An evaluation of the epidemiology of medication discrepancies and clinical significance of medicines reconciliation in children admitted to hospital

Aims: To determine the incidence of unintended medication discrepancies in paediatric patients at the time of hospital admission; evaluate the process of medicines reconciliation; assess the benefit of medicines reconciliation in preventing clinical harm. Method: A 5 month prospective multisite study. Pharmacists at four English hospitals conducted admission medicines reconciliation in children using a standardised data collection form. A discrepancy was defined as a difference between the patient's preadmission medication (PAM), compared with the initial admission medication orders written by the hospital doctor. The discrepancies were classified into intentional and unintentional discrepancies. The unintentional discrepancies were assessed for potential clinical harm by a team of healthcare professionals, which included doctors, pharmacists and nurses. Results: Medicines reconciliation was conducted in 244 children admitted to hospital. 45% (109/244) of the children had at least one unintentional medication discrepancy between the PAM and admission medication order. The overall results indicated that 32% (78/244) of patients had at least one clinically significant unintentional medication discrepancy with potential to cause moderate 20% (50/244) or severe 11% (28/244) harm. No single source of information provided all the relevant details of a patient's medication history. Parents/carers provided the most accurate details of a patient's medication history in 81% of cases. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that in the absence of medicines reconciliation, children admitted to hospitals across England are at risk of harm from unintended medication discrepancies at the transition of care from the community to hospital. No single source of information provided a reliable medication history.

Study of management decision making by ward sisters in a hospital and the effects on decision making after the implementation of a decision support sytem

This thesis considers management decision making at the ward level in hospitals especially by ward sisters, and the effectiveness of the intervention of a decision support system. Nursing practice theories were related to organisation and management theories in order to conceptualise a decision making framework for nurse manpower planning and deployment at the ward level. Decision and systems theories were explored to understand the concepts of decision making and the realities of power in an organisation. In essence, the hypothesis was concerned with changes in patterns of decision making that could occur with the intervention of a decision support system and that the degree of change would be governed by a set of `difficulty' factors within wards in a hospital. During the course of the study, a classification of ward management decision making was created, together with the development and validation of measuring instruments to test the research hypothesis. The decision support system used was rigorously evaluated to test whether benefits did accrue from its implementation. Quantitative results from sample wards together with qualitative information collected, were used to test this hypothesis and the outcomes postulated were supported by these findings. The main conclusion from this research is that a more rational approach to management decision making is feasible, using information from a decision support system. However, wards and ward sisters that need the most assistance, where the `difficulty' factors in the organisation are highest, benefit the least from this type of system. Organisational reviews are needed on these identified wards, involving managers and doctors, to reduce the levels of un-coordinated activities and disruption.

Public and private hospital services reform:an investigation in Iranian hospitals

This research aimed to present a model of efficiency for selected public and private hospitals of East Azerbaijani province of Iran by making use of DEA approach in order to recognize and suggest the best practice standards. In other words, its aim was to suggest a suitable context to develop efficient hospital systems while maintaining the quality of care at minimum expenditures. It is recommended for inefficient hospitals to make use of the followings: transferring, selling, or renting idle/unused beds; transferring excess doctors and nurses to the efficient hospitals or other health centers; pensioning off, early retirement clinic officers, technicians/technologists, and other technical staff. The saving obtained from the above approaches could be used to improve remuneration for remaining staff and quality of health care services of hospitals, rural and urban health centers, support communities to start or sustain systematic risk and resource pooling and cost sharing mechanisms for protecting beneficiaries against unexpected health care costs, compensate the capital depreciation, increasing investments, and improve diseases prevention services and facilities in the provincial and national levels.

Exploring the experiences of nurses who care for children who have Acute Life Threatening Events (ALTE) in hospital

This thesis presents a program of work designed to explore and describe what the experience of caring for a child who has an Acute Life Threatening Event (ALTE) is like for the nurses. An ALTE may include a cardiac arrest, respiratory arrest or unplanned admission for a ward to the Paediatric Intensive Care unit. Using the MRC framework for the development of complex interventions, this information was then coupled with theory to develop the PREPARE and SUPPORT interventions. Given the wide-ranging and exploratory nature of this research, a pragmatic, mixed design approach was used to address the aims and objectives of the thesis. The mixed design approach included: a systematic literature review; international survey of practice; interviews with nurses and doctors using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis; development, refinement and evaluation of interventions during a feasibility study. Two studies were identified through the systematic review which aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of debriefing. The studies did not provide evidence to support the use of these interventions within healthcare. The international survey of practice demonstrated hospitals were using interventions to both prepare and support nurses for these events. The preparatory interventions were clinically focused and the majority of the supportive interventions included a debrief. The interventions were not being evaluated for effectiveness. The interviews conducted with nurses and doctors provided insight into what that experience was like for the participants. Using the MRC framework, this evidence was coupled with theory to develop the PREPARE and SUPPORT interventions. A multidisciplinary working party used an iterative process to refine and evaluate the interventions and study procedures were explored through a feasibility study. The pragmatic, mixed design approach demonstrated how the empirical evidence was coupled with theory and clinical expertise to develop interventions for use within the healthcare environment.

Introducing consultant outpatient clinics to community settings to improve access to paediatrics:an observational impact study

Objectives - In line with a national policy to move care ‘closer to home’, a specialist children's hospital in the National Health Service in England introduced consultant-led ‘satellite’ clinics to two community settings for general paediatric outpatient services. Objectives were to reduce non-attendance at appointments by providing care in more accessible locations and to create new physical clinic capacity. This study evaluated these satellite clinics to inform further development and identify lessons for stakeholders. Methods - Impact of the satellite clinics was assessed by comparing community versus hospital-based clinics across the following measures: (1) non-attendance rates and associated factors (including patient characteristics and travel distance) using a logistic regression model; (2) percentage of appointments booked within local catchment area; (3) contribution to total clinic capacity; (4) time allocated to clinics and appointments; and (5) clinic efficiency, defined as the ratio of income to staff-related costs. Results - Satellite clinics did not increase attendance beyond their contribution to shorter travel distance, which was associated with higher attendance. Children living in the most-deprived areas were 1.8 times more likely to miss appointments compared with those from least-deprived areas. The satellite clinics’ contribution to activity in catchment areas and to total capacity was small. However, one of the two satellite clinics was efficient compared with most hospital-based clinics. Conclusions - Outpatient clinics were relocated in pragmatically chosen community settings using a ‘drag and drop’ service model. Such clinics have potential to improve access to specialist paediatric healthcare, but do not provide a panacea. Work is required to improve attendance as part of wider efforts to support vulnerable families. Satellite clinics highlight how improved management could contribute to better use of existing capacity.

Support for paediatric prescribers:what is discussed at hospital board level?

Prescribing support tools range from traditional printed texts to state-of-the-art computerised decision support systems. Comparison between available literature is difficult due to country-specific resources often being the focus of the research. In the UK, it is widely accepted that hospitals take their own individualised approaches to reducing prescribing errors. Objective - This study focused on specialist paediatric hospitals. It aimed to identify the localised approaches taken by paediatric hospitals to reduce prescribing errors. Method - Applied thematic analysis was used to explore the publically published board meeting minutes from the four specialist stand-alone paediatric hospitals in England. Three years of data was collected from each hospital. Codes were collected into groups to identify themes from the data. Results - The main themes identified were clinician involvement in prescribing support is important; credit card-sized reminder tools are used to provide prescribing guidance; electronic prescribing is considered important for reducing prescribing errors; feedback from clinical pharmacists on prescribing errors is widely used; junior doctors require extra support when prescribing; medical records may be incomplete and specific prescribing support (eg, antibiotic prescribing support) is widely in use. Conclusions - There is no single collaborative approach taken to paediatric prescribing support in English paediatric hospitals. Success of electronic prescribing in English paediatric hospitals is considerably behind leaders such as the USA. Use of clinical pharmacists to support prescribers is important as supported by previous studies in Spain and the USA.

Stress, burnout and coping strategies in the emergency and intensive care hospital departments

Doctors and nurses working at the accident and emergency (A&E), and intensive care departments are at risk of burnout. They often spend substantial time in intense interactions with other people, centered on patients? health problems (physical, psychological and social) that may lead to feelings of anger, anxiety and frustration, and eventually to burnout. Burnout is a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment (Maslach & Jackson, 1981) The purpose of this chapter is to assess work stressors, burnout and stress-coping mechanisms among doctors and nurses at the A&E and intensive care departments. A quantitative design using the survey approach was used to collect data from a sample of 200 participants with a response rate of 71% (n=154) Work stressors were associated with burnout in both doctors and nurses. Workload was the most salient work stressor in the sample. Nurses experienced more stress (M=1.5, SD=0.4) than doctors (M=1.2, SD=0.4) in all the work stressor variables examined. The A&E department was reported as more stressful than the intensive care department. Avoidance-oriented and task-oriented coping were the most and the least frequently reported coping strategies respectively. Additionally, only emotion-oriented coping strategy was significantly different between doctors and nurses, and this strategy was also significantly positively correlated with all the variables in the adapted nursing stress scale, and the three burnout variables. Death and dying was most strongly correlated with emotion-oriented coping. This chapter provides an assessment of stress, burnout and coping experienced by both doctors and nurses within the A&E and intensive care departments. Methods that may mitigate stress in these environments may be adequate staffing, supportive management, stress management programs, as well as improvement in communication strategies between doctors and nurses.

Better queue management in a busy public hospital of a developing country without appointment system::an application using data envelopment analysis

Queuing is a key efficiency criterion in any service industry, including Healthcare. Almost all queue management studies are dedicated to improving an existing Appointment System. In developing countries such as Pakistan, there are no Appointment Systems for outpatients, resulting in excessive wait times. Additionally, excessive overloading, limited resources and cumbersome procedures lead to over-whelming queues. Despite numerous Healthcare applications, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) has not been applied for queue assessment. The current study aims to extend DEA modelling and demonstrate its usefulness by evaluating the queue system of a busy public hospital in a developing country, Pakistan, where all outpatients are walk-in; along with construction of a dynamic framework dedicated towards the implementation of the model. The inadequate allocation of doctors/personnel was observed as the most critical issue for long queues. Hence, the Queuing-DEA model has been developed such that it determines the ‘required’ number of doctors/personnel. The results indicated that given extensive wait times or length of queue, or both, led to high target values for doctors/personnel. Hence, this crucial information allows the administrators to ensure optimal staff utilization and controlling the queue pre-emptively, minimizing wait times. The dynamic framework constructed, specifically targets practical implementation of the Queuing-DEA model in resource-poor public hospitals of developing countries such as Pakistan; to continuously monitor rapidly changing queue situation and display latest required personnel. Consequently, the wait times of subsequent patients can be minimized, along with dynamic staff scheduling in the absence of appointments. This dynamic framework has been designed in Excel, requiring minimal training and work for users and automatic update features, with complex technical aspects running in the background. The proposed model and the dynamic framework has the potential to be applied in similar public hospitals, even in other developing countries, where appointment systems for outpatients are non-existent.

A puha költségvetési korlát szindrómája a kórházi szektorban = The soft budget constraint syndrome in the hospital sector

A kutatások eddig főképpen azt vizsgálták, hogyan jelenik meg a puha költségvetési korlát szindrómája a vállalati szférában és a hitelrendszerben. A jelen cikk a kórházi szektorra összpontosítja a figyelmet. Leírja az események öt főszereplőjének, a betegnek, az orvosnak, a kórházigazgatónak, a politikusnak és a kórház tulajdonosának motivációit és magatartásuk ellentmondásos jellegét. A motivációk magyarázzák, miért olyan erőteljes a túlköltési hajlam és a költségvetési korlát felpuhulásának tendenciája. A döntési és finanszírozási folyamatok minden szintjén felfelé hárítják a túlköltés és eladósodás terheit. A cikk kitér a különböző tulajdonformák (állami, nonprofit és forprofit nem állami tulajdonformák) és a puha költségvetési korlát szindrómájának kapcsolatára. Végül normatív szempontból vizsgálja a jelenséget: melyek a költségvetési korlát megkeményítésének kedvező és kedvezőtlen következményei, és hogyan tükröződnek a normatív dilemmák az események résztvevőinek tudatában. ___________ Researches so far have examined mainly how the soft budget constraint syndrome appears in the corporate sphere and the credit system. This article concentrates on the hospital sector. It describes the motivations and the contradictory behaviour of the five main types of participant in the events: patients, doctors, hospital managers, politicians, and hospital owners. The motivations explain why the propensity to overspend and the tendency to soften the budget constraint are so strong. The burdens of overspending and indebtedness are pushed upwards at every level of the decision-making and funding processes. The article considers the connection between the soft budget constraint syn-drome and the various forms of ownership (state ownership and the non-profit and for-profit forms of non-state ownership). Finally, the phenomenon is examined from the normative point of view: what are the favourable and unfavourable consequences of hardening the budget constraint and how these are reflected in the consciousness of the participants in the normative dilemmas and events.

Doctors' thinking about the system as a threat to patient safety

‘Systems thinking’ is an important feature of the emerging ‘patient safety’ agenda. As a key component of a ‘safety culture’, it encourages clinicians to look past individual error to recognise the latent factors that threaten safety. This paper investigates whether current medical thinking is commensurate with the idea of ‘systems thinking’ together with its implications for policy. The findings are based on qualitative semistructured interviews with specialist physicians working within one NHS District General Hospital in the English Midlands. It is shown that, rather then favouring a 'person-centred’ perspective, doctors readily identify ‘the system’ as a threat to patient safety. This is not necessarily a reflection of the prevailing safety discourse or knowledge of policy, but reflects a tacit understanding of how services are (dis)organised. This line of thinking serves to mitigate individual wrong-doing and protect professional credibility by encouraging doctors to accept and accommodate the shortcomings of the system, rather than participate in new forms of organisational learning.

A qualidade dos cuidados de enfermagem e a Norma ISO 9001 : Aplicação empírica no Hospital CUF Infante Santo

A preocupação com a qualidade e normalização dos serviços de saúde é cada vez maior, verificando-se que, para responder às progressivas exigências dos utentes, aparecem entidades que criam normas universais, as quais pretendem a garantia da qualidade nos serviços de saúde. Contudo, a implementação de um sistema de gestão da qualidade, através da norma ISO 9001, nestas organizações, é um desafio pela dificuldade de avaliação da qualidade dos serviços prestados- cuidados de saúde. Estando presente num hospital profissional como médicos, enfermeiros e gestores, com características culturais que influenciam a forma de encarar a qualidade e a sua monitorização para a existência de uma mudança profunda, quando se implementa uma política de qualidade, é fundamental conhecer a definição da qualidade de cada profissional, membro de uma cultura e, deste modo, a sua postura perante o fenómeno. O presente trabalho tem como objectivos identificar a percepção dos enfermeiros do Hospital Cuf Infante-Santo, relativamente ao sistema de gestão da qualidade, segundo a norma ISO, e, consequentemente, investigar pontos fortes, pontos fracos, ameaças e oportunidades da implementação dessa norma nessa organização hospitalar. Para atingir os objectivos, foi desenvolvido um modelo de análise, onde se considera o relacionamento entre as características da qualidade em saúde, cultura organizacional hospitalar e do sistema da norma ISO, para o desenvolvimento da melhoria contínua na organização. Os dados, para a elaboração desta dissertação, foram recolhidos através de inquérito por questionários aos enfermeiros do Hospital Cuf Infante-Santo, que se encontravam a laborar na organização aquando da implementação da norma ISO, sendo utilizado o método quantitativo e técnicas do estudo qualitativo na análise de dados orientados para o significado das acções. Do trabalho desenvolvido, conclui-se que a percepção relativamente às alterações na qualidade dos cuidados está limitada pelo facto de a maioria dos respondentes não conhecer o sistema de qualidade (Norma ISO 9001), sendo este um dos pontos fracos para a implementação da norma ISO na organização. Deste modo, a situação diagnosticada constitui um alerta para as organizações de saúde, ao implementarem sistemas de gestão da qualidade, potencializarem os pontos fortes identificados, como a orientação dos enfermeiros para o cuidar e para o cliente e, por outro lado, evitar repetir pontos fracos, como o identificado anteriormente, através do envolvimento e formação dos seus colaboradores nas políticas da qualidade. Os enfermeiros preocupam-se com a qualidade, mas referem que não a monitorizam regularmente. Pelo que, esta necessidade com a implementação do sistema de gestão da qualidade, deverá ser corrigida, de modo a que a organização de saúde em estudo caminhe para a excelência. ABSTRACT: The concern with the quality and standardization of health services is increasing, verifying that to respond to the progressiva demands of the users, there appear entities wishing to create universal standards to ensure the quality in health services. However, implementing a quality management service, through ISO 9001 standard, in these organizations, it is a challenge by the difficulties of evaluation in the quality of the provided services - health care. Being present in a hospital professionals such as doctors, nurses and managers, with cultural characteristics that influence the way and method of facing the quality and its monitoring for the existence of a profound change, when a quality policy is implemented, it is fundamental to know the definition of the quality of each and ever professional, member of a culture, and in this way, their posture towards the phenomenon. This present study aims to identify the perceptions of nurses at the Infante-Santo CUF Hospital, relatively to the quality management system, according to the ISO standard, and consequently, investigating strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities of the implementation of this standard in that hospital organization. To achieve these aims or objectives, an analysis model was developed, which considers the relationship between the characteristics of the quality of health, hospital organizational culture and the ISO standard system, for the further development of the continuous improvement in the organization. The data for the elaboration of this dissertation was collected through questionnaire surveys done to the nurses at Infante-Santo CUF Hospital, who were working in the organization during the ISO standard implementation, being used the quantity method and techniques of the quality study in the analysis of data orientated to the meaning of actions. The developed research concluded that the perception related to the alterations in the quality of the care is limited by the majority of respondents not knowing the quality system (ISO 9001 standard), being this one of the weaknesses to the implementation of the ISO standard in the organization. Therefore, the diagnosed situation constituted a warning to the health organizations, to implement quality management systems, potentially the identified strengths, such as the orientation of the nurses to the care and to the client, and on the other hand, avoiding the repetition of weaknesses, as previously identified, through the involvement and training of its employees in the quality policies. The nurses are concerned about the quality but they refer that there is no regular monitoring. Thus, this necessity of the implementation of the quality and management system should be corrected, so that the health organization being studied should proceed to excellence.

Avaliação de Indicadores de Qualidade no Hospital das Forças Armadas

O presente trabalho de investigação individual (TII) teve como objetivo produzir um índice de avaliação da satisfação dos utentes, delimitado às consultas externas do Hospital das Forças Armadas - Polo de Lisboa (HFAR/PL), a fim de identificar os aspetos positivos e negativos, bem como a qualidade dos serviços prestados, visando melhorar o desempenho desta unidade hospitalar. Para o desenvolvimento do TII seguiu-se um raciocínio hipotético-dedutivo, adotando no domínio metodológico uma estratégia quantitativa e usando como instrumento de recolha de dados, a técnica por inquérito de questionário, num modelo de perguntas fechadas, utilizando para isso a plataforma Survio1. “Como é que os utentes avaliam os serviços prestados nas Consultas Externas do HFAR/PL?”, é a pergunta pela qual foi orientado o presente trabalho, tendo sido avaliadas diversas dimensões (e respetivos indicadores), onde se conclui que a maioria de utentes estão satisfeitos relativamente ao desempenho dos profissionais de saúde (médicos e enfermeiros), embora seja importante refletir sobre outros aspetos, de modo a serem otimizados, visando a melhoria da qualidade do serviço prestado e a satisfação dos utentes. Abstract: This paper’s aim is to produce and analyze an evaluation index of the user’s satisfaction, limited to the scope of Armed Forces Hospital - Lisbon Campus (HFAR /PL) outpatients. This will make it possible to identify positive and negative aspects and evaluate the quality of the services, thus finding ways to improve the performance of the hospital. For the development of the research, a hypothetical-deductive reasoning, adopting a methodological quantitative approach, was used. A closed question survey, based on the Survio Platform, was used as the data collection instrument. The leading question was “How do users evaluate the services provided to Outpatients Consultations by HFAR / PL?". Several dimensions (and their respective indicators) were evaluated, leading to the conclusion that most outpatients are satisfied with the performance of the health professionals (doctors and nurses). Nevertheless, other aspects have been identified as needing optimization in order to improve the quality of the service and the user’s satisfaction.

Conocimientos, actitudes y prácticas del personal médico y de enfermería de la sala de partos del Hospital José Carrasco Arteaga, en la aplicación de las normas de Bioseguridad en la atención del recién nacido, Cuenca 2015

Antecedentes. La ejecución de las Normas de Bioseguridad, es una responsabilidad de la institución donde se incluye a todos los funcionarios. En el servicio de partos existen elementos nocivos o potencialmente peligrosos, como los productos biológicos provenientes de los pacientes y los reactivos químicos de diferente naturaleza. Es necesario reconocer estos peligros para establecer y aplicar medidas de prevención y seguridad (1). Objetivo: Determinar los conocimientos, actitudes y prácticas del personal médico y de enfermería en la sala de partos del hospital José Carrasco Arteaga, en la aplicación de las normas de bioseguridad en la atención del recién nacido, Cuenca 2015. Material y métodos: Se realizó un estudio cuantitativo - descriptivo, la muestra estaba constituida por 50 profesionales de la sala de partos del Hospital José Carrasco Arteaga. Las técnicas de investigación fueron la encuesta, la observación y la revisión bibliográfica, los instrumentos utilizados fueron ficha de registro, y la encuesta. Los resultados fueron analizados en tablas simples y de contingencia mediante los programas de Word. Excel y SPSS versión 21. Resultados: el 98% del personal desecha correctamente el material corto punzantes, el 86% del personal siempre lava sus manos antes y después de atender a la madre. Conclusiones: Al finalizar podemos decir que el 98% de los profesionales conoce lo que es bioseguridad, pero el 80% de los profesionales no aplica estas normas en el servicio. Para mejorar esto se debe elaborar y mejorar estrategias de capacitación.