Restricted visiting reduces nosocomial viral respiratory tract infections in high-risk neonates

Restricting visitors on the neonatal intensive care unit to parents only during a worldwide pandemic resulted in a 39% reduction in nosocomial viral respiratory tract infections in neonatal patients. These findings need validating in a prospective trial

The social mobility challenges faced by young muslims

Young Muslims face the 'broken promise of social mobility': compared to other groups, their improved success in education at all levels does not translate into good labour market outcomes. Despite their educational gains, Muslims experience the greatest economic disadvantages of any group in UK society. They are more likely than non-Muslims to experience neighbourhood deprivation, housing, educational and health disadvantage, and unemployment. This qualitative report explores the attitudes and reasons behind this situation. It offers an account of young Muslims’ perceptions of growing up and seeking work in the UK. The report is designed to contribute to a better understanding of the causes of low social mobility for young Muslims. Drawing on the perceptions of young Muslims (through focus groups and interviews) and of key stakeholders (through a three-stage Delphi survey) the research sought evidence on: • The barriers young Muslims see to social mobility in the UK – in particular, why educational gains are not translating into employment gains for young Muslims. • How these perceptions differ depending on gender, ethnicity, socio-economic background and different forms of educational participation

Outcomes of nosocomial viral respiratory infections in high-risk neonates

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Neonatal respiratory disease, particularly bronchopulmonary dysplasia, remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in newborn infants. Recent evidence suggests nosocomially acquired viral respiratory tract infections (VRTIs) are not uncommon in the NICU. The goal of this study was to assess the association between nosocomial VRTIs, neonatal respiratory disease, and the health care related costs. METHODS: A matched case–control study was conducted in 2 tertiary NICUs during a 6-year period in Nottingham, United Kingdom. Case subjects were symptomatic neonatal patients with a confirmed real-time polymerase chain reaction diagnosis of a VRTI. Matched controls had never tested positive for a VRTI. Multivariable logistic regression was used to test for associations with key respiratory outcomes. RESULTS: There were 7995 admissions during the study period, with 92 case subjects matched to 183 control subjects. Baseline characteristics were similar, with a median gestation of 29 weeks. Rhinovirus was found in 74% of VRTIs. During VRTIs, 51% of infants needed escalation of respiratory support, and case subjects required significantly more respiratory pressure support overall (25 vs 7 days; P< .001). Case subjects spent longer in the hospital (76 vs 41 days; P< .001), twice as many required home oxygen (37%; odds ratio: 3.94 [95% confidence interval: 1.92–8.06]; P< .001), and in-hospital care costs were significantly higher (£49 664 [$71 861] vs £22 155 [$32 057]; P< .001). CONCLUSIONS: Nosocomial VRTIs in neonatal patients are associated with significant greater respiratory morbidity and health care costs. Prevention efforts must be explored

What should inpatient psychological therapies be for? Qualitative views of service users on outcomes

Background: There is limited research on what, when and how outcomes should be measured in psychological therapy trials in acute mental health inpatient wards. // Objectives: This study aimed to consider what outcomes service users think are important to measure. // Methods: This qualitative study explored the views of 14 participants, who had an inpatient admission within the last year, on outcomes of psychological therapies using semistructured interviews. Data were analysed using thematic analysis from a critical realist perspective with both inductive and deductive coding. // Results: The 126 outcomes that were important to participants were mapped onto an established taxonomy of outcomes across different health areas and the socioecological framework to consider the wider context and help summarise the outcomes. Most of the outcomes were mapped to the intrapersonal and interpersonal level. In addition to the outcome mapping, three themes were constructed from the qualitative data: (1) I am not a problem I am a person, (2) Feeling cared for and loved, (3) What does getting better look like. // Conclusions; Our results highlight the need for patient-reported outcomes which are cocreated with service users, disseminating research and training on preventing dehumanising experiences, enhancing psychological safety and therapeutic relationships and improving access to psychological therapy. // Patient or Public Contribution: The wider People with Personal Experience Involvement Committee at the University of Bath were consulted which included a focus group during the early planning stages. We also collaborated with a person with personal experience, at every stage of the research. This included developing our research question and aims, protocol, participant documents (e.g., information and debrief forms), advertisement and recruitment strategy, interview topic guide, the codes, the final themes and quotes and reviewing the manuscript. People with lived experience of being admitted to an acute mental health inpatient ward participated in our study

Generic skills in the 14-19 curriculum: an international review: summary report

This project was designed to comparatively review how generic skills are understood and delivered across 10 different jurisdictions, while considering the policy implications for England. The project was commissioned by the Centre for Education Systems. Our research highlighted that the most common generic skills are communication, collaboration, personal qualities, ICT-related, creativity, critical thinking, and citizenship. It also highlighted that England is an outlier in only including generic skills for learners on study programmes, who are most likely to be on vocational courses, from 16-19, with no compulsory generic skills in the remaining 14-16 and 16-19 academic curriculum. The implications for England are to learn from the experience of those delivering study programmes, to support teacher autonomy in integrating generic skills more explicitly into existing teaching and learning, and to seek to agree a consensus amongst policy-makers to include generic skills in the curriculum

Does mode of administration affect health-related quality-of-life outcomes after stroke?

Telephone interviews and postal surveys may be a resource-efficient way of assessing health-related quality-of-life post-stroke, if they produce data equivalent to face-to-face interviews. This study explored whether telephone interviews and postal surveys of the Stroke and Aphasia Quality of Life Scale (SAQOL-39g) yielded similar results to face-to-face interviews. Participants included people with aphasia and comprised two groups: group one (n =22) were 3-6 months post-stroke; group two (n =26) were ≥1 year post-stroke. They completed either a face-to-face and a telephone interview or a face-to-face interview and a postal survey of the SAQOL-39g. Response rates were higher for group two (87%) than for group one (72-77%). There were no significant differences between respondents and non-respondents on demographics, co-morbidities, stroke severity, or communication impairment. Concordance between face-to-face and telephone administrations (.90-.98) was excellent; and very good-excellent between face-to-face and postal administrations (.84-.96), although scores in postal administrations were lower (significant for psychosocial domain and overall SAQOL-39g in group two). These findings suggest that the SAQOL-39g yields similar results in different modes of administration. Researchers and clinicians may employ alternative modes, particularly in the longer term post-stroke, in order to reduce costs or facilitate clients with access difficulties