Issue 252 - 12 May 2022

Welcome to the fortnightly Health Improvement and Innovation Digest. The Digest has links to key evidence of interest, with access to new content arranged by topic.

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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.

Health Equity (New Zealand)

Cultural safety and patient trust: The hui process to initiate the nurse-patient relationship
The Fundamentals of Care framework is recognised for its essential elements to provide quality patient-centred care. Connection and trust as a basis for a caring relationship is a central tenet of this framework. Indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand face barriers to health care that are historically and socially constituted. This article, published in Contemporary Nurse, discusses the Hui Process. This is a model informed by Māori values on connection; when used to inform the Fundamental of Care framework, offers a point of entry for nursing students to develop culturally safe fundamental nursing care.

A Place-based Evaluation of a Healthy Homes Initiative
Limited qualitative evaluations of healthy homes initiatives exist in the literature and even fewer look past physical health benefits to wider health outcomes. This qualitative evaluation of Manawa Ora, published in Health Promotion Journal of Australia, explored a healthy homes initiative implemented by a Māori health provider in Northland, New Zealand, and was conducted to ascertain the wider health benefits a healthy homes initiative.

Quality Improvement (New Zealand)

Aotearoa New Zealand national point prevalence survey of healthcare-associated infections | Tiro whānui ā-motu mō te maimoa hauora – mate urutā
This report, by the Health Quality & Safety Commission, describes the approach to and findings of Aotearoa New Zealand’s first national point prevalence survey of healthcare-associated infections.

Evaluation of a national database of completed investigations into radiology service complaints in New Zealand: What can the radiologist, and radiology service providers, learn?
The Health and Disability Commissioner (HDC) is responsible for dealing with most complaints from service users resulting from their interactions with a healthcare service provider in New Zealand. This study, published in the Journal of Medical Imaging and Radiation Oncology, analysed all published reports involving a radiologist or radiology service in order to gain insights that might promote safer working across the radiology community.

Quality Improvement (International)

The use of patient experience data for quality improvement in hospitals: A scoping review
In this paper, published in the Patient Experience Journal, we identified what was reported in the literature on qualitative and quantitative approaches used to capture and improve patient experiences in a hospital setting.

Cancer Services (New Zealand)

Pre-diagnostic routes to colorectal cancer in Central New Zealand: factors that lead to emergency presentation and longer diagnostic intervals at primary and secondary level care
Although international large-scale studies have investigated routes to diagnosis for colorectal cancer, there is limited information on how New Zealanders seek help for bowel symptoms across different pre-diagnostic routes. The aim of this study, published in the Journal of Primary Health Care, was to better understand pre-diagnostic routes for colorectal cancer, including the characteristics of patients and key events associated with each route.

Emergency Department Services (New Zealand)

Challenging the culture of Emergency Department violence and aggression
The aim of this article, published in the New Zealand Medical Journal, was to examine reported levels of violence and aggression within a tertiary level emergency department in New Zealand, and to compare incident reporting within a dedicated yearly audit period to standard organisational reporting procedures.

Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes (New Zealand)

2019-2021 Stroke FAST Campaign Evaluation - interim report
This evaluation, published by the Health Promotion Agency, highlights the long term impact of the successive Stroke F.A.S.T campaigns, run since 2016.

Primary Health Care (International)

Educational interventions for health professionals managing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in primary care
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common, preventable and treatable health condition. COPD is associated with substantial burden on morbidity, mortality and healthcare resources. The objective of this Cochrane Review was to review existing evidence for educational interventions delivered to health professionals managing COPD in the primary care setting.

Primary Mental Health (International)

Web‐based support services to help prevent suicide in young people and students: A mixed‐methods, user‐informed review of characteristics and effective elements
The online world may provide an alternative means to engage young people and students with suicidal feelings, who are typically reluctant to seek help. This study, published in Health & Social Care in the Community, aimed to map, characterise and obtain user evaluation of current online suicide support for this group in order to assess the usefulness of current provision and how it may be improved.

Increased Immunisation (International)

Strategies to improve vaccination rates in people who are homeless: A systematic review
People who are homeless experience higher rates of vaccine-preventable disease, including COVID-19, than the general population, and poorer associated health outcomes. However, delivering vaccinations to people who are homeless is complex, and there is a lack of evidence to inform practice in this area. The aim of this systematic review, published in Vaccine was to identify, analyse the characteristics of, and evaluate the outcomes of, strategies to improve vaccination rates in people who are homeless.

Weight Management (New Zealand)

Associations between changes in caregiver's and child's weight status in a community-based obesity intervention programme
This article, published in the International Journal of Obesity, examined whether caregivers of children/adolescents enrolled in a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of a family-centred intervention indirectly achieved reductions in body mass index (BMI), and if these were associated with changes in their children's BMI.

Key Ministry of Health Publications

Mental Health and Addiction: Service Use web tool
The Mental Health and Addiction: Service Use web tool presents data relating to specialist inpatient and community mental health and addiction services provided in Aotearoa New Zealand.

New Zealand Maternity Clinical Indicators 2019
The New Zealand Maternity Clinical Indicators present comparative maternity interventions and outcomes data for pregnant women and their babies giving birth in New Zealand, by maternity facility and district health board region.

Guidelines for Issuing Permissions for the Use of Vertebrate Toxic Agents
In order to use certain vertebrate toxic agents (VTAs) and other hazardous substances, operators must apply for permission, and they have a legal obligation to comply with any conditions in the permission. These guidelines provide practical advice setting conditions on permissions to use VTAs and other hazardous substances, using Model Permit Conditions.

Ministry of Health Consultations & Events

HISO 10099:2022 NZ International Patient Summary (NZIPS)
The Health Information Standards Organisation (HISO) invites public comment on new draft standard HISO 10099:2022 NZ International Patient Summary (NZIPS). NZIPS specifies the makeup of a core personal health data set that covers health conditions, immunisations, medicines, allergies and adverse reactions, measurements, test results and care plans in its first edition. The standard centres on a data set specification and outlines data exchange and data portability requirements for continuity of care, consumer access to personal health information and patient record transfer. This consultation closes on the 8th of July 2022.

District Health Board Initiative

Plans for world-leading Health and Education Precinct unveiled
The Southern District Health Board (SDHB) has unveiled an aspirational site masterplan, Te Whakaari, that sets out a vision for the development of a world-leading Health and Education Precinct in central Dunedin.

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.