (International)

Antidepressants for smoking cessation
The objective of this Cochrane Review was to assess the evidence for the efficacy, safety and tolerability of medications with antidepressant properties in assisting long‐term tobacco smoking cessation in people who smoke cigarettes.
 

Weight Management (New Zealand)

Translating hunger training research to primary health: a qualitative study of nurse attitudes towards a novel weight management intervention
Practice nurses in general practice are ideally placed to deliver weight management treatments. Teaching people to eat according to their appetite, based on measurements of blood glucose ('hunger training'), is known to lead to weight loss and improved eating behaviour. The aim of this study, published in the Journal of Primary Health Care, was to explore the perspectives of practice nurses on the suitability of using hunger training as a weight management intervention in general practice.

Older adults' evaluations of the standard and modified pedometer-based Green Prescription
The Green Prescription is a primary care programme designed to increase physical activity in individuals with low activity levels. Older adults tend to engage in insufficient physical activity to obtain health-related gain. The aim of this study, published in the Journal of Primary Health Care, was to examine participants' ratings of the Healthy Steps intervention and to assess how participants rated the use of a pedometer-based Green Prescription in aiding their physical activity.

Childhood Obesity (International)

Interventions that prevent or reduce obesity in children from birth to five years of age: A systematic review
Childhood obesity worldwide affects 5.6% or 38.3 million children under five years of age. The longer children are overweight or obese, the more likely they are to become obese adults with all the contingent morbidity involved. An extensive number of preventive interventions to combat childhood obesity have been carried out worldwide. This review, published in the Journal of Child Health Care, reports a systematic review of interventions aimed to reducing or preventing obesity under-fives.

Oral Health (New Zealand)

What factors are associated with early childhood dental caries? A longitudinal study of the Growing Up in New Zealand cohort
The study, published in the International Journal of Paediatric Dentistry, explored the relationship between oral health behaviours, diet and the incidence of dental caries.

Disability Improvement (New Zealand)

How life is going for the disability community survey results
During May 2020 the Office for Disability Issues invited the disabled community to participate in a weekly survey on the issues and risks being experienced by disabled people in the COVID-19 environment. These surveys were implemented to improve our understanding of the issues associated with the COVID-19 pandemic as experienced by disabled people and their whānau. The surveys also collected information from service providers and others in the disability sector. 

Key Ministry of Health Publications

Updated COVID-19 Māori Response Action Plan
The Updated COVID-19 Māori Health Response Plan (the Plan) builds on the progress made by the Initial COVID-19 Māori Response Action Plan and provides an updated framework to protect, prevent, and mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 within whānau, hapū, iwi and Māori communities.

Guidance for the rehabilitation of people with or recovering from COVID-19 in Aotearoa New Zealand
The purpose of this document is to highlight the complexity and potential long-term needs of people recovering from COVID-19 and to demonstrate the importance of the allied, scientific and technical workforce in reducing the short- and long-term health and wellbeing implications of COVID-19 infection.

District Health Board Initiative

Southern DHB rolls out cloud transcription system under COVID-19 pressure
Southern District Health Board has gone live with phase one of its implementation of the iMedX cloud-based dictation and transcription platform, which was introduced to replace the legacy MedDocs system in a matter of weeks under the pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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.