177 research outputs found
Using the SF-36 with older adults: a cross-sectional community-based survey
OBJECTIVES: To assess the practicality and validity of using the SF-36 in a community-dwelling population over 65 years old, and obtain population scores in this age group.
DESIGN:
Postal survey, using a questionnaire booklet containing the SF-36 and other health related items, of all those aged 65 or over registered with twelve general practices. Non-respondents received up to two reminders at three-weekly intervals.
SETTING:
Twelve randomly selected general practices in Sheffield.
SAMPLE:
9897 subjects aged 65 to 104.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:
Scores for the eight dimensions of the SF-36 and a modified version of the physical functioning dimension.
RESULTS:
The SF-36 achieved a response rate of 82% (n=8117) and dimension completion rates of 86.4% to 97.7%. Internal consistency measured by Cronbachâs a exceeded 0.80 for all dimensions except social functioning. These results compare favourably with postal surveys of younger adults. Scores for older adults were calculated by age and sex. Comparison with data from younger people showed how physical health declines steeply with age, in marked contrast with mental health.
CONCLUSIONS:
The SF-36 is a practical and valid instrument to use in postal surveys of older people living in the community. The population scores provided here may facilitate its use in future surveys of older adults
Response to requests for general practice out of hours: geographical analysis in north west England
The organisation of out of hours general practice (GP) in
the UK has changed rapidly in recent years as practice
based rotas and deputising services have given way to GP
cooperatives in many areas. At the same time, the proportion
of patients contacting an out of hours service who receive
telephone advice only, rather than a face to face consultation,
has risen substantially, although patients continue to express
strong preferences for personal contact with a doctor out of
hours. We examined the effect of the distance of the patient
from the primary care centre on the doctorâs decision to see
the patient face to face
General practitioners' reasons for removing patients from their lists: postal survey in England and Wales
The removal of patients from doctors' lists causes conÂ
siderable public and political concern, with speculation
that patients are removed for inappropriate, including
financial, reasons. In 1999 the House of Commons
Select Committee on Public Administration noted that
little evidence was available on either the frequency of,
or the reasons for, removal of patients. National statistics do not distinguish between patients removed after
moving out of a practice area and those removed for
other reasons. Two postal surveys have reported why
general practitioners might, in general, remove
patients, and one small study has described the
reasons doctors give for particular removals. We
therefore determined the current scale of, and doctors'
reasons for, removal of patients from their lists in EngÂ
land and Wales
Evaluation of NHS Direct ââreferralââ to community pharmacists
OBJECTIVES: To evaluate a pilot scheme of referrals from a nurse-led telephone helpline (NHS
Direct) to community pharmacists.
METHODS: A multi-method approach, including analysis of routine data from NHS Direct, postal
surveys of NHS Direct callers, analysis of anonymised transcripts of calls, a postal survey of callers
referred to pharmacists, and face-to-face interviews with NHS Direct nurses.
SETTING: Essex, Barking and Havering.
KEY FINDINGS: During the first three months of the pilot scheme, 6% (1,995/31,674) of NHS Direct
calls triaged by nurses were logged as referred to pharmacists. This built on an existing foundation of
informal referral to pharmacists of 4%. There was no measurable change in callersâ views of the
helpfulness of advice, enablement, or caller satisfaction associated with the scheme. Conditions sent
to pharmacists included skin rash, cough, sore throat, stomach pain, and vomiting and/or diarrhoea.
86% (54/63) of callers referred to pharmacists during the scheme felt the referral was very or quite
appropriate and 75% (48/64) attempted to contact a pharmacist. In general, those who did so found
the experience a positive one: 65% (31/48) spoke to the pharmacist, and 80% (28/35) of people
expressing an opinion were satisfied with the advice offered, but the lack of privacy in the pharmacy
was of some concern. Although routine data indicated high usage of the scheme, nurse referral of
callers to pharmacists declined over time. Their initial enthusiasm diminished due to concerns about
the appropriateness of guidelines, their lack of understanding of the rationale behind some referrals,
and the lack of feedback about the appropriateness of their referrals.
CONCLUSIONS: The evaluation of the pilot scheme has generated a range of recommendations for
the wider national roll-out of the scheme, including revision of the guidelines and review of NHS
Direct nurse training for referral to pharmacy. NHS Direct and pharmacists should consider how to
strengthen the system of pharmacist feedback to NHS Direct
Impact of NHS Direct on demand for immediate care: observational study
OBJECTIVES: To quantify the impact of NHS Direct on
the use of accident and emergency, ambulance, and
general practitioner cooperative services.
DESIGN: Observational study of trends in use of NHS
Direct and other immediate care services over 24
months spanning introduction of NHS Direct.
Setting Three areas in England in first wave of
introduction of NHS Direct, and six nearby general
practitioner cooperatives as controls.
SUBJECTS: All contacts with these immediate care
services.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Changes in trends in use
after introduction of NHS Direct.
Results NHS Direct received about 68 500 calls from
a population of 1.3 million in its first year of
operation, of which 72% were out of hours and 22%
about a child aged under 5 years. Changes in trends
in use of accident and emergency departments and
ambulance services after introduction of NHS Direct
were small and nonÂsignificant. Changes in trends in
use of general practitioner cooperatives were also
small but significant, from an increase of 2.0% a
month before introduction of NHS Direct to - 0.8%
afterwards (relative change - 2.9% (95% confidence
interval - 4.2% to - 1.5%)). This reduction in trend
was significant both for calls handled by telephone
advice alone and for those resulting in direct contact
with a doctor. In contrast, the six control cooperatives
showed no evidence of change in trend; an increase of
0.8% a month before NHS Direct and 0.9% after
(relative change 0.1% ( - 0.9% to 1.1%)).
CONCLUSION: In its first year NHS Direct did not reduce
the pressure on NHS immediate care services,
although it may have restrained increasing demand
on one important partâgeneral practitioners' out of
hours services
Integrating community pharmacy and NHS Direct - pharmacists' views
AIM:To establish the views of community pharmacists on NHS Direct and its forthcoming integration with community pharmacy.
DESIGN: Postal questionnaire survey.
SUBJECTS AND SETTING: Pharmacists working in community pharmacies within the area of the NHS Direct Pharmacy pilot scheme - Essex, Barking and Havering.
RESULTS: The response rate to the postal survey was 72% (263/364). Most pharmacies were generally supportive of NHS Direct (80%) and the pharmacy scheme in principle (83%), although their experience of the scheme in practice was limited. Perhaps because of this, the majority of pharmacists were unsure as to whether NHS Direct was referring appropriately, or whether the pharmacy would be able to meet the needs of patients without further referral. Almost half believed that patients referred by NHS Direct should be seen in a quiet area, away from the counter. Over two-thirds of pharmacists were willing to accommodate an NHS Direct information point in their pharmacy, although space was an issue.
CONCLUSION: Overall the results of this study suggested that community pharmacists welcome their increasing involvement in the developing immediate care system. As the Government commitment in the NHS plan to integrate community pharmacy with NHS Direct becomes a reality across England and Wales over coming months the implications for pharmacists, in terms of workload and the adequacy of premises, will become clearer. Careful audit of the operation of the scheme will be essential
How helpful is NHS Direct? Postal survey of callers
NHS Direct, the new 24 hour telephone advice line
staffed by nurses, was established to âprovide easier
and faster information for people about health, illness
and the NHS so that they are better able to care for
themselves and their families.â In March 1998, three
first wave sites started in Lancashire, Milton Keynes,
and Northumbria. As part of an extensive evaluation of
this new service, we surveyed callers to determine how
helpful they found the advice offered
Cost effectiveness of a community based exercise programme in over 65 year olds: cluster randomised trial
OBJECTIVE: To assess the cost effectiveness of a community based exercise programme as a population
wide public health intervention for older adults.
DESIGN: Pragmatic, cluster randomised community intervention trial.
Setting: 12 general practices in Sheffield; four randomly selected as intervention populations, and eight as
control populations.
PARTICIPANTS: All those aged 65 and over in the least active four fifths of the population responding to a
baseline survey. There were 2283 eligible participants from intervention practices and 4137 from control
practices.
INTERVENTION: Eligible subjects were invited to free locally held exercise classes, made available for two
years.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: All cause and exercise related cause specific mortality and hospital service use
at two years, and health status assessed at baseline, one, and two years using the SF-36. A cost utility
analysis was also undertaken.
RESULTS: Twenty six per cent of the eligible intervention practice population attended one or more exercise
sessions. There were no significant differences in mortality rates, survival times, or admissions. After
adjusting for baseline characteristics, patients in intervention practices had a lower decline in health status,
although this reached significance only for the energy dimension and two composite scores (p,0.05). The
incremental average QALY gain of 0.011 per person in the intervention population resulted in an
incremental cost per QALY ratio of J17 174 (95% CI =J8300 to J87 120).
CONCLUSIONS: Despite a low level of adherence to the exercise programme, there were significant gains in
health related quality of life. The programme was more cost effective than many existing medical
interventions, and would be practical for primary care commissioning agencies to implement
Nurses' views of using computerized decision support software in NHS Direct
Background. Nurses working in NHS Direct, the 24-hour telephone advice line in England, use computerized decision support software to recommend to callers the most appropriate service to contact, or to advise on self-care.
Aims. To explore nurses' views of their roles and the computerized decision support software in NHS Direct.
Methods. Qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with 24 NHS Direct nurses in 12 sites.
Findings. Nurses described both the software and themselves as essential to the clinical decision-making process. The software acted as safety net, provider of consistency, and provider of script, and was relied upon more when nurses did not have clinical knowledge relevant to the call. The nurse handled problems not covered by the software, probed patients for the appropriate information to enter into the software, and interpreted software recommendations in the light of contextual information which the software was unable to use. Nurses described a dual process of decision-making, with the nurse as active decision maker looking for consensus with the software recommendation and ready to override recommendations made by the software if necessary. However, nurses' accounts of the software as a guide, prompt or support did not fully acknowledge the power of the software, which they are required to use, and the recommendation of which they are required to follow under some management policies. Over time, the influence of nurse and software merges as nurses internalize the software script as their own knowledge, and navigate the software to produce recommendations that they feel are most appropriate.
Conclusions. The nurse and the software have distinct roles in NHS Direct, although the effect of each on the clinical decision-making process may be difficult to determine in practice
Impact of NHS Direct on other services: the characteristics and origins of its nurses
OBJECTIVE:: To characterise the NHS Direct nurse workforce and estimate the impact of NHS Direct on the staffing of other NHS nursing specialties.
METHOD: A postal survey of NHS Direct nurses in all 17 NHS Direct call centres operating in June 2000.
RESULTS: The response rate was 74% (682 of 920). In the three months immediately before joining NHS Direct, 20% (134 of 682, 95% confidence intervals 17% to 23%) of respondents had not been working in the NHS. Of the 540 who came from NHS nursing posts, one fifth had come from an accident and emergency department or minor injury unit (110 of 540), and one in seven from practice nursing (75 of 540). One in ten (65 of 681) nurses said that previous illness, injury, or disability had been an important reason for deciding to join NHS Direct. Sixty two per cent (404 of 649) of nurses felt their job satisfaction and work environment had improved since joining NHS Direct.
CONCLUSION: The NHS Direct nurse workforce currently constitutes a small proportion (about 0.5%) of all qualified nurses in the NHS, although it recruits relatively experienced and well qualified nurses more heavily from some specialties, such as accident and emergency nursing, than others. However, its overall impact on staffing in any one specialty is likely to be small. NHS Direct has succeeded in providing employment for some nurses who might otherwise be unable to continue in nursing because of disability
- âŠ