Feedback reporting of survey data to healthcare aides

BackgroundThis project occurred during the course of the Translating Research in Elder Care (TREC) program of research. TREC is a multilevel and longitudinal research program being conducted in the three Canadian Prairie Provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. The main purpose of TREC is to increase understanding about the role of organizational context in influencing knowledge use in residential long-term care settings. The purpose of this study was to evaluate healthcare aides&rsquo; (HCAs) perceptions of a one-page poster designed to feed back aggregated data (including demographic information and perceptions about influences on best practice) from the TREC survey they had recently completed. MethodsA convenience sample of 7 of the 15 nursing homes participating in the TREC research program in Alberta were invited to participate. Specific facility-level summary data were provided to each facility in the form of a one-page poster report. Two weeks following delivery of the report, a convenience sample of HCAs was surveyed using one-to-one structured interviews. ResultsOne hundred twenty-three HCAs responded to the evaluation survey. Overall, HCAs&rsquo; opinions about presentation of the feedback report and the understandability, usability, and usefulness of the content were positive. For each report, analysis of data and production and inspection of the report took up to one hour. Information sessions to introduce and explain the reports averaged 18 minutes. Two feedback reports (minimum) were supplied to each facility at a cost of CAN$2.39 per report, for printing and laminating. ConclusionsThis study highlights not only the feasibility of producing understandable, usable, and useful feedback reports of survey data but also the value and importance of providing feedback to survey respondents. More broadly, the findings suggest that modest strategies may have a positive and desirable effect in participating sites. <br /

Assessing organisational readiness for change:Use of diagnostic analysis prior to the implementation of a multidisciplinary assessment for acute stroke care

BACKGROUND: Achieving evidence-based practice in health care is integral to the drive for quality improvement in the National Health Service in the UK. Encapsulated within this policy agenda are challenges inherent in leading and managing organisational change. Not least of these is the need to change the behaviours of individuals and groups in order to embed new practices. Such changes are set within a context of organisational culture that can present a number of barriers and facilitators to change. Diagnostic analysis has been recommended as a precursor to the implementation of change to enable such barriers and facilitators to be identified and a targeted implementation strategy developed. Although diagnostic analysis is recommended, there is a paucity of advice on appropriate methods to use. This paper addresses the paucity and builds on previous work by recommending a mixed method approach to diagnostic analysis comprising both quantitative and qualitative data. METHODS: Twenty staff members with strategic accountability for stroke care were purposively sampled to take part in semi-structured interviews. Six recently discharged patients were also interviewed. Focus groups were conducted with one group of registered ward-based nurses (n = 5) and three specialist registrars (n = 3) purposively selected for their interest in stroke care. All professional staff on the study wards were sent the Team Climate Inventory questionnaire (n = 206). This elicited a response rate of 72% (n = 148). RESULTS: A number of facilitators for change were identified, including stakeholder support, organisational commitment to education, strong team climate in some teams, exemplars of past successful organisational change, and positive working environments. A number of barriers were also identified, including: unidisciplinary assessment/recording practices, varying in structure and evidence-base; weak team climate in some teams; negative exemplars of organisational change; and uncertainty created by impending organisational merger. CONCLUSION: This study built on previous research by proposing a mixed method approach for diagnostic analysis. The combination of qualitative and quantitative data were able to capture multiple perspectives on barriers and facilitators to change. These data informed the tailoring of the implementation strategy to the specific needs of the Trust

Trends in invasive bacterial diseases during the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic: analyses of prospective surveillance data from 30 countries and territories in the IRIS Consortium.

BACKGROUND The Invasive Respiratory Infection Surveillance (IRIS) Consortium was established to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on invasive diseases caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, Neisseria meningitidis, and Streptococcus agalactiae. We aimed to analyse the incidence and distribution of these diseases during the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the 2 years preceding the pandemic. METHODS For this prospective analysis, laboratories in 30 countries and territories representing five continents submitted surveillance data from Jan 1, 2018, to Jan 2, 2022, to private projects within databases in PubMLST. The impact of COVID-19 containment measures on the overall number of cases was analysed, and changes in disease distributions by patient age and serotype or group were examined. Interrupted time-series analyses were done to quantify the impact of pandemic response measures and their relaxation on disease rates, and autoregressive integrated moving average models were used to estimate effect sizes and forecast counterfactual trends by hemisphere. FINDINGS Overall, 116 841 cases were analysed: 76 481 in 2018-19, before the pandemic, and 40 360 in 2020-21, during the pandemic. During the pandemic there was a significant reduction in the risk of disease caused by S pneumoniae (risk ratio 0·47; 95% CI 0·40-0·55), H influenzae (0·51; 0·40-0·66) and N meningitidis (0·26; 0·21-0·31), while no significant changes were observed for S agalactiae (1·02; 0·75-1·40), which is not transmitted via the respiratory route. No major changes in the distribution of cases were observed when stratified by patient age or serotype or group. An estimated 36 289 (95% prediction interval 17 145-55 434) cases of invasive bacterial disease were averted during the first 2 years of the pandemic among IRIS-participating countries and territories. INTERPRETATION COVID-19 containment measures were associated with a sustained decrease in the incidence of invasive disease caused by S pneumoniae, H influenzae, and N meningitidis during the first 2 years of the pandemic, but cases began to increase in some countries towards the end of 2021 as pandemic restrictions were lifted. These IRIS data provide a better understanding of microbial transmission, will inform vaccine development and implementation, and can contribute to health-care service planning and provision of policies. FUNDING Wellcome Trust, NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, Torsten Söderberg Foundation, Stockholm County Council, Swedish Research Council, German Federal Ministry of Health, Robert Koch Institute, Pfizer, Merck, and the Greek National Public Health Organization

Changing Ireland : cultural heritage and migration

This paper reports on the Cultural Heritage and Migration project which was conducted as part of the UCD Irish Virtual Research Library and Archive (IVRLA) series of demonstrator research projects. The project, undertaken from September to December 2009, has two separate strands: Schools’ Folklore Scheme 2009/10 and Migration to Ireland 2009/10. Both strands take as their starting point key surveys by the Irish Folklore Commission (in 1937-38 and 1955 respectively) and seek to gather comparative information in today’s very different Ireland, focusing on a society that is more urban, multicultural, and rapidly changing. The methodology and focus necessarily differ substantially from the earlier surveys, being influenced by debates and issues in the ethics of information collection as well as the need to reflect a more heterogeneous society. The project's online collection gives the background for both strands (including sample scanned material from the 1937-38 Schools’ Survey) and provides documentation in relation to the planning, design, and training phase. Due to time constraints, it was not possible to digitise the actual survey responses but this pilot project is being continued by the UCD John Hume Institute for Global Irish Studies and further research outputs, including digitised text for the schools’ strand and digitised audio for the migration strand, will be made available on their website. This paper gives an overview of the context for both strands, outlines the survey design phase, details the work done in collecting material, and discusses the complex ethical issues which arose in relation to the migration strand (where respondents were particularly vulnerable). The paper concludes by describing how the two surveys undertaken by this project will be made available online and discussing the possibilities for future research.Higher Education Authorityti, de OR 05/10/1

Gulliver’s Travels and the Language Debates of Swift’s Time

In a sermon delivered at the funeral of John Tillotson, Archbishop of Canterbury, Gilbert Burnet praises the churchman’s facility with language: Together with the Pomp of Words he did also cut off all Superfluities and needless Enlargements: he said what was just necessary to give clear Ideas of things, no more … the whole Thread was of a piece, plain and distinct. No affectations of Learning, no squeezing of Texts, no superficial Strains, no false Thoughts nor bold Flights, all was solid and..

Reviewing the case for critical appraisal skills training

Introduction:To review the evolution of critical appraisal skills training alongside the results from a long-term evaluation of a series of research utilisation workshops.Critical appraisal skills training and evidence based health care:The evolution of critical appraisal skills (CAS) training across health care professions is described, showing the centrality of this to evidence based health care and thus clinical effectiveness. The evidence for the effectiveness of CAS training is reviewed.The long-term evaluation of the Foundation of Nursing Studies’ workshops:A postal questionnaire and qualitative interview study of participants and managers were used to evaluate the workshops. These findings were then contextualised through a consultation exercise with senior nurses, practice developers and nurse educators in health care trusts and academic units across the UK.Discussion:The effectiveness of CAS training, its focus and structure is revisited with reference to the literature and the long-term evaluation. Questions concerning the way forward are proposed