A virtual Community of Practice (vCoP) for the empowerment of people with coronary heart disease (CHD): Co-design of the vCoP with CHD patients and healthcare professionals.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the adherence to secondary prevention medications among patients with coronary heart disease and identify factors associated with it. Materials and methods. We examined 40 patients diagnosed with coronary heart disease of more than 50 years old, who were prescribed with optimal medication for 1 year during hospitalization. Patients` adherence was defined according to MMS-8 Morisky values for secondary prevention medications prescribed by doctors. Also, questionnaires about individual reasons of non-compliance and for individual patient`s opinion about importance and usefulness of knowledge according to risk factors of the increase of cardiovascular mortality were designed and proposed to the patients. Simple descriptive statistics were used to elucidate the characteristics of the patient population and results from individual adherence tools. Final score was analyzed and correlation between patients’ data and level of adherence to prescribed treatment were identified. A correlation matrix (using Spearman’s coefficient) was reviewed for any evidence of collinearity. Results and discussion. Our study demonstrated higher level of non-adherence with secondary prevention medications in patients with coronary heart disease (60.0%). This fact can be explained by the socioeconomic reasons, less informative strategies from the medical staff to the patients. Severe regress of adherence was demonstrated after discharge from the hospital due to subjective improvement of the patients` condition with absence of supervision by out-patient specialists. Demographic characteristics of the patients suggested that some non-modified factors can affect compliance with the prescribed treatment. Better adherence was demonstrated by female married patients with higher educational level, with family history about cardiovascular death. Also, too much prescribed medications with difficult regime of usage with non-adequate out-patient supervision may significantly decrease adherence causing development of complications which may lead to re-hospitalizations and cardiovascular death. Our investigation demonstrated also non-complete information of the patients about lifestyle and medical risk factors of the cardiovascular mortality increase. Conclusion. The results of our study can provide useful practical information on the prevalence and severity of non-adherence among patients with coronary heart disease. Analysis of the factors influencing the adherence demonstrated the main reasons from patients and healthcare professionals affecting the level of compliance with the prescribed treatment. The step towards improving adherence can be initiated by the healthcare professional to overcome the patient's concerns about the prescribed medication. It is important to continue personal monitoring of patients by healthcare professionals in the form of regular inspections of intentional and unintentional non-adherence, including factors and reasons that may change and lead to such behavior

Download Full-text

An Exploration of Using Facebook to Build a Virtual Community of Practice

Hybrid Learning - Lecture Notes in Computer Science ◽

10.1007/978-3-642-22763-9_30 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 316-324 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Kenneth Wong ◽

Reggie Kwan ◽

Kat Leung

Keyword(s):

Community Of Practice ◽

Virtual Community ◽

Virtual Community Of Practice

Download Full-text

Abstract W P274: Developmental Evaluation Enhances Utility of the Toronto Stroke Networks Virtual Community of Practice

Stroke ◽

10.1161/str.45.suppl_1.wp274 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 45 (suppl_1) ◽

Author(s):

Joanne Fortin ◽

Krystyna Skryabka ◽

Gail Avinoam ◽

Shelley Sharp ◽

Jacqueline Willems ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Community Of Practice ◽

Interprofessional Collaboration ◽

Healthcare Providers ◽

Virtual Community ◽

Stroke Care ◽

Evaluation Framework ◽

Developmental Evaluation ◽

Virtual Community Of Practice ◽

Evaluation Approach ◽

Value Add

Background: The Toronto Stroke Networks (TSNs) Virtual Community of Practice (VCoP) was developed to connect stroke healthcare providers (HCPs), enhance professional and organizational stroke expertise, foster implementation of best practices, and improve patient outcomes in stroke care. The VCoP is a secure social media platform fostering cross system interprofessional collaboration (IPC). Purpose: To use formative developmental evaluation to inform further improvement of the VCoP’s content and performance and to measure its efficacy as a KT tool to support IPC. Methods: An evaluation framework was developed based on “Promoting and assessing value creation in communities and networks” (Wengar, 2011). Stroke HCPs from 15 organizations in the TSNs were provided VCoP training to build virtual competence and to seek feedback for enhanced utility. The TSNs Education and KT Implementation Plan for 2013-2014 integrated activities that encourage VCoP use. These activities include co-development of educational material across sites, information sharing between meetings, and to support implementation of specific activities. Qualitative (e.g. value stories, narratives) and quantitative indicators (e.g. membership and usage) data are evaluated. Results: The TSNs VCoP currently has: 287 members and 26 groups (open and private groups with 4-19 members). There are 8 interprofessional discussions, with a total of 20 pre-populated and requested forums. Feedback from the membership has prompted investments to improve search features and identification of members within the site for more efficient collaborations. Uploading of Provincial Stroke Rounds, provision of a Research and Knowledge Translation Widget, and securing a space for HCPs to submit recommended presentations were added to increase the value-add of the site as a one-stop shop for Stroke HCPs seeking stroke care information. Qualitative analysis of value stories demonstrating the efficacy of the VCoP for IPC is in progress and will be available at time of publishing. Conclusions: The VCoP is an innovative approach to enhancing the system of stroke care. This formative developmental evaluation approach has enhanced the utility of the VCoP as a source for stroke information and HCP connections.

Download Full-text