Bmc Health Serv Res
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Bmc Health Serv Res · Jan 2008
ReviewPrimary health care delivery models in rural and remote Australia: a systematic review.
One third of all Australians live outside of its major cities. Access to health services and health outcomes are generally poorer in rural and remote areas relative to metropolitan areas. In order to improve access to services, many new programs and models of service delivery have been trialled since the first National Rural Health Strategy in 1994. Inadequate evaluation of these initiatives has resulted in failure to garner knowledge, which would facilitate the establishment of evidence-based service models, sustain and systematise them over time and facilitate transfer of successful programs. This is the first study to systematically review the available published literature describing innovative models of comprehensive primary health care (PHC) in rural and remote Australia since the development of the first National Rural Health Strategy (1993-2006). The study aimed to describe what health service models were reported to work, where they worked and why. ⋯ Synthesised data suggest that, moving away from Australian coastal population centres, sustainable models are able to address diseconomies of scale which result from large distances and small dispersed populations. Based on the service requirements and enablers derived from analysis of reported successful PHC service models, we have developed a conceptual framework that is particularly useful in underpinning the development of sustainable PHC models in rural and remote communities.
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Bmc Health Serv Res · Jan 2008
Multicenter Study Comparative StudyCost effectiveness of chest pain unit care in the NHS.
Acute chest pain is responsible for approximately 700,000 patient attendances per year at emergency departments in England and Wales. A single centre study of selected patients suggested that chest pain unit (CPU) care could be less costly and more effective than routine care for these patients, although a more recent multi-centre study cast doubt on the generalisability of these findings. ⋯ Our analysis shows that CPU care is likely to be slightly more effective and less expensive than routine care, however, these estimates are surrounded by a substantial amount of uncertainty. We cannot reliably conclude that establishing CPU care will represent a cost-effective use of health service resources given the substantial amount of investment it would require.
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Bmc Health Serv Res · Jan 2008
A method to determine spatial access to specialized palliative care services using GIS.
Providing palliative care is a growing priority for health service administrators worldwide as the populations of many nations continue to age rapidly. In many countries, palliative care services are presently inadequate and this problem will be exacerbated in the coming years. The provision of palliative care, moreover, has been piecemeal in many jurisdictions and there is little distinction made at present between levels of service provision. There is a pressing need to determine which populations do not enjoy access to specialized palliative care services in particular. ⋯ Strategic location analysis methods must be developed and used to accurately locate future palliative services in order to provide spatial access to the greatest number of people, and to ensure that limited health resources are allocated wisely. Improved spatial access has the potential to reduce travel-times for patients, for palliative care workers making home visits, and for travelling practitioners. These methods are particularly useful for health service planners - and provide a means to rationalize their decision-making. Moreover, they are extendable to a number of health service allocation problems.
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Bmc Health Serv Res · Jan 2008
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative StudyCost-effectiveness of the Australian Medical Sheepskin for the prevention of pressure ulcers in somatic nursing home patients: study protocol for a prospective multi-centre randomised controlled trial (ISRCTN17553857).
Pressure ulcers are a major problem, especially in nursing home patients, although they are regarded as preventable and there are many pressure relieving methods and materials. One such pressure relieving material is the recently developed Australian Medical Sheepskin, which has been shown in two randomized controlled trials 12 to be an effective intervention in the prevention of sacral pressure ulcers in hospital patients. However, the use of sheepskins has been debated and in general discouraged by most pressure ulcer working groups and pressure ulcer guidelines, but these debates were based on old forms of sheepskins. Furthermore, nothing is yet known about the (cost-)effectiveness of the Australian Medical sheepskin in nursing home patients. The objective of this study is to assess the effects and costs of the use of the Australian Medical Sheepskin combined with usual care with regard to the prevention of sacral pressure ulcers in somatic nursing home patients, versus usual care only. ⋯ In a multi-centre randomised controlled trial 750 patients admitted for a primarily somatic reason to one of the five participating nursing homes, and not having pressure ulcers on the sacrum at admission, will be randomized to either usual care only or usual care plus the use of the Australian Medical Sheepskin as an overlay on the mattress. Outcome measures are: incidence of sacral pressure ulcers in the first month after admission; sacrum pressure ulcer free days; costs; patient comfort; and ease of use. The skin of all the patients will be observed once a day from admission on for 30 days. Patient characteristics and pressure risk scores are assessed at admission and at day 30 after it. Additional to the empirical phase, systematic reviews will be performed in order to obtain data for economic weighting and modelling. The protocol is registered in the Controlled Trial Register as ISRCTN17553857.
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Bmc Health Serv Res · Jan 2008
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyMethods of data collection and analysis for the economic evaluation alongside a national, multi-centre trial in the UK: conventional ventilation or ECMO for Severe Adult Respiratory Failure (CESAR).
Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) is a technology used in treatment of patients with severe but potentially reversible respiratory failure. A multi-centre randomised controlled trial (CESAR) was funded in the UK to compare care including ECMO with conventional intensive care management. The protocol and funding for the CESAR trial included plans for economic data collection and analysis. Given the high cost of treatment, ECMO is considered an expensive technology for many funding systems. However, conventional treatment for severe respiratory failure is also one of the more costly forms of care in any health system. ⋯ In our view it is important to record our methods in detail and present them before publication of the results of the trial so that a record of detail not normally found in the final trial reports can be made available in the public domain.