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Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated the rapid transition of many face-to-face health services to alternate modes of service delivery. The objective of this study was to explore the benefits, challenges and perceived quality of a telehealth service delivery model from the perspective of clients and students. Further, students' perceptions relating to the quality of the educational experience were also explored. Methods: The study was set in a student-led interprofessional health and wellness clinic in rural Queensland, Australia. A qualitative case study design was used, including semistructured student interviews and client open-response survey data. Participants were nursing and allied health students who completed a student-led interprofessional clinic placement and adults with low to rising risk of chronic disease who attended the clinic for telehealth delivered services. Results: Themes identified following analysis included: new or adapted skills needed for success; challenges, limitations and the need for resources, training and support; quality interprofessional education experiences can be achieved in telehealth; coming away with a new set of skills; the important role of the client for success; and benefits and disadvantages of telehealth for clients. Conclusions: The findings support that telehealth-based service-learning models are a feasible way to deliver health and wellness services from the perspective of students and clients and provide students with important skills for rural health service delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate whether integrating pharmacists into general practices reduces the number of unplanned re-admissions of patients recently discharged from hospital., Design, Setting: Stepped wedge, cluster randomised trial in 14 general practices in southeast Queensland., Participants: Adults discharged from one of seven study hospitals during the seven days preceding recruitment (22 May 2017 - 14 March 2018) and prescribed five or more long term medicines, or having a primary discharge diagnosis of congestive heart failure or exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease., Intervention: Comprehensive face-to-face medicine management consultation with an integrated practice pharmacist within seven days of discharge, followed by a consultation with their general practitioner and further pharmacist consultations as needed., Major Outcomes: Rates of unplanned, all-cause hospital re-admissions and emergency department (ED) presentations 12 months after hospital discharge; incremental net difference in overall costs., Results: By 12 months, there had been 282 re-admissions among 177 control patients (incidence rate [IR], 1.65 per person-year) and 136 among 129 intervention patients (IR, 1.09 per person-year; fully adjusted IR ratio [IRR], 0.79; 95% CI, 0.52-1.18). ED presentation incidence (fully adjusted IRR, 0.46; 95% CI, 0.22-0.94) and combined re-admission and ED presentation incidence (fully adjusted IRR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.48-0.99) were significantly lower for intervention patients. The estimated incremental net cost benefit of the intervention was $5072 per patient, with a benefit-cost ratio of 31:1., Conclusion: A collaborative pharmacist-GP model of post-hospital discharge medicines management can reduce the incidence of hospital re-admissions and ED presentations, achieving substantial cost savings to the health system., Trial Registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, ACTRN12616001627448 (prospective)., (© 2021 AMPCo Pty Ltd.)

Interprofessional education (IPE) programs aim to improve collaboration between health- and social-care professionals and to optimize clinical outcomes. Such programs are complex to design, and evaluation of effectiveness is difficult. Combining qualitative and quantitative data may provide greater understanding of how a program affects participants and what aspects are influential on attitudes and behavior. This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews and interpretative phenomenological analysis to explore undergraduate student perspectives on what attributes of a 4-week IPE program they considered contributed to a successful learning experience. Due to the fact that the students were not formally assessed, the realistic context of the activities and the quality of the facilitators created an environment where the students felt empowered to interact freely without fear of reproach. Learning the roles of other professions and their contribution to a healthcare team broadened the students' perspectives on healthcare and increased their sense of self-worth and pride in their professions. In addition, being able to identify the relevance of the learning experience to their future practice motivated the students. This information can be used to create optimal learning environments for facilitating the development of successful future healthcare teams.