Development and Pilot Implementation of Neotree, a Digital Quality Improvement Tool Designed to Improve Newborn Care and Survival in 3 Hospitals in Malawi and Zimbabwe: Cost Analysis Study.

Background: Two-thirds of the 2.4 million newborn deaths that occurred in 2020 within the first 28 days of life might have been avoided by implementing existing low-cost evidence-based interventions for all sick and small newborns. An open-source digital quality improvement tool (Neotree) combining data capture with education and clinical decision support is a promising solution for this implementation gap. Objective: We present results from a cost analysis of a pilot implementation of Neotree in 3 hospitals in Malawi and Zimbabwe. Methods: We combined activity-based costing and expenditure approaches to estimate the development and implementation cost of a Neotree pilot in 1 hospital in Malawi, Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH), and 2 hospitals in Zimbabwe, Sally Mugabe Central Hospital (SMCH) and Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital (CPH). We estimated the costs from a provider perspective over 12 months. Data were collected through expenditure reports, monthly staff time-use surveys, and project staff interviews. Sensitivity and scenario analyses were conducted to assess the impact of uncertainties on the results or estimate potential costs at scale. A pilot time-motion survey was conducted at KCH and a comparable hospital where Neotree was not implemented. Results: Total cost of pilot implementation of Neotree at KCH, SMCH, and CPH was US $37,748, US $52,331, and US $41,764, respectively. Average monthly cost per admitted child was US $15, US $15, and US $58, respectively. Staff costs were the main cost component (average 73% of total costs, ranging from 63% to 79%). The results from the sensitivity analysis showed that uncertainty around the number of admissions had a significant impact on the costs in all hospitals. In Malawi, replacing monthly web hosting with a server also had a significant impact on the costs. Under routine (nonresearch) conditions and at scale, total costs are estimated to fall substantially, up to 76%, reducing cost per admitted child to as low as US $5 in KCH, US $4 in SMCH, and US $14 in CPH. Median time to admit a baby was 27 (IQR 20-40) minutes using Neotree (n=250) compared to 26 (IQR 21-30) minutes using paper-based systems (n=34), and the median time to discharge a baby was 9 (IQR 7-13) minutes for Neotree (n=246) compared to 3 (IQR 2-4) minutes for paper-based systems (n=50). Conclusions: Neotree is a time- and cost-efficient tool, comparable with the results from limited similar mHealth decision-support tools in low- and middle-income countries. Implementation costs of Neotree varied substantially between the hospitals, mainly due to hospital size. The implementation costs could be substantially reduced at scale due to economies of scale because of integration to the health systems and reductions in cost items such as staff and overhead. More studies assessing the impact and cost-effectiveness of large-scale mHealth decision-support tools are needed.

Can electronic assessment tools improve the process of shared decision-making? A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Patient involvement in decision-making plays a prominent role in improving the quality of healthcare. Despite this, shared decision-making is not routinely implemented. However, electronic assessment tools that capture patients' history, symptoms, opinions and values prior to their medical appointment are used by healthcare professionals during patient consultations to facilitate shared decision-making. OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness of electronic assessment tools to improve the shared decision-making process. METHOD: A systematic review was conducted following PRISMA guidelines. Published literature was searched on MEDLINE, EMBASE and PsycINFO to identify potentially relevant studies. Data were extracted and analysed narratively. RESULTS: Seventeen articles, representing 4004 participants, were included in this review. The main findings were significant improvement in patient-provider communication and provider management of patient condition in the intervention group compared to the control group. In contrast, patient-provider satisfaction and time efficiency were assessed by relatively few included studies, and the effects of these outcomes were inconclusive. CONCLUSION: This review found that communication and healthcare professional's management of a patient's condition improves because of the use of electronic questionnaires. This is encouraging because the process of shared decision-making is reliant on high-quality communication between healthcare professionals and patients. IMPLICATIONS: We found that this intervention is especially important for people with chronic diseases, as they need to establish a long-term relationship with their healthcare provider and agree to a treatment plan that aligns with their values. More rigorous research with validated instruments is required.

Protocol for an intervention development and pilot implementation evaluation study of an e-health solution to improve newborn care quality and survival in two low-resource settings, Malawi and Zimbabwe: Neotree.

INTRODUCTION: Every year 2.4 million deaths occur worldwide in babies younger than 28 days. Approximately 70% of these deaths occur in low-resource settings because of failure to implement evidence-based interventions. Digital health technologies may offer an implementation solution. Since 2014, we have worked in Bangladesh, Malawi, Zimbabwe and the UK to develop and pilot Neotree: an android app with accompanying data visualisation, linkage and export. Its low-cost hardware and state-of-the-art software are used to improve bedside postnatal care and to provide insights into population health trends, to impact wider policy and practice. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This is a mixed methods (1) intervention codevelopment and optimisation and (2) pilot implementation evaluation (including economic evaluation) study. Neotree will be implemented in two hospitals in Zimbabwe, and one in Malawi. Over the 2-year study period clinical and demographic newborn data will be collected via Neotree, in addition to behavioural science informed qualitative and quantitative implementation evaluation and measures of cost, newborn care quality and usability. Neotree clinical decision support algorithms will be optimised according to best available evidence and clinical validation studies. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This is a Wellcome Trust funded project (215742_Z_19_Z). Research ethics approvals have been obtained: Malawi College of Medicine Research and Ethics Committee (P.01/20/2909; P.02/19/2613); UCL (17123/001, 6681/001, 5019/004); Medical Research Council Zimbabwe (MRCZ/A/2570), BRTI and JREC institutional review boards (AP155/2020; JREC/327/19), Sally Mugabe Hospital Ethics Committee (071119/64; 250418/48). Results will be disseminated via academic publications and public and policy engagement activities. In this study, the care for an estimated 15 000 babies across three sites will be impacted. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT0512707; Pre-results.

Knowledge and Use of Cannabis in Pregnancy: An Ontario Public Health Needs Assessment in Partnership with the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada.

Studies show poor maternal and fetal outcomes associated with prenatal cannabis use. With the legalization of cannabis in Canada, it is of timely importance to increase awareness of the effects of its use in pregnancy. An anonymous, online questionnaire was used to assess the pregnant population's knowledge, beliefs, and risk perceptions concerning cannabis. Additionally, educational materials on the effects of prenatal cannabis use were evaluated. A potential knowledge gap was found among 9%-19% of participants, who reported that cannabis posed no risk of harm to the pregnant person or fetus. Moreover, minor changes could improve the effectiveness of educational resources.

Testing and Validating Semi-automated Approaches to the Occupational Exposure Assessment of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons.

INTRODUCTION: When it is not possible to capture direct measures of occupational exposure or conduct biomonitoring, retrospective exposure assessment methods are often used. Among the common retrospective assessment methods, assigning exposure estimates by multiple expert rater review of detailed job descriptions is typically the most valid, but also the most time-consuming and expensive. Development of screening protocols to prioritize a subset of jobs for expert rater review can reduce the exposure assessment cost and time requirement, but there is often little data with which to evaluate different screening approaches. We used existing job-by-job exposure assessment data (assigned by consensus between multiple expert raters) from a large, population-based study of women to create and test screening algorithms for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that would be suitable for use in other population-based studies. METHODS: We evaluated three approaches to creating a screening algorithm: a machine-learning algorithm, a set of a priori decision rules created by experts based on features (such as keywords) found in the job description, and a hybrid algorithm incorporating both sets of criteria. All coded jobs held by mothers of infants participating in National Birth Defects Prevention Study (NBDPS) (n = 35,424) were used in developing or testing the screening algorithms. The job narrative fields considered for all approaches included job title, type of product made by the company, main activities or duties, and chemicals or substances handled. Each screening approach was evaluated against the consensus rating of two or more expert raters. RESULTS: The machine-learning algorithm considered over 30,000 keywords and industry/occupation codes (separate and in combination). Overall, the hybrid method had a similar sensitivity (87.1%) as the expert decision rules (85.5%) but was higher than the machine-learning algorithm (67.7%). Specificity was best in the machine-learning algorithm (98.1%), compared to the expert decision rules (89.2%) and hybrid approach (89.1%). Using different probability cutoffs in the hybrid approach resulted in improvements in sensitivity (24-30%), without the loss of much specificity (7-18%). CONCLUSION: Both expert decision rules and the machine-learning algorithm performed reasonably well in identifying the majority of jobs with potential exposure to PAHs. The hybrid screening approach demonstrated that by reviewing approximately 20% of the total jobs, it could identify 87% of all jobs exposed to PAHs; sensitivity could be further increased, albeit with a decrease in specificity, by adjusting the algorithm. The resulting screening algorithm could be applied to other population-based studies of women. The process of developing the algorithm also provides a useful illustration of the strengths and potential pitfalls of these approaches to developing exposure assessment algorithms.

Preparing the prescription: a review of the aim and measurement of social referral programmes.

OBJECTIVE: Our aim is to review, and qualitatively evaluate, the aims and measures of social referral programmes. Our first objective is to identify the aims of social referral initiatives. Our second objective is to identify the measures used to evaluate whether the aims of social referral were met. DESIGN: Literature review. BACKGROUND: Social referral programmes, also called social prescribing and emergency case referral, link primary and secondary healthcare with community services, often under the guise of decreasing health system costs. METHOD: Following the PRISMA guidelines, we undertook a literature review to address that aim. We searched in five academic online databases and in one online non-academic search engine, including both academic and grey literature, for articles referring to 'social prescribing' or 'community referral'. RESULTS: We identified 41 relevant articles and reports. After extracting the aims, measures and type of study, we found that most social referral programmes aimed to address a wide variety of system and individual health problems. This included cost savings, resource reallocation and improved mental, physical and social well-being. Across the 41 studies and reports, there were 154 different kinds of measures or methods of evaluation identified. Of these, the most commonly used individual measure was the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale, used in nine studies and reports. CONCLUSIONS: These inconsistencies in aims and measures used pose serious problems when social prescribing and other referral programmes are often advertised as a solution to health services-budgeting constraints, as well as a range of chronic mental and physical health conditions. We recommend researchers and local community organisers alike to critically evaluate for whom, where and why their social referral programmes 'work'.

Negotiating agency in cases of intimate partner violence in Vietnam.

Understandings of women's agency in cases of intimate partner violence (IPV) have been dominated by an individualistic focus on help-seeking behaviour. The role of children in influencing, enabling and restricting the decision-making processes of their mothers has been largely ignored. We adopt biographical analytical approaches to qualitative longitudinal data collected as part of the Young Lives study to highlight the interdependency of women's and children's agency in contexts of IPV in Vietnam. We illustrate how women's agency is both enabled and constrained by their relationships with their children, as well as by wider structural processes, and examine how gender and generation intersect. In marginalised settings where few formal services exist or strong social norms preclude women from accessing support, understanding these informal coping strategies and the processes by which these are negotiated is essential for developing more effective policy responses.

Nurse-led management of contraceptive services.

This article discusses the role of the practice nurse (PN) in the provision of health assessment for contraceptive choices. PNs who have an extended role as an independent nurse prescriber must demonstrate the principles of safe prescribing practice, with appropriate and informed assessment of the patient's needs and risk within the limited time of a general practice appointment. With continued professional development, PNs are well placed to provide comprehensive, independent nurse-led contraceptive services.

Epidemiological review and proposed management of 'scaphoid' injury in children.

BACKGROUND: The epidemiology and optimal management of injury to the paediatric scaphoid (carpal navicular) is unknown.The objective of this study is to evaluate these parameters in the Emergency Department of a tertiary children's hospital. METHODS: A retrospective study of a 12-month period of all children attending a single Paediatric Emergency Department who underwent plain radiography of the scaphoid bone. RESULTS: One hundred and seventeen children (aged 8-12 years inclusive) were included (0.4% of all attendances). On the initial plain radiographs, 17 children showed definite or suspected fractures. At follow-up, only 12 had confirmed fractures. All these children had fallen onto their outstretched hand. Only one patient with normal plain radiographs at presentation was subsequently diagnosed with a scaphoid fracture. All healed without evidence of avascular necrosis. CONCLUSION: Pain in the anatomical snuff box is a poor indicator of bone injury to the scaphoid of any sort. Scaphoid fracture is a rare injury in childhood and from this study, it is extremely unlikely to occur under the age of 9 years.The actual bone pathology of an injured paediatric scaphoid may not be clear, but these children have significant pain and tenderness. Further studies are warranted to improve the diagnostic process and the management of paediatric scaphoid injury.