The principal scientific journal for the profession in New Zealand

Issue: Vol 134 No 1532: 26 March 2021

Why are their still regional differences in the way we deliver trauma care in New Zealand?

Vol 134 No 1532: 26 March 2021

Audit of NZ COVID Tracer QR poster display and use in Dunedin | OPEN ACCESS

Lianne Parkin, Aqeeda Singh, Emily Seddon, Yvette Hall, Frances Bridgman, Kate Saunders, Madison Hutton, Oriwia Naera, Phillipa Rolleston, Raymond Siow, Stephanie Ewen

Effective contact tracing and quarantine/isolation form one of the four pillars of New Zealand’s COVID-19 elimination strategy.

ARTICLE

Vol 134 No 1532: 26 March 2021

What a headache! Reviewing mild traumatic brain injury management in a new trauma service

Isaac Tranter-Entwistle, Melissa Evans, Simon Johns, Dominic Fleischer, Christopher Wakeman

Mild traumatic brain injury (mild TBI) represents a significant burden of morbidity and health expense.

ARTICLE

Vol 134 No 1532: 26 March 2021

Use of tranexamic acid in trauma patients requiring massive transfusion protocol activation: a reassessment of prescribing behaviours in a major trauma centre in New Zealand

Nicholas G Chapman, Ella R V Nicholas

Trauma remains one of the most prolific killers of young New Zealanders, largely due to our unenviable number of road deaths.

ARTICLE

Vol 134 No 1532: 26 March 2021

Admission to hospital for injury during COVID-19 alert level restrictions | OPEN ACCESS

Grant Christey, Janet Amey, Neerja Singh, Bronwyn Denize, Alaina Campbell

The New Zealand Government has pursued a strategy of elimination in response to the threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic to the public and the health system.

ARTICLE

Vol 134 No 1532: 26 March 2021

Rate and cost of representation in patients suffering from major trauma in Northland, New Zealand

Henry Witcomb Cahill, Matthew McGuinness, Olivia Monos, Christopher Harmston

Morbidity due to major trauma is an important health problem worldwide.

ARTICLE

Vol 134 No 1532: 26 March 2021

Health impacts for New Zealand military personnel from the South African War of 1899–1902

Nick Wilson, Christine Clement, George Thomson, Glyn Harper

It is important to research the adverse health impacts of war, given ongoing conflicts around the world that harm both civilians and military personnel.

ARTICLE

Vol 134 No 1531: 12 March 2021

Regional distribution of myeloma in New Zealand

Mary Jane Sneyd, Andrew Gray, Ian Morison

Multiple myeloma is one of the most common haematological cancers worldwide1 and involves proliferation of plasma cells within the bone marrow. It primarily affects older adults.

ARTICLE

Vol 134 No 1531: 12 March 2021

Can patient symptoms reliably predict major oesophageal motility disorders assessed by conventional water perfusion manometry?

Conrad Stranz, Thomas Watkinson, Andrea Cross, Peter Hamer, Ross Roberts

Oesophageal manometry is the investigation of choice for assessment of motor function of the oesophagus.

ARTICLE

Vol 134 No 1531: 12 March 2021

Perceptions of competency with evidence-based medicine among medical students: changes through training and alignment with objective measures

Nicholas J Clode, Kirsty Danielson, Elizabeth Dennett

Graduating doctors have a regulatory obligation to ensure their medical decisions are based on ‘best evidence-based practice’.

ARTICLE

Vol 134 No 1531: 12 March 2021

Do the ‘Eyes’ have it? How good are surgeons at identifying appendicitis macroscopically? A retrospective study in New Zealand

Rennie X Qin, Damien L Ah Yen

Appendicectomy is the most-commonly performed emergency abdominal surgery worldwide. In New Zealand, more than 5,000 hospital admissions for appendicitis occur annually.

EDITORIAL

Vol 134 No 1532: 26 March 2021

Why we should be interested in the Whale Oil defamation case

Jennie Connor

The defamation trial that collapsed this month in the Auckland High Court was never about calling people names.

EDITORIAL

Vol 134 No 1532: 26 March 2021

Why are there still regional differences in the way we deliver trauma care in New Zealand?

Christopher Wakeman, Ian Civil

This issue of the New Zealand Medical Journal highlights a number of facets of the care of trauma patients in New Zealand.

EDITORIAL

Vol 134 No 1531: 12 March 2021

Modelling: one tool in the decision-making toolkit

Diana Sarfati, Nisha Nair, Michelle Mako

Making decisions about what to do (and what not to do) to improve population health relies on good information. This holds as true for improving cancer control outcomes in Aotearoa as it does for anything else.

EDITORIAL

Vol 134 No 1530: 19 February 2021

The Climate Change Act will now shape the nation’s health: an assessment of the first policy recommendations to reach our zero carbon target | OPEN ACCESS

Alex Macmillan

This year, the Government will finally be forced to act on its responsibility to protect global and national health from runaway climate change.

EDITORIAL

Vol 134 No 1529: 5 February 2021

COVID-19, 20, 21: lessons from New Zealand’s 2020 response for 2021 and beyond | OPEN ACCESS

Ashley Bloomfield

Just over a year ago on 29 January 2020, following the recommendations of the Emergency Committee, the World Health Organization Director-General declared that the COVID-19 outbreak constituted a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) under the International Health Regulations.

EDITORIAL

Vol 134 No 1528: 15 January 2021

2021: here we come / tēnei te whakatau! | OPEN ACCESS

Suzanne Pitama, Tania Huria, Cameron Lacey

The New Zealand Medical Journal (NZMJ) was first published 47 years after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.

EDITORIAL

Vol 133 No 1572: 18 December 2020

COVID-19 outbreaks in Aotearoa New Zealand: urgent action is required to address systematic causes and consequences of border failures | OPEN ACCESS

Amanda Kvalsvig, Jennifer Summers, Lesley Gray, Lucy Telfar Barnard, Michael G Baker

By May 2020, Aotearoa New Zealand had successfully eliminated community transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). The only remaining source of new infections in this island nation was then by introduction through the border.

VIEWPOINT

Vol 134 No 1532: 26 March 2021

The Simpson-led health sector review: A failure to uphold te Tiriti o Waitangi

Heather Came, Jacquie Kidd, Tim McCreanor, Maria Baker, Trevor Simpson

The Health and Disability System Review (the ‘Simpson Review’) was an opportunity for health sector transformation, particularly in light of the recent damning WAI 2575 Waitangi Tribunal report released during the review process.

VIEWPOINT

Vol 134 No 1531: 12 March 2021

Should prioritising health interventions be informed by modelling studies? The case of cancer control in Aotearoa New Zealand

Nick Wilson, Leah Grout, Jennifer Summers, Amanda C Jones, Anja Mizdrak, Nhung Nghiem, Cristina Cleghorn, Tony Blakely

New Zealand now has the Cancer Control Agency Te Aho o Te Kahu (the ‘Agency’), which is committed to improving cancer control in the country.

VIEWPOINT

Vol 134 No 1530: 19 February 2021

Telehealth as a tool for equity: pros, cons and recommendations

The COVID-19 crisis has forced an abrupt change to the way our society functions.

VIEWPOINT

Vol 134 No 1529: 5 February 2021

COVID-19 outbreak management in a hospital ward: lessons learned to prevent, prepare for and respond to infectious disease outbreaks in healthcare settings | OPEN ACCESS

Catherine Habel, Jerome Ng, Phil Shoemack, Kate Grimwade, Fiona Miller, Jen Boryer, Hayley Bennett, Stephanie Chisholm

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered an international public health response that has stretched the limits of many healthcare systems, including those in high-income countries.

VIEWPOINT

Vol 134 No 1528: 15 January 2021

Increasing access to contraception in New Zealand: assessing the impact of a new funding initiative

Orna McGinn, Vicki Mount, Helen Fulcher

In November 2019, New Zealand’s long-awaited draft cross-sector Reproductive Health Action Plan was withdrawn.

VIEWPOINT

Vol 133 No 1572: 18 December 2020

Why does Pharmac neglect inflammatory bowel disease?

Andrew McCombie, Malcolm Arnold, Marian O’Connor, Richard Stein, James Fulforth, Belinda Brown, Richard Gearry

New Zealand has the third highest prevalence of IBD in the world, and the incidence is still increasing. A burden-of-disease report published in 2017 reported that IBD costs New Zealand an estimated $245,000,000 in healthcare costs and lost productivity.

VIEWPOINT

Vol 133 No 1572: 18 December 2020

Training clinicians to lead clinical IT projects

Robyn Whittaker, Rosie Dobson, Lara Hopley, Delwyn Armstrong, Barbara Corning-Davis, Penny Andrew

Digital health has evolved rapidly over the last two decades, creating enormous potential to transform the healthcare sector.

LETTER

Vol 134 No 1532: 26 March 2021

The inequity of access to contraception for women in Aotearoa: an unfair, unsafe and ineffective system

Leanne Te Karu, Tangimoana Habib, Sue Crengle

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations (UN) are aligned in statements that safe, effective, appropriate and accessible contraception is a fundamental human right.

LETTER

Vol 134 No 1532: 26 March 2021

Postoperative myocardial injury in patients undergoing elective hip and knee arthroplasty operations

Timothy Salam, Richard Seigne

Globally, approximately 5% of patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery have cardiac complications.

LETTER

Vol 134 No 1531: 12 March 2021

Scheduling of COVID-19 vaccination for at-risk employees | OPEN ACESS

Chris Walls, Siobhan Gavaghan, Des Gorman, David McBride

We read with some concern the plans from the Ministry of Health to start COVID-19 vaccination of at-risk managed isolation facility (MIF), quarantine isolation facility (QIF) and frontline health workers “in the second quarter” of 2021.

LETTER

Vol 134 No 1531: 12 March 2021

Time to revisit school decile groupings in health research?

Jude Ball, James Stanley, Jane Zhang, Niveditha Gurram, Andrew Waa, Richard Edwards

In research on youth tobacco use, the convention has been to group school deciles into the categories low-, medium- and high-decile. But we argue that this convention is no longer always appropriate.

LETTER

Vol 134 No 1530: 19 February 2021

Improving efficiency of current diagnostic pathways for investigation of colorectal cancer in symptomatic patients

We read with interest the commentary from Bagshaw and Cox regarding the adequacy, or lack thereof, of publicly funded colonoscopy services in New Zealand.

LETTER

Vol 134 No 1530: 19 February 2021

Ineffective, meaningless, inequitable: analysis of complaints to a voluntary alcohol advertising code

Aotearoa New Zealand has a vision of being the best place in the world for children and young people: a place where children live in healthy, sustainable environments.

LETTER

Vol 134 No 1528: 15 January 2021

Remembering past pandemics to ensure we plan for the future: updated New Zealand survey of memorials to the 1918 influenza pandemic | OPEN ACCESS

Nick Wilson, Geoffrey Rice, George Thomson, Michael G Baker

New Zealand has had a problem with insufficient pandemic planning, as indicated by its low score on a validated Global Health Security Index in 2019.

BOOK REVIEW

Vol 134 No 1532: 26 March 2021

Perfection: The life and times of Sir William Manchester

Saxon Connor

I recently spent a weekend in Martinborough and as many people do spent some time browsing the local bookshop.

BOOK REVIEW

Vol 133 No 1572: 18 December 2020

From Southland to Surgery: A Journey around Values

Richard Acland

Professor John Morton has not only written an intriguing catalogue of the Christchurch surgical scene in the latter part of the 20th century, but has also provided a well-considered philosophy for medical care.

BOOK REVIEW

Vol 133 No 1521: 4 September 2020

My Life in Public Health

Frank Frizelle

In the time of Covid, some of the superheroes of the health sector are the public health physicians. This book outlines the active and varied personal and professional life of one New Zealand public health physician.

BOOK REVIEW

Vol 132 No 1489: 1 February 2019

Mind That Child; A Medical Memoir

Frank Frizelle

This a book that recounts the experience of the Auckland Starship’s paediatrician Dr Simon Rowley over his professional lifetime.

BOOK REVIEW

Vol 132 No 1488: 18 January 2019

Fat Off; the Right Way A clever and sustainable eating guide for weight loss and healthy living

Frank Frizelle

Paul Anderson is a New Zealander who trained in general surgery and works part-time in Australia and part-time in New Zealand.

BOOK REVIEW

Vol 132 No 1488: 18 January 2019

The Art of Recovery: six personal journeys

Frank Frizelle

As an editor you receive books for review, which are sent to suitable people following an email agreement to review.

BOOK REVIEW

Vol 131 No 1477: 22 June 2018

The Older Traveller: A guide for the health professional

Frank Frizelle

When I found this book was returned from the initial reviewer without a review from the person who had “volunteered” to review it

The principal scientific journal for the profession in New Zealand

Issue: Vol 134 No 1532: 26 March 2021

Audit of NZ COVID Tracer QR poster display and use in Dunedin | OPEN ACCESS

Admission to hospital for injury during COVID-19 alert level restrictions | OPEN ACCESS

Why are there still regional differences in the way we deliver trauma care in New Zealand?

Why we should be interested in the Whale Oil defamation case

Audit of NZ COVID Tracer QR poster display and use in Dunedin | OPEN ACCESS

What a headache! Reviewing mild traumatic brain injury management in a new trauma service

Use of tranexamic acid in trauma patients requiring massive transfusion protocol activation: a reassessment of prescribing behaviours in a major trauma centre in New Zealand

Admission to hospital for injury during COVID-19 alert level restrictions | OPEN ACCESS

Rate and cost of representation in patients suffering from major trauma in Northland, New Zealand

Health impacts for New Zealand military personnel from the South African War of 1899–1902

Regional distribution of myeloma in New Zealand

Can patient symptoms reliably predict major oesophageal motility disorders assessed by conventional water perfusion manometry?

Perceptions of competency with evidence-based medicine among medical students: changes through training and alignment with objective measures

Do the ‘Eyes’ have it? How good are surgeons at identifying appendicitis macroscopically? A retrospective study in New Zealand

Why we should be interested in the Whale Oil defamation case

Why are there still regional differences in the way we deliver trauma care in New Zealand?

Modelling: one tool in the decision-making toolkit

The Climate Change Act will now shape the nation’s health: an assessment of the first policy recommendations to reach our zero carbon target | OPEN ACCESS

COVID-19, 20, 21: lessons from New Zealand’s 2020 response for 2021 and beyond | OPEN ACCESS

2021: here we come / tēnei te whakatau! | OPEN ACCESS

COVID-19 outbreaks in Aotearoa New Zealand: urgent action is required to address systematic causes and consequences of border failures | OPEN ACCESS

The Simpson-led health sector review: A failure to uphold te Tiriti o Waitangi

Should prioritising health interventions be informed by modelling studies? The case of cancer control in Aotearoa New Zealand

Telehealth as a tool for equity: pros, cons and recommendations

COVID-19 outbreak management in a hospital ward: lessons learned to prevent, prepare for and respond to infectious disease outbreaks in healthcare settings | OPEN ACCESS

Increasing access to contraception in New Zealand: assessing the impact of a new funding initiative

Why does Pharmac neglect inflammatory bowel disease?

Training clinicians to lead clinical IT projects

The inequity of access to contraception for women in Aotearoa: an unfair, unsafe and ineffective system

Postoperative myocardial injury in patients undergoing elective hip and knee arthroplasty operations

Scheduling of COVID-19 vaccination for at-risk employees | OPEN ACESS

Time to revisit school decile groupings in health research?

Improving efficiency of current diagnostic pathways for investigation of colorectal cancer in symptomatic patients

Ineffective, meaningless, inequitable: analysis of complaints to a voluntary alcohol advertising code

Remembering past pandemics to ensure we plan for the future: updated New Zealand survey of memorials to the 1918 influenza pandemic | OPEN ACCESS

Perfection: The life and times of Sir William Manchester

From Southland to Surgery: A Journey around Values

My Life in Public Health

Mind That Child; A Medical Memoir

Fat Off; the Right Way A clever and sustainable eating guide for weight loss and healthy living

The Art of Recovery: six personal journeys

The Older Traveller: A guide for the health professional

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