Project description:BackgroundBlepharitis is an ocular surface disease and chronic ophthalmic condition. This paper reports on the development of psychometric evaluation of a patient-reported measure of blepharitis symptoms.MethodsSelf-reports of 13 blepharitis symptoms collected in a Phase 3 multi-site, randomized, double-masked, 4-arm parallel group, clinical trial of 907 individuals with blepharitis (mean age = 62, range: 19-93; 57% female) were analyzed. Symptoms asked about were: eyes that itch; eyes that burn; eyelids feel heavy or puffy; feel like something is in your eye; dry eyes; gritty eyes; irritated eyes; eyes that tear or water; crusty eyes; flaking from your eyelids; eyelids that are stuck together; red eyes or eyelids; and debris like pieces of skin or dandruff in your eyes.ResultsCategorical factor analyses provided support for two multi-item symptom scales: Irritation (9 items, alpha = 0.88) and Debris (4 items, alpha = 0.85). Spearman-rank order correlations of the Irritation and Debris scales with the Ocular Surface Disease total score were 0.63 and 0.41, respectively (p's < 0.001). Rank-order correlations between ratings of clinicians and self-reports of puffy eyes (r = 0.07, p < .05), red eyes (r = 0.12, p < .001), debris (r = 0.03, p > 0.05), and irritation (r = 0.47, p < .001).ConclusionsThis study provides support for the psychometric properties and construct validity of the Irritation and Debris scales for assessing symptoms of blepharitis. The associations between the self-reports and clinician ratings of 4 symptoms indicate substantial unique information in the new self-reported symptom items.Trial registrationThe trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov under the registry number NCT01408082 .
Project description:BackgroundA high-quality colonoscopy bowel prep is vital to completing the procedure. Adequate inpatient bowel preparation has been consistently difficult to achieve because of multiple factors. Incomplete bowel prep can lead to repeated colonoscopies, poor patient experience, increased costs, and prolonged hospitalization. This study aimed to develop patient-centered interventions to optimize bowel prep for inpatients undergoing colonoscopy.MethodsThe Model for Improvement and Donabedian frameworks guided this project. An interdisciplinary team compiled quality improvement tools that identified areas for improvement. Interventions development included a nursing tip sheet for troubleshooting symptoms, a standardized order label and a patient educational placemat. Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles were carried out to test and analyze the effects of the interventions. The project aim was a 30% reduction in incomplete inpatient colonoscopies from poor bowel prep. Process measures included the number of colonoscopy split prep order labels, and placemats used. The balancing measure was the number of repeat colonoscopies.ResultsPrior to the intervention, 44% (44/99) of inpatient colonoscopies had poor bowel prep resulting in 10 repeat procedures (10%). Post intervention, 60% (28/47) of the colonoscopies used the standardized label, 66% of physician orders used 2-L split prep, and 80% of patients were provided with the educational placemat. Of the 47 colonoscopies audited post intervention, there was a significant decrease in poor prep (27.7% [13/47], P=0.038) for colonoscopies. The percentage of repeated colonoscopies decreased to 4% (2/47).ConclusionDeveloping simple and easy-to-use patient-centered interventions can effectively improve colonoscopy preparation for hospitalized patients.
Project description:ObjectivesMeasuring patient experience of gastrointestinal (GI) procedures is a key component of evaluation of quality of care. Current measures of patient experience within GI endoscopy are largely clinician derived and measured; however, these do not fully represent the experiences of patients themselves. It is important to measure the entirety of experience and not just experience directly during the procedure. We aimed to develop a patient-reported experience measure (PREM) for GI procedures.DesignPhase 1: semi-structured interviews were conducted in patients who had recently undergone GI endoscopy or CT colonography (CTC) (included as a comparator). Thematic analysis identified the aspects of experience important to patients. Phase 2: a question bank was developed from phase 1 findings, and iteratively refined through rounds of cognitive interviews with patients who had undergone GI procedures, resulting in a pilot PREM. Phase 3: patients who had attended for GI endoscopy or CTC were invited to complete the PREM. Psychometric properties were investigated. Phase 4 involved item reduction and refinement.ResultsPhase 1: interviews with 35 patients identified six overarching themes: anxiety, expectations, information & communication, embarrassment & dignity, choice & control and comfort. Phase 2: cognitive interviews refined questionnaire items and response options. Phase 3: the PREM was distributed to 1650 patients with 799 completing (48%). Psychometric properties were found to be robust. Phase 4: final questionnaire refined including 54 questions assessing patient experience across five temporal procedural stages.ConclusionThis manuscript gives an overview of the development and validation of the Newcastle ENDOPREM™, which assesses all aspects of the GI procedure experience from the patient perspective. It may be used to measure patient experience in clinical care and, in research, to compare patients' experiences of different endoscopic interventions.
Project description:ObjectiveAs part of a quality improvement project, we developed and employed an observation checklist to measure patient-centered behaviors during daily rounds to assess the frequency of patient-centered behaviors among a patient-centered care (PCC) team and standard team (ST) rounds.Patients and methodsOn four general medicine service (GMS) teaching teams at an urban academic medical center in which housestaff rotate, we utilized an observation checklist to assess the occurrence of eight behaviors on inpatient daily rounds. The checklist covered domains of patient-centered communication, etiquette-based behaviors, and shared decision-making. One GMS team is guided by a PCC curriculum that emphasizes patient-centered communication strategies, but not specifically behaviors during bedside rounds.ResultsBetween August 2018 and May 2019 a trained observer completed 448 observations of patient rounding encounters using the checklist. Across all teams, 46.0% of the 8 behaviors were performed when possible, with more done on the PCC team (58.0%) than ST (42.0%), p < 0.01.ConclusionsPerformance of patient-centered behaviors during daily rounds was low overall. Despite having no specific instruction on daily rounds, patient-centered behaviors were more frequent among the teams which were part of a PCC curriculum. However, the frequency of observed behaviors was modest, suggesting that more explicit efforts to change rounding behaviors are needed. Our observational checklist may be a tool to assist in future interventions to improve patient-centered behaviors on daily rounds.
Project description:The 32-item Motor Function Measure (MFM32) is an assessment of motor function used to evaluate fine and gross motor ability in patients with neuromuscular disorders, including spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Reliability and validity of the MFM32 have been documented in individuals with SMA. Through semi-structured qualitative interviews (N = 40) and an online survey in eight countries (N = 217) with individuals with Types 2 and 3 SMA aged 2–59 years old and caregivers, the meaning of changes on a patient-friendly version of the MFM32 was explored. In an independent analysis of clinical trial data, anchor- and distribution-based analyses were conducted in a sample of individuals with Type 2 and non-ambulant Type 3 SMA to estimate patient-centered quantitative MFM32 meaningful change thresholds. The results from this study demonstrate that, based on patient and caregiver insights, maintaining functional ability as assessed by a patient-friendly version of the MFM32 is an important outcome. Quantitative analyses using multiple anchors (median age range of 5–8 years old across anchor groups) indicated that an ~3-point improvement in MFM32 total score represents meaningful change at the individual patient level. Overall, the qualitative and quantitative findings from this study support the importance of examining a range of meaningful change thresholds on the MFM32 including ≥0 points change reflecting stabilization or improvement and ≥3 points change reflecting a higher threshold of improvement. Future research is needed to explore quantitative differences in meaningful change on the MFM32 based on age and functional subgroups.
Project description:BackgroundInpatient colonoscopy bowel preparation (ICBP) is frequently inadequate and can lead to adverse events, delayed or repeated procedures, and negative patient outcomes. Guidelines to overcome the complex factors in this setting are not well established. Our aims were to use health systems engineering principles to comprehensively evaluate the ICBP process, create an ICBP protocol, increase adequate ICBP, and decrease length of stay. Our goal was to provide adaptable tools for other institutions and procedural specialties.MethodsPatients admitted to our tertiary care academic hospital that underwent inpatient colonoscopy between July 3, 2017 to June 8, 2018 were included. Our multi-disciplinary team created a protocol employing health systems engineering techniques (i.e., process mapping, cause-effect diagrams, and plan-do-study-act cycles). We collected demographic and colonoscopy data. Our outcome measures were adequate preparation and length of stay. We compared pre-intervention (120 ICBP) vs. post-intervention (129 ICBP) outcomes using generalized linear regression models. Our new ICBP protocol included: split-dose 6-L polyethylene glycol-electrolyte solution, a gastroenterology electronic note template, and an education plan for patients, nurses, and physicians.ResultsThe percent of adequate ICBPs significantly increased with the intervention from 61% pre-intervention to 74% post-intervention (adjusted odds ratio of 1.87, p value = 0.023). The median length of stay decreased by approximately 25%, from 4 days pre-intervention to 3 days post-intervention (p value = 0.11).ConclusionsBy addressing issues at patient, provider, and system levels with health systems engineering principles, we addressed patient safety and quality of care provided by improving rates of adequate ICBP.
Project description:IntroductionPrognostic biomarkers and novel therapeutic approaches have been slow to emerge in the treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). In this study, an HNSCC patient cohort is created and performance of putative prognostic biomarkers investigated in a population-validated setting. The overall goal is to develop a novel way to combine biomarker analyses with population-level clinical data on HNSCC patients and thus to improve the carryover of biomarkers into clinical practice.Materials and methodsTo avoid selection biases in retrospective study design, all HNSCC patients were identified and corresponding clinical data were collected from the Southwest Finland geographical area. A particular emphasis was laid on avoiding potential biases in sample selection for immunohistochemical staining analyses. Staining results were evaluated for potential prognostic resolution.ResultsAfter comprehensive evaluation, the patient cohort was found to be representative of the background population in terms of clinical characteristics such as patient age and TNM stage distribution. A negligible drop-out of 1.3% (6/476) was observed during the first follow-up year. By immunohistochemical analysis, the role of previously implicated HNSCC biomarkers (p53, EGFR, p16, CIP2A, Oct4, MET, and NDFIP1) was investigated.DiscussionOur exceptionally representative patient material supports the use of population validation to improve the applicability of results to real-life situations. The failure of the putative prognostic biomarkers emphasizes the need for controlling bias in retrospective studies, especially in the heterogenous tumor environment of HNSCC. The resolution of simple prognostic examination is unlikely to be sufficient to identify biomarkers for clinical practice of HNSCC.
Project description:OBJECTIVE:To determine the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics as well as health services use associated with successful community discharge. DATA SOURCE:Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility-Patient Assessment Instrument and Medicare Provider Analysis and Review files. STUDY DESIGN:We retrospectively examined 167,664 Medicare beneficiaries discharged from inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) in 2013 to determine the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics as well as health services use associated with successful community discharge. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:In the multivariable model, sociodemographic (younger age, no disability, social support), clinical (higher motor and cognitive functional status at admission), and health services use (fewer acute care days and longer IRF days) variables were associated with successful community discharge. CONCLUSIONS:Remaining in the community is an important patient-centered outcome that could complement other postacute rehabilitation quality measures.
Project description:To assess household food waste in large-scale studies with the aim to understand differences in food waste levels between households, surveys are often employed. Yet, survey measures rely on people's awareness of their own food waste levels, draw upon their memory of instances of food waste, and can be subject to social desirability. Therefore, existing survey measures may not be optimal in measuring household food waste. The Household Food Waste Questionnaire has been developed to ameliorate these issues. It uses a pre-announcement to increase awareness of food waste, focuses on a short and specific time period (i.e. the past week), and specifies detailed product categories, whereas previous surveys mostly used general questions without reference to time period or product category. The amount of household food waste estimated using the Household Food Waste Questionnaire is likely to considerably underestimate the actual amount, so the method should not be used to obtain accurate waste amounts, but rather to distinguish differences between households and/or across time. Advantages compared to existing survey methods are that it: •Distinguishes better between households with low versus high levels of food waste•Correlates more highly with other measurements of household food waste (diary, kitchen caddy, photograph coding).
Project description:BackgroundImportant knowledge gaps have been identified related to the causes and symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and medical treatments and their side effects. Patients with IBD turn to social media to learn more about their disease. However, such information found on the web is misleading and often of low quality.ObjectiveThis study aims to gain an in-depth understanding of the unmet educational needs of patients with IBD and to use the resulting insights to develop a collection of freely available, evidence-based educational videos optimized for dissemination through social media.MethodsWe used design thinking, a human-centered approach, to guide our qualitative research methodology. We performed focus groups and interviews with a diverse sample of 29 patients with IBD. Data collection was performed in 3 phases (inspiration, ideation, and implementation) based on IDEO design thinking. Phase 1 offered insights into the needs of patients with IBD, whereas phases 2 and 3 involved ideation, prototyping, and video testing. A thematic analysis was performed to analyze the resulting data.ResultsPatients emphasized the need for educational videos that address their challenges, needs, and expectations. From the data analysis, 5 video topics and their content emerged: IBD treatments' risks and benefits; how to be a self-advocate; how to stay healthy with IBD; how to cope with IBD; and educating families, friends, and colleagues about experiences of patients with IBD.ConclusionsDesign thinking offers a deep understanding and recognition of the unmet educational needs of patients with IBD; this approach informed the development of 5 evidence-based educational videos. Future research will formally test and disseminate these freely available videos through social media.