As long as (I think) my husband agrees…: role of perceived partner approval in contraceptive use among couples living in military camps in Kinshasa, DRC

Background Male partner’s approval is a key determinant of contraceptive use for women living in Sub-Saharan Africa and improving men’s support and couple communication is a cornerstone of family planning programs. However, approval is often only measured through the women’s perception of their partner’s opinion. Methods This study conducted in Kinshasa compares contraceptive approval variables from matched male and female partners (n = 252 couples) to establish the frequency of (in)accurate perceptions by the woman, then test their association with modern contraceptive use. Additional regressions estimate individual and couple variables associated with (in)correct perceptions. Results Results confirm women are poorly aware of their partner’s opinion but indicate that perceived approval or disapproval by the woman is a much stronger determinant of modern contraceptive use than her partner’s actual opinion. Higher educational achievement from the woman is the strongest driver of misunderstanding her partner’s approval. Conclusions Women’s perceptions of partner’s approval are much stronger determinant of contraceptive use than the latter’s actual opinion, and stereotyping men’s opinion of family planning is a common error of appreciation. However, findings also suggest these misunderstandings might serve women’s capacity to negotiate contraceptive use.

Review of Different Error Metrics: A Case of Solar Forecasting

Renewable energy systems (RES) are no longer confined to being used as a stand-alone entity in the modern era. These RES, especially solar panels are also used with the grid power systems to supply electricity. However, precise forecasting of solar irradiance is necessary to ensure that the grid operates in a balanced and planned manner. Various solar forecasting models (SFM) are presented in the literature to produce an accurate solar forecast. Nevertheless, each model has gone through the step of evaluation of its accuracy using some error measures. Many error measures are discussed in the literature for deterministic as well as probabilistic solar forecasting. But, each study has its own selected error measure which sometimes landed on a wrong interpretation of results if not selected appropriately. As a result, this paper offers a critical assessment of several common error metrics with the goal of discussing alternative error metrics and establishing a viable set of error metrics for deterministic and probabilistic solar forecasting. Based on highly cited research from the last three years (2019-2021), error measures for both types of forecasting are presented with their basic functionalities, advantages & limitations which equipped the reader to pick the required compatible metrics

A pilot study about methods to reduce prescription errors in a chemotherapy day unit – Aspects to consider in pharmacist verification process

Introduction Prescribing errors can happen unintentionally during the prescribing process, or when choosing a treatment therapy. Prescribing errors have the highest prevalence amongst common error types related to chemotherapy medication in outpatient settings. According to the Joint Commission International (JCI), prescriptions should be reviewed for appropriateness by someone else than the prescriber or practitioner to prevent medication errors. Aim The study was aimed to map out the existing type and amount of occurring deviations in prescribing and to clarify the current chemotherapy prescribing practices at the Comprehensive Cancer Center at Helsinki University Hospital. Similar research has not been published in Finland before. Methods and patients The researcher selected patients randomly from the daily outpatient attendance list following a predetermined numerical order. Data was collected by conducting a medication verification review in line with the JCI guidance by a clinical pharmacist the day before the patient's clinic appointment using the available medical documentation. A clinical pharmacist evaluated findings from prescriptions and contacted an oncologist if the findings were considered clinically significant. Results A clinical pharmacist verified prescriptions from 101 patients for appropriateness and found discrepancies in four percent of the prescriptions ( n = 4/101). The oncologist approved 50 percent of the suggested amendments by the pharmacist as clinically significant ( n = 2/4). The study revealed that patient’s regular home medications were not always correctly recorded into the database, so verification of medicine interactions could not be trusted as completely accurate. It took on average 16 min per patient to perform a medication verification review. The process was slowed down by the lack of detailed enough protocols for this purpose and the current patient care record system not having structural formatting of data entry. Conclusions Verification of prescriptions provides a tool to identify prescribing discrepancies and to prevent unintended medication errors affecting patients. The development of detailed protocols and guidelines, as well as an appropriate training program, would support pharmacists in compiling clinical medication reviews for chemotherapy patients. More research is needed to further develop the operating model in Finland. Information gathered from this study can be used for identifying training requirements.

erreurs fréquentes des étudiants universitaires hispanophones de FLE à l’écrit

In this article,we classify the most common morphosyntactic mistakes that Spanish-speaking university students of French as a foreign language at level A2-B1 make when writing. We will focus solely onthe area of morphosyntaxas it is always where the most mistakes are made. Furthermore, we will discuss in more detail the issue of the agreement, as it is the most common error within our corpus. We conclude that the mispronunciation of the learners as well as bad reading habits couldbe the origin of a certain numberof morphological errors. Finally, we suggest some corrective practices aiming to reduce, or even eradicate, the detected errors: autocorrection, collective correction, and rereading En este artículo presentamos la clasificación de los errores morfosintácticos más frecuentes cometidos por los estudiantes universitarios hispanohablantes de francés lengua extranjera en sus producciones escritas. Solo consideramos el área morfosintáctica por ser esta la que reúne siempre más cantidad de errores. Asimismo, abordamos con más detenimiento la cuestión de la ausencia de concordancia, que es el error más común en nuestro corpus. Llegamos a la conclusión de que la pronunciación defectuosa de los alumnos, así como malos hábitos de lectura podrían ser una posible fuente de estos errores morfológicos. Finalmente, proponemos algunas prácticas correctivas con el fin de reducir, e incluso eliminar, los errores detectados: autocorrección, corrección colectiva y relectura.

Accurate Morphology Characterization Using Atomic Force Microscopy via Vertical Drift Correction and Illusory Slope Elimination

Thanks to the ability to perform imaging and manipulation at the nanoscale, atomic force microscopy (AFM) has been widely used in biology, materials, chemistry, and other fields. However, as common error sources, vertical drift and illusory slope severely impair AFM imaging quality. To address this issue, this paper proposes a robust algorithm to synchronously correct the image distortion caused by vertical drift and slope, thus achieving accurate morphology characterization. Specifically, to eliminate the damage of abnormal points and feature areas on the correction accuracy, the laser spot voltage error acquired in the AFM scanning process is first utilized to preprocess the morphology height data of the sample, so as to obtain the refined alternative data suitable for line fitting. Subsequently, this paper proposes a novel line fitting algorithm based on sparse sample consensus, which accurately simulates vertical drift and slope in the cross-sectional profile of the topographic image, thereby achieving effective correction of the image distortion. In the experiments and applications, a nanoscale optical grating sample and a biological cell sample are adopted to perform topography imaging and distortion correction, so as to verify the ability of the proposed algorithm to promote AFM imaging quality.

Medication errors associated with direct-acting oral anticoagulants: analysis of data from national pharmacovigilance and local incidents reporting databases

Background For more than a decade, direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) have been approved in clinical practice for multiple indications such as stroke prevention in non-valvular atrial fibrillation treatment of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. This study aimed to explore the nature and contributory factors related to medication errors associated with DOACs in hospital settings. Methods Analysis of error reports using data from (a) Saudi Food and Drug Authority pharmacovigilance database and (b) local incidents reporting system from two tertiary care hospitals were included. Errors reported between January 2010 to December 2020 were also included. Statistical analyses were performed using IBM (SPSS) Statistics Version 24.0 software. Results A total of 199 medication error incidents were included. The mean (range) age of affected patients was 63.5 (19–96) years. The mean reported duration of treatment when incidents happened was 90 days, with a very wide range from one day to 12 months. Prescribing error was the most common error type representing 81.4% of all errors. Apixaban was the most frequent drug associated with error reporting with 134 (67.3%) incidents, followed by rivaroxaban (18.6%) and dabigatran (14.1%). The majority of the patients (n = 188, 94.5%) showed comorbidities in addition to the conditions related to DOACs. Polypharmacy, an indication of treatment and duration of therapy were amongst the important contributory factors associated with errors. Conclusions This observational study demonstrates the nature of DOAC related medication errors in clinical practice. Developing risk prevention and reduction strategies using the expertise of clinical pharmacists are imperative in promoting patient safety associated with DOAC use.

Medication Related Adverse Events in the Emergency Medical Services: Analysis of a Patient Safety Register

BackgroundAdverse drug events encompass a wide range of potential unintended and harmful events, from adverse drug reactions to medication errors, many of which in retrospect, are considered preventable. However, the primary challenge towards reducing their burden lies in consistently identifying and monitoring these occurrences, a challenge faced across the spectrum of healthcare, including the emergency medical services. The aim of this study was to identify and describe medication related adverse events (AEs) in the out-of-hospital setting.MethodsThe medication components of a dedicated patient safety register were analysed and described for the period Jan 2017 – Sept 2020. Univariate descriptive analysis was used to summarize and report on basic case and patient demographics, intervention related AEs, medication related AEs, and AE severity. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the odds of AE severity, by AE type.FindingsA total of 3475 patient records were assessed where 161 individual medication AEs were found in 150 (4.32%), 12 of which were categorised as harmful. Failure to provide a required medication was found to be the most common error (1.67%), followed by the administration of medications outside of prescribed practice guidelines (1.18%). There was evidence to suggest a 63% increase in crude odds of any AE severity [OR 1.63 (95% CI: 1.03 – 2.6), p = 0.035] with the medication only AEs when compared to the intervention only AEs. ConclusionPrehospital medication related adverse events remain a significant threat to patient safety in this setting and warrant greater widespread attention and future identification of strategies aimed at their reduction.

Optimizing Fluid Resuscitation and Preventing Fluid Overload in Patients with Septic Shock

Intravenous fluid administration remains an important component in the care of patients with septic shock. A common error in the treatment of septic shock is the use of excessive fluid in an effort to overcome both hypovolemia and vasoplegia. While fluids are necessary to help correct the intravascular depletion, vasopressors should be concomitantly administered to address vasoplegia. Excessive fluid administration is associated with worse outcomes in septic shock, so great care should be taken when deciding how much fluid to give these vulnerable patients. Simple or strict “recipes” which mandate an exact amount of fluid to administer, even when weight based, are not associated with better outcomes and therefore should be avoided. Determining the correct amount of fluid requires the clinician to repeatedly assess and consider multiple variables, including the fluid deficit, organ dysfunction, tolerance of additional fluid, and overall trajectory of the shock state. Dynamic indices, often involving the interaction between the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, appear to be superior to traditional static indices such as central venous pressure for assessing fluid responsiveness. Point-of-care ultrasound offers the bedside clinician a multitude of applications which are useful in determining fluid administration in septic shock. In summary, prevention of fluid overload in septic shock patients is extremely important, and requires the careful attention of the entire critical care team.