[Continuing medical education (Cme/Ecm) on medical devices in Italy: a review for the 2019-2021 period.] / Offerta formativa Ecm in materia di dispositivi medici: una ricognizione nazionale per il triennio 2019-2021.

INTRODUCTION: Health technology assessment (Hta) is a multidisciplinary process that uses explicit methods to determine the value of a health technology across various domains. It aims at supporting decision-makers in promoting an equitable, efficient, and high-quality healthcare system. During 2023, the Italian Minister of Health officially endorsed the National program for Hta on medical devices 2023-2025 (Pnhta), aligning with EU Regulation 2017/745 and EU Regulation 2017/746. A key objective of Pnhta is to launch a continuous training initiative targeting all professionals within the Italian Health Service to enhance their knowledge and usability of Hta. To support this effort, a national analysis of educational offerings on medical devices (MD) during the 2019-2021 triennium was undertaken. METHODS: The Italian database of accredited Continuing medical education (Cme/Ecm) events was queried using relevant keywords. A descriptive analysis of the educational offerings was conducted based on variables already provided by the database. The analysis was structured according to pre-identified categories related to the courses' objectives ("correct use", "appropriate use", "procurement", "expert patient") and clinical-care areas of interest. RESULTS: Overall, 1,450 training events were included in the analysis. Courses specifically focused on MD were less than 2% of all Cme/Ecm events. The number of participants trained in MD-related topics decreased in 2020 compared to 2019 (14,787 vs 32,784). However, the average number of credits per course and per participant increased in both 2020 and 2021. Distance learning showed an upward trajectory, rising from 16 events in 2019 to 132 in 2021. Regarding the courses' objectives, 73.2% of events concerned the "proper use" of MD, 31.9% focused on their "appropriateness", 14.7% on "updates", 1.2% on "procurement", while no course was specifically dedicated to the "expert patient". Most of the events were related to dentistry/orthodontics (50.4%), followed by orthopedics (8.1%), laparoscopic, general, and plastic surgery (7%). The telemedicine sector has grown, almost quadrupling the number of educational events offered in 2021 compared to 2019 (12 vs 46). CONCLUSIONS: Future Hta training should encompass a diverse range of thematic areas and should place particular emphasis on procurement issues, as well as the involvement of adequately trained patients and caregivers. Finally, the increase in telemedicine-focused courses during the triennium suggests the need for further reflection on this topic. KEY WORDS: Continuing medical education, Hta, medical devices, telemedicine.

COVID-19 Contact Tracing Strategies During the First Wave of the Pandemic: Systematic Review of Published Studies.

BACKGROUND: Contact tracing (CT) represented one of the core activities for the prevention and control of COVID-19 in the early phase of the pandemic. Several guidance documents were developed by international public health agencies and national authorities on the organization of COVID-19 CT activities. While most research on CT focused on the use digital tools or relied on modelling techniques to estimate the efficacy of interventions, poor evidence is available on the real-world implementation of CT strategies and on the organizational models adopted during the initial phase of the emergency to set up CT activities. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to provide a comprehensive picture of the organizational aspects of CT activities during the first wave of the pandemic through the systematic identification and description of CT strategies used in different settings during the period from March to June 2020. METHODS: A systematic review of published studies describing organizational models of COVID-19 CT strategies developed in real-world settings was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) statement. PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library were searched. Studies not providing a description of the organizational aspects of CT strategies and studies reporting or modelling theoretical strategies or focusing on the description of digital technologies' properties were excluded. Quality of reporting was assessed by using the Template for Intervention Description and Replication Checklist for Population Health and Policy. We developed a narrative synthesis, using a conceptual framework to map the extracted studies broken down by target population. RESULTS: We retrieved a total of 1638 studies, of which 17 were included in the narrative synthesis; 7 studies targeted the general population and 10 studies described CT activities carried out in specific population subgroups. Our review identified some common elements across studies used to develop CT activities, including decentralization of CT activities, involvement of trained nonpublic health resources (eg, university students or civil servants), use of informatics tools for CT management, interagency collaboration, and community engagement. CT strategies implemented in the workplace envisaged a strong collaboration with occupational health services. Outreach activities were shown to increase CT efficiency in susceptible groups, such as people experiencing homelessness. Data on the effectiveness of CT strategies are scarce, with only few studies reporting on key performance indicators. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the lack of systematically collected data on CT effectiveness, our findings can provide some indication for the future planning and development of CT strategies for infectious disease control, mainly in terms of coordination mechanisms and the use of human and technical resources needed for the rapid development of CT activities. Further research on the organizational models of CT strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic would be required to contribute to a more robust evidence-making process.

Patient safety and incident reporting: survey of Italian healthcare workers.

BACKGROUND: Incident-reporting systems (IRS) are tools that allow front-line healthcare workers to voluntary report adverse events and near misses. The WHO has released guidelines that outline the basic principles on how to design and implement successful IRS in healthcare organisations. METHODS: A written survey was administered with an assisted self-assessment technique to a representative sample of healthcare workers in Italian hospitals with and without IRS. Data were collected using two different 16-item questionnaires. The questionnaires targeted two issues: (1) workers' experience of patient safety incidents and (2) their expectations on incident reporting. RESULTS: 70% of respondents confirmed involvement in a patient safety incident, but only 40% utilised an IRS to formally report the event. The data indicate that information regarding patient safety incidents is not communicated throughout the entire organisation. CONCLUSIONS: Research findings are consistent with the available evidence on healthcare workers' experience of patient safety incidents.

Comparisons of American, Israeli, Italian and Mexican physicians and nurses on the total and factor scores of the Jefferson scale of attitudes toward physician-nurse collaborative relationships.

This cross-cultural study was designed to compare the attitudes of physicians and nurses toward physician-nurse collaboration in the United States, Israel, Italy and Mexico. Total participants were 2522 physicians and nurses who completed the Jefferson Scale of Attitudes Toward Physician-Nurse Collaboration (15 Likert-type items, (Hojat et al., Evaluation and the Health Professions 22 (1999a) 208; Nursing Research 50 (2001) 123). They were compared on the total scores and four factors of the Jefferson Scale (shared education and team work, caring as opposed to curing, nurses, autonomy, physicians' dominance). Results showed inter- and intra-cultural similarities and differences among the study groups providing support for the social role theory (Hardy and Conway, Role Theory: Perspectives for Health Professionals, Appelton-Century-Crofts, New York, 1978) and the principle of least interest (Waller and Hill, The Family: A Dynamic Interpretation, Dryden, New York, 1951) in inter-professional relationships. Implications for promoting physician-nurse education and inter-professional collaboration are discussed.

Impact of end user involvement in implementing guidelines on routine pre-operative tests.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the impact of health professionals' involvement in the implementation of practice guidelines aimed at reducing the use of pre-operative tests in patients at low anaesthetic risk undergoing elective surgery. INTERVENTION: A 6 month (September 1997 to February 1998) strategy based upon organization of local meetings involving health professionals from six hospitals of Canton Ticino (Switzerland). DESIGN: Observational study (pre/post) of pre-operative test utilization between March 1996 and December 1998. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A total of 17,978 patients admitted for elective surgery over the study period. The latter was modelled in six intervals, three before (baseline), one during, and two after (adoption) guidelines implementation, respectively. For each time interval the proportion of patients undergoing pre-operative tests was estimated. Multilevel logistic regression analysis was used to assess patient likelihood [expressed as the odds ratio (OR)] of undergoing a diagnostic test in each period, using the implementation interval as the reference category. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Change in patient probability of undergoing pre-operative tests in the adoption interval. RESULTS: Adoption of the recommendations was associated with 81% [OR = 0.19; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.15-0.23] reduction of patient probability of undergoing coagulation test, 73% (OR = 0.27; 95% CI 0.23-0.33) for glycaemia, 62% (OR = 0.38; 95% CI 0.33-0.44) for azotaemia, 57% (OR = 0.43; 95% CI 0.36-0.51) for chest X-ray, 49% (OR = 0.51; 95% CI 0.44-0.60) for creatinemia, and 43% (OR = 0.57; 95% CI 0.48-0.69) for ECG. Overall, these findings corresponded to a cost saving of 67,890 Swiss francs (US$42,000) for the last quarter under study. CONCLUSIONS: This study indicates that an implementation strategy based upon direct involvement of end users in the identification of possible barriers to change can be successful in promoting the use of practice guidelines.