A prospective observational study of machine translation software to overcome the challenge of including ethnic diversity in healthcare research.

AIM: This study investigates whether machine translation could help with the challenge of enabling the inclusion of ethnic diversity in healthcare research. DESIGN: A two phase, prospective observational study. METHODS: Two machine translators, Google Translate and Babylon 9, were tested. Translation of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) from 24 languages into English and translation of an English information sheet into Spanish and Chinese were quality scored. Quality was assessed using the Translation Assessment Quality Tool. RESULTS: Only six of the 48 translations of the SDQ were rated as acceptable, all from Google Translate. The mean number of acceptably translated sentences was higher (P = 0·001) for Google Translate 17·1 (sd 7·2) than for Babylon 9 11 (sd 7·9). Translation by Google Translate was better for Spanish and Chinese, although no score was in the acceptable range. Machine translation is not currently sufficiently accurate without editing to provide translation of materials for use in healthcare research.

Developing future clinical leaders for quality improvement: experience from a London children's hospital.

INTRODUCTION: Medical training does not necessarily prepare graduates for the real world of healthcare in which continual improvement is required. Doctors in postgraduate training (DrPGT) rarely have the opportunity to develop skills to implement changes where they work. Paradoxically they are often best placed to identify safety and quality concerns and can innovate across organisational boundaries. In order to address this, educational programmes require a supportive educational environment and should include experiential learning on a safety and quality project, alongside teaching of quality improvement (QI) knowledge and systems theory. METHOD: Enabling Doctors in Quality Improvement and Patient Safety (EQuIP) has been designed for DrPGT at a London children's hospital. The aim is to prepare trainees for the future of continual improvement to ensure safe and effective services are developed through effective clinical microsystems. This paper describes the rationale and design of EQuIP with evaluation built in the evolving programme. EQuIP supports DrPGTs through a QI project within their department, aligned to the Great Ormond Street NHS Foundation Trust's objectives. This changes the way DrPGTs view healthcare as they become quality champions for their department. A three-level approach to the programme is described. The innovation involves a peer-designed programme while being work-based, delivering organisational strategies. RESULTS: Results of the preprogramme and postprogramme evaluations demonstrate an improvement in knowledge, skills and attitudes. Benefits to both the DrPGTs and the organisation are emphasised and key factors to achieve success and barriers identified by the participants. DISCUSSION: The design and evaluation of EQuIP may inform similar educational programmes in other organisations. This capacity building is crucial to ensure that future clinical leaders have the skills and motivation to improve the effectiveness of clinical microsystems.

From pamphlets to podcasts: health information at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS trust.

This paper outlines the development of information for children and families at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust. Starting in 1995, guidelines for producing written information have been developed and a regular audit programme carried out, resulting in information of consistently high quality being produced. The 'rules' set out for the provision of written information have now been developed to cover multimedia information, so that technology can be harnessed to develop podcasts and other non-written information materials. Technical processes are explained both for production and delivery. Future plans for multimedia information are also outlined.

Ensuring quality information for patients: development and preliminary validation of a new instrument to improve the quality of written health care information.

BACKGROUND: Despite the recent focus on improving the quality of patient information, there is no rigorous method of assessing quality of written patient information that is applicable to all information types and that prescribes the action that is required following evaluation. OBJECTIVE: The aims of this project were to develop a practical measure of the presentation quality for all types of written health care information and to provide preliminary validity and reliability of the measure in a paediatric setting. METHODS: The Ensuring Quality Information for Patients (EQIP) tool was developed through a process of item generation, testing for concurrent validity, inter-rater reliability and utility. Patient information managers and health care professionals tested EQIP in three annual audits of health care leaflets produced by a children's hospital. RESULTS: The final tool comprised 20 items. Kendall's tau B rank correlation between EQIP and DISCERN was 0.56 (P = 0.001). There was strong agreement between intuitive rating and the EQIP score (Kendall's tau B = 0.78, P = 0.009). Internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha was 0.80. There was good agreement between pairs of raters (mean kappa = 0.60; SD = 0.18) with no differences based on types of leaflets. Audits showed significant improvement in the number of leaflets achieving a higher quality EQIP rating over a 3-year period. CONCLUSIONS: EQIP demonstrated good preliminary validity, reliability and utility when used by patient information managers and healthcare professionals for a wide variety of written health care information. EQIP uniquely identifies actions to be taken as a result of the quality assessment. Use of EQIP improved the quality of written health care information in a children's hospital. Wider evaluation of EQIP with written information for other populations and settings is recommended.