Ministry of Health Library

Health Improvement and Innovation Digest

Issue 130 - 3 November 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)

The impact of the Hand Hygiene New Zealand programme on hand hygiene practices in New Zealand's public hospitals
The aim of this study, published in the New Zealand Medical Journal, was to detail the progress made by Hand Hygiene New Zealand (HHNZ) since 2011 and also describe the challenges experienced along the way and the factors required for delivery of a successful hand hygiene programme at a national level.

Can team training make surgery safer? Lessons for national implementation of a simulation-based programme
Unintended patient harm is a major contributor to poor outcomes for surgical patients and often reflects failures in teamwork. To address this the authors of this study, published in the New Zealand Medical Journal, developed a Multidisciplinary Operating Room Simulation (MORSim) intervention to improve teamwork in the operating room (OR) and piloted it with 20 OR teams in two of the 20 District Health Boards in New Zealand prior to national implementation. In this study, the authors describe the experience of those exposed to the intervention, challenges to implementing changes in clinical practice and suggestions for successful implementation of the programme at a regional or national level.

From knowledge to action: A framework for building quality and safety capability in the New Zealand health system
This publication, from the Health Quality & Safety Commission, is a high-level framework to guide the development of quality and safety capability across all levels in the health and disability sector, including consumers/patients.

Quality Improvement (International)

Bed rest for treating pressure ulcers (bed sores) among wheelchair users
Pressure ulcers, which are localised injury to the skin or underlying tissue, or both, occur when people are unable to reposition themselves to relieve pressure on bony prominences. Pressure ulcers are often difficult to heal, painful, and impact negatively on the individual's quality of life. International guidelines suggest bed rest as a component of the treatment strategy to manage pressure ulcers among wheelchair users. The objective of this Cochrane Review was to assess the impact of bed rest on pressure ulcer healing, in wheelchair users, of any age, who are living or being cared for in any setting.

Risk factors, incidence, consequences and prevention strategies for falls and fall-injury within older indigenous populations: a systematic review
The objective of this study, published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, was to examine the risk factors, incidence, consequences and existing prevention strategies for falls and fall-related injury in older indigenous people.

Shorter Stays In Emergency Departments (International)

Impact of process improvements on measures of emergency department efficiency
The objective of this article, published in CJEM, was to study the operational impact of process improvements on emergency department (ED) patient flow.

Primary Health Care (New Zealand)

E Hine: Talking about Māori teen pregnancy with government groups
Despite improved access to health services in Aotearoa New Zealand there remains a significant socio-economic and health gap between Māori (Indigenous New Zealanders) and Pākehā (non Māori). E Hine (Girl) is a qualitative Kaupapa Māori (by Māori, for Māori) research project, seeking to identify barriers and facilitators to positive health outcomes for young Māori mothers (under 20 years), and their infants. The authors of this study, published in AlterNative, present the findings of a discourse analysis of six semistructured interviews with 13 representatives from six government agencies who were asked how their agency catered to the needs of young Māori mothers.

Primary Health Care (International)

Economic evaluation of chronic disease self-management for people with diabetes: a systematic review
The aim of this study, published in Diabetic Medicine, was to systematically review the evidence on the costs and cost-effectiveness of self-management support interventions for people with diabetes.

Primary Mental Health (New Zealand)

Indigenous Suicide: A Global Perspective with a New Zealand Focus
This perspective article, published in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, describes the problem of Canadian indigenous suicide from a non-Canadian viewpoint. In particular, the article compares both similarities and differences in suicide prevention between Māori in New Zealand and indigenous peoples in Canada.

Empirical Findings From Psychotherapy Research With Indigenous Populations: A Systematic Review
Although the dire mental health needs of Indigenous communities are well established in the literature, the empirical evidence for psychotherapeutic treatment for these populations is perceived to be scant. This review, published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, is intended to determine gaps in the literature for this population by asking how much empirical work has been published, what types of research are being conducted, which topics are most prevalent among the existing literature, and what can be concluded about psychotherapy with Indigenous populations based on this literature.

The need for a culturally-tailored gatekeeper training intervention program in preventing suicide among Indigenous peoples: a systematic review
Suicide is a leading cause of death among Indigenous youth worldwide. The aim of this literature review, published in BMC Psychiatry, was to determine the cultural appropriateness and identify evidence for the effectiveness of current gatekeeper suicide prevention training programs within the international Indigenous community.

Primary Mental Health (International)

Motivational interviewing improves depression outcome in primary care: A cluster randomized trial
The objective of this study, published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, was to examine the effects of Motivational Interviewing (MI) conducted by primary care providers on rates of improvement over time for depressive symptoms and remission among low-income patients with newly diagnosed Major Depressive Disorder.

Increased Immunisation (International)

Impact of pharmacists as immunizers on vaccination rates: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Underutilization of vaccination programs remains a significant public health concern. Pharmacists serve as educators, facilitators, and in some jurisdictions, as administrators of vaccines. Though pharmacists have been involved with immunizations in various ways for many years, there has yet to be a systematic review assessing the impact of pharmacists as immunizers in these three roles. The objective of this study, published in Vaccine, to complete a systematic review of the literature on the impact of pharmacists as educators, facilitators, and administrators of vaccines on immunization rates.

Better Help for smokers to Quit (International)

Interventions to reduce harm from continued tobacco use
Although smoking cessation is currently the only guaranteed way to reduce the harm caused by tobacco smoking, a reasonable secondary tobacco control approach may be to try and reduce the harm from continued tobacco use amongst smokers unable or unwilling to quit. Possible approaches to reduce the exposure to toxins from smoking include reducing the amount of tobacco used, and using less toxic products, such as pharmaceutical, nicotine and potential reduced-exposure tobacco products (PREPs), as an alternative to cigarettes. The objective of this Cochrane Review was to assess the effects of interventions intended to reduce the harm to health of continued tobacco use.

Weight Management (International)

A Systematic Review of Adolescent Self-Management and Weight Loss
The aim of this review, published in the Journal of Pediatric Health Care, is to evaluate self-management interventions among overweight and obese adolescents to direct future research and practice.

Childhood Obesity (International)

Child and youth participatory interventions for addressing lifestyle-related childhood obesity: a systematic review
A growing number of childhood obesity interventions involve children and youth in participatory roles, but these types of interventions have not been systematically reviewed. The authors of this study, published in Obesity Reviews, aimed to identify child and youth participatory interventions in the peer-reviewed literature in order to characterize the approaches and examine their impact on obesity and obesity-related lifestyle behaviours.

Nutritional interventions or exposures in infants and children aged up to 3 years and their effects on subsequent risk of overweight, obesity and body fat: a systematic review of systematic reviews
This study, published in Obesity Reviews, provides a systematic review of systematic reviews on the effects of nutritional interventions or exposures in children (up to 3 years of age) on the subsequent risk of obesity, overweight and adiposity.

Oral Health (New Zealand)

The Benefits and Costs of Water Fluoridation - a Summary for DHBs
The Ministry of Health commissioned Sapere Research Group to provide an evaluation of the benefits and costs of water fluoridation in New Zealand in 2015. Since that analysis was concluded the Minister of Health has proposed transferring decision making powers for fluoridating public water supplies away from District Councils to District Health Boards (DHBs). The purpose of this new report is to provide a DHB-level evaluation of the benefits and costs of water fluoridation using aggregated Council data.

Inequalities in Indigenous Oral Health: Findings from Australia, New Zealand, and Canada
The objective of this study, published in the Journal of Dental Research, was to compare absolute differences in the prevalence of Indigenous-related inequalities in dental disease experience and self-rated oral health in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.