Effectiveness of a national quality improvement programme to improve survival after emergency abdominal surgery (EPOCH): a stepped-wedge cluster-randomised trial

BACKGROUND: Emergency abdominal surgery is associated with poor patient outcomes. We studied the effectiveness of a national quality improvement (QI) programme to implement a care pathway to improve survival for these patients. METHODS: We did a stepped-wedge cluster-randomised trial of patients aged 40 years or older undergoing emergency open major abdominal surgery. Eligible UK National Health Service (NHS) hospitals (those that had an emergency general surgical service, a substantial volume of emergency abdominal surgery cases, and contributed data to the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit) were organised into 15 geographical clusters and commenced the QI programme in a random order, based on a computer-generated random sequence, over an 85-week period with one geographical cluster commencing the intervention every 5 weeks from the second to the 16th time period. Patients were masked to the study group, but it was not possible to mask hospital staff or investigators. The primary outcome measure was mortality within 90 days of surgery. Analyses were done on an intention-to-treat basis. This study is registered with the ISRCTN registry, number ISRCTN80682973. FINDINGS: Treatment took place between March 3, 2014, and Oct 19, 2015. 22 754 patients were assessed for elegibility. Of 15 873 eligible patients from 93 NHS hospitals, primary outcome data were analysed for 8482 patients in the usual care group and 7374 in the QI group. Eight patients in the usual care group and nine patients in the QI group were not included in the analysis because of missing primary outcome data. The primary outcome of 90-day mortality occurred in 1210 (16%) patients in the QI group compared with 1393 (16%) patients in the usual care group (HR 1·11, 0·96-1·28). INTERPRETATION: No survival benefit was observed from this QI programme to implement a care pathway for patients undergoing emergency abdominal surgery. Future QI programmes should ensure that teams have both the time and resources needed to improve patient care. FUNDING: National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research Programme

Can you escape the virtual room?: A novel paradigm to assess avoidance behaviour

Anxiety patients often experience conflicts between approaching (pass barking dog) and avoiding (take detour) feared situations. In most experimental avoidance paradigms, response options are limited or forced, making it difficult to generalize the results to daily life situations. The aim of the present study was twofold: 1) to develop a more ecologically valid avoidance paradigm; 2) to examine the influence of individual characteristics (trait anxiety; distress tolerance) on approach-avoidance behaviour. To encourage free exploration behaviour, a virtual reality (VR) escape room was developed. In this room, participants searched for cues to decipher a code-locked door. Opening a marked vase (conditioned stimulus, CS) was followed by a jump scare, a rat jumping out of the vase (unconditioned stimulus, US). Avoidance was measured via questionnaires and relative manipulation time of CS-marked (EXPgen) or nonmarked (CONT) objects in the room; questionnaires measured trait anxiety and distress tolerance. EXPgen participants reported higher US expectancies and more avoidance of the (marked) vase compared to the CONT participants, yet behavioural data did not support these ratings. Additionally, higher trait anxiety scores coincided with higher US expectancies before the jump scare. The current flexible free-exploratory paradigm provides multiple opportunities to examine avoidance behaviour in different populations and settings

Can you escape the virtual room?:A novel paradigm to assess avoidance behaviour

Anxiety patients often experience conflicts between approaching (pass barking dog) and avoiding (take detour) feared situations. In most experimental avoidance paradigms, response options are limited or forced, making it difficult to generalize the results to daily life situations. The aim of the present study was twofold: 1) to develop a more ecologically valid avoidance paradigm; 2) to examine the influence of individual characteristics (trait anxiety; distress tolerance) on approach-avoidance behaviour. To encourage free exploration behaviour, a virtual reality (VR) escape room was developed. In this room, participants searched for cues to decipher a code-locked door. Opening a marked vase (conditioned stimulus, CS) was followed by a jump scare, a rat jumping out of the vase (unconditioned stimulus, US). Avoidance was measured via questionnaires and relative manipulation time of CS-marked (EXPgen) or nonmarked (CONT) objects in the room; questionnaires measured trait anxiety and distress tolerance. EXPgen participants reported higher US expectancies and more avoidance of the (marked) vase compared to the CONT participants, yet behavioural data did not support these ratings. Additionally, higher trait anxiety scores coincided with higher US expectancies before the jump scare. The current flexible free-exploratory paradigm provides multiple opportunities to examine avoidance behaviour in different populations and settings