MSHR Investigators:

Alex Brown, Bart Currie, Warwick Beever

In collaboration with:

Tarun Weeramanthri, Stephen Brady (Dept Health & Community Services); Marcus Ilton (NT Cardiac); Derek Chew (Flinders Medical Centre)

Project Managers:

Alex Brown, Warwick Beever

Project Overview / Aims:

Cardiovascular diseases remain one of the leading contributors to ill-health and death in Australia and are the primary cause of death and excess death among Indigenous Australians. Unfortunately, little is known about how well the health care system, from hospital to the community, provides care for indigenous people with heart disease.

The proposed study hopes to fill information gaps in the process and outcomes of CVD care for patients suffering an acute myocardial infarction or unstable angina in the NT. The primary aims are to develop meaningful clinical and process of care indicators for the measurement of quality of care for clients suffering acute heart disease; to develop a system of data collection for use in improvement across the care continuum; to identify failures of the health care system in CVD care, particularly for indigenous and remote clients and to develop future interventions to improve outcomes for Indigenous clients with CVD.

This will be achieved by following a cohort of clients suffering an Acute Coronary Syndrome in 2001 and 2002 through both Alice Springs and Royal Darwin Hospitals, from the time of their hospital admission through to several years of follow-up in the primary health care sector.

Potential Significance:

The quality of care for Indigenous people with CVD across both hospital and non-hospital settings has yet to be formally assessed. Sustainable public health, clinical and continuous quality improvement policy in the provision of CVD care for Indigenous Australians requires urgent attention, and must be used to drive the development of better service delivery at both the individual and health system levels.

Funding Body:

CVL Pfizer

Project Dates:

2004-2005