Deployable designs to temporarily convert subacute hospital rooms into palliative care rooms.

Objective: To explore the design of deployable articles that can turn subacute hospital rooms into palliative care rooms to provide better patient-centred care and to meet the shortage of dedicated palliative care spaces in Australia.

Methods: Clinicians and a design researcher collaborated to review the literature, obtain clinical/practitioner feedback on needs and use design research methods to produce design concepts and prototypes for use in the subacute care hospital setting.

Results: A design solution that included: (a) A guest-bed module for improved family togetherness and room personalisation; and (b) A digital connectivity module designed to provide family togetherness virtually.

Factors associated with improved walking in older people during hospital rehabilitation: secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Older people are often admitted for rehabilitation to improve walking, yet not everyone improves. The aim of this study was to determine key factors associated with a positive response to hospital-based rehabilitation in older people.

Methods: This was a secondary data analysis from a multisite randomized controlled trial.

Musculoskeletal Pain Experienced on Most Days is a Common Accompaniment of Ageing amongst Community-Dwelling Older Australians: A Questionnaire-Based Study.

To describe the prevalence, location and impact of moderate to severe pain experienced on most days in community-dwelling older (≥70 years) adults who were ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE) clinical trial participants. Cross-sectional ASPREE Longitudinal Study of Older Persons (ALSOP) data were collected from self-reported questionnaires administered to 16,439 ASPREE participants. Of 14,155 respondents, 41% of males ( = 2651/6475) and 50% of females ( = 3803/7680) reported experiencing pain on most days.

Moderate or severe low back pain is associated with body mass index amongst community-dwelling older Australians.

Objective: Low back pain is prevalent in older populations and modifiable risk factors may include being overweight or obese. This study aimed to describe the prevalence and impact of moderate or severe low back pain in community-dwelling older adults and its association with body mass index (BMI).

Methods: Cross-sectional study involving 16,439 Australians aged ≥70 years.

Understanding diagnostic settings and carer experiences for dementia diagnosis in Australia.

Background: Australian guidelines advocate referral to comprehensive memory services for dementia diagnosis, but many patients may be diagnosed elsewhere.

Aims: To determine common settings for dementia diagnosis in Australia and to compare patient and carer experience between settings.

Methods: Exploratory cross-sectional study of patients with dementia admitted to a Melbourne sub-acute hospital.

Additional structured physical activity does not improve walking in older people (>60years) undergoing inpatient rehabilitation: a randomised trial.

Questions: Among older people receiving inpatient rehabilitation, does additional supervised physical activity lead to faster self-selected gait speed at discharge? Does additional supervised physical activity lead to better mobility, function and quality of life at discharge and 6 months following discharge?

Design: Multi-centre, parallel-group, randomised controlled trial with concealed allocation, assessor blinding, and intention-to-treat analysis.

Participants: Older people (age>60years) from two Australian hospitals undergoing rehabilitation to improve mobility.

Intervention: Participants received multidisciplinary care, including physiotherapy.

Chronic pain medication management of older populations: Key points from a national conference and innovative opportunities for pharmacy practice.

Objective: Inappropriate use of pain medication has serious consequences for older populations. Experts in the field have noted an increase in opioid prescriptions, and opioid-related hospitalisations and deaths among this vulnerable population. In the pursuit of educating pharmacists, physicians, allied healthcare professionals, researchers, academics and the public facing the challenges of chronic pain medication management, 'The Inaugural Monash University School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine (SPHPM) Best Practice in Chronic Pain Medication Management Day Conference' was held in December 2016 at the Alfred Medical Research and Education Precinct (Melbourne, Australia).

The Study of Neurocognitive Outcomes, Radiological and Retinal Effects of Aspirin in Sleep Apnoea- rationale and methodology of the SNORE-ASA study.

Purpose: Sleep disordered breathing (SDB) is highly prevalent in older adults. Increasing evidence links SDB to the risk of dementia, mediated via a number of pathways, some of which may be attenuated by low-dose aspirin. This study will evaluate, in a healthy older cohort, the prospective relationship between SDB and cognitive function, changes in retinal and cerebral microvasculature, and determine whether low-dose aspirin ameliorates the effects of SDB on these outcomes over 3years.

MAXCOG-Maximizing Cognition: A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Efficacy of Goal-Oriented Cognitive Rehabilitation for People with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Early Alzheimer Disease.

Objectives: To review the efficacy of a home-based four-session individualized face-to-face cognitive rehabilitation (MAXCOG) intervention for clients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or early dementia and their close supporters.

Design: Randomized controlled trial comparing the intervention group (MAXCOG) with treatment as usual (control).

Participants: A total of 55 client-supporter dyads were enrolled in the study and 40 completed; 25 client-supporter dyads completed MAXCOG and 15 completed treatment as usual.

Evaluating the effects of increasing physical activity to optimize rehabilitation outcomes in hospitalized older adults (MOVE Trial): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Older adults who have received inpatient rehabilitation often have significant mobility disability at discharge. Physical activity levels in rehabilitation are also low. It is hypothesized that providing increased physical activity to older people receiving hospital-based rehabilitation will lead to better mobility outcomes at discharge.

Understanding diagnosis and management of dementia and guideline implementation in general practice: a qualitative study using the theoretical domains framework.

Background: Dementia is a growing problem, causing substantial burden for patients, their families, and society. General practitioners (GPs) play an important role in diagnosing and managing dementia; however, there are gaps between recommended and current practice. The aim of this study was to explore GPs' reported practice in diagnosing and managing dementia and to describe, in theoretical terms, the proposed explanations for practice that was and was not consistent with evidence-based guidelines.

Responding to the death of a resident in aged care facilities: perspectives of staff and residents.

A qualitative study using individual semistructured interviews was undertaken to explore the perceptions and experiences of 23 aged care residents with mild dementia concerning the deaths of coresidents. The views of 25 facility staff members were also explored. The study was based in 3 aged residential facilities in Victoria, Australia.

Aspirin for primary prevention of cardiovascular events in the elderly: current status and future directions.

The role of aspirin in the secondary prevention of occlusive cardiovascular events has now been well established. Given this, aspirin in primary prevention has been the focus of several large trials and subsequent meta-analyses over the past 3 decades, and yet the issue remains controversial. Recent studies in populations with high baseline risk - such as diabetics and those with asymptomatic peripheral arterial disease - have not found the expected benefits of aspirin on cardiovascular endpoints, which contrasts with earlier studies that reported a reduced relative risk for outcomes such as myocardial infarction and ischaemic stroke, but not for mortality.

Health perspectives: international epidemiology of ageing.

Populations globally are ageing, in part due to dramatic increases in life expectancies, forcing a reconsideration of what constitutes being "elderly" and "old." The proportion of older adults living with disability may be decreasing, yet older individuals are living with a significant burden of chronic disease, geriatric impairments in cognition, vision and hearing and reduced physiological reserve (frailty). Caring for a growing number of medically complex individuals has implications for medical workforce size and composition, health programmes and expenditure.

Early dementia--optimal management in general practice.

Background: The assessment and management of dementia is complex. General practitioners are often the first point of contact for people with dementia, and their families. General practitioners have a key role in providing quality primary care in terms of the identification, assessment, provision of information, referral and ongoing management.

People aged over 75 in atrial fibrillation on warfarin: the rate of major hemorrhage and stroke in more than 500 patient-years of follow-up.

Objectives: To determine the incidence of major hemorrhage and stroke in people aged 76 and older with atrial fibrillation on adjusted-dose warfarin who had been recently been admitted to hospital.

Design: A retrospective observational cohort study.

Setting: A major healthcare network involving four tertiary hospitals.

Psychometric properties of the Pain Attitudes Questionnaire (revised) in adult patients with chronic pain.

Previous evidence supports the utility of the newly developed pain attitudes questionnaire (PAQ) for assessing pain-related stoicism and cautiousness in community-dwelling pain-free adults (Yong et al., 2001). A revised questionnaire (PAQ-R) was examined in the present study to determine the generalizability of psychometric properties when used with chronic pain patients.