This study explores the impact of heatwaves on emergency calls for assistance resulting in service attendance in the Australian state of Queensland for the period from January 1, 2010 through December 31, 2019. The study uses data from the Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS), a state-wide prehospital health system for emergency health care.

A retrospective case series using de-identified data from QAS explored spatial and demographic characteristics of patients attended by ambulance and the reason for attendance. All individuals for which there was an emergency call to “000” that resulted in ambulance attendance in Queensland across the ten years were captured. Demand for ambulance services during heatwave and non-heatwave periods were compared. Incidence rate ratio (IRR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were constructed exploring ambulance usage patterns during heatwaves and by rurality, climate zone, age groups, sex, and reasons for attendance.

Compared with non-heatwave days, ambulance attendance across Queensland increased by 9.3% during heatwave days. The impact of heatwaves on ambulance demand differed by climate zone (high humidity summer with warm winter; hot dry summer with warm winter; warm humid summer with mild winter). Attendances related to heat exposure, dehydration, alcohol/drug use, and sepsis increased substantially during heatwaves.

Heatwaves are a driver of increased ambulance demand in Queensland. The data raise questions about climatic conditions and heat tolerance, and how future cascading and compounding heat disasters may influence work practices and demands on the ambulance service. Understanding the implications of heatwaves in the prehospital setting is important to inform community, service, and system preparedness.

The majority of studies of mental health interventions for young adolescents have only evaluated short-term benefits. This study evaluated the longer-term effectiveness of a non-specialist delivered group-based intervention (Early Adolescent Skills for Emotions; EASE) to improve young adolescents’ mental health.

In this single-blind, parallel, controlled trial, Syrian refugees aged 10-14 years in Jordan who screened positive for psychological distress were randomised to receive either EASE or enhanced usual care (EUC). Primary outcomes were scores on the Paediatric Symptom Checklist (PSC) assessed at Week 0, 8-weeks, 3-months, and 12 months after treatment. Secondary outcomes were disability, posttraumatic stress, school belongingness, wellbeing, and caregivers’ reports of distress, parenting behaviour, and their perceived children’s mental health.

Between June, 2019 and January, 2020, 185 adolescents were assigned to EASE and 286 to EUC, and 149 (80.5%) and 225 (78.7%) were retained at 12 months, respectively. At 12 months there were no significant differences between treatment conditions, except that EASE was associated with less reduction in depression (estimated mean difference -1.6, 95% CI –3.2 to -0.1; p=.03; effect size, -0.3), and a greater sense of school belonging (estimated mean difference -0.3, 95% CI –5.7 to -0.2; p=.03; effect size, 5.0).

Although EASE led to significant reductions in internalising problems, caregiver distress, and harsh disciplinary parenting at 3-months, these improvements were not maintained at 12 months relative to EUC. Scalable psychological interventions for young adolescents need to consider their ongoing mental health needs. Prospectively registered: ACTRN12619000341123.

Foundation Doctors are exposed to a range of specialties within the Foundation Programme, with 20.9% completing a psychiatry rotation. Those who do not have a psychiatry rotation may have little experience other than what was acquired in undergraduate training, despite being expected to care for patients with mental health problems. According to Mind (2017), one in four people will experience a mental health problem each year thus essential that our medical workforce know and understand the basic principles of psychiatry to aid their management of core psychiatric conditions. The aim of this project was to improve mental health literacy among Foundation Doctors by improving their communication, formulation and risk management skills. Another objective was to encourage uptake to Psychiatry and help plug the high number of unfilled Consultant posts.

The initial pilot was carried out between January and June 2021 over zoom and the sessions were optional. A survey was completed to find out which topics were most relevant and common themes included MCA/MHA interface, risk management and treatment of various conditions. These themes were incorporated into 90-minute sessions which included interactive case-based discussion in small breakout groups and some didactic teaching. The six session topics were EUPD, Dementia, Depression, Delirium, Substance Misuse and Alcohol Misuse. The sessions were facilitated by clinicians of mixed experience from Foundation Doctors to Consultants. Participant knowledge was tested using pre- and post-session quizzes and a working group reviewed feedback, making relevant changes subsequently.

Feedback was majorly positive, and attendees valued the interactivity, breakout rooms, case studies and choice of topics. Suggested areas of improvement were having more time for discussion, technical difficulties, and less psychiatric ‘jargon’, but these tended to be isolated comments. Five out of six sessions showed an improvement in assessment scores afterwards, with an average improvement of 12.6% (average pre-session score of 70% and average post-session score of 82.6%). One session showed a decrease in the post-session quiz scores which on reflection showed that the questions in the assessment covered material not included in the session.

The virtual programme was an effective way of improving knowledge and confidence in psychiatry. Whilst the sessions were positively received and showed improvements in post-session scores, there were some limitations which will be addressed and used to develop future training. There is now more mental health woven throughout the new Foundation curriculum and expected that much of this content will be covered during Foundation Training.

Increasing prevalence of overweight and obese people in England has led policymakers to consider regulating the use of price promotions on foods high in fat, sugar and salt content. In January 2019, the government opened a consultation programme for a policy proposal that significantly restricts the use of price promotions that can induce consumers to buy higher volumes of unhealthy foods and beverages. These proposed policies are the first of their kind in public health and are believed to reduce excess purchasing and, therefore, overconsumption of unhealthy products. This study summarises evidence relating price promotions to the purchasing of food and drink for home consumption and places it in the context of the proposed policy.

Non-systematic review of quantitative analyses of price promotions in food and drink published in peer-reviewed journals and sighted by PubMed, ScienceDirect & EBSCOhost between 1980 and January 2018.

While the impact of price promotions on sales has been of interest to marketing academics for a long time with modelling studies showing that its use has increased food and drink sales by 12–43 %, it is only now being picked up in the public health sphere. However, existing evidence does not consider the effects of removing or restricting the use of price promotions across the food sector. In this commentary, we discuss existing evidence, how it deals with the complexity of shoppers’ behaviour in reacting to price promotions on foods and, importantly, what can be learned from it in this policy context.

The current evidence base supports the notion that price promotions increase purchasing of unhealthy food, and while the proposed restriction policy is yet to be evaluated for consumption and health effects, there is arguably sufficient evidence to proceed. This evidence is not restricted to volume-based promotions. Close monitoring and proper evaluation should follow to provide empirical evidence of its intended and unintended effects.

First aid, particularly bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), is an important element in the chain of survival. However, little is known about what influences populations to undertake first aid/CPR training, update their training, and use of the training.

The aim of this study was to explore the characteristics of people who have first aid/CPR training, those who have updated their training, and use of these skills.

As part of the 2011 state-wide, computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) survey of people over 18 years of age living in Queensland, Australia, stratified by gender and age group, three questions about first aid training, re-training, and skill uses were explored.

Of the 1,277 respondents, 73.2% reported having undertaken some first aid/CPR training and 39.5% of those respondents had used their first aid/CPR skills. The majority of respondents (56.7%) had not updated their first aid/CPR skills in the past three years, and an additional 2.5% had never updated their skills. People who did not progress beyond year 10 in school and those in lower income groups were less likely to have undertaken first aid/CPR training. Males and people in lower income groups were less likely to have recently updated their first aid/CPR training. People with chronic health problems were in a unique demographic sub-group; they were less likely to have undertaken first aid/CPR training but more likely to have administered first aid/CPR.

Training initiatives that target people on the basis of education level, income group, and the existence of chronic health problems might be one strategy for improving bystander CPR rates when cardiac arrest occurs in the home.

Franklin RC, Watt K, Aitken P, Brown LH, Leggat PA. Characteristics associated with first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation training and use in Queensland, Australia. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2019;34(2):155–160