Acceptability of the Venting Wisely pathway for use in critically ill adults with hypoxaemic respiratory failure and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS): a qualitative study protocol.

INTRODUCTION: Hypoxaemic respiratory failure (HRF) affects nearly 15% of critically ill adults admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU). An evidence-based, stakeholder-informed multidisciplinary care pathway (Venting Wisely) was created to standardise the diagnosis and management of patients with HRF and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Successful adherence to the pathway requires a coordinated team-based approach by the clinician team. The overall aim of this study is to describe the acceptability of the Venting Wisely pathway among critical care clinicians. Specifically, this will allow us to (1) better understand the user's experience with the intervention and (2) determine if the intervention was delivered as intended. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This qualitative study will conduct focus groups with nurse practitioners, physicians, registered nurses and registered respiratory therapists from 17 Alberta ICUs. We will use template analysis to describe the acceptability of a multicomponent care pathway according to seven constructs of acceptability: (1) affective attitude;,(2) burden, (3) ethicality, (4) intervention coherence, (5) opportunity costs, (6) perceived effectiveness and (7) self-efficacy. This study will contribute to a better understanding of the acceptability of the Venting Wisely pathway. Identification of areas of poor acceptability will be used to refine the pathway and implementation strategies as ways to improve adherence to the pathway and promote its sustainability. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study was approved by the University of Calgary Conjoint Health Research Ethics Board. The results will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal and presented at a scientific conference. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04744298.

Clinical practice guideline recommendations to improve the mental health of adult trauma patients: protocol for a systematic review.

INTRODUCTION: Mental disorders are common in adult patients with traumatic injuries. To limit the burden of poor psychological well-being in this population, recognised authorities have issued recommendations through clinical practice guidelines (CPGs). However, the uptake of evidence-based recommendations to improve the mental health of trauma patients has been low until recently. This may be explained by the complexity of optimising mental health practices and interpretating CGPs scope and quality. Our aim is to systematically review CPG mental health recommendations in the context of trauma care and appraise their quality. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We will identify CPG through a search strategy applied to Medline, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO and Web of Science databases, as well as guidelines repositories and websites of trauma associations. We will target CPGs on adult and acute trauma populations including at least one recommendation on any prevention, screening, assessment, intervention, patient and family engagement, referral or follow-up procedure related to mental health endorsed by recognised organisations in high-income countries. No language limitations will be applied, and we will limit the search to the last 15 years. Pairs of reviewers will independently screen titles, abstracts, full texts, and carry out data extraction and quality assessment of CPGs using the Appraisal of Guidelines Research and Evaluation (AGREE) II. We will synthesise the evidence on recommendations for CPGs rated as moderate or high quality using a matrix based on the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation quality of evidence, strength of recommendation, health and social determinants and whether recommendations were made using a population-based approach. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethics approval is not required, as we will conduct secondary analysis of published data. The results will be disseminated in a peer-reviewed journal, at international and national scientific meetings. Accessible summary will be distributed to interested parties through professional, healthcare quality and persons with lived experience associations. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: (ID454728).

Overnight staffing in Canadian neonatal and pediatric intensive care units.

Aim: Infants and children who require specialized medical attention are admitted to neonatal and pediatric intensive care units (ICUs) for continuous and closely supervised care. Overnight in-house physician coverage is frequently considered the ideal staffing model. It remains unclear how often this is achieved in both pediatric and neonatal ICUs in Canada. The aim of this study is to describe overnight in-house physician staffing in Canadian pediatric and level-3 neonatal ICUs (NICUs) in the pre-COVID-19 era. Methods: A national cross-sectional survey was conducted in 34 NICUs and 19 pediatric ICUs (PICUs). ICU directors or their delegates completed a 29-question survey describing overnight staffing by resident physicians, fellow physicians, nurse practitioners, and attending physicians. A comparative analysis was conducted between ICUs with and without in-house physicians. Results: We obtained responses from all 34 NICUs and 19 PICUs included in this study. A total of 44 ICUs (83%) with in-house overnight physician coverage provided advanced technologies, such as extracorporeal life support, and included all ICUs that catered to patients with cardiac, transplant, or trauma conditions. Residents provided the majority of overnight coverage, followed by the Critical Care Medicine fellows. An attending physician was in-house overnight in eight (15%) out of the 53 ICUs, seven of which were NICUs. Residents participating in rotations in the ICU would often have rotation durations of less than 6 weeks and were often responsible for providing care during shifts lasting 20-24 h. Conclusion: Most PICUs and level-3 NICUs in Canada have a dedicated in-house physician overnight. These physicians are mainly residents or fellows, but a notable variation exists in this arrangement. The potential effects on patient outcomes, resident learning, and physician satisfaction remain unclear and warrant further investigation.

Evaluating the effectiveness of a multifaceted intervention to reduce low-value care in adults hospitalized following trauma: a protocol for a pragmatic cluster randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: While simple Audit & Feedback (A&F) has shown modest effectiveness in reducing low-value care, there is a knowledge gap on the effectiveness of multifaceted interventions to support de-implementation efforts. Given the need to make rapid decisions in a context of multiple diagnostic and therapeutic options, trauma is a high-risk setting for low-value care. Furthermore, trauma systems are a favorable setting for de-implementation interventions as they have quality improvement teams with medical leadership, routinely collected clinical data, and performance-linked to accreditation. We aim to evaluate the effectiveness of a multifaceted intervention for reducing low-value clinical practices in acute adult trauma care. METHODS: We will conduct a pragmatic cluster randomized controlled trial (cRCT) embedded in a Canadian provincial quality assurance program. Level I-III trauma centers (n = 30) will be randomized (1:1) to receive simple A&F (control) or a multifaceted intervention (intervention). The intervention, developed using extensive background work and UK Medical Research Council guidelines, includes an A&F report, educational meetings, and facilitation visits. The primary outcome will be the use of low-value initial diagnostic imaging, assessed at the patient level using routinely collected trauma registry data. Secondary outcomes will be low-value specialist consultation, low-value repeat imaging after a patient transfer, unintended consequences, determinants for successful implementation, and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios. DISCUSSION: On completion of the cRCT, if the intervention is effective and cost-effective, the multifaceted intervention will be integrated into trauma systems across Canada. Medium and long-term benefits may include a reduction in adverse events for patients and an increase in resource availability. The proposed intervention targets a problem identified by stakeholders, is based on extensive background work, was developed using a partnership approach, is low-cost, and is linked to accreditation. There will be no attrition, identification, or recruitment bias as the intervention is mandatory in line with trauma center designation requirements, and all outcomes will be assessed with routinely collected data. However, investigators cannot be blinded to group allocation and there is a possibility of contamination bias that will be minimized by conducting intervention refinement only with participants in the intervention arm. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This protocol has been registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (February 24, 2023, # NCT05744154 ).

Effect of a Continuous Bedside Pressure Mapping System for Reducing Interface Pressures: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Continuous bedside pressure mapping (CBPM) technology can assist in detecting skin areas with excessive interface pressure and inform efficient patient repositioning to prevent the development of pressure injuries (PI). Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of CBPM technology in reducing interface pressure and the incidence of PIs. Design, Setting, and Participants: This parallel, 2-group randomized clinical trial was performed at a tertiary acute care center. The study started to enroll participants in December 2014 and was completed in May 2018. Participants included adults partially or completely dependent for bed mobility. Statistical analysis was performed from September 2018 to December 2022. Intervention: Nursing staff using visual feedback from CBPM technology for 72 hours. Main Outcomes and Measures: Absolute number of sensing points with pressure readings greater than 40 mm Hg, mean interface pressure across all sensing points under a patient's body, proportion of participants who had pressure readings greater than 40 mm Hg, and pressure-related skin and soft tissue changes. Results: There were 678 patients recruited. After attrition, 260 allocated to the control group (151 [58.1%] male; mean [SD] age, 61.9 [18.5] years) and 247 in the intervention group (147 [59.5%] male; mean [SD] age, 63.6 [18.1] years) were included in analyses. The absolute number of sensing points with pressures greater than 40 mm Hg were 11 033 in the control group vs 9314 in the intervention group (P = .16). The mean (SD) interface pressure was 6.80 (1.63) mm Hg in the control group vs 6.62 (1.51) mm Hg in the intervention group (P = .18). The proportion of participants who had pressure readings greater than 40 mm Hg was 99.6% in both the control and intervention groups. Conclusions and Relevance: In this randomized clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of CBPM technology in the reduction of interface pressure and the incidence of PIs in a tertiary acute care center, no statistically significant benefit was seen for any of the primary outcomes. These results suggest that longer duration of monitoring and adequately powered studies where CBPM feedback is integrated into a multifaceted intervention to prevent PI are needed. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02325388.

Codesigning a user-centred digital psychoeducational tool for youth mental well-being with families in Canada: study protocol for a sequential exploratory mixed methods study.

INTRODUCTION: On 11 March 2020, WHO declared the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) disease a global pandemic. Governments globally implemented physical distancing measures and closure of public institutions that resulted in varying implications to youth mental well-being (eg, social isolation, reduced extracurricular activities). These impacts may have detrimental short-term and long-term effects on youth mental well-being; care for youth with mental health disorders was already overstretched, underfunded and fragmented before the pandemic and youth are not often considered in mental health initiatives. There is a pressing need to partner with youth and families to target and improve youth mental well-being prior to the onset of a mental health disorder, as well as to conduct research on youth mental well-being needs related to pandemic recovery. Here we present a protocol for partnering with youth and families to codesign a user-centred digital tool for youth mental well-being. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We will conduct a national research study to develop a catalogue of recommendations specific to supporting youth mental well-being, and a digital tool to support youth mental well-being through three phases of work: (1) expert consultation on data related to supporting youth mental well-being existing within our Pandemic Preparedness Research Program; (2) codesign of an innovative digital tool for youth mental well-being; and (3) assessment of the tool's usability and acceptability. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study has been approved by the Dalhousie Research Ethics Board (2023-6538) and the Conjoint Health Research Ethics Board (23-0039). This study will complement ongoing foundational research in youth conducted by our team that involves partnering with youth and families to understand the unique implications of the pandemic on this population.

Family coaching during Spontaneous Awakening Trials and Spontaneous Breathing Trials (FamCAB): pilot study protocol.

INTRODUCTION: Many patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) require weaning from deep sedation (Spontaneous Awakening Trials, SATs) and mechanical ventilation (Spontaneous Breathing Trials, SBTs) in their journey to recovery. These procedures can be distressing for patients and their families. The presence of family members as 'coaches' during SATs/SBTs could provide patients with reassurance, reduce stress for patients and families and potentially improve procedural success rates. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This study will be executed in two phases:Development of a coaching module: a working group including patient partners (i.e., former ICU patients or family members of former ICU patients), researchers, and ICU clinicians will develop an educational module on family coaching during SATs/SBTs (FamCAB). This module will provide families of critically ill patients basic information about SATs/SBTs as well as coaching guidance.Pilot testing: family members of ICU patients will complete the FamCAB module and provide information on: (1) demographics, (2) anxiety and (3) satisfaction with care in the ICU. Family members will then coach the patient through the next clinically indicated SATs and/or SBTs. Information around duration of time and success rates of SATs and/or SBTs (ability to conduct a complete assessment) alongside feedback will be collected. ICU clinical staff (including physicians and nurses) will be asked for feedback on practicality and perceived benefits or drawbacks of family coaching during these procedures. Feasibility and acceptability of family coaching in SATs/SBTs will be determined. DISCUSSION: The results of this work will inform whether a larger study to explore family coaching during SATs/SBTs is warranted. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study has received ethical approval from the University of Calgary Conjoint Health Research Ethics Board. Results from this pilot study will be made available via peer-reviewed journals and presented at critical care conferences on completion.

Validation of Quality Indicators Targeting Low-Value Trauma Care.

Importance: Reducing low-value care has the potential to improve patient experiences and outcomes and free up health care resources. Sixteen quality indicators were recently developed targeting reductions in low-value trauma care based on a synthesis of the best available evidence, expert consensus, and patient preferences. Objective: To assess the validity of quality indicators on low-value trauma care using trauma registry data. Design, Setting, and Participants: Data from an inclusive Canadian provincial trauma system were used in this analysis. Included were all admissions for injury to any of the 57 provincial adult trauma centers between April 1, 2013, and March 31, 2020. Metrics for quality indicators were developed iteratively with clinical experts. Main Outcomes and Measures: Validity was assessed using a priori criteria based on 5 parameters: frequency (incidence and case volume), discrimination (interhospital variation), construct validity (correlation with quality indicators on high-value care), predictive validity (correlation with quality indicators on risk-adjusted outcomes), and forecasting (correlation over time). Results: The study sample included 136 783 patient admissions (mean [SD] age, 63 [22] years; 68 428 men [50%]). Metrics were developed for 12 of the 16 quality indicators. Six quality indicators showed moderate or high validity on all measurable parameters: initial head, cervical spine, or whole-body computed tomography for low-risk patients; posttransfer repeated computed tomography; neurosurgical consultation for mild complicated traumatic brain injury; and spine service consultation for isolated thoracolumbar process fractures. Red blood cell transfusion in low-risk patients had low frequency but had moderate or high validity on all other parameters. Five quality indicators had low validity on at least 2 parameters: repeated head CT and intensive care unit admission for mild complicated traumatic brain injury, hospital admission for minor blunt abdominal trauma, orthosis for thoracolumbar burst fractures, and surgical exploration in penetrating neck injury without hard signs. Conclusions and Relevance: This cohort study shows the feasibility of assessing low-value trauma care using routinely collected data. It provided data on quality indicators properties that can be used to decide which quality indicators are most appropriate in a given system. Results suggest that 6 quality indicators have moderate to high validity. Their implementation now needs to be tested.

Economic evaluations of audit and feedback interventions: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: The effectiveness of audit and feedback (A&F) interventions to improve compliance to healthcare guidelines is supported by randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and meta-analyses of RCTs. However, there is currently a knowledge gap on their cost-effectiveness. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to assess whether A&F interventions targeting improvements in compliance to recommended care are economically favourable. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review including experimental, observational and simulation-based economic evaluation studies of A&F interventions targeting healthcare providers. Comparators were a 'do nothing' strategy, or any other intervention not involving A&F or involving a subset of A&F intervention components. We searched MEDLINE, CINAHL, CENTRAL, Econlit, EMBASE, Health Technology Assessment Database, MEDLINE, NHS Economic Evaluation Database, ABI/INFORM, Web of Science, ProQuest and websites of healthcare quality associations to December 2021. Outcomes were incremental cost-effectiveness ratios, incremental cost-utility ratios, incremental net benefit and incremental cost-benefit ratios. Pairs of reviewers independently selected eligible studies and extracted relevant data. Reporting quality was evaluated using CHEERS (Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards). Results were synthesised using permutation matrices for all studies and predefined subgroups. RESULTS: Of 13 221 unique citations, 35 studies met our inclusion criteria. The A&F intervention was dominant (ie, at least as effective with lower cost) in 7 studies, potentially cost-effective in 26 and was dominated (ie, the same or less effectiveness and higher costs) in 2 studies. A&F interventions were more likely to be economically favourable in studies based on health outcomes rather than compliance to recommended practice, considering medical costs in addition to intervention costs, published since 2010, and with high reporting quality. DISCUSSION: Results suggest that A&F interventions may have a high potential to be cost-effective. However, as is common in systematic reviews of economic evaluations, publication bias could have led to an overestimation of their economic value.

Quality Indicators Targeting Low-Value Clinical Practices in Trauma Care.

Importance: The use of quality indicators has been shown to improve injury care processes and outcomes. However, trauma quality indicators proposed to date exclusively target the underuse of recommended practices. Initiatives such as Choosing Wisely publish lists of practices to be questioned, but few apply to trauma care, and most have not successfully been translated to quality indicators. Objective: To develop a set of evidence and patient-informed, consensus-based quality indicators targeting reductions in low-value clinical practices in acute, in-hospital trauma care. Design, Setting, and Participants: This 2-round Research and Development/University of California at Los Angeles (RAND/UCLA) consensus study, conducted from April 20 to June 9, 2021, comprised an online questionnaire and a virtual workshop led by 2 independent moderators. Two panels of international experts from Canada, Australia, the US, and the UK, and local stakeholders from Québec, Canada, represented key clinical expertise involved in trauma care and included 3 patient partners. Main Outcomes and Measures: Panelists were asked to rate 50 practices on a 7-point Likert scale according to 4 quality indicator criteria: importance, supporting evidence, actionability, and measurability. Results: Of 49 eligible experts approached, 46 (94%; 18 experts [39%] aged ≥50 years; 37 men [80%]) completed at least 1 round and 36 (73%) completed both rounds. Eleven quality indicators were selected overall, 2 more were selected by the international panel and a further 3 by the local stakeholder panel. Selected indicators targeted low-value clinical practices in the following aspects of trauma care: (1) initial diagnostic imaging (head, cervical spine, ankle, and pelvis), (2) repeated diagnostic imaging (posttransfer computed tomography [CT] and repeated head CT), (3) consultation (neurosurgical and spine), (4) surgery (penetrating neck injury), (5) blood product administration, (6) medication (antibiotic prophylaxis and late seizure prophylaxis), (7) trauma service admission (blunt abdominal trauma), (8) intensive care unit admission (mild complicated traumatic brain injury), and (9) routine blood work (minor orthopedic surgery). Conclusions and Relevance: In this consensus study, a set of consensus-based quality indicators were developed that were informed by the best available evidence and patient priorities, targeting low-value trauma care. Selected indicators represented a trauma-specific list of practices, the use of which should be questioned. Trauma quality programs in high-income countries may use these study results as a basis to select context-specific quality indicators to measure and reduce low-value care.

Clinical practice guideline recommendations for pediatric injury care: protocol for a systematic review.

INTRODUCTION: Evidence suggests the presence of deficiencies in the quality of care provided to up to half of all paediatric trauma patients in Canada, the USA and Australia. Lack of adherence to evidence-based recommendations may be driven by lack of knowledge of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs), heterogeneity in recommendations or concerns about their quality. We aim to systematically review CPG recommendations for paediatric injury care and appraise their quality. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We will identify CPG recommendations through a comprehensive search strategy including Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online, Excerpta Medica dataBASE, Cochrane library, Web of Science, ClinicalTrials and websites of organisations publishing recommendations on paediatric injury care. We will consider CPGs including at least one recommendation targeting paediatric injury populations on any diagnostic or therapeutic intervention from the acute phase of care with any comparator developed in high-income countries in the last 15 years (January 2007 to a maximum of 6 months prior to submission). Pairs of reviewers will independently screen titles, abstracts and full text of eligible articles, extract data and evaluate the quality of CPGs and their recommendations using Appraisal of Guidelines Research and Evaluation (AGREE) II and AGREE Recommendations Excellence instruments, respectively. We will synthesise evidence on recommendations using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) Evidence-to-Decision framework and present results within a recommendations matrix. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethics approval is not a requirement as this study is based on available published data. The results of this systematic review will be published in a peer-reviewed journal, presented at international scientific meetings and distributed to healthcare providers. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (CRD42021226934).

Evidence for overuse of cardiovascular healthcare services in high-income countries: protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Overuse of cardiovascular healthcare services, defined as the provision of low-value (ineffective, harmful, cost-ineffective) tests, medications and procedures, may be common and associated with increased patient harm and health system inefficiencies and costs. We seek to systematically review the evidence for overuse of different cardiovascular healthcare services in high-income countries. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We will search MEDLINE, EMBASE and Evidence-Based Medicine Reviews from 2010 onwards. Two investigators will independently review titles and abstracts and full-text studies. We will include published English-language studies conducted in high-income countries that enrolled adults (mean/median age ≥18 years) and reported the incidence or prevalence of overuse of cardiovascular tests, medications or procedures; adjusted risk factors for overuse; or adjusted associations between overuse and outcomes (reported estimates of morbidity, mortality, costs or lengths of hospital stay). Acceptable methods of defining low-value care will include literature review and multidisciplinary iterative panel processes, healthcare services with reproducible evidence of a lack of benefit or harm, or clinical practice guideline or Choosing Wisely recommendations. Two investigators will independently extract data and evaluate study risk of bias in duplicate. We will calculate summary estimates of the incidence and prevalence of overuse of different cardiovascular healthcare services across studies unstratified and stratified by country; method of defining low-value care; the percentage of included females, different races, and those with low and high socioeconomic status or cardiovascular risk; and study risks of bias using random-effects models. We will also calculate pooled estimates of adjusted risk factors for overuse and adjusted associations between overuse and outcomes overall and stratified by country using random-effects models. We will use the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation to determine certainty in estimates. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: No ethics approval is required for this study as it deals with published data. Results will be presented at meetings and published in a peer-reviewed journal. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42021257490.

A Value-Based Comparison of the Management of Ambulatory Respiratory Diseases in Walk-in Clinics, Primary Care Practices, and Emergency Departments: Protocol for a Multicenter Prospective Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: In Canada, 30%-60% of patients presenting to emergency departments are ambulatory. This category has been labeled as a source of emergency department overuse. Acting on the presumption that primary care practices and walk-in clinics offer equivalent care at a lower cost, governments have invested massively in improving access to these alternative settings in the hope that patients would present there instead when possible, thereby reducing the load on emergency departments. Data in support of this approach remain scarce and equivocal. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to compare the value of care received in emergency departments, walk-in clinics, and primary care practices by ambulatory patients with upper respiratory tract infection, sinusitis, otitis media, tonsillitis, pharyngitis, bronchitis, influenza-like illness, pneumonia, acute asthma, or acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. METHODS: A multicenter prospective cohort study will be performed in Ontario and Québec. In phase 1, a time-driven activity-based costing method will be applied at each of the 15 study sites. This method uses time as a cost driver to allocate direct costs (eg, medication), consumable expenditures (eg, needles), overhead costs (eg, building maintenance), and physician charges to patient care. Thus, the cost of a care episode will be proportional to the time spent receiving the care. At the end of this phase, a list of care process costs will be generated and used to calculate the cost of each consultation during phase 2, in which a prospective cohort of patients will be monitored to compare the care received in each setting. Patients aged 18 years and older, ambulatory throughout the care episode, and discharged to home with one of the aforementioned targeted diagnoses will be considered. The estimated sample size is 1485 patients. The 3 types of care settings will be compared on the basis of primary outcomes in terms of the proportion of return visits to any site 3 and 7 days after the initial visit and the mean cost of care. The secondary outcomes measured will include scores on patient-reported outcome and experience measures and mean costs borne wholly by patients. We will use multilevel generalized linear models to compare the care settings and an overlap weights approach to adjust for confounding factors related to age, sex, gender, ethnicity, comorbidities, registration with a family physician, socioeconomic status, and severity of illness. RESULTS: Phase 1 will begin in 2021 and phase 2, in 2023. The results will be available in 2025. CONCLUSIONS: The end point of our program will be for deciders, patients, and care providers to be able to determine the most appropriate care setting for the management of ambulatory emergency respiratory conditions, based on the quality and cost of care associated with each alternative. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): PRR1-10.2196/25619.

Healthcare workers' perception of gender and work roles during the COVID-19 pandemic: a mixed-methods study.

OBJECTIVES: A high functioning healthcare workforce is a key priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. We sought to determine how work and mental health for healthcare workers changed during the COVID-19 pandemic in a universal healthcare system, stratified by gender factors. DESIGN: A mixed-methods study was employed. Phase 1 was an anonymous, internet-based survey (7 May-15 July 2020). Phase 2 was semistructured interviews offered to all respondents upon survey completion to describe how experiences may have differed by gender identity, roles and relations. SETTING: National universal healthcare system (Canada). PARTICIPANTS: 2058 Canadian healthcare worker survey respondents (87% women, 11% men, 1% transgender or Two-Spirit), including 783 health professionals, 673 allied health professionals, 557 health support staff. Of the 63 unique healthcare worker types reported, registered nurses (11.5%), physicians (9.9%) and pharmacists (4.5%) were most common. Forty-six healthcare workers were interviewed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Reported pandemic-induced changes to occupational leadership roles and responsibilities, household and caregiving responsibilities, and anxiety levels by gender identity. RESULTS: Men (19.8%) were more likely to hold pandemic leadership roles compared with women (13.4%). Women (57.5%) were more likely to report increased domestic responsibilities than men (45%). Women and those with dependents under the age of 10 years reported the greatest levels of anxiety during the pandemic. Interviews with healthcare workers further revealed a perceived imbalance in leadership opportunities based on gender identity, a lack of workplace supports disproportionately affecting women and an increase in domestic responsibilities influenced by gender roles. CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 pandemic response has important gendered effects on the healthcare workforce. Healthcare workers are central to effective pandemic control, highlighting an urgent need for a gender-transformative pandemic response strategy.

In-House, Overnight Physician Staffing: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Canadian Adult ICUs.

OBJECTIVES: Overnight physician staffing in the ICU has been recommended by the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the Leapfrog Consortium. We conducted a survey to review practice in the current era and to compare this with results from a 2006 survey. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. SETTING: Canadian adult ICUs. PARTICIPANTS: ICU directors. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENT AND MAIN RESULTS: A 29-question survey was sent to ICU directors describing overnight staffing by residents, fellows, nurse practitioners, and staff physicians, as well as duty duration, clinical responsibilities, and unit characteristics. We established contact with 122 ICU directors, of whom 107 (88%) responded. Of the 107 units, 60 (56%) had overnight in-house physicians. Compared with ICUs without overnight in-house physician coverage, ICUs with in-house physicians were in larger hospitals (p < 0.0001), had more beds (p < 0.0001), had more ventilated patients (p < 0.0001), and had more admissions (p < 0.0001). Overnight in-house physicians were first year residents (R1) in 20 of 60 (33%), second to fifth year residents (R2-R5) in 46 of 60 (77%), and Critical Care Medicine trainees in 19 of 60 (32%). Advanced practice nurses provided overnight coverage in four of 107 ICUs (4%). The most senior in-house physician was a staff physician in 12 of 60 ICUs (20%), a Critical Care Medicine trainee in 14 of 60 (23%), and a resident (R2-R5) in 20 of 60 (33%). The duration of overnight duty was on average 20-24 hours in 22 of 46 units (48%) with R2-R5 residents and 14 of 19 units (74%) covered by Critical Care Medicine trainees. CONCLUSIONS: Variability of in-house overnight physician presence in Canadian adult ICUs is linked to therapeutic complexity and unit characteristics and has not changed significantly over the decade since our 2006 survey. Additional evidence about patient and resident outcomes would better inform decisions to revise physician scheduling in Canadian ICUs.

Economic evaluation of intrahospital clinical practices in injury care: protocol for a 10-year systematic review.

INTRODUCTION: Underuse of high-value clinical practices and overuse of low-value practices are major sources of inefficiencies in modern healthcare systems. Injuries are second only to cardiovascular disease in terms of acute care costs but data on the economic impact of clinical practices for injury admissions are lacking. This study aims to summarise evidence on the economic value of intrahospital clinical practices for injury care. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We will perform a systematic review to identify research articles in economic evaluation of intrahospital clinical practices in acute injury care. We will search MEDLINE and databases such as Embase, Web of Science, NHS Economic Evaluation Database, Cochrane CENTRAL, BIOSIS and CINAHL for randomised or non-randomised controlled trials and observational studies using a combination of keywords and controlled vocabulary. We will consider the following outcomes relative to economic evaluations: incremental cost-effectiveness ratio, incremental cost-utility ratio, incremental net health benefit, incremental net monetary benefit (iNMB) and incremental cost-benefit ratio. Pairs of independent reviewers will evaluate studies that meet eligibility criteria and extract data from included articles using an electronic data extraction form. All outcomes will be converted into iNMB. We will report iNMB for practices classified by type of practice (hospitalisation, consultation, diagnostic, therapeutic-surgical, therapeutic-drugs, therapeutic-other). Results obtained with a ceiling ratio of $50 000 per quality-adjusted life year gained for identified clinical practices will be summarised by charting forest plots. In line with Cochrane recommendations for systematic reviews of economic evaluations, meta-analyses will not be conducted. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethics approval is not required as original data will not be collected. This study will summarise existing evidence on the economic value of clinical practices in injury care. Results will be used to advance knowledge on value-based care for injury admissions and will be disseminated through a peer-reviewed article, international scientific meetings and clinical and healthcare quality associations.

Improving gender equity in critical care medicine: a protocol to establish priorities and strategies for implementation.

INTRODUCTION: While the number of women entering medical school now equals or surpasses the number of men, gender equity in medicine has not been achieved. Women continue to be under-represented in leadership roles (eg, deans, medical chairs) and senior faculty positions. In addition, women do not enter medical specialties as often as men, which can have important implications for work environment, reimbursement and the delivery of patient care. Compared with other medical specialties (eg, anaesthesiology, dermatology, etc), critical care medicine is a medical specialty with some of the lowest representation of women. While strategies to improve gender equity in critical care medicine exist in the published literature, efforts to comprehensively synthesise, prioritise and implement solutions have been limited.The objective of this programme of work is to establish priorities for the development and implementation of key strategies to improve the outcomes, well-being and experiences of women in critical care in Canada. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Three phases encompass this programme of work. In phase I, we will catalogue published strategies focused on improving gender inequity across medical specialties through a scoping review. In phase II, we will conduct a modified Delphi consensus process with decision-makers, physicians and researchers to identify key strategies (identified in phase I and proposed by participants in phase II) for improving gender inequity in the specialty of critical care medicine. Finally, in phase III, we will conduct a 1-day stakeholder meeting that engages participants from phase II to build capacity for the development and implementation of top ranked strategies. Data analyses from this programme of work will be both quantitative and qualitative. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The proposed programme of work is a foundational step towards establishing targeted strategies to improve gender inequity in the medical specialty of critical care medicine. Strategies will be prioritised by stakeholders, mapped to preidentified drivers of gender equity in the specialty and be scalable to institutional needs. A final report of our results including the list of top prioritised strategies and implementation objectives will be disseminated to panel participants, critical care leadership teams and major critical care societies who are partners in this work, around the country to facilitate uptake at the local level.The University of Calgary Conjoint Health Research Ethics Board has approved this study (REB16-0890).

Data initiatives supporting critical care research and quality improvement in Canada: an environmental scan and narrative review.

PURPOSE: Collection and analysis of health data are crucial to achieving high-quality clinical care, research, and quality improvement. This review explores existing hospital, regional, provincial and national data platforms in Canada to identify gaps and barriers, and recommend improvements for data science. SOURCE: The Canadian Critical Care Trials Group and the Canadian Critical Care Translational Biology Group undertook an environmental survey using list-identified names and keywords in PubMed and the grey literature, from the Canadian context. Findings were grouped into sections, corresponding to geography, purpose, and patient sub-group initiatives, using a narrative qualitative approach. Emerging themes, impressions, and recommendations towards improving data initiatives were generated. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In Canada, the Canadian Institute for Health Information Discharge Abstract Database contains high-level clinical data on every adult and child discharged from acute care facilities; however, it does not contain data from Quebec, critical care-specific severity of illness risk-adjustment scores, physiologic data, or data pertaining to medication use. Provincially mandated critical care platforms in four provinces contain more granular data, and can be used to risk adjust and link to within-province data sets; however, no inter-provincial collaborative mechanism exists. There is very limited infrastructure to collect and link biological samples from critically ill patients nationally. Comprehensive international clinical data sets may inform future Canadian initiatives. CONCLUSION: Clinical and biological data collection among critically ill patients in Canada is not sufficiently coordinated, and lags behind other jurisdictions. An integrated and inclusive critical care data platform is a key clinical and scientific priority in Canada.

Mapping structure, process and outcomes in the removal of low-value care practices in Canadian intensive care units: protocol for a mixed-methods exploratory study.

INTRODUCTION: The challenge of implementing best evidence into clinical practice is a major problem in modern healthcare that can result in ineffective, inefficient and unsafe care. There is a growing body of literature which suggests that the removal or reduction of low-value care practices (ie, deadoption) is integral to the delivery of high-quality care and the sustainability of our healthcare system. However, currently very little is known about deadoption practices in Canada. We propose to map the current state of deadoption in Canadian intensive care units (ICUs). A key deliverable of this work will include development of an inventory of barriers, facilitators and potential implementation strategies for guiding the deadoption efforts. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We will use Canadian adult general systems ICUs as our laboratory of investigation and employ a two-phased sequential exploratory mixed-methods approach: (1) semi-structured interviews with critical care stakeholders to develop an understanding of the structure (ie, healthcare context), process (ie, actions and events in healthcare) and outcomes (ie, effects on health status, quality, knowledge or behaviour) of deadoption (phase I) and (2) surveys with a broader sample of critical care stakeholders to further identify important barriers and facilitators, as well as potential implementation strategies (phase II). Interview data will be analysed through qualitative content analysis and survey data will be analysed through quantitative analyses to identify top barriers and facilitators, as well as top rated strategies. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval has been obtained through the University of Calgary Research Ethics Board (REB 17-2153). Participants involved will have the opportunity to provide feedback on the final written reports to support accurate representation of the data. The findings of this study will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and oral presentations with critical care stakeholders across Canada. Patient and family partners will receive an executive summary of the findings.