Background: The aim of this study is to develop a method we call "cost mining" to unravel cost variation and identify cost drivers by modelling integrated patient pathways from primary care to the palliative care setting. This approach fills an urgent need to quantify financial strains on healthcare systems, particularly for colorectal cancer, which is the most expensive cancer in Australia, and the second most expensive cancer globally.
Methods: We developed and published a customized algorithm that dynamically estimates and visualizes the mean, minimum, and total costs of care at the patient level, by aggregating activity-based healthcare system costs (e.
Rhinovirus C (RV-C) infection can trigger asthma exacerbations in children and adults, and RV-C-induced wheezing illnesses in preschool children correlate with the development of childhood asthma. Surfactant protein A (SP-A) plays a critical role in regulating pulmonary innate immunity by binding to numerous respiratory pathogens. Mature SP-A consists of multiple isoforms that form the hetero-oligomers of SP-A1 and SP-A2, organized in 18-mers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Cancer presents a significant health challenge, particularly within culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) populations. Religious, spiritual, and personal beliefs regarding illness may mitigate its psychological and physical impacts, varying with CALD status. This study aims to assess illness perceptions in Australian cancer patients from both CALD and Anglo-Australian backgrounds and to explore the associations between spiritual wellbeing and illness perceptions within these groups.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStepped-wedge cluster-randomized trials (SW-CRTs) offer advantages for implementation research in healthcare and have been increasingly utilised in the oncology setting. Cancer-related SW-CRTs need to be robust to deliver impactful trial outcomes and support effective translation into practice. This review aimed to examine the application of the SW-CRT design in oncology settings including the trial design features and protocol deviations, the interventions tested, and the implementation aspects of those interventions.
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