How can Local Health Districts and Networks cultivate anti-racist hospitals?
Background
Racism has been clearly identified as a determinant of health and wellbeing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to experience racism and discrimination within the Australian healthcare system. Racism is causing dire health consequences and inhibiting access to quality and safe healthcare services.
Aims
To comprehensively understand and address the complex dynamics of racism, bias and colonisation in reforming hospital care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and families.
Methods Decolonise existing tools such as the Readiness to Change Assessment (RCTA) and Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services (i-PARIHS) framework. Evaluate health organisations’ readiness to change beliefs, attitudes and processes that maintain inequity. Undertake Aboriginal patient journey mapping and review governance structures, workforce development, current quality indicators and processes f
Risk Elimination on Walks to School (REmWalkS)
Every year, an estimated 350,000 children and adolescents are killed in road traffic crashes (RTCs) or by the effects of urban outdoor air pollution, to which road traffic is a significant contributor. RTCs are the leading cause of death for children and adolescents worldwide but those in resource-limited settings are disproportionately affected with 93% of child road traffic deaths occurring in low- and middle-income countries.
In addition to the deaths, injuries and disabilities caused by road collisions, children in urban areas often also sustain insidious damage to their developing lungs and brains by breathing traffic-related air pollutants (TRAP). TRAP exposure can result in growth stunting, delays in cognitive development and chronic respiratory problems. Due to the many overlapping causal factors linking road safety and personal air pollution exposure, there are significant opportunities for complementary mitigation measures to drive improvements in child health, safety, and wellbeing.
In
Submission to WHO public consultation on the draft guideline ‘fiscal policies to promote healthy diets’
Policy & Practice Report
Health service delivery reforms during and after economic crisis
Policy & Practice Report
Awareness, familiarity, and use of core outcome sets by Indian trialists and systematic reviewers
Background
Evidence-based medicine is informed by randomised control trials (RCT) and systematic reviews. Outcomes chosen in these research methods are important in determining if interventions are effective and safe. Research outcomes chosen based on previous research or stakeholder opinions tend to be inconsistent across studies. This variability and lack in consistency makes it difficult to pool data to inform healthcare practice and policy.
Core outcome sets (COS) are consensus-derived, standardised sets of outcomes that should be minimally measured in trials on a specific health condition or disease. Using COS enhances the ability to identify meaningful comparisons across research and examine the benefits or harms of interventions.
However, COS usage still varies widely across areas of healthcare research. Only 2% of reviewed late-phase clinical trials published 2019-2020 reported using a COS, and just 65% of trialists surveyed in 2021 were familiar with COS. Understanding the current awareness
Towards 2030 and beyond – launch of report from roundtable on building inclusive, sustainable economies that deliver health and wellbeing
Policy & Practice Report
NEXTGEN-BP: Cuffless wearable blood pressure monitoring to improve patient outcomes
BackgroundUncontrolled high blood pressure (BP) or hypertension is the leading cause of death in Australia. However, only one-third of Australians with hypertension achieve optimal BP control. The key barrier is treatment inertia - hesitancy of health-care providers to initiate or intensify treatment after high BP readings. This is frequently driven by uncertainty around “true” BP due to problematic assessment of office BP readings, high variability of BP and a low number of BP measurements taken in primary care to guide decision-making.High blood pressure is a major risk factor for stroke, cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease and presents a considerable health burden. One in three Australians suffer from high blood pressure and only 32% have effectively controlled blood pressure.If all Australians currently living with high blood pressure were properly treated, as many as 83,000 lives could be saved resulting in a $91.6 billion return. However, GPs are hesitant to start or intensify blood pr
The Kidney Patient as Navigator: Co-Producing a Way through the Health and Care System
This project is a co-produced study of the experiences of people with chronic kidney disease and multiple other long-term conditions when navigating the health and care system.
It stems from a series of discussions among a group of patients, brought together through kidney patient networks, and academic researchers, to identify their priorities in patient-driven kidney research.
Through their own lived experience, the group members recognised the significant challenges that patients face when navigating the intricacies of the health and social care system to receive appropriate holistic care. This can, in turn, negatively influence their wellbeing and quality of life. The group concluded that this was a priority theme for research, with this project seeking to identify opportunities for improvement, through patient education and empowerment, or systems changes.
Aim:
The project has four core objectives: To collect, review and understand the experiences of people living with chronic
Submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry into Diabetes
Policy & Practice Report
Submission to the National Robotic Strategy
Policy & Practice Report
IMPEND: Identifying multimorbidity patterns and events among Indians
Background
Multimorbidity, defined as the coexistence of two or more chronic conditions, including mental health conditions and infectious diseases of long duration, is an emerging problem with a rising trend in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). With the rapid epidemiological transition occurring in India, multimorbidity has become a significant challenge. However, there is a lack of reliable estimates regarding the patterns of multimorbidity.
Without identifying patients at an increased risk of developing specific combinations result in worse outcomes, it is difficult to plan programs or allocate resources for managing multimorbidity effectively. Therefore, it is essential to generate reliable information on multimorbidity profiles. The study will focus on reviewing analytical methods and available data sources.
In India, it is crucial to understand the process of producing reliable evidence and ensure appropriate benchmarking and validation of multimorbidity profiles for the population. Furt
Improving pregnancy care quality: Understanding women’s experiences with maternal health services in Nigeria
Nigeria has a history of poor maternal healthcare. Nigerian women are 500 times more likely to lose their lives during childbirth compared to women from high-income countries (HIC). In 2020, Nigeria had the highest number of maternal deaths (82,000) in the world and accounted for more than a quarter (28.5%) of global maternal deaths. This translates to about 145 maternal deaths every day. Low quality of care is a major driver of poor maternal health outcomes in Nigeria.
Quality of care has two components: provision of care and experience of care. However, efforts aimed at improving maternity care in Nigeria often focus on the ‘provision’ aspect of care alone. While it is important to invest in the supply aspect of care, it is also imperative that women’s experiences of care are given equal attention.
Aims
This study aims to map women’s pregnancy journey to examine their experiences in accessing care and investigate their ideas of satisfactory quality of mate