Published articles

The articles collated below relate to our work in health quality improvement in Aotearoa New Zealand and are co-written by our staff and clinical leads.

The articles offer insights into the challenges, innovations and solutions that impact the quality of health care in Aotearoa New Zealand. 

Some articles are hosted on academic journal websites and are not open access. To access the full text of those articles, please contact your local Te Whatu Ora district library or organisational or local library.

Advance care planning

Tō tatou reo – Our voice: advance care planning in Aotearoa New Zealand. Goodwin J | Zeitschrift fur Evidenz, Fortbildung und Qualitat im Gesundheitswesen  | August 2023 | Link 

Adverse events

Using triggers in primary care patient records to flag increased adverse event risk and measure patient safety at clinic level. Eggleton KS, Dovey SM | New Zealand Medical Journal | March 2014 | Link

COVID-19

Using REACH, a new modelling and forecasting tool, to understand the delay and backlog effects of COVID-19 on New Zealand's health system.  McBride P, Hoang T, Hamblin R, Li Y, Shuker C, Wilson J, Bramley D | New Zealand Medical Journal  | October 2021 | Link

Infection prevention and control

Planning and executing a national point prevalence study: a blueprint for the future. Roberts SA, Barratt R, Morris AJ, Grae N | New Zealand Medical Journal | October 2023 | Link 

Sources of healthcare-associated Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia in New Zealand acute hospitals. Barratt R, Clendon G, Gibson B, Roberts SA | New Zealand Medical Journal | October 2022 | Link

Aotearoa New Zealand point prevalence survey of healthcare-associated infections. Barratt R, Roberts S, Morris A, Grae N | Infection, Disease & Health | June 2020 | Link

Healthcare-associated Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia: time to reduce the harm caused by a largely preventable event. Roberts SA, Grae N, Muttaiyah S, Morris AJ | New Zealand Medical Journal | February 2020 | Link 

Getting surgical antibiotic prophylaxis right, lessons from the National Orthopaedic Surgical Site Infection Improvement Programme: a call for action! Morris AJ, Roberts SA, Grae N, Jowitt D | New Zealand Medical Journal | February 2019 | Link 

The New Zealand Surgical Site Infection Improvement (SSII) Programme: a national quality improvement programme reducing orthopaedic surgical site infections. Morris AJ, Roberts SA, Grae N, Hamblin R, Shuker C, Merry AF | New Zealand Medical Journal  | July 2018 | Link

Systematic review of a patient care bundle in reducing staphylococcal infections in cardiac and orthopaedic surgery. Ma N, Cameron A, Tivey D, Grae N, Roberts S, Morris A | ANZ Journal of Surgery | February 2017 | Link 

A new surgical site infection improvement programme for New Zealand: early progress. Morris AJ, Panting AL, Roberts SA, Shuker C, Merry A | New Zealand Medical Journal | May 2015 | Link 

Mental health  and addiction 

Closing the equity gap as we move to the elimination of seclusion: early results from a national quality improvement project. Bensemann C, Maxwell D, O’Keeffe K, Tresize L, Wairama K, Keelan W | Australasian Psychiatry | September 2023 | Link 

Mortality review

Te pou: an indigenous framework to evaluate the inclusion of family voice in family violence homicide reviews. Roguski M, Grennell D, Dash S, De’Haan I, Cram F, Gulliver P | Journal of Family Violence | October 2022 | Link 

Getting the story right: reflecting on an indigenous rubric to guide the interpretation of mortality data. Cram F, Cannell H, Gulliver P | Journal of Interpersonal Violence | September 2021 | Link 

Family violence experts in the criminal court: the need to fill the void. Henaghan M, Short J, Gulliver P | Psychiatry, Psychology and Law | April 2021 | Link 

Burden and distribution of mortality due to sepsis and severe infection in children and adolescents in Aotearoa/New Zealand. McDonald G, Hayman R, Hii J | Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health | April 2024 | Link

Patient experience surveys

Patient experience surveys are vital in the twenty-first century: let’s put some myths to rest. Gerard C, O’Brien I, Shuker C, Swanson J, Hamblin R | New Zealand Medical Journal | January 2024 | Link

Patient deterioration

Comparison of the Aotearoa New Zealand early warning score and national early warning score to predict adverse inpatient events in a vital sign dataset. Mohan C, Entezami P, John S, Hewitt J, Sylevych A, Psirides A | Anaesthesia | March 2023 | Link

Introduction of a standardised maternity early warning system: indicative data from a before-and-after study at a large pilot site before national rollout in Aotearoa New Zealand. Drake M, Austin G, Dann L, Li Y, Shuker C, Psirides A | Anaesthesia | August 2021 | Link

System safety

The context and influences of safety: An exploration of social networks, actions, and behaviour. Wailling J, Long JC, Stolarek I | International Journal for Quality in Health Care | November 2020 | Link 

Reducing perioperative harm in New Zealand: the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist, briefings and debriefings, and venous thromboembolism prophylaxis. Perry W, Civil I, Mitchell S, Shuker C, Merry A | New Zealand Medical Journal | October 2015 | Link

Partnership and rigor in improving patient care. Merry AF, Hamblin R | New Zealand Medical Journal | September 2015 | Link

The Health Quality & Safety Commission: making good health care better. Shuker C, Bohm G, Bramley D, Frost S, Galler D, Hamblin R, Henderson R, Jansen P, Martin G, Orsborn K, Penny A, Wilson J, Merry A | New Zealand Medical Journal | January 2015 | Link 

Transparency

Progress in public reporting in New Zealand since the Ombudsman’s ruling, and an invitation. Shuker C, Bohm G, Hamblin R, Simpson A, St George D, Stolarek I, Wilson J, Merry AF | New Zealand Medical Journal | June 2017 | Link

Public reporting of health care performance data: what we know and what we should do. Hamblin R, Shuker C, Stolarek I, Wilson J, Merry AF | New Zealand Medical Journal | March 2016 | Link 

The measurement of New Zealand health care. Hamblin R, Bohm G, Gerard C, Shuker C, Wilson J, Merry A | New Zealand Medical Journal | May 2015 | Link