Validity of a tool designed to assess the preventability of potentially preventable hospitalizations for chronic conditions.

Background: Potentially preventable hospitalizations (PPH) are defined as unplanned hospital admissions which could potentially have been prevented with the provision of effective, timely outpatient care. To better understand and ultimately reduce rates of PPH, a means of identifying those which are actually preventable is required. The Preventability Assessment Tool (PAT) was designed for use by hospital clinicians to assess the preventability of unplanned admissions for chronic conditions.

Admissions for chronic ambulatory care sensitive conditions - a useful measure of potentially preventable admission?

Background: Potentially preventable hospital admission (an admission deemed to be potentially preventable given appropriate care in the community-based healthcare setting) has been a topic of international research attention for almost three decades. Recently this has been largely driven by the imperative to reduce ever-increasing unplanned hospital admissions. However, identifying potentially preventable admissions is difficult.

Frequent hospital admission of older people with chronic disease: a cross-sectional survey with telephone follow-up and data linkage.

Background: The continued increase in hospital admissions is a significant and complex issue facing health services. There is little research exploring patient perspectives or examining individual admissions among patients with frequent admissions for chronic ambulatory care sensitive (ACS) conditions. This paper aims to describe characteristics of older, rural patients frequently admitted with ACS conditions and identify factors associated with their admissions from the patient perspective.

Community based service providers' perspectives on frequent and/or avoidable admission of older people with chronic disease in rural NSW: a qualitative study.

Background: Frequent and potentially avoidable hospital admission amongst older patients with ambulatory care sensitive (ACS) chronic conditions is a major topic for research internationally, driven by the imperative to understand and therefore reduce hospital admissions. Research to date has mostly focused on analysis of routine data using ACS as a proxy for 'potentially avoidable'. There has been less research on the antecedents of frequent and/or avoidable admission from the perspectives of patients or those offering community based care and support for these patients.

Secondary prevention of osteoporosis post minimal trauma fracture in an Australian regional and rural population.

Objective: Minimal trauma fracture (MTF) is an indication of osteoporosis and risk of future fracture. Our objective was to describe osteoporosis risk identification and secondary prevention in a regional and rural population hospitalised for an MTF.

Design: A retrospective inpatient file audit and follow-up telephone interview.

Population rates of bone densitometry use in Australia, 2001-2005, by sex and rural versus urban location.

Objective: To explore use of bone densitometry in Australia and to identify any sex and geographic differences, as a marker of osteoporosis diagnosis and care.

Design And Setting: Analysis of claims data from Medicare Australia in patients aged over 45 years during the period 2001-2005.

Main Outcome Measures: Age-standardised rates of bone densitometry use, by sex and by metropolitan, rural or remote classification.

An evaluation of a SAFE-style trachoma control program in Central Australia.

Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of a trachoma control program in a remote community before and after major environmental health improvements.

Design: Before-and-after cross-sectional design. The control program was in three rounds - each consisting of community census, screening of children < 13 years, health promotion activities and antibiotic treatment.