Abstract
Objective: This scoping review explores the structure and process-level strategies that are associated with medical retrieval outcomes. A secondary aim is to identify the range of medical retrieval outcomes used to assess the performance of remote retrieval services.
Design: A scoping review of peer-reviewed literature from PubMed, CINAHL and the Web of Science was undertaken following guidelines set by the Johanna Briggs Institute manual for scoping reviews. All articles were assessed by two reviewers. Themes were derived inductively from the data extracted.
Setting: Medical retrievals in sparsely populated remote locations in high-income countries.
Participants: Staff and clients of remote medical retrieval services.
Interventions: Structures and processes (e.g. resource availability, retrieval staff structures and governance protocols) that aimed to improve medical retrieval outcomes.
Outcomes: Patient health outcomes and service efficiency.
Results: Twenty-four articles were included. Three broad themes, related to the nature of the interventions, were included: optimising prehospital management of retrievals, staffing and resourcing of retrieval services and retrieval model evaluation. Mortality was the most frequently used outcome indicator in these studies, but was not measured consistently across studies.
Conclusions: This review highlights significant gaps in the literature that describes the structure and processes of retrieval models operating in remote areas and a dearth of literature evaluating specific operational strategies implemented within medical retrieval models. The available literature does not meaningfully assist with identifying key outcome indicators for developing a consistent monitoring and evaluation framework for retrieval services in geographically, culturally and demographically diverse remote contexts.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 842-857 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| Journal | Australian Journal of Rural Health |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| Early online date | 2022 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This scoping review has been conducted as part of a Menzies School of Health Research project, funded through the Central Australia Academic Health Science Network (Medical Research Future Fund), Rural Health West and Central Australian Health Services. The information and opinions in this review do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Central Australia Academic Health Science Network and Central Australian Health Services.
Funding Information:
We would like to acknowledge the funding received from the Central Australia Academic Health Science Network, Rural Health West and the Central Australian Health Service for this review. We would also like to acknowledge the support provided by the Charles Darwin University librarian to finalise the search terms used for this review.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 National Rural Health Alliance Ltd.