Publications by authors named "Randall S"

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to evaluate DO orthopaedic surgery residents compared with their MD counterparts in traditionally allopathic programs, assessing research productivity, number of departmental DO faculty and alumni, and geographical ties to the residency program.

Methods: The Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database was used to retrospectively identify traditionally allopathic ACGME-accredited orthopaedic surgery residency programs for the 2023 to 2024 year. Residency program websites Scopus, PubMed, and Doximity were used to collect data.

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  • Chronic kidney disease (CKD) poses a major global health challenge, with the study focusing on estimating direct healthcare costs in Australia for non-dialysis patients.
  • Utilizing a comprehensive dataset from Western Australia, the research compared healthcare costs for individuals with CKD to those without, covering various healthcare services and expressing costs in 2023 AUD.
  • Findings revealed that in 2019, CKD accounted for an $8.3 billion cost in Australia, with the highest yearly costs linked to later stages of CKD but a significant number of early-stage cases contributing to the overall financial burden, underscoring the need for effective prevention strategies.
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Background: Rural and remote areas offer unique opportunities for undergraduate nurses. Extended placements boost work readiness, improve assessment skills, and increase likelihood of practicing in these areas post-registration. However, hybrid delivery of curriculum content in not well understood.

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Background: In Australia, diabetes is the fastest growing chronic condition, with prevalence trebling over the past three decades. Despite reported sex differences in diabetes outcomes, disparities in management and health targets remain unclear. This population-based retrospective study used MedicineInsight primary healthcare data to investigate sex differences in diabetes prevalence, incidence, management, and achievement of health targets.

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  • Concussion, affecting about 1.2% of the population annually, poses a significant public health issue, particularly among children aged 1-17, who experience this injury more frequently than others.
  • The study focused on youth with concussions to evaluate adherence to Return to Activity (RTA) protocols, examining how this adherence impacts recovery time and the risk of reinjury.
  • Results showed low adherence to RTA protocols using accelerometers (13%-34% across stages), but subjective self-reports indicated better compliance, with adherent youths recovering faster (13 days) than non-adherent youths (20 days), despite discrepancies between self-reported and objective measures.
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The role of nurses in leading the design and delivery of primary health care services to address health inequities is growing in prominence, specifically in rural Australia. However, limited evidence exists to inform nurse-led primary health care in this context. Based on a focus group with nursing executives and semi-structured interviews with registered nurses we describe nurse experiences of leading the design of a primary health care service in rural Australia and nurse transition to and practice in this service.

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Objectives: The annual mean spending measures typically used to study longitudinal trends mask distributional and seasonal variation that is relevant to patients' perceptions of health care affordability and, in turn, provider collections. This study describes shifts in the distribution and seasonality of plan and patient out-of-pocket spending from 2012 through 2021.

Study Design: Analysis of multipayer commercial claims data.

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: Conceptual models provide frameworks to illustrate relationships among patient-, provider-, system-, and community-level factors that inform care delivery and research. Existing models of cancer survivorship care focus largely on pediatric or adult populations whose needs differ from adolescents and young adults (AYAs). We developed a patient-centered conceptual model of AYA survivorship care.

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Objective: To describe the use of privacy preserving linkage methods operationally in Australia, and to present insights and key learnings from their implementation.

Methods: Privacy preserving record linkage (PPRL) utilising Bloom filters provides a unique practical mechanism that allows linkage to occur without the release of personally identifiable information (PII), while still ensuring high accuracy.

Results: The methodology has received wide uptake within Australia, with four state linkage units with privacy preserving capability.

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  • - The MET receptor is crucial for various biological processes, but its dysregulation is linked to cancers like non-small cell lung cancer and renal cancer, highlighting a significant medical need for better treatment options.
  • - Current MET inhibitors face challenges such as resistance and toxicity, particularly in treating brain metastases, which further emphasizes the demand for improved therapies.
  • - Researchers are developing a new class of MET inhibitors designed to effectively target brain tumors and specific cancer mutations, which showed promising results in preclinical models, significantly extending survival in treated animals.
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Objectives: This study explores the concern that annual high-deductible commercial insurance plan design may yield higher out-of-pocket costs when an episode of maternity care spans 2 years, exposing patients to their cost-sharing limits twice during their episode of care.

Study Design: Cross-sectional study of Health Care Cost Institute commercial claims.

Methods: The study sample comprises 1,379,300 deliveries among high-deductible health plan enrollees in years 2012 through 2021.

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Purpose: Medications are commonly used during pregnancy to manage pre-existing conditions and conditions that arise during pregnancy. However, not all medications are safe to use in pregnancy. This study utilized privacy-preserving record linkage (PPRL) to examine medications dispensed under the national Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) to pregnant women in Western Australia (WA) overall and by medication safety category.

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Recent price transparency laws are designed to better inform patients as they compare hospital options and "shop" for health care services. In addition to prices, underinsured patients seeking care need information on financial assistance, discounts, payment plans, and upfront payment requirements to compare the affordability of care across hospitals. Little is known about the availability of this information and the experience of prospective patients seeking it.

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Toxoplasma gondii is a zoonotic protozoan parasite that infects most warm-blooded animals, including birds. Scavenging birds are epidemiologically important hosts because they can serve as indicators of environmental T. gondii levels.

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  • Stress is common among adolescents, with over two-thirds experiencing it, and significant portions reporting moderate to severe stress levels.
  • The study identified coping strategies used by adolescents, revealing that religious factors and supportive behaviors are most commonly utilized, while stress levels negatively correlate with effective coping methods.
  • Findings indicate that younger age and parental education levels, along with family income, are significant predictors of higher stress levels, underscoring the need for targeted mental health interventions and policies.
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Aim: The aim of this work was to compare adjustment between those with a new temporary or permanent ostomy in a cohort of Australian adults.

Method: This is a multicentre, longitudinal observational study. Ostomy adjustment was measured using the Ostomy Adjustment Inventory (OAI-23) at six possible time points ending at 9 months postsurgery or at the time of ostomy closure in those with a temporary stoma.

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Objectives: Priority Setting Partnerships (PSP's) using the James Lind Alliance (JLA) methodology, bring together health professionals, patients and parents/carers to identify and prioritise unanswered questions that can be addressed by future research projects. To identify and prioritise the top 10 unanswered research priorities in digital technology for adolescents and young people (AYP) with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Methods: A steering group (SG) consisting of AYP with IBD, their parents/carers, representatives from two charities (Crohn's & Colitis UK, Crohn's in Childhood Research Association), patient information forum and paediatric and adult and primary care healthcare professionals was established in 2021.

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Background: Family partaking in writing practices, such as writing intensive care unit (ICU) patient diaries, personal diaries/journaling, social media, or instant messaging services, during ICU admission may allow the family to unintentionally participate in a form of expressive writing. These writing practices could provide structure for the family authors to explore emotions and manage significant life events, including death of a loved one. Limited studies have explored the family's postmortem experiences and perceived value of writing practices maintained during an ICU admission.

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Historically, xylazine has been utilized in veterinary medicine for decades as an anesthetic and analgesic sedative to facilitate safe handling, diagnostic testing, and surgical procedures in large animals. Currently, xylazine is an emerging threat to human health. It has been detected in the illicit drug supply chain, often as an adulterant.

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This study evaluated the usability and effectiveness of an artificial intelligence application for wound assessment and management from a clinician-and-patient perspective. A quasi-experimental design was conducted in four settings in an Australian health service. Data were collected from patients in the standard (n=166,243 wounds) and intervention (n=124,184 wounds) group, at baseline and post-intervention.

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  • The study explores the concept of legacy and its significance in decision-making for individuals confronting serious illnesses, focusing on how they wish to be remembered after death.
  • Researchers conducted a scoping review analyzing existing literature from 1990 to 2022 on the relationship between legacy and treatment choices, utilizing various electronic databases for comprehensive research.
  • The results highlighted three key legacy goals—remembrance of the individual self, remembrance of the social self, and impact on others' well-being—that influence the treatment decisions made by patients facing serious health challenges.
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This study examined the immediate effects of multidirectional elastic tape (MET) on passive ankle joint torque in healthy adults. A randomised crossover trial evaluated four tape conditions (no-tape-NT, low-tension-LT, medium-tension-MT, and high-tension-HT) at two angular speeds on peak dorsiflexion torque, low- (stiffness 1) and high-torque stiffness (stiffness 2), area under the loading curve (AUC) and hysteresis. Twenty-two adults completed the study (17 females; mean (SD): age 26.

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