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Showing results for tags 'Research'.
Found 953 results
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Content ArticleClift et al. have developed a new risk prediction tool that estimates a person’s chance of hospitalisation and death from COVID-19. The algorithm, which was constructed using data from more than eight million people across England, uses key factors such as age, ethnicity and body mass index to help identify individuals in the UK at risk of developing severe illness.
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Content ArticleSince the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the number of cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the United States has exponentially increased. Identifying and monitoring individuals with COVID-19 and individuals who have been exposed to the disease is critical to prevent transmission. Traditional contact tracing mechanisms are not structured on the scale needed to address this pandemic. As businesses reopen, institutions and agencies not traditionally engaged in disease prevention are being tasked with ensuring public safety. Systems to support organisations facing these new challenges are critically needed. Most currently available symptom trackers use a direct-to-consumer approach and use personal identifiers, which raises privacy concerns. Kassaye et al. developed a monitoring and reporting system for COVID-19 to support institutions conducting monitoring activities without compromising privacy.
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Content ArticleLarouzee and Le Coze describe the development of the “Swiss cheese model” and the main criticisms of this model and the motivation for these criticisms. The article concludes that the Swiss cheese model remains a relevant model because of its systemic foundations and its sustained use in high-risk industries and encourages safety science researchers and practitioners to continue imagining alternatives combining empirical, practical and graphical approaches.
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Content ArticlePatient Safety Movement's Dr Donna Prosser is joined by Dr Steven Deeks, Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, and Dr Jake Suett, Staff Grade Anaesthetist and Intensive Care Doctor, UUK, to discuss the long term implications of COVID-19 from clinical and personal perspectives. Dr Deeks shares the research around long COVID-19 symptoms and Dr Suett provides a personal anecdote of his experience with symptoms that have lasted months. Dr. Suett shares information about the COVID symptom study, which consists of an international mobile app to track COVID-19 symptoms over time.
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Content ArticleApproximately 10% of patients with COVID-19 experience symptoms beyond 3–4 weeks. Patients call this 'long covid'. Greenhalgh et al. sought to document the lived experience of such patients, their accounts of accessing and receiving healthcare, and their ideas for improving services. They held 55 individual interviews and 8 focus groups with people recruited from UK-based long Covid patient support groups, social media and snowballing. Participants were invited to tell their personal stories and comment on other stories.
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Content ArticleEffective teamwork is critical to successful outcomes in pediatric cardiac surgery. Unfortunately, lapses in professional performance and conduct by those who treat paediatric cardiac patients pose threats to quality and safety. One hallmark of a profession is self regulation. Therefore, healthcare leaders need specific means for identifying and addressing those lapses and indicators of unsafe systems or individuals. This article from Pichert et al. describes an initial “near miss” event involving a paediatric cardiac surgeon. While fictional, the case represents a composite of events involving several paediatric cardiac surgeons who practice at different medical centers throughout the US.
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Content ArticleA lower recruitment and high turnover rate of registered nurses have resulted in a global shortage of nurses. In the UK, prior to the COVID-19 epidemic, nurses’ intention to leave rates were between 30 and 50% suggesting a high level of job dissatisfaction. In this study, published in BMC Nursing, Senek et al. analysed data from a cross-sectional mixed-methods survey developed by the Royal College of Nursing and administered to the nursing workforce across all four UK nations, to explore the levels of dissatisfaction and demoralisation – one of the predictors of nurses’ intention to leave.
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Content ArticleEuropean drug regulations aim for a patient-centered approach, including involving patients in the pharmacovigilance (PV) systems. However many patient organisations have little experience on how they can participate in PV activities. The aim of this study published in Drug Safety, was to understand patient organisations’ perceptions of PV, the barriers they face when implementing PV activities, and their interaction with other stakeholders and suggest methods for the stimulation of patient organisations as promoters of PV.
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Content ArticlePatient Led Research for COVID-19 invite you to participate in this research study if you have previously experienced or you are currently experiencing symptoms consistent with COVID-19 as a result of suspected or confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. The aim of this research study, sponsored by University College London (UCL), is to better describe and understand the patient experience and recovery of those with confirmed or suspected COVID-19, with a specific emphasis on the Long COVID experience. The focus of this study includes participants’ backgrounds, testing, symptoms, and psychological wellbeing. A secondary aim of this study is to publish patient-driven data in order to advocate for the Long COVID population within the medical community. Patient Led Research for COVID-19 are a self-organised group of COVID-19 long-haul patients working on patient-led research around the COVID experience and prolonged recoveries. They are all researchers in relevant fields – participatory design, neuroscience, public policy, data collection and analysis, human-centered design, health activism – in addition to having intimate knowledge of COVID-19.
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Content Article
Greater risk of severe COVID-19 in Black, Asian and minority ethnic populations is not explained by cardiometabolic, socioeconomic or behavioural factors, or by 25(OH)-vitamin D status: study of 1326 cases from the UK Biobank (29 June 2020)
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Health inequalities
Research has found that variations in cardiometabolic factors, vitamin D levels and socioeconomic or behavioural factors do not adequately explain why COVID-19 disproportionately affects black, Asian and minority ethnic populations. In this study published in the Journal of Public Health, Raisi-Estabragh et al. examined whether the greater severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) amongst men and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) individuals is explained by cardiometabolic, socio-economic or behavioural factors. They found ethnicity differential pattern of COVID-19 was not adequately explained by variations in cardiometabolic factors, vitamin D levels, or socioeconomic or behavioural factors. This, the researchers said, suggests that alternative biological pathways or genetic susceptibilities may have importance in driving the higher rates of severe COVID-19 in BAME populations and should be investigated. -
Content ArticleMyalgic encephalomyelitis (ME)/chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is characterised by persistent and disabling fatigue, exercise intolerance, cognitive difficulty, and musculoskeletal/joint pain. Post-exertional malaise is a worsening of these symptoms after a physical or mental exertion and is considered a central feature of the illness. Scant observations in the available literature provide qualitative assessments of post-exertional malaise in patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome. To enhance our understanding, Stussman et al. formed focus groups and listened to patients’ experiences to better understand post-extertional malaise. The authors found that the experience of post-exertional malaise in ME/CFS varies greatly between individuals and leads to a diminished quality of life. ME/CFS patients describe post-exertional malaise as all-encompassing with symptoms affecting every part of the body, difficult to predict or manage, and requiring complete bedrest to fully or partially recover. Given the extensive variability in patients, further research identifying subtypes of post-exertional malaise could lead to better targeted therapeutic options.
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Content ArticleScienceDirect uses heuristic and machine-learning approaches to extract relevant information from their extensive collection of content. They compile this information on a topic-by-topic basis providing the reader both depth and breadth on a specific area of interest. This collection of research and data focuses on safety risk management.
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Content ArticleTransparent collaborations between patient organisations and clinical research sponsors can identify and address the unmet needs of patients and caregivers. These insights can improve clinical trial participant experience and delivery of medical innovations necessary to advance health outcomes and standards of care. Roennow et al. share their experiences from such a collaboration undertaken surrounding the SENSCIS® clinical trial and discuss its impact during, and legacy beyond, the trial.
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Content Article
Illuminating the rare reality (28 February 2019)
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Rare diseases
This report is a culmination of findings from Rare Disease UK and Genetic Alliance UK to evidence the experiences of those living with a rare condition. The report underpins their call for a refresh and review of the UK Strategy for Rare Diseases focussing on five key areas: diagnosis, rare disease care and treatment, information and support, rare disease research and keeping the strategy up to date. -
Content ArticleThe purpose of this study from Klevens et al. was to provide a national estimate of the number of healthcare-associated infections and deaths in United States hospitals
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Content ArticleThe NIHR-supported RECOVERY trial has shown that tocilizumab – an anti-inflammatory rheumatoid arthritis treatment – reduces the risk of death for hospitalised patients with severe COVID-19. Researchers also found that the drug reduces the length of hospital admission, and the risk of patients requiring mechanical ventilation. Last year, the RECOVERY study was the world’s first to show that dexamethasone – a cheap and available steroid – reduces the risk of dying from COVID-19. The latest results from the study also suggests that for COVID-19 patients who have significant inflammation and require oxygen, a combination of a systemic corticosteroid – such a dexamethasone – alongside tocilizumab reduces mortality by about one third for patients requiring simple oxygen and nearly one-half for those requiring invasive mechanical ventilation. RECOVERY is now the second NIHR-supported study to demonstrate the effectiveness of tocilizumab as a treatment for COVID-19 patients, after results from the REMAP-CAP study last month showed that tocilizumab and a second similar drug called sarilumab have a significant impact on survival and can reduce the relative risk of death for critically ill patients in intensive care. The latest results from RECOVERY show that a much wider cohort of COVID-19 patients can potentially benefit from tocilizumab - beyond those critically ill on mechanical ventilation. For this preliminary report, information on the primary outcome was available for 92% of patients. Report has not been peer-reviewed yet.
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Content ArticleA study from Chamberlain et al. examined post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in 13 049 survivors of suspected or confirmed COVID-19, from the UK general population, as a function of severity and hospital admission status. Compared with mild COVID-19, significantly elevated rates of PTSD symptoms were identified in those requiring medical support at home, those requiring hospital admission without ventilation and those requiring hospital admission with ventilator support. Intrusive images were the most prominent elevated symptom. Adequate psychiatric provision for such individuals will be of paramount importance.
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Content ArticleUK Biobank, commissioned by the Department for Health and Social Care, has produced its final round of results after testing over 20,000 people for coronavirus antibodies. The study is tracking the spread of the virus across England, Scotland and Wales over 6 months. The UK Biobank COVID-19 antibody study will analyse samples from people participating in its study to assess antibody levels over time. The data and insights from this study will help the government understand how long COVID-19 antibodies stay in the blood, how strong they are and what this could mean for potential immunity.
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Content ArticleThe purpose of this study from Nanji et al. is to assess the rates of perioperative medication errors (MEs) and adverse drug events (ADEs) as percentages of medication administrations, to evaluate their root causes, and to formulate targeted solutions to prevent them.
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Content ArticleJones et al. hypothesised that antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) could be enhanced through positive feedback for the behaviors of healthcare professionals. This project aimed to reduce antimicrobial consumption in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) by >5%, with secondary aims to reduce broad-spectrum antimicrobial consumption, and processes related to AMS.
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Content ArticleThe purpose of this study from Kleven et al. was to provide a national estimate of the number of healthcare-associated infections (HAI) and deaths in United States hospitals.
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Content ArticlePreventing surgical site infections requires knowledge of the sources of wound contamination. One possible source of wound contamination is bacteria aerosolised in diathermy plume (ie, surgical smoke). This study from Leonard Schultz used an experimental model of porcine tissue embedded with Serratia marcescens to determine the extent of viable bacteria present in surgical plume. The results showed that only blended current electrosurgery, not laser plume or coagulation electrosurgery, contains viable bacteria. Further, the study revealed that placing a suction device near the electrosurgical site reduced the number of aerosolised viable bacteria. Therefore, evacuating the electrosurgical plume may help reduce contamination of the surgical wound. Nurses may wish to advocate for the use of air suction devices as one way to protect patients from surgical site infections.
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Content ArticleSurgical site infections continue to represent a costly complication of spine surgery. Studies show that surgical smoke can contain infectious agents, and smoke evacuation systems have demonstrated effective removal of these particles from the operative field. Kreuger et al. reviewed the literature on surgical smoke and to study the effect of a smoke evacuation system on the rate of surgical site infections (SSIs) after spine surgery.
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Content ArticleDespite it being 20 years since the Institute of Medicine reported poor quality and high variability in healthcare delivery, there are still significant opportunities for clinical quality improvement (QI). As frontline clinicians and future healthcare leaders tasked with driving these changes, resident physicians are an important cohort to equip with knowledge, skills, and experience in QI and patient safety. In this article, Mitchel and Li review the barriers to resident engagement, leadership and success with QI initiatives and propose potential solutions. Several barriers are unique to psychiatric training. The barriers described are broadly categorised as either structural or process-related, a distinction derived from Donabedian who described a framework for understanding the causal relationship between structures, processes, and outcomes in QI. In addition, the authors provide an example of a resident-led QI initiative to illustrate the proposed solutions.
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Content ArticleThe aim of this study from Martinez et al. was to develop and test the psychometric properties of two new survey scales aiming to measure the extent to which the clinical environment supports speaking up about (a) patient safety concerns and (b) unprofessional behaviour.
