Search the hub
Showing results for tags 'Research'.
Found 949 results
-
News Article
Covid jab skipped by 44%, entire UK study finds
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
More than 7,000 Covid-related hospital admissions could have been prevented in the UK in the summer of 2022 if the population had received the full number of jabs recommended, according to research in The Lancet. Some 44% of the UK population was under-vaccinated, with younger people among the most likely to skip doses. In a first, health records for everyone over five in the UK were analysed. The same approach could now be used to understand other diseases. The entire population of the UK is 67 million, and all those over the age of five had their anonymised electronic health data analysed for The Lancet study. With about 40,000 severe hospital admissions related to Covid during that summer, the research estimates that more than 7,000 - 17% - would have been avoided if everyone had taken up the offer of the vaccine and booster doses for which they were eligible. Read full story Source: BBC News, 16 January 2024 -
News Article
Bariatric tourism care costs NHS more than actual surgery
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
People who go abroad for weight-loss surgery, and then need urgent medical care back in the UK, cost the NHS more than it costs to carry out the operation itself, according to new research. A study featuring five London hospitals recorded the details of 35 people who had suffered complications after travelling abroad for gastric surgery during 2022. The data, shared with the BBC's Disclosure programme, shows the patients suffered from a range of symptoms including severe malnutrition, vomiting, sepsis, hernias and haemorrhaging. Five of them needed feeding tubes inserted, while the average stay in hospital was 22 days. The interventions at the five hospitals for the 35 patients cost the NHS a total of £560,234, or £16,006 per patient, in 2022. The equivalent amount would have covered the cost of about 110 bariatric surgeries in UK hospitals. Consultant bariatric surgeon Omar Khan, one of the lead authors of the study, said the paper was intended "to try and quantify" the effect on the NHS of increasing numbers of people going abroad for weight-loss surgery - sometimes known as bariatric tourism. "We know that the waiting lists in the NHS are unfortunately long. We also know that there are new units, particularly in Turkey, which have been set up to cater for an international market," he explained. "We focused on patients with major complications, patients who were severely ill. They had leaks from the stomach, they had bleeding, they had infections. A significant portion required further surgery and some required revisional surgery." Read full story Source: BBC News, 15 January 2024 -
Content ArticleThis study evaluated the impact of narrative/story-based approaches to safety messages; e.g. injury stories on actual safety behaviour versus mechanistic instructions without use of anecdotes and ‘traditional abstract safety messages’. Story-based messages resulted in a 19% improvement in safety behaviour compared with non-narrative comms.
-
Content ArticleThis study published in JAMA Internal Medicine looked at how often diagnostic errors happened in adult patients who are transferred to the intensive care unit (ICU) or die in the hospital, what causes the errors, and what are the associated harms. In this cohort study of 2428 patient records, a missed or delayed diagnosis took place in 23%, with 17% of these errors causing temporary or permanent harm to patients. The underlying diagnostic process problems with greatest effect sizes associated with diagnostic errors, and which might be an initial focus for safety improvement efforts, were faults in testing and clinical assessment.
-
News Article
Long Covid GP consultations 'cost £23m'
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Long Covid costs the UK at least an extra £23m in GP and other primary care consultations each year, according to estimates in a new study. The University of Birmingham said extra appointments cost between £23m and £60m a year. The study examined more than 950,000 electronic healthcare records since the start of the global pandemic. People with Long Covid report symptoms including persistent coughs and brain fog. The condition is defined as having symptoms three months after the initial infection, which last for two months or more. Factors found to increase primary care costs included being older, female, white, obese or someone with long-term health conditions. Co-lead author Dr Shamil Haroon, from the university, said: "We might expect that patients who are older or who have long-term health conditions will need additional primary care support, but we have also seen additional costs associated with being white and female." Read full story Source: BBC, 11 January 2024 -
Content ArticleThe economic impact of managing Long Covid in primary care is unknown. In a study published in BMC Primary Care, Tufts et al. estimated the costs of primary care consultations associated with Long Covid and explored the relationship between risk factors and costs. The study found that costs of primary care consultations associated with Long Covid in non-hospitalised adults are substantial. Costs are significantly higher among those diagnosed with Long Covid, those with Long Covid symptoms, older adults, females, and those with obesity and comorbidities.
-
News ArticleWomen who experience depression during pregnancy or in the year after giving birth are at a higher risk of suicide and attempting suicide, researchers have warned. The British Medical Journal study warned that women who develop perinatal depression are twice as likely to die compared to those who don’t experience depression. Suicide was the leading cause of death for women in the UK in 2022 between six weeks and one year after birth, while deaths from psychiatric causes accounted for almost 40 per cent of maternal deaths overall, according to a Perinatal Mortality Surveillance report. Last year an analysis by Labour revealed 30,000 women who were pregnant were on waiting lists for specialist mental health support. The number of women waiting rose by 40 per cent between August 2022 and March 2023. The most recent NHS data shows in September 2023, 61,000 women accessed perinatal mental health services. For 2023-24, the health service must hit a target to have 66,000 women accessing care. In August 2023, the Royal College of Midwives published a research warning half of anxiety and depression cases among new and expectant mothers were being missed amid NHS staff shortages in maternity care. Read full story Source: The Independent, 11 January 2024
-
Content ArticleThis study published in the BMJ found that women with clinically diagnosed perinatal depression were associated with an increased risk of death, particularly during the first year after diagnosis and because of suicide. Women who are affected, their families, and health professionals should be aware of these severe health hazards after perinatal depression.
-
Content ArticleThere are limited prospective long-term real-world safety data after faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT). This study reported long-term outcomes of FMT from a population-based FMT registry in Hong Kong. The results demonstrate that FMT has an excellent long-term safety profile and the risk of developing new medical conditions beyond 12 months after FMT is low.
-
Content ArticleThe objective of this systematic review from Benhamou et al. was to assess the clinical, economic, and health resource utilisation outcomes associated with the use of prefilled syringes in medication administration compared with traditional preparation methods. The findings provide new insights into clinical and economic benefits of prefilled syringe adoption. These benefits include improved medication delivery and safety, which can lead to time and cost reductions for health care departments, hospitals, and health systems. However, further real-world research on clinical and economic outcomes, especially in contamination, is needed to better understand the benefits of prefilled syringes.
-
Content ArticleChildhood immunisation is a critically important public health initiative. However, since most vaccines are administered by injection, it is associated with considerable pain and distress. Despite evidence demonstrating the efficacy of various pain management strategies, the frequency with which these are used during routine infant vaccinations in UK practice is unknown. This study aimed to explore primary care practice nurses’ use of evidence-based pain management strategies during infant immunisation, as well as barriers to evidence-based practice.
-
Content ArticleIn this article for The Lancet, Professor Gagandeep Kang from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation examines what the story of rotavirus vaccine development in India can tell us about the opportunities, the necessary enabling environment and the challenges of creating products to improve global health. He highlights that although multiple successful vaccines were developed during the Covid-19 pandemic—in quantities that were inconceivable at the start of the pandemic—vaccine nationalism trumped the efforts of WHO, which established a prioritisation framework for vaccination of clinically vulnerable populations. The COVAX scheme was not successful in its aim to ensure that vaccines could be financed and distributed equitably around the world. This experience of delayed and low access to vaccines has led to calls for reparative justice and for moving away from short-term fixes of product donations to support local or regional vaccine manufacturing. Sharing intellectual property and enhancing regional capacity are now framed as moral imperatives against colonialism, and the development of the rotavirus vaccine provides lessons on how this can be achieved.
-
Content ArticleDespite their widespread use, the evidence base for the effectiveness of quality improvement collaboratives remains mixed. Lack of clarity about ‘what good looks like’ in collaboratives remains a persistent problem. This qualitative study in BMJ Open aimed to identify the distinctive features of a state-wide collaboratives programme that has demonstrated sustained improvements in quality of care in a range of clinical specialties over a long period. The authors identified five features that characterised success in the collaboratives programme: learning from positive deviance high-quality coordination high-quality measurement and comparative performance feedback careful use of motivational levers mobilising professional leadership and building community.
-
Content ArticleThe maternal mortality rate (MMR) in the United States continues to increase despite medical advances and is exacerbated by stark racial disparities. Black women are disproportionately affected and are three times more likely to experience a pregnancy-related death (PRD) compared to Non-Hispanic White (NHW) women. Keisha E. Montalmant and Anna K. Ettinger carried out a literature review to examine the racial disparities in the United States' MMR, specifically among pregnant Black women. The review highlights that maternal health disparities for Black women are further impacted by both structural racism and racial implicit biases. Cultural competence and educational courses targeting racial disparities among maternal healthcare providers (MHCP) are essential for the reduction of PRDs and pregnancy-related complications among this target population. Additionally, quality and proper continuity of care require an increased awareness surrounding the risk of cardiovascular diseases for pregnant Black women.
-
News ArticlePatients who feel fortunate to get a doctor's appointment then find they are in and out of the GP surgery in less than five minutes. A fifth of the consultations in England last year were done within that time. Dennis Reed, of the Silver Voices campaign group for over-60s, said: "It is hard enough to get a face-to-face appointment with a GP these days, without being shown the door before you have had a chance to take your coat off. "The public wants the family doctor back, who knows your family history and has the time to chat about your general health and wellbeing. "A revolving door policy, with the patient exiting after a couple of minutes clutching a prescription, is not the way to run a primary care service." Research from the House of Commons Library, commissioned by the Lib Dems, found 22% of GP appointments between January to October 2023 lasted five minutes or less. Lib Dem MP Wera Hobhouse said: "Seeing a GP is the most vital contact for people to address their health concerns, seek help and start treatment. "Not having quick and easy access to a GP and not having sufficient time for patients during an appointment leads to huge problems later on, let alone the anxiety and additional pain people suffer because of delays." Read full story Source: The Express, 31 December 2023
-
News Article
Jab for winter virus could cut baby hospitalisations by 80%, study says
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Hospital admissions from a winter virus could be reduced by more than 80% if babies are given a single dose of a new antibody treatment, a study says. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms, but can lead to bronchiolitis and pneumonia. More than 30,000 under fives are hospitalised with RSV in the UK annually, resulting in 20 to 30 deaths. One British parent said her son getting RSV was "very scary" as a first-time mother. Lorna and Russell Smith's eldest son, Caolan, got the virus when he was eight months old and was admitted to hospital twice - each time requiring oxygen. Now aged two, he has made a full recovery. "I hadn't heard of RSV and wasn't sure what to do. He had laboured breathing due to high temperature and was quite lethargic. It brought a lot of anxiety and stress," Lorna said. The Harmonie study involved 8,000 children up to the age of 12 months, with half receiving a single dose of the monoclonal antibody treatment nirsevimab. The results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that RSV-related hospitalisation was reduced by 83% in those receiving the jab and admissions for all chest infections were cut by 58%. Side effects were similar in both groups and mostly mild. Read full story Source: BBC News, 27 December 2023 -
Content Article
This is a guide, published by Shaping Our Lives, to help you get involved with organisations and researchers and share your views to help shape services, research and policy. -
Content ArticleLarge language models such as OpenAI's GPT-4 have the potential to transform medicine by enabling automation of a range of tasks, including writing discharge summaries, answering patient questions, and supporting clinical treatment planning. These models are so useful that their adoption has been immediate, and efforts are already well underway to integrate them with ubiquitous clinical information systems. However, the unchecked use of the technology has the potential to cause harm. In this article for The Lancet, Janna Hastings looks at the need to mitigate racial and gender bias in language models that may be used in healthcare settings.
-
Content ArticleThe Belmont Report was written by the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research. The Commission, created as a result of the National Research Act of 1974, was charged with identifying the basic ethical principles that should underlie the conduct of biomedical and behavioral research involving human subjects and developing guidelines to assure that such research is conducted in accordance with those principles. Informed by monthly discussions that spanned nearly four years and an intensive four days of deliberation in 1976, the Commission published the Belmont Report, which identifies basic ethical principles and guidelines that address ethical issues arising from the conduct of research with human subjects.
-
Content ArticleEfforts to increase physician engagement in quality and safety are most often approached from an organisational or administrative perspective. Given hospital-based physicians’ strong professional identification, physician-led strategies may offer a novel strategic approach to enhancing physician engagement. It remains unclear what role medical leadership can play in leading programmes to enhance physician engagement. In this study, Rotteau et al. explore physicians’ experience of participating in a Medical Safety Huddle initiative and how participation influences engagement with organisational quality and safety efforts. They found that The Medical Safety Huddle initiative supports physician engagement in quality and safety through intrinsic motivation. However, the huddles’ implementation must align with the organisation’s multipronged patient safety agenda to support multidisciplinary collaborative quality and safety efforts and leaders must ensure mechanisms to consistently address reported safety concerns for sustained physician engagement.
-
Content ArticleThis study compared two quality improvement (QI) interventions to improve antenatal magnesium sulphate (MgSO4) uptake in preterm births for the prevention of cerebral palsy. It found that PReCePT improved MgSO4 uptake in all maternity units. Enhanced support did not further improve uptake but may improve teamwork, and more accurately represented the time needed for implementation. Targeted enhanced support, sustainability of improvements and the possible indirect benefits of stronger teamwork associated with enhanced support should be explored further.
-
Content ArticleResearch funded by the NIHR has found that air cleaning technologies designed to make social interactions safer in indoor spaces are not effective. The research was funded by the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit (HPRU) in Emergency Preparedness and Response. The researchers looked at technologies including: air filtration germicidal lights ionisers. They studied evidence about whether the technologies reduce the risk of catching airborne respiratory or gastrointestinal infections. The researchers found the technologies do not stop the spread of infections in buildings.
-
Content ArticleElective recovery plans in part rely on the strengths of Surgical Hubs (SH) and Community Diagnostic Centres (CDC) to provide additional support. This report by the Medical Technology Group (MTG) considers how well these new tools are working for the NHS. It raises questions about how SHs and CDCs have been established and the decision making processes within these services.
-
Content ArticleIn a study published in Rheumatology, researchers used the example of neuropsychiatric lupus, an incurable autoimmune disease that is particularly challenging to diagnose, to examine the different value given by clinicians to 13 different types of evidence used in diagnoses. This included evidence such as brain scans, patient views, and the observations of family and friends.
-
News Article
Sepsis breakthrough as blood test trial for killer condition underway
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Scientists are hoping a new 45-minute blood test can quickly identify sepsis before it kills. Sepsis is a life-threatening reaction to an infection. It occurs when the body overreacts and starts attacking its own tissues and organs. The hard-to-diagnose condition kills nearly 50,000 Brits a year more than breast, prostate and bowel cancer combined - with severe cases taking just hours to prove fatal. Dr Andrew Retter, an intensive care consultant at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, who is trialling the test told The Times: “If someone comes into A&E and they’re sick, we can spot that early and start treatment early. “For every hour antibiotics are delayed, people’s mortality goes up by about 7 or 8 per cent if they’ve got sepsis.” Melissa Mead’s one-year-old son William died after weeks of a lingering cough and concerns were dismissed by doctors and 111 operators. The campaigner told The Times: “A test like this at the point of care in A&E, for example, could remove the uncertainty about sepsis, which presents differently in different people. “This could give people a chance at life that my son never had.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 17 December 2023
