ORCID Profile
0000-0002-4530-584X
Current Organisations
Deakin University
,
Monash University
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Research Topics
In Research Link Australia (RLA), "Research Topics" refer to ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes. These topics are either sourced from ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes listed in researchers' related grants or generated by a large language model (LLM) based on their publications.
Top 5 Research Topics
ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health | Public Health and Health Services not elsewhere classified | Public Health and Health Services | Social and Community Psychology
ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health - Health System Performance (incl. Effectiveness of Interventions) | Substance Abuse | Public Services Policy Advice and Analysis |
Related Links
Publications
Assessing the concordance of health and child protection data for ‘maltreated’ and ‘unintentionally injured’ children
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 06-06-2011
Abstract: To quantify the concordance of hospital child maltreatment data with child protection service (CPS) records, and identify factors associated with linkage. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was conducted following retrospective medical record review and database linkage of 884 child records from 20 hospitals and the CPS in Queensland, Australia. Nearly all children with hospital assigned maltreatment codes (93.1%) had a CPS record. Of these, 85.1% had a recent notification. 29% of the linked maltreatment group (n=113) were not known to the CPS prior to the hospital presentation. Almost one third of children with unintentional injury hospital codes were known to the CPS. Just over 24% of the linked unintentional injury group (n=34) were not known to the CPS prior to the hospital presentation but became known during or after discharge from hospital. These estimates are higher than the 2006/2007 annual rate of 2.39% of children being notified to the CPS. Rural children were more likely to link to the CPS, and children were over three times more likely to link if the index injury documentation included additional diagnoses or factors affecting their health. The system for referring maltreatment cases to the CPS is generally efficient, although up to 1 in 15 children had codes for maltreatment but could not be linked to CPS data. The high proportion of children with unintentional injury codes who linked to CPS suggests that clinicians and hospital-based child protection staff should be supported by further education and training to ensure children at risk are being detected by the child protection system.
Estimating the impact of the minimum alcohol price on consumers’ alcohol expenditure in the Northern Territory, Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2023
Validating the Functional Capacity Index: A Comparison of Predicted versus Observed Total Body Scores
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 02-2005
DOI: 10.1097/01.TA.0000154283.88208.9C
Abstract: The Functional Capacity Index (FCI) was designed to predict physical function 12 months after injury. We report a validation study of the FCI. This was a consecutive case series registered in the Queensland Trauma Registry who consented to the prospective 12-month telephone-administered follow-up study. FCI scores measured at 12 months were compared with those originally predicted. Complete Abbreviated Injury Scale score information was available for 617 in iduals, of whom 587 (95%) could be assigned at least one FCI score (range, 1-17). Agreement between the largest predicted FCI and observed FCI score was poor (kappa = 0.05 95% confidence interval, 0.00-0.10) and explained only 1% of the variability in observed FCI. Using an encompassing model that included all FCI assignments, agreement remained poor (kappa = 0.05 95% confidence interval, -0.02-0.12), and the model explained only 9% of the variability in observed FCI. The predicted functional capacity poorly agrees with actual functional outcomes. Further research should consider including other (noninjury) explanatory factors in predicting FCI at 12 months.
Phytosanitary irradiation treatment of the aerial root mealybug, Pseudococcus baliteus (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae)
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 31-08-2023
DOI: 10.1093/JEE/TOAD170
Abstract: The aerial root mealybug, Pseudococcus baliteus Lit (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae), is an important invasive and quarantine pest that poses a potential threat to fruits, vegetables, and ornamental plants. As a result, phytosanitary treatments are necessary to ensure the commodities of international trade are free from these pests. To determine the minimum absorbed dose required for phytosanitary irradiation (PI) application, irradiation dose-response and large-scale confirmatory tests were conducted. Eggs that were 2, 4, and 6 days old and late gravid females (containing 0-day-old eggs) of P. baliteus were X-ray irradiated with doses of 10, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, and 120 Gray (Gy). The efficacy of preventing egg-hatching (mortality) was compared using two-way ANOVA, 95% confidence interval overlapping and lethal dose ratio test in probit analysis. The radiotolerance sequence of mealybugs egg was found to be 0 & 2 ≈ 4 & 6-day-old eggs, and their estimated LD99.9968 values with 95% confidence interval were 132.0 (118.9–149.5), 137.6 (125.2–153.7), 145.5 (134.5–159.1), and 157.4 (144.6–173.6) Gy, respectively. Subsequently, target doses of 135 and 145 Gy were used in the confirmatory gamma radiation treatments. No F1 generation neonates developed from a total of 47,316 late females irradiated at the measured dose of 107.7–182.5 Gy, resulting in the treatment efficiency of 99.9937% at the 95% confidence level. Therefore, the highest dose of 183 Gy measured in the confirmatory tests is recommended as the minimum absorbed dose in PI treatment of P. baliteus for establishing national and international standards.
A needle in a haystack: The use of routinely collected emergency department injury surveillance data to help identify physical child abuse
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 14-06-2014
DOI: 10.1080/17457300.2013.806558
Abstract: A retrospective, descriptive analysis of a s le of children under 18 years presenting to a hospital emergency department (ED) for treatment of an injury was conducted. The aim was to explore characteristics and identify differences between children assigned abuse codes and children assigned unintentional injury codes using an injury surveillance database. Only 0.1% of children had been assigned the abuse code and 3.9% a code indicating possible abuse. Children between 2 and 5 years formed the largest proportion of those coded to abuse. Superficial injury and bruising were the most common types of injury seen in children in the abuse group and the possible abuse group (26.9% and 18.8%, respectively), whereas those with unintentional injury were most likely to present with open wounds (18.4%). This study demonstrates that routinely collected injury surveillance data can be a useful source of information for describing injury characteristics in children assigned abuse codes compared to those assigned no abuse codes.
The utility and challenges of using ICD codes in child maltreatment research: A review of existing literature
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2009
DOI: 10.1016/J.CHIABU.2009.08.005
Abstract: The objectives of this article are to explore the extent to which the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) has been used in child abuse research, to describe how the ICD system has been applied, and to assess factors affecting the reliability of ICD coded data in child abuse research. PubMed, CINAHL, PsychInfo and Google Scholar were searched for peer reviewed articles written since 1989 that used ICD as the classification system to identify cases and research child abuse using health databases. Snowballing strategies were also employed by searching the bibliographies of retrieved references to identify relevant associated articles. The papers identified through the search were independently screened by two authors for inclusion, resulting in 47 studies selected for the review. Due to heterogeneity of studies meta-analysis was not performed. This paper highlights both utility and limitations of ICD coded data. ICD codes have been widely used to conduct research into child maltreatment in health data systems. The codes appear to be used primarily to determine child maltreatment patterns within identified diagnoses or to identify child maltreatment cases for research. A significant impediment to the use of ICD codes in child maltreatment research is the under ascertainment of child maltreatment by using coded data alone. This is most clearly identified and, to some degree, quantified, in research where data linkage is used. The importance of improved child maltreatment identification will assist in identifying risk factors and creating programs that can prevent and treat child maltreatment and assist in meeting reporting obligations under the CRC.
Electronic Telephone Directory Listings
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2000
DOI: 10.1016/S1047-2797(00)00070-3
Abstract: We report our telephone-based system for selecting community control series appropriate for a complete Australia-wide series of Ewing's sarcoma cases. We used electronic directory random s ling to select age-matched controls. The s ling has all listed telephone numbers on an up-dated CD-Rom. 95% of 2245 telephone numbers selected were successfully contacted. The mean number of attempts needed was 1.94, 58% answering at the first attempt. On average, we needed 4.5 contacts per control selected. Calls were more likely to be successful (reach a respondent) when made in the evening (except Saturdays). The overall response rate among contacted telephone numbers was 92.8%. Participation rates among female and male respondents were practically the same. The exclusion of unlisted numbers (13.5% of connected households) and unconnected households (3.7%) led to potential selection bias. However, restricting the case series to listed cases only, plus having external information on the direction of potential bias allow meaningful interpretation of our data. S ling from an electronic directory is convenient, economical and simple, and gives a very good yield of eligible subjects compared to other methods.
Pregabalin misuse-related ambulance attendances in Victoria, 2012-2017: characteristics of patients and attendances.
Publisher: AMPCo
Date: 22-11-2018
DOI: 10.5694/MJA2.12036
Abstract: To compare changes in pregabalin prescribing and misuse-related ambulance attendances to characterise the patients attended by paramedics for pregabalin misuse-related harms to assess the association of pregabalin misuse with use of other sedatives and with suicidal ideation and self-harm to compare the characteristics of pregabalin misuse-related harms in people who misuse pregabalin according to whether or not they also used other sedatives. Retrospective analysis of data on ambulance attendances in Victoria, January 2012 - December 2017, for which pregabalin misuse-related harms were a contributing factor. Rates of pregabalin misuse-related ambulance attendances, pregabalin prescription rates (each 6-monthly) patient characteristics, including age, sex, history of drug misuse or psychiatric problems, concurrent use of other sedatives, and current suicidal ideation and self-harm. There were 1201 pregabalin misuse-related attendances during the study period the rate increased from 0.28 cases per 100 000 population in the first half of 2012 to 3.32 cases per 100 000 in the second half of 2017. The attendance rate was strongly correlated with prescription rates in Australia (r = 0.90 P = 0.001). 593 attendances (49%) were for people with a history that may have contraindicated prescribing pregabalin. Pregabalin was frequently misused with other sedatives (812 attendances, 68%), particularly benzodiazepines (440, 37%) 472 attendances (39%) were associated with suicide attempts. People who misused pregabalin with other sedatives more frequently presented with moderate to severe impairments of consciousness, but the frequency of suicide attempts was similar whether other sedatives were concurrently used or not. Rates of pregabalin misuse-related ambulance attendances in Victoria have increased markedly over the past 6 years. Caution is required when prescribing pregabalin for people taking other sedatives. Limiting the dispensing of this drug may reduce the risks associated with its misuse.
Public Health Models for Preventing Child Maltreatment: Applications From the Field of Injury Prevention.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 31-08-2016
Abstract: Contemporary approaches to child protection are dominated by in idualized forensically focused interventions that provide limited scope for more holistic preventative responses to children at risk and the provision of support to struggling families and communities. However, in many jurisdictions, it is frequently shown, often through public inquiries and program reviews, that investigatory and removal approaches are failing in critically important ways, particularly regarding reducing the inequities that underpin neglect and abuse. Consequently, there have been increasing calls for a public health model for the protection of children, although there is often a lack of clarity as to what exactly this should entail. Yet, there are opportunities to learn from public health approaches successfully used in the field of injury prevention. Specifically, we advocate for the use of Haddon's Matrix, which provides a detailed theoretical and practical framework for the application of a comprehensive and integrated public health model to guide intervention program design and responses to child protection risk factors. A broad overview of the application of Haddon's Matrix's principles and methods is provided with ex les of program and intervention design. It is argued that this framework provides the range of interventions necessary to address the complex social and structural factors contributing to inequity and the maltreatment of children. It also provides the foundation for a holistic and integrated system of prevention and intervention to contribute to system-level change and address child maltreatment.
Using routinely collected hospital data for child maltreatment surveillance: Issues, methods and patterns
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 05-01-2011
Reliability of routinely collected hospital data for child maltreatment surveillance
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 05-01-2011
The impact of legislation on acute synthetic cannabinoid harms resulting in ambulance attendance
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2020
[Letter] Use of routine health data to complement monitoring of consumer product-related injuries
Publisher: AMPCo
Date: 11-2011
DOI: 10.5694/MJA11.11095
Comparing rates and characteristics of ambulance attendances related to extramedical use of pharmaceutical opioids in Australia: a protocol for a retrospective observational study
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 05-2019
DOI: 10.1136/BMJOPEN-2019-029170
Abstract: Extramedical use of, and associated harms with pharmaceutical opioids are common. Analysis of coded ambulance clinical records provides a unique opportunity to examine a national population-level indicator of relative harms. This protocol describes an observational study with three aims: (1) to compare supply adjusted rates of pharmaceutical opioid-related ambulance attendances for buprenorphine, codeine, fentanyl, oxycodone, oxycodone-naloxone, morphine, pethidine, tramadol and tapentadol (2) to compare presentation characteristics for these commonly used pharmaceutical opioids and (3) to describe the context surrounding ambulance presentations related to oxycodone, a widely used opioid with an established abuse liability, and tapentadol, a more recent ‘atypical’ opioid on the Australian market, with fewer studies that have directly examined signals of extramedical use. Trained coders extract data from clinical records for ambulance presentations relating to extramedical use of commonly used pharmaceutical opioids. These data form the basis of a large, national database that captures alcohol-related and drug-related harms. Supply adjusted rates of presentations will be examined using Poisson regression. Multinomial logistic regression will be used to compare severity and other characteristics of attendances relating to different pharmaceutical opioids. Tapentadol-related and oxycodone-related cases will be qualitatively examined to understand the situationally specific contexts of the ambulance attendances outside of the characteristics captured in routinely coded variables. Ethics approval related to analysis of ambulance attendance data was obtained from the Eastern Health Human Research Ethics Committee (E122 08–09), with an amendment specific to the qualitative analysis. Findings will be submitted for peer review in 2019. The understanding of risk profiles in real-world settings is of international public health importance. The analysis and publication of findings from this national dataset of clinical records will provide one of the most nuanced analyses to date of relative harms across nine pharmaceutical opioids over a 6-year period.
Republished paper: Emergency department triage revisited
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 08-2010
DOI: 10.1136/PGMJ.2009.077081REP
Abstract: Triage is a process that is critical to the effective management of modern emergency departments. Triage systems aim, not only to ensure clinical justice for the patient, but also to provide an effective tool for departmental organisation, monitoring and evaluation. Over the last 20 years, triage systems have been standardised in a number of countries and efforts made to ensure consistency of application. However, the ongoing crowding of emergency departments resulting from access block and increased demand has led to calls for a review of systems of triage. In addition, international variance in triage systems limits the capacity for benchmarking. The aim of this paper is to provide a critical review of the literature pertaining to emergency department triage in order to inform the direction for future research. While education, guidelines and algorithms have been shown to reduce triage variation, there remains significant inconsistency in triage assessment arising from the ersity of factors determining the urgency of any in idual patient. It is timely to accept this ersity, what is agreed, and what may be agreeable. It is time to develop and test an International Triage Scale (ITS) which is supported by an international collaborative approach towards a triage research agenda. This agenda would seek to further develop application and moderating tools and to utilise the scales for international benchmarking and research programmes.
Recent trends in heroin and pharmaceutical opioid‐related harms in Victoria, Australia up to 2018
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 02-12-2019
DOI: 10.1111/ADD.14784
Abstract: To characterize the trajectory in the years leading up to 2018 in pharmaceutical opioid and heroin morbidity in Victoria, Australia, and to assess the effect on that trajectory of reformulation of oxycodone to a form that could not be easily snorted or injected. Interrupted time-series analyses of population-level data before versus after reformulation of oxycodone, stratified by sex. Victoria, Australia. The population of Victoria aged 12+ years. Ambulance patient care and emergency department (ED) records were examined using both fixed-code and free-text fields, with each record manually cleaned and checked by trained coders. These were used to derive the output variables providing an index of harm: rates of opioid-related ambulance attendances and ED attendances for pharmaceutical opioids and heroin. The input variable was pre- versus post-oxycodone reformulation. There were 30 045 opioid-related ambulance attendances from January 2012 to October 2018 (54% heroin-related), and 10 113 ED attendances from July 2008 to June 2018 (39% heroin-related). There was an increase in the rate (events per 100 000 people per year) of all opioid ED attendances from 2008 to 2018 [increase = 0.063 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.049, 0.078]. Pharmaceutical opioid ED attendances decreased from 2014 onwards (slope change = -0.083 95% CI = -0.108, -0.059). Heroin-related ED attendances increased from 2014 to 2018 11 324 heroin-related ambulance attendances and 1980 ED attendances were observed from April 2014 to June 2018, compared with the respective estimates of 8176, and 1661 had the pre-April 2014 trend continued (ambulance slope change = 0.296, 95% CI = 0.104, 0.489 ED slope change = 0.026, 95% CI = 0.005, 0.046). The inflection point of 2014 coincided with the re-formulation of oxycodone. In Victoria, Australia, there appears to have been a trend starting around mid-2014 of increasing heroin-related harm, and a flattening of the increase or a decrease of harms relating to pharmaceutical opioids. These changes may, in part, reflect reformulation of oxycodone to reduce the extent to which it can be injected or snorted.
Exploring harms experienced by children aged 7 to 11 using ambulance attendance data: A 6-year comparison with adolescents aged 12–17
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 02-07-2018
Probabilistic Causal Effect Estimation With Global Neural Network Forecasting Models
Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Date: 2022
Patterns of Injury in Hospitalised One-Year-Old Children: Analysis by Trimester of Age Using Coded Data and Textual Description
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 07-07-2016
Trends in gamma-hydroxybutyrate-related harms based on ambulance attendances from 2012 to 2018 in Victoria, Australia
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-11-2020
DOI: 10.1111/ADD.14848
Abstract: Although the prevalence of gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) use is relatively low globally, harms related to the drug appear to be increasing. Few existing studies present reliable, representative, population-level data on GHB-related harms. The aim of this study was to investigate trends in acute GHB-related harms within an ambulance database in Australia. Cross-sectional, retrospective analysis of data on all GHB-related ambulance attendances in the state of Victoria, Australia during a 7-year period (January 2012-December 2018) MEASUREMENTS: Presentations were characterized based on patient demographics, transport to hospital, co-occurring substance use (i.e. GHB only, alcohol, meth hetamine, heroin, benzodiazepine and cannabis) and clinical presentation (e.g. symptoms of anxiety, psychosis, depression). There were 5866 GHB-related ambulance attendances between 2012 and 2018, with the prevalence rate increasing from 8.8 per 100 000 population in 2012 to a maximum of 21.7 per 100 000 population in 2017. Meth hetamine [odds ratio (OR) = 6.23, P < 0.001] and benzodiazepine-related (OR = 1.43, P < 0.001) co-occurrences ages between 18-29 (OR = 6.58, P < 0.001) and 30-39 years (OR = 2.02, P < 0.001) and male gender (OR = 1.23, P < 0.001) were significant predictors of GHB-related attendances. There has been a 147% increase in the prevalence of GHB-related ambulance attendances in Victoria, Australia between 2012 and 2019, largely attributable to a growth in the proportions of people using gamma-hydroxybutyrate alone or concurrently with meth hetamine.
Aggression and violence at ambulance attendances where alcohol, illicit and/or pharmaceutical drugs were recorded: A 5-year study of ambulance records in Victoria, Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.DRUGALCDEP.2019.107685
Abstract: This study describes the frequency and characteristics of aggression and/or violence in ambulance attendances involving alcohol, illicit and/or pharmaceutical drug use in Victoria, Australia between January 2012 and January 2017. Patient characteristics, context, and substance use involvement in ambulance attendances were examined to determine associations with attendances where aggression and/or violence was recorded. There were 205,178 ambulance attendances where use of alcohol, pharmaceutical drugs or illicit substances contributed to the reason for the attendance. Paramedics recorded acts of aggression and/or violence in 11,813 (5.76 %) of these attendances. Aggression/violence was more likely to be recorded in certain contexts. Compared with attendances where aggression/violence was not recorded, attendances where aggression/violence was recorded were significantly more likely to involve younger and male patients, and occur on Friday and Saturday nights. Alcohol intoxication was involved in more than half of attendances where aggression/violence was recorded, and was almost twice as prevalent as those involving illicit drug use where aggression/violence was recorded. This pattern was consistent across all hours, high-alcohol hours only, by metropolitan/regional location, and by police co-attendance. Aggression and violence are frequently recorded in ambulance attendances involving alcohol, pharmaceutical drugs or illicit substances, and, most often involve alcohol. This violence poses a recurring threat to the health and safety of paramedics, bystanders, and patients. Greater priority should be given to reducing alcohol-related violence through evidence-based policy measures targeting high-risk groups (e.g. young adult males) and contexts (e.g. weekends, late at night) where harm is most likely to occur.
Prevalence of Alcohol and Other Drug Use in Patients Presenting to Hospital for Violence-Related Injuries: A Systematic Review
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 16-02-2023
DOI: 10.1177/15248380221150951
Abstract: Substance use is a risk factor for being both a perpetrator and a victim of violence. The aim of this systematic review was to report the prevalence of acute pre-injury substance use in patients with violence-related injuries. Systematic searches were used to identify observational studies that included patients aged ≥15 years presenting to hospital after violence-related injuries and used objective toxicology measures to report prevalence of acute pre-injury substance use. Studies were grouped based on injury cause (any violence-related, assault, firearm, and other penetrating injuries including stab and incised wounds) and substance type (any substance, alcohol only, drugs other than alcohol only), and they were summarized using narrative synthesis and meta-analyses. This review included 28 studies. Alcohol was detected in 13%–66% of any violence-related injuries (five studies), 4%–71% of assaults (13 studies), 21%–45% of firearm injuries (six studies pooled estimate = 41%, 95% CI: 40%–42%, n = 9,190), and 9%–66% of other penetrating injuries (nine studies pooled estimate = 60%, 95% CI: 56%–64%, n = 6,950). Drugs other than alcohol were detected in 37% of any violence-related injuries (one study), 39% of firearm injuries (one study), 7%–49% of assaults (five studies), and 5%–66% of penetrating injuries (three studies). The prevalence of any substance varied across injury categories: any violence-related injuries = 76%–77% (three studies), assaults = 40%–73% (six studies), firearms = n/a, other penetrating injuries = 26%–45% (four studies pooled estimate = 30%, 95% CI: 24%–37%, n = 319).Overall, substance use was frequently detected in patients presenting to hospital for violence-related injuries. Quantification of substance use in violence-related injuries provides a benchmark for harm reduction and injury prevention strategies.
The use of narrative text for injury surveillance research: A systematic review
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2010
DOI: 10.1016/J.AAP.2009.09.020
Abstract: To summarise the extent to which narrative text fields in administrative health data are used to gather information about the event resulting in presentation to a health care provider for treatment of an injury, and to highlight best practise approaches to conducting narrative text interrogation for injury surveillance purposes. Systematic review. Electronic databases searched included CINAHL, Google Scholar, Medline, Proquest, PubMed and PubMed Central. Snowballing strategies were employed by searching the bibliographies of retrieved references to identify relevant associated articles. Papers were selected if the study used a health-related database and if the study objectives were to a) use text field to identify injury cases or use text fields to extract additional information on injury circumstances not available from coded data or b) use text fields to assess accuracy of coded data fields for injury-related cases or c) describe methods/approaches for extracting injury information from text fields. The papers identified through the search were independently screened by two authors for inclusion, resulting in 41 papers selected for review. Due to heterogeneity between studies meta-analysis was not performed. The majority of papers reviewed focused on describing injury epidemiology trends using coded data and text fields to supplement coded data (28 papers), with these studies demonstrating the value of text data for providing more specific information beyond what had been coded to enable case selection or provide circumstantial information. Caveats were expressed in terms of the consistency and completeness of recording of text information resulting in underestimates when using these data. Four coding validation papers were reviewed with these studies showing the utility of text data for validating and checking the accuracy of coded data. Seven studies (9 papers) described methods for interrogating injury text fields for systematic extraction of information, with a combination of manual and semi-automated methods used to refine and develop algorithms for extraction and classification of coded data from text. Quality assurance approaches to assessing the robustness of the methods for extracting text data was only discussed in 8 of the epidemiology papers, and 1 of the coding validation papers. All of the text interrogation methodology papers described systematic approaches to ensuring the quality of the approach. Manual review and coding approaches, text search methods, and statistical tools have been utilised to extract data from narrative text and translate it into useable, detailed injury event information. These techniques can and have been applied to administrative datasets to identify specific injury types and add value to previously coded injury datasets. Only a few studies thoroughly described the methods which were used for text mining and less than half of the studies which were reviewed used/described quality assurance methods for ensuring the robustness of the approach. New techniques utilising semi-automated computerised approaches and Bayesian/clustering statistical methods offer the potential to further develop and standardise the analysis of narrative text for injury surveillance.
Quantity of documentation of maltreatment risk factors in injury-related paediatric hospitalisations
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 28-07-2012
Commentary: Exploring the complex links between violence, mental health, and substance abuse - from correlates, through risk factors, towards causal pathways
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 10-2012
Reporting Fatal Neglect in Child Death Review
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 26-04-2020
Abstract: Child death reviews are conducted with the aim of preventing child deaths however, definitions, inclusion criteria for the review of child deaths and reporting practices vary across Child Death Review Teams (CDRTs). This article aims to identify a common context and understanding of fatal neglect reporting by reviewing definitional issues of fatal neglect and comparing reporting practice across a number of CDRTs. Providing a consistent context for identifying and reporting neglect-related deaths may improve the understanding of the impact of fatal neglect and the risk factors associated with it and therefore, improve the potential of CDRT review to inform prevention programs, policies, and procedures.
Reconstructing the workforce within public health protective systems: Improving resilience, retention, service responsiveness and outcomes
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.CHIABU.2019.104191
Abstract: Unacceptably high staff turnover has plagued traditional approaches to child protection, seemingly forever. Around the globe, numerous studies, reports and inquiries have highlighted how statutory agencies, focusing on risk-oriented investigations of suspected maltreatment, experience significant issues with worker stress and its occupational and organisational consequences. Yet, promoting staff resilience within child protection agencies' workforces has proved to be quite elusive at a systems level. While concern about child protection services often centers on the children and families agencies they intend to assist, the experiences of workers within the system provide further evidence that the system is itself failing. As a result, governments around the world are increasingly embracing system reforms that promote public health approaches focusing on early intervention and prevention to build child, family and neighbourhood support capacity and resilience and thereby reduce child maltreatment. We review the workforce issues affecting traditional child protection approaches and its impacts. In light of this, we examine the knowledge to be applied in the development of public health approaches that embrace integrated and coordinated systems of community care. Such reforms, with altered organisational remits that are far broader than narrow tertiary responses of investigation and removal, utilize evidence-based interventions targeted at differentiated risk and service user needs to provide effective supports and reduce maltreatment. This article unpacks the strategies needed to build and properly prepare a re-tooled workforce capable of implementing a public health model of preventive interventions. Not applicable. Current public health reforms are examined through the lens of their potential impacts upon contemporary workforce issues. Focusing upon building a stable, resilient and appropriately skilled workforce for a public health model, we examine the implications for key stakeholders including workers, program and organisational leaders, educators, researchers, academics and community members, especially children and vulnerable families. Public health approaches to protecting children seek to provide effective supports and services in timely ways in order to prevent unnecessary statutory interventions, which affect those from cultural and poor communities disproportionately. But remodelling systems to embrace these approaches entails complex practice, program, policy and legislative changes, using evidence to intervene in ways that are primarily voluntary rather than coercive. In doing so they provide potential to recast the basis of the helping relationship to attend better to the relational aspects of changed behaviour. Embedding workforce resilience strategies in reformed systems is necessary to address retention and ensure service effectiveness and responsiveness to the ersity of needs of struggling families and impoverished communities. Thereby, public health approaches are well placed to achieve their true potential.
Summarising the impacts of the Queensland Alcohol‐related violence and Night‐Time Economy (QUANTEM) project
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 19-05-2021
DOI: 10.1111/DAR.13272
Abstract: This closing commentary to the special section presents an overview of the Queensland Alcohol‐related violence and Night‐Time Economy Monitoring evaluation findings in comparison to those from other jurisdictions where similar interventions have been implemented (such as Sydney and Newcastle), and especially with previous studies that have used similar evaluation methodologies, such as the Dealing with Alcohol and the Night‐Time Economy study. Overall, the articles documented promising reductions in alcohol‐related harm, building on the existing evidence base for multi‐pronged interventions in entertainment districts. Importantly, this is the first comprehensive investigation to also look at impacts on nightlife‐related business and findings demonstrated, that there were improvements for many businesses. There are substantial policy implications for Queensland and other jurisdictions (nationally and globally) wanting to reduce late night alcohol‐related harm in entertainment districts.
Injuries leading to hospitalisation in the first year of life
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2013
Abstract: To describe unintentional injuries to children aged less than one year, using coded and textual information, in three-month age bands to reflect their development over the year. Data from the Queensland Injury Surveillance Unit was used. The Unit collects demographic, clinical and circumstantial details about injured persons presenting to selected emergency departments across the State. Only injuries coded as unintentional in children admitted to hospital were included for this analysis. After editing, 1,082 children remained for analysis, 24 with transport-related injuries. Falls were the most common injury, but becoming proportionately less over the year, whereas burns and scalds and foreign body injuries increased. The proportion of injuries due to contact with persons or objects varied little, but poisonings were relatively more common in the first and fourth three-month periods. Descriptions indicated that family members were somehow causally involved in 16% of injuries. Our findings are in qualitative agreement with comparable previous studies. The pattern of injuries varies over the first year of life and is clearly linked to the child's increasing mobility. Injury patterns in the first year of life should be reported over shorter intervals. Preventive measures for young children need to be designed with their rapidly changing developmental stage in mind, using a variety of strategies, one of which could be opportunistic developmentally specific education of parents.
Queensland Alcohol‐related violence and Night‐time Economy Monitoring (QUANTEM): Rationale and overview
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 18-05-2021
DOI: 10.1111/DAR.13270
Abstract: This commentary introduces the special section on the outcomes of the Queensland Alcohol‐related violence and Night‐time Economy Monitoring project and outlines the political and policy context of the interventions put in place under the Queensland government's Tackling Alcohol‐Fuelled Violence strategy. The development of the strategy was informed by alcohol policy initiatives trialled in other major Australian cities over the past two decades. The articles in this special section examine the impact of the Tackling Alcohol‐Fuelled Violence policy stages on alcohol‐related harms and local economies across selected entertainment precincts (Safe Night Precincts). A rich array of data were utilised, including administrative health and justice data, data reflective of nightlife trading (i.e. foot traffic data, ID scanner data and live music performances) and street surveys. Findings have implications for research, policy and practice and demonstrate the need for comprehensive evaluations that can accommodate the complexities of modern alcohol policy in Australia.
Child welfare policy and practice on children's exposure to domestic violence
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2012
DOI: 10.1016/J.CHIABU.2011.11.004
Abstract: This article reviews research, policy and programming in Australia, Canada and the US on the child welfare response to EDV. The review draws on searches of standard research databases, interviews with researchers and practitioners, and the authors' own research. Although EDV is underreported, across studies 7% to 23% of youths in general population surveys experienced EDV, 36-39% of youth in DV cases have witnessed the violence, and 45-46% of primary caregivers in child maltreatment investigations have experienced DV. Mandatory reporting can increase the number of cases that come to the attention of child welfare, but without resources for training and programming can lead to inappropriate reports, lack of referral for further assessment, and strains on the child welfare system. Improving the child welfare response to EDV can include collaboration between child welfare workers and DV advocates increased training on screening for DV new protocols on DV and dedicated DV staffing within child welfare agencies. In recent years, policy and program attention to EDV has also been embedded within broader national efforts to protect children from violence and maltreatment. Differential response models that eschew investigation in favor of assessment and service delivery hold promise for families with DV. Empirical data are limited, but current research and practice experience suggest that child welfare agencies seeking to improve the response to EDV should collaborate with other disciplines involved with preventing and responding to DV, seek resources to support training and programming, consider methods that avoid stigmatizing parents, and build in a program evaluation component to increase knowledge about effective practice.
The Impact of Twenty Four-Hour Public Transport in Melbourne, Australia: An Evaluation of Alcohol-Related Harms
Publisher: Alcohol Research Documentation, Inc.
Date: 05-2019
‘Extreme personal stress’ and ‘a lot of pain’: Exploring the physical, mental and social contexts of extramedical pharmaceutical opioid use in Australian paramedic case descriptions
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-07-2020
DOI: 10.1111/DAR.13118
Self-reported sleep disturbance in ambulance attendances for suicidal ideation and attempted suicide between 2012 and 2017
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2020
The National Ambulance Surveillance System: A novel method for monitoring acute alcohol, illicit and pharmaceutical drug related-harms using coded Australian ambulance clinical records
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 31-01-2020
Socio‐economic distribution of environmental risk factors for childhood injury
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2006
DOI: 10.1111/J.1467-842X.2006.TB00778.X
Abstract: Childhood injury remains the single most important cause of mortality in children aged between 1-14 years in many countries. It has been proposed that lower socio-economic status (SES) and poorer housing contribute to potential hazards in the home environment. This study sought to establish whether the prevalence of observed hazards in and around the home was differentially distributed by SES, in order to identify opportunities for injury prevention. This study was a cross-sectional, random s le survey of primary school children from 32 schools in Brisbane. Interviews and house audits were conducted between July 2000 and April 2003 to collect information on SES (income, employment and education) and previously identified household hazards. There was evidence of a relationship between prevalence of household environmental hazards and household SES however, the magnitude and direction of this relationship appeared to be hazard-specific. Household income was related to play equipment characteristics, with higher SES groups being more likely to be exposed to risk. All three SES indicators were associated with differences in the home safety characteristics, with the lower SES groups more likely to be exposed to risk. The differential distribution of environmental risk factors by SES of household may help explain the SES differential in the burden of injury and provides opportunities for focusing efforts to address the problem.
Description of Trends over the Week in Alcohol-Related Ambulance Attendance Data
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 19-04-2023
Abstract: Alcohol harms are often determined using a proxy measure based on temporal patterns during the week when harms are most likely to occur. This study utilised coded Australian ambulance data from the Victorian arm of the National Ambulance Surveillance System (NASS) to investigate temporal patterns across the week for alcohol-related ambulance attendances in 2019. These patterns were examined by season, regionality, gender, and age group. We found clear temporal peaks: from Friday 6:00 p.m. to Saturday 3:59 a.m. for both alcohol-involved and alcohol-intoxication-related attendance, from Saturday 6:00 p.m. to Sunday 4:59 a.m. for alcohol-involved attendances, and from Saturday 5:00 p.m. to Sunday 4:49 a.m. for alcohol-intoxication-related attendances. However, these temporal trends varied across age groups. Additionally, hours during Thursday and Sunday evenings also demonstrated peaks in attendances. There were no substantive differences between genders. Younger age groups (18–24 and 25–29 years) had a peak of alcohol-related attendances from 7:00 p.m. to 7:59 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, whereas the peak in attendances for 50–59 and 60+ years was from 5:00 p.m. to 2:59 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. These findings further the understanding of the impacts of alcohol during different times throughout the week, which can guide targeted policy responses regarding alcohol use and health service capacity planning.
Emergency department triage revisited
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 02-2010
Abstract: Triage is a process that is critical to the effective management of modern emergency departments. Triage systems aim, not only to ensure clinical justice for the patient, but also to provide an effective tool for departmental organisation, monitoring and evaluation. Over the last 20 years, triage systems have been standardised in a number of countries and efforts made to ensure consistency of application. However, the ongoing crowding of emergency departments resulting from access block and increased demand has led to calls for a review of systems of triage. In addition, international variance in triage systems limits the capacity for benchmarking. The aim of this paper is to provide a critical review of the literature pertaining to emergency department triage in order to inform the direction for future research. While education, guidelines and algorithms have been shown to reduce triage variation, there remains significant inconsistency in triage assessment arising from the ersity of factors determining the urgency of any in idual patient. It is timely to accept this ersity, what is agreed, and what may be agreeable. It is time to develop and test an International Triage Scale (ITS) which is supported by an international collaborative approach towards a triage research agenda. This agenda would seek to further develop application and moderating tools and to utilise the scales for international benchmarking and research programmes.
Comparing rates and characteristics of ambulance attendances related to extramedical use of pharmaceutical opioids in Victoria, Australia from 2013 to 2018
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 13-01-2020
DOI: 10.1111/ADD.14896
Mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect by health professionals
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Date: 2015
Patterns of reporting by health care and nonhealth care professionals to child protection services in Canada
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 10-2010
DOI: 10.1093/PCH/15.8.E25
Monitoring emerging prescription-drug related harms
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-01-2019
DOI: 10.1111/ADD.14495
Identifying work related injuries: comparison of methods for interrogating text fields
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 07-04-2010
Alcohol Accessibility and Family Violence-related Ambulance Attendances
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 18-01-2021
Abstract: There is substantial evidence supporting the association between alcohol license density and violent crime. However, the impact of different types of alcohol licenses on intimate partner and family violence is sparse. We explored the associations between access to alcohol outlets, and family and intimate partner violence using paramedic clinical records, given this service is often the first to respond to acute crises. Coded ambulance attendance data from 694 postcodes in Victoria, Australia, from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2018 where alcohol or another drug, mental health or self-harm associated with family or intimate partner violence was indicated were examined. A hybrid model of spatial autoregressive and negative binomial zero-inflated Poisson-based count regression models was used to examine associations with alcohol outlet density and socioeconomic factors. We found that access to a liquor license outlet was significantly associated with family violence-related attendances across all types of outlets, including on-premise (late night) licenses ( β = 1.73, SE: 0.18), restaurant licenses ( β = 0.83, SE: 0.28), and packaged liquor licenses ( β = 0.62, SE: 0.06). Our results demonstrate a significant relationship between alcohol-related harms in the context of family violence and provides evidence of the relationship between alcohol-related family violence in both victims and perpetrators. The findings of this study highlight the need for public health interventions such as licensing policy and town planning changes to reduce these harms by restricting alcohol availability.
National Ambulance Surveillance System: A novel method using coded Australian ambulance clinical records to monitor self-harm and mental health-related morbidity
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 31-07-2020
The reliability of information on work-related injuries available from hospitalisation data in Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2009
DOI: 10.1111/J.1753-6405.2009.00404.X
Abstract: To examine the reliability of work-related activity coding for injury-related hospitalisations in Australia. A random s le of 4,373 injury-related hospital separations from 1 July 2002 to 30 June 2004 were obtained from a stratified random s le of 50 hospitals across four states in Australia. From this s le, cases were identified as work-related if they contained an ICD-10-AM work-related activity code (U73) allocated by either: (i) the original coder (ii) an independent auditor, blinded to the original code or (iii) a research assistant, blinded to both the original and auditor codes, who reviewed narrative text extracted from the medical record. The concordance of activity coding and number of cases identified as work-related using each method were compared. Of the 4,373 cases s led, 318 cases were identified as being work-related using any of the three methods for identification. The original coder identified 217 and the auditor identified 266 work-related cases (68.2% and 83.6% of the total cases identified, respectively). Around 10% of cases were only identified through the text description review. The original coder and auditor agreed on the assignment of work-relatedness for 68.9% of cases. The best estimates of the frequency of hospital admissions for occupational injury underestimate the burden by around 32%. This is a substantial underestimate that has major implications for public policy, and highlights the need for further work on improving the quality and completeness of routine, administrative data sources for a more complete identification of work-related injuries.
Acute harms associated with inhalant misuse: Co-morbidities and trends relative to age and gender among ambulance attendees
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2018
DOI: 10.1016/J.DRUGALCDEP.2018.05.026
Abstract: Inhalant misuse is the deliberate inhalation of products containing toluene to induce intoxication. Chronic harms associated with inhalant misuse are well described including alcohol and other drug use, mental health disorders, and suicidal behaviours. However, the nature of the acute harms from inhalants and characteristics of people who experience those harms are not well understood. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the acute harms associated with inhalant misuse attendances, and to determine whether these differ by age or gender. Ambulance attendance data (Victoria, Australia) from January 2012 to June 2017 were extracted from a database of coded ambulance records. 779 ambulance attendances involving inhalant misuse were identified. Attendance characteristics were categorised by age and gender. Co-morbidities of current mental health, self-harm and suicidal behaviour were assessed, plus the involvement of alcohol and other drugs. Overall, attendances related to the acute harms of inhalant misuse have decreased over time, although that trend has reversed from January 2015. Gender differentiated the acute harms associated with inhalant misuse. Males were older and presented with concurrent alcohol and other drug use. Females were younger and presented with concurrent suicidal ideation and self-injury. Attendances for under 15-year-olds are increasing this age group was over-represented, predominantly female, with a strong association with self-injury. Ambulance presentations related to inhalant misuse were associated with acute and serious harms. This study highlights that the acute treatment needs of those misusing inhalants are complex and may need to be tailored to gender and age groups.
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Related Funding Activities
Linkage Projects - Grant ID: LP180100701
Start Date: 02-2020
End Date: 02-2024
Amount: $1,191,949.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
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