"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
Maya Angelou

Although the current focus is on determining regions and populations at risk from Ebola virus outbreak, the underlying factors will be required for long-term prevention and control. Authors DG Bausch & L Schwarz attempt to answer the following questions:"What is Zaire ebolavirus doing in West Africa far from its usual haunts in Central Africa?; Why Guinea where no Ebola virus has ever been seen before and why now?"

Source: PLoS Neglected tropical disease: Jul 2014; 8(7) e3056

Further reading:

Ebola virus disease (EVD) Better Health Channel

Disease outbreak news (WHO)

The causal effects of interpregnancy interval on birth outcomes have been vigorously debated. Authors conducted a retrospective cohort study investigating the association between "interpregnancy interval and the incidence of preterm birth, small for gestational age birth, and low birth weight among the second and third births of mothers in Perth, Western Australia, in the period 1980 - 2010."

Source: BMJ 2014;349:g4333

Patient engagement is considered the cornerstone of the health care system for its potential impact on improving health outcomes and reducing health care costs. However how do we define ‘patient engagement'? This article discusses the result of a recent systematic review of the literature with the intention of defining and providing a deeper understanding of this term so it can be used with clarity in health policy and in a clinical practice setting.

Source: Journal of participatory medicine June 2014: v.6

For this report the efforts of 11 hospitals and ambulatory practices to use an improvement strategy and tools developed to promote safe use of health IT, and to diagnose, monitor, and mitigate health IT-related safety risks, were evaluated. The authors suggest that tools such as the US Safety Assurance Factors for EHR Resilience (SAFER) Guides are needed to assist organisations in the safe use of health IT.

Authors Schneider EC, Ridgely MS, Meeker D, Hunter LE, Khodyakov DK, Rudin RS

Source: RAND Corporation; PsNET 2014. p. 77

Scientific American Worldview has released their latest scorecard which measures biotechnology innovation globally. Australia has jumped from 7th in 2013 to 4th in 2014 due to the resurgence of the biotech market in Australia, with market capitalisation reaching an all-time high due to recent growth. The scorecard ranks countries' biotech performance across seven categories - productivity, intellectual property protection, intensity, enterprise support, education/workforce, foundations, and policy and stability.

Source: The scorecard entitled Expanding the evidence pp.34 - is in this issue of Scientific American Worldview 2014.

Other articles of interest in this issue:

Transforming medicine - "Integrating best practices with alternative methods to determine which therapies benefit patients the most" pp.28-30

The scariest word - focused on the health economics of growing cancer rates around the world pp.24-25

Beyond depression : a new approach to understanding and management / Christopher Dowrick. 2nd edition. Oxford University Press, 2009.

Geriatric medicine : an introduction / edited by Gideon Caplan. IP Communications, 2014.

Obstetric and intrapartum emergencies : a practical guide to management / Edwin Chandraharan, Sabaratnam Arulkumaran. Cambridge University Press, 2013.

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

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)

Annals of thoracic surgery. Vol. 98, no. 1, July 2014

Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation. Vol. 95, no. 7, July 2014

Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry. Vol. 48, no. 8, August 2014

Australian family physician. Vol. 43, no. 8, August 2014 (Cancer)

Australian journal of emergency management. Vol. 29, no. 3, July 2014

Australian prescriber. Vol. 37, no. 4, August 2014

Gastroenterology. Vol 147, no. 1, July 2014

Journal of cardiothoracic and vascular anesthesia. Vol. 28, no. 3, June 2014

Journal of emergency nursing. Vol. 40, no. 4, July 2014

Journal of hepatology. Vol. 61, no. 2, August 2014

Journal of hospital infection. Vol. 87, no. 3, July 2014

Journal of reproductive medicine. Vol. 59, no. 7-8, July-August 2014

Journal of the American College of Cardiology.  Vol. 64, no. 1, 8 July 2014

Lancet.  Vol. 384, no. 9940, 26 July 2014

Nature.  Vol. 511, no. 7511, 31 July 2014

Nature medicine. Vol. 20, no. 7, July 2014

New England journal of medicine.  Vol. 371, no. 6, 7 August 2014

Nursing times.  Vol. 110, no. 31, 30 July 2014 (Tracheostomy care)