Supporting older adults with cancer and their support person through geriatric assessment and remote exercise and education: The SOAR study protocol.

Introduction: Frail older adults receiving cancer treatment are at heightened risk of adverse outcomes. Despite the known benefits of exercise during cancer treatment to improve well-being, few exercise studies focus on frail older adults receiving cancer treatment and their support person. Geriatric assessment (GA) is often recommended prior to the start of treatment for frail adults with cancer, but combining the GA with a planned exercise regimen remains unexplored.

Interventions to improve health care provider implementation and patient adherence of patients to recommendations on geriatric assessment and management in older adults: A scoping review protocol.

The world population is aging. Comprehensive Geriatric assessment (CGA) has been proven to improve the well-being of older adults. However, evidence suggests not all clinicians implement these recommendations in their practice; nor do all patients adhere to them.

A systematic review of studies evaluating Australian indigenous community development projects: the extent of community participation, their methodological quality and their outcomes.

Background: Community development is a health promotion approach identified as having great potential to improve Indigenous health, because of its potential for extensive community participation. There has been no systematic examination of the extent of community participation in community development projects and little analysis of their effectiveness. This systematic review aims to identify the extent of community participation in community development projects implemented in Australian Indigenous communities, critically appraise the qualitative and quantitative methods used in their evaluation, and summarise their outcomes.

Chlamydia testing and retesting patterns at family planning clinics in Australia.

Introduction: National guidelines recommend opportunistic chlamydia screening of sexually active 16- to 29-year-olds and encourage retesting 3-12 months after a diagnosed chlamydia (Chlamydia trachomatis) infection. We assessed chlamydia testing patterns at five Australian family planning clinics (FPCs).

Methods: Using routine clinic data from 16- to 29-year-olds, we calculated chlamydia testing and positivity rates in 2008-2009.

Infant abusive head trauma - incidence, outcomes and awareness.

Background: Abusive head trauma of infants is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. The incidence in Australia has been estimated at 29.6 cases of abusive head trauma for which hospital admission is required per 100 000 infants aged 0-24 months and under per year; more frequent than low speed runovers, drowning and childhood neoplasms.

A collaborative approach to fall prevention.

Collaboration among health-care providers has emerged as a key factor in improving client care. The authors describe the Geriatric Emergency Management-Falls Intervention Team (GEM-FIT) project, a nurse-led research initiative to improve fall prevention in older adults through interdisciplinary collaboration. Public health nurses and occupational therapists assessed participants before and after fall-prevention interventions and fou modest improvements in participant outcomes and reductions in modifiable risk factors.

What do you mean you can't sterilize it? The reusable medical device matrix.

Health Canada recommends that hospitals should have procedures in place to ensure Reusable Medical Devices (RMD) are cleaned, disinfected and sterilized according to the manufacturer's instructions. For the purpose of this paper, reusable medical devices will be referred to as RMDs and include all instrumentation and devices that the Central Processing Department (CPD) resterilizes for use in the hospital. Patient safety in surgery begins in CPD.

Determining the impact of establishing a psychogeriatric outreach team network in long-term care.

Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to describe a model for specialized psychogeriatric consultation to long-term care homes in a large metropolitan Canadian city and to provide an overview of the diagnostic and demographic data of patients referred for assessment.

Methods: Forty long-term care homes and 13 geriatric mental health outreach teams were surveyed and provided feedback on the model. A retrospective chart review (N=88) was also conducted to confirm the survey results and to provide an overview of the types of patients being seen.