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Nowadays, many patients are surfing the internet for health information. However. patients surfing the internet without guidance may result in their requesting inappropriate care or complex treatments. Recently, it was found that, nearly half of Australian heath care professionals (not including dentists) are not recommending online health websites to their patients. This was due to lack of time and knowledge of reliable sources. Therefore, it is argued in this research that, guiding patients through patient centered open educational resources (based on website content analysis) will enhance the process of a shared clinical decision making and improve the healthcare outcome (oral and general health related quality of life). This research will contribute to patient education theory and fill the gap in knowledge regarding the applicability of using DOER in dental patient education. Moreover, this research will improve the clinical practice through enhancing the engagement of patients in the process of a shared clinical decision making leading to effective healthcare outcomes.

Occlusion of the lower limb arteries due to atherosclerosis (peripheral artery disease; PAD) affects ~10% of older adults and is associated with impaired quality of life, disability and a high mortality rate. Low physical activity levels are associated with PAD and predict worse outcomes. Exercise programs improve outcomes for PAD patients but on leaving such programs patients return to previous low activity levels. Previous research has identified that the major impediments to physical activity behaviour change in PAD patients are dysfunctional illness beliefs and low perceived efficacy of physical activity to improve PAD related outcomes. Previous research has also shown that brief behavioural counselling by a psychologist in patients' homes to redress these activity barriers can improve physical activity and other PAD outcomes for up to two years. More work is needed to evaluate behavioural counselling delivered by other health professionals and in other settings. The primary aim of the current study is to assess the efficacy of a brief behaviour counselling intervention delivered by allied health workers in health facilities to improve physical activity in patients with PAD over 4 months and then maintain this improvement at 12 and 24 months. We hypothesize that among patients with PAD, a brief behaviour counselling intervention will increase physical activity by ~50% compared to patients undertaking standard medical care (controls) evidenced by mean daily step counts of 5000+/-3400 for those patients receiving the intervention compared to 3300+/-2200 for those randomised to the control group at 4 months follow-up. We also hypothesise this improvement will be maintained at 12 and 24 months. Secondary aims of this study include examining the effect of the brief behaviour counselling intervention on participants’ functional capacity, psychological profile, revascularisation rate, resource use; and to perform an economic evaluation of the brief behaviour counselling intervention compared to usual care.

Plan EARLY is a randomised trial to assess the impact of Advance Care Planning (ACP) intervention on documentation of ACP, symptom management, healthcare utilisation and concordance with participant wishes in adults with an advanced, progressive life-threatening illness who present to the Emergency Department and who do not require referral for specialist palliative care. The trial will also seek to recruit the participant’s carers if available. Failure to recruit the carer will not result in the patient’s exclusion from the trial. Participants are randomised to one of two treatment groups: advance care planning (ACP) for patients plus Symptom Management and Support (SMS) for their healthcare providers, or Usual Care. The ACP plus SMS intervention involves: up to 4 face to face visits with a project nurse at the participant’s place of residence to discuss and complete ACP; completion of questionnaires at 9 weekly intervals; in-service style education to ED staff, RACF staff and GPs; individualised education to GPs regarding symptom management; written information regarding ACP, Plan EARLY and referral to specialist palliative care; and follow-up telephone calls to GP and family members at 6 week intervals. Usual care is the standard clinical care provided by the patient’s regular treating team. As health conditions are expected to vary among participants in the control group, the usual care may differ between participants. Participants randomised to the control group will complete questionnaires regarding their care and symptoms at 9 week intervals over a 6 month period. Furthermore, the SMS education component will be offered to healthcare providers of patients randomised to the intervention group only. However, it is expected that there may be some contamination of the control group with regard to SMS education as inevitably some healthcare providers will care for patients in opposite treatment groups. Participants in the SMS education component will not be asked to withhold the skills they may have acquired from patients randomised to the control group. Project staff will collect health care utilisation data from hospital records for participants in both the intervention and control groups. During the course of the study referral to specialist palliative care will be offered if care needs, such as symptom burden greater than 3/10 on SAS or distress requiring multidisciplinary specialist care, are identified. Finally, health care providers who participate in the SMS education component will be asked to complete an evaluation of the training received.

Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) are common unwanted complications for patients following anaesthesia/cardiac surgery, affecting at least 1:3 patients, despite pharmacologic treatment. Patients have a strong preference for avoiding PONV: satisfaction with anaesthetic care and subsequent quality of health care is strongly related to experiences of PONV. Acupressure is one alternative approach thought to prevent nausea and vomiting through an alteration in endorphins and serotonin levels and is an intervention endorsed by the World Health Organisation (WHO). This two-group, parallel, superiority, randomised controlled trial (RCT) will test the efficacy of PC6 acupoint stimulation versus placebo for reducing PONV in cardiac surgery patients.

BACKGROUND Operative treatment (surgery) is currently the standard way of treating displaced fractures of the olecranon. There is some evidence that good results can be achieved by treating these injuries non-operatively (without surgery). A direct comparison of these treatment methods is needed. AIM This study aims to determine if operative fixation (surgery) is superior to non-operative treatment for isolated displaced fractures of the olecranon (elbow tip) in patients presenting with recent fractures who are aged 75 years or older. HYPOTHESIS It is our hypothesis that operative treatment yields superior elbow pain and function after one year, compared to non-operative treatment. PARTICIPANTS Participants will be selected from patients who present to participating hospitals with olecranon fractures that have occurred within the last 2 weeks, who are eligible for the study. They will be randomised to one of the two treatment arms of the study (operative or non-operative treatment). OUTCOMES Participants will be followed for one year, and the function and pain in the elbow, as well as any complications and their X-rays will be compared.

The purpose of this study is to assess how clonidine as an additive to local anaesthetics works when used for abdominal wall pain blocks (transversus abdominis plane blocks) after gynaecological surgery. One hypothesis is that it causes blood vessel constriction and slows the washout of local anaesthetic into the blood stream, therefore leaving it at its site of action for longer. We will assess this by measuring the levels of local anaesthetic in the blood over time. Simultaneously, we will assess the abdominal wall sensation to determine if and by how long clonidine improves the duration of postoperative pain relief in these patients.

A group-based positive mental health and PTSD symptom management program will be implemented into a residential Alcohol and Other Drug treatment facility. Clients will receive education on the causes and effects of trauma, and will be taught trauma symptom management strategies using an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy approach. The aim is to keep clients in treatment and support them with PTSD symptom management strategies until they can access specialist services post treatment. The evaluation of the project will involve a number of formal assessments as well as retention and self-report data.

An observational, questionnaire based study in which the effectiveness of DRG stimulation as a treatment for chronic low back pain will be assessed in patients routinely scheduled for this treatment

The World Health Organisation has highlighted the importance of preventing weight gain in adults who are of healthy weight and women of reproductive age are a key population to target. Overweight and obesity (defined as a body mass index of 25kg/m2 or more) is a significant health problem, associated with many adverse health outcomes. High rates of weight gain during pregnancy increases the risk of becoming overweight, as it may difficult to lose excess weight gained in pregnancy. It is estimated that approximately 60% of women have high degrees of weight gain during pregnancy, which in turn is recognised as a significant risk factor for adverse maternal and infant outcomes during pregnancy and childbirth. Women with high weight gain during pregnancy are at increased risk of developing diabetes and heart disease as they get older and are more likely to retain weight after they give birth increasing the likelihood that they will commence subsequent pregnancies overweight or obese.  High pregnancy weight gain is a well-recognised risk factor for high infant birth weight (also call macrosomia), and is associated with an increased risk of pre-school obesity. This study is a randomised trial; women will be randomly allocated to receive access to dietary advice (including access to a qualified dietitian throughout pregnancy, to help you adopt a healthy diet and lifestyle) or continue to receive standard antenatal care which does not usually include access to lifestyle advice from a dietitian. The aims of the OPTIMISE Randomised Trial are to evaluate the effects of dietary, lifestyle and exercise advice to optimise gestational weight gain on maternal, fetal and infant health outcomes, among pregnant women of normal body mass index.

The primary purpose of the study is to analyze the effects of topical tranexamic acid in total knee arthroplasty and to compare it with intravenous tranexamic acid. The study is based on the hypothesis that toipical/intrarticular tranexamic acid is more not inferior in reducing blood loss in total knee arthroplasty and is safer as compared to intravenous total knee arthroplasty.