Bmc Health Serv Res
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Bmc Health Serv Res · Jan 2011
Variation in quality of preventive care for well adults in Indigenous community health centres in Australia.
Early onset and high prevalence of chronic disease among Indigenous Australians call for action on prevention. However, there is deficiency of information on the extent to which preventive services are delivered in Indigenous communities. This study examined the variation in quality of preventive care for well adults attending Indigenous community health centres in Australia. ⋯ There is substantial room to improve preventive care for well adults in Indigenous primary care settings. Understanding of health centre and client level factors affecting variation in the care should assist clinicians, managers and policy makers to develop strategies to improve quality of preventive care in Indigenous communities.
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Bmc Health Serv Res · Jan 2011
Long-term medical utilization following ventilator-associated pneumonia in acute stroke and traumatic brain injury patients: a case-control study.
The economic burden of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) during the index hospitalization has been confirmed in previous studies. However, the long-term economic impact is still unclear. The aim of this study is to examine the effect of VAP on medical utilization in the long term. ⋯ VAP has a significant impact on medical expenses and utilization, both during the index hospitalization during which VAP developed and in the longer term.
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There is a crisis in primary care health workforce shortages in Australia. Its government has attempted to fix this by role-substitution (replacing medical work with nursing instead). ⋯ Yet there is much to be optimistic about this social experiment. It was conducted, if not ideally, at least in an environment that the Australian government has enriched with capacity for research and evaluation.