A Space To Grow: Review of The Management of Refuges in The Eastern Region.

The former Eastern Health Board (now three area Health Boards in the eastern region) in its Operational Plan 2000 for the Children and Families Programme committed itself to carry out research“ in consultation with statutory and voluntary service providers, to review and make recommendations in relation to the management and operation of Refuges, including operational policies and procedures and staffing structures”. In light of this, representatives from the Northern Area Health Board approached the Policy Research Centre, National College of Ireland to conduct a review of the refuge services in the Eastern Region, which would be fully funded by the NAHB, in line with the terms of reference above

Evaluation of local drugs task force projects: experiences and perceptions of planning and implementation.

The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences and perceptions of the planning and implementation stages of project development among the managers of 142 projects set up since 1997 under the auspices of the Local Drugs Task Forces. 142 of 220 projects were chosen for evaluation using specific criteria. The main method of data collection was a detailed, face-to-face structured interview with the manager of each project. The fieldwork was conducted over a three month period by a panel of 13 evaluators, and interviews typically took about three to four hours to carry out. On the basis of the data obtained in the interview and any supporting written materials, the evaluators prepared an individual report for each project. When all the data across all the projects was collected, the PRC team checked and coded all the interview schedules. Qualitative analyses were carried out on all open-ended questions. The findings show that projects are providing a very wide range of activities and reaching a large number of people. Project managers perceive that they are meeting the needs of the community, and despite difficulties relating to premises, staffing and funding, two-thirds of the projects appear to have delivered what they set out to do. The findings also clearly show that community involvement is a significant element of the projects. It was also concluded that projects need support in addressing the concerns that have arisen, and in facing the challenges of the future. While increases and changes in the funding system are needed, support is also needed in the form of reliable data, guidance and training to enable capacity building, access to research expertise and networking opportunities. The LDTFs are clearly a critical source for provision of these different supports

Planning and implementation of community-based projects.

This handbook was developed as a result of a study carried out on the planning and implementation of 142 community-based projects set up since 1997 under the auspices of the Local Drugs Task Forces. This handbook is aimed at new and existing community-based projects, project managers, management committees and those involved in drawing up finding proposals. The handbook contains practical information for project initiation, implementation, development and review

Handbook of Planning and Implementation of Community-Based Projects.

This Handbook was developed as a result of a study carried out on the planning and implementation of 142 community-based projects set-up since 1997 under the auspices of the Local Drugs Task Forces (LDTF’s). It is based on the learning obtained through the experiences and perceptions of the project managers of the current projects. The Handbook is aimed at both new projects and projects already established. It is designed to be a compendium of practical information and ideas and issues to reflect on, relevant to different stages in a project’s life: planning, implementation and review. Accordingly, depending on its stage of development, different elements of the Handbook will be of relevance to a particular project. Projects vary in size, scope and nature and so the individual project will need to adapt the Handbook to its particular needs and circumstances. The Handbook will aid people involved in planning and implementing a community-based project; primarily Project Managers and Management Committees. The Handbook should also be useful in drawing up funding proposals and in writing progress reports. Some useful publications are cited throughout the Handbook but these are not the only documents which will be of use for the task in hand

Experiences and perceptions of emergency department nurses regarding people who present with mental health issues: a systematic review protocol

Objective: The objective of this review is to identify, appraise and synthesize available evidence related to the experiences and perceptions of emergency department (ED) nurses regarding people with any mental health issue who present at the ED. Introduction: The ED is often the first point of contact for patients with a mental health issue, due to a shortage of available mental health services. Nursing staff in the ED are involved in key clinical decision making and hands-on care for these patients, despite a lack of mental health specialist training. In order to improve patient outcomes in the ED setting, it is necessary to have a thorough understanding of how ED nurses? experiences with this population affect their clinical decision making. Inclusion criteria: This review will consider studies that include ED nurses, with or without specialist mental health training, working in urban and rural EDs in healthcare settings worldwide. Qualitative studies that explore the experiences and perceptions of ED nurses regarding people who present with mental health issues in the ED setting will be considered. Studies published in English will be considered, with no date limitations. Methods: CINAHL complete, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar will be searched, along with several sources of gray literature. Retrieval of full-text studies, assessment of methodological quality and data extraction will be performed independently by two reviewers. Findings will be pooled using meta-aggregation, and a ConQual Summary of Findings will be presented

Survey of Bereaved Relatives:Voices MaJam

End-of-life care is an experience that touches the lives of everyone on a personal or professional level. Of all people that will die in Ireland this year, 43% will die in adult acute hospital settings. Acute hospitals are busy places with a predominant focus on diagnosis, treatment and cure. However, caring for people who are seriously ill is also an important responsibility. The Mater Misericordiae University Hospital and St. James’s Hospital are striving to ensure that people who are diagnosed with a life-limiting illness or who die in our care, experience a place of sanctuary where they are cared for in comfort and dignity and their families are supported in their bereavement. The Mater Misericordiae University Hospital and St. James’s Hospital have targeted end- of-life care as an area for improving the quality of care for patients and their families. To enable this, both hospitals have actively sought to improve end-of-life care through their active participation in the Hospice Friendly Hospitals Programme, an initiative of the Irish Hospice Foundation. Measuring the quality of care provided is recognised as being fundamental to quality assurance and provides information to further enhance patient and family care. This study sought to ascertain the quality of care provided to patients and their families during their last admission to hospital from the perspective of bereaved relatives

Voices that matter: end-of-life care in two acute hospitals from the perspective of bereaved relatives

Abstract Background End-of-life care (EoLC) is an experience that touches the lives of everyone. Dying in an acute hospital is a common occurrence in developed countries across the world. Previous studies have shown that there is wide variation in EoLC and at times is experienced as being of poor quality. Assessing and measuring the quality of care provided is a key component of all healthcare systems. This paper reports on the qualitative analysis of open-ended free text questions that were asked as part of a post-bereavement survey conducted in two adult acute hospitals in Ireland. Methods This was a quantitative descriptive post-bereavement postal survey, gathering data retrospectively from relatives or friends of patients who died, utilising an adapted version of the VOICES (Views of Informal Carers - Evaluation of Services) questionnaire. VOICES MaJam has 29 core questions, seven questions requesting personal demographic information and four open-ended questions gathering descriptive data about the care experience during the patient’s last admission to hospital. A total of 356 valid questionnaires were returned. Qualitative data were managed, coded and analysed with NVivo 10, using a template analysis framework approach. Results Three quarters (75%: n = 268) responded to at least one of the open-ended questions. Several key themes emerged, indicating areas that require particular attention in EoLC. Two themes relate to how care needs are met and how the hospital environment has a critical influence on EoLC experiences. The remaining three themes relate more to the interpersonal context including whether patients are treated with dignity and respect, the psychological, emotional and spiritual needs of patients and their family members and communication. Conclusions Acute hospitals need to ensure that patients and their relatives receive high quality EoLC. Seeking the views of bereaved relatives should be considered by all hospitals and healthcare settings to ascertain the quality of care at end of life. This study contributes to our understanding and knowledge of what good EoLC looks like and where care can be improved, thus enabling hospitals to direct and inform quality improvement