Categories Of Healthcare Professionals Research Articles

Unveiling the heterogeneous utilisation of the same digital patient management platform: case studies in primary healthcare in Sweden

BackgroundThe utilisation of digital technology in primary healthcare, particularly digital patient management platforms, has gained prominence, notably due to the global pandemic. These platforms are positioned as substitutes for face-to-face consultations and telephone triage. They are seen as a potential solution to the escalating costs associated with an aging population, increasing chronic conditions, and a shrinking healthcare workforce. However, a significant knowledge gap exists concerning the practical aspects of their implementation and their effect on the utilisation of digital patient management in primary healthcare.MethodsThis study addresses this gap by conducting a comprehensive analysis of three case studies involving the implementation of a specific digital patient management platform. Over a period of three years, we examine how the practicalities of implementation shape the adoption and utilisation of a digital patient management platform in three different clinics.ResultsOur findings revealed that differences in implementation strategies directly influenced variations in utilisation. The successful utilisation of the platform was achieved through a bottom-up decision-making process that involved the employees of the primary healthcare clinics. Onsite training, close collaboration with the eHealth provider, and a structured patient onboarding process played crucial roles in this utilisation. In contrast, a top-down approach at two of the primary healthcare clinics led to limited utilisation of the platform into daily workflows. Furthermore, making the platform a part of everyday work meant putting accessibility, by working as a team of physicians, at the forefront of continuity of care, with patients being managed by their designated physician. Additionally, it was observed that digital patient management proved most effective for addressing simple patient issues such as skin rashes, rather than complex cases, and did not reduce the demand for phone triage.ConclusionOnly one of the three clinics studied effectively integrated digital patient management into its daily operations, and did so by aligning objectives among management and all categories of healthcare professionals, employing a bottom-up decision-making process, collaborating with the eHealth service provider for regular platform adjustments to clinic needs, and implementing active patient onboarding. This sociotechnical integration resulted in high platform utilisation. In contrast, the other two clinics faced challenges due to incoherent objectives among diverse healthcare professional employees and top management, a top-down decision-making approach during implementation, limited collaboration with the eHealth service provider, and passive patient onboarding. The findings indicate that these factors negatively affected utilisation and led to low platform adoption as well as disrupted the sociotechnical balance.

Evidence of Horizontal Violence in Healthcare Settings: A Narrative Review.

In the professional realm, the healthcare sector stands out as one of the most susceptible to violence. One notable manifestation of this is violence among colleagues, commonly referred to as horizontal violence, which has garnered significant attention in recent times. To delve deeper into this phenomenon across various categories of healthcare professionals, a comprehensive search was conducted on PubMed, Scopus, and CINAHL, resulting in the inclusion of 13 articles. The findings of this narrative review illuminate how horizontal violence can manifest in both physical and psychological forms and how it often becomes normalized among the healthcare professionals who endure it. Particularly vulnerable to such occurrences are recent graduates and those with limited professional experience. Furthermore, it has been observed that horizontal violence has detrimental effects on the well-being of those subjected to it, as well as on the quality of patient care delivered. Considering preventive measures, numerous studies emphasize the pivotal role of effective departmental leadership in fostering a harmonious work environment. Despite the largely underreported nature of this phenomenon, the conclusions drawn in this study advocate for a deeper exploration of the dynamics surrounding horizontal violence, with the goal of devising targeted strategies to mitigate its occurrence.

Trends in Adverse Event Reporting Before and After the Introduction of the Med Safety App in Nigeria.

Spontaneous reporting of adverse events (AEs) is a mainstay of pharmacovigilance, and an ongoing challenge is how to ensure that more high-quality reports are collected for comprehensive information provision. The Med Safety App, a smartphone-based application, was launched in Nigeria in November 2020 to provide an electronic platform for users to seamlessly report AEs. There has been a paucity of evidence on the use of this application or other mobile applications for reporting adverse drug reactions/AEs following immunization in the Nigerian environment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the trends in adverse event reporting before and after the introduction of the Med Safety App in Nigeria. This was a retrospective, observational study using data from the VigiFlow database to compare adverse event reporting in Nigeria before and after the deployment of the Med Safety App. The baseline period was 1st April 2019to 30th October 2020 and the comparison period was 1st November 2020to 31st May 2022. We used Vigilance Hub, the back-end system for the Med Safety App, to extract data on App downloads and de-identified user statistics. Data were summarized using descriptive statistics, frequencies and proportions. Quality was assessed by assigning a completeness score to each individual case safety report. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to test for differences in medians between groups. Following deployment of the App, the Nigerian National Pharmacovigilance Centre recorded an increase in the total number of adverse event reports received in VigiFlow, from 2051 in the baseline period to 18,995 following deployment of the App, with 81.7% of those reported via the Med Safety App. There was a reduction in the proportion of paper-based reporting from 98.4 to 15.7% post-deployment, and direct reporting by consumers increased from 2.7 to 17.6%. Of the 15,526 reports submitted via the App, 15,111 (97.3%) had a completeness score above 70% and 6993 (45%) had a completeness score of 100%. The median completeness score of adverse event reports on the Med Safety App was 6 out of 7. On bivariate analysis using the Kruskal-Wallis test, there was an association between means of reporting and completeness score, and this association was significant, with a p value of 0.0001, which may reflect the validation rules that are applied within the App. Deployment of the Med Safety App increased both the number and quality of adverse event reports; however, more awareness and capacity building are needed to strengthen and sustain reporting on the tool by all categories of healthcare professionals and consumers/patients.

Swiss cohort of healthcare professionals & informal caregivers (SCOHPICA): baseline survey's results

Abstract Background Worldwide, health systems face workforce problems such as personnel shortages, low job satisfaction and burnout. In Switzerland, data is insufficient to address this health system crisis. Hence, the Swiss COhort of Healthcare Professionals and Informal Caregivers (SCOHPICA) aims to study healthcare professionals (HCPs) and informal caregivers’ experiences, well-being, and career/personal trajectories. Results of the baseline survey on HCPs (completed in January 2023) are reported. Methods SCOHPICA is an open prospective cohort. Any HCP working with patients in any healthcare setting in Switzerland was eligible. The data was collected with a self-reported electronic questionnaire. Outcome variables are intents to stay in the job/profession/health sector and well-being; we also explored organizational, psychosocial, psychological and occupational factors, as well as sociodemographic and socioprofessional variables. Results The baseline sample included 1707 HCPs, with 32% registered nurses, 12% physicians and 9% physiotherapists among others. In the next few months, 20% of HCPs “not really/not at all intended to stay in their job”, 13% “in their profession” and 11% “in the health sector”; “not intending to stay in the profession” was highest among healthcare assistants (HCAs), nurses and pharmacists. Well-being was also low for these HCPs. Across other factors, pharmacists, physicians, and nurses showed worse scores than other HCPs, especially for workload and work-life balance. HCAs, pharmacists, and nurses reported more burnout and worse self-rated health. Conclusions Results revealed that some categories of HCPs had a lower intent to stay in their profession, and worse working conditions and experiences, such as nurses and pharmacists, compared to other HCPs. Future data collections, findings and data dissemination through a data repository will support decision-makers and public health policies with first-hand evidence. Key messages • SCOHPICA is the first cohort study to examine the working conditions, intents to leave/stay in the profession, well-being and trajectories of all types of healthcare professional across Switzerland. • At baseline, 13% of healthcare professionals did not intend to stay in their profession; pharmacists and nurses reported worse working conditions and experiences than other healthcare professionals.

Improving Knowledge of Audit and Feedback among Health Care Professionals in Sicily.

Audit and Feedback (A&F) is considered one of the most significant tools for implementing continuous Quality Improvement (QI) in the healthcare field. The audit process is a structured inspection of professional practice against known standards or targets. The results of this inspection are subsequently feedback from professionals in order to implement an improvement process. The Italian Ministry of Health has recently funded the network project EASY-NET, with the main objective of evaluating the effectiveness of A&F strategies to improve healthcare practice and equity in various clinical and organizational settings in seven Italian regions. The Sicily region is represented within the EASY-NET project by the IRCCS Centro Neurolesi Bonino-Pulejo of Messina as the Work Package 7 (WP7). One of the objectives of the WP7 is to assess mechanisms and tools to enhance the effectiveness of A&F strategies. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence that training interventions can have on improving knowledge of A&F strategies among healthcare professionals. The study employed a quasi-experimental design with a pretest-posttest evaluation strategy. The participants' initial knowledge of A&F strategies was evaluated through a baseline survey. Subsequently, the participants attended an online training workshop led by A&F experts, and a follow-up survey consisting of the same set of questions was conducted at the end of the process. Results showed statistically significant positive changes in the level of knowledge of A&F among participants following the training intervention. Furthermore, dividing the participants into two subgroups based on their professional background revealed significant differences in the level of knowledge of A&F methodologies between the observed categories of healthcare professionals. In conclusion, the study revealed that training interventions can be facilitators to implementing effective A&F programs.

Barriers and strength factors of adult immunization plans in seven countries of the European region

Abstract Aim The present systematic review analyzes existing strategies and policies used for adult vaccination of seven countries of the European area, emphasizing weaknesses and strengths of immunization schedules. Selected countries were Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and Romania. Subject and methods Three main scientific databases (PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science) were queried and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were followed. Studies assessing weaknesses or strengths factors, facilitators and barriers related to the adult vaccination plans were considered eligible. We included ten studies with a medium/high score at the quality assessment. Results The main barriers and strength factors for vaccination can be divided into the following categories: financial aspects (e.g., if the vaccine has a funding mechanism); logistic factors (e.g., convenience, opening times); factors related to healthcare professionals (e.g., recommendations, provision by different categories of healthcare professionals). Conclusion Substantial improvement in adult vaccination uptake is urgently necessary to decrease the burden of infectious disease on healthcare systems. Although decision-making regarding adult vaccination is complex and influenced by psychological and personal factors, addressing practical or logistical issues related to immunization plans can facilitate higher vaccination coverage.

A Study on the Attitude of Healthcare Professionals Towards Quality Accreditation

Accreditation of hospitals is considered one of the most relevant mechanisms to achieve improvement in the quality and safety of healthcare (8). Worldwide, accreditation is gaining popularity as an effective mechanism for external assessment of healthcare quality. It is considered a method to address the issue of healthcare quality and safety. Accreditation is the independent and systematic assessment of a hospital against defined standards and recognition of a certain level of achievements of those standards by an external body. It is a process of certifying the credibility of an organization. In healthcare, accreditation recognizes and certifies the capability of a healthcare organization in delivering an acceptable standard of healthcare services, which is based upon excellent and safe practices. In this study, healthcare professionals' attitude toward quality accreditation is examined to know about their accountability. Total of 604 healthcare professionals such as; consultant physicians/surgeons, duty doctors, nursing staff, paramedical staff/allied healthcare staff, hospital administrators/managers, others (housekeeping in-charge/blue collar employees and healthcare academicians from public, private and run by Trust located in the North and Central India were randomly chosen. Through the application of factor analysis two components are explored, i.e., service quality and adaptability. One way of ANOVA was applied and found that a difference among the categories of healthcare professionals is observed for these components.

Patient safety culture in primary health care: Medical office survey on patient safety culture in a Brazilian family health strategy setting.

Study objectivesTo assess the patient safety culture in Primary Health Care (PHC) setting after the transition to the Family Health Strategy (FHS) model in a Brazilian metropolitan area and compare the results between the categories of health care professionals.MethodsA cross-sectional study including 246 workers from primary health care services in Federal District, Brazil. Data collection took place from October to December 2019 through the Medical Office Survey on Patient Safety Culture (MOSPSC) application. Patient safety culture was considered positive when the score was above 60%. For comparisons between the categories of health care professionals’, the ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis test were used for composite percent positive scores, and Pearson’s chi-square or Fishers exact test for frequency and percentage of positive responses.ResultsThe overall MOSPSC composite percent positive score was 49.9%. Among the 12 dimensions, only three showed a positive patient safety culture: Teamwork (73.1%), Organizational learning (62.9%), and Patient care tracking/follow-up (60.1%). The percentage of positive responses on overall quality assessment (78.1%) and overall patient safety assessment (78.0%) showed a positive evaluation. There was no significant difference in the composite percent positive score of overall MOSPSC (p = 0.135) and the percentage of positive responses on overall patient safety assessment (p = 0.156) between the categories of health care professionals. Overall quality assessment showed a significant difference between job roles (p < 0.001), in which nursing /health care technicians showed a significantly lower score than other job roles.ConclusionThe patient safety culture assessment showed a weakness in the patient safety in the PHC services. The MOSPSC and nine of its dimensions presented a negative safety culture assessment, regardless of the high scores in the overall patient safety and quality assessments.

Health alliance for prudent prescribing and yield of antibiotics in a patient-centred perspective (HAPPY PATIENT): a before-and-after intervention and implementation study protocol

BackgroundExcessive and inappropriate use of antibiotics is the most important driver of antimicrobial resistance. The aim of the HAPPY PATIENT project is to evaluate the adaptation of European Union (EU) recommendations on the prudent use of antimicrobials in human health by evaluating the impact of a multifaceted intervention targeting different categories of healthcare professionals (HCPs) on common community-acquired infectious diseases, especially respiratory and urinary tract infections.Methods/designHAPPY PATIENT was initiated in January 2021 and is planned to end in December 2023. The partners of this project include 15 organizations from 9 countries. Diverse HCPs (doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and pharmacy technicians) will be audited by the Audit Project Odense (APO) method before and after an intervention in four different settings: general practice, out of hours services, nursing homes and community pharmacies in four high antibiotic prescribing countries (France, Poland, Greece, and Spain) and one low prescribing country (Lithuania). About 25 individuals from each professional group will be recruited in each country, who will register at least 25 patients with community-acquired infections during each audit period. Shortly before the second registration participants will undertake a multifaceted intervention and will receive the results from the first registration to allow the identification of possible quality problems. At these meetings participants will receive training courses on enhancement of communication skills, dissemination of clinical guidelines with recommendations for diagnosis and treatment, posters for the waiting rooms, and leaflets for patients. The results of the second registration will be compared with those obtained in the first audit.DiscussionHAPPY PATIENT is an EU-funded project aimed at contributing to the battle against antibiotic resistance through improvement of the quality of management of common community-acquired infections based on interventions by different types of HCPs. It is hypothesized that the use of multifaceted strategies combining active intervention will be effective in reducing inappropriate prescribing and dispensing of antibiotics.Study registrationEU Health programmes project database https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/chafea_pdb/health/projects/900024/summary; date of registration: 1 January 2021.

Misconceptions of physical therapists and medical doctors regarding the impact of lifting a light load on low back pain

BackgroundA common misconception about low back pain (LBP) is that the spine is weak and that lumbar flexion should be avoided. Because the beliefs of health-care professionals (HCPs) influence patients, it is important to understand the attitudes of health care professionals towards LBP and lifting. ObjectivesTo assess and compare the perceptions of different categories of HCPs regarding the safety of specific movement strategies used to lift a light load, and their beliefs regarding back pain. The secondary aim was to determine whether certain factors influenced the beliefs of HCPs. MethodsData were collected via an electronic survey. Student and qualified physical therapists (PTs), medical students, and general practitioner (GP) trainees were included. The questionnaire included eight photographs, depicting eight different strategies to lift a light load. Respondents were requested to select the strategy(s) they considered as “unsafe” to use for asymptomatic people with a previous history of LBP and people with chronic LBP. Beliefs and attitudes towards LBP were evaluated using the Back Pain Attitudes Questionnaire (Back-PAQ). ResultsQuestionnaires from 1005 participants were included. Seventy percent of qualified PTs considered none of the strategies as harmful (versus 32% of PT students, 9% of GP trainees and 1% of medical students). Qualified PTs had higher Back-PAQ scores (mean ± SD: 13.6 ± 5.5) than PT students (8.7 ± 5.7), GP trainees (5.9 ± 5.9) and medical students (4.1 ± 5.2), indicating less misconceptions regarding LBP. Having LBP negatively influenced beliefs while taking a pain education course positively influenced beliefs. ConclusionMisconceptions regarding LBP and the harmfulness of lifting a light load with a rounded back remain common among HCPs, particularly medical doctors.

Factors Influencing Motivation and Work Engagement of Healthcare Professionals.

Background:Low level of health professionals’ work motivation is a critical challenge for countries’ health care system. A survey of ministries of health in many countries showed that low motivation was seen as the second most important health workforce problem after staff shortages.Objective:The aim of the study was to examine in detail the factors which can affect motivation and work engagement, to assess the motivation levels of personnel working in public hospitals and to identify any differences between the various categories of healthcare professionals employed at the 1st Regional Health Authority of Attica.Methods:Frederick Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory was used as the theoretical framework. Twelve phrases were used that correspond to intrinsic and extrinsic motivating factors, namely achievement, recognition, nature of work, responsibility, advancement, growth, organizational policies, supervision, interpersonal relationships, working conditions, salary and job security. Phrases 1-6 covered the internal motivators and 7-12 correspond to the external. Additional questions were added covering the socio-demographic characteristics of respondents.Results:The response rate was 81.95% and 3,278 questionnaires were collected. Findings suggest that extrinsic motivation factors have slightly higher mean scores (MS=8.30) than intrinsic motivation factors (7.81). The role of factors like salary (9.31), organizational policies (8.91), growth (8.89) and job security (8.86) was significant. However, every category of hospital staff is affected in a different way and degree by each factor. In periods of crisis, the need of extrinsic factors of motivation increased.Conclusions:Providing a motivating environment for employees becomes more fundamental in the healthcare system. Motivation of healthcare employees was affected by factors related to supervision, financial benefits, job training and growth. Efforts should be made to provide such benefits to health employees as appropriate especially, to those who did not get any such benefits. Officially recognizing best performance is suggested.

The Moderating Role of Personal Resources Between Demands and Ill-Being of Romanian Healthcare Professionals in the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background and Objectives: The illness caused by the new coronavirus (COVID-19) triggered considerable mental consequences for the medical staff. Our aim was to research whether frontline healthcare workers' positive psychological state—PsyCap—impacts the relationship between anxiety/depression and burnout/mental health complaints.Material and Methods: One hundred twenty-six medical professionals working on the frontline at the Intensive Care Unit and Emergency Department in Romania took validated surveys between March and April 2020. All information was collected online after accessing a link that was received in an email message. The inclusion criteria concerned the categories of healthcare professionals who came into direct contact with patients during the COVID-19 global epidemic through the performed medical act, as well as time spent in the medical field of ICU an EM, namely at least 1 year in the department. We excluded from the research other categories of employees and auxiliary staff, as well as healthcare workers with <1-year experience in the medical field. The moderating role of personal resources (PsyCap) between demands (such as anxiety and depression) and ill-being (burnout and mental health complaints) of healthcare professionals were tested via hierarchical multiple regressions.Results: We tested the moderating role of PsyCap on the relation between anxiety and ill-being. The results indicated that high anxiety predicts lower emotional exhaustion and a low level of mental health complaints about Romanian healthcare professionals when PsyCap is high. The moderating role of PsyCap on the relation between depression and ill-being was tested in the second hypothesis. The results indicated that high depression predicts lower inefficacy and a low level of mental health complaints about Romanian healthcare professionals when PsyCap is increased.Conclusions: PsyCap is a crucial variable that may decrease the impact of anxiety and depression on psychological outcomes such as emotional exhaustion, inefficacy, and psychological problems among Romanian medical professionals working on the frontline during the COVID-19 global epidemic. Thus, psychological interventions that help medical staff gain personal resources are appropriate in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Diabetes Care in India: A Descriptive Study.

Context:Diabetes is a chronic illness that requires continuing medical care and patient self-management education to prevent and reduce the risk of long-term complications. It requires an array of investigations to provide an accurate picture of the condition and its management accordingly by a qualified doctor.Aims:This study was conducted to understand the treatment received by type 2 diabetes (T2DM) patients from various categories of health care professionals and awareness about diabetes reversal by lifestyle modification and prevention of complications.Settings and Design:This was a community-based cross-sectional study.Subjects and Methods:The link of the semi-structured questionnaire in Google form with e-consent was sent to all members in the selected groups of “World free of obesity and diabetes” campaign on their personal WhatsApp account.Statistical Analysis Used:A total of 3082 participants were included, and the data obtained were analyzed using SPSS v26.Results:The mean age of the participants was 50.26 ± 9.78 years ranging from 18 to 81 years. A total of 35.8% of the study population was diabetic for 1–5 years. A total of 54.9% were started with antidiabetic medication on the same day of diagnosis. Only 1.5% of the patients had complete investigation profile for T2DM, 50.2% of the patients were briefed about hypoglycemia, and only 15.8% of the patients were checked for retinopathy.Conclusions:Most doctors, qualified as well as nonqualified, did not follow the standard guidelines for diagnosis, treatment, and patient education regarding T2DM; therefore, it is necessary to train all medical practitioners regarding these guidelines. Diabetes reversal by lifestyle modification must be prescribed as the first line of treatment in patients with T2DM.

The catastrophization effects of an MRI report on the patient and surgeon and the benefits of 'clinical reporting': results from an RCT and blinded trials.

Inappropriate use of MRI leads to increasing interventions and surgeries for low back pain (LBP). We probed the potential effects of a routine MRI report on the patient's perception of his spine and functional outcome of treatment. An alternate 'clinical reporting' was developed and tested for benefits on LBP perception. In Phase-I, 44 LBP patients were randomized to Group A who had a factual explanation of their MRI report or Group B, who were reassured that the MRI findings showed normal changes. The outcome was compared at 6 weeks by VAS, PSEQ-2, and SF-12. In Phase-II, clinical reporting was developed, avoiding potential catastrophizing terminologies. In Phase-III, 20 MRIs were reported by both routine and clinical methods. The effects of the two methods were tested on four categories of health care professionals (HCP) who read them blinded on their assessment of severity of disease, possible treatment required, and the probability of surgery. Both groups were comparable initial by demographics and pain. After 6 weeks of treatment, Group A had a more negative perception of their spinal condition, increased catastrophization, decreased pain improvement, and poorer functional status(p = significant for all). The alternate method of clinical reporting had significant benefits in assessment of lesser severity of the disease, shift to lesser severity of intervention and surgery in three groups of HCPs. Routine MRI reports produce a negative perception and poor functional outcomes in LBP. Focussed clinical reporting had significant benefits, which calls for the need for 'clinical reporting' rather than 'Image reporting'.

A prospective cross-sectional study on knowledge and practices of healthcare professionals on biomedical waste management from Nilgiris district, Tamilnadu

This study was conducted to ascertain the knowledge and practices related to biomedical waste management in secondary care hospitals in our region. The required information was obtained using a simple questionnaire which included 2 parts, namely, knowledge and practices with 16 and 20 questions respectively. Out of the 80 respondents, 75 % were females. Nurses constituted a major fraction of healthcare professionals (70%) in hospitals. About 47.5% of the respondents had a working experience of 0-5 years. Females had better knowledge and practices in the disposal of medical wastes (91.14% and 94.998%) as compared to males (88.125% and 89%). There was a significant association of age with the knowledge (p= 0.013) and insignificant regarding practice (p= 0.998) of healthcare professionals. The knowledge and practices of all healthcare professionals were overall good. There was a significant association between a professional category of healthcare professionals with knowledge (p= 0.00000181) and practices (p= 0.003129) of medical waste disposal. The results of the investigation uncovered that healthcare professionals had great learning about the disposal of biomedical waste. It was additionally discovered that healthcare professionals adhered to the strategies and the rules related to biomedical waste management.

Assessment of cognitive and psychomotor domains regarding biomedical waste management and hand hygiene among various categories of health-care professionals at a tertiary care center in Northern India.

BACKGROUND:Health care-associated infections (HAIs) are associated with high morbidity, mortality, and costs in the health-care sector. Large proportions of HAIs are preventable by following infection prevention activities such as hand hygiene (HH) and biomedical waste management (BMWM).AIM:The aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of a structured teaching session on the cognitive and psychomotor domains of BMWM and HH practices in a tertiary health-care institute.MATERIALS AND METHODS:Every participant was evaluated for pretest knowledge assessment using a prestructured format along with skill demonstration. The training included interactive sessions, open discussion, and demonstration of various skills with the active participation of various participants by trained faculty and infection control nursing officers. On completion, every participant underwent posttest evaluation.RESULTS:During 11-month study period, 450 health-care professionals (HCPs) participated in the training program. Cognitive domain score increased from 16.3 ± 2.4 to 21.3 ± 2.0 from pre- to post-test, respectively. In psychomotor domain, pre- and post-test scores for HH were 8.3 ± 3.5 and 14.3 ± 1.4, for BMWM, the corresponding values were 8.6 ± 2.1 and 9.8 ± 0.7, respectively. Overall change in the mean (± standard deviation) score between pre- and post-test for various domains of assessment was 5.0 (±2.7), 6.0 (±3.5), 1.1 (±1.8), and 12.2 (±5.3) for knowledge, HH skill demonstration, BMW segregation skill, and cumulative assessment, respectively.CONCLUSION:The initiation of a structured training program can result in a significant increase in participants’ cognitive and psychomotor domains of learning, which may have an indirect impact on the prevention of HAIs.

Culturally Sensitive Care: Definitions, Perceptions, and Practices of Health Care Professionals.

Research highlights that patients from ethnic minority groups often receive lower quality of care. This study contributes to the knowledge and understanding of culturally sensitive care and explores health care professionals' definitions and perceptions of this concept and how they deliver this in practice. This qualitative study conducted a total of six focus groups (n = 34) and four in-depth interviews with six categories of health care professionals in Belgium. Thematic content analysis was used. The results indicate that the concept of culturally sensitive care is perceived quite narrowly. Professionals are likely to portray their own frame of reference and find it challenging to show empathy with patients with a different background. Othering (micro-racism by defining "the other") is a powerful example. The discussion reveals the significance of increasing cultural awareness and understanding, sensitizing about current narrow perceptions, and enhancing culturally sensitive care in the Belgian health care setting.

Evaluation of clinical performance when intrauterine devices are inserted by different categories of healthcare professional.

We evaluated clinical performance when the TCu380A intrauterine device (IUD) and the levonorgestrel (LNG) 52-mg intrauterine system (IUS) were inserted by different categories of healthcare professionals. A retrospective study was conducted at the University of Campinas, Brazil. The medical records were reviewed of all women in whom an IUD was inserted between January 1980 and December 2018, with data for at least 1year, and for whom information on the healthcare provider who inserted the device was available. Overall, 19 132 (76.9%) IUD and 5733 (23.1%) LNG-IUS insertions were included, with residents/interns performing 13 853 (55.8%), nurses 7024 (28.2%), and physicians 3988 (16.0%). Removals for pregnancy and infection were significantly higher when physicians inserted the device, while removals for bleeding/pain and other medical reasons were more common when nurses performed the insertion. Expulsion and removals for personal reasons were similar for all three categories. Clinical outcomes were similar regardless of whether trained nurses, residents/interns, or physicians inserted the device, and were irrespective of users' age and parity. These results could stimulate other healthcare services, particularly in regions where there is a shortage of physicians, to invest in training nurses to perform insertions of IUDs.

Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Among Healthcare Professionals working in Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Healthcare Facilities in Ekiti State, South-West Nigeria.

Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) constitute a significant global healthcare challenge associated with increased morbidity, mortality and healthcare costs; however, there are concerns that ADRs are grossly under-reported by different categories of healthcare professionals (HCPs) in many countries. The main objective of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of ADR reporting of HCPs working at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels of care in Ekiti State, Nigeria. This was a self-administered questionnaire-based study conducted among HCPs working in Ekiti State, South-west Nigeria. The questionnaire which was adapted from ones used in similar studies was reviewed for content validity by experts in the field. Healthcare professionals (medical doctors, pharmacists, nurses, community health extension workers, and other allied HCPs) working in the 3 tiers of healthcare participated in the study. The questionnaire consisted of sections on the demographics of respondents, their knowledge, attitude and practice of ADR reporting. Data analysis was done using SPSS (version 25) employing t test, ANOVA and chi-square as appropriate with P-value < .05 accepted as being statistically significant. Three hundred HCPs comprising of nurses (112; 37.3%), physicians (75; 25.0%), pharmacists (53; 17.7%), community health extension workers (40; 13.3%) and others (20; 6.7%) completed the questionnaire with 166 (55.3%) of them working in tertiary healthcare facilities. Male respondents (6.3 ± 1.7; P = .003), pharmacists (7.0 ± 1.6; P < .0001), HCPs and those from tertiary centers (6.2 ± 1.7; P = .028) had higher knowledge scores. While 228 (76%) respondents had observed incidents of ADR during their professional practice, only 75 (25%) have ever reported it. Only 113 (37.7%) of respondents had seen the adverse drug reaction reporting form with only 53 (17.7%) ever using it. The reporting methods preferred by respondents were through email/internet (102; 34.0%), phone/SMS (78; 26.0%) and using the hard copy of the forms (95; 31.7%). The attitude of respondents towards ADR reporting was mainly positive. There was significant variation in the knowledge of different categories of HCPs and facility levels about ADR reporting. Encouragingly, the overall attitude of respondents towards ADR reporting was positive. Based on the above, strategies are needed to build capacity of HCPs in the area of on adverse drug reaction and its' reporting.

Assessment of Risk Factors for Suicide Among US Health Care Professionals

Burnout among health care professionals has been increasingly associated with suicide risk. An examination of possible risk factors may help in the prevention of suicide among health care professionals. To assess suicide risk factors for 3 categories of health care professionals (surgeons, nonsurgeon physicians, and dentists) compared with non-health care professionals. Data from the National Violent Death Reporting System were reviewed to identify all individuals who died by suicide in the United States between January 1, 2003, and December 31, 2016. Individuals were divided into health care professionals and non-health care professionals (general population), with the health care professionals further categorized into surgeons, nonsurgeon physicians, and dentists. The covariates of suicide decedents included demographic characteristics (age, sex, race, and marital status), medical history (mental illness, substance use, and physical health), and documented factors associated with the suicide death (job, intimate partner, financial, legal, and other problems). Data were analyzed from October 2 to December 17, 2019. In this analysis, the outcome variable was occupation, with health care professionals overall and by category compared with the general population. Multiple logistic regression analyses with backward stepwise selection were performed. A total of 170 030 individuals who died by suicide between 2003 and 2016 were identified. Of those, 767 individuals (0.5%) were health care professionals (mean [SD] age, 59.6 [15.6] years; 675 men [88.0%]; 688 white [89.7%]), with the remainder of the sample (95.5%) comprising the general population (mean [SD] age, 46.8 [31.5] years; 77.7% men; 87.8% white). A total of 485 health care professionals (63.2%) were nonsurgeon physicians, 179 professionals (23.3%) were dentists, and 103 professionals (13.4%) were surgeons. Compared with the general population, risk factors for suicide among health care professionals included having Asian or Pacific Islander ancestry (odds ratio [OR], 2.80; 95% CI, 1.96-3.99; P < .001), job problems (OR, 1.79; 95% CI, 1.49-2.17; P < .001), civil legal problems (OR, 1.61; 95% CI, 1.15-2.26; P = .006), and physical health problems (OR, 1.40; 95% CI, 1.19-1.64; P < .001) and currently receiving treatment for mental illness (OR, 1.45; 95% CI, 1.24-1.69; P < .001). Compared with the general population, health care professionals had a lower risk of suicide if they had black ancestry (OR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.36-0.84; P < .001) or were female (OR, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.35-0.55; P < .001) or unmarried (OR, 0.36; 95% CI, 0.31-0.42; P < .001). Health care professionals who died by suicide were also less likely to have problems with intimate partners (OR, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.60-0.86; P < .001) or alcohol use (OR, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.45-0.73; P < .001) compared with the general population. Surgeons had a higher risk of suicide compared with the general population if they were older, male, married, had Asian or Pacific Islander ancestry, were currently receiving treatment for mental illness, or had problems with their job or alcohol use. Compared with their nonsurgeon physician colleagues, surgeons had a higher risk of suicide if they were male, older, married, or currently receiving treatment for mental illness. This study highlights risk factors for suicide among health care professionals, with additional analyses of surgeon-specific risk factors. The results may be useful in improving the detection of burnout and the development of suicide prevention interventions among health care professionals.