The effectiveness of in-hospital interventions on reducing hospital length of stay and readmission of patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A systematic review.

Aim: This review aimed to assess the effectiveness of multifaceted in-hospital interventions for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus on hospital readmission, hospital length of stay (LOS), and glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c).

Methods: The search included MEDLINE, EMBASE, Emcare, Web of Science, PsycINFO and Google Scholar from 2007 to current date and restricted to English. The differences in outcome measures were calculated to determine the effectiveness.

Specialist outreach to isolated and disadvantaged communities: a population-based study.

Background: Visiting-specialist clinics (specialist outreach) have the potential to overcome some of the substantial access barriers faced by disadvantaged rural, remote, and Indigenous communities, but the effectiveness of outreach clinics has not been assessed outside urban and non-disadvantaged settings. We aimed to assess the effects of outreach clinics on access, referral patterns, and care outcomes in remote communities in Australia.

Methods: We undertook a population-based observational study of regular surgical, ophthalmological, gynaecological, and ear, nose, and throat outreach visits, compared with hospital clinics alone, on access, referral practices, and outcomes for the populations of three remote Indigenous communities in northern Australia for 11 years.

The demand for surgery: an analysis of referrals from Australian general practitioners.

Background: Optimal planning for surgical training and the surgical workforce requires knowledge of the need and demand for surgical care in the community. This has previously relied on indirect indicators, such as hospital throughput. We aimed to describe referrals from general practitioners (GPs) to surgeons in Australia using a classification of surgical disorders developed especially for primary care settings.

Risks to feet in the top end: outcomes of diabetic foot complications.

Background: The foot complications of diabetes are severe, disabling, costly and common in the Northern Territory. An understanding of the pathogenesis, the disease spectrum and treatment efficacy, however, is poor. The patterns of disease are documented in the present study; factors associated with good and poor outcomes are identified; and improved management strategies are proposed.

Improving access to specialist care for remote Aboriginal communities: evaluation of a specialist outreach service.

Objective: To identify barriers faced by Aboriginal people from remote communities in the Northern Territory (NT) when accessing hospital-based specialist medical services, and to evaluate the impact of the Specialist Outreach Service (SOS) on these barriers.

Design: Combined quantitative and qualitative study.

Setting: Remote Aboriginal communities in the "Top End" of the NT, 1993-1999 (spanning the introduction of the SOS in 1997).