Impact of disinvestment from weekend allied health services across acute medical and surgical wards: 2 stepped-wedge cluster randomised controlled trials

1. Elshaug AG, Hiller JE, Tunis SR, Moss JR. Challenges in Australian policy processes for disinvestment from existing, ineffective health care practices. Aust New Zealand Health Policy. 2007;4:23. doi: 10.1186/1743-8462-4-23 17973993

2. Hurley R. Can doctors reduce harmful medical overuse worldwide? BMJ. 2014;349:g4289. doi: 10.1136/bmj.g4289 24993249

3. Erickson S, Rockwern B, Koltov M, McLean R, Medical Practice and Quality Committee of the American College of Physicians. Putting patients first by reducing administrative tasks in health care: a position paper of the American College of Physicians. Ann Intern Med. 2017;166:659–61. doi: 10.7326/M16-2697 28346948

4. Haines T, O’Brien L, McDermott F, Markham D, Mitchell D, Watterson D, et al. A novel research design can aid disinvestment from existing health technologies with uncertain effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and/or safety. J Clin Epidemiol. 2014;67:144–51. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2013.08.014 24275500

5. Haines TP, O’Brien L, Mitchell D, Bowles K, Haas R, Markham D, et al. Study protocol for two randomized controlled trials examining the effectiveness and safety of current weekend allied health services and a new stakeholder-driven model for acute medical/surgical patients versus no weekend allied health services. Trials. 2015;16:133. doi: 10.1186/s13063-015-0619-z 25873250

6. Campbell L, Bunston R, Colangelo S, Kim D, Nargi J, Hill K, et al. The provision of weekend physiotherapy services in tertiary-care hospitals in Canada. Physiother Can. 2010;62:347–54. doi: 10.3138/physio.62.4.347 21886374

7. Cusick A, Johnson L, Bissett M. Occupational therapy in emergency departments: Australian practice. J Eval Clin Pract. 2009;15:257–65. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2753.2008.00991.x 19335482

8. Shaw KD, Taylor NF, Brusco NK. Physiotherapy services provided outside of business hours in Australian hospitals: a national survey. Physiother Res Int. 2013;18(2):115–23. doi: 10.1002/pri.1537 23038214

9. Ottensmeyer CA, Chattha S, Jayawardena S, McBoyle K, Wrong C, Ellerton C, et al. Weekend physiotherapy practice in community hospitals in Canada. Physiother Can. 2012;64:178–87. doi: 10.3138/ptc.2011-19 23449882

10. Ponto JM, Berg W. Social work services in the emergency department: a cost-benefit analysis of an extended coverage program. Health Soc Work. 1992;17:66–73. 1537582

11. Aylin P, Alexandrescu R, Jen M, Mayer E, Bottle A. Day of week of procedure and 30 day mortality for elective surgery: retrospective analysis of hospital episode statistics. BMJ. 2013;346:f2424. doi: 10.1136/bmj.f2424 23716356

12. Ruiz M, Bottle A, Aylin PP. The Global Comparators project: international comparison of 30-day in-hospital mortality by day of the week. BMJ Qual Saf. 2015;24:492–504. doi: 10.1136/bmjqs-2014-003467 26150550

13. McIsaac DI, Bryson GL, van Walraven C. Elective, major noncardiac surgery on the weekend: a population-based cohort study of 30-day mortality. Med Care. 2014;52:557–64. doi: 10.1097/MLR.0000000000000137 24783992

14. Thomas C, Smith R, Uzoigwe C, Braybrooke J. The weekend effect. Bone Joint J. 2014;96:373–8. doi: 10.1302/0301-620X.96B3.33118 24589794

15. Freemantle N, Ray D, McNulty D, Rosser D, Bennett S, Keogh BE, et al. Increased mortality associated with weekend hospital admission: a case for expanded seven day services? BMJ. 2015;351:h4596. doi: 10.1136/bmj.h4596 26342923

16. Haas R, Sarkies M, Bowles KA, O’Brien L, Haines T. Early commencement of physical therapy in the acute phase following elective lower limb arthroplasty produces favorable outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis examining allied health service models. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2016;24:1167–81. doi: 10.1016/j.joca.2016.01.982

17. Wise J. The weekend effect—how strong is the evidence? BMJ. 2016;353:i2781. doi: 10.1136/bmj.i2781 27199275

18. Wise J. Higher weekend death rate is flawed, study finds. BMJ. 2016;353:i2598. doi: 10.1136/bmj.i2598 27154791

19. Hemming K, Haines T, Chilton P, Girling A, Lilford R. The stepped wedge cluster randomised trial: rationale, design, analysis, and reporting. BMJ. 2015;350:h391. doi: 10.1136/bmj.h391 25662947

20. Snapinn SM. Noninferiority trials. Curr Control Trials Cardiovasc Med. 2000;1:19–21. doi: 10.1186/cvm-1-1-019 11714400

21. Greco T, Zangrillo A, Biondi-Zoccai G, Landoni G. Meta-analysis: pitfalls and hints. Heart Lung Vessel. 2013;5:219–25. 24364016

22. Hoffmann TC, Glasziou PP, Boutron I, Milne R, Perera R, Moher D, et al. Better reporting of interventions: template for intervention description and replication (TIDieR) checklist and guide. BMJ. 2014;348:g1687. doi: 10.1136/bmj.g1687 24609605

23. Hasson F, Keeney S, McKenna H. Research guidelines for the Delphi survey technique. J Adv Nurs. 2000;32(4):1008–15. 11095242

24. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Australian refined diagnosis-related groups (AR-DRG) data cubes. Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare; 2017 May 17 [cited 2017 Sep 12]. Available from: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/hospitals/australian-refined-diagnosis-related-groups-ar-dr/contents/data-cubes.

25. Sarkies M, Bowles K-A, Skinner E, Mitchell D, Haas R, Ho M, et al. Data collection methods in health services research: hospital length of stay and discharge destination. Appl Clin Inform. 2015;6:96–109. doi: 10.4338/ACI-2014-10-RA-0097 25848416

26. Sarkies MN, Bowles KA, Skinner EH, Haas R, Mitchell D, O’Brien L, et al. Do daily ward interviews improve measurement of hospital quality and safety indicators? A prospective observational study. J Eval Clin Pract. 2016;22:792–98. doi: 10.1111/jep.12543 27291891

27. Assmann SF, Pocock SJ, Enos LE, Kasten LE. Subgroup analysis and other (mis)uses of baseline data in clinical trials. Lancet. 2000;355:1064–9. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(00)02039-0 10744093

28. Haines T, Bell R, Varghese P. Pragmatic, cluster randomized trial of a policy to introduce low-low beds to hospital wards for the prevention of falls and fall injuries. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2010;58:435–41. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2010.02735.x 20398112

29. Peiris CL, Shields N, Brusco NK, Watts JJ, Taylor NF. Additional Saturday rehabilitation improves functional independence and quality of life and reduces length of stay: a randomized controlled trial. BMC Med. 2013;11:198. doi: 10.1186/1741-7015-11-198 24228854

30. Pickard AS, Neary MP, Cella D. Estimation of minimally important differences in EQ-5D utility and VAS scores in cancer. Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2007;5:70. doi: 10.1186/1477-7525-5-70 18154669

31. Coretti S, Ruggeri M, McNamee P. The minimum clinically important difference for EQ-5D index: a critical review. Expert Rev Pharmacoecon Outcomes Res. 2014;14:221–33. doi: 10.1586/14737167.2014.894462 24625040

32. Beninato M, Gill-Body K, Salles S, Stark P, Black-Schaffer R, Stein J. Determination of the minimal clinical important difference in the FIM instrument in patients with stroke. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2006;87:32–9. doi: 10.1016/j.apmr.2005.08.130 16401435

33. Jones R. Myths of ideal hospital size. Med J Aust. 2010;193:298–300. 20819051

34. Damanpour F, Evan WM. Organizational innovation and performance: the problem of “organizational lag”. Adm Sci Q. 1984;29:392–409.

35. Hussey M, Hughes J. Design and analysis of stepped wedge cluster randomized trials. Contemp Clin Trials. 2007;28:182–91. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2006.05.007 16829207