Is early intervention prior to diagnosis helpful for children with autism?

We're often told that early intervention is key when managing life threatening health conditions or developmental problems in children.

This is absolutely true for some cancers ... but what about babies with autism spectrum disorder?

An Australian study identified babies who seemed to be showing signs of autism. Half received an intervention designed to increase the skills and knowledge of parents in communicating with their baby.

                                                                                                Source: www.consciencestream.com

And the results were mixed.

Parents found the intervention very helpful and they felt that the child's language/communication was increased.

Listen on the ABC Health Report

Using Virtual Reality to Improve Health

Virtual reality—often referred to as “VR”—used to be science fiction. Today, it’s everywhere. All you need is a smartphone and a headset to immerse yourself in 3-D virtual worlds or games. This booming technology may also be useful for health care and research.


Scientists have been testing VR to treat movement problems. These can be caused by a stroke, a brain injury, Parkinson’s disease, or other conditions. Rehabilitation exercises can sometimes help people train their muscles to improve their movement. But these exercises can be boring—especially to kids.


Dr. Amy Bastian, a movement specialist at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, is using VR to make rehabilitation exercises more engaging for kids. It also lets her team tailor the exercises to individual children’s needs.

Read the full article here.

                                                                                                             Source: News in Health

Concussion Awareness in Rugby League

Following all of the excitement around last night's State of Original clash won by New South Wales, I thought that it was timely to mention the risks of concussion in rugby league, and the rules in place to guide health professionals, coaches, players and carers.

Evidence has been recently revealed through autopsies that Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), commonly known as being "punch drunk" has been linked to concussions in former rugby league players. Read an article on ABC News here.

The NRL has in recent years tightened their guidelines in management of concussed players. Their rules emphasis is on the welfare of the player in both the short and long term. The picture below serves to remind us all that not only elite or professional players can get concussed. Children and club/social players can also be affected.

Source: https://www.playrugbyleague.com/trainer/concussion/ 

A study published in 2018 by Alan J. Pearce et al. where testing was undertaken of twenty-five elite level players who had not had a concussion were compared to twenty-five who had, agreed with these findings, concluding that their study is "the first to show neurophysiological evidence of alterations in intracortical inhibition and changes in cognitive function in retired professional rugby league players with a history of concussions". 

Neurophysiological and cognitive impairment following repeated sports concussion injuries in retired professional rugby league players. Alan J. Pearce, Billymo Rist, Clare L. Fraser, Adrian Cohen, Jerome J. Maller. BRAIN INJURY 2018, VOL. 32, NO. 4, 498–505.

MNCLHD employees can contact their Librarian for a copy of this paper here.

National Death Toll from FLU Nears 300

According to the federal health department there have been 287 deaths nationally from a reported 131,000 cases. Most recently a teenager from Melbourne and a toddler from Western Australia.

In NSW there have been 26 outbreaks in state aged-care facilities last week alone. The elderly and infirm are very vulnerable to the flu and can cause serious and debilitating complications such as pneumonia, so the flu vaccine is a valuable tool in protecting the elderly. Visitors who are unwell should delay their visits for the safety of their loved ones.

The virus spreads with human contact and can survive up to 48 hours on smoother surfaces such as door handles, play equipment and table tops. The government has promoted behaviours that will help reduce flu cases if followed.

                                                                                   Source: South Australian flu prevention campaign

Some tips to avoid the flu are:
Get vaccinated! Keep at least one meter away from people who have flu-like symptoms, regularly clean commonly touched surfaces, wash your hands, cover sneezes, stay home from work or school if you are sick.

Read more at The Guardian.

Reduction in Antibiotic use Linked with Fewer Hospital Acquired Infections

A primary goal for hospital antimicrobial stewardship programs should be to reduce broad spectrum antibiotic use. Research published in the Medical Journal of Australia provides more evidence about why.

An international shortage in 2017, of piperacillin/tazobactam (PT) – an antibiotic used to treat pelvic inflammatory disease, intra-abdominal infection, pneumonia, cellulitis, and sepsis – caused its replacement with intravenous amoxicillin/clavulanate (IVAC).

Studies showed that reducing the use of broad spectrum antibiotics was associated with a lower incidence of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) in hospitals.

A research team from John Hunter Hospital and the University of Newcastle, led by Associate Professor John Ferguson, set out to measure the impact of the PT shortage on VRE and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) acquisitions at the hospital, where there has been a continued outbreak of VRE since 2014. They compared the incidence of hospital-onset acquisitions (hospital-wide) in the 12 months before (October 2016 – September 2017) and 12 months after (November 2017 – October 2018) the start of the PT shortage.

Researchers found that reducing broad spectrum antibiotic use was linked with reduced VRE transmission and infection. Restricted use of PT has been reintroduced and usage remains at a much reduced level than prior to the shortage. Trends will continue to be observed.

To read the full article NSW Health staff can go to CIAP Journals section or contact their Library.

Update your CIAP searching skills

Are you having trouble finding the information on CIAP you need quickly?

• Spending ages searching for information you know is there somewhere?
• Struggling to find relevant information for your area of interest?
• Wondering what all the other resources on CIAP are?
• Getting frustrated because your searching efforts return too many results, or none at all?

If this is you would benefit from attending a FREE CIAP workshop of attending online training. There are full day workshops, 1 hour introductory sessions on live online sessions. Book here. Earn CPD Points!!

All CIAP training sessions are free of charge to all NSW Health staff members. CIAP will submit all workshop registration to My Health Learning, where a certificate of completion will be made available following the session.
You can learn all about evidence-based practice and how to find information efficiently; improve your confidence in database searching and literature evaluation. Did I mention that it's FREE?? The most important thing is that you can learn how to save time using CIAP and improve patient care.

Healthy Kidneys 4 Life - Register NOW!!

Is blood sampling from peripheral intravenous cannulas an option?

A recent review published in the Journal of Advanced Nursing, 22 May 2019, says it's worth exploring. 

Drawing blood from peripheral intravenous cannula compared with venepuncture: A systematic review and meta-analysis by Linda L. Coventry RN, Alycia M. Jacob BA, Hugh T. Davies RN, MS, PhD, Laurita Stoneman RN, Samantha Keogh RN, BSc(Hons), PhD, Elisabeth R. Jacob RN, MEd., PhD,. 

The article reviewed sixteen studies concluding that further research be undertaken to inform evidence for best practice recommendations as well as looking into whether this practice may benefit specific populations and or settings. The potential impact that this practice could have, would be to relieve the anxiety, pain and trauma of having yet another needle might cause. Who wouldn't agree that this sounds like a worthwhile idea?

If you'd like to read the full article go to https://mnclhd.health.nsw.gov.au/i/library/forms/request-a-journal-article/ to request from your library or https://www.ciap.health.nsw.gov.au/index.html to download the full-text.