ANZCTR search results

The study aimed to investigate the efficacy of providing individual patient education with trained health professional follow up in addition to usual care compared with usual care alone in reducing inpatient falls among older hospital patients. The results showed that multimedia education with trained health professional follow up reduces falls in a sub group of older patients with intact cognition.

The primary purpose of this randomised controlled study is to examine the impact of a nurse-coordinated multidisciplinary intervention on the rate of all-cause hospital stay relative to usual care in privately health insured patients discharged from hospital with chronic heart disease. The mean follow-up will be 2.5 years follow-up.

We have shown that the immune system regulates itself on an approximately 2 week basis.By killing the inhibitory immune cells that prevent immune attack on the tumour using low dose oral chemotherapy it is hoped that tumour cells will die and responses achieved

This is a study to evaluate the effectiveness of a new decision aid for bowel cancer screening, for adults with low literacy levels. Participants are eligible to participate if they: - are aged 55–64 years - have lower levels of education - are at average or slightly above average risk of bowel cancer. Trial details Eligible participants will invited via telephone to take part in the trial. Those who consent will then be randomly divided into three groups. One group will receive a written decision aid (plus DVD and Question Prompt list) specifically designed for adults with low education and literacy, who are making decisions about bowel cancer screening. The second group will receive the written decision aid (+ DVD) without question prompt list, and the third group will receive the standard government consumer information. Both groups will receive a bowel cancer screening Faecal Occult Blood test (FOBT) kit and instructions. Participants will be telephoned 2–3 weeks later to complete a follow-up survey. At 3 months, we will record whether participant completed the screening test by checking against the laboratory records. This study aims to evaluate the extent to which a written decision aid tailored for adults with low levels of literacy can increase understanding of bowel cancer screening and promote informed decision making.

This research aims to improve quality of life in patients with type 2 diabetes by building the capacity of primary care and providing accessible, evidence based care in the community through multidisciplinary collaboration and integration across the primary and tertiary interface. The primary objective of this research is to investigate if glycaemic control of patients with type 2 diabetes can be improved through management at the Inala Chronic Disease Management Service (ICDMS) relative to comparable patients receiving usual care at the PAH endocrinology outpatients clinic. Other important objectives of the research include: * To improve modifiable cardiovascular risk factors and microvascular complications of diabetes * To increase the capacity and scope of primary care to manage patients with type 2 diabetes * To restructure the organisation of care in order to improve the effectiveness of patient care * To develop a sustainable model of care that is generalisable to other chronic diseases. * To investigate the relative costs of the new model of care * To assess the acceptability to GPs of the ICDMS caring for patients traditionally referred to the specialist outpatients clinic * To assess the acceptability to patients of the ICDMS rather than usual care at a specialist outpatients clinic. A key component of the ICDMS will be the staged devolution of diabetes services from tertiary care to primary care through increasing the capacity of primary care to meet the needs of patients who would otherwise use hospital outpatient clinic services. Initially, the tertiary level service providers (particularly the endocrinologist) will be heavily involved in training, support and service provision. Their involvement will gradually decrease to a virtual consultative function interspersed with limited patient contact. The proposed research is a structured and rational approach to evaluating the efficaciousness and effectiveness of the ICDMS. To achieve this, an open controlled trial of patient care at the ICDMS compared with usual care at the PAH diabetes outpatient clinic is proposed. Additionally, a nested cluster randomized controlled trial is proposed to test the effectiveness of the upskilling component of the project – general practices will be randomised to either receive the upskilling immediately or to be a wait-listed control group.

This study aims to identify if patients drinking a special liquid nutrition formular prior to their gut surgery will have improved health outcomes. This special formula contains ingredients that are thought to stimulate the immune system.

This study aims to determine whether the use of overnight orthokeratology contact lenses slows the progression of eye growth in myopic children and adolescents compared to conventional rigid contact lens wear and spectacle use. At the same time the relative risk for corneal infection (microbial keratitis) with overnight orthokeratology will be evaluated indirectly, using a well-established technique that analyses corneal cell shedding rates and bacterial attachment to these harvested corneal cells. The relationship between myopia progression and peripheral refractive status will also be investigated.

Feeding tube's areplaced into hopsital patient's gut so that liquid nutrition can be given when a patient is unable or unsafe to meet thier nutritional needs. A common side effect of receiving liquid nutrition through a feeding tube is diarrhoea. There are many causes of diarrhoea, such as infection, the use of certain medications or antibiotics. Long lasting diarrhoea may lead to dehydration and inadequate nutrition. This research project will test if a liquid formula containing a particular type of fibre given through a feeding tube can prevent diarrhoea. This new liquid formula is called Novacontrol Studies show that the use of a fibre (called partially hydrolysed guar gum) found in Novacontrol can prevent diarrhoea in some patients. We would like to test this at Austin Health. Currently there is no standard way to prevent diarrhoea in patients having liquid nutrition. To provide the best care for our patients at Austin Health, we would like to find a suitable way to prevent diarrhoea in patients receiving liquid nutrition. Results from our study may also help other people who are receiving liquid nutrition through a feeding tube in the future. Studies show that at least 20 grams of partially hydrolysed guar gum for every litre of liquid nutrition needs to be given to be beneficial in preventing diarrhoea in tube fed patients. Novacontrol contains this amount of fibre and is available for use in Australia. There are no studies which have examined the use of Novacontrol in preventing diarrhoea in tube fed patients.

2 RATIONALE Currently, although there are a wide variety of surgical mesh products and soft tissue implants commercially available, the ideal implant material has not yet been found. These types of products have been used for a wide variety of medical uses including but not limited to correction of wrinkles or other cosmetic enhancements, scars and bulking of tissue to treat incontinence. Synthetic polymer based technology offers the potential of a longer lasting more durable soft tissue implant. This pilot study is directed toward establishing the suitability of a implant material with Family C microspheres suspended in a hyaluronic acid gel matrix (Family C Matrix) as a possible soft tissue implant in man.