Dataset Information

Building a Children's Health Service and System Research Strategy: development and integration in an Australian paediatric healthcare setting.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Health services and systems research (HSSR) strategies dedicated to paediatric health care and service delivery are limited. Strategies are available but are outdated and yet to be optimised for use in a paediatric health system. We aim to describe the development and integration of a Children's Health Service and System Research Strategy (CHSSR-S) in Children's Health Queensland (CHQ), a large specialist quaternary hospital and health service caring for children and young people in Queensland and northern New South Wales, Australia. METHODS:The CHSSR-S was developed using an inductive, bottom-up, participatory systems approach across three phases: (1) Identifying local HSSR capacity; (2) Development; (3) Integration. A HSSR "Champion" was appointed to lead all phases. Clinical, research and system-based stakeholders (n?=?14) were individually identified, contacted and participated in dedicated meetings and a workshop to iteratively design the CHSSR-S. A health system-wide CHSSR-S governance committee was established to drive phase three. Health system integration was achieved by multicomponent, action-based strategies. RESULTS:The final CHSSR-S comprised ten Research Priorities and three Research Enablers, and was successfully integrated within CHQ via a range of platforms. Research Priorities included: (1) Population Health; (2) Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Cancer; (3) Indigenous Health; (4); Mental Health; (5) Nutrition and Obesity; (6) Rare Neurodevelopmental Disorders; (7) Sepsis; (8) Screening, surveillance and monitoring; (9) Innovation; and (10) Electronic Medical Record (EMR). Research Priorities were supported by three Research Enablers: (1) Data; (2); Evaluation and Health Economics; and (3) Policy. CONCLUSIONS:The CHSSR-S is the first known paediatric HSSR strategy developed and integrated within a large dedicated paediatric health system. The CHSSR-S may be used to guide global paediatric healthcare systems to prioritise HSSR in their local setting to optimise health service delivery and patient outcomes.

SUBMITTER: Littlewood R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7322850 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Building a Children's Health Service and System Research Strategy: development and integration in an Australian paediatric healthcare setting.

Littlewood Robyn R Canfell Oliver J OJ Tracey Frank F

BMC health services research 20200629 1

<h4>Background</h4>Health services and systems research (HSSR) strategies dedicated to paediatric health care and service delivery are limited. Strategies are available but are outdated and yet to be optimised for use in a paediatric health system. We aim to describe the development and integration of a Children's Health Service and System Research Strategy (CHSSR-S) in Children's Health Queensland (CHQ), a large specialist quaternary hospital and health service caring for children and young peo ...[more]

PMID: 32600407

Similar Datasets

Project description:OBJECTIVES:This study investigated pharmacists' and pharmacy assistants' current practices and perspectives with regard to oral healthcare provision across Australian community pharmacies. DESIGN:Cross-sectional study. A questionnaire for each pharmacist and pharmacy assistant cohort was developed and administered by online or postal means. Pearson's ?2 test was used to examine relationships between categorical variables. PARTICIPANTS:Pharmacists and pharmacy assistants working within 2100 randomly selected Australian community pharmacies. RESULTS:The overall response rate was 58.5% (644/1100) for the pharmacist cohort and 28% (280/1000) for the pharmacy assistant cohort. This represents pharmacy staff responses from 803 community pharmacies across Australia (approximately 14.6%, 803/5500 of community pharmacies nationally). Overall, the majority of pharmacists (80.2%; 516/644) and pharmacy assistants (83.6%; 234/280) reported providing oral health advice/consultations to health consumers up to five times each week. More than half of community pharmacists and pharmacy assistants were involved in identifying signs and symptoms for oral health problems; and the majority believed health consumers were receptive to receiving oral health advice. Additionally, more than 80% of pharmacists and 60% of pharmacy assistants viewed extended oral healthcare roles positively and supported integrating them within their workplace; extended roles include provision of prevention, early intervention and referral to oral healthcare services. The most commonly reported barriers to enhance pharmacy staff involvement in oral healthcare within Australian community pharmacies include lack of knowledge, ongoing training and resources to assist practice. CONCLUSION:This study highlights that Australian pharmacists have an important role in oral health and provides evidence supporting the need for growing partnerships/collaborations between pharmacy and dental healthcare professionals and organisations to develop, implement and evaluate evidence-based resources, interventions and services to deliver improved and responsive oral healthcare within Australian communities.

Project description:PurposeTo investigate the attitude of final-year dental students towards their paediatric dentistry training and their confidence in treating child patients.MethodsA 55-item questionnaire was distributed online and physically to the final-year BDSc (Hons) students at The University of Queensland (Australia). The questionnaire consisted of four parts including theoretical knowledge, clinical observational experience, preclinical training and clinical training in paediatric dentistry. Self-reported confidence was recorded using five-point Likert scale questions ranging from 'not confident at all' to 'completely confident', which were allocated the numbers 1-5, respectively. Jamovi and GraphPad Prism were used for data analysis and creation of graphs.ResultsA total of 47 students completed the questionnaire giving a response rate of 77%. Approximately two-thirds of participants had previous experience working with children and 70% had observed a practitioner providing paediatric dental treatment. The students reported the lowest level of clinical confidence for pulp therapy (M = 2.32; SD = 1.08). The clinical confidence in dental trauma management was also reported to be low (M = 2.50; SD = 1.15). The clinical administration of local anaesthetic (LA) had the highest level of confidence (M = 3.95; SD = 1.03). The students reported that they were highly confident in the theoretical knowledge of behaviour guidance techniques (M = 3.64; SD = 0.97) and preclinical training involving examination, treatment planning and preventative procedures (M = 4.33, SD = 0.67).ConclusionThis study showed that students reported low levels of confidence in pulp therapies and trauma management in children as compared to other aspects of paediatric dentistry. Students indicated the need for more preclinical and clinical training sessions, as well as more opportunities to perform a wider variety of treatments on paediatric patients.

Project description:Background:Involvement of service-users at all levels of the mental health system is a policy imperative in many countries internationally. However, putting policy into practice seems complex; little is known about how best to involve service users and efforts are often criticized for being tokenistic. In low-and-middle income countries, less attention has been given to the roles of service users within mental health systems. The proposed study is part of a larger project intended to develop service-user involvement in mental health system strengthening in Ethiopia. A Theory of Change (ToC) model has already been developed through a participatory approach. This study protocol aims to describe the theoretical background and methods to pilot this model using participatory action research (PAR) and explore participants' experience of involvement. Methods:The proposed study will apply a PAR approach situated in critical social theory and conduct a phenomenological case study to find out participants' experience of involvement. This will be conducted in three stages. The focus of Stage 1 will be to(i) establish a Research Advisory Group (RAG), and Research Participant Group (RPG) at district and primary healthcare facility levels, respectively, and (ii) identify and prioritize potential areas of concern for involvement in the domains of advocacy, service planning and development, monitoring and improving service quality. In Stage 2, we will work with the RPG to develop a plan of action for the selected area. Stage 3 will aim to assist the RPG to implement and evaluate the plan of action. Process indicators and observation will be combined with in-depth interviews with participants to elicit their experiences of involvement. Thematic content analysis will be used. Discussion:The participatory approach to mental health service user involvement in health system strengthening employed by this study will support the implementation of solutions through locally relevant and contextualized actions. Findings from this study will contribute to the body of knowledge towards understanding the complexity of implementation of service user involvement and refine the ToC model for transferability to similar settings.

Project description:BackgroundHealth Research Priority Setting (HRPS) in the Ministry of Health (MOH) Malaysia was initiated more than a decade ago to drive effort toward research for informed decision and policy-making. This study assessed the impact of funded prioritised research and identified research gaps to inform future priority setting initiatives for universal access and quality healthcare in Malaysia.MethodsResearch impact of universal access and quality healthcare projects funded by the National Institutes of Health Malaysia were assessed based on the modified Payback Framework, addressing categories of informing policy, knowledge production, and benefits to health and health sector. For the HRPS process, the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative methodology was adapted and adopted, with the incorporation of stakeholder values using weights and monetary allocation survey. Workshop discussions and interviews with stakeholders and research groups were conducted to identify research gaps, with the use of conceptual frameworks to guide the search.ResultsSeventeen ongoing and 50 completed projects were identified for research funding impact analysis. Overall, research fund allocation differed from stakeholders' expectation. For research impact, 48 out of 50 completed projects (96.0%) contributed to some form of policy-making efforts. Almost all completed projects resulted in outputs that contributed to knowledge production and were expected to lead to health and health sector benefits. The HRPS process led to the identification of research priority areas that stemmed from ongoing and new issues identified for universal access and quality healthcare.ConclusionThe concerted efforts of evaluation of research funding impact, prioritisation, dissemination and policy-maker involvement were valuable for optimal health research resource utilisation in a resource constrained developing country. Embedding impact evaluation into a priority setting process and funding research based on national needs could facilitate health research investment to reach its potential.

Project description:BackgroundThe South Australian Research Network 'SARNet' aims to build research capacity in primary health care, as part of a national government-funded strategy to integrate research into clinical practice. Internationally, research networks have been a fundamental part of research culture change, and a variety of network models exist. The 'SARNet' model uses a whole system, multidisciplinary approach to capacity building and supports individuals and groups. We undertook a descriptive baseline survey in order to understand the background and needs of SARNet members and to tailor network activities towards those needs.MethodsA questionnaire survey, assessing members' professional background, research experience, and interest in research development and training, was sent to all members who joined the network in its first year. The visual 'research spider' tool was used to ascertain members' experience in ten core research skills, as well as their interest in developing these skills. Individuals were asked to classify themselves into one of four categories of researchers, based on previous research experience. These self-assessment categories ranged from non-participant to academic.ResultsNetwork membership was diverse. Of the 89 survey participants, 55% were general practitioners or allied health professionals. Overall, most survey respondents indicated little to moderate experience in 7 out of the 10 skills depicted in the 'research spider'. In comparison, respondents were generally highly interested in developing their research skills in all areas. Respondents' research skills correlated significantly with their self-assessed category of research participation (Spearman rank correlation, r = 0.82, p < 0.0005). Correlations between research category and publication record (Gamma association, gamma = 0.53, p < 0.0005) or funding record (Gamma association, gamma = 0.62, p < 0.0005) supported the internal validity of the survey instrument.ConclusionLiterature describing evaluation of the impact of networks is scarce. Our survey questionnaire could provide a useful instrument for evaluation of both networks and capacity building initiatives. The survey including the 'research spider' tool provided valuable information about members' needs and interest in strategies to develop their research skills. Initial needs analyses as well as on-going evaluation of network activities are important to include into the business plans of research networks, in order to ensure the network's effectiveness and support of its membership.

Project description:BackgroundPatient Reported Experience Measures (PREMs) are recognized as an important indicator of high quality care and person-centeredness. PREMs are increasingly adopted for paediatric care, but there is little published evidence on how to administer, collect, and report paediatric PREMs at scale.MethodsThis paper describes the development of a PREMs questionnaire and administration system for the Meyer Children's University Hospital in Florence (Meyer) and the Children's Clinical University Hospital in Riga (CCUH). The system continuously recruits participants into the electronic administration model, with surveys completed by caregivers or adolescents at their convenience, post-discharge. We analyse 1661 responses from Meyer and 6585 from CCUH, collected from 1st December 2018 to 21st January 2020. Quantitative and qualitative experience analyses are included, using Pearson chi-square tests, Fisher's exact tests and narrative evidence from free text responses.ResultsThe large populations reached in both countries suggest the continuous, digital collection of paediatric PREMs described is feasible for collecting paediatric PREMs at scale. Overall response rates were 59% in Meyer and 45% in CCUH. There was very low variation in mean scores between the hospitals, with greater clustering of Likert scores around the mean in CCUH and a wider spread in Meyer for a number of items. The significant majority of responses represent the carers' point of view or the perspective of children and adolescents expressed through proxy reporting by carers.ConclusionsVery similar reported scores may reflect broadly shared preferences among children, adolescents and carers in the two countries, and the ability of both hospitals in this study to meet their expectations. The model has several interesting features: inclusion of a narrative element; electronic administration and completion after discharge from hospital, with high completion rates and easy data management; access for staff and researchers through an online platform, with real time analysis and visualization; dual implementation in two sites in different settings, with comparison and shared learning. These bring new opportunities for the utilization of PREMs for more person-centered and better quality care, although further research is needed in order to access direct reporting by children and adolescents.

Dataset Information

Building a Children's Health Service and System Research Strategy: development and integration in an Australian paediatric healthcare setting.

Publications

Building a Children's Health Service and System Research Strategy: development and integration in an Australian paediatric healthcare setting.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets