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Ministry of Health Library

Health Improvement and Innovation Digest

Issue 149 - 17 August 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

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)

Increasing sustainability in co-design projects: A qualitative evaluation of a co-design programme in New Zealand
The Health Quality & Safety Commission New Zealand commissioned Ko Awatea, an innovation and improvement centre, to deliver a co-design programme to nine teams of healthcare providers. This study, published in the Patient Experience Journal, evaluated the co-design programme to explore barriers and facilitators to the sustainability of co-design projects.


More Heart and Diabetes Checks (New Zealand)

Effect of nurse-led randomised control trials on cardiovascular risk factors and HbA1c in diabetes patients: A meta-analysis
A systematic review and meta-analysis, published in Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice, compared a nurse-led intervention with 'usual care' to quantify their effect on glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) and major cardiovascular risk factors in diabetes patients.


More Heart and Diabetes Checks (International)

Screening for gestational diabetes mellitus based on different risk profiles and settings for improving maternal and infant health
Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a form of diabetes that occurs in pregnancy. Although GDM usually resolves following birth, it is associated with significant morbidities for mothers and their infants in the short and long term. There is strong evidence to support treatment for GDM. However, there is uncertainty as to whether or not screening all pregnant women for GDM will improve maternal and infant health and if so, the most appropriate setting for screening.  The objective of this Cochrane Review was to assess the effects of screening for gestational diabetes mellitus based on different risk profiles and settings on maternal and infant outcomes.

Effectiveness of self-management programmes in diabetes management: A systematic review
Diabetes is a major noncommunicable disease, which is increasing, and approximately 415 million people are affected around the globe. Since diabetes is a lifelong disease, patients require better understanding and knowledge of the condition to become self-reliant in making diabetes-related decisions. This systematic review, published in the International Journal of Nursing Practice, was performed to assess the effectiveness of diabetes self-management programs in people with type 2 diabetes.

Low glycaemic index diets for cardiovascular disease
The glycaemic index (GI) is a measure of the ability of a carbohydrate (for example sugar or starch) to affect blood sugar levels. This Cochrane Review assessed the effects of low GI diets compared to diets with a similar composition but a higher GI on cardiovascular disease events and levels of cholesterol in the blood or blood pressure (major risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as heart attacks or stroke).


Primary Health Care (New Zealand)

Childhood respiratory illness presentation and service utilisation in primary care: a six-year cohort study in Wellington, New Zealand, using natural language processing (NLP) software 
The objective of this study, published in BMJ Open, was to identify childhood respiratory tract-related illness presentation rates and service utilisation in primary care by interrogating free text and coded data from electronic medical records.

Prescribing by nurse practitioners: Insights from a New Zealand study
Nurse practitioners (NPs) in New Zealand have been able to prescribe medicines since 2001; however, little is known about their prescribing practice. This study, published in the Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, describes the NPs who prescribe community-dispensed medicines, the patients, and identifies the most frequently prescribed medications.


Primary Health Care (International)

Telehealth and patient satisfaction: a systematic review and narrative analysis
The use of telehealth steadily increases as it has become a viable modality to patient care. Early adopters attempt to use telehealth to deliver high-quality care. Patient satisfaction is a key indicator of how well the telemedicine modality met patient expectations. The objective of this systematic review and narrative analysis, published in BMJ Open, is to explore the association of telehealth and patient satisfaction in regards to effectiveness and efficiency.

Self-management interventions including action plans for exacerbations versus usual care in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) self-management interventions should be structured but personalised and often multi-component, with goals of motivating, engaging and supporting the patients to positively adapt their behaviour(s) and develop skills to better manage disease. Exacerbation action plans are considered to be a key component of COPD self-management interventions. Studies assessing these interventions show contradictory results. In this Cochrane Review, the authors compared the effectiveness of COPD self-management interventions that include action plans for acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPD) with usual care.


Better Help for smokers to Quit (New Zealand)

New Zealand adolescents’ discouragement of smoking among their peers
This study, published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health,  examines the extent to which young people are acting as ‘agents of change’ in discouraging smoking among their peers.

A national quitline service and its promotion in the mass media: modelling the health gain, health equity and cost-utility
Mass media campaigns and quitlines are both important distinct components of tobacco control programmes around the world. But when used as an integrated package, the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness are not well described. This study, published in Tobacco Control, aimed to estimate the health gain, health equity impacts and cost-utility of the package of a national quitline service and its promotion in the mass media.


Weight Management (New Zealand)

Assessment of health-related quality of life and psychological well-being of children and adolescents with obesity enrolled in a New Zealand community-based intervention programme: an observational study 
The objective of this study, published in BMJ Open, was to describe health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and psychological well-being of children and adolescents at enrolment in a multidisciplinary community-based obesity programme and to determine association with ethnicity.


Weight Management (International)

Cluster randomised trial of a school-community child health promotion and obesity prevention intervention: findings from the evaluation of fun 'n healthy in Moreland!
Multi-level, longer-term obesity prevention interventions that focus on inequalities are scarce. This study, published in BMC Public Health, evaluated Fun 'n healthy in Moreland!; an intervention that aimed to improve child adiposity, school policies and environments, parent engagement, health behaviours and child wellbeing.


Key Ministry of Health Publications

New Zealand Antimicrobial Resistance Action Plan
Antimicrobial resistance is a growing global public health threat which affects patients, communities and threatens to undermine the modern health system. Antimicrobial resistance can also have serious negative impacts on animal health, welfare and production. The New Zealand Antimicrobial Resistance Action Plan was jointly developed by the Ministry of Health, Ministry for Primary Industries and representatives from across the human health, animal health and agriculture sectors.

New Zealand Influenza Pandemic Plan: A framework for action
The New Zealand Influenza Pandemic Plan: A framework for action (NZIPAP) sets out the all-of-government measures to be taken to prepare for and respond to an influenza pandemic. It updates the New Zealand Influenza Pandemic Action Plan 2010.


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.

Ministry of Health - Manatū Hauora
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New Zealand

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