	View in browser

In this issue

Sustaining and assuring the quality of student nurse mentorship: what are the challenges?

Alcohol’s burden of disease in Australia

Vasectomy & risk of aggressive prostate cancer: a 24-year follow up study

Smoking cessation for hospital inpatients

Who’s responsible for the care of women during and after a pregnancy affected by gestational diabetes?

New books on display @ Austin

Print journals received and currently on display

1 August 2014

"So never lose an opportunity of urging a practical beginning, however small, for it is wonderful how often in such matters the mustard-seed germinates and roots itself"
Florence Nightingale

Sustaining and assuring the quality of student nurse mentorship: what are the challenges?

"Providing mentorship to nursing students is the cornerstone of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) education standards, which ensure nurses are fit for practice at the point of registration. Assuring the quality of mentorship is a concern to the higher education and healthcare providers who share responsibility for it, particularly at a time when nursing competence is much in the public eye." NMC

Source: Policy June 2014: 43

Alcohol’s burden of disease in Australia

Alcohol kills 15 Australians and hospitalises another 430 every day according to research from new Turning Point (Eastern Health) report. The report found injuries accounted for more than 1-in-3 alcohol-related deaths among Australian men, with cancer and digestive diseases causing 25% and 16% respectively. Researcher Belinda Lloyd said "the reality is that the long-term effects aren't just confined to one Saturday night, with serious health problems a genuine concern."

"A decade ago alcohol was responsible for 3,430 deaths per year. Now that figure stands at 5,554. Governments can't afford to wait another ten years to act. Only decisive, evidence-based action will stem Australia's worsening alcohol toll," said Mr Thorn (FARE Chief Executive).

Citation: Gao, C, Ogeil, RP, & Lloyd, B. (2014). Alcohol's burden of disease in Australia. Canberra: FARE and VicHealth in collaboration with Turning Point.

Vasectomy & risk of aggressive prostate cancer: a 24-year follow up study

A follow up study found that vasectomy was associated with a small increased risk of prostate cancer and the risk was elevated for high-grade and lethal tumours (defined as prostate cancer death or distant metastasis). Urologist Dr Shomik Sengupta, the leader of the Genitourinary Oncology Special Advisory Group of USANZ, said "multiple other studies have failed to bear out this relationship and meta-analyses suggest that there is no significant risk of prostate cancer conferred by having a vasectomy." The study was conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health and analysed data from 49,405 US men who were followed for up to 24 years from 1986-2010.

Source: Journal of clinical oncology July 2014: 32

Smoking cessation for hospital inpatients

As hospitals are strongly encouraged to become smoke-free sites, the admission period for patients provides a unique window of opportunity to tackle an individual's smoking addiction, if a system is in place to help inpatients abstain or quit during their stay. In the UK "not providing such help or support neglects implementing evidence based, cost-effective health intervention in a major health setting" (NICE 2013).

To alleviate a lack of inpatient quit smoking programs, new research has built on the NICE "Smoking cessation in secondary care: acute, maternity and mental health services" guidelines (2103). This research, published as part of BMJ's Quality Improvement Program, suggests a course of "pathways" designed and developed through consultation with hospital healthcare staff, to form a more intensive approach to smoking intervention.

Citation: BMJ Quality Improvement Report 2014: 3:1

Who’s responsible for the care of women during and after a pregnancy affected by gestational diabetes?

A recent article in the MJA challenges all stakeholders involved in the care of women with gestational diabetes, to work collaboratively and establish a systematic pathway of care. With a change to testing protocols introduced in July 2014 and a change to diagnostic criteria from 1 January 2015, this is a timely discussion paper.

"Delivery of coordinated, effective programs is essential for this group of women. Without such clarity, and in the absence of a systems approach to care, we are failing to seize an opportunity to reduce the incidence of type 2 diabetes and promote the wellbeing of these women and their children" said author S Wilkinson.

Source: Medical Journal of Australia 2014: 201(3) S78-81

New books on display @ Austin

Contraception : a casebook from menarche to menopause / edited by Paula Briggs, Gabor Kovacs, John Guillebaud. Cambridge University Press, 2013.

Oxford handbook of reproductive medicine and family planning / Edna McVeigh, john Guillegaud, Roy Homburg. 2nd ed. Oxford University Press, 2013.

Textbook of adult emergency medicine / edited by Peter Cameron, George Jelinek, Anne-Maree Kelly et al. 4th edition. Churchill Livingstone, Elsevier, 2015

New books on display can be reserved by contacting the library.

Print journals received and currently on display

Note: the links below provide access to the tables of contents, not necessarily the full text. Full text may be retrieved from the A-Z Journal list (outside of Austin Health you will need your Library barcode no. and PIN)

Acta obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica. Vol. 93, no.8, 2014

Annals of emergency medicine. Vol. 64, no. 1, July 2014

Annals of internal medicine. Vol. 161, no. 2, 15 July 2014

Australian and New Zealand journal of obstetrics and gynaecology. Vol. 54, no. 3, June 2014

BMJ. Vol. 249, no. 7966, 12 July 2014

Breastfeeding review. Vol. 22, no. 2, July 2014

Health care for women international. Vol. 35, nos. 4-6, 2014

Infant. Vol. 10, no. 4, July 2014

Internal medicine journal. Vol. 44, no. 7, July 2014

Journal of clinical psychiatry. Vol. 75, no. 6, June 2014

Journal of diabetes and its complications. Vol. 28, no. 4, July-August 2014

Journal of parenteral & enteral nutrition. Vol. 38, no. 5, July 2014