Quantifying the cost of cancer in Australia, and the distribution of these costs by Indigenous status, remoteness, and socioeconomic disadvantage

Nicole Bates sought to quantify the cost of cancer in Australia, and the distribution of these costs by Indigenous status, remoteness, and socioeconomic status. The findings from this work are the first in Australia to demonstrate differences in healthcare costs and individual costs for these population groups experiencing poorer outcomes

Deadly Discounts: How Reimportation Jeopardizes the Safety of the U.S. Pharmaceutical Drug Supply under the Federal Trade Commission Amendment

The amendment to a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reauthorization bill, previously introduced as Senate Bill 334 (S.334) Pharmaceutical Market Access and Drug Safety Act of 2005 allows for the reimportation of prescription drugs into the United States from approximately 25 countries, including Canada via Internet pharmacies. There are no guarantees that the internet websites advertising as Canadian pharmacies are legitimate. The shipping of pharmaceutical drugs occurs through importation, which refers to drugs produced abroad then later shipped to the U.S., or re-importation, a term applied when drugs are produced in the U.S. and exported for sale to foreign countries and later imported back into the U.S. The amendment attempts to open the border doors even further by allowing increased importation of medicine and requires pharmacies and drug wholesalers to register with the FDA. The potential importers will be subject to frequent, random inspection; however, these inspections are inadequate and more must be done. Some real solutions include electronic pedigrees and authentication technologies. Also, technology must be rotated so that illegitimate manufacturers can not adapt and overcome anti-counterfeiting measures

Medication reconciliation and discharge communication from hospital to general practice: A quantitative analysis

Background: The aim of this study was to assess the quality of effective discharge communication to primary practice from a hospital that uses ieMR (integrated electronic Medical Record), a complete electronic prescribing/medical record platform. Methods: A retrospective quantitative analysis of 232 discharge encounters from a major tertiary hospital assessed the discharge summary quality; timeliness, completeness and medication information. Results: Median time to discharge summary was 1 day. 22.0% of discharge summaries were incomplete at 30 days post discharge and 44.5% of discharge summaries were incomplete at 30 days post discharge if discharged on a weekend compared to weekday (P-value = 0.001). Rates of medication reconciliation were completed at approximately 35% at each point of the patient stay and 56.9% of patients had a GP discharge summary listing discharge medications. However, if certain progressive steps were completed (i.e. Home Medications recorded in ieMR, Discharge Reconciliation in ieMR, and Patient Discharge Medication Record in eLMs (Enterprise-wide Liaison Medication System)), then, the 'Medications on Discharge' was significantly more likely to be present in the discharge summary, at rates of 70.1%, 85.9%, and 98.6% respectively (P-value = 0.007, <0.001, <0.001). Conversely not doing these steps dropped rates of having medications listed in the discharge summary to 50.0%, 40.3% and 34.1% respectively. Conclusions: This study assessed current discharge summary quality since the introduction of electronic medical records. It demonstrated the significant value of correct use of electronic programs, including performing all crucial steps of reconciliation. Targeted interventions in future studies that rectify the shortfalls in discharge communication are warranted

Tracking Online Education in Canadian Universities and Colleges: National Survey of Online and Digital Learning 2019 National Report

Disponible en français dans EDUQ.info sous le titre "Évolution de l’apprentissage en ligne dans les universités et collèges du Canada : sondage national sur la formation à distance et l’apprentissage en ligne 2019"The Canadian National Online and Digital Learning Survey aims to track the status and development of online, distance and digital learning in public post-secondary education across Canada

Patient co-payments for women diagnosed with breast cancer in Australia

Purpose: Among Australian women, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer. The out-of-pocket cost to the patient is substantial. This study estimates the total patient co-payments for Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) for women diagnosed with breast cancer and determined the distribution of these costs by Indigenous status, remoteness, and socioeconomic status. Methods: Data on women diagnosed with breast cancer in Queensland between 01 July 2011 and 30 June 2012 were obtained from the Queensland Cancer Registry and linked with hospital and Emergency Department Admissions, and MBS and PBS records for the 3 years post-diagnosis. The data were then weighted to be representative of the Australian population. The co-payment charged for MBS services and PBS prescriptions was summed. We modelled the mean co-payment per patient during each 6-month time period for MBS services and PBS prescriptions. Results: A total of 3079 women were diagnosed with breast cancer in Queensland during the 12-month study period, representing 15,335 Australian women after weighting. In the first 3 years post-diagnosis, the median co-payment for MBS services was AU$748 (IQR, AU$87–2121; maximum AU$32,249), and for PBS prescriptions was AU$ 835 (IQR, AU$480–1289; maximum AU$5390). There were significant differences in the co-payments for MBS services and PBS prescriptions by Indigenous status and socioeconomic disadvantage, but none for remoteness. Conclusions: Women incur high patient co-payments in the first 3 years post-diagnosis. These costs vary greatly by patient. Potential costs should be discussed with women throughout their treatment, to allow women greater choice in the most appropriate care for their situation

Australian general practitioners' views on qualities that make effective discharge communication: a scoping review

Transitions of patient care between hospital discharge and primary care are known to be an area of high-risk where communication is imperative for patient safety. Discharge summaries are known to often be incomplete, delayed and unhelpful for community healthcare providers. The aim of this review was to identify and map the literature which discusses Australian general practitioners' (GPs) views on the qualities that make up effective discharge communication. Medline, Scopus and the Cochrane register of controlled drug trails and systematic reviews were searched for publications until October 2021 that discussed Australian GPs' views on discharge communication from hospital to general practice. Of 1696 articles identified, 18 met inclusion and critical appraisal criteria. Five studies identified that GPs view timeliness of discharge summary receipt to be a problem. Communication of medication information in the discharge summary was discussed in six studies, with two reporting that GPs view reasons for medication changes to be essential. Five studies noted GPs would prefer to receive clinical discipline or diagnosis specific information. Four studies identified that GPs viewed the format and readability of discharge summaries to be problematic, with difficulties finding salient information. The findings of this scoping review indicate that GPs view timeliness, completeness, readability, medication related information and diagnosis/clinical discipline specific information to be qualities that make up effective discharge communication from hospital to the community. There are opportunities for further research in perspectives of effective discharge communication, and future studies on interventions to improve discharge communication, patient safety and policy in transfers of care

University Students as Community Partners.

Supported by a Collaborative Program Grant from the University of Minnesota Extension Service, with printing costs contributed by the Center for Urban Regional Affairs

University Students as Community Partners.

Supported by a Collaborative Program Grant from the University of Minnesota Extension Service, with printing costs contributed by the Center for Urban Regional Affairs

Health policy networks: bridging interests and augmenting influence in the changing global health policy environment

Context: In recent years, global health has grown as a public policy priority in the United States and abroad. U.S. global health policy, once influenced by a small group of stakeholders, is now shaped by an expanded set of actors. The more inclusive policymaking process has, in turn, become more complex. Objective: This dissertation identifies practical strategies that the Global Health Council ("the Council"), a U.S.-based international membership association, can use to maintain its influence over and benefit from a changed policy environment. Design: Documenting U.S. global health policy trends over the past decade, transcripts of 40 key informant interviews and a database of 576 organizations affiliated with the Council provide the data for analysis. Policy sciences and organizational sciences approaches frame the study analysis. Results: Data analysis finds that the Council is now one of many organizations working to shape U.S. global health policy. The Council contributes to the policymaking process and network of policy actors as a direct advocate and broker of policy interactions and information. Increased investments in global health advocacy, however, have rendered these functions less unique. The Council's expansive inter-organizational network, rooted in its membership base, might offer additional advantage in the changed policy environment. However, the organization presently engages only a minority of these potentially advantageous relationships. Conclusion: The Council can maximize its impact by implementing strategies that ensure that its policy processes and products remain effective and preferred by the network of global health stakeholders. These strategies are to: better articulate the organization's policy identity; monitor more closely core policy functions for preferred outcomes and necessary adaptation; identify stakeholders and prioritize interactions; establish a system for stakeholder policy input; and monitor global health environment trends. Implications for Practice: This research indicates that the Council's advocate and broker functions along with its membership network serve as the basis for the organization to continue its positive global health policy authority. By integrating strategies presented in this dissertation with current policy activities, the Council is likely to remain one of the premier global health policy authorities now and in the future