Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Assessing The Quality, Suitability And Readability Of Internet-Based Health Information About Warfarin For Patients, Sayeed Nasser, Judy Mullan, Beata Bajorek

Graduate School of Medicine - Papers (Archive)

Background
Warfarin is a high-risk medication where patient information may be critical to help ensure safe and effective treatment. Considering the time constraints of healthcare providers, the internet can be an important supplementary information resource for patients prescribed warfarin. The usefulness of internet-based patient information is often limited by challenges associated with finding valid and reliable health information. Given patients’ increasing access of the internet for information, this study investigated the quality, suitability and readability of patient information about warfarin presented on the internet.
Method
Previously validated tools were used to evaluate the quality, suitability and readability of patient information …

'If My Arms And Legs Aren't Dropping Off I'Ll Wait To See My Usual Gp!' An Analysis Of Older Patients' Attitudes To Registrars Informed By Agency Theory, Andrew D. Bonney, Sandra C. Jones, Donald C. Iverson, Christopher A. Magee

Graduate School of Medicine - Papers (Archive)

Continuity of care and trust are important in older patient-doctor relationships which impacts older patient willingess to consult registrars for chronic disease management.

Gender Differences In Cognitive Function Of Patients With Chronic Schizophrenia, Mei Han, Xu-Feng Huang, Da Chun Chen, Mei Hong Xiu, Li Hui, Haibo Liu, Thomas R. Kosten, Xiang Yang Zhang

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Schizophrenic patients have cognitive impairments, but gender differences in these cognitive deficits have had limited study. This study assessed cognitive functioning in 471 subjects including 122 male and 78 female schizophrenic patients and 141 male and 130 female healthy controls. We found that immediate memory, language, delayed memory and total RBANS scores were significantly decreased in schizophrenia compared with healthy controls for both genders. Male patients had significant lower immediate memory, delayed memory and total RBANS scores than female patients, and healthy controls showed a similar gender difference. The RBANS showed modest correlations with PANSS scores, duration of illness and …

Nutrition Status Of Primary Care Patients With Depression And Anxiety, Adrienne K. Forsyth, Peter G. Williams, Frank P. Deane

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The objective of this study was to evaluate the nutrition status of people referred to a nutrition and physical activity program for the management of mental health in a general practice.

Risk Of Road Traffic Accidents In Patients Discharged Following Treatment For Psychotropic Drug Overdose: A Self-Controlled Case Series Study In Australia, Tharaka L. Dassanayake, Alison L. Jones, Patricia Michie, Gregory Carter, Patrick Mcelduff, Barrie J. Stokes, Ian Whyte

Graduate School of Medicine - Papers (Archive)

Background: Use of psychotropic drugs is known to impair driving and increase the risk of road traffic accidents. They are also the most common drugs taken in overdose in hospital-treated episodes of self-poisoning. Most patients who take psychotropic drug overdoses are discharged within 48 hours, while they still have possible subclinical drug effects. Objective: Using a self-controlled case series design, we aimed to determine whether patients with psychotropic drug overdose are at a higher risk of a traffic accident in the period following discharge compared with a control period not associated with hospital-treated drug overdose. Methodology: Using the New South …

Educating Patients About Warfarin Theray Using Information Technology: A Survey On Healthcare Professionals' Perspectives, Sayeed Nasser, Judy Mullan, Beata Bajorek

Graduate School of Medicine - Papers (Archive)

Objective: To explore healthcare professionals’ views about the benefits and challenges of using information technology (IT) resources for educating patients about their warfarin therapy.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey of both community and hospital-based healthcare professionals (e.g., doctors, pharmacists and nurses) involved using a purpose-designed questionnaire. The questionnaires were distributed using a multi-modal approach to maximise response rates.

Results: Of the total 300 questionnaires distributed, 109 completed surveys were received (43.3% response rate). Over half (53.2%) of the healthcare participants were aged between 40-59 years, the majority (59.5%) of whom were female. Fifty nine (54.1%) participants reported having …

Care Of Patients With A Diagnosis Of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial, Nicholas Zwar, Oshana Hermiz, Elizabeth J. Comino, Sandy Middleton, Sanjyot Vagholkar, Wei Xuan, Stephen F. Wilson, Guy B. Marks

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Objective: To evaluate a partnership model of care for patients with a diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Design, setting and participants: Cluster randomised controlled trial with blinded outcome assessment of 44 general practices in south-western Sydney comprising 451 people with a diagnosis of COPD, conducted between 2006 and 2009. Intervention: Participants from intervention group practices were visited at their home by a registered nurse with specific training in COPD care who worked with the general practitioner, the patient and other health professionals to develop and implement an individualised care plan based on best-practice guidelines. Participants from control group …

The Impact Of Cannabis Use On Cognitive Functioning In Patients With Schizophrenia: A Meta-Analysis Of Existing Findings And New Data In A First-Episode Sample, Murat Yücel, Emre Bora, Daniel I. Lubman, Nadia Solowij, Warrick J. Brewer, Sue M. Cotton, Phillipe Conus, Michael J. Takagi, Alex Fornito, Stephen J. Wood, Patrick D. Mcgorry, Christos Pantelis

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Cannabis use is highly prevalent among people with schizophrenia, and coupled with impaired cognition, is thought to heighten the risk of illness onset. However, while heavy cannabis use has been associated with cognitive deficits in long-term users, studies among patients with schizophrenia have been contradictory. This article consists of 2 studies. In Study I, a meta-analysis of 10 studies comprising 572 patients with established schizophrenia (with and without comorbid cannabis use) was conducted. Patients with a history of cannabis use were found to have superior neuropsychological functioning. This finding was largely driven by studies that included patients with a lifetime …

An Indoor Localisation And Motion Monitoring System To Determine Behavioural Activity In Dementia Afflicted Patients In Aged Care, Matthew D'Souza, Montserrat Ros, Mohanraj Karunanithi

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Dementia is highly prevalent among the older population. Most patients with dementia are admitted to an aged care facility due to wandering behaviour which tends to result in dangerous scenarios such as straying away from the facility and being seriously injured. Due to the decreasing availability of carers in aged care, there is a need to prioritise monitoring of patients that have a severe case of wondering. The challenge is to allow carers to monitor the status of such patients in terms of position localisation and motion behavioural status, in real-time. The long term behavioural analysis of such patients would …

Physical Activity And Energy Expenditure In Haemodialysis Patients: An International Survey, Carla Maria Avesani, Stanislas Trolonge, Patrik Deleaval, Flavia Baria, Denise Mafra, Gerd Faxen-Irving, Phillipe Chauveau, Daniel Teta, Maria Ayako Kamimura, Maria Chan, Lilian Cuppari, Olof Heimburger, Denis Fouque

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background. The assessment of physical activity and energy expenditure is relevant to the care of maintenance haemodialysis (MHD) patients. In the current study, we aimed to evaluate measurements of physical activity and energy expenditure in MHD patients from different centres and countries and explored the predictors of physical activity in these patients. Methods. In this cross-sectional multicentre study, 134MHD patients from four countries (France, Switzerland, Sweden and Brazil) were included. The physical activity was evaluated for 5.0 6 1.4 days (mean 6 SD) by a multisensory device (SenseWear Armband) and comprised the assessment of number of steps per day, activity-related …

Recent Peritonitis Associates With Mortality Among Patients Treated With Peritoneal Dialysis, Neil Boudville, Anna Kemp, Philip Clayton, Wai Lim, Sunil V. Badve, Carmel M. Hawley, Stephen P. Mcdonald, Kathryn J. Wiggins, Kym M. Bannister, Fiona G. Brown, David W. Johnson

Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute

Peritonitis is a major complication of peritoneal dialysis, but the relationship between peritonitis and mortality among these patients is not well understood. In this case-crossover study, we included the 1316 patients who received peritoneal dialysis in Australia and New Zealand from May 2004 through December 2009 and either died on peritoneal dialysis or within 30 days of transfer to hemodialysis. Each patient served as his or her own control. The mean age was 70 years, and the mean time receiving peritoneal dialysis was 3 years. In total, there were 1446 reported episodes of peritonitis with 27% of patients having ≥2 …