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Biomedical subjects

A Street

Publications and source records attributed to A Street.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1996

Programme budgeting and marginal analysis: an approach to priority setting in need of refinement.

Programme budgeting is enjoying a revival in the British National Health Service primarily because of its recent coupling with marginal analysis. As well as providing a means of mapping activity and expenditure from the institutions providing care to the population receiving it, programme budgeting and marginal analysis aim to assist strategic planning by indicating where net benefits might be increased by reallocating spending within programmes. However, the method to achieve this is not yet sufficiently refined and results to date have been mixed. In particular, the approach to identifying options for evaluation is flawed because of the importance attached to the role of 'expert' groups. A more systematic technique is suggested to overcome present methodological deficiencies.

Budgets↗
PubMed1996

Community nursing issues in Maori mental health.

This paper derives from the first study of its kind to explore the issues and implications of a new role for mental health nurses at a time when the health care system in New Zealand was undergoing rapid changes and a new Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992 had been implemented. This praxis research study utilized interviews and focus groups to address a range of issues in the practice of mental health nurses. This paper reports on the competing cultural perspectives in the nursing care provided to Maoris. This is an important issue for the community in bicultural New Zealand, and has clear relevance to mental health nursing in multicultural communities.

Community Health Nursing↗
PubMed1995

Differences in work activities between private and community health centre general practitioners.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate differences in the characteristics of general practitioners (GPs) and patients, referral rates, rates of prescribing and ordering of tests and x-rays, and types of counselling and consultation, between private and community health centre (CHC) GPs in Victoria. METHOD: All 51 full-time Victorian CHC GPs were invited to enrol in the Australian Morbidity and Treatment Survey (AMTS) developed by the Family Medicine Research Unit at the University of Sydney in 1992. The control group comprised the 114 Victorian GPs involved in this survey in 1991. RESULTS: Thirty-nine CHC GPs (76%) provided complete data. CHC GPs were more likely to be younger, female, and to have less experience in general practice. Patient age and gender distributions were similar. CHC GPs had higher rates of offering counselling and advice and of referral to allied health professionals, but similar rates of referral to medical specialists to those of private GPs. We found no differences in prescribing after multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Counselling, and referral to allied health professionals, were the only striking differences after multivariate analysis. It may be that any movement toward non-throughput-related remuneration may, in isolation, have less impact on general practitioner work patterns than imagined. Patient throughput was not measured, and this would be important in any future global assessment of the cost-effectiveness of CHC and private general practitioners.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Who cares about cost? Does economic analysis impose or reflect social values?

In a two-stage survey, a cross-section of Australians were questioned about the importance of costs in setting priorities in health care. Generally, respondents felt that it is unfair to discriminate against patients who happen to have a high cost illness and that costs should therefore not be a major factor in prioritising. The majority maintained this view even when confronted with its implications in terms of the total number of people who could be treated and their own chance of receiving treatment if they fall ill. Their position cannot be discarded as irrational, as it is consistent with a defensible view of utility. However, the results suggest that the concern with allocative efficiency, as usually envisaged by the economists, is not shared by the general public and that the cost-effectiveness approach to assigning priorities in health care may be imposing an excessively simple value system upon resource allocation decision-making.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed1995

Maximizing health benefits vs egalitarianism: an Australian survey of health issues.

Economists have often treated the objective of health services as being the maximization of the QALYs gained, irrespective of how the gains are distributed. In a cross section of Australians such a policy of distributive neutrality received: (a) very little support when health benefits to young people compete with health benefits to the elderly; (b) only moderate support when those who can become a little better compete with those who can become much better; (c) only moderate support when smokers compete with non smokers; (d) some support when young children compete with newborns; and (e) wide spread support when parents of dependent children compete with people without children. Overall, the views of the study population were strongly egalitarian. A policy of health benefit maximization received very limited support when the consequence is a loss of equity and access to services for the elderly and for people with a limited potential for improving their health.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Cost-effectiveness of laser ablation of the prostate. Premature evaluation.

A cost-effectiveness study compared visual laser ablation of the prostate (VLAP) with transurethral resection (TURP). Achieving equivalent outcomes, VLAP was more expensive than TURP. The result was sensitive to various assumptions, suggesting that VLAP might prove to be the preferred technology. Problems inherent in economic evaluation of emerging technologies are discussed.

Aged↗
PubMed1995

Advanced clinical roles: investigating dilemmas and changing practice through action research.

A new career structure for clinical nurses was implemented in 1987 in Victoria with the intention of providing clinical advancement and material rewards for nurses in clinical settings. This paper explains how participatory action research was used to explore some of the issues inherent in the role of the associate charge nurse. The clinical/management tension and the role expectations formed within the taken-for-granted rituals and routines of the ward and the hospital managerial structure are examined.

Health Services Research↗
PubMed1995

Further evaluation of transurethral laser ablation of the prostate in patients treated with anticoagulant therapy.

Transurethral Nd:YAG laser ablation of the prostate gland was used to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in 20 patients on Warfarin anticoagulant therapy, and in two patients with abnormal coagulation parameters secondary to haematologic disorders. Preliminary results for the first 10 of these patients has been reported previously. The mean pre-operative international normalized ratio (INR) was 2.6 (range 1.19 to 5.25) and the mean prostate volume was 56 cc (13.6-112 cc). All patients had significant subjective and objective indicators of prostatic obstruction and six patients were in urinary retention. Postoperative improvement in symptom score, maximum flow rate and post-void residual was noted in 82% of patients at 3 months, 89% at 6 months and 75% at 1 year. Two patients have required revision laser or transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) for persistent obstruction, while one patient required revision TURP for intractable haematuria. Three patients developed haematuria requiring transfusion while four patients had mild haematuria requiring no intervention. Laser ablation of the prostate can be used successfully and safely to treat prostatic obstruction in patients with abnormal coagulation parameters, or in those who are fully anticoagulated. Anticoagulation can be maintained during surgery in this group unlike TURP where pre-operative reversal is necessary with reinstitution of therapy several days postoperatively. Other authors report at least a 50% blood transfusion rate in this group. Laser prostatectomy appears the more appealing surgical option in these patients.

Aged↗
PubMed1995

A randomised single institution study comparing laser prostatectomy and transurethral resection of the prostate.

We concluded a prospective randomised study comparing conventional electrocautery transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) to laser prostatectomy using a right-angled Nd:YAG beam reflector. Seventy-one patients were evaluable, 34 laser and 37 TURP. Fifty patients have completed 6 months of follow-up. Using standard post prostatectomy outcome parameters of maximum flow rate and post void residual urine, laser prostatectomy shows equivalence at 6 months, with mean maximum flow rates of 8.76 ml/sec preoperatively improving to 15.47 ml/sec at 6 months, whilst for TURP patients, flow rates improved from a mean of 9.48 ml/sec preoperatively to 19.1 ml/sec at 6 months. Symptom scores remain higher for the laser patients at this time with a mean score of 9.27 compared to 4.43 for TURP patients. However, morbidity in the laser group is less, particularly given the absence of postoperative bleeding and the necessity for blood transfusion.

Aged↗
PubMed1994

Making a spectacle of herself: reading community mental health nursing assessments.

The metaphor of mapping is used in this paper to examine the discursive construction of women whose nudity in public places (making a spectacle of herself) provides dilemmas for community mental health nurses required to make assessments of these women's ability to function in the community. Excerpts from stories provided by the nurses are used to demonstrate the complexity of the decision-making processes and the limits to the choices they perceive they can make.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1994

Purchaser/provider separation and managed competition: reform options for Australia's health system.

A purchaser/provider separation and managed competition have been recommended as options for reform of Australia's health system. This paper presents the theoretical basis and supposed advantages of each model. The introduction of the purchaser/provider separation in the United Kingdom and New Zealand is described, as are the proposals for implementation of managed competition in the United States and the Netherlands. The potential for either model to deliver its promised benefits is critically evaluated in the light of existing evidence. As yet neither model can command unqualified support but both are worthy of further consideration.

Australia↗