Analyzing Consumer Priorities for Hospital End-of-Life Care Using a Systematic Review to Inform Policy and Practice

A systematic review is a useful method to answer a research question where prior studies have been conducted. A well-designed and executed systematic review can inform policy and/or practice change. It can also identify gaps and generate new research questions. Although the requirements considered essential for conducting a rigorous systematic review are well defined in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statement, the approaches taken to synthesize the data vary. This case study describes the narrative synthesis of heterogeneous quantitative studies and the meta-synthesis of qualitative studies used to answer a complex research question from the consumer perspective. The study design focused on the analysis of consumer data only. As a result, the synthesis of both quantitative data and qualitative data has provided a detailed insight into consumers' unique perspectives and needs. The synthesis approach for both datasets is described, and linkages to key tools and resources to help facilitate this approach are provided. Processes used by the research team to enable effective research governance and collaboration throughout are also detailed

Involving consumers with palliative care needs and their families in research: A case study

© 2019 Australian College of Nursing Ltd Background: There are significant policy imperatives to involve consumers at the outset of and throughout research. How best to achieve this in an authentic and meaningful way is elusive, particularly within the palliative care population. Aim: To determine how best to engage people with palliative care needs and their families in co-designing a qualitative study to better understand how to improve care of the dying in the acute care setting. Methods: A case study design informed this work, informed by pre-determined research questions that focused on consumers advising on participant experience within the research, rather than research methodology per se. Findings: Eleven consumers contributed across five panel meetings. Analysis of documented feedback led to four key areas of protocol change: Getting the language in the recruitment materials and information and consent forms right; Developing a feasible and acceptable recruitment strategy; Opportunities to more clearly articulate the explicit value of this research for patients and families; Support strategies for participants. Discussion: Authentic consumer engagement requires time and effort; however, the outcomes are well worth the invested time and energy. Key foci outlined within this case study to enhance authenticity included: collaboration; preferencing the consumer voice; adequate preparation to support consumer engagement; and openness to all feedback provided. Conclusion: Co-designing research with consumers enabled the outcome to be feasible for implementation, without any modifications required. Ensuring relevance and consumer-centredness for the expanding palliative care evidence base is essential and can only be achieved through meaningful partnerships with consumer representatives

Components of palliative care interventions addressing the needs of people with dementia living in long term care: a systematic review

© The Author(s) 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).Background: People with dementia requiring palliative care havemultiple needs that require complex, multicomponent interventions. Thisneed is amplified in the long term care setting. The European Associationfor Palliative Care (EAPC) White Paper offers recommendations forpalliative care in dementia and highlights domains of care integral forthis population, thus providing useful guidance to developing suchinterventions. This review maps components of palliative careinterventions for people with dementia in LTCFs, with a particular focuson shared decision-making.Peer reviewe

ACCELERATED SITE TECHNOLOGY DEPLOYMENT COST AND PERFORMANCE REPORT COMPARABILITY OF ISOCS INSTRUMENT IN RADIONUCLIDE CHARACTERICATION AT BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY

This report describes a DOE Accelerated Site Technology Deployment project being conducted at Brookhaven National Laboratory to deploy innovative, radiological, in situ analytical techniques. The technologies are being deployed in support of efforts to characterize the Brookhaven Graphite Research Reactor (BGRR) facility, which is currently undergoing decontamination and decommissioning. This report focuses on the deployment of the Canberra Industries In Situ Object Counting System (ISOCS) and assesses its data comparability to baseline methods of sampling and laboratory analysis. The battery-operated, field deployable gamma spectrometer provides traditional spectra of counts as a function of gamma energy. The spectra are then converted to radionuclide concentration by applying innovative efficiency calculations using monte carlo statistical methods and pre-defined geometry templates in the analysis software. Measurement of gamma emitting radionuclides has been accomplished during characterization of several BGRR components including the Pile Fan Sump, Above Ground Ducts, contaminated cooling fans, and graphite pile internals. Cs-137 is the predominant gamma-emitting radionuclide identified, with smaller quantities of Co-60 and Am-241 detected. The Project used the Multi-Agency Radiation Survey and Site Investigation Manual guidance and the Data Quality Objectives process to provide direction for survey planning and data quality assessment. Analytical results have been used to calculate data quality indicators (DQI) for the ISOCS measurements. Among the DQIs assessed in the report are sensitivity, accuracy, precision, bias, and minimum detectable concentration. The assessment of the in situ data quality using the DQIs demonstrates that the ISOCS data quality can be comparable to definitive level laboratory analysis when the field instrument is supported by an appropriate Quality Assurance Project Plan. A discussion of the results obtained by ISOCS analysis of objects that could not be analyzed readily by conventional methods demonstrates a powerful application of the instrument. In conclusion, a comparison of costs associated with the analysis on the ISOCS instrument to the costs of conventional sampling and laboratory analysis is presented

The association between cognitive impairment and functional outcome in hospitalised older patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: in hospitalised older adults, cognitive impairments are common and may be associated with functional outcomes. Our aim was to systematically review this association. METHOD: we systematically searched MEDLINE, CINAHL, AMED and PsycINFO from inception to April 2016. Non-English language studies were filtered out at search stage. All types of studies were considered for inclusion except reviews, conference abstracts, dissertations and case studies. Population: community-dwelling or institutionalised older adults aged 65 years or more, who are acutely hospitalised and have information on history of dementia and/or cognitive scores on admission. Setting: acute hospital (excluding critical care and subacute or intermediate care). Outcome of interest: change in a measure of physical function or disability between pre-admission or admission, and discharge or post-discharge. This review was registered on PROSPERO (CRD42016035978). RESULTS: the search returned 5,988 unique articles, of which 34 met inclusion criteria. All studies were observational, with 30 prospective and 4 retrospective from 14 countries, recruiting from general medicine (n = 11), geriatric medicine (n = 11) and mixed (n = 12) wards. Twenty-six studies (54,637 participants) were suitable for the quantitative synthesis. The meta-analysis suggested that cognitive impairment was associated with functional decline in hospitalised older adults (risk ratio (RR): 1.64; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.45–1.86; P < 0.01). Results were similar in subanalyses focusing on diagnosis of dementia (RR: 1.36; 95% CI: 1.05–1.76; P = 0.02; n= 2,248) or delirium (RR: 1.55; 95% CI: 1.31–1.83; P < 0.01; n= 1,677). CONCLUSION: cognitive impairments seem associated with functional decline in hospitalised older people. Causality cannot be inferred, and limitations include low quality of studies and possible confounding

CanadiEM: Accessing a Virtual Community of Practice to Create a Canadian National Medical Education Institution

Background: The rise of free open-access medical education (FOAM) has led to a wide range of online resources in emergency medicine. Canadian physicians have been active contributors to FOAM. Objectives: We aimed to create a virtual community of practice that would serve as a national platform for collaboration, learning, and knowledge dissemination. Methods: CanadiEM was formed in 2016 from the merger of two Canadian websites and a podcast. Using a community-of-practice model, we introduced two training programs to support junior community members in becoming core editorial team members and employed asynchronous Web technologies to facilitate collaboration. We also introduced a coached peer review process and formed strategic alliances that aim to ensure a high quality of publication. Results: CanadiEM has become a portal for readers to access a broad range of FOAM content. The website has published 782 articles. Of these, 71 have undergone a coached peer review process. The website has received over 2.5 million page views from 217 countries, and the associated CRACKCast podcast has been downloaded over 750,000 times. Conclusions: CanadiEM has succeeded in building a national multi-interface dissemination network that fosters collaboration and knowledge sharing in emergency medicine while fostering junior digital scholars. The construction of a community of practice has been facilitated by quality assurance, training programs, and the use of asynchronous Web technologies. Ongoing challenges in sustainability include a volunteer workforce with high turnover

Risk of opioid misuse in people with cancer and pain and related clinical considerations: a qualitative study of the perspectives of Australian general practitioners.

OBJECTIVE:To explore the perspectives of general practitioners (GPs) concerning the risk of opioid misuse in people with cancer and pain and related clinical considerations. DESIGN:A qualitative approach using semistructured telephone interviews. Analysis used an integrative approach. SETTING:Primary care. PARTICIPANTS:Australian GPs with experience of prescribing opioids for people with cancer and pain. RESULTS:Twenty-two GPs participated, and three themes emerged. Theme 1 (Misuse is not the main problem) contextualised misuse as a relatively minor concern compared with pain control and toxicity, and highlighted underlying systemic factors, including limitations in continuity of care and doctor expertise. Theme 2 ('A different mindset' for cancer pain) captured participants' relative comfort in prescribing opioids for pain in cancer versus non-cancer contexts, and acknowledgement that compassion and greater perceived community acceptance were driving factors, in addition to scientific support for mechanisms and clinical efficacy. Participant attitudes towards prescribing for people with cancer versus non-cancer pain differed most when cancer was in the palliative phase, when they were unconcerned by misuse. Participants were equivocal about the risk-benefit ratio of long-term opioid therapy in the chronic phase of cancer, and were reluctant to prescribe for disease-free survivors. Theme 3 ('The question is always, 'how lazy have you been?') captured participants' acknowledgement that they sometimes prescribed opioids for cancer pain as a default, easier option compared with more holistic pain management. CONCLUSIONS:Findings highlight the role of specific clinical considerations in distinguishing risk of opioid misuse in the cancer versus non-cancer population, rather than diagnosis per se. Further efforts are needed to ensure continuity of care where opioid prescribing is shared. Greater evidence is needed to guide opioid prescribing in disease-free survivors and the chronic phase of cancer, especially in the context of new treatments for metastatic disease

Deployment of Innovative Characterization Technologies and Implementation of the Marssim Process at Radiologically Contaminated Sites.

The success of this Accelerated Site Technology Deployment (ASTD) project is measured on several levels. First, the deployment of this innovative approach using in situ characterization, portable field laboratory measurements, and implementation of MARSSIM was successfully established for all three phases of D and D characterization, i.e., pre-job scoping, on-going disposition of waste, and final status surveys upon completion of the activity. Unlike traditional D and D projects, since the Brookhaven Graphite Research Reactor Decommissioning Project (BGRR-DP) is operating on an accelerated schedule, much of the work is being carried out simultaneously. Rather than complete a full characterization of the facility before D and D work begins, specific removal actions require characterization as the activity progresses. Thus, the need for rapid and cost-effective techniques for characterization is heightened. Secondly, since the approach used for this ASTD project was not thoroughly proven prior to deployment, a large effort was devoted to demonstrating technical comparability to project managers, regulators and stakeholders. During the initial phases, large numbers of replicate samples were taken and analyzed by conventional baseline techniques to ensure that BGRR-DP quality assurance standards were met. ASTD project staff prepared comparisons of data gathered using ISOCS and BetaScint with traditional laboratory methods and presented this information to BGRR-DP staff and regulators from EPA Region II, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, and the Suffolk County Board of Health. As the results of comparability evaluations became available, approval for these methods was received and the techniques associated with in situ characterization, portable field laboratory measurements, and implementation of MARSSIM were gradually integrated into BGRR-DP procedures