EXOGEN Ultrasound Bone Healing System for Long Bone Fractures with Non-Union or Delayed Healing: A NICE Medical Technology Guidance

A routine part of the process for developing National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) medical technologies guidance is a submission of clinical and economic evidence by the technology manufacturer. The Birmingham and Brunel Consortium External Assessment Centre (EAC; a consortium of the University of Birmingham and Brunel University) independently appraised the submission on the EXOGEN bone healing system for long bone fractures with non-union or delayed healing. This article is an overview of the original evidence submitted, the EAC’s findings, and the final NICE guidance issued

EXOGEN ultrasound bone healing system for long bone fractures with non-union or delayed healing: a NICE medical technology guidance

Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.A routine part of the process for developing National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) medical technologies guidance is a submission of clinical and economic evidence by the technology manufacturer. The Birmingham and Brunel Consortium External Assessment Centre (EAC; a consortium of the University of Birmingham and Brunel University) independently appraised the submission on the EXOGEN bone healing system for long bone fractures with non-union or delayed healing. This article is an overview of the original evidence submitted, the EAC’s findings, and the final NICE guidance issued.The Birmingham and Brunel Consortium is funded by NICE to act as an External Assessment Centre for the Medical Technologies Evaluation Programme

Development and implementation of a \u27Mental Health Finder\u27 software tool within an electronic medical record system

In Ireland, as in many other healthcare systems, mental health service provision is being reconfigured with a move toward more care in the community, and particularly primary care. Recording and surveillance systems for mental health information and activities in primary care are needed for service planning and quality improvement. We describe the development and initial implementation of a software tool (\u27mental health finder\u27) within a widely used primary care electronic medical record system (EMR) in Ireland to enable large-scale data collection on the epidemiology and management of mental health and substance use problems among patients attending general practice. In collaboration with the Irish Primary Care Research Network (IPCRN), we developed the \u27Mental Health Finder\u27 as a software plug-in to a commonly used primary care EMR system to facilitate data collection on mental health diagnoses and pharmacological treatments among patients. The finder searches for and identifies patients based on diagnostic coding and/or prescribed medicines. It was initially implemented among a convenience sample of six GP practices. Prevalence of mental health and substance use problems across the six practices, as identified by the finder, was 9.4% (range 6.9-12.7%). 61.9% of identified patients were female; 25.8% were private patients. One-third (33.4%) of identified patients were prescribed more than one class of psychotropic medication. Of the patients identified by the finder, 89.9% were identifiable via prescribing data, 23.7% via diagnostic coding. The finder is a feasible and promising methodology for large-scale data collection on mental health problems in primary care.University of Limeric

The effect of implicit theories of pain on pain and disability in people with chronic low back pain

Background: Implicit theories of pain represent a socio-cognitive mechanism linked to important coping, emotional, and expressive reactions to chronic pain. Evidence suggests that chronic low back pain (CLBP) patients who hold an incremental theory of pain (i.e. view pain as a malleable) use more active coping strategies, display less pain behavior, and report lower levels of depression than those with an entity theory of pain (i.e. view pain as a fixed). However, a link between implicit theories of pain and symptoms of pain and disability in people with CLBP has not been established. Objectives: This study investigated the relationship between implicit theories of pain and the level of pain and disability reported by people with CLBP. Design: Cross-sectional observational study. Methods: One hundred and two participants with CLBP completed an online survey distributed through social media channels. The online survey assessed pain intensity and pain-related disability (Chronic Pain Grade Scale), implicit theories of pain (Implicit Theory of Pain Scale), and perceived control over pain (Survey of Pain Attitudes control scale). Results: Participants with an incremental theory of pain reported significantly less pain and disability compared to those with an entity theory of pain (p < 0.001). Conclusions: These findings suggest that implicit theories of pain may guide self-reported symptoms of pain and disability in a CLBP population. Prospective studies are required to confirm the relevance of these findings for risk of future low back pain, and to confirm whether this relationship changes with and without treatment

Development and implementation of a reporting function within electronic medical records

no abstract availabl

NOSH data set.xlsx

DCE data set for analysis of women's preferences for a financial incentive scheme for breastfeeding. Ethical approval was obtained from Brunel University Research Ethics Committee.<br