Issue 264 - 27 October 2022

Welcome to the fortnightly Health Improvement and Innovation Digest. The Digest has links to key evidence of interest, with access to new content arranged by topic.

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Article Access

For articles that aren't open access, contact your DHB library, or organisational or local library for assistance in accessing the full text. If your organisation has a subscription, you may be able to use the icon under full text links in PubMed to access the full article.

Health Equity (New Zealand)

Disparities in surgical health service delivery and outcomes for indigenous children
Evidence of health disparities for Indigenous children requiring surgical care is lacking. This study, published in the Journal of Pediatric Surgery, presents a systematic review of the literature examining possible disparities in surgical care and outcomes for pediatric patients of Indigenous ethnicity.

Health Equity (International)

Implementing Interventions to Improve Health Communication Equity for First Nations People: Guidance from a Rapid Realist Review
Effective communication is critical for engagement between clients and health professionals, transfer of health information and health decision-making. Internationally, there is recognition that if health communication interventions were successfully implemented, then health communication equity would improve. This rapid realist review, published in the Journal of Health Communication, was undertaken with the aim of providing guidance on the circumstances in which communication interventions were likely to work in regional health service settings accessed by First Nations people from remote and very remote geographic areas of Australia.

Cancer Services (International)

Strategies to address barriers and improve bowel cancer screening participation in Indigenous populations, particularly in rural and remote communities: A scoping review
This review, published in the Health Promotion Journal of Australia, aims to identify strategies that may increase bowel cancer screening rates among Indigenous populations, particularly in rural and remote communities.

The effectiveness of case management for cancer patients: an umbrella review
Case management (CM) is widely utilized to improve health outcomes of cancer patients, enhance their experience of health care, and reduce the cost of care. While numbers of systematic reviews are available on the effectiveness of CM for cancer patients, they often arrive at discordant conclusions that may confuse or mislead the future case management development for cancer patients and relevant policy making. This review, published in BMC Health Services Research, aimed to summarize the existing systematic reviews on the effectiveness of CM in health-related outcomes and health care utilization outcomes for cancer patient care, and highlight the consistent and contradictory findings. 

Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes (International)

Improving type 2 diabetes care and self‐management at the individual level by incorporating social determinants of health
Suboptimal social determinants of health impede type 2 diabetes self-management. They are usually considered at population and community levels, not individually. The objective of this study, published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, was to draw on perspectives of people who have type 2 diabetes to identify and explore the impact of social determinants on self-management and ways to incorporate them into individual care.

Primary Health Care (International)

LESS-PHARMA Study: Identifying and Deprescribing Potentially Inappropriate Medication in the Elderly Population with Excessive Polypharmacy in Primary Care
Potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) increases adverse drug reactions and mortality, especially in excessively polymedicated patients. This study, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, aimed to measure the amount of potentially inappropriate medication among excessively polymedicated patients using several supporting tools and assess the feasibility of these tools in primary care.

Complex community health and social care interventions – Which features lead to reductions in hospitalizations for ambulatory care sensitive conditions? A systematic literature review
Preventing hospitalizations due to ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSCs) is traditionally the responsibility of primary care. The determinants of ACSC hospitalizations, however, are not purely medical, but also influenced by other factors like patients’ social and personal circumstances. Interventions that include or consist entirely of community health services and social care could potentially reduce the ACSC hospitalization rate. Comparisons of the features of successful interventions of this nature, however, are still lacking. This systematic review, published in Health Policy, identified out-of-hospital interventions that included aspects or consisted entirely of community health services and social care and analysed the ACSC hospitalization rate as an outcome measure.

Primary Mental Health (International)

Screening for Anxiety in Children and Adolescents: Evidence Report and Systematic Review for the US Preventive Services Task Force
Anxiety in children and adolescents is associated with impaired functioning, educational underachievement, and future mental health conditions. The objective of this evidence report, published in JAMA, was to review the evidence on screening for anxiety in children and adolescents to inform the US Preventive Services Task Force.

Screening for Depression and Suicide Risk in Children and Adolescents: Updated Evidence Report and Systematic Review for the US Preventive Services Task Force
Depression, suicidal ideation, and self-harm behaviors in youth are associated with functional impairment and suicide. This review, published in JAMA, explored the evidence on screening for depression or suicide risk in children and adolescents.

Using Recovery Management Check-ups for Primary Care (RMC-PC) to improve linkage to alcohol and other drug use treatment: A randomized controlled trial
Recovery management checkups (RMC) have established efficacy for linking patients to substance use disorder (SUD) treatment. This study, published in Addiction, tested whether using RMC in combination with screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT), versus SBIRT alone, can improve linkage of primary care patients referred to SUD treatment.

Smoking Cessation (International)

Effects of different interventions on smoking cessation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients: A systematic review and network meta-analysis
Smoking is responsible for 9 out of 10 deaths related to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and this number can be reduced by quitting smoking. In this study, published in the International Journal of Nursing Studies, the effect of different interventions on smoking cessation of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was assessed through a network meta-analysis.

Weight Management (New Zealand)

Enablers and barriers to prevent weight-regain post bariatric surgery - A qualitative enquiry
Weight-regain is commonly experienced after bariatric surgery. This qualitative enquiry, published in Eating Behaviors, aimed to explore participants' self-reported enablers and barriers to prevent future weight-regain post-surgery.

Key Ministry of Health Publications

Guidelines to the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992
This guidance is intended to support the effective and lawful use of the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992.

Adults’ Dietary Habits
This publication describes the eating and drinking behaviours of a representative sample of New Zealand adults.

Children’s Dietary Habits
This publication describes the eating and drinking behaviours of a representative sample of New Zealand children, as described by their caregivers.

Ministry of Health Consultations & Events

Feedback Survey - Health Impacts Paper
This document seeks feedback, by the 25th of October, from across the health system (TWO, NPHS, PHA) on ways to improve the draft publication, which is a part of the PHA healthy urban development kaupapa. The purpose of the healthy urban development kaupapa is to address the wider determinants of health through influencing urban development, planning, design and policy in this area.

Health Sector Initiative

Mental wellbeing topics and video series a boost for Aucklanders
Health Navigator Charitable Trust (HNCT) and Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand have partnered to create 15 new wellbeing website pages, four personal stories and 19 videos that focus on the broader psychosocial aspects of COVID and is designed to help whānau cope with COVID-19 and the potential aftermath of long COVID.

The information available on or through this newsletter does not represent Ministry of Health policy. It is intended to provide general information to the health sector and the public, and is not intended to address specific circumstances of any particular individual or entity.