Reliability of a hospital utilization review method in Turkey.
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OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the Appropriateness Evaluation Protocol (AEP) is reliable in Turkey. METHODS: Three reviewers, two physicians and one nurse each reviewed 196 patient-days concurrently by using the AEP at three hospitals, two of which were teaching hospitals. Inter-reviewer reliability was assessed both for all cases reviewed (overall agreement), and for only those judged inappropriate by at least one reviewer (specific agreement). In addition, overall agreement between pairs of reviewers was evaluated by the Kappa statistic. RESULTS: The overall agreement between pairs of reviewers was very high: 93.4-95.9%, and it was similar between all pairs. The level of overall agreement was highly statistically significant: k=0.725-0.833, P<0.001. The specific agreement rates ranged from a low of 61.8% to a high of 75%. CONCLUSIONS: These results show, for the first time, that the AEP method is reliable in Turkey. (+info)
Developing role of medical audit advisory groups.
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OBJECTIVES: To investigate the approaches to audit of different medical audit advisory groups (MAAGs) and to consider the implications for evaluation of their activities and their developing role in the light of new priorities for clinical audit. DESIGN: Qualitative study based on semistructured interviews. SETTING: 15 family health services authority (FHSA) districts in two English health regions. SUBJECTS: MAAG chairpersons and support staff and FHSA general managers and medical advisors in each district, totalling 68 subjects. MAIN MEASURES: Structures and activities of MAAGs; perceptions of the MAAG's role and its achievements compared with the initial brief in a health circular in 1990. RESULTS: The approaches of different MAAGs varied considerably: some concentrated on promoting audit and others were involved in a wider range of development activities. MAAGs assessed their progress in various different ways. The importance of collaborative working was recognised, but few interface audit projects had been undertaken. MAAGs had little contact with other quality assurance activities in the FHSA, and FHSA involvement in the MAAG strategy was variable, although MAAGs were taking steps to improve communication with the FHSA. CONCLUSIONS: Major differences exist in the approaches taken by MAAGs and the roles they fulfil, which will make evaluation of their effectiveness a complex task. Already MAAGs are responding to changing expectations about audit and pressure for closer links with management. (+info)
Assessing the work of medical audit advisory groups in promoting audit in general practice.
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Objectives--To determine the role of medical audit advisory groups in audit activities in general practice. Design--Postal questionnaire survey. Subjects--All 104 advisory groups in England and Wales in 1994. Main measures--Monitoring audit: the methods used to classify audits, the methods used by the advisory group to collect data on audits from general practices, the proportion of practices undertaking audit. Directing and coordinating audits: topics and number of practices participating in multipractice audits. Results--The response rate was 86-5%. In 1993-4, 54% of the advisory groups used the Oxfordshire or Kirklees methods for classifying audits, or modifications of them. 99% of the advisory groups collected data on audit activities at least once between 1991-2 and 1993-4. Visits, questionnaires, and other methods were used to collect information from all or samples of practices in each of the advisory group's areas. Some advisory groups used different methods in different years. In 1991-2, 57% of all practices participated in some audit, in 1992-3, 78%, and in 1993-4, 86%. 428 multipractice audits were identified. The most popular topic was diabetes. Conclusions--Advisory groups have been active in monitoring audit in general practice. However, the methods used to classify and collect information about audits in general practices varied widely. The number of practices undertaking audit increased between 1991-2 and 1993 1. The large number of multipractice audits supports the view that the advisory groups have directed and coordinated audit activities. This example of a national audit programme for general practice may be helpful in other countries in which the introduction of quality assurance is being considered. (+info)
Impact of therapeutic research on informed consent and the ethics of clinical trials: a medical oncology perspective.
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PURPOSE: To create a more meaningful understanding of the informed consent process as it has come to be practiced and regulated in clinical trials, this discussion uses the experience gained from the conduct of therapeutic research that involves cancer patients. DESIGN: After an introduction of the ethical tenets of the consent process in clinical research that involves potentially vulnerable patients as research subjects, background that details the use of written consent documents and of the term "informed consent" is provided. Studies from the cancer setting that examine the inadequacies of written consent documents, and the outcome of the consent process itself, are reviewed. Two ethically challenging areas of cancer clinical research, the phase I trial and the randomized controlled trial, are discussed briefly as a means of highlighting many dilemmas present in clinical trials. Before concluding, areas for future research are discussed. RESULTS: Through an exclusive cancer research perspective, many current deficiencies in the informed consent process for therapeutic clinical trials can be critically examined. Also, new directions for improvements and areas of further research can be outlined and discussed objectively. The goals of such improvements and research should be prevention of further misguided or ineffective efforts to regulate the informed consent process. CONCLUSION: To ignore this rich and interesting perspective potentially contributes to continued misunderstanding and apathy toward fulfilling the regulatory and ethically obligatory requirements involved in an essential communication process between a clinician-investigator and a potentially vulnerable patient who is considering clinical trial participation. (+info)
Production and evaluation of guidelines for the management of inflammatory bowel disease: the Leicester experience.
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Consensus guidelines for the management of patients with inflammatory bowel disease were produced by gastroenterologists, gastrointestinal surgeons and a cross-section of general practitioners (GPs) from Leicestershire in order to develop a seamless pattern of care with a common approach to diagnosis and treatment. It was hoped that the guidelines would encourage a movement towards care in the community for many patients with stable disease and so speed up new consultation rates. The study then assessed the impact of these guidelines on the referral letters of GPs to hospital consultants, the prediction of disease and adherence to them on re-referring patients after discharge. The guidelines were distributed to all 487 GPs in the Leicester Health Authority area and the gastroenterology teams within the hospitals. The value of the guidelines was assessed by an audit of referral letters, the length of time from referral letter to out-patient appointment, both before and after the launch of the guidelines, adherence to the guidelines on re-referral, and monitoring the outcome of the discharged patients. Whilst the guidelines may have helped GPs to manage stable patients in the community, the content of referral letters and the diagnostic abilities of GPs were not seen to improve since the launch of the guidelines. However, only 5% of stable patients who were discharged from one clinic were re-referred for inflammatory bowel disease. (+info)
Security architecture for multi-site patient records research.
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A security system was developed as part of a patient records research database project intended for both local and multi-site studies. A comprehensive review of ethical foundations and legal environment was undertaken, and a security system comprising both administrative policies and computer tools was developed. For multi-site studies, Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval is required for each study, at each participating site. A sponsoring Principal Investigator (PI) is required at each site, and each PI needs automated enforcement tools. Systems fitting this model were implemented at two academic medical centers. Security features of commercial database systems were found to be adequate for basic enforcement of approved research protocols. (+info)
Development and implementation of a clinical pathway programme in an acute care general hospital in Singapore.
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A critical or clinical pathway defines the optimal care process, sequencing and timing of interventions by doctors, nurses and other health care professionals for a particular diagnosis or procedure. Clinical pathways are developed through collaborative efforts of clinicians, case managers, nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists and other allied health care professionals with the aim of improving the quality of patient care, while minimizing cost to the patient. The use of clinical pathways has increased over the past decade in the USA, the UK, Australia, and many other developed countries. However, its use in the developing nations and Asia has been sporadic. To the author's knowledge, there is to date, no published literature on the use and impact of clinical pathways on the quality and cost of patient care in the Asian health care setting. This paper provides a qualitative account of the development and implementation of a clinical pathway programme (using the example of patients with uncomplicated acute myocardial infarction) in an acute care general hospital in Singapore. The paper concludes that clinical pathways, when implemented in the context of an acute care hospital, can result in improvements in the care delivery process. (+info)
Priority setting for new technologies in medicine: qualitative case study.
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OBJECTIVE: To describe priority setting for new technologies in medicine. DESIGN: Qualitative study using case studies and grounded theory. SETTING: Two committees advising on priorities for new technologies in cancer and cardiac care in Ontario, Canada. PARTICIPANTS: The two committees and their 26 members. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Accounts of priority setting decision making gathered by reviewing documents, interviewing members, and observing meetings. RESULTS: Six interrelated domains were identified for priority setting for new technologies in medicine: the institutions in which the decision are made, the people who make the decisions, the factors they consider, the reasons for the decisions, the process of decision making, and the appeals mechanism for challenging the decisions. CONCLUSION: These domains constitute a model of priority setting for new technologies in medicine. The next step will be to harmonise this description of how priority setting decisions are made with ethical accounts of how they should be made. (+info)