What Characteristics are Important to Acute Care Health Professionals in Australia when Choosing a Palliative Care Prognostic Tool

Prognostic tools can aid acute care health professionals in the recognition of dying and identify when a patient should transition from active treatment to palliative care. The recognition of dying has important implications not only for the patient, but also for their family and others involved in providing care. Several prognostic tools are used in the Australian acute care setting, however they are not yet routine practice. Identifying what characteristics are important to acute care health professionals when choosing a palliative care prognostic tool may inform how the tools are presented and could increase their utilization by non-palliative care specialists. This survey found that the Supportive and Palliative Care Indicators Tool (SPICT) and Surprise Question are the most commonly known prognostic tools and are used in several clinical areas within the acute care setting. Acute care health professionals prefer validated prognostic tools which are easy to use, and are designed to be administered with the patient, substitute decision maker and the clinical team. The survey also identified the need for palliative care prognostic tools to be included within undergraduate teaching programs, further increasing the awareness and utilization of prognostic tools by health professionals working within the acute care setting

A Comparison of Women’s Travel to Mammography Services and Average Week Day Trip Length

Long travel distances/times to a mammography service may act as a barrier that hinders women from seeking screening mammography on a recommended schedule. Average weekday trip length data from the New South Wales Travel Survey was compared with the average distance women travelled to a mammography service, the difference was tested using the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test. The distance travelled to mammography services was statistically greater than the average week day trip length from the New South Wales Travel Survey (4.3 km, 95% CI 3.3 to 5.9 kms, p,0.001). This study has identified that within New South Wales there is a significant difference between average week day trip length travel and client travel to mammography services. Therefore, highlighting that women are undertaking a greater than normal travel burden to access mammography services. The comparison of normal weekday travel and travel to mammography services has enabled the burden of travel to mammography services to be identified. Reducing the burden of travel to mammography services is pivotal to increasing the utilization of mammography services and reducing the inequalities in health comes