Use of eHealth technologies to enable the implementation of musculoskeletal Models of Care: Evidence and practice

Musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions are the second leading cause of morbidity-related burden of disease globally. EHealth is a potentially critical factor that enables the implementation of accessible, sustainable and more integrated MSK models of care (MoCs). MoCs serve as a vehicle to drive evidence into policy and practice through changes at a health system, clinician and patient level. The use of eHealth to implement MoCs is intuitive, given the capacity to scale technologies to deliver system and economic efficiencies, to contribute to sustainability, to adapt to low-resource settings and to mitigate access and care disparities. We follow a practice-oriented approach to describing the ‘what’ and ‘how’ to harness eHealth in the implementation of MSK MoCs. We focus on the practical application of eHealth technologies across care settings to those MSK conditions contributing most substantially to the burden of disease, including osteoarthritis and inflammatory arthritis, skeletal fragility-associated conditions and persistent MSK pain

Translating research in elder care: an introduction to a study protocol series

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The knowledge translation field is undermined by two interrelated gaps – underdevelopment of the science and limited use of research in health services and health systems decision making. The importance of context in theory development and successful translation of knowledge has been identified in past research. Additionally, examination of knowledge translation in the long-term care (LTC) sector has been seriously neglected, despite the fact that aging is increasingly identified as a priority area in health and health services research.</p> <p>Aims</p> <p>The aims of this study are: to build knowledge translation theory about the role of organizational context in influencing knowledge use in LTC settings and among regulated and unregulated caregivers, to pilot knowledge translation interventions, and to contribute to enhanced use of new knowledge in LTC.</p> <p>Design</p> <p>This is a multi-level and longitudinal program of research comprising two main interrelated projects and a series of pilot studies. An integrated mixed method design will be used, including sequential and simultaneous phases to enable the projects to complement and inform one another. Inferences drawn from the quantitative and qualitative analyses will be merged to create meta-inferences.</p> <p>Outcomes</p> <p>Outcomes will include contributions to (knowledge translation) theory development, progress toward resolution of major conceptual issues in the field, progress toward resolution of methodological problems in the field, and advances in the design of effective knowledge translation strategies. Importantly, a better understanding of the contextual influences on knowledge use in LTC will contribute to improving outcomes for residents and providers in LTC settings.</p

Credentialing of surgeons: a systematic review across a number of jurisdictions

BACKGROUND: The purpose of credentialing is to ensure that clinicians provide safe, high-quality health-care services in accordance with good practice and legal requirements. This review assessed the institutional credentialing processes and governance structures required to support credentialing processes at an institutional, regional or health-care system level. METHODS: Searches of MEDLINE, EMBASE and PubMed were conducted. Additional grey literature searches were performed using the Google search engine and specific searches of government web sites were conducted. The inclusion criteria were developed a priori and standardized extraction of the information to appraise the research questions was conducted systematically. RESULTS: Atotal of 33 white papers were included in this systematic literature review: 18 were published in Australia, 1 in New Zealand, 10 in the United Kingdom, 2 in the United States of America and 2 in Canada. Four key principles were common throughout all studies included in this review: clear lines of responsibility for the credentialing process and supportive governance structures, clear standards for credentialing, a culture of continuous improvement and evaluation of credentialing process outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: No data were available to evaluate the relationship between the credentialing process and the safety and quality of health-care services or patient outcomes; and capturing such data is difficult because of the numerous factors that affect the relationship between credentialing, patient outcomes, and the safety and quality of health-care services. Consequently, developing methods to measure the effectiveness of credentialing processes represents an area for further research.Stefanie L. Gurgacz, Julian A. Smith, Phil G. Truskett, Wendy J. Babidge and Guy J. Madder