Publications by authors named "Michael Kirk"

We describe here the impact of managing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreaks, during January-August 2022, in residential aged care facilities (RACFs) in Central Queensland, Australia, following the deployment of a public health rapid response team (PHRRT, comprising a medical officer, a communicable disease nurse, and an epidemiologist) from a regional public health unit (PHU). Our existing vaccine preventable diseases surveillance framework was used in identifying any symptomatic resident, triggering a PHRRT response. We found that the Hospital in the Home (HiTH) admission and death events were significantly lower after the introduction of the PHRRT than in the outbreaks that occurred before.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • As the population gets older, it's important to include older adults in making health policies that affect them!
  • This review looked at many different activities aimed at getting older adults involved in these decisions and found that most were organized by the government!
  • While many initiatives focused on including older adults, there wasn’t enough effort to include a diverse group of participants, and some activities were even reported to have negative impacts!
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Health researchers are encouraged by governments, funders, and journals to conduct research in partnership with people with lived experience. However, conducting research with authentic engagement and partnership with those who are experts by experience, but may not have research methods training, requires resources and specialized skills. The McMaster Collaborative for Health and Aging developed a fellowship program for trainees that builds their capacity to conduct research in partnership with older adults with relevant lived experience.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of respiratory illnesses like bronchiolitis and pneumonia in infants, with a focus on its impact in Central Queensland, Australia, from July 2021 to December 2022.
  • During this period, there were 1,142 confirmed RSV cases, leading to 169 hospital admissions, including 12 requiring intensive care, and resulting in 2 deaths; children under 5 were the most affected group.
  • Notably, Indigenous children under 5 years were disproportionately represented, with high rates of hospital admissions and antibiotic prescriptions, despite a low incidence of confirmed bacterial infections.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The 'PenCS Flu Topbar' app was deployed in Central Queensland (CQ), Australia, medical practices through a pilot programme in March 2021.

Methods: We evaluated the app's user experience and examined whether the introduction of 'PenCS Flu Topbar' in medical practices could improve the coverage of NIP-funded influenza vaccinations. We conducted a mixed-method study including a qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews with key end-users and a quantitative analysis of influenza vaccine administrative data.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study focused on understanding COVID-19 outbreaks in aged care facilities (ACFs) after vaccines were rolled out, particularly analyzing vaccine effectiveness (VE) among this vulnerable group.
  • A systematic review and meta-analysis of 38 articles from 12 countries revealed a 28% attack rate among fully vaccinated residents, with unvaccinated healthcare workers often being the source of outbreaks.
  • Vaccinated residents experienced significantly lower mortality rates (2% vs. 12%) and the study emphasized the importance of vaccination as a critical public health strategy to reduce COVID-19 impacts in crowded ACFs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Coronal Holes (CHs) are regions of open magnetic-field lines, resulting in high-speed solar wind. Accurate detection of CHs is vital for space-weather prediction. This paper presents an intramethod ensemble for coronal-hole detection based on the Active Contours Without Edges (ACWE) segmentation algorithm.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: High-frequency hospital users often present with chronic and complex health conditions and are at increased risk of serious morbidity and mortality if they contract COVID-19. Understanding where high-frequency hospital users are sourcing their information, whether they understand what they find, and how they apply the information to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is essential for health authorities to be able to target communication approaches.

Methods: Cross-sectional survey of 200 frequent hospital users (115 with limited English proficiency) informed by the WHO's "Rapid, simple, flexible behavioral insights on COVID-19".

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Infectious diseases pose a significant threat to residents of residential aged care facilities (RACFs), highlighting the need for improved surveillance and understanding of vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs) in these populations.
  • This study aims to implement an active enhanced surveillance system in RACFs in Central Queensland to gather data on the burden of VPDs, their causes, risk factors, and effectiveness of vaccines currently provided under the National Immunization Program.
  • Ethical approval has been granted for this research, allowing for the collection of non-identifiable data to ensure participant privacy while aiming to inform public health strategies and improve outcomes in vulnerable groups.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In August 2021, there was an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) Delta variant on an international liquified natural gas (LNG) vessel offshore to Gladstone, Queensland. Fourteen of the 26 crew members aboard the vessel tested positive for SARS-COV-2 on PCR during the outbreak. Vaccine effectiveness (VE) was 52% for all lab-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections, 65% for symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection and 100% for severe SARS-CoV-2.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Behavioural and social drivers (BeSD) of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine acceptance among Australian healthcare workers (HCW) living and working in regional areas are not well studied. Understanding local HCWs' COVID-19 risk perceptions and potential barriers to COVID-19 vaccine uptake is crucial in supporting rollout. We aimed to understand the COVID-19 vaccine drivers among HCW in Central Queensland (CQ), Australia.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cigarette smoke enhances placental inflammation and interferes with steroidogenesis. However, the chemicals in the smoke responsible for these biological activities are unclear. 2,6 xylidine (also called 2,6 Dimethylaniline, DMA) is a component of cigarette smoke that has carcinogenic properties but its effects on the placenta are unknown.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

There is a large burden of norovirus disease in child-care centers in Australia and around the world. Despite the ubiquity of norovirus outbreaks in child-care centers, little is known about the extent of this burden within the child-care center and the surrounding household clusters. Therefore, we performed an in-depth analysis of a gastroenteritis outbreak to examine the patterns of transmissions, household attack rates and the basic reproduction number (R0) for Norovirus in a child-care facility.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective This study determined the economic impact of 16 'high-priority' hospital-acquired complications (HACs), as defined by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, from the perspective of an individual Australian health service. Methods A retrospective cohort study was performed using a deidentified patient dataset containing 93056 in-patient separations in Northern Health (Victoria, Australia) from 1 July 2016 to 30 June 2017. Two log-linked generalised linear regression models were used to obtain additional costs and additional length of stay (LOS) for 16 different HACs, with the main outcome measures being the additional cost and LOS for all 16 HACs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Aim: To examine the use of continuous pulse oximetry monitoring (CPOM) of newborns as a non-invasive and non-intrusive standard of care for promoting early and safe skin-to-skin contact between mothers and newborns immediately after birth and to gather acceptability feedback from midwifery staff and mothers.

Methods: All babies receiving skin-to-skin contact (SSC) had continuous pulse oximetry monitoring (CPOM) for the first-hour postbirth. Staff were trained with education sessions before implementation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: A new healthcare standard (Standard 5: Comprehensive Care) has been introduced by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare. Standard 5 advocates for organisational leadership to develop and maintain systems and processes to deliver patient-centred comprehensive care plans that include appropriate screening to identify and mitigate risks associated with hospitalisation. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of a comprehensive care and risk evaluation (Comprehensive Assessment and Risk Evaluation (CARE)) plan to reduce hospital acquired complications (HACs) in an Australian hospital network.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Aims: COVID-19 is now a global pandemic. At the time of survey, fewer than 150 children in Australia and New Zealand had documented infection. The aim of this study was to assess attitudes, readiness and confidence in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic through an online survey of paediatric physicians and sub-specialists across Australia and New Zealand.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background It is not uncommon for emergencies to present at primary care offices. As such, it is necessary for those offices to be prepared to handle, at a minimum, the most common types of emergencies. Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of in-situ simulation training in improving emergency preparedness within pediatric primary care settings.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective Tributyltin (TBT) is a persistent pollutant but its effects on placental function are poorly understood as are its possible interactions with infection. We hypothesized that TBT alters the production of sex hormones and biomarkers for inflammation and neurodevelopment in an infection-dependent manner. Methods Placental explant cultures were treated with 0-5000 nM TBT in the presence and absence of Escherichia coli.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Scarring following acne vulgaris is common and can be of profound psychosocial consequence.

Aims And Objectives: We have clinically noted a variant of acne scarring, overlooked by previous categorisation schemes, which we have denominated as papular acne scars of the nose and chin. We sought to characterise these novel entities further.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: To identify policy and system related weaknesses in treatment planning and plan check work-flows.

Methods: The authors' web deployed plan check automation solution, PlanCheck, which works with all major planning and record and verify systems (demonstrated here for mosaiq only), allows them to compute violation rates for a large number of plan checks across many facilities without requiring the manual data entry involved with incident filings. Workflows and failure modes are heavily influenced by the type of record and verify system used.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Most bile duct injuries are not recognized at the time of initial surgery. Optimal treatment requires early recognition. CT IVC has become increasingly important in identifying bile leaks and their source after cholecystectomy.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

To compare the extent to which 7 different radiotherapy planning techniques for mediastinal lung targets reduces the lung volume receiving low doses of radiation. Thirteen non-small cell lung cancer patients with targets, including the mediastinal nodes, were identified. Treatment plans were generated to both 60- and 74-Gy prescription doses using 7 different planning techniques: conformal, hybrid conformal/intensity-modulated radiation treatment (IMRT), 7 equidistant IMRT beams, 2 restricted beam IMRT plans, a full (360°) modulated arc, and a restricted modulated arc plan.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Identification of source positions after implantation is an important step in brachytherapy planning. Reconstruction is traditionally performed from films taken by conventional simulators, but these are gradually being replaced in the clinic by computed tomography (CT) simulators. The present study explored the use of a scout image-based reconstruction algorithm that replaces the use of traditional film, while exhibiting low sensitivity to metal-induced artifacts that can appear in 3D CT methods.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Despite constant progress, cancer remains the second leading cause of death in the United States. The ability of tumors to metastasize is central to this dilemma, as many studies demonstrate successful treatment correlating to diagnosis prior to cancer spread. Hence a better understanding of cancer invasiveness and metastasis could provide critical insight.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A PHP Error was encountered

Severity: Notice

Message: fwrite(): Write of 34 bytes failed with errno=28 No space left on device

Filename: drivers/Session_files_driver.php

Line Number: 272

Backtrace:

A PHP Error was encountered

Severity: Warning

Message: session_write_close(): Failed to write session data using user defined save handler. (session.save_path: /var/lib/php/sessions)

Filename: Unknown

Line Number: 0

Backtrace: