HealthInsite Newsletter

  IN THIS ISSUE        Volume 3, Issue 1

• Editorial
• Winter Chills and the Common Cold
• Cold or Flu - What's the Difference
• Warming Recipes for the Whole Family 
• Your Feedback - We Need your Help
• Partner Spotlight- Australian Breastfeeding Association
• Latest Resources
• Hot Tip - Visiting your Health Professional
• Next Month

   Editorial

Welcome to the latest issue of the HealthInsite Newsletter.

A big thankyou to Emma for taking care of the Newsletter last month while I took some long awaited annual leave to visit relatives in Scotland.  The team tell me that while I was away our usually reliable computer system managed to turn up some very unusual glitches.  Our sincere apologies to anyone who experienced problems.  We think we've managed to exterminate the gremlins but please let us know if you notice anything unusual.

This month we look at ways to deal with the colder weather and the coughs and colds that seem to plague us at this time of year and look at how you can use HealthInsite to help you prepare for a visit to your health professional.

In response to your feedback, we've also been working on some enhancements to our search functions which are now ready to test.  If you have a few free moments and would like to help us out there are some instructions below about what we need.

As always, please feel free to contact us at any time.  If you have any suggestions for future editions just send us an email to healthinsite.feedback@health.gov.au

 Winter Chills and the Common Cold

It’s that time of year again, when the temperature drops and all those winter illnesses appear from nowhere, the coughs, the sneezes, the sore throats and the sniffles. Many of us have already had our first dose of the seasonal common cold, or perhaps you are one of the lucky ones still be enjoying a cold-free existence.

Despite exhaustive research there is, alas, still no cure for the common cold. Prevention is still the best bet. I for one feel like curling up in a nice warm cocoon over the winter and waiting until the sun shines again, but the information below tells me that this is really not the best way to stay healthy over the winter. While there is no cure for the common cold, there is a range of folk beliefs and home remedies on how to ease the symptoms on a cold.

Whatever your state of health, HealthInsite has some valuable information on dealing with the winter colds and flu and can help you sort out fact from fiction. Below you’ll find a list of topic pages and web pages that explain the mysteries of the common cold, how it is spread and things you can do to avoid becoming a victim.

Common Cold Topic Page:

http://www.healthinsite.gov.au/topics/Common_Cold

Information Partner Web pages:

Colds explained

http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Colds_explained

Common cold

http://www.mydr.com.au/default.asp?Article=2213

Preventing colds

http://www.informedhealthonline.org/item.aspx?tabid=9&hottopic=100096&version=full

Stay healthy this winter

http://mhcs.health.nsw.gov.au/health-public-affairs/mhcs/publications/7035.html

Treating the common cold

http://www.mydr.com.au/default.asp?article=2996

Zinc for the common cold

http://www.informedhealthonline.org/item.aspx?review=001364

Nasal decongestants for the common cold

http://www.informedhealthonline.org/item.aspx?review=001953

Heated, humidified air for the common cold

http://www.informedhealthonline.org/item.aspx?review=001728

Chicken soup confirmed as cold and flu fighter

http://www.mydr.com.au/default.asp?article=2525

 Cold or 'Flu - What's the Difference?

People speak of “colds and flu” as though they were the same thing, whereas in fact they are two completely separate illnesses. Influenza, as anyone who has experienced it can attest, is much nastier than the common cold, and can put you out of action for much longer.

Like the common cold, there is no instant cure for the flu. But there are a number of things you can do to help your body recover, and equally importantly, to stop the flu virus from spreading to your friends, families, co-workers and the rest of the community. 

Below are a few HealthInsite Topic Pages and some of our information partner web pages that explain what influenza is and how it can affect you.

HealthInsite Topic Pages

Influenza Topic Page:

http://www.healthinsite.gov.au/topics/Influenza

Influenza Vaccine Topic Page:

http://www.healthinsite.gov.au/topics/Influenza_Vaccine

Web pages on our partner sites :

Influenza

http://www.mydr.com.au/default.asp?article=2970

Influenza in babies and children

http://www.informedhealthonline.org/item.aspx?tabid=9&hottopic=100118&version=full

Flu immunisation

http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Flu_immunisation

National Influenza Vaccine Program for Older Australians

http://immunise.health.gov.au/flu.htm

National Health and Medical Research Council recommendations on influenza vaccine

http://www.health.gov.au/internet/wcms/Publishing.nsf/Content/cda-surveil-ozflu-flunhmrc.htm

Influenza treatment in generally healthy adults

http://www.informedhealthonline.org/item.aspx?tabid=9&hottopic=100117&version=full

Treating influenza

http://www.mydr.com.au/default.asp?article=2974

Neuraminidase inhibitors for preventing and treating influenza in healthy adults

http://www.informedhealthonline.org/item.aspx?review=001265

 Warming Recipes for the Whole Family

Haricot bean and lamb soup, with dill
 
       
http://www.healthyeatingclub.org/your-health/recipes/legumes/lambbean.htm

Sweet capsicum & chicken casserole
http://www.nutritionaustralia.org/Recipe_of_the_Week/Chicken_Casserole.aspVegetable Risotto

http://www.nutritionaustralia.org/Recipe_of_the_Week/Vegetable_Garden_Risotto.asp

Apple custard
http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcrecipes.nsf/pages/Applecustard?OpenDocument

Partner sites that have recipes:

Diabetes Australia - Victoria
http://www.dav.org.au/content.asp?rid=514

Child and Youth Health (recipes for kids to make)
http://www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/HealthTopicDetailsKids.aspx?p=335&np=284&id=1514

Nutrition Australia
http://www.nutritionaustralia.org/Recipe_of_the_Week/Recipe_Archive.asp

Better Health Channel
http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcsite.nsf/pages/bhc_recipes?opendocument

Queensland Health (recipes down the bottom of the page)
http://www.health.qld.gov.au/brochure/young_heart.asp

Healthy Eating Club
http://www.healthyeatingclub.org/your-health/recipes/index.htm

Heart Foundation: Eat Smart (pdf brochures containing recipes) http://www.heartfoundation.com.au/downloads/ESPS_bfast04.pdf
http://www.heartfoundation.com.au/downloads/ESPS_atea_04.pdf
http://www.heartfoundation.com.au/downloads/ESPS_cooking_04.pdf

 Your Feedback - We need your help

Regular HealthInsite users will remember that we revamped the look and feel of the site late last year including some changes to the look of the search result displays.  Since then we have been working on a number of enhancements to the search interfaces that will make HealthInsite even easier to use.  This includes providing separate search results 
displays for HealthInsite topic pages, partner pages and news items, and to make the options for Advanced and Refine Searches more consistent.

We still have work to do on integrating the Thesaurus Search options into searches, providing a search for topic pages in the A-Z Health Topics area, and providing a new way for you to easily find all the items from a particular organisation that are included in the HealthInsite database.

We've reached the point in the re-design where we need your advice on the usability of the new interfaces so we can further refine them.

Would you like to help?

We have placed a working version of the new design in a place where you can test it before it becomes active on the real site.  To access the test version you will need to go to

http://cefa.healthinsite.gov.au

and try doing searches using the Quick Search and Advanced Search options.

We are particularly interested in your comments on the Advanced Search page, the Refine Search page, the No Results page and the results displays. If you already have a user profile set up for HealthInsite, we would also be interested in your feedback on any of the above pages as they appear to logged on profile users. Please send your comments to us at

healthinsite.feedback@health.gov.au  

by Monday 8th August.

Thanks for your help!

 Partner Spotlight - Australian Breastfeeding Association

Every month we will include a brief overview of one of our information partners.  This month we look at the Australian Breastfeeding Association.

The Australian Breastfeeding Association (ABA) is an organisation of people interested in the promotion and protection of breastfeeding. The ABA aims to provide factual information for all women to make informed choices about feeding their babies and their parenting styles. The ABA was formerly called the Nursing Mothers' Association of Australia.

The Australian Breastfeeding Association can be found at:

http://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/

 Latest Resources

The HealthInsite team regularly adds new items to the database including
new information partners, new topic pages and news items.  You can
find a list of new and updated material added to the database in the
past month at:

http://www.healthinsite.gov.au/search/newsletter_search.cfm?id=24

 Hot Tip - Visiting your health professional

Do you ever leave your Doctor's office wishing that you had asked a particular question?  Do you sometimes feel like you would like to be a bit more prepared before your appointment so that you can explain your concerns more clearly? Have you ever been so worried about the condition that your doctor has diagnosed that you don't remember the details?

These sorts of concerns will probably affect all of us at some time or another.   The reality is that there isn't very much time during a normal appointment time to cover everything.  It's likely that your doctor will discuss your diagnosis with you and the best treatment options but you may still have a lot of unanswered questions.  Your doctor may give you some information to take away with you, but there may not be any written material available.  Sometime there's just too much information to take in.

HealthInsite is a great tool to help you in these circumstances.  You can do a simple search on your disease or condition and find basic information to answer your questions.  All of the organisations who provide information to HealthInsite have been through a strict process to make sure that their information is reliable and up to date.  This means that the information you find will be reliable and relevant to treatments and medicines that are available in Australia. 

Of course there is no substitute for your relationship with your chosen health professional.  HealthInsite doesn't provide diagnostic advice but it does help to support that relationship by making sure that you have the sort of information you need to make informed healthcare decisions

What do doctors think about this?   They tell us that HealthInsite is exactly what they need to help their patients become fully informed. 

 What's on next month?

Next month we'll have a special Spring Edition of the Newsletter.  Until then, stay warm...

from all of us at HealthInsite.