108,562 research outputs found
A Comparison of Emergency Management Social Media Use in the United States and England
A survey was distributed to U.S. county-level emergency managers in 2014 which included questions exploring the importance of barriers to use of Social Media (SM) for dissemination and collection of information during disasters. Key questions were replicated in a survey of emergency responders in England in 2015-2016. There are many similarities in the perceived importance of various specific barriers, but also many significant differences in results. For example, in both samples, trustworthiness of data and information overload are among the top barriers to collecting SM data. However, agencies in England are more likely to have official policies prohibiting the use of SM (58% in England vs. 25% in the U.S.). The differences suggest that software enhancements to deal with the technical problems of trustworthiness and information overload may be universally useful, but other barriers to use need to be addressed through organizational and policy measures
Flood realities, perceptions, and the depth of divisions on climate
Research has led to broad agreement among scientists that anthropogenic climate change is happening now and likely to worsen. In contrast to scientific agreement, US public views remain deeply divided, largely along ideological lines. Science communication has been neutralised in some arenas by intense counter-messaging, but as adverse climate impacts become manifest they might intervene more persuasively in local perceptions. We look for evidence of this occurring with regard to realities and perceptions of flooding in the northeastern US state of New Hampshire. Although precipitation and flood damage have increased, with ample news coverage, most residents do not see a trend. Nor do perceptions about past and future local flooding correlate with regional impacts or vulnerability. Instead, such perceptions follow ideological patterns resembling those of global climate change. That information about the physical world can be substantially filtered by ideology is a common finding from sociological environment/society research
Systematic review of trends in emergency department attendances : an Australian perspective
Emergency departments (EDs) in many developed countries are experiencing increasing pressure due to rising numbers of patient presentations and emergency admissions. Reported increases range up to 7% annually. Together with limited inpatient bed capacity, this contributes to prolonged lengths of stay in the ED; disrupting timely access to urgent care, posing a threat to patient safety. The aim of this review is to summarise the findings of studies that have investigated the extent of and the reasons for increasing emergency presentations. To do this, a systematic review and synthesis of published and unpublished reports describing trends and underlying drivers associated with the increase in ED presentations in developed countries was conducted. Most published studies provided evidence of increasing ED attendances within developed countries. A series of inter-related factors have been proposed to explain the increase in emergency demand. These include changes in demography and in the organisation and delivery of healthcare services, as well as improved health awareness and community expectations arising from health promotion campaigns. The factors associated with increasing ED presentations are complex and inter-related and include rising community expectations regarding access to emergency care in acute hospitals. A systematic investigation of the demographic, socioeconomic and health-related factors highlighted by this review is recommended. This would facilitate untangling the dynamics of the increase in emergency demand
Can we improve the health system with performance reporting?
Advanced healthcare systems are moving toward greater efficiency, transparency and accountability, and this trend will continue, particularly in fiscally-constrained environments
There is no single measure that will improve service delivery and patient outcomes, ensure financial sustainability and increase accountability and transparency in a health system
Performance reporting in healthcare will work if properly developed and implemented keeping the following twelve lessons in mind:
Program design
Understand the social, political and economic considerations carefully before setting targets, monitoring performance and reporting on them
Strive for mandatory, system-wide participation
Allow health providers and organisations to drive improvements in a devolved manner, which are patient-centred
Strive for more than just wait-time measures—such measures could include re-admission rates, ward infection rates and in-hospital death rates
Include both public and non-public performance reporting mechanisms
Be mindful of minimising dysfunctional, unintended consequences
Always pilot before rolling out
Data collection and reporting
Strive for continual design, accuracy and relevancy testing of measures and the way data are collected and reported
Ensure data collection is not an end in itself but a driver of positive change within the health system, and avoid onerous data collection and reporting overburden
Real-time reporting should be the goal, which delivers comparative clinical performance data back to health service providers and organisations
Stakeholders
Engage key stakeholders, especially clinicians and senior leadership, but also the media and general public
Change the culture of provider organisations to foster learning over punishing and judging, which also allows clinical staff to raise questions and concern
An overview of the research evidence on ethnicity and communication in healthcare
• The aim of the present study was to identify and review the available
research evidence on 'ethnicity and communication' in areas relevant to
ensuring effective provision of mainstream services (e.g. via interpreter,
advocacy and translation services); provision of services targeted on
communication (e.g. speech and language therapy, counselling,
psychotherapy); consensual/ participatory activities (e.g. consent to
interventions), and; procedures for managing and planning for linguistic
diversity
Exploring the baseline knowledge and experience of healthcare professionals in the United Kingdom on Novel Psychoactive Substances
Submitted 28 january 2020. Reviwers' comments received 11 February 2020. Accepted 26 February 2020. Published 2 March 2020.Objective: This survey aimed to explore knowledge and experience on novel psychoactive substances (NPS) of healthcare professionals (HCPs). The study also aimed to assess how HCPs would like to improve their knowledge of NPS. Methods: Seventy paper questionnaires were disseminated in 2017 within continuing education events to pharmacists, nurses and general practitioners (GPs). Additionally, 127 online surveys were completed using the Qualtrics platform by other HCPs and mental health nurses in six United Kingdom (UK) independent mental health hospitals long-stay in-patient rehabilitation services. Two educational sessions involving pharmacists and GPs were also held in late 2017 and mid-2018. Knowledge of NPS by HCPs was evaluated prior to the start of the educational events. Evaluation forms were handed out post-sessions to garner feedback, especially on areas for improvement for future sessions. Statistical analysis of data was undertaken using SPSS (V.25). Results: Most HCPs reported only 'basic' to 'intermediate' NPS knowledge. Substance misuse service staff felt more informed, were more often consulted and had greater confidence regarding NPS compared to hospital and primary care professionals. A negative association was found between the age of the HCP and knowledge of NPS. Most participants expressed a need for regular training and updates as insufficient NPS-related information is currently received. Conclusions: An improvement within the self-reported knowledge of HCPs on NPS is evident in comparison to previous studies. Continued education of HCPs on NPS is fundamental for the provision of improved harm reduction services, which can enhance overall care for NPS service users.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio
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