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Showing results for tags 'Patient / family support'.
Found 286 results
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Content ArticleThis article in the journal Resuscitation examines the needs of the 'forgotten patient' in out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA), which have a mortality rate of between 80 and 90%. Unlike many other critical illnesses, family members and partners often witness the collapse or have to perform CPR on their friend or loved one. The traumatic burden associated with these events can be significant, resulting in unique psychosocial needs both for survivors and those who witness or perform CPR. The partner or caregiver may struggle to deal with the fear, anxiety and guilt associated with the arrest, CPR provision and subsequent care upon discharge of their loved ones from hospital. This often makes the caregiver a ‘forgotten patient’ and there is growing literature examining the high levels of stress, anxiety, anger and confusion experienced by caregivers of survivors in the first 12 months after OHCA.
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Content ArticleIn this interview with Dr. Robert Mentz, Editor-in-Chief and Dr. Anu Lala, Deputy Editor at the Journal of Cardiac Failure, Kristin and Will Flanary (AKA Lady and Dr. Glaucomflecken) share their experience as co-patient and patient. Will suffered a cardiac arrest in May 2020 and the experience of discovering her husband, having to perform CPR and waiting in isolation for news left his wife Kristin with significant trauma. The interview explores the experience of those involved in medical trauma who are not the patient themselves, the 'co-patient', and the ways in which healthcare professionals can support them to process their experience.
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Content ArticleIn his account in the Journal of Cardiac Failure, Kristin Flanary describes her experience of discovering her husband having a cardiac arrest, giving him CPR and the subsequent wait for information on his condition. She then describes the trauma she experienced in the weeks and months following the incident. She highlights that healthcare providers can play an important role in helping relatives or non-patients who have been part of a medical emergency process their experiences.
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Content ArticleThe Extensive Care Service is part of the Fylde coast Vanguard and is designed for frail elderly patients with two or more long-term conditions who are at high-risk of an emergency admission. Working closely with patients, the service aims to assist them to improve their health and wellbeing; support them to manage their own conditions and provide effective interventions when needed in order to better manage exacerbations of their conditions. One of the key components of the care model is patient activation. The service teams’ understanding of an individual’s ability to contribute to the management of their own health and wellbeing is key to ensuring the success of this approach. The model is new, different and includes the development of a unique role - a ‘wellbeing support worker’. These individuals are a consistent feature in a model which enables a fuller understanding of a patient’s ‘activation’ ability so that engagement and support can be tailored appropriately.
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Carer knows best… A blog by Miriam Martin
Miriam Martin posted an article in Community care
Many people are taking on more caring responsibilities for their relatives and friends who are disabled, ill or older and who need support. For Carers Rights Day, Miriam Martin, Chief Executive of Caring Together, looks at the role carers play at hospital discharge, why poor quality discharge can put the patient at risk and discusses what more can be done to support carers when patients return home from hospital. -
Content ArticleThis report published by Carers UK looks at carers’ recent experiences of hospital discharge under the discharge to assess model. It reveals the devastating toll on carers where it is clear that they have been left with unacceptable levels of caring responsibilities which are unsafe in some situations. This has placed intolerable stress upon carers and has had negative outcomes for people needing care and support. A very clear thread from carers’ experiences shows that carers have not been involved, consulted or given the right information in order to care safely and well. If carers are considered to be partners in care, then, like health and care professionals, they need access to relevant information to help them support a person needing care safely.
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Content ArticleIn this blog Patient Safety Learning provides an overview of the key points included in its response to the call for evidence for the Health and Social Care Select Committee Inquiry examining the case for reform of NHS litigation.
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Content ArticleThis article published in BMJ Open aimed to explore the experiences of service users, carers and staff seeking or providing secondary mental health services during the Covid-19 pandemic. The authors found that patient and carer experiences of remote care were mixed. Some service users valued the convenience of remote methods as it allowed them to maintain contact with familiar clinicians, but most participants commented that a lack of non-verbal cues and the loss of a therapeutic ‘safe space’ challenged therapeutic relationship building, assessments and identification of deteriorating mental well-being. The study highlights the importance of taking a tailored, personal approach to decision making in this area, and the authors state that future research should focus on which types of consultations best suit face-to-face interaction, and for whom and why.
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Content ArticleThis article in Studies in Health Technology and Informatics looks at how patient-peer support can be a valuable resource for patients in the context of hospital safety. Hospitalised patients often lack access to safety systems and face difficulties in having a proactive role in their safety. The authors of this study conducted semi-structured interviews with 30 patients and caregivers at a paediatric and an adult hospital. They highlight the potential benefits of incorporating patient-peer support into patient-facing technologies and argue that helping patients access such support can help them engage with and improve the quality and safety of their hospital care.
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Content ArticleThis is the report of an inquiry conducted by the Health and Social Care Select Committee in 2020/21 which considers how the social care system is supporting those living with dementia. In the report the Committee make the case that the UK government’s plans for the health and care levy provides insufficient funding for social care over the next three years.
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Content ArticleFor many years the NHS has talked about the need to shift towards a more personalised approach to health and care so that people have the same choice and control over their mental and physical health that they have come to expect in every other part of their life. And as local health and care organisations work together more closely than ever before, they are recognising the power of individuals as the best integrators of their own care. This document sets out how the NHS Long Term Plan commitments for personalised care will be delivered. It introduces the comprehensive model for personalised care, comprising six, evidence-based standard components, intended to improve health and wellbeing outcomes and quality of care, whilst also enhancing value for money. Implementation will be guided by delivery partnerships with local government,
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Falling through the cracks: Greg’s story
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Patient stories
Falling Through the Cracks: Greg’s Story is a short film on Greg Price’s journey through the healthcare system. The film gives a glimpse of who Greg was and focuses on the events of his healthcare journey that ended in his unexpected and tragic death. In spite of the sadness of Greg’s Story, the message of the film is intended to inspire positive change and improvement in the healthcare system. Greg's family believe the film will resonate with the audience and create a platform for further dialogue. They hope people will feel empowered and challenge the status quo of the current healthcare system so we all end up with better care and outcomes. -
Content ArticleOn 22 September 2021 the Health and Social Care Select Committee launched a new inquiry examining the case for reform of NHS litigation, identifying concerns regarding a significant increase in clinical negligence costs and missed opportunities for learning to improve patient safety. Here is the Association of Personal Injuries Lawyers' response to the call for evidence for the Health and Social Care Select Committee Inquiry. Related reading Patient Safety Learning's response to the NHS Litigation Reform AvMA's response to the NHS Litigation Reform
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Content ArticleThis report by The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King's Lynn NHS Foundation Trust identifies successes and areas for improvement in the Trust's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic resulted in rapid and large-scale changes to ways of working and this report recognises that staff were largely responsive and adaptable to these changes in challenging circumstances. The report looks at learning and recommendations from: the Duty of Candour exercise carried out for patients who contracted COVID-19 in hospital the Trust's clinical teams.
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The 21 September 2021 marks World Alzheimer’s Day. This is an international campaign to raise awareness and highlight issues faced by people affected by dementia (dementia is an umbrella term for a number of diseases that affect the brain, with Alzheimer’s disease its most common cause). In this interview, Patient Safety Learning speaks to Alison Keizer, a Mental Health Nurse and trust-wide Dementia Lead, and Fran Hamilton, Occupational Therapist and Deputy Dementia Lead, at Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust, about the patient safety issues affecting patients with dementia and how they can be supported to reduce risk. -
Content ArticleDerek Richford talks to Rob Behrens about the loss of his newborn grandson, Harry, at East Kent Hospitals University Trust. He explains how his sheer persistence uncovered the truth of what went wrong and eventually led to a criminal investigation at the Trust. He also tells us what organisations involved in the complaint process can learn from his family's tragic experience.
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Content ArticleThis episode of HSJ’s Health Check podcast considers concerns raised in Coroners Prevention of Future Deaths reports about the impact of pandemic hospital visiting restrictions on patient care and patient safety.
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Content ArticleThis research article aimed to provide Registered Nurses with a description of patient advocacy in the clinical setting. Through a series of semi-structured interviews with 25 participants, the results of this study found the nurses had an adequate understanding of patient advocacy and were willing to advocate for patients, describing patient advocacy as promoting patient safety and quality care.
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Content ArticleThis article describes the importance of an advocate that provide independent support in health and care. An advocate can provide practical advice whilst also ensuring all the rules are being followed and help navigate a patient through the healthcare system. The article also explains how to find an advocate and the different types of support available.
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Content ArticleThe findings of this study, published in the Patient Experience Journal, indicate that the policy to allow for visitors, or subjective advocates, individuals with a vested interest in the well-being of the patient, is beneficial not only for the patient, but also in sustaining high quality of care. Recommendations are given for how hospitals might achieve improved quality and safety outcomes even in instances when organisations believe visitation needs to be disallowed or restricted. The results of this study suggest those decisions should be made with great care and in only the most extreme circumstances.
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Content ArticleDementia can have a significant impact on a person’s daily life, including how well they function within their home. Memory issues or problems recognising and interpreting the objects around them can cause the person frustration or create safety issues. Dementia UK have produced a leaflet with tips and guidance on how to make the home more safe for someone with dementia.
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Supporting someone with suicidal thoughts
PatientSafetyLearning Team posted an article in Suicide and self-harm
If you think someone is in immediate danger, the quickest way to get help is to call an ambulance on 999. -
Content ArticleThe purpose of this study from Roberts et al. was to explore anxiety, worry, and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in parents of children with food allergies, and to evaluate whether these three psychological outcomes could be predicted by allergy severity, intolerance of uncertainty, and food allergy self-efficacy. The study highlights the need for greater awareness of mental health in parents of children with food allergy.
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Content ArticleFor some time now I've been looking to find out more about mental health services in Trieste, Italy. Then I met Vincenzo Passante Spaccapietra, co-host of the Place of Safety? podcast series. This has enabled me to learn more about the closure of the mental institutions in Trieste, Italy, and the work of Franco Basaglia. I was keen to find out what really took place, what this really means in practice and how we can adopt this model in the UK. We were delighted to have become involved and to have recorded a couple of podcasts. I recommend this resource to everyone interested in safe, compassionate, patient led mental health care.
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Content ArticleThis webinar is part of a series of seminars from the Yorkshire Quality and Safety Research Group. Jo Wailing, Registered Nurse, Research Fellow and Facilitator, talks about her work exploring the potential of restorative approaches to support healing following adverse clinical events. Jo draws on the lessons learned from investigations into the use of, and harm caused by, surgical mesh.
