Research

Routine screening of older ICU patients for frailty could improve outcome prediction and inform health care planning

Jai N Darvall · Rinaldo Bellomo · Eldho Paul · Ashwin Subramaniam · John D Santamaria · Sean M Bagshaw · Sumeet Rai · Ruth E Hubbard · David Pilcher

The availability of helmets and the enforcement of helmet rules by police must be ensured

Narelle L Haworth · Amy Schramm

The most frequent reason for retrieval, myocardial infarction, requires early treatment and extensive long term management

Fergus W Gardiner · Alice M Richardson · Lara Bishop · Abby Harwood · Elli Gardiner · Lauren Gale · Narcissus Teoh · Robyn M Lucas · Martin Laverty

The proportion of head injuries that is acutely clinically significant is greater for recreational sports than for contact sports associated with risk of concussion

Nitaa Eapen · Gavin A Davis · Meredith L Borland · Natalie Phillips · Ed Oakley · Stephen Hearps · Amit Kochar · Sarah Dalton · John Cheek · Jeremy Furyk · Mark D Lyttle · Silvia Bressan · Louise Crowe · Stuart Dalziel · Emma Tavender · Franz E Babl

Gender details must be better captured to facilitate appropriate planning of sexual health services

Denton Callander · Teddy Cook · Phillip Read · Margaret E Hellard · Christopher K Fairley · John M Kaldor · Emanuel Vlahakis · Alisa Pollack · Christopher Bourne · Darren B Russell · Rebecca J Guy · Basil Donovan

Increasing ICU size may have improved health care system efficiency

Peter Hicks · Sue Huckson · Emma Fenney · Isobel Leggett · David Pilcher · Edward Litton

Excisional biopsy remains the most appropriate diagnostic biopsy technique for invasive melanoma

Sara L de Menezes · John W Kelly · Rory Wolfe · Helen Farrugia · Victoria J Mar

The availability of paracetamol needs to be restricted to stem the increasing number of overdoses

Rose Cairns · Jared A Brown · Claire E Wylie · Andrew H Dawson · Geoffrey K Isbister · Nicholas A Buckley

Mental and behavioural disorders in rural and remote communities trigger a considerable number of RFDS retrievals

Fergus W Gardiner · Mathew Coleman · Narcissus Teoh · Abby Harwood · Neil T Coffee · Lauren Gale · Lara Bishop · Martin Laverty

The two-dose schedule currently recommended in Australia provides better protection than a one-dose regimen

Scott W White · Janice C Cheng · Blagica Penova‐Veselinovic · Carol Wang · Melanie White · Bernie Ingleby · Christine Arnold · Craig E Pennell

Preventing cardiovascular disease in Indigenous Australians must take their individual perspectives and socio-economic conditions into account

Markus Juonala · Pauline Sjöholm · Katja Pahkala · Susan Ellul · Noora Kartiosuo · Belinda Davison · Gurmeet R Singh

Strategies for helping parents manage the screen time of their children from early infancy should be investigated

Leigh Tooth · Katrina Moss · Richard Hockey · Gita D Mishra

Leprosy remains a significant problem in PNG, and assistance from Australia would help both countries

Allison Hempenstall · Simon Smith · Josh Hanson

Glucometric analysis supported by networked glucose meter technology can promote safe diabetes care in hospitals

Mervyn Kyi · Peter G Colman · Lois M Rowan · Katie A Marley · Paul R Wraight · Spiros Fourlanos

Culturally appropriate, targeted strategies are required for improving prescribing for older people in remote Aboriginal communities

Amy Page · Zoë Hyde · Kate Smith · Christopher Etherton‐Beer · David N Atkinson · Leon Flicker · Linda Skeaf · Roslyn Malay · Dina C LoGiudice

Tensions between practice and policy, and between student learning and patient safety require careful balance

Anna Therese Ryan · Caleb Fisher · Neville Chiavaroli

The prevalence of polypharmacy among older Australians is relatively high and increasing as the population ages

Amy T Page · Michael O Falster · Melisa Litchfield · Sallie‐Anne Pearson · Christopher Etherton‐Beer

We have an evidence-based tool for screening for depression in Indigenous Australians

The Getting it Right Collaborative Group

Reducing broad spectrum antibiotic use was associated with reduced VRE transmission and infection

John K Ferguson · Sally A Munnoch · Kristi Kozierowski · Simon Chiu · Christopher Oldmeadow

Improving completion rates for Indigenous Australian women are needed to end their higher burden of cervical cancer

Julia ML Brotherton · Karen L Winch · Genevieve Chappell · Carolyn Banks · Dennis Meijer · Sonya Ennis · Karen Peterson · Rosalind Webby · Lisa J Whop

Australian reference values provide benchmarks for assessing the impact of disease and treatment on Australians with cancer

Rebecca Mercieca‐Bebber · Daniel SJ Costa · Richard Norman · Monika Janda · David P Smith · Peter Grimison · Eva‐Marie Gamper · Madeleine T King

The renewed program is performing as expected during the initial HPV screening round

Dorothy A Machalek · Jennifer M Roberts · Suzanne M Garland · Julia Thurloe · Adele Richards · Ian Chambers · Terri Sivertsen · Annabelle Farnsworth

Objectives: To investigate the admission characteristics and hospital outcomes for Indigenous and non‐Indigenous patients admitted to intensive units (ICUs) after major trauma. Design, setting: Retrospective analysis of Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society (ANZICS) Adult Patient Database data from 92 Australian ICUs for the 6‐year period, 2010–2015. Participants: Patients older than 17 years of age admitted to public hospital ICUs with a primary diagnosis of trauma. Main outcome measures: ICU and overall hospital lengths of stay, hospital discharge destination, and ICU and overall hospital mortality rates for Indigenous and non‐Indigenous patients. Results: 23 804 people were admitted to Australian public hospital ICUs after major trauma; 1754 (7.4%) were Indigenous Australians. The population‐standardised incidence of admissions was consistently higher for Indigenous Australians than for non‐Indigenous Australians (847 per million v 251 per million population; incidence ratio, 3.37; 95% CI, 3.19–3.57). Overall hospital mortality rates were similar for Indigenous and non‐Indigenous patients (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.04; 95% CI, 0.82–1.31). Indigenous patients were more likely than non‐Indigenous patients to be discharged to another hospital (non‐Indigenous v Indigenous: aOR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.72–0.96) less likely to be discharged home (non‐Indigenous v Indigenous: aOR, 1.17; 95% CI, 1.04–1.31). Conclusion: The population rate of trauma‐related ICU admissions was substantially higher for Indigenous than non‐Indigenous patients, but hospital mortality rates after ICU admission were similar. Indigenous patients were more likely to be discharged to a another hospital and less likely to be discharged home than non‐Indigenous patients.

Fraser Magee · Anthony Wilson · Michael J Bailey · David Pilcher · Paul J Secombe · Paul Young · Rinaldo Bellomo

A flexible balance between sensitivity and specificity can be achieved with a combination of screening tools

Chamara V Senaratna · Jennifer L Perret · Adrian Lowe · Gayan Bowatte · Michael J Abramson · Bruce Thompson · Caroline Lodge · Melissa Russell · Garun S Hamilton · Shyamali C Dharmage

National population-level analysis provides valuable insights into severe RSV-associated disease

Gemma L Saravanos · Meru Sheel · Nusrat Homaira · Aditi Dey · Edward Brown · Han Wang · Kristine Macartney · Nicholas J Wood