Piloting online self-audit of methadone treatment in Irish general practice: results, reflections and educational outcomes

Background: Work based learning underpins the training and CPD of medical practitioners. Medical audit operates on two levels; individual self-assessment and professional/practice development. In Ireland, annual practice improvement audit is an essential requirement for the successful completion of continuous professional development (CPD) as determined by the regulatory body, the Irish Medical Council. All general practice (GP) doctors providing methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) in Ireland have a contractual obligation to partake in a yearly methadone practice audit. The Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) as national training provider is tasked to facilitate this annual audit process. The purpose of this audit is to assess the quality of care provided to patients against an agreed set of national standards, enhance learning, and promote practice improvement and reflective practice. The aim was to present an online MTP self-audit and evaluate results from a 12-month pilot among GPs providing MMT in Ireland. Method A mixed method study describing three phases (design and development, pilot/implementation and evaluation) of a new online self –audit tool was conducted. Descriptive and thematic analysis of audit and evaluation data was conducted. Results: Survey Monkey is a suitable software package for the development and hosting of an easy to use online audit for MMT providing doctors. Analysis of the audit results found that the majority of GPs scored 80% or over for the 25 identified essential criteria for MMT provision. The evaluation of the GP audit experience underscores the positive outcomes of the online self-audit in terms of improving practice systems, encouraging reflective practice, enhanced patient care and doctor commitment to continued provision of MMT in addiction clinics and in primary care. Conclusions: Results from this audit demonstrate a high level of compliance with best practise MMT guidelines by Irish GPs providing MMT. The online self-audit process was well received and encouraged reflective practice. The audit process hinged on the individual GP’s ability to review and critically analyse their professional practice, and manage change. This model of audit could be adapted and used to monitor the management of other chronic illnesses in general practice

Trans and gender diverse youth resisting cisnormativity in school

In this article, we demonstrate how the theory of vulnerability-in-resistance is manifest in the school experiences of trans youth in Ireland. Despite rapidly changing cultural attitudes towards gender and sexuality diversity and increasing visibility of LGBTI+ youth, we show that trans youth in Ireland continue to be vulnerable to marginalisation, discrimination, and violence within school settings because of institutionalised cisnormativity. We explore how this vulnerability drives some trans youth to resist the conditions of their vulnerability. Strategies of resistance include naming their experience, mobilising their voice and building networks of solidarity. Enacting such resistances invariably exposes trans youth to harm but these same actions reveal their potentiality in disrupting and fragmenting educational cisnormativity

Piloting online self-audit of methadone treatment in Irish general practice: results, reflections and educational outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Work based learning underpins the training and CPD of medical practitioners. Medical audit operates on two levels; individual self-assessment and professional/practice development. In Ireland, annual practice improvement audit is an essential requirement for the successful completion of continuous professional development (CPD) as determined by the regulatory body, the Irish Medical Council. All general practice (GP) doctors providing methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) in Ireland have a contractual obligation to partake in a yearly methadone practice audit. The Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) as national training provider is tasked to facilitate this annual audit process. The purpose of this audit is to assess the quality of care provided to patients against an agreed set of national standards, enhance learning, and promote practice improvement and reflective practice. The aim was to present an online MTP self-audit and evaluate results from a 12-month pilot among GPs providing MMT in Ireland. METHODS: A mixed method study describing three phases (design and development, pilot/implementation and evaluation) of a new online self -audit tool was conducted. Descriptive and thematic analysis of audit and evaluation data was conducted. RESULTS: Survey Monkey is a suitable software package for the development and hosting of an easy to use online audit for MMT providing doctors. Analysis of the audit results found that the majority of GPs scored 80% or over for the 25 identified essential criteria for MMT provision. The evaluation of the GP audit experience underscores the positive outcomes of the online self-audit in terms of improving practice systems, encouraging reflective practice, enhanced patient care and doctor commitment to continued provision of MMT in addiction clinics and in primary care. CONCLUSIONS: Results from this audit demonstrate a high level of compliance with best practise MMT guidelines by Irish GPs providing MMT. The online self-audit process was well received and encouraged reflective practice. The audit process hinged on the individual GP's ability to review and critically analyse their professional practice, and manage change. This model of audit could be adapted and used to monitor the management of other chronic illnesses in general practice

The post-primary school experiences of transgender and gender diverse youth in Ireland

This report details the key findings from a research project that explored the post-primary school experiences of transgender and gender diverse (TGD) youth in Ireland. The study was co-funded by the Irish Research Council and Marie Skłowdowska-Curie Actions as part of the “Collaborative Research Fellowships for a Responsive and Innovative Europe” (CAROLINE) programme. The research was a collaboration between the School of Education, University of Limerick and Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI). The project was made possible by, and builds on, the advocacy, education and support work that TENI has been conducting in the education sector since 2013. The project team consisted of Dr Ruari-Santiago McBride (Research Fellow), Dr Aoife Neary (Principal Investigator and Academic Mentor), Dr Breda Gray (Consultative Academic Mentor), and Vanessa Lacey (Secondment Mentor)

Additional file 1: of Optimising treatment in opioid dependency in primary care: results from a national key stakeholder and expert focus group in Ireland

Focus group guide. Questions used in facilitation of the focus group. (DOCX 12 kb