Professionals learning together with patients: An exploratory study of a collaborative learning Fellowship programme for healthcare improvement.

Improving the quality of healthcare involves collaboration between many different stakeholders. Collaborative learning theory suggests that teaching different professional groups alongside each other may enable them to develop skills in how to collaborate effectively, but there is little literature on how this works in practice. Further, though it is recognised that patients play a fundamental role in quality improvement, there are few examples of where they learn together with professionals. To contribute to addressing this gap, we review a collaborative fellowship in Northwest London, designed to build capacity to improve healthcare, which enabled patients and professionals to learn together. Using the lens of collaborative learning, we conducted an exploratory study of six cohorts of the year long programme (71 participants). Data were collected using open text responses from an online survey (n = 31) and semi-structured interviews (n = 34) and analysed using an inductive open coding approach. The collaborative design of the Fellowship, which included bringing multiple perspectives to discussions of real world problems, was valued by participants who reflected on the safe, egalitarian space created by the programme. Participants (healthcare professionals and patients) found this way of learning initially challenging yet ultimately productive. Despite the pedagogical and practical challenges of developing a collaborative programme, this study indicates that opening up previously restricted learning opportunities as widely as possible, to include patients and carers, is an effective mechanism to develop collaborative skills for quality improvement.

Differential attainment in specialty training recruitment in the UK: an observational analysis of the impact of psychometric testing assessment in Public Health postgraduate selection.

OBJECTIVES: To determine how current psychometric testing approaches used in selection of postgraduate training in UK Public Health are associated with socioeconomic and sociocultural background of applicants (including ethnicity). DESIGN: Observational study using contemporaneous data collected during recruitment and psychometric test scores. SETTING: Assessment centre of UK national Public Health recruitment for postgraduate Public Health training. The assessment centre element of selection comprises three psychometric assessments: Rust Advanced Numerical Reasoning, Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Assessment II and Public Health situational judgement test. PARTICIPANTS: 629 applicants completed the assessment centre in 2021. 219 (34.8%) were UK medical graduates, 73 (116%) were international medical graduates and 337 (53.6%) were from backgrounds other than medicine. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Multivariable-adjusted progression statistics in the form of adjusted OR (aOR), accounting for age, sex, ethnicity, professional background and surrogate measures of familial socioeconomic and sociocultural status. RESULTS: 357 (56.8%) candidates passed all three psychometric tests. Candidate characteristics negatively associated with progression were black ethnicity (aOR 0.19, 0.08 to 0.44), Asian ethnicity (aOR 0.35, 0.16 to 0.71) and coming from a non-UK medical graduate background (aOR 0.05, 0.03 to 0.12); similar differential attainment was observed in each of the psychometric tests. Even within the UK-trained medical cohort, candidates from white British backgrounds were more likely to progress than those from ethnic minorities (89.2% vs 75.0%, p=0.003). CONCLUSION: Although perceived to mitigate the risks of conscious and unconscious bias in selection to medical postgraduate training, these psychometric tests demonstrate unexplained variation that suggests differential attainment. Other specialties should enhance their data collection to evaluate the impact of differential attainment on current selection processes and take forward opportunities to mitigate differential attainment where possible.

The role of accelerator programmes in supporting the adoption of digital health technologies: A qualitative study of the perspectives of small- and medium-sized enterprises.

Objective: Evidence-based digital health technologies are increasingly important in delivering care to an ageing population with constrained resources. In the United Kingdom, accelerator programmes (APs) have been developed to support the adoption of digital health technologies within the National Health Service. This study aims to explore the perspectives of stakeholders using APs. Methods: Stakeholders representing nine small -and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that were engaged with three different APs (n = 9). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with key informants between April and September 2018. Framework analysis of the data was performed to explore their perspectives on APs. Results: Four key themes were generated. Informants reported the need to generate evidence before and during the programme, appreciating different types of evidence and their importance. Informants identified several key factors that were a catalyst for success, including involvement in the programme and access to individuals and organisations that were crucial for support. However, several barriers were identified at the programme and system levels. Finally, informants identified key supporting processes that enhanced the adoption of their innovations. Conclusion: SMEs that develop digital health technologies report that, while APs are useful in supporting the adoption of these technologies, some issues remain. These relate to the emphasis on traditional research evidence that remains a challenge for SMEs to generate. Also, several system-level barriers to innovation in healthcare persist. As APs and SMEs continue to create an entrepreneurial ecosystem, there is increased potential for the development of supporting processes and infrastructure to accelerate the efficient and timely adoption of new digital health technologies.

To what extent do callers follow the advice given by a non-emergency medical helpline (NHS 111): A retrospective cohort study.

National Health Service (NHS) 111 helpline was set up to improve access to urgent care in England, efficiency and cost-effectiveness of first-contact health services. Following trusted, authoritative advice is crucial for improved clinical outcomes. We examine patient and call-related characteristics associated with compliance with advice given in NHS 111 calls. The importance of health interactions that are not face-to-face has recently been highlighted by COVID-19 pandemic. In this retrospective cohort study, NHS 111 call records were linked to urgent and emergency care services data. We analysed data of 3,864,362 calls made between October 2013 and September 2017 relating to 1,964,726 callers across London. A multiple logistic regression was used to investigate associations between compliance with advice given and patient and call characteristics. Caller's action is 'compliant with advice given if first subsequent service interaction following contact with NHS 111 is consistent with advice given. We found that most calls were made by women (58%), adults aged 30-59 years (33%) and people in the white ethnic category (36%). The most common advice was for caller to contact their General Practitioner (GP) or other local services (18.2%) with varying times scales. Overall, callers followed advice given in 49% of calls. Compliance with triage advice was more likely in calls for children aged <16 years, women, those from Asian/Asian British ethnicity, and calls made out of hours. The highest compliance was among callers advised to self-care without the need to contact any other healthcare service. This is one of the largest studies to describe pathway adherence following telephone advice and associated clinical and demographic features. These results could inform attempts to improve caller compliance with advice given by NHS 111, and as the NHS moves to more hybrid way of working, the lessons from this study are key to the development of remote healthcare services going forward.

Patient-reported experience measure in sickle cell disease.

OBJECTIVES: To develop patient-reported experience measure surveys for patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) to understand their healthcare and lived experience in the UK and for their use in future to inform healthcare service development. DESIGN: Picker methodology was used as follows: (1) qualitative scoping by focus group discussions; (2) questionnaire development through stakeholder consultations; (3) construct validation of questionnaires through cognitive testing; and (4) further assessment of construct validity by a nationwide pilot survey. SETTING: Patients with SCD and their carers were eligible. Focus group discussions took place in non-hospital settings, arranged out of hours. Cognitive testing took place in specialist sickle cell clinics. The pilot survey was available to UK participants only and was administered through web-based questionnaires, face-to face completion and in sickle cell community events. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-three patients and carers took part in the focus groups, 21 participants undertook cognitive testing and 722 respondents completed the pilot survey. RESULTS: Findings highlighted a widespread prevalence of poor knowledge about SCD among healthcare providers and the public. Poorer experience of care was present in the emergency setting compared with planned care, of which lack of timely provision of pain relief was of concern. Adolescents and young people reported significantly poorer experience of care in several domains compared with children or adults. CONCLUSIONS: The new surveys functioned well, with good evidence of validity, and were accessible to the SCD patient population, supporting their future use in assessing patient experience to inform service delivery and improvements in care quality.

Traumatic events, migration characteristics and psychiatric symptoms among Somali refugees--preliminary communication.

BACKGROUND: Each refugee group experiences specific migration and resettlement experiences. There are no epidemiological data on risk factors for psychiatric symptoms among adult Somalis in the UK. METHODS: We interviewed a community sample of 180 Somalis. We assessed the relationship between symptoms of psychosis (BPRS), anxiety and depression (SCL-90) and suicidal thinking (BDI) and migration-related experiences such as traumatic events, immigration difficulties, employment and income. RESULTS: Anxiety and depression was incrementally more common with each pre-migration traumatic event (OR per trauma event = 1.31, 1.06-1.62, p = 0.01). Shortages of food, being lost in a war situation, and being close to death and suffering serious injury were each related to specific psychiatric symptoms. Suicidal thinking was more common among Somalis who were unemployed before migration and those using qat in the UK. CONCLUSIONS: War-related experiences, occupational status before migration and current Qat use are risk factors for psychiatric symptoms among Somali refugees.