Australian link worker social prescribing programs: An integrative review.

Link worker social prescribing programs are gaining recognition in Australia for addressing health and social needs outside routine medical care. The evaluation of these programs is essential for informing future social prescribing programs, research and evolving policy. However, diverse outcome evaluation measures present challenges for benchmarking across link worker social prescribing programs.

Implementing palliative care in hepatocellular carcinoma ambulatory clinics-study protocol for Accelerated translational research in PRImary liver CAncer (APRICA) randomised controlled palliative care trial.

Background: Integration of symptom and palliative care for people with advanced cancer is established in many tumour types, but its role in people with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has not been clearly defined. This study aims to evaluate the clinical and cost effectiveness of an intervention involving a suite of strategies designed to assess and treat palliative care symptoms and needs in adult outpatients with HCC attending four New South Wales (NSW) metropolitan tertiary hospitals.

Methods: This trial will use a pragmatic cluster-based randomised-controlled design, with ambulatory HCC services as the clusters.

Resilient health care performance in the real world: fixing problems that never happened.

Background: Staff in health systems everywhere have exhibited flexibility and a capacity for improvisations during, and in response to, the COVID-19 pandemic. Looking to other examples of such resilient behaviours outside of those induced by the pandemic is instructive for those involved with researching or understanding change, or making health systems improvements.

Methods: Here, we synthesise and then assess the value of eight case studies of in situ resilient performance from Canada, Sweden, Japan, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Norway, the United States and Brazil.

Contributions of digital technologies for resilience capacity in a type 1 diabetes transition clinic: A qualitative study.

A type 1 diabetes (T1D) transition clinic in Sydney, Australia, provides age specific care for young adults (aged 16-25 years) and for adults (aged 21 years and above), and has reported improved clinical outcomes post transition to adult care over a 21-year period. This study investigated the contribution of digital technology to long-term resilient capacity of the clinic. Clinic observations and interviews with eight providers and 17 young adults were conducted.

What Australia must do to create a climate-responsive health system.

COP-28, the United Nations' Climate Change Conference, hosted by the United Arab Emirates, ended on 12 December 2023. At the convention, Australia released its National Health and Climate Strategy, committing to low-carbon, climate-responsive care. The Strategy will need new policies, projects and investments and a fit-for-purpose health workforce.

Benefits, implementation and sustainability of innovative paediatric models of care for children with type 1 diabetes: a systematic review.

Background And Aim: The evidence about the acceptability and effectiveness of innovative paediatric models of care for Type 1 diabetes is limited. To address this gap, we synthesised literature on implemented models of care, model components, outcomes, and determinants of implementation and sustainability.

Methods: A systematic review was conducted and reported in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.

Patient and carer transition outcomes and experiences at the Westmead Centre for Adolescent and Young Adult Health, Westmead, Australia: protocol for a longitudinal cohort study.

Introduction: The Westmead Centre for Adolescent and Young Adult Health is a purpose-built facility supporting integrated care for young patients with a variety of long-term health conditions transitioning from paediatric services at the Children's Hospital at Westmead to adult services at Westmead Hospital, Australia.

Methods And Analysis: This protocol outlines a prospective, within-subjects, repeated-measures longitudinal cohort study to measure self-reported experiences and outcomes of patients (12-25 years) and carers accessing transition care at the Centre for Adolescent and Young Adult Health. Longitudinal self-report data will be collected using Research Electronic Data Capture surveys at the date of service entry (recruitment baseline), with follow-ups occurring at 6 months, 12 months, 18 months and after transfer to adult services.

Public Perceptions of the Australian Health System During COVID-19: Findings From a 2021 Survey Compared to Four Previous Surveys.

Background: This study examines the perceptions of the Australian public canvassed in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic about their health system compared to four previous surveys (2008, 2010, 2012 and 2018).

Methods: In 2021, a nationwide online survey was conducted with a representative sample of Australians (N = 5100) recruited via market research panels. The results were compared to previous nationwide Australian survey samples from 2018 (N = 1024), 2012 (N = 1200), 2010 (N = 1201) and 2008 (N = 1146).

Implementing absolute cardiovascular disease risk assessment into pathology collection services.

Background: Pathology services represent an ideal setting to integrate absolute cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk estimation when patients attend for routine cholesterol testing. This study aimed to explore the process of implementing CVD risk estimation into point-of-care service delivery by pathology staff to inform future implementation and sustainability.

Methods: A new service for CVD risk estimation via a self-directed screening station was implemented into 14 pathology service sites across Tasmania, Australia.

Advancing integrated paediatric care in Australian general practices: Qualitative insights from the SC4C GP-paediatrician model of care.

The Strengthening Care for Children (SC4C) is a general practitioner (GP)-paediatrician integrated model of care that consists of co-consulting sessions and case discussions in the general practice setting, with email and telephone support provided by paediatricians to GPs during weekdays. This model was implemented in 21 general practices in Australia (11 Victoria and 10 New South Wales). Our study aimed to identify the factors moderating the implementation of SC4C from the perspectives of GPs, general practice personnel, paediatricians and families.

Integrating training in evidence-based medicine and shared decision-making: a qualitative study of junior doctors and consultants.

Background: In the past, evidence-based medicine (EBM) and shared decision-making (SDM) have been taught separately in health sciences and medical education. However, recognition is increasing of the importance of EBM training that includes SDM, whereby practitioners incorporate all steps of EBM, including person-centered decision-making using SDM. However, there are few empirical investigations into the benefits of training that integrates EBM and SDM (EBM-SDM) for junior doctors, and their influencing factors.

Is it possible to make 'living' guidelines? An evaluation of the Australian Living Stroke Guidelines.

Background: Keeping best practice guidelines up-to-date with rapidly emerging research evidence is challenging. 'Living guidelines' approaches enable continual incorporation of new research, assisting healthcare professionals to apply the latest evidence to their clinical practice. However, information about how living guidelines are developed, maintained and applied is limited.

Progress with the Learning Health System 2.0: a rapid review of Learning Health Systems' responses to pandemics and climate change.

Background: Pandemics and climate change each challenge health systems through increasing numbers and new types of patients. To adapt to these challenges, leading health systems have embraced a Learning Health System (LHS) approach, aiming to increase the efficiency with which data is translated into actionable knowledge. This rapid review sought to determine how these health systems have used LHS frameworks to both address the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, and to prepare for future disturbances, and thus transition towards the LHS2.

Integrated Care in Epilepsy Management: A Scoping Review of the Models and Components of Health and Social Care Delivery.

Introduction: Epilepsy is the most common neurological condition globally. Integrating health and social care is fundamental in epilepsy management, but the scope of progress in this area is unclear. This scoping review aimed to capture the range and type of integrated care components and models in epilepsy management.

Consumer and provider perceptions of the specialist unit model of care: A qualitative study.

Background: Specialist care units cater to targeted cohorts of patients, applying evidence-based practice to people with a specific condition (e.g., dementia) or meeting other specific criteria (e.

Bolstering health systems to cope with the impacts of climate change events: A review of the evidence on workforce planning, upskilling, and capacity building.

Background: As global CO emissions continue to rise and the 'era of global boiling' takes hold, the health workforce must cope with the challenge of providing care to increasing numbers of patients affected by climate change-related events (e.g., hurricanes, wildfires, floods).

Evaluation of RuralkidsGPS; A Novel Integrated Paediatric Care Coordination Model of Care in Rural Australia - a Mixed-Methods Study Protocol.

Introduction: The Kids Guided Personalised Service (KidsGPS) is an integrated model of care coordination for children and young people (CYP) living with medical complexity. After successful implementation in an urban setting, the model of care will be rolled-out at scale to four rural regions in New South Wales, Australia to establish RuralKidsGPS. This paper describes the approach and methods for the outcome and implementation evaluation of RuralKidsGPS.

Built to last? Barriers and facilitators of healthcare program sustainability: a systematic integrative review.

Objective: To identify barriers and facilitators associated with the sustainability of implemented and evaluated improvement programs in healthcare delivery systems.

Data Sources And Study Setting: Six academic databases were searched to identify relevant peer-reviewed journal articles published in English between July 2011 and June 2022. Studies were included if they reported on healthcare program sustainability and explicitly identified barriers to, and facilitators of, sustainability.

The impact of migration and settlement context on Iranian Women's agency in accessing and using reproductive healthcare services in Australia: A qualitative study.

This qualitative study aimed to understand how immigration and settlement context shape Iranian immigrants' agency in accessing and using reproductive healthcare services (RHCS). Twenty-one Iranian women of reproductive age (18-49 years) living in Australia were recruited in 2022 through social media platforms. The findings highlighted that although Iranian women's utilisation of RHCS in Australia is highly constrained by established sociocultural beliefs and values of their origin country, they become agents of making changes over their reproductive choices, reformulating beliefs and values, and taking control of reproductive health because of Australian sociocultural norms and context.

Transition models of care for type 1 diabetes: a systematic review.

Background: Managing the care regimen for Type 1 Diabetes is challenging for emerging adults, as they take on greater responsibility for self-management. A diverse range of models of care have been implemented to improve safety and quality of care during transition between paediatric and adult services. However, evidence about acceptability and effectiveness of these is limited.

What factors are considered in hospital funding models? A review of the literature on health services funding in organisation for economic co-operation and development countries.

Background: One of the most difficult challenges in healthcare involves equitable allocation of resources. Our review aimed to identify international funding models in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries for government-funded public hospitals and evidence underpinning their efficacy, via review of the peer-reviewed and grey literature.

Methods: Ovid-Medline, Ovid Embase, Scopus, and PubMed were searched for peer-reviewed literature.

Experience-based codesign approach to improve care in Australian emergency departments for complex consumer cohorts: the MyED project protocol, Stages 1.1-1.3.

Introduction: Emergency department (ED) care must adapt to meet current and future demands. In Australia, ED quality measures (eg, prolonged length of stay, re-presentations or patient experience) are worse for older adults with multiple comorbidities, people who have a disability, those who present with a mental health condition, Indigenous Australians, and those with a culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) background. Strengthened ED performance relies on understanding the social and systemic barriers and preferences for care of these different cohorts, and identifying viable solutions that may result in sustained improvement by service providers.