How do the particular characteristics of less-educated employees with disabilities impact survey implementation?

BACKGROUND: Employees with disabilities make up a significant share of the working population. The group of employees covered by this study is hard to include in research and yet must be researched due to the vulnerable position it holds in the labour market. The topic is quite complex. OBJECTIVE: The article's main goal is to demonstrate how to implement a survey and adapt a questionnaire for assessing competencies and motivation for training and career changes among older and less-educated employees who have disabilities. METHODS: In the paper, we discuss the approach to adapting a questionnaire and a survey by undertaking an extensive process of different testing and adaptation stages that is presented in the article. RESULTS: We highlight some obstacles that employees with disabilities face when participating in surveys due to their low literacy skills, as well as low self-esteem, accessibility issues and other general methodological issues in the context of our population. Potential solutions gathered from all phases of the adaptation process are discussed. CONCLUSIONS: Proper survey implementation and questionnaire modification must be ensured if researchers aim to increase the willingness of individuals with disabilities to participate in the survey and to gather quality results.

Should the patients colonized with extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Gram-negative bacilli (E-GNB) coming to hospital from the community with pneumonia get anti-E-GNB active empirical treatment?

Extended-spectrum beta-lactamases are responsible for resistance of Gram-negative bacilli to several beta-lactam antibiotics, including those prescribed for treatment pneumonia. To evaluate the importance of colonization with E-GNB for the choice of empirical treatment we performed a retrospective case-control study including 156 patients, hospitalized for treatment of pneumonia from 2009 through 2013. Empirical treatment success and in-hospital survival were significantly lower in patients colonized with E-GNB compared to non-colonized (p = 0.002, p = 0.035). When comparing subgroups of colonized patients, treatment success was significantly lower in patients who were colonized with E-GNB resistant to empirical antibiotic (p = 0.010), but not in those colonized by E-GNB susceptible to empirically given antibiotic (p = 0.104). Difference in in-hospital mortality was insignificant in both subgroups (p = 0.056, p = 0.331). The results of study suggest that an anti-E-GNB active antibiotic should be used for empirical treatment of pneumonia in E-GNB colonized patients.