Infant Feeding Guidelines

Prepared by experts in paediatric nutrition, nutrition research, nutrition communication, public health and primary health, these guidelines published by the NHMRC, will help healthcare professionals on how best to support mothers and parents with breastfeeding or formula feeding. They also provide advice about the introduction of appropriate foods for infants from birth to approximately two years.

Food for Health: Australian Dietary Guidelines 2013

Australia is facing an obesity epidemic. Scientific evidence shows that the reduction of healthy, nutritious food in our diet and its replacement by energy dense food of little nutritional value is a contributing factor to the rise in obesity. Health professionals working with people trying to achieve a healthy diet now have access to updated scientific evidence about the best dietary patterns for Australians of all ages.

The Guidelines have been developed to help health professionals give advice to the public about their dietary choices and their health. The total diet approach of the Guidelines reflects information about helping Australians eat the right foods for health, with an energy (kilojoule) intake to help achieve and/or maintain a healthy weight.

The Australian Dietary Guidelines is a joint initiative of the NHMRC and the Department of Health and Ageing.

Incidence Trends of Breast Cancer

More young women are being diagnosed with advanced, metastatic breast cancer than were three decades ago, a new study suggests - although the overall rate of cancers in that group is still small. One in 173 women will develop breast cancer before she turns 40, researchers said, and the prognosis tends to be worse for younger patients.

In the new study, a team led by Dr. Rebecca Johnson at Seattle Children's Hospital and the University of Washington found the rate of metastatic breast cancer, in particular, rose about two percent each year between 1976 and 2009 among younger women.

Published in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, the article abstract is available or contact your hospital library for full text access.

Incidence of Breast Cancer With Distant Involvement Among Women in the United States, 1976 to 2009, Rebecca H. Johnson, MD; Franklin L. Chien, BA; Archie Bleyer, MD JAMA. 2013;309(8):800-805

Australian hospital statistics: National emergency access and elective surgery targets 2012

This report presents 2012 data for performance indicators in the National Partnership Agreement on Improving Public Hospital Services. Included are measures of the extent to which states and territories met targets for emergency department lengths of stay of 4 hours or less and for lengths of time spent waiting for elective surgery.

Published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, you can download the report here. 

Critical palliative care in the Emergency Department

Scott Weingart,on his EMCrit Blog has posted about a great lecture by Ashely Shreves on the issues of critical care palliation. He has included a link to the podcast of the lecture given at the EMCrit Conference this year.

Are our policies and laws leading to treatment delays for people with schizophrenia?

An Obligatory Dangerousness Criterion is now widely used in Australia, the USA, and some areas of Canada and Europe as the means by which patients are assessed for the appropriateness of involuntary (compulsory) treatment.  Under Australian mental health laws, people with schizophrenia can only be involuntarily committed to a mental health facility if they are assessed and it is determined that their illness is making them dangerous to themselves or others.

The Deeble Institute for Health Policy Research and Schizophrenia Research Institute have published a review  of the evidence around involuntary treatment orders. You can read the review here.

Strategies to minimise the incidence of suicide and suicidal behaviour

Programs that are not culturally competent and do not have a high level of Indigenous ownership and community support are unlikely to be effective in relation to suicide and suicide behaviour. This resource sheet considers suicide prevention policies and programs that have been implemented in both remote and non-remote parts of Australia and internationally. It assesses their strengths and limitations and their actual, or likely, effectiveness in relation to Indigenous Australians.

Click here to download the report which has been published by Closing the Gap Clearinghouse.

Strategies and practices for promoting the social and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people

Another resource sheet from Closing the Gap Clearinghouse, Strategies and practices for promoting the social and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was recently published.  This paper reviews programs that aim to promote social and emotional wellbeing and prevent mental illness, and identifies those that have been evaluated and shown to be effective in relation to Indigenous people.
Click here to download the resource sheet.

Case Studies Database

The BMC Cases Database is a freely-accessible and up-to-date data base of over 11,000 medical case reports from publishers such as Springer, BMJ and PubMed Central. Bio-Med Central has aggregated these case reports together into one searchable database to facilitate comparison and provide clinicians, researchers, regulators and patients a simple resource to explore content, and identify emerging trends. An advanced search and alerts feature is also provided.

What You Need to Know about Infectious Disease

Electron micrograph of an influenza virus  

New infectious diseases are emerging and old ones are appearing in new places around the globe. What’s behind this trend? The National Academies, advisers to the government of the United States in science, engineering, and medicine, has created a new website to provide you with dependable, objective, and authoritative information to further understand and answer your questions about infectious diseases. Highlighted are topics related to infection, threats, challenges and prevention.

Global Library of Women's Medicine

The Global Library of Women's Medicine (GLOWM) is a major not-for-profit initiative to provide medical professionals worldwide with free and universal access to a vast and constantly updated, peer-reviewed resource of clinical information and guidance. The principal features of the site consist of 442 specialist chapters plus surgical videos, diagnostic atlases, laboratory tests and a special section on Safer Motherhood. A series of 12 expert videos on laparoscopic surgery by Professor L. Mettler have recently been added.
Edited by Sir Sabaratnam Arulkumaran of St George's University of London, UK, the site is made possible by 750 clinicians providing contributions.

Development of a prototype Australian mental health intervention classification: a working paper

The prototype Mental Health Intervention Classification (MHIC) has been developed so that information on mental health interventions can be collected using a standard classification scheme. Adoption of the prototype will enable nationally comparable and consistent reporting of trends, patterns and best practice in the provision of mental health services.
In 2011, the MHIC 09 was piloted at a number of trial sites. After feedback from participating sites, further refinements have been made. This report presents the 2012 revision of the MHIC. AIHW has made this report available on the Internet only.

Culture of Resistance: Australia's response to the inappropriate use of antimicrobials

This paper looks at how Australian governments have responded to anti-microbial resistance (AMR) since the problem became evident in the 1980s. It has been prepared and made available by The Australia Institute (TAI).
Policy Brief No. 46; February 2013

Nursing director tells of Bundaberg Hospital evacuation

Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service district director of nursing and midwifery services Debbie Carroll and her team of colleagues were faced with evacuating an entire hospital on January 29. In the lead up to the series of natural disasters that unfolded, the health service first held a planning discussion on January 25, amid dire weather warnings for the weekend.  In the wake of a series of devastating tornadoes and as rising flood waters threatened sewerage, power and water quality, the Bundaberg Hospital evacuated 131 patients, including 10 critical patients on January 29, 2013.

Click here to read the article.

Do SSRIs promote stroke recovery?

Recovery of functional independence after stroke only occurs in about half of all survivors of stroke, and mainly during the first six months after a stroke. Each year, stroke affects about 16 million people for the first time and causes about 5.7 million deaths. Moreover, survivors of stroke account for about 51 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs).
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are a class of drugs often used to treat mood disorders after stroke. However, recent research has suggested that they might aid recovery more generally after stroke, even if patients are not depressed.
Read the latest edition of Cochrane Journal Club to find out if SSRIs promote stroke recovery, even in the absence of depression.

Binge drinking and risky sexual behaviour - article

Excessive alcohol use and its association with risky sexual behaviour: a cross-sectional analysis of data from Victorian secondary school students is a study by Paul Argius and others recently published in the Australian & New Zealand Journal of Public Health. The authors were concerned about the increase in both alcohol consumption and risky sexual behaviours (defined as multiple sexual partners, sexual encounters without protection, and regretted sex due to alcohol) in young people over the past decade.  They surveyed a group of Victorian Year 11 students and concluded that "drinking excessive amounts of alcohol increases the odds of engaging in sexual practices that may carry potential health risks".  They found the high numbers of young people who continue to engage in unprotected sex of great public health concern. 

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health 2013 37 (1): 76-82 (open access)

Tuberculosis - special Cochrane evidence summary

The Cochrane Library periodically publishes summaries of evidence drawn from their latest Reviews. These "Special Collections" feature significant reviews on a selected clinical topic, defining current practice.  The most recent of these is on Tuberculosis and it looks at the best evidence for prevention, diagnosis, treatment and delivery strategies.

National Indigenous Cancer Network

The National Indigenous Cancer Network (NICaN) has been launched to encourage and support collaboration around Indigenous cancer research and the delivery of services to Indigenous people with cancer including their carers and families.

NICaN has been established by a partnership of the Menzies School of Health Research, the Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet, the Lowitja Institute, and Cancer Council Australia. It is a network and online resource for sharing evidence-based information and resources about cancer in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and to make this information accessible to Indigenous Australians with cancer, their families, practitioners, policy makers and researchers.

Consumer cancer resources online

Cancer Australia has released two new websites intended to increase the involvement of people affected by cancer in efforts to control the disease. 

The Consumer Learning website is designed to enhance consumer knowledge and confidence to participate in cancer research and clinical trials. It contains short online learning modules and video presentations to guide consumers who are seeking to participate in clinical trials and research.

The Consumer Involvement Toolkit is based on the National Framework for Consumer Involvement in Cancer Control, and supports CEOs, managers, health professionals, researchers and policy makers to effectively involve consumers in their organisation’s work. It provides user friendly tools including case studies, templates and checklists, aimed at helping to engage and involve people affected by cancer.

Prevention of viral hepatitis B and C - WHO guideline

The World Health Organisation has released an updated guideline: Guidance on prevention of viral hepatitis B and C among people who inject drugs.  The guidelines were developed with a global audience in mind, and countries are expected to adapt t he recommendations to suit their own circumstances - such as the local epidemiology of viral hepatitis as well as social, cultural and economic factors.
Standard and rapid regimens of Hepatitis B vaccinations with appropriate incentives, as well as psychosocial and peer interventions for the prevention of hepatitis were considered.

Family Focus - DVD for parents with a mental illness

Children of Parents with a Mental Illness (COPMI) has released a free DVD, Family Focus, for parents with mental illness, aimed at helping them to be open and talk about their mental health issues with their children. Many parents who experience depression or anxiety worry about whether they should talk with their children about their illness and how much they should say. The Family Focus DVD helps you start this conversation in order to build the family's (and child's) resilience to developing problems of their own.   

Prescribing errors - BMJ article

A large study across nine diverse hospitals in the UK involved ward-based clinical pharmacists prospectively documenting prescribing errors at the point of clinically checking admission or discharge prescriptions.  They assigned error categories and severities in order to evaluate the prevalence, type and severity of prescribing errors observed between grades of prescriber, ward area, admission or discharge and the type of medication prescribed.

The researchers found that of 4238 prescriptions evaluated, one or more error was observed in 1857 (43.8%) prescriptions, with a total of 3011 errors observed. Of these, 1264 (41.9%) were minor, 1629 (54.1%) were significant, 109 (3.6%) were serious and 9 (0.30%) were potentially life threatening.  The strongest predictor of error was found to be the number of items on a prescription, with the risk of error increasing 14% for each additional item.

Cross-sectional study of prescribing errors in patients admitted to nine hospitals across North West England Seden K, et al. BMJ Open 2013;3(1) 

Medical workforce 2011

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has released Medical Workforce 2011.  The supply of employed medical practitioners in Australia increased from 344.6 to 381.4 per 100,000 population between 2007 and 2011, which reflected a 10.7% rise in practitioner numbers.  The gender balance continued to shift, with women making up 37.6% of practitioners in 2011 compared with 34% in 2007.  Specialists-in-training in the public sector worked the most average hours per week (47.6) while general practitioners in the public sector worked the least (20.5). 

Epistemonikos - multilingual evidence search tool

Epistemonikos is a multilingual (English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, German, Dutch, Arabic and Chinese) collaborative and free database of health evidence.  It provides summaries of evidence-based studies in health care in the language of your choice.  Using natural language searching, you will be presented with a list of systematic reviews, structured summaries and primary studies to help you answer your clinical questions.  Results are set out very clearly, and come from various sources such as Cochrane, PubMed and the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE). 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health performance framework 2012 report

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework (HPF) looks at the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The HPF was designed to measure the impact of the National Strategic Framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health (NSFATSIH) and will be an important tool for developing the new National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan. The HPF monitors progress in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health outcomes, health system performance and the broader determinants of health.

This 2012 report, by the Department of Health and Ageing, indicates the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is improving for a number of measures, although there remain many areas where further concerted effort will be needed to achieve improvements in health outcomes.   (APO 4th December 2012)  

A Decade of Australian General Practice Activity 2002–03 to 2011–12

This book, by Janice Charles, Graeme C. Miller, Helena Britt and others at the University of Sydney, presents ten years of data from the BEACH (Bettering the Evaluation and Care of Health) program, and reports changes that have occurred over the decade 2002–03 to 2011–12, in the characteristics of GPs and the patients they see, the problems they manage and the treatments they provide. A companion report, General practice activity in Australia 2011–12, describes the 2011–12 annual results in more detail. BEACH is a continuous cross-sectional national study that began in April 1998.

Every year each of about 1,000 randomly selected GPs records details of 100 consecutive encounters on structured paper recording forms, and provides information about themselves and their practice. The database now holds data for 1.38 million records from 13,815 participating GPs.    (APO 27th November 2012)

Australian Child Health and Air Pollution Study (ACHAPS)

This final report of the Australian Child Health and Air Pollution Study (ACHAPS) looks into the long and short term health effects of air pollution on Australian children. The report was conducted by COAG Standing Council on Environment and Water. The study aims were to:

• provide an evidence base of long-term and short-term health effects of air pollutants in Australian children that will contribute to the review of National Environment Protection (Ambient Air Quality) Measure (NEPM) standards  
• obtain quantitative effect estimates for the association between children’s historical lifetime exposure to the criteria air pollutants contained in the NEPM (O3, PM10, PM2.5, NO2, CO, SO2
• obtain quantitative estimates of the prospective day-to-day association between the criteria air pollutants and (a) incidence of respiratory symptoms, and (b) lung function in school children with a history of asthma, aged 7–11 years at baseline ) and (a) the period prevalence of adverse health outcomes such as respiratory symptoms (asthma, cough and wheeze), and (b) lung function
•  determine whether any effects are modified by other factors, such as socio-economic disadvantage, geographical area, sex, activity patterns and obesity.      (APO 30 May 2012)

Provided There's Transport: Transport as a Barrier to Accessing Health Care in NSW

Transport plays a vital role in enabling access to healthcare. Yet for many people, it is a major barrier; impacting their ability to receive the health care they need. Over the last decade and a half, the lack of support for health transport has been regularly identified as a significant gap in the health system. It is of particular concern to the community services sector working on behalf of people experiencing disadvantage in NSW, and for organisations supporting people with chronic illness.

In 2012, following consistent reports from the social and community services sector highlighting health transport as an ongoing and growing concern, NCOSS (Council of Social Service of NSW) hosted two health transport workshops in Sydney and Lismore to examine the current state of play. Attended by representatives from health services, government departments, community transport groups, and other non-government organisations, these workshops confirmed that for the people who most need transport assistance, there has been little real change. This report by NCOSS documents the issues raised during these workshops and draws on the existing literature to demonstrate that the key issues relating to health transport have not been addressed, and provides recommendations towards a more efficient and equitable health transport system. (APO 30th January 2013)