Background: Reducing rates of healthcare acquired infection has been identified by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care as a national priority. One of the goals is the prevention of central venous catheter-related bloodstream infection (CR-BSI). At least 3,500 cases of...

Maternal and infant mortality is a global health issue with a significant social and economic impact. Each year, over half a million women worldwide die due to complications related to pregnancy or childbirth, four million infants die in the first 28 days of life, and eight million infants die...

The extent to which economic evaluations of public health programs in Ontario are conducted and used by decision makers is currently very limited. This thesis supports public health decision-making through applied and methodological work. The applied work demonstrates different methods to...

Telemedicine offers an alternative referral strategy for fetal cardiology but is currently only used for ?high-risk? pregnancies. A case-study of a cost-consequences analysis comparing telemedicine to direct referral to a perinatal cardiologist is initially presented, which highlights that for...

The focus of this thesis is on the application of decision models to the economic evaluation of health care technologies. The primary objective addresses the correct choice of modelling technique, as the attributes of the chosen technique could have a significant impact on the process, as well...

Introduction: Health care costs are on the rise in Australia and rational decisions are necessary to prioritise interventions for the allocation of limited resources. As new vaccines are being introduced, budgetary allocations for immunisation are increasing. Economic analyses are useful in...

Background The costs of healthcare are on the rise. With an ageing population, growing demand for health services and expensive new technologies, Australia’s annual health care bill has more than doubled in the last ten years, and is projected to increase a further 127% by 2033. As third-party...

Background: Variation exists in quality of life (i.e., utility) estimates depending on the utility elicitation method utilized. Using the EQ-5D, VAS, and HUI-III, the aim of this thesis was to determine whether these measures adequately capture HRQOL in a CRC population and assess the...