Low- and middle-income countries struggle to provide health care to some, while others get too much medicine. In this video, we delve into the research led by Assistant Professor Loai Albarqouni, which addresses the stark disparities in healthcare provision in low- and middle-income countries. With [...]
All tests ‘(…) do harm; some do good as well, and, of these, some do more good than harm at reasonable cost.’ - Muir Gray and Angela Raffle. Medical tests are widely and increasingly marketed directly to consumers via traditional and social media. Such tests may [...]
Increases in computed tomography (CT) use may not always reflect clinical need or improve outcomes. This study aimed to demonstrate how population level data can be used to identify variations in care between patient groups, by analysing system-level changes in CT use around the diagnosis [...]
Analytical performance specifications (APS) based on outcomes refer to how 'good' the analytical performance of a test needs to be to do more good than harm to the patient. Analytical performance of a measurand affects its clinical performance. Without first setting clinical performance requirements, it [...]
The Healthcare Carbon Lab (HCL) confronts the pressing challenge of healthcare's environmental footprint. With healthcare responsible for a significant portion of Australia's carbon emissions and waste, the HCL aims to revolutionise sustainability within the sector. By measuring waste, carbon emissions, and energy usage in hospitals, [...]
Infusion sets (comprising the tubing, measuring burettes, fluid containers, transducers) that are connected to invasive vascular devices are changed on a regular basis in an effort to reduce bacterial colonisation and bloodstream infection. There is a balance between reducing infection and creating unnecessary waste. Current evidence suggests that for central venous catheters [...]
In recent years, social media have emerged as important spaces for commercial marketing of health tests, which can be used for the screening and diagnosis of otherwise generally healthy people. However, little is known about how health tests are promoted on social media, whether the [...]
The delivery of modern healthcare is inadvertently exacerbating illness and injury to populations through its own pollution. The global healthcare sector—health services and its medical supply chain—is responsible for approximately 5% of global net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (>2 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e)) [...]
Climate change threatens human health and increases demand for healthcare. Global temperature is rising in near linear relationship with increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) in Earth’s atmosphere, bringing hotter and more extreme weather. Health consequences include direct injuries, deaths and illness, and indirect effects such as [...]
Occasions of low-value care (LVC) are those that confer little or no benefit to the patient or where harm (including lost treatment opportunity and financial cost) exceeds likely benefit. While it is easy to conceptualise health care as either low or high value, the reality [...]