Issue

Vol 123 No 1317: 25 June 2010

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Issue Summary

SUMMARY

How well is cognitive function documented by medical staff in the over-65 age group at the time of acute medical admission?

Joanne Rodwell, Valerie Fletcher, Ruth Hughes

Changes in cognitive function in the elderly has a significant impact on prognosis and functional ability during an acute illness requiring hospital admission. Part of the examination process on admission should involve an assessment of cognitive function and this should be formally documented. This study found similar results to other NZ and international studies, showing that documentation of cognitive function is inadequate (approximately 60% in this study). The lack of documentation does not mean an assessment was not completed or cognitive changes were not noted by the team of doctors caring for the patient. Formal documentation is required for that admission to be coded, and therefore funded, appropriately. Acute illness resulting in changes in cognitive function, i.e. delirium, requires other treatment considerations and can affect both prognosis and functional ability on discharge.

SUMMARY

The New Zealand informal caregivers and their unmet needs

Diane Jorgensen, Matthew Parsons, Stephen Jacobs, Hilary Arksey

This study aimed to identify who the caregivers of people with disabilities were and if they needed any more support (such as, home help, assistance with bathing, financial, respite care) than they were presently receiving. Caregivers (300) were interviewed throughout New Zealand and asked questions about their present situation as a caregiver, and if they felt they needed more assistance. The results showed the majority (96%) of caregivers were not satisfied with the assistance they were receiving and most (85%) were stressed. Depression was evident in all age groups but was highest in caregivers aged 30 to 39. There seems to be a contradiction between the value we place on caregivers and what we provide to support them, both materially and psychosocially.

SUMMARY

Smoking cessation education increases interventions in a New Zealand hospital: World No Tobacco Day revisited

Stephen Vega, Iwona Stolarek

The aim of this paper was to examine whether or not training junior doctors, and other clinical staff, in the use of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and brief interventions for smokers to quit, had made some measurable difference to admitted patients who smoke. We found that following the implementation of the training our use of NRT in the hospital had significantly increased. The training was probably the strongest factor this increase, but other variables, such as changing our smokefree policy, are likely to have initially contributed to this change. The training provided centres more on clinical practice and steers away from the traditional counselling for smoking cessation

SUMMARY

Professional development perceptions and activities of psychiatrists and mental health nurses in New Zealand

Nikolaos Kazantzis, Sarah J Calvert, David E Orlinsky, Sally Rooke, Kevin Ronan, Paul Merrick

In New Zealand, 26 psychiatrists and 18 mental health nurses were surveyed to find out their perceptions and engagement in professional development activities and then results were compared to their Canadian and US counterparts. New Zealand mental health professionals reported attainment of therapeutic mastery and skill acquisition. New Zealand psychiatrists reported less involvement in case supervision, but rated supervision as having the greatest influence to their development. The results highlight areas of need for continuing professional development for these professions.

ALL ARTICLES
SUMMARY

How well is cognitive function documented by medical staff in the over-65 age group at the time of acute medical admission?

Joanne Rodwell, Valerie Fletcher, Ruth Hughes

Health care policy and community pharmacy: implications for the New Zealand primary health care sector

Shane Scahill, Jeff Harrison, Peter Carswell, John Shaw

Invisible care: do we need a Code of Rights to protect family and informal carers?

Harry Rea, Tim Kenealy, Nicolette Sheridan, Des Gorman

Living with motor neurone disease

David Yates

Medical image. Stuck in the stoma: an unusual cause of small bowel obstruction seen on abdominal computed tomography

Giovanni Losco, Brett Lyons

Barrie Russell Jones

Growth-promoting hormones are not used in the New Zealand poultry industry

Michael Brooks; for the Poultry Industry Association of New Zealand

Geriatric medicine is becoming the core of hospital business

Matthew Croucher

High and increased support by Māori and non-Māori smokers for a ban on point-of-sale tobacco displays: national survey data

Nick Wilson, Richard Edwards, George Thomson, Deepa Weerasekera, Heather Gifford, Janet Hoek

Cancer research

The New Zealand informal caregivers and their unmet needs

Diane Jorgensen, Matthew Parsons, Stephen Jacobs, Hilary Arksey

Queen Mary Hospital at Hanmer Springs

Roger M Ridley-Smith

University of Otago Faculty of Medicine Freemasons Postgraduate Fellowships in Paediatrics and Child Health for 2011

Misuse of over-the-counter codeine-containing analgesics: dependence and other adverse effects

Geoffrey M Robinson, Sophie Robinson, Patrick McCarthy, Christina Cameron

We don’t need a pilot bowel cancer screening programme: please just get on with it!

Guy Hingston

New Zealand’s drug development industry—strengths and opportunities

Michelle M Lockhart, Zaheer U-D Babar, Sanjay Garg

Smoking cessation education increases interventions in a New Zealand hospital: World No Tobacco Day revisited

Stephen Vega, Iwona Stolarek

Professional development perceptions and activities of psychiatrists and mental health nurses in New Zealand

Nikolaos Kazantzis, Sarah J Calvert, David E Orlinsky, Sally Rooke, Kevin Ronan, Paul Merrick

Group A streptococcal toxic shock syndrome from a traumatic myositis

Sum Sum Lo, Anubhav Mittal, Ian Stewart

SUMMARY

How well is cognitive function documented by medical staff in the over-65 age group at the time of acute medical admission?

Joanne Rodwell, Valerie Fletcher, Ruth Hughes

Changes in cognitive function in the elderly has a significant impact on prognosis and functional ability during an acute illness requiring hospital admission. Part of the examination process on admission should involve an assessment of cognitive function and this should be formally documented. This study found similar results to other NZ and international studies, showing that documentation of cognitive function is inadequate (approximately 60% in this study). The lack of documentation does not mean an assessment was not completed or cognitive changes were not noted by the team of doctors caring for the patient. Formal documentation is required for that admission to be coded, and therefore funded, appropriately. Acute illness resulting in changes in cognitive function, i.e. delirium, requires other treatment considerations and can affect both prognosis and functional ability on discharge.

SUMMARY

The New Zealand informal caregivers and their unmet needs

Diane Jorgensen, Matthew Parsons, Stephen Jacobs, Hilary Arksey

This study aimed to identify who the caregivers of people with disabilities were and if they needed any more support (such as, home help, assistance with bathing, financial, respite care) than they were presently receiving. Caregivers (300) were interviewed throughout New Zealand and asked questions about their present situation as a caregiver, and if they felt they needed more assistance. The results showed the majority (96%) of caregivers were not satisfied with the assistance they were receiving and most (85%) were stressed. Depression was evident in all age groups but was highest in caregivers aged 30 to 39. There seems to be a contradiction between the value we place on caregivers and what we provide to support them, both materially and psychosocially.

SUMMARY

Smoking cessation education increases interventions in a New Zealand hospital: World No Tobacco Day revisited

Stephen Vega, Iwona Stolarek

The aim of this paper was to examine whether or not training junior doctors, and other clinical staff, in the use of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and brief interventions for smokers to quit, had made some measurable difference to admitted patients who smoke. We found that following the implementation of the training our use of NRT in the hospital had significantly increased. The training was probably the strongest factor this increase, but other variables, such as changing our smokefree policy, are likely to have initially contributed to this change. The training provided centres more on clinical practice and steers away from the traditional counselling for smoking cessation

SUMMARY

Professional development perceptions and activities of psychiatrists and mental health nurses in New Zealand

Nikolaos Kazantzis, Sarah J Calvert, David E Orlinsky, Sally Rooke, Kevin Ronan, Paul Merrick

In New Zealand, 26 psychiatrists and 18 mental health nurses were surveyed to find out their perceptions and engagement in professional development activities and then results were compared to their Canadian and US counterparts. New Zealand mental health professionals reported attainment of therapeutic mastery and skill acquisition. New Zealand psychiatrists reported less involvement in case supervision, but rated supervision as having the greatest influence to their development. The results highlight areas of need for continuing professional development for these professions.

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