scholarly journals Vocational Bias: A Potential Pitfall in the Use of Key Informant Interviews in Pediatric Community Needs Assessments

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 502-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberly Northrip ◽  
Candice Chen ◽  
Jennifer Marsh

Key informants are individuals with insight into a community or a problem of interest. Our objective was to evaluate the effect of the employment type of key informants on the outcome of a pediatric needs assessment for an urban community. Twenty-one interviews were conducted during the course of a pediatric community needs assessment. As part of the interview, informants were asked to list the top three problems facing children in their community. We analyzed their answers to determine if informant responses differed by employment type. Key informants were divided into four employment types: health care setting, social service, business, and infrastructure. Responses were coded as being primarily one of three types: medical, social, or resource. Our results showed that those informants who worked in a health care setting listed medical problems more often than those who did not (p < 0.04). Those who worked in social services listed resource problems more often than those who did not (p < 0.05). Those in business and infrastructure positions listed more social problems (p < 0.37). No difference was observed in response type between those who had lived in the community at some point and those who had not. This study lends support to the hypothesis that informants’ reporting of community problems is biased by their vocation. Clinicians often focus their needs assessments on health care workers. This study suggests, however, that we need to take into consideration the bias this presents and to seek to interview people with diverse work experiences. By limiting the process to health care workers, clinicians are likely to get a skewed perspective of a community’s needs and wants.

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 204-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Hester ◽  
Christina Harrelson ◽  
Tameki Mongo

This article explores the topic of workplace violence in the health care setting. A definition of workplace violence and those who are most vulnerable is provided. National and state legislation that addresses the topic of workplace violence will be discussed. Other organizations such as the American Nurses Association and The Joint Commission and their position statements will be explored. Lastly, strategies targeting workplace violence prevention and the barriers to implementing identified strategies will be discussed. Workplace violence is a rapidly growing concern for those working in health care. This article provides recommendations for legislative and workplace actions to protect health care workers.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita Panayiotou ◽  
Anastasia Gardner ◽  
Sue Williams ◽  
Emiliano Zucchi ◽  
Monita Mascitti-Meuter ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Currently, over 300 languages are spoken in Australian homes. People without proficient English from non-English speaking countries may not receive equitable care if their health care workers do not speak their primary language. Use of professional interpreters is considered the gold standard; however, for a variety of reasons, it is often limited to key aspects of care such as diagnosis and consent. With the emergence of mobile technologies, health care workers are increasingly using digital translation tools to fill this gap. However, many of these technologies have not been developed for health care settings and their use has not been evaluated. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to evaluate iPad-compatible language translation apps to determine their suitability for enabling everyday conversations in health care settings. METHODS Translation apps were identified by searching the Apple iTunes Store and published and grey literature. Criteria for inclusion were that the apps were available at no cost, able to translate at least one of the top 10 languages spoken in Australia, and available for use on iPad. Apps that met inclusion criteria were reviewed in 2 stages. Stage 1 was the feature analysis conducted by 2 independent researchers, where apps were evaluated for offline use, input and output methods, and number of languages. Stage 2 was the analysis of suitability for everyday communication in the health care setting, conducted by 2 independent professionals with expertise in translation and cross-cultural communication. Apps that enabled key aspects of care normally within the realm of professional interpreters, such as assessment, treatment and discharge planning, and seeking consent for medical treatments, were considered unsuitable. RESULTS In total, 15 apps were evaluated. Of these, 8 apps contained voice-to-voice and voice-to-text translation options. In addition, 6 apps were restricted to using preset health phrases, whereas 1 app used a combination of free input and preset phrases. However, 5 apps were excluded before stage 2. In addition, 6 of the 10 remaining apps reviewed in stage 2 were specifically designed for health care translation purposes. Of these, 2 apps were rated as suitable for everyday communication in the health care setting—culturally and linguistically diverse Assist and Talk To Me. Both apps contained simple and appropriate preset health phrases and did not contain conversations that are normally within the realm of professional interpreters. CONCLUSIONS All iPad-compatible translation apps require a degree of caution and consideration when used in health care settings, and none should replace professional interpreters. However, some apps may be suitable for everyday conversations, such as those that enable preset phrases to be translated on subject matters that do not require a professional interpreter. Further research into the use of translation technology for these types of conversations is needed.


Curationis ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. De Wet ◽  
L. Ackermann ◽  
A. Crichton

In the effort to stem the HIV pandemic, the promotion of the correct and consistent use of condoms has to be a priority in the primary health care sector. This study, concentrating on the southern Free State, sought to identify obstacles to condom usage and to develop strategies to encourage condom usage. Both primary health care workers and their clients served as respondents in the study.


Author(s):  
Hari Kishan Boorugu ◽  
Krushna Chandra Misra ◽  
B. Saroj Kumar Prusty

Background: SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has affected the whole world and India is one among the most affected countries. Vaccination is the most important tool to halt this pandemic and vaccine hesitancy unfortunately derails vaccination drive. Vaccine hesitancy among people is mainly due to concerns about vaccine safety! This study was done to assess adverse effects of Covishield vaccine among health care workers in a single health care organization.Methods: All the vaccine recipients were requested to answer a questionnaire with demographic details and various side effects following both the doses of Covishield vaccination.Results: About 665 employees responded to the questionnaire and the most common adverse reaction following Covishield vaccine was injection site pain, which was reported by 63% of vaccinees after first dose of vaccine.Conclusions: Covishield vaccine is relatively safe and incidence of major adverse events are rare following vaccination.


Author(s):  
Tumbwene Elieza Mwansisya ◽  
Columba Mbekenga ◽  
Kahabi Isangula ◽  
Loveluck Mwasha ◽  
Eunice Pallangyo ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Continuous professional development (CPD) trainings have been reported to enhance health care workers’ knowledge and skills, improve retention and recruitment, improve quality of patient care and reduce patients’ mortality. This calls for validated training needs assessment tools for facilitating the design of effective CPD programs. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted using self-administered questionnaires. The survey involved selected Reproductive, Maternal and Neonatal Health (RMNH) health care workers from 7 hospitals, 12 of 51 health centers and 17 of 292 dispensaries within eight districts of Mwanza Region, Tanzania. The training needs assessment (TNA) tool adapted from the Hennessy-Hicks’ Training Needs Assessment Questionnaire (TNAQ) was used for data collection. Results: A total of 153 healthcare workers participated in this study. The majority of participants were females 83% (127) with average age of 39 years. Nurses formed a majority of participants 76% (n=115) with relatively similar mean duration in service or in RMNH of 7.9 years. The reliability of the adapted TNAQ was found to be 0.954. Relatedly, indexes for construct validity indicated that CFI was equal to 1, Chi-square Mean/Degree of Freedom (CMIN/DF) was equal to 0.000 and Mean Square Error Approximation (RMSEA) was equal to 0.185. Conclusion: The adapted TNAQ appear to be reliable and valid for identifying professional training needs of health care workers in RMNH health care settings. The tool has a considerable level of psychometric properties that makes it suitable for assessing the training needs among health care workers of different cadres. However, the applicability of the TNAQ in the wider health care systems remains unclear. Future studies with a large sample size are required to test the use of TNAQ in wider health care systems and learning opportunities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anand Kumar ◽  
Samantha B. Kasloff ◽  
Todd Cutts ◽  
Anders Leung ◽  
Naresh Sharma ◽  
...  

AbstractShortages of personal protective equipment for use during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic continue to be an issue among health-care workers globally. Extended and repeated use of N95 filtering facepiece respirators without adequate decontamination is of particular concern. Although several methods to decontaminate and re-use these masks have been proposed, logistic or practical issues limit adoption of these techniques. In this study, we propose and validate the use of the application of moist heat (70 °C with humidity augmented by an open pan of water) applied by commonly available hospital (blanket) warming cabinets to decontaminate N95 masks. This report shows that a variety of N95 masks can be repeatedly decontaminated of SARS-CoV-2 over 6 h moist heat exposure without compromise of their filtering function as assessed by standard fit and sodium chloride aerosol filtration efficiency testing. This approached can easily adapted to provide point-of-care N95 mask decontamination allowing for increased practical utility of mask recycling in the health care setting.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (1) ◽  
pp. 11571
Author(s):  
Karleen F. Giannitrapani ◽  
Susan Giannitrapani ◽  
Karl Lorenz ◽  
Matthew McCaa ◽  
Elizabeth M. Yano ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Todd L. Benham ◽  
Alexander Hart ◽  
Michelangelo Bortolin ◽  
Michael Court ◽  
John Groves ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The global community needs to be aware of the potential psychosocial consequences that may be experienced by health care workers who are actively managing patients with coronavirus disease (COVID-19). These health care workers are at increased risk for experiencing mood and trauma-related disorders, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In this concept article, strategies are recommended for individual health care workers and hospital leadership to aid in mitigating the risk of PTSD, as well as to build resilience in light of a potential second surge of COVID-19.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 34-41
Author(s):  
Vindya Kumarapeli ◽  
Sinha De Silva ◽  
Uthpala Muhandiram ◽  
Nimani de Lanerolle ◽  
Dhanushka Abeygunathilaka ◽  
...  

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