Hard work ahead to fix public hospitals

The State of Our Public Hospitals Report 2008, released today and available at the Department of Health and Ageing highlights how much work lies ahead of us to deliver a better health and hospital system. While some results are encouraging, others show the scale of the challenge ahead, with public hospital admissions increasing faster than population growth.

Elective surgery statistics for each state and territory will also be made available today through the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing website. As part of the plan, states and territories will report on elective surgery performance in public hospitals through their websites, so that patients can make informed decisions about their own health care based on individual hospital results. To access this information click here.

How to find good Practice Guidelines

We are often asked to look for Practice Guidelines on a particular procedure and there are many good and authoritative databases you can search to find them. If you're looking for a one-stop shop, however, you could try the National Library of Guidelines site, which is produced by the NHS in the UK. You can search all the NHS guidelines here and they also provide great links to International Guidelines sites, such as the US National Guidelines Clearinghouse and our own NHMRC Guidelines. There's an absolute plethora of best practice in all these Guidelines - I recommend you have a good look.

The Evidence on Multiple Sclerosis

The Neurological Conditions Specialist Library in London has just completed an exhaustive, systematic search on Multiple Sclerosis "to identify all high level evidence published in the past two years, namely guidelines, systematic reviews, health technology assessments and economic evaluations". Leading experts in the UK have appraised and commented on the papers and you can find the results at the Library's site: www.library.nhs.uk/neurological

Elective surgery in Australia: new measures of access

Published this month by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, "this report presents a detailed picture of access to elective surgery services in Australia using combined admitted patient and elective surgery waiting times data." You can pay $28 for the print version, or read it here online.

The importance of the "doorknob encounter"

How often, in all our work situations, is a vital piece of information mentioned by the client in passing, or sometimes never stated at all? Perri Klass has written a small article in the latest New England Journal of Medicine, entitled "The Moral of the Story". It's all about a child presenting with vomiting and an ear infection and the consultant prescribing antibiotics and the mother pausing at the door as she's about to leave and just mentioning that the child had fallen down a set of stairs the day before. The moral of the story turns out to be that successful practice comprises "knowledge, judgement, experience and luck", with a healthy bit of thoughtful communication thrown in.

Premature ejaculation basics

This is the most common of all male sexual complaints. As health professionals, we know that most men are loath to talk about it, but it can be effectively treated. It's a consistent problem for about one in three men, although two in three men may be affected at some time in their lives. It's less common in older men, and most common in adolescents. If you'd like an overview on the condition, you can find a good precis by Peter Laville at ABC Health and WellBeing.

Videos of Surgical Procedures

MedlinePlus has a series of surgical procedure videos available on their website. These are educational videos, meant to help people understand what to expect when having a surgical or diagnostic procedure. The videos are all one-hour in length, and are in full colour. You can find a list of the videos and instructions on how to view them here.
The webcasts include procedures such as a Total Knee Replacement, Stenting and a Coronary Artery Bypass Graft.

Hand Washing Saves Lives!

A pilot study, advocated by the World Health Organisation, to assess the efficacy of a multimodal, centrally coordinated, multisite hand hygiene culture-change program (HHCCP) for reducing rates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteraemia and disease was in Victorian hospitals. The pilot study and subsequent statewide implementation of a multimodal HHCCP was effective in significantly improving hand hygiene compliance and reducing rates of MRSA infection.

Register for free online access to MJA to read the full article, Significant reductions in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia and clinical isolates associated with a multisite, hand hygiene culture-change program and subsequent successful statewide roll-out by Grayson et al in the latest issue.

Alcohol and Cancer

There has been much media interest lately in a study released by the Cancer Institute of NSW last month, entitled Alcohol as a Cause of Cancer. This involves an international audit of cancer and alcohol research, pointing to the conclusion that over two alcoholic drinks per day for both men and women can increase the risk of some types of cancer. Read the report itself to get the full story.

Australia 2020 Summit - Final Report

The final report of the Australia 2020 summit has been released. Have a look at Chapter 5, A long term national health strategy. If you really want to see what went on at the summit, this site also contains all submissions and background papers, as well as some interesting images.

New Journals on CIAP

The NSW Health Quality and Safety Branch has sponsored two new infection control journals.
Journal of Hospital Infection
Includes articles on hospital-acquired infection and related subjects and puts you in contact with the latest concepts and practices in hospital infection control.
Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology (ICHE)
Includes peer-reviewed scientific articles for anyone involved with an infection control or epidemiology program in a hospital or health care facility. ICHE publishes research on control and evaluation of the transmission of pathogens in healthcare institutions and on the use of epidemiological principles and methods to evaluate and improve the delivery of care.
Another key infection control journal available on CIAP is the American Journal of Infection Control

Nursing Consult now includes two new Australian Emergency Nursing journals providing clinically relevant research, reviews and articles of interest:
Australian Critical Care
Australasian Emergency Nursing Journal