mixed-method study of interdisciplinary collaborations in private practice among urologists and oncologists in Germany

Background Utilisation of multidisciplinary teams is considered the best approach to care and treatment for cancer patients. However, the multidisciplinary approach has mainly focused on inpatient care rather than routine outpatient care. The situation in private practice care and outpatient care is gradually changing. We aimed to 1), investigate interdisciplinary cooperations in the care of tumor patients among urologists and oncologists in the community setting, 2), establish an estimate of the prevalence of cooperation among oncologists and organ-specific providers in community settings in Germany and 3), characterise existing cooperations among oncologists and urologists. Methods We conducted simultaneously a cross- sectional survey with private practice urologists (n = 1,925) and a qualitative study consisting of semi-structured interviews with urologists and oncologists (n = 42), primarily with private practices, who had indicated cooperation the care of urological tumor patients. Results Most of the participants (66%) treated their own tumor patients. When physicians referred patients, they did so for co- and subsequent treatments (43%). Most cooperating urologists were satisfied with the partnership and appreciated the competency of their partners. Qualitative interviews revealed two types of collaboration in the community setting: formal and informal. Collaborations were usually ongoing with many physicians and depended equally on both patient preference and diagnosis. Conclusion Joint patient treatment requires clear delineation of roles and responsibilities and simple means of communication. Formal frameworks should allow for incorporation of patients’ critical role in collaboration decisions in treatment and care

Public health workforce capacity building: the use of quality assurance indicators for the improvement in public health programmes

Agenţia Europeană pentru Acreditare în Sănătate Publică (APHEA), Bruxelles, Belgia, Școala de Sănătate Publică Charité-Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germania, Departamentul Sănătate Publică și Pediatrie, Școala de Medicină, Universitatea din Torino, Italia, Facultatea de Sănătate Publică, Universitatea Lituaniană de Știinţe în Sănătate, Kaunas, Lituania, Comitetul de Acreditare, Agenţia Europeană pentru Acreditare în Sănătate Publică (APHEA), Bruxelles, Belgia, Școala de Sănătate Publică Charité-Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, GermaniaRezumat În 2011, a fost fondată Agenţia Europeană pentru Acreditare în Sănătate Publică (APHEA). Această agenţie a fost o culminaţie a celor peste 25 de ani de activitate pentru îmbunătăţirea calităţii activităţii Asociaţiei Şcolilor de Sănătate Publică din Regiunea Europeană (ASPHER). Acreditarea a înlocuit un instrument anterior, numit evaluare inter pares (evalure colegială), care a fost utilizat între 2001 și 2006, pentru a ajuta la dezvoltarea școlilor și programelor din regiunea Europei Centrale și de Est. În 2012, APHEA, ASPHER și școlile partenere au utilizat noile criterii de acreditare pentru a evalua trei școli din Regiunea Europeană care au demonstrat că, doar cu mici ajustări, există potenţial de a încadra îmbunătăţirea calităţii în procesul de acreditare. Abstract In 2011, the Agency for Public Health Education Accreditation (APHEA) was launched. This agency was a culmination of over 25 years activity on quality improvement by the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER). Accreditation superseded a previous tool called a PEER review, which was used between 2001 and 2006 to help in the development of schools and programmes in the Central Eastern European Region. In 2012, APHEA, ASPHER and partner schools used the new accreditation criteria to review three schools throughout the European Region which proved that, with small adjustments, there was a potential to incorporate a quality Improvement framework around the accreditation process

Using Augmented Reality in Software Engineering Education? First insights to a comparative study of 2D and AR UML modeling

Although there has been much speculation about the potential of Augmented Reality (AR) in teaching for learning material, there is a significant lack of empirical proof about its effectiveness and implementation in higher education. We describe a software to integrate AR using the Microsoft Hololens into UML (Unified Modeling Language) teaching. Its user interface is laid out to overcome problems of existing software. We discuss the design of the tool and report a first evaluation study. The study is based upon effectiveness as a metric for students performance and components of motivation. The study was designed as control group experiment with two groups. The experimental group had to solve tasks with the help of the AR modeling tool and the control group used a classic PC software. We identified tendencies that participants of the experimental group showed more motivation than the control group. Both groups performed equally well

Sedentary Behavior Is Independently Related to Fat Mass among Children and Adolescents in South China

We aim to explore the independent associations of sedentary behaviors (SB) with body mass distribution among Chinese children. Data on the screen-based sedentary time (television viewing and computer use) and doing homework, physical activities and dietary intake of 1586 Chinese children (50.3% girls) aged 7–15 years were obtained through validated questionnaires. Skin-fold thickness, body height, and weight were measured to calculate percent body fat (%BF), fat mass index (FMI), and fat-free mass index (FFMI). Parental characteristics were collected by questionnaires. Among girls, time of SB (screen time or doing homework) was positively related to %BF, FMI, and FFMI (p < 0.03) after adjusting for maternal overweight, the average annual income of family, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity energy expenditure, and energy intake: Girls in the highest tertile of screen time/homework had 16.7%/23.3% higher relative FMI and 2.9%/2.9% higher relative FFMI than girls in the lowest tertile. Among boys, screen time was positively associated with FFMI (p 0.09), while time of doing homework was positively related to %BF and FMI (p = 0.03). Sedentary behaviors might be positively and independently related to fat mass among Chinese children, and were more pronounced in girls

Web-Based Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: Patients often seek other patients’ experiences with the disease. The Internet provides a wide range of opportunities to share and learn about other people’s health and illness experiences via blogs or patient-initiated online discussion groups. There also exists a range of medical information devices that include experiential patient information. However, there are serious concerns about the use of such experiential information because narratives of others may be powerful and pervasive tools that may hinder informed decision making. The international research network DIPEx (Database of Individual Patients’ Experiences) aims to provide scientifically based online information on people’s experiences with health and illness to fulfill patients’ needs for experiential information, while ensuring that the presented information includes a wide variety of possible experiences. Objective: The aim is to evaluate the colorectal cancer module of the German DIPEx website krankheitserfahrungen.de with regard to self-efficacy for coping with cancer and patient competence. Methods: In 2015, a Web-based randomized controlled trial was conducted using a two-group between-subjects design and repeated measures. The study sample consisted of individuals who had been diagnosed with colorectal cancer within the past 3 years or who had metastasis or recurrent disease. Outcome measures included self-efficacy for coping with cancer and patient competence. Participants were randomly assigned to either an intervention group that had immediate access to the colorectal cancer module for 2 weeks or to a waiting list control group. Outcome criteria were measured at baseline before randomization and at 2 weeks and 6 weeks Results: The study randomized 212 persons. On average, participants were 54 (SD 11.1) years old, 58.8% (124/211) were female, and 73.6% (156/212) had read or heard stories of other patients online before entering the study, thus excluding any influence of the colorectal cancer module on krankheitserfahrungen.de. No intervention effects were found at 2 and 6 weeks after baseline. Conclusions: The results of this study do not support the hypothesis that the website studied may increase self-efficacy for coping with cancer or patient competencies such as self-regulation or managing emotional distress. Possible explanations may involve characteristics of the website itself, its use by participants, or methodological reasons. Future studies aimed at evaluating potential effects of websites providing patient experiences on the basis of methodological principles such as those of DIPEx might profit from extending the range of outcome measures, from including additional measures of website usage behavior and users’ motivation, and from expanding concepts, such as patient competency to include items that more directly reflect patients’ perceived effects of using such a website. Trial Registration: Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02157454; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02157454 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6syrvwXxi