Comparison of the Health Services Utilization
1). The purpose of this study was to provide a comparison of the health services utilization between indigenous and non-indigenous infants in Australia. It aims at examining the differences in the utilization and the risk factors associated with differences in utilization of the services between Indigenous and non-Indigenous infants.
2). The authors adequately justified the need for this study. They explain that this comparison is significant in the understanding gap in the health status between the indigenous and non-indigenous children, which would subsequently facilitate early intervention and the provision of appropriate medical services. Despite admitting that previous studies have dealt with the topic and concluded that indigenous infants are less likely to access health services, the authors state that these studies are often limited to state or community, hence; it is necessary to conduct a study at a national level.
3). a. Null hypothesis: There is no difference in health services utilization between the indigenous and the non- indigenous children in Australia
b. Alternative hypothesis: Non- indigenous infants in Australia utilize health services more than the indigenous infants.
4). The level of evidence for the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children’ is “Evidence from at least one randomized controlled trial.”
5). I think the study design is not suitable for the study. The study heavily relies on sampling to obtain data and information. Despite illustrating the efforts made by the researchers to ensure a proportional geographic representation, the sensitivity of this subject still needs a more specific design for reliability. Sampling is prone to systematic errors such as coverage errors, hence; not an appropriate study design for studies such as this.
6). Alternatively, the researchers could have utilized the existing literature on the subject in addition to the sampling. This would involve investigating documented information about the utilization of health care resources in Australia. It would involve secondary data collection, based on data available from previous databases and studies.
7). A two-stage stratified, clustered design means that the specific population of interest was divided into geographically distinct clusters or groups, such as families or neighborhoods. In this study, the infants in Australia were divided in to indigenous and non- indigenous and then new samples were taken from each cluster sampled.
8). If the response rate was 57.2% when 8,921 letters of invitation were sent, then the number of families that agreed to participate in the study is 57.2% of 8,921, which is:57.2% X 8,921 = 5103
Therefore, 5,103 families responded.
9). Hospitalization is the act of placing an individual in a hospital or treatment center as a patient for close monitoring, accurate diagnosis, adjustment or stabilization of medications, or monitoring during an acute episode when the individual’s mental illness temporary worsens.
10). a. Hospital outpatient clinic: the confidence interval of 95% implies that the level of accuracy of …
