How a service-user educator can provide insight into the recovery experience

This article describes a collaboratively designed and delivered teaching and learning session where mental health nursing students met with a service-user educator after reading a range of research papers about recovery. They generated questions based on their reading and then explored the validity of the findings with a patient with experience of the services described in the literature. The authors explain the rationale for the session then reflect on the process and experience from three different perspectives, those of the service-user educator, two students and a nurse lecturer. The accounts confirm that this approach motivated the students to learn about recovery, the stigma of mental health illness, the realities of services and that all the participants found the sessions rewarding and beneficial

Larval Survival of Fuller's Rose Weevil, Naupactus cervinus, on Common Groundcover Species in Orchards of New Zealand Kiwifruit

Fuller's rose weevil, Naupactus cervinus (Boheman) (Curculionidae: Entiminae), is an important quarantine pest of New Zealand kiwifruit exported to Asian markets. Both adults and larvae are considered to be polyphagous. In this study, the survival of larval N. cervinus was estimated on common groundcover species of kiwifruit (Actinidia spp.) in the Bay of Plenty, the main region in New Zealand where kiwifruit is grown. The botanical composition of groundcover in commercial kiwifruit orchards, characterised by survey, was dominated by ryegrass (Lolium perenne), with white clover (Trifolium repens), creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens), wild strawberry (Duchesnea indica) and broadleaf dock (Rumex obtusifolius) in lower abundance. Survival to mature larvae or adult was relatively low (·11%) for N. cervinus introduced as neonates to field plots or potted ryegrass, white clover and broadleaf dock. White clover was a more favourable host for survival to adults than ryegrass. This study suggests that increased survival of N. cervinus larvae may occur where white clover and large dock plants are abundant, but that survival is likely to be highly variable because of the heterogeneous availability of preferred host plants and host plant quality. These data suggest that larval polyphagy is a strategy that enables N. cervinus to persist at low densities in kiwifruit orchards despite variation in the quality and diversity of groundcover

CLAS App ML

This is a multi-language (ML) update of the CLAS App original design by Bridget Maher from the School of Medicine at University College Cork, Ireland. The current version has an improve counting mechanism and has been translated from English to Spanish, Catalan and German languages within the European project PATIENT (www.patient-project.eu). The CLAS App ML aims to train good written communication skills as they are essential to the practice of medicine and avoidance of medical error. The hospital discharge letter is probably the most important of all written communications between hospital and General Practitioner (Family Doctors). However, discharge letters vary greatly in quality, structure, cohesion, and ‘readability’. Most discharge letters are written by junior doctors and frequently omit important information. The School of Medicine at University College Cork developed a comprehensive check-list i-phone application to improve the quality of hospital discharge letters. The CLAS scale lists the key elements of a discharge letter - reason for admission, investigations, results, diagnosis, problem list, medications, management plan, name and contact details of doctor writing the letter etc. There are 4 pages of items, divided into various sections. Either a section heading or an individual item can be ticked. Most items score 1, but some items of particular importance, such as medication, score higher. Total CLAS score is 50. At the end, the user is shown his total score and can swipe to see a list of unchecked items. By using the CLAS application as a point-of-practice reference tool, doctors and medical students can improve their letter-writing skills, decrease the risk of medical error and improve patient safety. With the new version CLAS App ML we aim to provide a standard within Europe for the structure of hospital discharge letter. Therefore, the App has been translated to 3 new languages.This work has been partly funded by the Patient Project (with support from the European Commission. 527620-LLP-1-2012-1-NLERASMUS-FEXI, http://patient-project.eu/

WP2-Deliverable: Training Needs Analysis [Public Part]

Orrego, C., Secanell, M., Mora, N., Baneres, J., Maher, B., Stieger, L., Druener, S., Henn, P., Stoyanov, S., Sopka, S., & Drachsler, H. (2013). WP2-Deliverable: Training Needs Analysis [Public Part]. PATIENT project. Heerlen, The Netherlands.The PATIENT project aims to provide pioneering solutions to improve training on handover practices in undergraduate medical education. The Training Needs Assessment (TNA) is considered as a first step in the design and delivery of training in the medical schools. The primary goal of the TNA is to identify and prioritize the skills needed to be developed in medical training and to determine the specifications and resources necessary to make this training successful. The objective of this work package was to design and conduct a systematic survey of knowledge and practice in handover learning and teaching, as well as assessment of innovative teaching approaches in medical schools across three EU countries (Germany, Ireland, Spain,). The TNA survey was built up upon the information gathered from a variety of resources, which contributed to control the content and construct validity of the instrument. The final sets of questions were selected according to relevance and frequency of inclusion resulting from expert opinions and literature review. The final survey was structured under the umbrella of 4 handover related dimensions assessing the opinion of the respondents about the importance and skill abilities related to handover, their experience in clinical practice, curriculum content and preferences about handover and level of confidence related to learning environment. The primary goal of the Training Needs Assessment (TNA) is to identify and prioritize the skills that need to be developed in training and to determine the specifications and resources necessary to make this training successful (14). Our purpose was to design and conduct a systematic survey of knowledge and practice in handover learning and teaching, as well as assessment of innovative teaching approaches in medical schools across three EU countries (Spain, Germany and Ireland).EU LLP PATIENT-project.e

PATIENT WP4-Deliverable: Curriculum for Handover Training in Medical Education [Public Part]

What is handover? Handover is the accurate, reliable communication of task-relevant information between doctors and patients and from one care-giver to another. This occurs in many situations in healthcare. Why is handover important? Improperly conducted handovers lead to wrong treatment, delays in medical diagnosis, life threatening adverse events, patient complaints, increased health care expenditure, increased length of stay hospital and a range of other effects that impact on the health system(1). This is how accurate performed and well-structured handovers improve patient safety, i.e. “absence of preventable harm to a patient during the process of health care” (2). How to teach handover? The best way to teach practical skills is, to let students perform the skill. To decrease the risk for real patients simulation is the teaching method of choice. Therefore and on the basis of the project’s preceding results (3,4), this curriculum is divided into three modules: Module 1 – Risk and Error Management Module 2 – Effective Communication Module 3 – SimulationPATIEN