Dataset Information

A survey on beliefs and attitudes of trainee surgeons towards placebo.

ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to investigate the beliefs and attitudes of trainee surgeons regarding placebo interventions, in surgical practice and in research, and to compare them to those of senior orthopaedic surgeons.An invitation to participate in an online survey was sent to all the email addresses in the members' database of the British Orthopaedic Trainees Association (BOTA).All 987 members of BOTA were invited to participate in the survey and 189 responded (19 %). The majority of trainees think that the placebo effect is real (88 %), has therapeutic benefits (88 %) and that placebo manipulations are permissible (98 %). Sixty per cent of respondents agree that placebo can be used outside of research, most commonly, to distinguish between organic and non-organic symptoms (36 %). Trainees are more likely than senior surgeons to use placebo for pain management (34 % vs. 12 %). They are mainly concerned about the risk of side effects associated with the use of placebo (80 %) and prefer placebo interventions with minimal invasiveness. Seventy-three per cent respondents would recruit patients into the proposed randomised controlled surgical trial.The views regarding efficacy, permissibility and indications for placebo among trainees are similar to those of orthopaedic consultants. Orthopaedic trainees regard placebo as permissible and show willingness to recruit into placebo-controlled trials. However, they seem to have limited understanding of mechanisms of placebo effect and underestimate its ubiquity.

SUBMITTER: Baldwin MJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4847348 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

A survey on beliefs and attitudes of trainee surgeons towards placebo.

Baldwin Mathew J MJ Wartolowska Karolina K Carr Andrew J AJ

BMC surgery 20160427 1

<h4>Background</h4>The aim of this study was to investigate the beliefs and attitudes of trainee surgeons regarding placebo interventions, in surgical practice and in research, and to compare them to those of senior orthopaedic surgeons.<h4>Methods</h4>An invitation to participate in an online survey was sent to all the email addresses in the members' database of the British Orthopaedic Trainees Association (BOTA).<h4>Results</h4>All 987 members of BOTA were invited to participate in the survey ...[more]

PMID: 27118280

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundPrevious studies have shown that attitudes towards depression may be influenced by country-specific social and cultural factors. A survey was carried out to collect beliefs on and attitudes toward depression in Italy, which has an established community-based mental health system.MethodsA telephone survey was carried out in a probabilistic sample aged ≥15 years. A 20-item questionnaire was administered to explore knowledge of depression, stigma, causal beliefs, treatment preference, and help-seeking attitudes.ResultsOf the 1001 participants, 98% were aware of depression, and 62% had experienced it, either directly or indirectly. A widespread belief (75%) was that people suffering from depression should avoid talking about their problem. A minority of the sample viewed depression as a condition that should be managed without recourse to external help or a "socially dangerous" illness. Among perceived causes of depression, most respondents mentioned life stressors or physical strains. Psychologists were often indicated as an adequate source of professional help. Half of the sample believed that depression should be pharmacologically treated, but drugs were often seen as addictive. Referring to a primary care physician (PCP) was considered embarrassing; furthermore, many people thought that PCPs are too busy to treat patients suffering from depression.ConclusionsOur findings indicate that depression is seen as a reaction to significant life events that should be overcome with the support of significant others or the help of health professionals (mainly psychologists). However, there are still barriers to the disclosure of depressive symptoms to PCPs, and concerns about the addictive effect of antidepressants. In the presence of a gap between people's beliefs and what health professionals consider appropriate for the treatment of depression, a "shared decision making" approach to treatment selection should be adopted taking into account the patients' preference for psychological interventions to ensure active compliance with effective treatments.

Project description:BackgroundAntibiotic resistance (AMR) is a growing public health problem worldwide, in part related to inadequate antibiotic use. A better knowledge of physicians' motivations, attitudes and practice about AMR and prescribing should enable the design and implementation of effective antibiotic stewardship programs (ASPs). The objective of the study was to assess attitudes and perceptions concerning AMR and use of antibiotics among surgeons who regularly perform emergency or trauma surgery.MethodsA cross-sectional web-based survey was conducted contacting 4904 individuals belonging to a mailing list provided by the World Society of Emergency Surgery. Participation was voluntary and anonymous. The survey was open for 5 weeks (from May 3, 2017, to June 6, 2017), within which two reminders were sent. The self-administered questionnaire was developed by a multidisciplinary team; reliability and validity were assessed.ResultsThe overall response rate was 12.5%. Almost all participants considered AMR an important worldwide problem, but 45.6% of them underrated the problem in their own hospitals. Surgeons provided with periodic reports on local AMR demonstrated a lower underrating in their hospital. Only 66.3% of the surgeons stated to receive periodic reports on local AMR data, and among them, 56.2% had consulted them to select an antibiotic in the previous month. Availability of systematic reports about AMR, availability of guidelines for therapy of infections, and advice from an infectious diseases specialist were considered very helpful measures to improve antibiotic prescribing by 68.0, 65.7, and 64.9%, respectively. Persuasive and restrictive ASPs were both considered helpful measures by 64.5%. Moreover, 86.3% considered locally developed guidelines more useful than national ones. Only 21.9% received formal training in antibiotic prescribing in the previous year; among them, 86.6% declared to be interested in receiving more training.ConclusionsAvailability of periodic reports on local AMR data was considered an important tool to guide surgeons in choosing the correct antibiotic and to increase awareness of the problem of AMR. Local guidelines for therapy of infections should be implemented in every emergency surgery setting, and developed by a multidisciplinary team directly involving surgeons, infectious diseases specialists, and microbiologists, and formally established in an ASP.

Project description:Double-checking medications is a widely used strategy to enhance safe medication administration in oncology, but there is little evidence to support its effectiveness. The proliferated use of double-checking may be explained by positive attitudes towards checking among nurses. This study investigated oncology nurses' beliefs towards double-checking medication, its relation to beliefs about safety and the influence of nurses' level of experience and proximity to clinical care.This was a survey of all oncology nurses in three Swiss hospitals. The questionnaire contained 41 items on 6 domains. Responses were recorded using a 7-point Likert scale. Multiple regression analysis was used to identify factors linked to strong beliefs in the effectiveness of double-checking.Overall, 274 (70%) out of 389 nurses responded (91% female, mean age 37 (standard deviation?=?10)). Nurses reported very strong beliefs in the effectiveness and utility of double-checking. They were also confident about their own performance in double-checking. Nurses widely believed that double checking produced safety (e.g., 86% believed errors of individuals could be intercepted with double-checks). In contrast, some limitations of double-checking were also recognized, e.g., 33% of nurses reported that double checking caused frequent interruptions and 28% reported that double-checking was done superficially in their unit. Regression analysis revealed that beliefs in effectiveness of double-checking were mainly associated with beliefs in safety production (p?<?0.001). Nurses with experience in barcode scanning held less strong beliefs in effectiveness of double-checking (p?=?0.006). In contrast to our expectations, there were no differences in beliefs between any professional sub-groups.The widespread and strong believe in the effectiveness of double-checking is linked to beliefs about safety production and co-exists with acknowledgement of the major disadvantages of double-checking by humans. These results are important factors to consider when any existing procedures are adapted or new checking procedures are implemented.

Project description:BackgroundWhilst Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (ERAS) has been widely accepted in the international colorectal surgery community, there remains significant variations in ERAS programme implementations, compliance rates and best practice recommendations in international guidelines.MethodsA questionnaire was distributed to colorectal surgeons from Australia and New Zealand after ethics approval. It evaluated specialist attitudes towards the effectiveness of specific ERAS interventions in improving short term outcomes after colorectal surgery. The data were analysed using a rating scale and graded response model in item response theory (IRT) on Stata MP, version 15 (StataCorp LP, College Station, TX).ResultsOf 300 colorectal surgeons, 95 (31.7%) participated in the survey. Of eighteen ERAS interventions, this study identified eight strategies as most effective in improving ERAS programmes alongside early oral feeding and mobilisation. These included pre-operative iron infusion for anaemic patients (IRT score = 7.82 [95% CI: 6.01-9.16]), minimally invasive surgery (IRT score = 7.77 [95% CI: 5.96-9.07]), early in-dwelling catheter removal (IRT score = 7.69 [95% CI: 5.83-9.01]), pre-operative smoking cessation (IRT score = 7.68 [95% CI: 5.49-9.18]), pre-operative counselling (IRT score = 7.44 [95% CI: 5.58-8.88]), avoiding drains in colon surgery (IRT score = 7.37 [95% CI: 5.17-8.95]), avoiding nasogastric tubes (IRT score = 7.29 [95% CI: 5.32-8.8]) and early drain removal in rectal surgery (IRT score = 5.64 [95% CI: 3.49-7.66]).ConclusionsThis survey has demonstrated the current attitudes of colorectal surgeons from Australia and New Zealand regarding ERAS interventions. Eight of the interventions assessed in this study including pre-operative iron infusion for anaemic patients, minimally invasive surgery, early in-dwelling catheter removal, pre-operative smoking cessation, pre-operative counselling, avoidance of drains in colon surgery, avoiding nasogastric tubes and early drain removal in rectal surgery should be considered an important part of colorectal ERAS programmes.

Dataset Information

A survey on beliefs and attitudes of trainee surgeons towards placebo.

Publications

A survey on beliefs and attitudes of trainee surgeons towards placebo.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets