Conectar
Dynamic and complex health systems require innovative and adaptive solutions to support patient safety and achieve equitable health outcomes for Indigenous populations. Understanding the ways by which Indigenous (and specifically Māori) nurse practitioners (NPs) practice patient safety is key to enhancing Indigenous health outcomes in predominantly westernized healthcare systems.
To describe Māori NPs perspectives on patient safety when caring for Māori and understand how Māori NPs deliver safe health care.
A group of five Māori NPs worked alongside a Māori nurse researcher to explore their perceptions of patient safety. Together, they held an online hui (focus group) in early 2024. Data were analysed collectively, informed by kaupapa Māori principles, using reflexive thematic analysis.
Māori NP experiences, expressions and understandings of patient safety envelop cultural safety and have many facets that are specific to the needs of Māori populations. The three themes showed: (1) Te hanga a te mahi: the intersection of cultural and clinical expertise; (2) Mātauranga tuku iho: the knowledge from within, where safe practice was strongly informed by traditional knowledge and cultural practice; (3) Te Ao hurihuri: walking in two worlds, where Māori NPs navigated the westernized health system's policies and practices while acting autonomously to advocate for and deliver culturally safe care.
The Māori NP lens on patient safety is vital for promoting culturally responsive and effective health care. By recognizing the unique needs of Māori patients and families and incorporating cultural perspectives into practice, Māori NPs contribute to a more comprehensive and inclusive approach to patient safety that goes beyond westernized principles and practices.
No patient or public contribution.
To assess the implementation feasibility and acceptability of a structured digital psychosocial communication tool (DIALOG+) to strengthen the quality of person-centric care in psychiatric settings within Pakistan and India.
A hybrid inductive and thematic qualitative analysis using individual interviews (IDIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs).
Two psychiatric hospitals (Karwan-e-Hayat and Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre) in Karachi, Pakistan and one psychiatric care organisation (Schizophrenia Research Foundation) in Chennai, India
Interviews were conducted with 8 mental health clinicians and 40 patients who completed the DIALOG+ pilot as well as wider stakeholders, that is, 12 mental health clinical providers, 15 caregivers of people with psychosis and 13 mental health experts.
A technology-assisted communication tool (DIALOG+) to structure routine meetings and inform care planning, consisting of monthly sessions over a period of 3 months. The intervention comprises a self-reported assessment of patient satisfaction and quality of life on eight holistic life domains and three treatment domains, followed by a four-step solution-focused approach to address the concerns raised in chosen domains for help.
Key insights for the implementation feasibility and acceptability of DIALOG+ were assessed qualitatively using inductive thematic analysis of 22 IDIs and 8 FGDs with 54 individuals.
Clinicians and patients ascribed value to the efficiency and structure that DIALOG+ introduced to consultations but agreed it was challenging to adopt in busy outpatient settings. Appointment systems and selective criteria for who is offered DIALOG+ were recommended to better manage workload. Caregiver involvement in DIALOG+ delivery was strongly emphasised by family members, along with pictorial representation and relevant life domains by patients to enhance the acceptability of the DIALOG+ approach.
Findings highlight that the feasibility of implementing DIALOG+ in psychiatric care is closely tied to strategies that address clinician workload. Promoting institutional ownership in strengthening resource allocation is essential to reduce the burden on mental health professionals in order to enable them to provide more patient-centric and holistic care for people with psychosis. Further research is required to explore the appropriateness of including caregivers in DIALOG+ delivery to adapt to communal cultural attitudes in South Asia.
Frequency of general practitioners’ (GPs’) antibiotic prescribing for acute, self-limiting respiratory tract infections (aRTIs) is high. The practice environment and culture influence the clinical behaviour, including prescribing behaviour, of GP specialist vocational trainees (registrars). We aimed to assess inter-practice variability in registrars’ antibiotic prescribing.
This was a cross-sectional analysis from the Registrar Clinical Encounters in Training (ReCEnT) cohort study, from 2010 to 2020.
ReCEnT documents registrars’ clinical experiences and behaviours. Before 2016, 5 of 17 Australian training regions participated in ReCEnT. From 2016, three of nine regions (~40% of Australian registrars) participated.
3210 registrars (response rate 91.8%) from 1286 training practices contributed to the analysis.
The outcomes were prescription of an antibiotic for new diagnoses of (1) all aRTIs and (2) acute bronchitis diagnoses specifically. Prescribing percentages were calculated at the training practice level. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were used to measure the ratio of interpractice variation to total variance. Median ORs (MORs) were also estimated to quantify interpractice variability.
Practice-level antibiotic prescribing percentages ranged from 0% to 100% for both aRTIs and acute bronchitis diagnoses in the primary analysis. ICCs for aRTI prescribing were 0.08 (unadjusted) and 0.02 (adjusted). For acute bronchitis, ICCs were 0.10 (unadjusted) and 0.05 (adjusted). MORs were 1.66 (unadjusted) and 1.32 (adjusted) for aRTIs. MORs for acute bronchitis were 1.80 (unadjusted) and 1.53 (adjusted). This indicates a marked variation in the odds of a patient receiving antibiotics for an aRTI if randomly attending different practices.
There was considerable interpractice variation in registrars’ antibiotic prescribing frequencies. Further research is required to examine the factors accounting for this variation and to develop practice-level interventions to reduce antibiotic prescribing in high-prescribing practices.
People experiencing homelessness (PEH) often die at a younger age than the general population. Advanced ill-health often occurs late in its trajectory (if at all), leaving many PEH to die without adequate support from hospital-based, hospice-based or community-based palliative care services. Despite the high rate of bereavement and exposure to death among PEH, there are rarely opportunities for them to reflect on their experiences, thoughts and preferences around death or receive bereavement support. Death cafés are a global social franchise, providing a space for people to participate in an open group discussion about death, dying and bereavement. They are free to attend and unstructured but facilitated.
To explore the perspectives of PEH and the professionals that support them with regards to the potential acceptability, benefits and challenges of death cafes.
A qualitative study comprising of interviews with nine homelessness and/or palliative care professionals with experience of running death cafés for, or supporting PEH in other ways, and two focus groups with nine people with lived experience of homelessness. The research was co-produced with a lived experience co-researcher forming a core part of the research team. Reflexive thematic analysis was utilised to develop themes.
Five themes were developed to highlight the perspectives and experiences of death cafés for PEH: choice; expertise in facilitation: recognising risk and the unstructured nature; promoting safety against potential risk; potential benefits and potential practical considerations. Themes highlight the need for a trauma-informed approach. Death cafés could be impactful, where done well, but they are not without risk.
Death cafés for PEH pose risks that require comprehensive consideration and trauma-informed, expert facilitation. However, this research highlighted that a low-pressure space to explore thoughts around death, dying and bereavement is currently an unmet need within this population.
Despite expert recommendations to prioritise non-invasive and patient-centred approaches for behavioural crisis management, physical restraints are commonly used in the emergency department (ED). Patients describe the restraint process as coercive and dehumanising. The use of peer support workers, who are individuals with lived experience of mental illness and behavioural conditions, has shown positive patient outcomes when assisting individuals experiencing behavioural crises. However, there is limited evidence of the implementation of such an approach in the ED setting. The goal of this study is to evaluate if the implementation of a Peer support enhanced Agitation Crisis response Team (PACT) for behavioural crisis management in the ED is more effective than usual care to reduce restraint use and improve outcomes among patients presenting to the ED with behavioural crises.
We will first conduct a stakeholder-informed needs assessment to codesign the protocol and then train staff and peers in PACT intervention readiness. Next, a stepped-wedge, cluster-randomised controlled trial will be conducted over 3 years at five ED sites across a healthcare system in the Northeast USA. The PACT intervention will integrate peer delivery of trauma-informed care within a structured, interprofessional, team-based response protocol for behavioural crisis management. The primary outcome is the rate of physical restraint and/or sedation use. The secondary outcome is the level of patient agitation during the ED visit. Analyses of primary and secondary outcomes will be conducted using generalised linear mixed models.
This protocol has been approved by the Yale University Human Investigation Committee (protocol number 2000037554). The study is deemed minimal risk and has been granted a waiver of consent for trial participants. However, verbal consent will be obtained for a subset of patients receiving follow-up data collection. Results will be disseminated through publications in open-access, peer-reviewed journals, via scientific presentations, or through direct mail notifications.
Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT06556069.
Paediatric cervical spine injury (CSI) is uncommon but can have devastating consequences. Many children, however, present to emergency departments (EDs) for the assessment of possible CSI. While imaging can be used to determine the presence of injuries, these tests are not without risks and costs, including exposure to radiation and associated life-time cancer risks. Clinical decision rules (CDRs) to guide imaging decisions exist, although two of the existing rules, the National Emergency X-Radiography Low Risk Criteria and the Canadian C-Spine Rule (CCR), focus on adults and a newly developed paediatric rule from the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) is yet to be externally validated. This study aims to externally validate these three CDRs in children.
This is a multicentre prospective observational study of children younger than 16 years presenting with possible CSI following blunt trauma to 1 of 14 EDs across Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. Data will be collected on presenting features (history, injury mechanism, physical examination findings) and management (diagnostic imaging, admission, interventions, outcomes). The performance accuracy (sensitivity, specificity, negative and positive predictive values) of three existing CDRs in identifying children with study-defined CSIs and the specific CDR defined outcomes will be determined, along with multiple secondary outcomes including CSI epidemiology, investigations and management of possible CSI.
Ethics approval for the study was received from the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne Human Research Ethics Committee in Australia (HREC/69436/RCHM-2020) with additional approvals from the New Zealand Human and Disability Ethics Committee and the SingHealth Centralised Institutional Review Board. Findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and future management guidelines.
Registration with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry prior to the commencement of participant recruitment (ACTRN12621001050842). 50% of expected patients have been enrolled to date.
To explore the role of nurse practitioners (NPs) in delivering models of acute and urgent care in local communities informing the development of NPs as a solution to providing sustainable and effective healthcare in these settings.
Descriptive qualitative multicase study.
The study population comprised NPs, clinic managers and general practitioners from NP-led acute and urgent care clinics across urban and rural Aotearoa New Zealand. Data were gathered from 20 semistructured interviews across seven sites. Data were thematically analysed to identify themes. Clinic-level operational data relating to the governance, team structures, and service delivery models were also collated and content from these data was integrated into the analysis and findings.
Five key themes were identified: meeting the needs of the community; development of NP-led acute care services; NPs as part of the healthcare team; training and support systems and supporting junior NPs and NP candidates.
Nurse practitioners have a valuable role to play in delivering acute and urgent care services to local communities. Increasing awareness of the NP role, the prioritisation of community needs and strengthening training and support structures at both a workforce and clinic level were key findings from this research.
Findings from this research guided the development of a set of recommendations which consider community, clinic and wider national perspectives and aim to support the future growth of NP-led community acute/urgent care.
This research has adhered to the Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research (SRQR) guidelines.
The authors have nothing to report.
Background
Comorbidities such as Type 2 diabetes mellitus significantly and adversely influence heart failure outcomes, especially in Black adult populations. Likewise, heart failure has a negative effect on diabetes and cardiometabolic outcomes. Dyspnea, a common symptom of heart failure, often correlates with disease severity and prognosis. However, the relationship between comorbid diabetes, dyspnea severity, and cardiometabolic biomarkers in Black adults with heart failure remains understudied.
Objectives
The purpose of this pilot study was to examine differences in the distressing heart failure symptom of dyspnea and in cardiometabolic and inflammatory biomarkers in Black adults living with heart failure with and without diabetes.
Methods
Black adults with heart failure were enrolled in this cross-sectional pilot study. Cardiometabolic and inflammatory biomarkers were measured via multiplex immunoassay. Univariate general liner models were used to identify group differences between persons with heart failure with comorbid diabetes and those without, controlling for age, sex, and comorbid burden.
Results
Participants were mostly female with a mean age of 55 years and mean left ventricular ejection fraction of 33%. Participants with diabetes exhibited higher dyspnea scores compared to those without diabetes, indicating greater symptom burden. Moreover, individuals with comorbid diabetes demonstrated higher levels of cardiometabolic and inflammatory markers.
Discussion
Comorbid diabetes was associated with higher dyspnea severity and adverse cardiometabolic profiles in Black adults with heart failure. These findings underscore the importance of targeted interventions addressing diabetes management and cardiometabolic risk factors to improve symptom control and outcomes in this high-risk population. Further research is warranted to elucidate the underlying mechanisms and develop tailored therapeutic strategies for managing comorbidities in persons with heart failure, particularly in minoritized communities. Background
Black adults have a higher risk for heart failure (HF) than others, which may be related to higher cardiovascular risk factors and also inflammatory dietary patterns. The Western diet is associated with inflammation and contributes to HF. Trimethylamine N-oxide is a diet-linked metabolite that contributes to inflammation and is associated with higher tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) levels, especially in HF populations. The dietary inflammatory index score measures a diet’s inflammatory potential and food’s inflammatory effects.
Objective
The purpose of this pilot study was to explore associations between the Western diet, dietary inflammatory index, trimethylamine N-oxide, relevant covariates and variables, and TNF-α in Black persons with HF.
Methods
Thirty-one Black participants (mean age = 55 years, 68% women) with HF were enrolled. Trimethylamine N-oxide and TNF-α levels were analyzed using immunoassays. A food frequency questionnaire was completed, and dietary inflammatory index scores and food groups were calculated. Analyses included correlations and I-test statistics.
Results
Mean dietary inflammatory index score was −0.38, noting an anti-inflammatory diet with slightly higher inflammatory diet scores in men compared to women. The dietary inflammatory index score showed a negative association with dietary choline but not with trimethylamine N-oxide or TNF-α. Trimethylamine N-oxide and age were positively correlated, along with the correlation for TNF-α with a moderate effect size. No relationship was found among dietary inflammatory index, TNF-α, and trimethylamine N-oxide variables.
Discussion
A greater understanding of intake of inflammatory foods and relationships with immune factors is warranted to inform intervention development. In Black adults with HF, it is important to consider the intake of inflammatory foods as increased age may affect the retention of dietary metabolites. Metabolites may also increase the levels of inflammation. Knowledge about these relationships could lead to tailored dietary interventions based on diet, age, and culture patterns. To synthesise international literature to identify mechanisms that maintain racism in nursing and understand the factors that contribute to designing and implementing anti-racist praxis to inform nursing in Aotearoa New Zealand.
An integrative literature review was undertaken, integrating Indigenous Kaupapa Māori methodologies to ensure a cultural and philosophical lens.
Peer-reviewed literature published, between January 2011 and July 2023 were sourced. Of 1296 articles, 16 met the inclusion criteria and 4 were identified via citation chaining. In total, 20 articles were included. The Johns Hopkins Research Evidence Tool was applied, findings extracted, and thematic analysis completed utilising Indigenous Kaupapa Māori principles.
Databases, including CINAHL, Scopus, PubMed and Aus/NZ Reference Centre, were searched in July 2023.
Two key themes were identified: (1) colonial active resistance to change; and (2) transformational, visionary, and proactive nursing.
Nurses are well-positioned to confront the structures that maintain racism in health and education systems but are often actors in maintaining status quo. Anti-racist praxis can be a mechanism for nurses to reimagine, redefine and transform nursing care, leadership, and nursing education to begin to eradicate racism.
This integrative review adhered to the 2020 Preferred Reporting for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) method.
No patient or public contribution.
Racism remains prevalent in nursing and the healthcare system. It is necessary to implement anti-racist praxis and policies that resist, deconstruct, and dismantle power and racism while validating Indigenous values, beliefs and practices. This is vital to deliver equitable health care.
This integrative review presents lived realities and knowledge of Indigenous and racially minoritised nurses and scholars, alongside nursing allies to inform anti-racist praxis. This evidence signifies that it is time to walk the walk to challenge the colonising systems and processes that hold racism in place.
To explore the nature of interactions that enable older inpatients with cognitive impairments to engage with hospital staff on falls prevention.
Ethnographic study.
Ethnographic observations on orthopaedic and older person wards in English hospitals (251.25 h) and semi-structured qualitative interviews with 50 staff, 28 patients and three carers. Findings were analysed using a framework approach.
Interactions were often informal and personalised. Staff qualities that supported engagement in falls prevention included the ability to empathise and negotiate, taking patient perspectives into account. Although registered nurses had limited time for this, families/carers and other staff, including engagement workers, did so and passed information to nurses.
Some older inpatients with cognitive impairments engaged with staff on falls prevention. Engagement enabled them to express their needs and collaborate, to an extent, on falls prevention activities. To support this, we recommend wider adoption in hospitals of engagement workers and developing the relational skills that underpin engagement in training programmes for patient-facing staff.
Interactions that support cognitively impaired inpatients to engage in falls prevention can involve not only nurses, but also families/carers and non-nursing staff, with potential to reduce pressures on busy nurses and improve patient safety.
The paper adheres to EQUATOR guidelines, Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research.
Patient/public contributors were involved in study design, evaluation and data analysis. They co-authored this manuscript.
To review existing research on nonpharmacological tactile activity interventions for reducing behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia in the acute hospital setting.
When people living with dementia are admitted to hospital, they often experience an exacerbation of behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia. Pharmacological interventions are often used to manage behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia despite the low success rate and the heightened risk of morbidity and mortality. Low-cost alternatives that are implementable at the bedside are nonpharmacological interventions such as tactile activity interventions.
An integrative review of the literature.
Four databases were searched using the PRISMA framework to guide the search and screening. Eligible studies were identified and the quality of each was evaluated using the Mixed Method Appraisal Tool. Thematic analysis was conducted to identify and analyse key themes across all articles. The PRISMA checklist was used to evaluate the current study.
Seven studies examined the use of tactile activity interventions to reduce the behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia and the barriers and facilitators to implementation.
There is limited evidence exploring tactile activity interventions for reducing behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia in acute hospital settings. Individualised approaches in combination with staffing expertise appear central to implementation.
Acute hospital settings can result in increased behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia which can be distressing for patients and family and challenging for nursing staff. Tactile activity interventions may offer a low resource bedside option to support people with dementia in acute health settings.
No direct patient or public contribution to the review.
Nurses' lack of clinical judgment often leads to adverse patient outcomes due to failure to recognize clinical deterioration, intervene, and manage complications. Teaching clinical judgment through a nursing process can help nursing students provide safe and competent patient care with improved health outcomes and to pass the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN).
The aim of this study was to examine the effect of tutoring on clinical judgment of undergraduate nursing students utilizing Lasater's Clinical Judgment Rubric (LCJR). This study also compared the clinical judgment of male and female nursing students and students from different semester levels.
This quasi-experimental study utilized a single group pretest, posttest design. A convenience sample of n = 40 undergraduate nursing students from the Los Angeles County College of Nursing and Allied Health participated in the study. The participants underwent a pretest simulation, four sessions of the Clinical Judgment Model (CJM)-based tutoring, and a posttest simulation.
The posttest clinical judgment scores (35.70 ± 3.6) were significantly different from the pretest scores (25.78 ± 5.20). The tutoring had a significant effect on the clinical judgment of nursing students t(39) = −11.64, n = 40, p < .001, at 95% CI of the mean difference.
Enhancing nursing students' clinical judgment is crucial to provide high-quality, safe patient care with improved health outcomes. The CJM-based tutoring is an effective strategy for developing clinical judgment in nursing students. This new teaching approach can train students to critically think, develop clinical judgment, and prepare for the complex healthcare environment. Therefore, nurse educators should focus on integrating clinical judgment into the prelicensure nursing program curriculum as a priority.
FreshRSS 