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Background: Healthcare triage policies are vital for allocating limited resources fairly and equitably. Despite extensive studies of healthcare equity, consensus on the applied definition of equity in triage remains elusive. This study aimed to investigate how the principles of equity are operationalised in Australian hospital physiotherapy triage tools to guide resource distribution. Methods: A retrospective, qualitative content analysis of 13 triage policies from 10 hospitals across Australia was conducted. Triage policies from both inpatient and outpatient settings were sourced. Data were coded deductively using the five discrete domains of the multi-faceted operational definition of health equity posited by Lane et al. (2017): 1) point of equalisation in the health service supply/access/outcome chain, 2) need or potential to benefit, 3) groupings of equalisation, 4) caveats to equalisation, 5) close enough is good enough. Descriptive summative statistics were used to analyse and present the frequency of reported equity domains. Results: Within the included triage tools, four out of five domains of equity were evident in the included documents to guide decision making. Allocation based on perceived patient need and overall health outcomes were the central guiding principles across both inpatient and outpatient settings. Equal provision of service relative to patient need and reducing wait times were also prioritised. However, explicit inclusion of certain equity domains such as discrimination, ensuring equal capability to be healthy and other patient factors was limited. Conclusions: Physiotherapy triage policies consider various domains of equity to guide resource allocation decisions. Policymakers and service providers can use the insights gained from this study to review the application and operationalisation of equity principles within their healthcare systems through mechanisms such as patient triage tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) is a genetic condition that is a preventable cause of premature cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. High-level evidence and clinical practice guidelines support preventative care for people with FH. However, it is estimated that less than 10% of people at risk of FH have been detected using any approach across Australian health settings. The aim of this study was to identify the implementation barriers to and facilitators of the detection of FH in Australia. Four, 2-hour virtual focus groups were facilitated by implementation scientists and a clinicians as part of the 2021 Australasian FH Summit. Template analysis was used to identify themes. There were 28 workshop attendees across four groups (n=6–8 each), yielding 13 barriers and 10 facilitators across three themes: (1) patient related, (2) provider related, and (3) system related. A "lack of care pathways" and "upskilling clinicians in identifying and diagnosing FH" were the most interconnected barriers and facilitators for the detection of FH. The relationships between barriers and facilitators across the patient, provider, and system themes indicates that a comprehensive implementation strategy is needed to address these different levels. Future research is underway to develop a model for implementing the Australian FH guidelines into practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Implementing evidence into clinical practice is a key focus of healthcare improvements to reduce unwarranted variation. Dissemination of evidence-based recommendations and knowledge brokering have emerged as potential strategies to achieve evidence implementation by influencing resource allocation decisions. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of these two research implementation strategies to facilitate evidence-informed healthcare management decisions for the provision of inpatient weekend allied health services.Methods and Findings: This multicentre, single-blinded (data collection and analysis), three-group parallel cluster randomised controlled trial with concealed allocation was conducted in Australian and New Zealand hospitals between February 2018 and January 2020. Clustering and randomisation took place at the organisation level where weekend allied health staffing decisions were made (e.g., network of hospitals or single hospital). Hospital wards were nested within these decision-making structures. Three conditions were compared over a 12-month period: (1) usual practice waitlist control; (2) dissemination of written evidence-based practice recommendations; and (3) access to a webinar-based knowledge broker in addition to the recommendations. The primary outcome was the alignment of weekend allied health provision with practice recommendations at the cluster and ward levels, addressing the adoption, penetration, and fidelity to the recommendations. The secondary outcome was mean hospital length of stay at the ward level. Outcomes were collected at baseline and 12 months later. A total of 45 clusters (n = 833 wards) were randomised to either control (n = 15), recommendation (n = 16), or knowledge broker (n = 14) conditions. Four (9%) did not provide follow-up data, and no adverse events were recorded. No significant effect was found with either implementation strategy for the primary outcome at the cluster level (recommendation versus control β 18.11 [95% CI -8,721.81 to 8,758.02] p = 0.997; knowledge broker versus control β 1.24 [95% CI -6,992.60 to 6,995.07] p = 1.000; recommendation versus knowledge broker β -9.12 [95% CI -3,878.39 to 3,860.16] p = 0.996) or ward level (recommendation versus control β 0.01 [95% CI 0.74 to 0.75] p = 0.983; knowledge broker versus control β -0.12 [95% CI -0.54 to 0.30] p = 0.581; recommendation versus knowledge broker β -0.19 [-1.04 to 0.65] p = 0.651). There was no significant effect between strategies for the secondary outcome at ward level (recommendation versus control β 2.19 [95% CI -1.36 to 5.74] p = 0.219; knowledge broker versus control β -0.55 [95% CI -1.16 to 0.06] p = 0.075; recommendation versus knowledge broker β -3.75 [95% CI -8.33 to 0.82] p = 0.102). None of the control or knowledge broker clusters transitioned to partial or full alignment with the recommendations. Three (20%) of the clusters who only received the written recommendations transitioned from nonalignment to partial alignment. Limitations include underpowering at the cluster level sample due to the grouping of multiple geographically distinct hospitals to avoid contamination.Conclusions: Owing to a lack of power at the cluster level, this trial was unable to identify a difference between the knowledge broker strategy and dissemination of recommendations compared with usual practice for the promotion of evidence-informed resource allocation to inpatient weekend allied health services. Future research is needed to determine the interactions between different implementation strategies and healthcare contexts when translating evidence into healthcare practice.Trial Registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12618000029291. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The current study aimed to identify and understand the reasons why allied health professionals think certain areas of healthcare service provision are a high priority for implementation of evidence into practice. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey using open-ended questions was conducted between April and May 2018 to identify potential areas for practice change and characterizehowparticipants justified identified areas of priority. Eligible participants were invited by email and included allied health professionals from public or private health services, governance agencies and universities across Australia. Responses were analysed using qualitative content analysis. Results: Therewere 149 surveys commenced with 146 respondents completing the survey. Of the 146 respondents, 128 were female, 17 male and one unknown. Most of the respondents were between 40 and 49 years old and had a master's degree. In total respondents from more than 13 different professions completed the survey with 110 respondents having more than 10 years of experience in allied health. Ten themes emerged outlining the main reasons respondents felt that their nominated areas of practice changewere a high priority for action. These included closing gaps between practice and policy/recommendation/guideline; closing research evidence to practice gaps; improving access to services; perceived cost-effectiveness of service delivery; improving effectiveness of allied health services; current imbalance between service supply and demand; amount of resources involved in service delivery; extent of the health problem; areas of allied health care futility; and equality of workload across allied health professionals. Conclusion: The current research provides insights into the decision-making processes of allied health professionals when prioritizing areas of clinical practice for implementation of evidence into practice. Despite an appetite for evidence-based practice, behaviour change was not always implemented in a consistent and systematic manner. There was variability in the type and application of evidence used by allied health professionals to support clinical practice. Whether a more systematic approach to research translation fosters evidence uptake awaits confirmation. Also awaiting investigation are the economic and societal impacts of consistently implementing research-informed clinical decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Disinvestment (removal, reduction, or reallocation) of routinely provided health services can be difficult when there is little published evidence examining whether the services are effective or not. Evidence is required to understand if removing these services produces outcomes that are inferior to keeping such services in place. However, organisational imperatives, such as budget cuts, may force healthcare providers to disinvest from these services before the required evidence becomes available. There are presently no experimental studies examining the effectiveness of allied health services (e.g., physical therapy, occupational therapy, and social work) provided on weekends across acute medical and surgical hospital wards, despite these services being routinely provided internationally. The aim of this study was to understand the impact of removing weekend allied health services from acute medical and surgical wards using a disinvestment-specific non-inferiority research design.Methods and Findings: We conducted 2 stepped-wedge cluster randomised controlled trials between 1 February 2014 and 30 April 2015 among patients on 12 acute medical or surgical hospital wards spread across 2 hospitals. The hospitals involved were 2 metropolitan teaching hospitals in Melbourne, Australia. Data from n = 14,834 patients were collected for inclusion in Trial 1, and n = 12,674 in Trial 2. Trial 1 was a disinvestment-specific non-inferiority stepped-wedge trial where the 'current' weekend allied health service was incrementally removed from participating wards each calendar month, in a random order, while Trial 2 used a conventional non-inferiority stepped-wedge design, where a 'newly developed' service was incrementally reinstated on the same wards as in Trial 1. Primary outcome measures were patient length of stay (proportion staying longer than expected and mean length of stay), the proportion of patients experiencing any adverse event, and the proportion with an unplanned readmission within 28 days of discharge. The 'no weekend allied health service' condition was considered to be not inferior if the 95% CIs of the differences between this condition and the condition with weekend allied health service delivery were below a 2% increase in the proportion of patients who stayed in hospital longer than expected, a 2% increase in the proportion who had an unplanned readmission within 28 days, a 2% increase in the proportion who had any adverse event, and a 1-day increase in the mean length of stay. The current weekend allied health service included physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, dietetics, social work, and allied health assistant services in line with usual care at the participating sites. The newly developed weekend allied health service allowed managers at each site to reprioritise tasks being performed and the balance of hours provided by each professional group and on which days they were provided. Analyses conducted on an intention-to-treat basis demonstrated that there was no estimated effect size difference between groups in the proportion of patients staying longer than expected (weekend versus no weekend; estimated effect size difference [95% CI], p-value) in Trial 1 (0.40 versus 0.38; estimated effect size difference 0.01 [-0.01 to 0.04], p = 0.31, CI was both above and below non-inferiority margin), but the proportion staying longer than expected was greater with the newly developed service compared to its no weekend service control condition (0.39 versus 0.40; estimated effect size difference 0.02 [0.01 to 0.04], p = 0.04, CI was completely below non-inferiority margin) in Trial 2. Trial 1 and 2 findings were discordant for the mean length of stay outcome (Trial 1: 5.5 versus 6.3 days; estimated effect size difference 1.3 days [0.9 to 1.8], p < 0.001, CI was both above and below non-inferiority margin; Trial 2: 5.9 versus 5.0 days; estimated effect size difference -1.6 days [-2.0 to -1.1], p < 0.001, CI was completely below non-inferiority margin). There was no difference between conditions for the proportion who had an unplanned readmission within 28 days in either trial (Trial 1: 0.01 [-0.01 to 0.03], p = 0.18, CI was both above and below non-inferiority margin; Trial 2: -0.01 [-0.02 to 0.01], p = 0.62, CI completely below non-inferiority margin). There was no difference between conditions in the proportion of patients who experienced any adverse event in Trial 1 (0.01 [-0.01 to 0.03], p = 0.33, CI was both above and below non-inferiority margin), but a lower proportion of patients had an adverse event in Trial 2 when exposed to the no weekend allied health condition (-0.03 [-0.05 to -0.004], p = 0.02, CI completely below non-inferiority margin). Limitations of this research were that 1 of the trial wards was closed by the healthcare provider after Trial 1 and could not be included in Trial 2, and that both withdrawing the current weekend allied health service model and installing a new one may have led to an accommodation period for staff to adapt to the new service settings. Stepped-wedge trials are potentially susceptible to bias from naturally occurring change over time at the service level; however, this was adjusted for in our analyses.Conclusions: In Trial 1, criteria to say that the no weekend allied health condition was non-inferior to current weekend allied health condition were not met, while neither the no weekend nor current weekend allied health condition demonstrated superiority. In Trial 2, the no weekend allied health condition was non-inferior to the newly developed weekend allied health condition across all primary outcomes, and superior for the outcomes proportion of patients staying longer than expected, proportion experiencing any adverse event, and mean length of stay.Trial Registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12613001231730 and ACTRN12613001361796. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale, aims and objectives The aim of this study was to determine if the addition of daily ward interview data improves the capture of hospital quality and safety indicators compared with incident reporting systems alone. An additional aim was to determine the potential characteristics influencing under-reporting of hospital quality and safety indicators in incident reporting systems. Methods A prospective, observational study was performed at two tertiary metropolitan public hospitals. Research assistants from allied health backgrounds met daily with the nurse in charge of the ward and discussed the occurrence of any falls, pressure injuries and rapid response medical team calls. Data were collected from four general medical wards, four surgical wards, an orthopaedic, neurosciences, plastics, respiratory, renal, sub-acute and acute medical assessment unit. Results An estimated total of 303 falls, 221 pressure injuries and 884 rapid response medical team calls occurred between 15 wards across two hospitals, over a period of 6 months. Hospital incident reporting systems underestimated falls by 30.0%, pressure injuries by 59.3% and rapid response medical team calls by 17.0%. The use of ward interview data collection in addition to hospital incident reporting systems improved data capture of falls by 23.8% ( n = 72), pressure injuries by 21.7% ( n = 48) and rapid response medical team calls by 12.7% ( n = 112). Falls events were significantly less likely to be reported if they occurred on a Monday ( P = 0.04) and pressure injuries significantly more likely to be reported if they occurred on a Wednesday ( P = 0.01). Conclusions Hospital quality and safety indicators (falls, pressure injuries and rapid response medical team calls) were under-reported in incident reporting systems, with variability in under-reporting between wards and the day of event occurrence. The use of ward interview data collection in addition to hospital incident reporting systems improved reporting of hospital quality and safety indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, species are increasingly at risk from compounding threatening processes, an increasingly prominent driver of which is environmental disturbances. To facilitate effective conservation efforts following such events, methods that evaluate potential impacts across multiple species and provide landscape-scale information are needed to guide targeted responses. Often, the geographic overlap between a disturbance and species' distribution is calculated and then used as a proxy for potential impact. However, such methods do not account for the important influence of environmental heterogeneity throughout species' ranges. To address this shortcoming, we quantified the effects of environmental disturbances on species' environmental niche space. Using the Australian 2019 and 2020 Black Summer fires as a case study, we applied a niche-centric approach to examine the potential impacts of these fires on 387 vertebrate species. We examined the utility of established and novel niche metrics to assess the potential impacts of large-scale disturbance events on species by comparing the potential effects of the fires as determined by our various niche measures to those derived from geographic-based measures of impact. We examined the quality of environmental space affected by the disturbance by quantifying the position in niche space where the disturbance occurred (center or margin), the uniqueness of the environmental space that was burned, and the degree to which the remaining, unburned portion of the niche differed from a species' original prefire niche. There was limited congruence between the proportion of geographic and niche space affected, which showed that geographic-based approaches in isolation may have underestimated the impact of the fires for 56% of modeled species. For each species, when combined, these metrics provided a greater indication of postdisturbance recovery potential than geographic-based measures alone. Accordingly, the integration of niche-based analyses into conservation assessments following large-scale disturbance events will lead to a more nuanced understanding of potential impacts and guide more informed and effective conservation actions., (© 2024 The Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology.)

Background: This study presents guidelines for implementation distilled from the findings of a realist evaluation. The setting was local health districts in New South Wales, Australia that implemented three clinical improvement initiatives as part of a state-wide program. We focussed on implementation strategies designed to develop health professionals' capability to deliver value-based care initiatives for multisite programs. Capability, which increases implementers' ability to cope with unexpected scenarios is key to managing change., Methods: We used a mixed methods realist evaluation which tested and refined program theories elucidating the complex dynamic between context (C), mechanism (M) and outcome (O) to determine what works, for whom, under what circumstances. Data was drawn from program documents, a realist synthesis, informal discussions with implementation designers, and interviews with 10 key informants (out of 37 identified) from seven sites. Data analysis employed a retroductive approach to interrogate the causal factors identified as contributors to outcomes., Results: CMO statements were refined for four initial program theories: Making it Relevant- where participation in activities was increased when targeted to the needs of the staff; Investment in Quality Improvement- where engagement in capability development was enhanced when it was valued by all levels of the organisation; Turnover and Capability Loss- where the effects of staff turnover were mitigated; and Community-Wide Priority- where there was a strategy of spanning sites. From these data five guiding principles for implementers were distilled: (1) Involve all levels of the health system to effectively implement large-scale capability development, (2) Design capability development activities in a way that supports a learning culture, (3) Plan capability development activities with staff turnover in mind, (4) Increased capability should be distributed across teams to avoid bottlenecks in workflows and the risk of losing key staff, (5) Foster cross-site collaboration to focus effort, reduce variation in practice and promote greater cohesion in patient care., Conclusions: A key implementation strategy for interventions to standardise high quality practice is development of clinical capability. We illustrate how leadership support, attention to staff turnover patterns, and making activities relevant to current issues, can lead to an emergent learning culture., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Objective: EDs are necessary for urgent health concerns; however, many physical ED visits could be better treated in alternate settings. The present study aimed to describe the feasibility, acceptability and effectiveness of a Virtual ED to reduce unnecessary physical ED presentations at a large tertiary health service in Australia., Methods: This observational study using the RE-AIM framework (Reach, Efficacy, Adoption, Implementation and Maintenance) evaluated the feasibility of a Virtual ED using routinely collected health service data and process-evaluation to assess intervention fidelity and adherence between April 2020 and 31 March 2022. The primary outcome for the present study was the feasibility of the Virtual ED model of care., Results: The Virtual ED received 2080 direct calls for patients with a mean age of 50.3 years, with 70.4% managed in the Virtual ED alone and 29.6% referred for physical ED presentation. Of the 2080 direct referrals, 95.8% were potentially avoidable ED presentations. Of those referred, 28.3% required an admission. Of calls managed entirely by Virtual ED, 18 (1.2%) unexpectedly required a hospital admission within 48 h. General practitioner respondents rated the Virtual ED service as helpful to very helpful. The service had an average of 212 referrals per month, with a 65.2% average growth rate. The Virtual ED service was considered helpful and clinically appropriate, with a high level of ED avoidance., Conclusion: The Virtual ED prevented 70% of community triaged patients from presenting to the physical ED, with good uptake from all referrers, supporting the use of virtual care pathways in emergency care management., (© 2023 The Authors. Emergency Medicine Australasia published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Australasian College for Emergency Medicine.)

Introduction: Addressing clinical variation in elective surgery is challenging. A key issue is how to gain consensus between largely autonomous clinicians. Understanding how the consensus process works to develop and implement perioperative pathways and the impact of these pathways on reducing clinical variation can provide important insights into the effectiveness of the consensus process. The primary objective of this study is to understand the implementation of an organisationally supported, consensus approach to implement perioperative care pathways in a private healthcare facility and to determine its impact., Methods: A mixed-methods Effectiveness-Implementation Hybrid (type III) pre-post study will be conducted in one Australian private hospital. Five new consensus-based perioperative care pathways will be developed and implemented for specific patient cohorts: spinal surgery, radical prostatectomy, cardiac surgery, bariatric surgery and total hip and knee replacement. The individual components of these pathways will be confirmed as part of a consensus-building approach and will follow a four-stage implementation process using the Exploration, Preparation, Implementation and Sustainment framework. The process of implementation, as well as barriers and facilitators, will be evaluated through semistructured interviews and focus groups with key clinical and non-clinical staff, and participant observation. We anticipate completing 30 interviews and 15-20 meeting observations. Administrative and clinical end-points for at least 152 participants will be analysed to assess the effectiveness of the pathways., Ethics and Dissemination: This study received ethical approval from Macquarie University Human Research Ethics Medical Sciences Committee (Reference No: 520221219542374). The findings of this study will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations and reports for key stakeholders., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Objective: Large-scale, multisite hospital improvement initiatives can advance high-quality care for patients. Implementation support is key to adoption of change in this context. Strategies that foster collaboration within local teams, across sites and between initiative developers and users are important. However not all implementation strategies are successful in all settings, sometimes realising poor or unintended outcomes. Our objective here is to develop guiding principles for effective collaborative implementation strategies for multi-site hospital initiatives., Design: Mixed-method realist evaluation. Realist studies aim to examine the underlying theories that explain differing outcomes, identifying mechanisms and contextual factors that may trigger them., Setting: We report on collaborative strategies used in four multi-site initiatives conducted in all public hospitals in New South Wales, Australia (n>100)., Participants: Using an iterative process, information was gathered on collaborative implementation strategies used, then initial programme theories hypothesised to underlie the strategies' outcomes were surfaced using a realist dialogic approach. A realist interview schedule was developed to elicit evidence for the posited initial programme theories. Fourteen participants from 20 key informants invited participated. Interviews were conducted via Zoom, transcribed and analysed. From these data, guiding principles of fostering collaboration were developed., Results: Six guiding principles were distilled: (1) structure opportunities for collaboration across sites; (2) facilitate meetings to foster learning and problem-solving across sites; (3) broker useful long-term relationships; (4) enable support agencies to assist implementers by giving legitimacy to their efforts in the eyes of senior management; (5) consider investment in collaboration as effective well beyond the current projects; (6) promote a shared vision and build momentum for change by ensuring inclusive networks where everyone has a voice., Conclusion: Structuring and supporting collaboration in large-scale initiatives is a powerful implementation strategy if contexts described in the guiding principles are present., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Implementation science in healthcare aims to understand how to get evidence into practice. Once this is achieved in one setting, it becomes increasingly difficult to replicate elsewhere. The problem is often attributed to differences in context that influence how and whether implementation strategies work. We argue that realist research paradigms provide a useful framework to express the effect of contextual factors within implementation strategy causal processes. Realist studies are theory-driven evaluations that focus on understanding how and why interventions work under different circumstances. They consider the interaction between contextual circumstances, theoretical mechanisms of change and the outcomes they produce, to arrive at explanations of conditional causality (i.e., what tends to work, for whom, under what circumstances). This Commentary provides example applications using preliminary findings from a large realist implementation study of system-wide value-based healthcare initiatives in New South Wales, Australia. If applied judiciously, realist implementation studies may represent a sound approach to help optimise delivery of the right care in the right setting and at the right time., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Objective The primary aims of this study were to explore: (1) manifestations of socio-environmental models of allied health support provision in the disability sector; and (2) narrative experiences of individual allied health professionals in the disability sector. Methods A narrative qualitative study using interviews from a purposive sample of two allied health professionals working in the disability sector explored manifestations of socio-environmental models of allied health support provision and their experiences from case examples. The key informants had more than 10 years of experience in the disability support services setting. Results Seven key themes exploring manifestations of socio-environmental models of allied health professional practice in the disability sector emerged: (1) dignity of risk; (2) models of care; (3) considerations when working in the supported person's environment; (4) goal-oriented work; (5) informed choice and informed consent; (6) reactive and flexible plans; and (7) training and education role. Conclusions Socio-environmental models of allied health support provision in the disability sector focus on empowering people with disability to achieve their goals. This may require displacement of cultural norms within the allied health professions. What is known about the topic? Socio-environmental models of allied health support provision in the disability sector focus on empowering people with disability to achieve their goals. What does this paper add? Displacement of cultural norms within the allied health professions may be needed to promote positive risk taking. Challenges for allied health professionals remain in navigating conflicting goals between clients and family members, empowering informed choice and consent, and working in uncontrolled environments. What are the implications for practitioners? Adopting training and education roles for clients, family members and carers when implementing National Disability and Insurance Scheme plans may represent one of the many pragmatic and flexible approaches to achieve people's goals.

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is responsible for the recovery and identification of its historic casualties. With over 30,000 still unrecovered from past conflicts including World War One (WW1) and World War Two (WWII), the Australian Army and Royal Australian Air Force have teams that research, recover, identify and oversee the burial (or reburial) of the remains of soldiers and airmen who continue to be found each year. The Royal Australian Navy is also responsible for its unrecovered casualties. Collectively the priorities of the various services within the ADF are the respectful recovery and treatment of the dead, thorough forensic identification efforts, resolution for families and honouring the ADF's proud history of service and sacrifice. What is unique about the approach of the ADF is that the respective services retain responsibility for their historic losses, while a joint approach is taken on policies and in the utilisation of the pool of forensic specialists. Section One describes the process undertaken by the Australian Army in the recovery, identification and burial or repatriation of soldiers through its specialised unit Unrecovered War Casualties - Army (UWC-A). Section Two describes the role of the Royal Australian Air Force in the recovery of aircraft and service personnel through their specialised unit Historic Unrecovered War Casualties - Air Force (HUWC-AF). An overview of the operations of each service and case studies is presented for each section., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

AbstractNest microclimates influence embryonic development and survival in many lineages, including reptiles with temperature-dependent sex determination. These microclimates are dependent on physical drivers and biological processes, such as embryonic metabolism, that generate heat. The flatback turtle ( Natator depressus ) has among the largest hatchlings of the seven extant sea turtle species, making it an excellent candidate for quantifying the contribution of embryonic metabolism to the nest microclimate. Consequently, we measured embryonic metabolic rates, development rates, and the relationship between temperature and sex determination for a N. depressus population nesting at Cemetery Beach in Western Australia, a mainland beach characterized by high sand temperatures. Total oxygen consumed at 29.5°C during an average 52-d incubation period was 2,622 mL, total carbon dioxide produced was 1,886 mL, and estimated embryonic heat production reached 38 mW at 90% of development. Adjustment of metabolic rates to 32°C and 34°C increased peak heat production by 18% and 27%, respectively. The pivotal temperature ( T PIV ) producing an equal sex ratio was 30.3°C, mixed sexes were produced between 29.3°C and 31.2°C, and only females were produced above 31.2°C. The T PIV was similar (within 0.2°C) to that of an island rookery within the same genetic stock (North West Shelf), but the peak development rate (2.5% d -1 ) was estimated to be achieved at a temperature ~2.5°C higher (34.7°C) than the island rookery. Our results add to a growing consensus that thermal thresholds vary among sea turtle populations, even within the same genetic stock. Furthermore, we show that metabolic heat will have an appreciable impact on the nest microclimate, which has implications for embryonic survival and fitness under a future climate with warmer sand temperatures.

Background: Health and medical research funding agencies are increasingly interested in measuring the impact of funded research. We present a research impact case study for the first four years of an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council funded Centre of Research Excellence in Cardiovascular Outcomes Improvement (2016-2020). The primary aim of this paper was to explore the application of a research impact matrix to assess the impact of cardiovascular outcomes improvement research., Methods: We applied a research impact matrix developed from a systematic review of existing methodological frameworks used to measure research impact. This impact matrix was used as a bespoke tool to identify and understand various research impacts over different time frames. Data sources included a review of existing internal documentation from the research centre and publicly available information sources, informal iterative discussions with 10 centre investigators, and confirmation of information from centre grant and scholarship recipients., Results: By July 2019, the impact on the short-term research domain category included over 41 direct publications, which were cited over 87 times (median journal impact factor of 2.84). There were over 61 conference presentations, seven PhD candidacies, five new academic collaborations, and six new database linkages conducted. The impact on the mid-term research domain category involved contributions towards the development of a national cardiac registry, cardiovascular guidelines, application for a Medicare Benefits Schedule reimbursement item number, introduction of patient-reported outcome measures into several databases, and the establishment of nine new industry collaborations. Evidence of long-term impacts were described as the development and use of contemporary management for aortic stenosis, a cardiovascular risk prediction model and prevention targets in several data registries, and the establishment of cost-effectiveness for stenting compared to surgery., Conclusions: We considered the research impact matrix a feasible tool to identify evidence of academic and policy impact in the short- to midterm; however, we experienced challenges in capturing long-term impacts. Cost containment and broader economic impacts represented another difficult area of impact to measure.

Introduction: Value-based healthcare delivery models have emerged to address the unprecedented pressure on long-term health system performance and sustainability and to respond to the changing needs and expectations of patients. Implementing and scaling the benefits from these care delivery models to achieve large-system transformation are challenging and require consideration of complexity and context. Realist studies enable researchers to explore factors beyond 'what works' towards more nuanced understanding of 'what tends to work for whom under which circumstances'. This research proposes a realist study of the implementation approach for seven large-system, value-based healthcare initiatives in New South Wales, Australia, to elucidate how different implementation strategies and processes stimulate the uptake, adoption, fidelity and adherence of initiatives to achieve sustainable impacts across a variety of contexts., Methods and Analysis: This exploratory, sequential, mixed methods realist study followed RAMESES II (Realist And Meta-narrative Evidence Syntheses: Evolving Standards) reporting standards for realist studies. Stage 1 will formulate initial programme theories from review of existing literature, analysis of programme documents and qualitative interviews with programme designers, implementation support staff and evaluators. Stage 2 envisages testing and refining these hypothesised programme theories through qualitative interviews with local hospital network staff running initiatives, and analyses of quantitative data from the programme evaluation, hospital administrative systems and an implementation outcome survey. Stage 3 proposes to produce generalisable middle-range theories by synthesising data from context-mechanism-outcome configurations across initiatives. Qualitative data will be analysed retroductively and quantitative data will be analysed to identify relationships between the implementation strategies and processes, and implementation and programme outcomes. Mixed methods triangulation will be performed., Ethics and Dissemination: Ethical approval has been granted by Macquarie University (Project ID 23816) and Hunter New England (Project ID 2020/ETH02186) Human Research Ethics Committees. The findings will be published in peer-reviewed journals. Results will be fed back to partner organisations and roundtable discussions with other health jurisdictions will be held, to share learnings., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Aim: The current study aimed to identify and understand the reasons why allied health professionals think certain areas of healthcare service provision are a high priority for implementation of evidence into practice., Methods: A cross-sectional online survey using open-ended questions was conducted between April and May 2018 to identify potential areas for practice change and characterize how participants justified identified areas of priority. Eligible participants were invited by email and included allied health professionals from public or private health services, governance agencies and universities across Australia. Responses were analysed using qualitative content analysis., Results: There were 149 surveys commenced with 146 respondents completing the survey. Of the 146 respondents, 128 were female, 17 male and one unknown. Most of the respondents were between 40 and 49 years old and had a master's degree. In total respondents from more than 13 different professions completed the survey with 110 respondents having more than 10 years of experience in allied health. Ten themes emerged outlining the main reasons respondents felt that their nominated areas of practice change were a high priority for action. These included closing gaps between practice and policy/recommendation/guideline; closing research evidence to practice gaps; improving access to services; perceived cost-effectiveness of service delivery; improving effectiveness of allied health services; current imbalance between service supply and demand; amount of resources involved in service delivery; extent of the health problem; areas of allied health care futility; and equality of workload across allied health professionals., Conclusion: The current research provides insights into the decision-making processes of allied health professionals when prioritizing areas of clinical practice for implementation of evidence into practice. Despite an appetite for evidence-based practice, behaviour change was not always implemented in a consistent and systematic manner. There was variability in the type and application of evidence used by allied health professionals to support clinical practice. Whether a more systematic approach to research translation fosters evidence uptake awaits confirmation. Also awaiting investigation are the economic and societal impacts of consistently implementing research-informed clinical decision-making.

Over the past decade, the potential impact of cognitive bias in forensic science has instigated much discussion and debate between academics, scientists and those in the justice sector. Evidence of bias influencing subjective decision-making across a range of forensic disciplines has been described in the literature. Forensic service organisations are being urged to address cognitive bias in subjective decision-making by designing processes or procedures to limit access to (irrelevant) contextual information or reduce dependence on cognitive functions. Although some laboratories have implemented bias mitigating strategies, with varying impact on operational efficiency, there has been no systematic assessment of the risk posed by cognitive bias. Forensic Science SA assessed the potential impact of bias on forensic interpretations across multiple disciplines, using a risk management framework. This process proved useful in assessing the effectiveness of existing bias mitigating strategies and identified the latent level of risk posed. While all forensic organisations should seek to implement bias limiting measures that are simple, cost-effective and do not adversely impact efficiency, using a risk-based approach has contextualised the limited benefit of introducing resource hungry measures, as postulated in the literature. That is not to suggest that forensic organisations should dismiss the potential influence of cognitive bias but they need to strike an appropriate balance between risk and return, as they do with any business risk., (Crown Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: It is widely acknowledged that health policy and practice do not always reflect current research evidence. Whether knowledge transfer from research to practice is more successful when specific implementation approaches are used remains unclear. A model to assist engagement of allied health managers and clinicians with research implementation could involve disseminating evidence-based policy recommendations, along with the use of knowledge brokers. We developed such a model to aid decision-making for the provision of weekend allied health services. This protocol outlines the design and methods for a multi-centre cluster randomised controlled trial to evaluate the success of research implementation strategies to promote evidence-informed weekend allied health resource allocation decisions, especially in hospital managers., Methods: This multi-centre study will be a three-group parallel cluster randomised controlled trial. Allied health managers from Australian and New Zealand hospitals will be randomised to receive either (1) an evidence-based policy recommendation document to guide weekend allied health resource allocation decisions, (2) the same policy recommendation document with support from a knowledge broker to help implement weekend allied health policy recommendations, or (3) a usual practice control group. The primary outcome will be alignment of weekend allied health service provision with policy recommendations. This will be measured by the number of allied health service events (occasions of service) occurring on weekends as a proportion of total allied health service events for the relevant hospital wards at baseline and 12-month follow-up., Discussion: Evidence-based policy recommendation documents communicate key research findings in an accessible format. This comparatively low-cost research implementation strategy could be combined with using a knowledge broker to work collaboratively with decision-makers to promote knowledge transfer. The results will assist managers to make decisions on resource allocation, based on evidence. More generally, the findings will inform the development of an allied health model for translating research into practice., Trial Registration: This trial is registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR) ( ACTRN12618000029291 ). Universal Trial Number (UTN): U1111-1205-2621.