Effectiveness of a foot self-management intervention that utilized commercially available infrared thermometers: Mixed methods research incorporating a pilot RCT.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of a foot self-management strategy that utilized a commercially-available infrared thermometer (CAIT) for prevention of diabetic foot ulcers. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: In this six-month pilot randomized controlled trial, Phase 2 of a three-phase mixed methods research study, 62 participants were randomized to a thermometer and education group (n = 34) and an education-only group (n = 26). Both groups received foot care education and were assessed by a certified orthotist. All participants recorded their number of steps and recorded a foot assessment in a logbook daily. The thermometer and education group also recorded their daily temperature assessment. A temperature difference of >4° Fahrenheit (F) between the two feet prompted participants to rest their feet. Participants were directed to see their healthcare provider if the temperature difference did not decrease to below 4° F in two days. Phase 3 of the study explored the Phase 2 results to understand the findings further. RESULTS: The strategy improved foot assessment and action: the thermometer and education group had significantly more days with any assessment completed than the education-only group (150.98/180 vs. 119.84/180, p = 0.02). Phase 3 findings showed that the thermometer engaged participants, prompted action, and offered reassurance regarding foot health. CONCLUSIONS: A CAIT is a tool that could support foot self-management and may offer several benefits, such as promoting and providing structure for a foot assessment and direction for action. CLINICAL TRIAL REG NO: NCT0306776 clinicaltrials.gov.

Improving adherence to Standard Precautions for the control of health care-associated infections.

BACKGROUND: 'Standard Precautions' refers to a system of actions, such as using personal protective equipment or adhering to safe handling of needles, that healthcare workers take to reduce the spread of germs in healthcare settings such as hospitals and nursing homes. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effectiveness of interventions that target healthcare workers to improve adherence to Standard Precautions in patient care. SEARCH METHODS: We searched CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, LILACS, two other databases, and two trials registers. We applied no language restrictions. The date of the most recent search was 14 February 2017. SELECTION CRITERIA: We included randomised trials of individuals, cluster-randomised trials, non-randomised trials, controlled before-after studies, and interrupted time-series studies that evaluated any intervention to improve adherence to Standard Precautions by any healthcare worker with responsibility for patient care in any hospital, long-term care or community setting, or artificial setting, such as a classroom or a learning laboratory. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two review authors independently screened search results, extracted data from eligible trials, and assessed risk of bias for each included study, using standard methodological procedures expected by Cochrane. Because of substantial heterogeneity among interventions and outcome measures, meta-analysis was not warranted. We used the GRADE approach to assess certainty of evidence and have presented results narratively in 'Summary of findings' tables. MAIN RESULTS: We included eight studies with a total of 673 participants; three studies were conducted in Asia, two in Europe, two in North America, and one in Australia. Five studies were randomised trials, two were cluster-randomised trials, and one was a non-randomised trial. Three studies compared different educational approaches versus no education, one study compared education with visualisation of respiratory particle dispersion versus education alone, two studies compared education with additional infection control support versus no intervention, one study compared peer evaluation versus no intervention, and one study evaluated use of a checklist and coloured cues. We considered all studies to be at high risk of bias with different risks. All eight studies used different measures to assess healthcare workers' adherence to Standard Precautions. Three studies also assessed healthcare workers' knowledge, and one measured rates of colonisation with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) among residents and staff of long-term care facilities. Because of heterogeneity in interventions and outcome measures, we did not conduct a meta-analysis.Education may slightly improve both healthcare workers' adherence to Standard Precautions (three studies; four centres) and their level of knowledge (two studies; three centres; low certainty of evidence for both outcomes).Education with visualisation of respiratory particle dispersion probably improves healthcare workers' use of facial protection but probably leads to little or no difference in knowledge (one study; 20 nurses; moderate certainty of evidence for both outcomes).Education with additional infection control support may slightly improve healthcare workers' adherence to Standard Precautions (two studies; 44 long-term care facilities; low certainty of evidence) but probably leads to little or no difference in rates of health care-associated colonisation with MRSA (one study; 32 long-term care facilities; moderate certainty of evidence).Peer evaluation probably improves healthcare workers' adherence to Standard Precautions (one study; one hospital; moderate certainty of evidence).Checklists and coloured cues probably improve healthcare workers' adherence to Standard Precautions (one study; one hospital; moderate certainty of evidence). AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Considerable variation in interventions and in outcome measures used, along with high risk of bias and variability in the certainty of evidence, makes it difficult to draw conclusions about effectiveness of the interventions. This review underlines the need to conduct more robust studies evaluating similar types of interventions and using similar outcome measures.

Interventions to improve hand hygiene compliance in patient care.

BACKGROUND: Health care-associated infection is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Hand hygiene is regarded as an effective preventive measure. This is an update of a previously published review. OBJECTIVES: To assess the short- and long-term success of strategies to improve compliance to recommendations for hand hygiene, and to determine whether an increase in hand hygiene compliance can reduce rates of health care-associated infection. SEARCH METHODS: We conducted electronic searches of the Cochrane Register of Controlled Trials, PubMed, Embase, and CINAHL. We conducted the searches from November 2009 to October 2016. SELECTION CRITERIA: We included randomised trials, non-randomised trials, controlled before-after studies, and interrupted time series analyses (ITS) that evaluated any intervention to improve compliance with hand hygiene using soap and water or alcohol-based hand rub (ABHR), or both. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two review authors independently screened citations for inclusion, extracted data, and assessed risks of bias for each included study. Meta-analysis was not possible, as there was substantial heterogeneity across studies. We assessed the certainty of evidence using the GRADE approach and present the results narratively in a 'Summary of findings' table. MAIN RESULTS: This review includes 26 studies: 14 randomised trials, two non-randomised trials and 10 ITS studies. Most studies were conducted in hospitals or long-term care facilities in different countries, and collected data from a variety of healthcare workers. Fourteen studies assessed the success of different combinations of strategies recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) to improve hand hygiene compliance. Strategies consisted of the following: increasing the availability of ABHR, different types of education for staff, reminders (written and verbal), different types of performance feedback, administrative support, and staff involvement. Six studies assessed different types of performance feedback, two studies evaluated education, three studies evaluated cues such as signs or scent, and one study assessed placement of ABHR. Observed hand hygiene compliance was measured in all but three studies which reported product usage. Eight studies also reported either infection or colonisation rates. All studies had two or more sources of high or unclear risks of bias, most often associated with blinding or independence of the intervention.Multimodal interventions that include some but not all strategies recommended in the WHO guidelines may slightly improve hand hygiene compliance (five studies; 56 centres) and may slightly reduce infection rates (three studies; 34 centres), low certainty of evidence for both outcomes.Multimodal interventions that include all strategies recommended in the WHO guidelines may slightly reduce colonisation rates (one study; 167 centres; low certainty of evidence). It is unclear whether the intervention improves hand hygiene compliance (five studies; 184 centres) or reduces infection (two studies; 16 centres) because the certainty of this evidence is very low.Multimodal interventions that contain all strategies recommended in the WHO guidelines plus additional strategies may slightly improve hand hygiene compliance (six studies; 15 centres; low certainty of evidence). It is unclear whether this intervention reduces infection rates (one study; one centre; very low certainty of evidence).Performance feedback may improve hand hygiene compliance (six studies; 21 centres; low certainty of evidence). This intervention probably slightly reduces infection (one study; one centre) and colonisation rates (one study; one centre) based on moderate certainty of evidence.Education may improve hand hygiene compliance (two studies; two centres), low certainty of evidence.Cues such as signs or scent may slightly improve hand hygiene compliance (three studies; three centres), low certainty of evidence.Placement of ABHR close to point of use probably slightly improves hand hygiene compliance (one study; one centre), moderate certainty of evidence. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: With the identified variability in certainty of evidence, interventions, and methods, there remains an urgent need to undertake methodologically robust research to explore the effectiveness of multimodal versus simpler interventions to increase hand hygiene compliance, and to identify which components of multimodal interventions or combinations of strategies are most effective in a particular context.

Evaluating the effectiveness of the cardiovascular assessment screening program with nurse practitioners and patients: results of a cluster randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: There is inconsistent utilisation of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for cardiovascular disease (CVD) screening and management by healthcare professionals to identify CVD risk factors early and to intervene using current recommendations. To address this issue, the Cardiovascular Assessment Screening Program (CASP) was developed, implemented, and evaluated. This manuscript reports on the second phase of an exploratory sequential mixed methods study that tested the effectiveness of the CASP with nurse practitioners (NPs) and patients in Canada. METHODS: A two-armed, non-blinded, cluster randomised controlled trial (cRCT) compared the NP-led implementation of CASP with usual care by NPs in community practice clinics across one Canadian province. The NPs were the cluster variable as their screening practices could be affected by their educational training, resources, or other factors. NPs were eligible for inclusion in the study if they were located in different urban and rural community settings and could conduct follow-up visits with patients. NPs recruited and enrolled the patients from their own practices as participants if they were healthy individuals, aged 40-74 years, with no established CVD or vascular disease. Researchers randomly allocated the NPs (n = 10) to the intervention group (IG) or the control group (CG). RESULTS: Eight (8) NPs and 167 patients participated in the cRCT study. Patient participant-level data were analysed by the originally assigned groups IG (n = 68) and CG (n = 99). Utilising GLM (generalized linear modeling) more IG patients (90%; n = 61) received comprehensive CVD screening compared to the CG patients (2%; n = 2), RR = 30.2, 95% CI [8.76, 103.9], p < .0001, controlling for the effect of NP and BP category. CONCLUSION: NP implementation of CASP was effective for comprehensive screening compared to usual care and led to identifying previously unknown CVD risk factors, calculated FRS, heart health priorities and personalised goal-setting. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrial.gov ID#: NCT03170752, date of registration 2017/05/31.

Evaluation of Incremental Validity of Casper in Predicting Program and National Licensure Performance of Undergraduate Nursing Students: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Study.

BACKGROUND: Academic success has been the primary criterion for admission to many nursing programs. However, academic success as an admission criterion may have limited predictive value for success in noncognitive skills. Adding situational judgment tests, such as Casper, to admissions procedures may be one strategy to strengthen decisions and address the limited predictive value of academic admission criteria. In 2021, admissions processes were modified to include Casper based on concerns identified with noncognitive skills. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to (1) assess the incremental validity of Casper scores in predicting nursing student performance at years 1, 2, 3, and 4 and on the National Council Licensing Examination (NCLEX) performance; and (2) examine faculty members' perceptions of student performance and influences related to communication, professionalism, empathy, and problem-solving. METHODS: We will use a multistage evaluation mixed methods design with 5 phases. At the end of each year, students will complete questionnaires related to empathy and professionalism and have their performance assessed for communication and problem-solving in psychomotor laboratory sessions. The final phase will assess graduate performance on the NCLEX. Each phase also includes qualitative data collection (ie, focus groups with faculty members). The goal of the focus groups is to help explain the quantitative findings (explanatory phase) as well as inform data collection (eg, focus group questions) in the subsequent phase (exploratory sequence). All students enrolled in the first year of the nursing program in 2021 were asked to participate (n=290). Faculty will be asked to participate in the focus groups at the end of each year of the program. Hierarchical multiple regression will be conducted for each outcome of interest (eg, communication, professionalism, empathy, and problem-solving) to determine the extent to which scores on Casper with admission grades, compared to admission grades alone, predict nursing student performance at years 1-4 of the program and success on the national exam. Thematic analysis of focus group transcripts will be conducted using interpretive description. The quantitative and qualitative data will be integrated after each phase is complete and at the end of the study. RESULTS: This study was funded in September 2021, and data collection began in March 2022. Year 1 data collection and analysis are complete. Year 2 data collection is complete, and data analysis is in progress. CONCLUSIONS: At the end of the study, we will provide the results of a comprehensive analysis to determine the extent to which the addition of scores on Casper compared to admission grades alone predicts nursing student performance at years 1-4 of the program and on the NCLEX exam. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): RR1-10.2196/48672.

Development of the Cardiovascular Assessment Screening Program (CASP) using the qualitative findings of a mixed methods study and applying the TDF to address the barriers of and facilitators to comprehensive screening for cardiovascular disease.

BACKGROUND: There is inconsistent utilisation of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for cardiovascular disease (CVD) screening and management by healthcare professionals to identify CVD risk factors early and to intervene using current recommendations. This manuscript reports on the first phase of an exploratory sequential mixed methods study describing the integration of the qualitative study findings with the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) that led to the development of the Cardiovascular Assessment Screening Program (CASP). The main objective of the qualitative study was to inform the development of CASP. METHODS: Focus groups (5) and interviews (10) were conducted in rural and urban settings in one Canadian province with target health professionals, managers in health care organizations, and the public to obtain different perspectives to inform the CASP intervention. Three focus groups were held with nurse practitioners and two with members of the public; individual interviews were conducted with target groups as well. Application of the TDF provided a comprehensive approach to determine the main factors influencing clinician behaviour, to assess the implementation process, and to support intervention design. Behaviour change techniques, modes of delivery, and intervention components were selected for the development of the CASP. RESULTS: Themes identified such lack of knowledge about comprehensive screening, ambiguity around responsibility for screening, lack of time and commitment to screening were addressed in the components of the CASP intervention that were developed, including a website, education module, decision tools, and a toolkit. CONCLUSION: CASP is a theory-informed intervention developed through the integration of the findings from the focus groups and interviews with selected TDF domains, behaviour change techniques, and modes of delivery available in the local context that may be a useful approach for knowledge translation of evidence into practice.

Designing strategies to implement research-based policies and procedures: a set of recommendations for nurse leaders based on the PARiHS framework.

Organizational policies and procedures are one vehicle for translating research into nursing practice and improving quality and patient and organizational outcomes. However, their existence alone is not sufficient to ensure use. In this article, we describe the Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services framework and how nurse leaders can use the framework to support the implementation of research-based policies and procedures.

Patient, Support-Person and Health-Care Provider Perspectives on Foot Self-Management for Adults With Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes: Personal Challenges.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of self-management of feet for patients with diabetes from the perspective of the patient, support person and health-care provider. METHODS: The qualitative method, Interpretive Description, was used to guide data collection and analysis. Semistructured interviews were completed with 11 patients, 4 support persons and 9 health-care providers. RESULTS: The overarching theme was that self-management of diabetes and specifically foot health is complex. Six subthemes were identified. Four confirmed what is known in the literature: knowledge of foot self-management, physical ability to provide foot care, footwear and support. The remaining 2 subthemes, readiness to self-manage feet and communication between patients and health-care providers, offered new insights in relation to self-management of foot health. CONCLUSIONS: The present findings have major implications for clinical practice, which can be categorized as the 3Rs: rapport, readiness and reinforcement. Rapport with patients and support persons is vital in creating an environment where foot health concerns can be addressed. Readiness to self-manage foot health is an important factor; health-care providers can capitalize on a patient's level of readiness, regularly tailoring foot education to a patient's needs. Reinforcement of positive foot health with patients and support persons is an important strategy for all health-care providers.

Recruitment of Healthcare Providers into Research Studies.

Recruitment of a sufficient number of healthcare providers (HCPs), such as nurses and nurse practitioners (NPs), as participants is essential to generate high quality research to address issues significant for clinical practice. Often the recruitment process reported in research studies is very brief and does not capture the reality of the challenges of obtaining an adequate sample. This manuscript describes the challenges that we experienced in trying to recruit a sufficient number of HCPs, specifically NPs, into a randomized controlled trial. Based on our experience, as well as a review of the literature on recruiting HCPs, we share recommendations for researchers trying to recruit busy professionals as participants. Key findings were not just about reaching the target participants, but actually using strategies to stimulate their interest and persuading them to be involved from the beginning. Important things to consider for successful recruitment are making an effort to meet with professionals face-to-face and building relationships with administrators and other staff within organizations. Other lessons learned were to ensure to allot extra time for recruitment to allow for unanticipated challenges and to utilize multimodal strategies simultaneously to ensure a more timely execution of the recruitment process.

Interventions to improve hand hygiene compliance in patient care.

BACKGROUND: Health care-associated infection is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Hand hygiene is regarded as an effective preventive measure. OBJECTIVES: To update the review done in 2007, to assess the short and longer-term success of strategies to improve hand hygiene compliance and to determine whether a sustained increase in hand hygiene compliance can reduce rates of health care-associated infection. SEARCH STRATEGY: We conducted electronic searches of: the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials; the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care Group specialised register of trials; MEDLINE; PubMed; EMBASE; CINAHL; and the BNI. Originally searched to July 2006, for the update databases were searched from August 2006 until November 2009. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised controlled trials, controlled clinical trials, controlled before and after studies, and interrupted time series analyses meeting explicit entry and quality criteria used by the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care Group were eligible for inclusion. Studies reporting indicators of hand hygiene compliance and proxy indicators such as product use were considered. Self-reported data were not considered a valid measure of compliance. Studies to promote hand hygiene compliance as part of a care bundle approach were included, providing data relating specifically to hand hygiene were presented separately. Studies were excluded if hand hygiene was assessed in simulations, non-clinical settings or the operating theatre setting. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two reviewers independently extracted data and assessed data quality. MAIN RESULTS: Four studies met the criteria for the review: two from the original review and two from the update. Two studies evaluated simple education initiatives, one using a randomized clinical trial design and the other a controlled before and after design. Both measured hand hygiene compliance by direct observation. The other two studies were both interrupted times series studies. One study presented three separate interventions within the same paper: simple substitutions of product and two multifaceted campaigns, one of which included involving practitioners in making decisions about choice of hand hygiene products and the components of the hand hygiene program. The other study also presented two separate multifaceted campaigns, one of which involved application of social marketing theory. In these two studies follow-up data collection continued beyond twelve months, and a proxy measure of hand hygiene compliance (product use) was recorded. Microbiological data were recorded in one study. Hand hygiene compliance increased for one of the studies where it was measured by direct observation, but the results from the other study were not conclusive. Product use increased in the two studies in which it was reported, with inconsistent results reported for one initiative. MRSA incidence decreased in the one study reporting microbiological data. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: The quality of intervention studies intended to increase hand hygiene compliance remains disappointing. Although multifaceted campaigns with social marketing or staff involvement appear to have an effect, there is insufficient evidence to draw a firm conclusion. There remains an urgent need to undertake methodologically robust research to explore the effectiveness of soundly designed and implemented interventions to increase hand hygiene compliance.

Applying thematic synthesis to interpretation and commentary in epidemiological studies: identifying what contributes to successful interventions to promote hand hygiene in patient care.

OBJECTIVES: Hand hygiene is considered the most important preventive measure for healthcare-associated infections, but adherence is suboptimal. We previously undertook a Cochrane Review that demonstrated that interventions to improve adherence are moderately effective. Impact varied between organisations and sites with the same intervention and implementation approaches. This study seeks to explore these differences. METHODS: A thematic synthesis was applied to the original authors' interpretation and commentary that offered explanations of how hand hygiene interventions exerted their effects and suggested reasons why success varied. The synthesis used a published Cochrane Review followed by three-stage synthesis. RESULTS: Twenty-one papers were reviewed: 11 randomised, 1 non-randomised and 9 interrupted time series studies. Thirteen descriptive themes were identified. They reflected a range of factors perceived to influence effectiveness. Descriptive themes were synthesised into three analytical themes: methodological explanations for failure or success (eg, Hawthorne effect) and two related themes that address issues with implementing hand hygiene interventions: successful implementation needs leadership and cooperation throughout the organisation (eg, visible managerial support) and understanding the context and aligning the intervention with it drives implementation (eg, embedding the intervention into wider patient safety initiatives). CONCLUSIONS: The analytical themes help to explain the original authors' perceptions of the degree to which interventions were effective and suggested new directions for research: exploring ways to avoid the Hawthorne effect; exploring the impact of components of multimodal interventions; the use of theoretical frameworks for behaviour change; potential to embed interventions into wider patient safety initiatives; adaptations to demonstrate sustainability; and the development of systematic approaches to implementation. Our findings corroborate studies exploring the success or failure of other clinical interventions: context and leadership are important.

Assessing the quality of care in a regional integrated viral hepatitis clinic in British Columbia: a cross-sectional study.

Four regional viral hepatitis clinics in British Columbia provide accessible integrated care and services but have not been evaluated. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to assess clients' perceptions of the quality of care and services received, what aspects of care were important, and what the effect of care was on their ability to cope. Clients who had received care at one of the clinics were surveyed by using two self-administered questionnaires. The Hepatitis C Virus Questionnaire asked clients to rate five aspects of care related to general clinic, physician, and nurse services. The open-ended questions of the Aspects of Care Questionnaire explored clients' perceptions of the aspects of care considered to be the most and least helpful. The response rate was 55% (115 of 210). The highest rated items were with the professional aspects of care, whereas the lowest rated were with the educational items. Only 46.3% of the clients felt that the clinic staff taught them the necessary skills to cope with their disease. The results showed that the courtesy, continuity of care, and educational aspects of care had significant differences by age, antiviral treatment status, genotype, and gender (p < .05). Although the clients valued the professional aspects of care, findings highlight the need for improved communication, follow-up, and education about coping and managing hepatitis C. Results will be helpful for improving integrated service delivery.

Interventions to improve hand hygiene compliance in patient care: Reflections on three systematic reviews for the Cochrane Collaboration 2007-2017.

This article presents highlights from a recently updated systematic Cochrane review evaluating the effectiveness of interventions to improve hand hygiene compliance in patient care. It is an advance on the two earlier reviews we undertook on the same topic as it has, for the first time, provided very rigorous synthesis of evidence that such interventions can improve practice. In this article, we provide highlights from a recently updated Cochrane systematic review. We identify omissions in the information reported and point out important aspects of hand hygiene intervention studies that were beyond the scope of the review. A full report of the review is available free of charge on the Cochrane website.

Foot self-management for adults with diabetes in western countries: a scoping review protocol.

SCOPING REVIEW OBJECTIVE/QUESTION: The objective of this scoping review is to examine and map the range of issues related to self-management of feet in adults with diabetes with similar lifestyles, risks and health care in western countries.

What can faculty members and programs do to improve students' learning?

Purpose. To understand what faculty members can do to improve students' learning, we explored (1) program and course characteristics important to students, (2) choices within courses students feel are important, and (3) students' perceptions of learning online. Background. Web delivery alters interactions among students and faculty, thereby changing the learning environment. Methods. Master of Nursing students currently enrolled in one graduate program were invited to participate in a web-based survey. Findings. The students valued (1) frequent feedback and interaction with the instructor, (2) organized, structured, and current content, (3) flexibility in deadlines and participation, (4) seamless navigation and technical support, and (5) choices in assignments. Students perceived their learning in online courses as less than if they had taken the course on campus. Conclusions. Professors can address some of the items identified by students as important, such as being flexible with due dates and expectations for participation in online discussion.