Building Health Care System Capacity: Training Health Care Professionals in Disaster Preparedness Health Care Coalitions

AbstractIntroductionThis study aimed to learn from the experiences of well-established, disaster preparedness-focused health care coalition (HCC) leaders for the purpose of identifying opportunities for improved delivery of disaster-health principles to health professionals involved in HCCs. This report describes current HCC education and training needs, challenges, and promising practices.MethodsA semi-structured interview was conducted with a sample of leaders of nine preparedness-focused HCCs identified through a 3-stage purposive strategy. Transcripts were analyzed qualitatively.ResultsTraining needs included: stakeholder engagement; economic sustainability; communication; coroner and mortuary services; chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives (CBRNE); mass-casualty incidents; and exercise design. Of these identified training needs, stakeholder engagement, economic sustainability, and exercise design were relevant to leaders within HCCs, as opposed to general HCC membership. Challenges to education and training included a lack of time, little-to-no staff devoted to training, and difficulty getting coalition members to prioritize training. Promising practices to these challenges are also presented.ConclusionsThe success of mature coalitions in improving situational awareness, promoting planning, and enabling staff- and resource-sharing suggest the strengths and opportunities that are inherent within these organizations. However, offering effective education and training opportunities is a challenge in the absence of ubiquitous support, incentives, or requirements among health care professions. Notably, an online resource repository would help reduce the burden on individual coalitions by eliminating the need to continually develop learning opportunities.WalshL, CraddockH, GulleyK, Strauss-RiggsK, SchorKW. Building health care system capacity: training health care professionals in disaster preparedness health care coalitions. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2015;30(2):1-8.

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Building Health Care System Capacity to Respond to Disasters: Successes and Challenges of Disaster Preparedness Health Care Coalitions

Prehospital and Disaster Medicine ◽

10.1017/s1049023x14001459 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 30 (2) ◽

pp. 112-122 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Lauren Walsh ◽

Hillary Craddock ◽

Kelly Gulley ◽

Kandra Strauss-Riggs ◽

Kenneth W. Schor

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Capacity Building ◽

Health Care System ◽

Stakeholder Engagement ◽

Disaster Preparedness ◽

System Capacity ◽

Promising Practices ◽

Successes And Challenges ◽

And Training ◽

Care System

AbstractIntroductionThis research aimed to learn from the experiences of leaders of well-developed, disaster preparedness-focused health care coalitions (HCCs), both the challenges and the successes, for the purposes of identifying common areas for improvement and sharing “promising practices.”Hypothesis/ProblemLittle data have been collected regarding the successes and challenges of disaster preparedness-focused HCCs in augmenting health care system preparedness for disasters.MethodsSemi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of nine HCC leaders. Transcripts were analyzed qualitatively.ResultsThe commonly noted benefits of HCCs were: community-wide and regional partnership building, providing an impartial forum for capacity building, sharing of education and training opportunities, staff- and resource-sharing, incentivizing the participation of clinical partners in preparedness activities, better communication with the public, and the ability to surge. Frequently noted challenges included: stakeholder engagement, staffing, funding, rural needs, cross-border partnerships, education and training, and grant requirements. Promising practices addressed: stakeholder engagement, communicating value and purpose, simplifying processes, formalizing connections, and incentivizing participation.ConclusionsStrengthening HCCs and their underlying systems could lead to improved national resilience to disasters. However, despite many successes, coalition leaders are faced with obstacles that may preclude optimal system functioning. Additional research could: provide further insight regarding the benefit of HCCs to local communities, uncover obstacles that prohibit local disaster-response capacity building, and identify opportunities for an improved system capacity to respond to, and recover from, disasters.WalshL, CraddockH, GulleyK, Strauss-RiggsK, SchorKW. Building health care system capacity to respond to disasters: successes and challenges of disaster preparedness health care coalitions. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2015;30(2):1-10.

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Current Research Status of Palliative Care in Mainland China

Journal of Palliative Care ◽

10.1177/0825859718773949 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 33 (4) ◽

pp. 215-241 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Tao Wang ◽

Alex Molassiotis ◽

Betty Pui Man Chung ◽

Jing-Yu Tan

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Decision Making ◽

Palliative Care ◽

Health Care Professionals ◽

Mainland China ◽

Education And Training ◽

Care Needs ◽

Research Status ◽

Palliative Care Services ◽

And Training

Objectives: This study aimed to obtain an overview of the current research status of palliative care in Mainland China and identify research directions for future studies by characterizing palliative care studies conducted among patients with any life-limiting illness in Mainland China and published in a peer-reviewed journal before November 2016. Methods: A review guide with 7 categories was initially developed based on existing international palliative care definitions and guidelines through content analysis. Ten databases were used to identify relevant studies from the inception of online cataloging to November 2016. Studies conducted in Mainland China and their research topic that fell within one of the categories of the review guide were included for further analysis. Descriptive analysis was adopted to summarize the relevant findings. Results: 54 studies found to be relevant were included for the analysis. Three studies on “palliative care education and training” (category 1) asserted that education and training programs were scant in Mainland China and that only 1 program had been devised within the health-care context of Shanghai. Five studies on “palliative care screening and timely identification” (category 2) highlighted the absence of early screening criteria or checklists and referral procedures for palliative care. Thirty-one studies on “palliative care needs assessment (n = 12/31) and implementation (n = 19/31)” (category 3) were identified, and various methodological flaws were observed in most of these included studies. Twelve studies on “advanced decision-making” (category 4) were identified, all of which focused on investigating the attitudes of patients with cancer, their families, and/or health-care professionals toward advanced decision-making only. The percentage of patients, family members, and health-care professionals who held positive attitudes toward advanced decision-making were varied and suboptimal, particularly for family members (51.4%-58.0%). Five studies on “caring for patients at the end of life” (category 5) were identified, and the experience of health-care professionals in caring for those patients was explored. No studies relating to “death and bereavement care” (Category 6) and “psychological support for palliative care providers” (Category 7) were identified. Conclusion: The current research status of palliative care in Mainland China remains at an early stage with minimal palliative care services used. Although several knowledge gaps were identified, the first step, which should be addressed, is assessing the palliative care needs. An appropriate and ongoing needs assessment could provide important information for constructing comprehensive education and training programs of palliative care, identifying prognostic factors of timely palliative care referral, and developing evidence-based and tailored palliative care services.

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Improving diagnosis by improving education: a policy brief on education in healthcare professions

Diagnosis ◽

10.1515/dx-2018-0033 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 5 (3) ◽

pp. 107-118 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Mark L. Graber ◽

Joseph Rencic ◽

Diana Rusz ◽

Frank Papa ◽

Pat Croskerry ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Clinical Reasoning ◽

Health Care Professionals ◽

Interprofessional Education ◽

Safety Concern ◽

Diagnostic Error ◽

Education And Training ◽

Diagnostic Process ◽

Specific Content ◽

And Training

Abstract Diagnostic error is increasingly recognized as a major patient safety concern. Efforts to improve diagnosis have largely focused on safety and quality improvement initiatives that patients, providers, and health care organizations can take to improve the diagnostic process and its outcomes. This educational policy brief presents an alternative strategy for improving diagnosis, centered on future healthcare providers, to improve the education and training of clinicians in every health care profession. The hypothesis is that we can improve diagnosis by improving education. A literature search was first conducted to understand the relationship of education and training to diagnosis and diagnostic error in different health care professions. Based on the findings from this search we present the justification for focusing on education and training, recommendations for specific content that should be incorporated to improve diagnosis, and recommendations on educational approaches that should be used. Using an iterative, consensus-based process, we then developed a driver diagram that categorizes the key content into five areas. Learners should: 1) Acquire and effectively use a relevant knowledge base, 2) Optimize clinical reasoning to reduce cognitive error, 3) Understand system-related aspects of care, 4) Effectively engage patients and the diagnostic team, and 5) Acquire appropriate perspectives and attitudes about diagnosis. These domains echo recommendations in the National Academy of Medicine’s report Improving Diagnosis in Health Care. The National Academy report suggests that true interprofessional education and training, incorporating recent advances in understanding diagnostic error, and improving clinical reasoning and other aspects of education, can ultimately improve diagnosis by improving the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of all health care professionals.

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