scholarly journals Pre-hospital advanced life support education – core components for pre-hospital professionals

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Reid ◽  
Russell Jones ◽  
Moira Sim

IntroductionThere is a broad evidence base supporting advanced life support (ALS) education to health care professionals to be structured, realistic and inclusive of a range of human factors. However, published literature largely focusses on ALS education within institutional settings such as hospitals and associated health care facilities, with typically predictable human and material resources. The aim of this paper is to explore the literature on ALS education and report the results of an international survey undertaken to identify those educational elements which differ in the pre-hospital setting compared to the institutional setting. High quality education in pre-hospital resuscitation is important because it is critical that pre-hospital professionals provide high quality ALS to maximise the likelihood of patient survival.MethodsMEDLINE was searched using MESH terms ‘resuscitation’, ‘advanced life support’ and ‘prehospital’ as core terms. Fifteen articles relating specifically to pre-hospital resuscitation and a further 91 articles on resuscitation education were reviewed. Articles ranged in publication year from 1987 to 2016.An online survey on ALS education was developed and administered and attracted 177 responses from a range of health care professionals nationally and internationally. A total of 83 respondents completed the full survey.ResultsThe literature identifies that best practice ALS education should (a) be taught in the environment in which ALS will be performed, (b) involve team members who are similar to those they will encounter while providing ALS, and (c) use equipment the provider uses in their workplace. Human factors, in particular leadership and communication, are important components of ALS education. However, results of the survey demonstrate that best practice is not well incorporated into pre-hospital ALS education.ConclusionTo improve pre-hospital patient outcomes and maximise the chances of patient survival, ALS education to pre-hospital providers should incorporate the context of their workplace (that is, the environment in which they function), the team members they regularly work with and the equipment they use in the pre-hospital setting. Human factors, in particular leadership, should be considered as part of pre-hospital resuscitation education.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Theresa Mary MacKenzie

<p>The LCP is an evidence-based integrated care pathway that provides guidance to generic health care professionals to deliver best practice end-of-life care. My role as the LCP Project Coordinator in a District Health Board in New Zealand is central to the exploration of this process of implementing practice change. Working with clinicians to advance effective care and management of patients during the process of dying in an acute hospital setting requires not only knowledge and understanding of the clinical pathway and evidence supporting best practice, but also careful working with cultural and contextual change. This paper descriptively addresses the bases of both components, and provides a case example of the development. Working with health care professionals to bring about practice change is complex and challenging. Successful implementation of evidence in practice is dependant not only on the strength and nature of the evidence, but also the context and models of facilitation. Practice development (PD) methodology informs the realities and complexities of practice change and of achieving sustainable development. The 'Promoting Action in Research Implementation in Health Services' (PARIHS) framework identifies the interplay and interdependence of factors that resonate with the reality of the complexity of practice change in relation to the evidence and best practice for particular clinical contexts. Highlighting PD processes and the relevance of the PARIHS framework alongside real-time practice change will continue to stimulate recognition of change and development complexities and bring consideration of these as robust methods for working between the theory and implementation of evidence in practice.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Theresa Mary MacKenzie

<p>The LCP is an evidence-based integrated care pathway that provides guidance to generic health care professionals to deliver best practice end-of-life care. My role as the LCP Project Coordinator in a District Health Board in New Zealand is central to the exploration of this process of implementing practice change. Working with clinicians to advance effective care and management of patients during the process of dying in an acute hospital setting requires not only knowledge and understanding of the clinical pathway and evidence supporting best practice, but also careful working with cultural and contextual change. This paper descriptively addresses the bases of both components, and provides a case example of the development. Working with health care professionals to bring about practice change is complex and challenging. Successful implementation of evidence in practice is dependant not only on the strength and nature of the evidence, but also the context and models of facilitation. Practice development (PD) methodology informs the realities and complexities of practice change and of achieving sustainable development. The 'Promoting Action in Research Implementation in Health Services' (PARIHS) framework identifies the interplay and interdependence of factors that resonate with the reality of the complexity of practice change in relation to the evidence and best practice for particular clinical contexts. Highlighting PD processes and the relevance of the PARIHS framework alongside real-time practice change will continue to stimulate recognition of change and development complexities and bring consideration of these as robust methods for working between the theory and implementation of evidence in practice.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathrine Håland Jeppesen ◽  
Kirsten Frederiksen ◽  
Marianne Johansson Joergensen ◽  
Kirsten Beedholm

Abstract Background From 2014 to 17, a large-scale project, ‘The User-involving Hospital’, was implemented at a Danish university hospital. Research highlights leadership as crucial for the outcome of change processes in general and for implementation processes in particular. According to the theory on organizational learning by Agyris and Schön, successful change requires organizational learning. Argyris and Schön consider that the assumptions of involved participants play an important role in organizational learning and processes. The purpose was to explore leaders’ assumptions concerning implementation of patient involvement methods in a hospital setting. Methods Qualitative explorative interview study with the six top leaders in the implementation project. The semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed in accordance with Kvale and Brinkmanns’ seven stages of interview research. Result The main leadership assumptions on what is needed in the implementation process are in line with the perceived elements in organizational learning according to the theory of Argyris and Schön. Hence, they argued that implementation of patient involvement requires a culture change among health care professionals. Two aspects on how to obtain success in the implementation process were identified based on leadership assumptions: “The health care professionals’ roles in the implementation process” and “The leaders’ own roles in the implementation process”. Conclusion The top leaders considered implementation of patient involvement a change process that necessitates a change in culture with health care professionals as crucial actors. Furthermore, the top leaders considered themselves important facilitators of this implementation process.


2006 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
SHANE SINCLAIR ◽  
SHELLEY RAFFIN ◽  
JOSE PEREIRA ◽  
NANCY GUEBERT

Objective:Although spirituality as it relates to patients is gaining increasing attention, less is known about how health care professionals (HCP) experience spirituality personally or collectively in the workplace. This study explores the collective spirituality of an interdisciplinary palliative care team, by studying how individuals felt about their own spirituality, whether there was a shared sense of a team spirituality, how spirituality related to the care the team provided to patients and whether they felt that they provided spiritual care.Methods:A qualitative autoethnographic approach was used. The study was conducted in a 10-bed Tertiary Palliative Care Unit (TPCU) in a large acute-care referral hospital and cancer center. Interdisciplinary team members of the TPCU were invited to participate in one-to-one interviews and/or focus groups. Five interviews and three focus groups were conducted with a total of 20 participants.Results:Initially participants struggled to define spirituality. Concepts of spirituality relating to integrity, wholeness, meaning, and personal journeying emerged. For many, spirituality is inherently relational. Others acknowledged transcendence as an element of spirituality. Spirituality was described as being wrapped in caring and often manifests in small daily acts of kindness and of love, embedded within routine acts of caring. Palliative care served as a catalyst for team members' own spiritual journeys. For some participants, palliative care represented a spiritual calling. A collective spirituality stemming from common goals, values, and belonging surfaced.Significance of results:This was the first known study that focused specifically on the exploration of a collective spirituality. The culture of palliative care seems to foster spiritual reflection among health care professionals both as individuals and as a whole. While spirituality was difficult to describe, it was a shared experience often tangibly present in the provision of care on all levels.


2016 ◽  
Vol 41 (9) ◽  
pp. 1-2
Author(s):  
Alfred Cioffi ◽  

When patients approach the end of life, their loved ones often do not know how much treatment is too much and struggle to decide when to stop intervening and allow them to die in peace. Conversely, health care professionals may tend to prescribe extraordinary means of life support, sometimes simply because of legal and fiscal concerns or a family’s request for futile care. It can be useful to refer to the general bioethical principle that, typically, there is no moral obligation to provide a substitute for vital organs. In this context, providing a substitute for a vital organ means wholly replacing the vital function of the dying organ by means of either a transplant or medical machinery. This article seeks to explain how this rule may be applied when a patient and his family are deciding at what point to stop treatment and allow the patient to die in peace.


Curationis ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Leech ◽  
N.C. Van Wyk ◽  
C.J.E. Uys

In the previous article, the author described, according to the scope of practice of registered nurses, the responsibilities oi community nurses with regard to the management of infant developmental needs in primary health care clinics in South Africa. In this article, the focus is on the development of guidelines for the support of community nurses in fulfilling these responsibilities. Before the development of the guidelines is addressed, a brief overview of the background of the study, assumptions of the researcher and the methodology of the study is given. The development of the set of guidelines (DEFINE HOPE) is set against the background of the drive to improve the quality of developmental care for infants and their families. As guidelines help to translate scientific information into statements, it could be valuable to community nurses to improve their delivery of developmental care. To gather evidence for the formulation of the guidelines, the researcher utilised the themes identified during the analysis process in phase one of the research; investigated research articles; and compared findings and recommendations of the articles with the research findings obtained in phase one. In addition to the research findings and literature review, a focus group (health care professionals represented in the case study), was utilised to assist with the final development and validation of the guidelines. The researcher adapted a number of desirable attributes for guidelines, which are indicated in the literature, to compile the criteria for validation of the guidelines. In conclusion, guidelines are necessary to support community nurses in finding “best practice” within their scope of practice to ensure higher quality of developmental care to families with infants 0-2 years.


2007 ◽  
Vol 42 (9) ◽  
pp. 832-840 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lor Siv-Lee ◽  
Linda Morgan

Purpose This paper describes the implementation of wireless “intelligent” pump intravenous (IV) infusion technology in a not-for-profit academic, multicampus hospital system in the United States. Methods The process of implementing a novel infusion system in a multicampus health care institution (main campus plus three satellite campuses) is described. Details are provided regarding the timelines involved, the process for the development of the drug libraries, and the initial implementation within and across campuses. Results In early 2004, with the end of the device purchase contract period nearing, a multidisciplinary committee evaluated potential IV infusion pumps for hospital use. In April 2004, the committee selected the Plum A+ infusion system with Hospira MedNet software and wireless capabilities (Hospira Inc., Lake Forest, IL). Implementation of the single-channel IV infusion system took place July through October 2005 following installation of the wireless infrastructure throughout the multicampus facility. Implementation occurred in July, one campus at a time; the three smaller satellite campuses went “live” before the main campus. Implementation of the triple-channel IV infusion system took place in March 2006 when the wireless infrastructure was completed and fully functional throughout the campuses, software was upgraded, and drug library revisions were completed and uploaded. Conclusion “Intelligent” pump technology provided a framework to standardize drug concentrations used in the intensive care units. Implementation occurred transparently without any compromise of patient care. Many lessons were learned during implementation that explained the initial suboptimal compliance with safety software use. In response, the committee developed strategies to increase software utilization rates, which resulted in improved acceptance by nursing staff and steadily improving compliance rates. Wireless technology has supported remote device management, prospective monitoring, the avoidance of medication error, and the timely education of health care professionals regarding potential medication errors.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Svenja Litzkendorf ◽  
Tobias Hartz ◽  
Jens Göbel ◽  
Holger Storf ◽  
Frédéric Pauer ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Recently, public and political interest has focused on people living with rare diseases and their health concerns. Due to the large number of different types of rare diseases and the sizable number of patients, taking action to improve the life of those affected is gaining importance. In 2013, the federal government of Germany adopted a national action plan for rare diseases, including the call to establish a central information portal on rare diseases (Zentrales Informationsportal über seltene Erkrankungen, ZIPSE). OBJECTIVE The objective of this study, therefore, was to conduct scientific research on how such a portal must be designed to meet the needs of patients, their families, and medical professionals, and to provide high-quality information for information seekers. METHODS We chose a 3-step procedure to develop a needs-based prototype of a central information portal. In the first step, we determined the information needs of patients with rare diseases, their relatives, and health care professionals by means of qualitative interviews and their content-analytical evaluation. On the basis of this, we developed the basic structure of the portal. In the second step, we identified quality criteria for websites on rare diseases to ensure that the information linked with ZIPSE meets the quality demands. Therefore, we gathered existing criteria catalogs and discussed them in an expert workshop. In the third step, we implemented and tested the developed prototypical information portal. RESULTS A portal page was configured and made accessible on the Web. The structure of ZIPSE was based on the findings from 108 qualitative interviews with patients, their relatives, and health care professionals, through which numerous information needs were identified. We placed particularly important areas of information, such as symptoms, therapy, research, and advisory services, on the start page. Moreover, we defined 13 quality criteria, referring to factors such as author information, creation date, and privacy, enabling links with high-quality information. Moreover, 19 users tested all the developed routines based on usability and comprehensibility. Subsequently, we improved the visual presentation of search results and other important search functions. CONCLUSIONS The implemented information portal, ZIPSE, provides high-quality information on rare diseases from a central point of access. By integrating the targeted groups as well as different experts on medical information during the construction, the website can assure an improved search for information for users. ZIPSE can also serve as a model for other Web-based information systems in the field of rare diseases. REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER RR1-10.2196/7425


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amita Tuteja ◽  
Elisha Riggs ◽  
Lena Sanci ◽  
Lester Mascarenhas ◽  
Di VanVliet ◽  
...  

Interpreters work with health care professionals to overcome language challenges during sexual and reproductive (SRH) health discussions with people from refugee backgrounds. Disclosures of traumatic refugee journeys and sexual assault combined with refugees’ unfamiliarity with Western health concepts and service provision can increase the interpreting challenges. Published literature provides general guidance on working with interpreters in primary care but few studies focus on interpretation in refugee SRH consults. To address this, we explored the challenges faced by providers of refugee services (PRS) during interpreter mediated SRH consultations with Burma born refugees post settlement in Australia. We used qualitative methodology and interviewed 29 PRS involved with migrants from Burma including general practitioners, nurses, interpreters, bilingual social workers, and administrative staff. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and subjected to thematic analysis following independent coding by the members of the research team. Key themes were formulated after a consensus discussion. The theme of “interpretation related issues” was identified with six sub-themes including 1) privacy and confidentiality 2) influence of interpreter’s identity 3) gender matching of the interpreter 4) family member vs. professional interpreters 5) telephone vs. face-to-face interpreting 6) setting up the consultation room. When faced with these interpretation related challenges in providing SRH services to people from refugee backgrounds, health care providers combine best practice advice, experience-based knowledge and “mundane creativity” to adapt to the needs of the specific patients. The complexity of interpreted SRH consultations in refugee settings needs to be appreciated in making good judgments when choosing the best way to optimize communication. This paper identifies the critical elements which could be incorporated when making such a judgement. Future research should include the experiences of refugee patients to provide a more comprehensive perspective.


2021 ◽  
pp. 016327872110408
Author(s):  
Hosung (Joel) Kang ◽  
Cecilia Flores-Sandoval ◽  
Benson Law ◽  
Shannon Sibbald

Teamwork among health care professionals has been found to improve patient outcomes and reduce burnout. Surveys from individual team members are often used to measure the effectiveness of teamwork performance, as they provide an efficient way to capture various constructs of teamwork. This allows evaluators to better understand team functioning, areas of strength, and to identify potential areas for improvement. However, the majority of published surveys are yet to be validated. We conducted a review of psychometric evidence to identify instruments frequently used in practice and identified in the literature. The databases searched included MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, and PsycINFO. After excluding duplicates and irrelevant articles, 15 articles met the inclusion criteria for full assessment. Seven surveys were validated and most frequently identified in the literature. This review aims to facilitate the selection of instruments that are most appropriate for research and clinical practice. More research is required to develop surveys that better reflect the current reality of teamwork in our evolving health system, including a greater consideration for patient as team members. Additionally, more research is needed to encompass an increasing development of team assessment tools.


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