Christmas wishes from MNCLHD libraries

Sally and Adele would like to wish you a very merry Christmas and here's to a peaceful and prosperous 2015.  We are taking a couple of weeks off now to relax and spend time with our families, but will be back in mid-January to keep you up to date with reports, tools and news in health as they come to hand. Thank you for making HealthInfo Blog so successful for another year, and remember, we love to hear your feedback and suggestions.

Good health to you until then.

BMJ Christmas issue - good for a smile

Always a good read in December is the BMJ special Christmas issue. This year is no exception with a series of "studies" such as the most common reasons why swimmers abandon their English Channel attempts, the 'male idiot' theory, and evidence for the superiority of the orthopaedic surgeon. There is also an analysis of the recent crop of diet books, a discussion about the armchair socialist, and accounts of medical eponyms and acronyms.

BMJ 20 Dec 2014 (Vol 349, Issue 7988).  Many articles are open access and others can be accessed via CIAP for NSW Health employees.

Compassion fatigue

What is compassion fatigue and how do you know if you have it?  This article by Amanda Lambros from Curtin University, published in The Conversation, outlines the reasons why so many in the caring professions are suffering from this condition and how it differs from burnout and general psychological stress.  Definitions, prevalence (which ranges from 7.3% to 40% of workers in intensive care settings and 25% to 70% among inexperienced mental health professionals) and evidence of its effects are presented, and there is a link to a self-test.  The article concludes with some strategies you can use to prevent and assist with compassion fatigue, and suggestions on where to find help.

Compassion fatigue: the cost some workers pay for caring

Cancer in Australia: an overview 2014

This AIHW report presents the latest available information on national population screening programs, cancer incidence, hospitalisations, survival, prevalence and mortality. It is estimated that the most commonly diagnosed cancers in 2014 will be prostate cancer, colorectal cancer and breast cancer (excluding basal and squamous cell carcinoma of the skin, as these cancers are not notifiable diseases in Australia). For all cancers combined, the incidence rate is expected to increase by 22% from 1982 to 2014, but the mortality rate is estimated to decrease by 20%.  

AIHW 2014. Cancer in Australia: an overview 2014. Cancer series no. 90. Cat. no. CAN 88. 

National Coastal Safety Report 2014

Surf Life Saving Australia has published its annual report on the safety of Australia's coastlines. The National Coastal Safety Report 2014 estimates that there are 100 million visitations to our coastlines every year and it can be a hazardous environment, especially to the uninformed or unprepared visitor.

The report incorporates an analysis of coastal drownings and other mishaps from July 2013 to June 2014, as well as detailing SLSA's current capability and capacity to respond to coastal emergencies.  It describes how they deliver evidence-based drowning prevention initiatives, including the Beach Drowning Blackspot Reduction Program.  Despite the extensive network of lifesavers, lifeguards, support operations and allied emergency services deployed nationally, 84 people drowned in the period covered by the report.

Patient Experiences in Australia: Summary of Findings, 2013-14

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has published this summary, presenting information from the 2013-14 Patient Experience Survey.  Data was collected on the access and barriers to a range of health care services, including GPs, medical specialists, dental professionals, imaging and pathology tests, hospital admissions and emergency department visits. It includes the analysis of the experiences of different population groups and aspects of communication between patients and health professionals.

4839.0 - Patient Experiences in Australia: Summary of Findings, 2013-14 

Suicide and hospitalised self-harm in Australia

The AIHW report, Suicide and hospitalised self-harm in Australia: trends and analysis, indicates that suicide death rates for males, adjusted for age, fluctuated around 20 deaths per 100,000 population per year in the period 1921 to 2010, while rates for females were about 5 deaths per 100,000 population per year during most of this period.

Male rates of suicide by hanging have more than doubled since the early 1980s, as have female rates, although at lower levels. Suicide by hanging has been the most common mechanism of suicide in Australia since 1989 for males and since 1997 for females.  Shooting by firearms was the most common mechanism of suicide by males in Australia for at least 60 years, to the mid-1980s, since when it has declined significantly.

Suicide rates have tended to increase with the remoteness of the person's place of residence and for the periods 2007-08 to 2010-11, suicide rates for Indigenous males and females were around twice as high as the corresponding rates for other Australians.

Rates for females hospitalised as a result of intentional self-harm were at least 40% higher than male rates over the period from 1999-00 to 2011-12, and poisons accounted for almost 82% of all hospitalisations due to intentional self- harm over the period from 1999-00 to 2011-12.  

AIHW PowerPoint presentations available

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has made available four PowerPoint presentations. You can use them as they are, or insert some or all of them into your own presentation (with acknowledgement of course).  The topics available are:

• Australia's health 2014 (5.2 MB PPT) (21 slides with notes included)  
• Diabetes on the rise (479KB PPT) (single slide)  
• Smoking and alcohol (461KB PPT) (2 slides)  
• Weight and exercise (433KB PPT) (single slide) 

Global Asthma Report 2014

The Global Asthma Network has released their Global Asthma Report 2014, providing the latest information on this condition world-wide, including outlining where the gaps are in knowledge and making recommendations to authorities.

The report estimates that as many as 334 million people suffer from asthma, causing a substantial physical, social and psychological burden.  There are also significant economic burdens to both sufferers and communities, especially in low and middle-income countries, and avoidable deaths are still occurring due to inappropriate management.  More research is needed in order to monitor trends and improve management, including preventive measures.  "Implementation of relatively simple measures within a systematic national or local strategy can improve early detection of asthma and provide effective preventive treatment. Asthma management guidelines are an essential part of successfully managing asthma and promoting the delivery of quality asthma care."

Osteoarthritis and back problems

This release updates the 'Osteoarthritis' and 'Back problems' snapshots as part of the AIHW's Online Musculoskeletal Compendium. Musculoskeletal conditions are conditions of the bones, muscles and their attachments (e.g. joints and ligaments). They are the most common chronic conditions in Australia and include arthritis.

This Snapshop from AIHW looks at the existing health patterns, populations at risk of illness, current health service use, and future demands on the health and welfare systems.

Arthritis, osteoporosis and other musculoskeletal conditions. AIHW Dec. 2014.

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: supporting the children

Sara McLean, Stewart McDougall and Vicki Russell from the Australian Institute of Family Studies have written a Briefing Paper on the consequences of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome for children's development. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) is a term that is used to cover the full range of possible birth defects and developmental issues that can be caused by prenatal exposure to alcohol.

FASD is a lifetime disorder and often described as a "hidden" disorder, because children do not necessarily show any physical abnormalities, despite being profoundly affected.

Another relevant paper is "Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders: Current issues in awareness, prevention and intervention", by Sara McLean and Stewart McDougall. CFCA Paper No. 29,  December 2014

 

Supporting children living with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders: Practice principles. Sara McLean, Stewart McDougall and Vicki Russell. Practitioner Resource— December 2014

Huntington's Disease

Movement Disorders, the journal of the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society has made freely available a special issue on Huntington's Disease. Some of the topics covered include onset, functional disability, current therapeutic options and clinical trials.

Special Issue: Huntington's Disease. 2014, Volume 29, Issue 11

Emergency Department Discharge Process

A new report from the American Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality outlines a conceptual framework of the emergency department (ED) discharge process and identifies elements of a high-quality discharge process. “Improving the Emergency Department Discharge Process: Environmental Scan Report” identifies best practices, tools, strategies and approaches for addressing problem areas and criteria/outcomes for assessing their effectiveness. Developed by researchers at the Johns Hopkins University Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality, the report can be used by hospital EDs to identify:

• What constitutes an effective discharge process and what constitutes discharge failures.

• Socioeconomic or medical factors that increase a patient’s risk for a discharge failure.

• Intervention tools or strategies shown to improve the discharge process.

• Screening tools that have been used to predict hospital readmission and ED revisits.      

“Improving the Emergency Department Discharge Process: Environmental Scan Report” 2014

Adverse Event Reporting

A new educational initiative by NPS MedicineWise and the TGA aims to increase both the quality and quantity of adverse medicine, vaccine and device reports to the TGA. The new set of free, interactive online learning modules for health professionals is available at http://learn.nps.org.au/.
Some of the modules include:

• Get it right! Taking a best possible medication
• Medical tests
• Quality use of medicines - why, what, how, who
• Safety through reporting - share the responsibility
• Unlocking asthma inhaler technique
• Dealing with uncertainty: a diagnostic approach to fatigue

Working Toward a Good Life as a Cancer Survivor

Research on cancer rehabilitation targeting young adult cancer survivors (YACS) is limited, and little is known about the positive health outcomes of rehabilitation programs tailored specifically for this vulnerable group. This article in the journal Cancer Nursing looks at a study investigating whether a complex rehabilitation program improved the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and physical capacities of YACS.

The article concluded that a complex cancer rehabilitation program especially tailored for YACS seems to build positive health outcomes such as HRQOL and physical capacity in a long-term perspective. Results underlined the importance of targeting rehabilitation interventions to YACS in need after cancer treatment, acknowledging rehabilitation as a process that requires adequate time and follow-up.

Hauken, M.A. (2015). Working Toward a Good Life as a Cancer Survivor: A Longitudinal Study on Positive Health Outcomes of a Rehabilitation Program for Young Adult Cancer Survivors. Cancer Nursing , 38(1), 3-15.

Spinal Cord Injury Pain

On the 13 October 2014 the new Spinal Cord Injury Pain Resources for consumers and health professionals were launched. The toolkit is a series of practical tools and resources which have been developed to help people with a spinal cord injury to better manage pain. Development of these resources was a collaborative partnership between the ACI Pain Management Network, NSW State Spinal Cord Injury Service and funding from the Lifetime Care and Support Authority (LTCSA).

Caring for people with gastrostomy tubes and devices

A Clinician’s guide: Caring for people with gastrostomy tubes and devices covers the patient journey from initiation of gastrostomy feeding to ongoing care, permanent tube removal and transition or transfer of care. The guidelines are applicable across health care settings and are designed to provide a framework for the development of local policies and procedures.
The guideline is the result of a collaboration between the Agency for Clinical Innovation (ACI) and the Gastroenterological Nurses College of Australia (GENCA).
A Clinician’s Guide: Caring for people with gastrostomy tubes and devices From pre- insertion to ongoing care and removal  Dec. 2014