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Care Programme (care + programme)
Selected AbstractsDying at home: community nurses' views on the impact of informal carers on cancer patients' place of deathEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF CANCER CARE, Issue 5 2010B. JACK phd, bsc (econ), head of research, scholarship JACK B. & O'BRIEN M. (2010) European Journal of Cancer Care19, 636,642 Dying at home: community nurses' views on the impact of informal carers on cancer patients' place of death Giving patients with cancer a choice in where they want to die including the choice to die at home if they so wish, underpin the recent UK government policies and is embedded in the End of Life Care Programme. However, this presents increasing challenges for the informal carers particularly with an increasingly aging population. Despite the policy initiatives, there remain a persistent number of patients with cancer who had chosen to die at home being admitted to hospital in the last days and hours of life. A qualitative study using two focus group interviews with community nurses (district nurses and community specialist palliative care nurses) was undertaken across two primary care trusts in the north-west of England. Data were analysed using a thematic analysis approach. The results indicated that informal carer burden was a key reason for prompting hospital admission. Recommendations for the development of a carer assessment tool with appropriate supportive interventions are made. [source] Bulky disease is the most important prognostic factor in Hodgkin lymphoma stage IIBEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF HAEMATOLOGY, Issue 5 2003Ingrid Glimelius Abstract: The aim of this study was to evaluate treatment results for Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) patients younger than 60 yr in stage IIB, treated according to the Swedish National Care Programme. The intention was also to identify specific subgroups depending on the number of negative prognostic factors the patients have, in order to optimise and differentiate future treatment. In total, 99 patients with HL stage IIB, diagnosed between 1985 and 1994, have been analysed. There were 47 men and 52 women and the median age was 33 yr (range 17,59). Eighty-six patients presented with supradiaphragmatic disease and 13 with infradiaphragmatic. The HL specific and overall 10-yr survival was 73 and 65%, respectively. The HL-specific survival for patients in pathological stage IIB tended to be better, although not statistically significant than for clinical stage IIB, despite less chemotherapy (P = 0.1). The patients in stage IIB who were selected for laparotomy were, however, younger and with fewer negative prognostic factors. The only significant negative prognostic factor was bulky disease (P = 0.001). The following factors also tended to have a negative influence on the prognosis although not statistically significant: the International Prognostic Score, the number of involved lymph node stations, extranodal involvement and leucocyte count >15 × 109/L. In conclusion, we suggest that bulky disease should be taken into account when treating patients with stage IIB HL. [source] Comments on: M. Zigmond et al. (2006) The Outcome of a Preventive Dental Care Programme on the Prevalence of Localized Aggressive Periodontitis in Down's Syndrome (DS) Individuals (Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 50(7), pp.JOURNAL OF INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY RESEARCH, Issue 1 2008[source] Determinants of coverage in Community-based Therapeutic Care programmes: towards a joint quantitative and qualitative analysisDISASTERS, Issue 2 2010Saúl Guerrero One of the most important elements behind the success of Community-based Therapeutic Care (CTC) programmes for the treatment of severe acute malnutrition has been their ability to achieve high levels of coverage. In CTC, coverage is measured using the Centric System Area Sampling (CSAS) method, which provides accurate and reliable estimates of programme coverage as well as information on the primary reasons for non-attendance. Another important feature of CTC programmes is their use of socio-cultural assessments to determine potential barriers to access and to develop context-specific responses. By analysing data on non-attendance provided by CSAS surveys, in conjunction with data from socio-cultural assessments, it is possible to identify common factors responsible for failures in programme coverage. This paper focuses on an analysis of data from 12 CTC programmes across five African countries. It pinpoints three common factors (distance to sites, community awareness of the programme, and the way in which rejections are handled at the sites) that, together, account for approximately 75 per cent of non-attendance. [source] Delivering ,Gold Standards' in end-of-life care in care homes: a question of teamwork?JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 12 2009Alistair Hewison Aim., This paper reports findings from a study which investigated the introduction of the Gold Standards Framework for improving end-of-life care into care homes in England. Background., The Gold Standards Framework was developed in primary care to improve the care provided for people at the end-of-life. Following its successful introduction to this setting it was adapted and implemented in care homes. Design., A case study approach was appropriate for this study of a care programme into a ,real life' setting. Method., Fourteen managers participated in an initial telephone interview. Ten of these homes participated in the case study phase and 61 staff participated in individual or group interviews. Seven residents and three relatives participated in face to face interviews. Qualitative data were analysed in line with the template approach. Survey data were also analysed and a validated Teamworking Questionnaire was used. Results., It was found that teamwork is central to the successful introduction of the Gold Standards Framework in Care Homes. Good staffing levels and management support were also perceived to be key factors in homes where the Framework became established. Conclusion., Effective teamwork was necessary for changes in end-of-life care to be achieved in the care homes. If end-of-life care and other improvements in practice are to continue, teamwork will need to be supported and developed. Relevance to clinical practice., Effective teamwork appears to be a pre-requisite for successful implementation of new programmes of care. Organisations wishing to implement such programmes should assess the quality of teamwork and may need to address this first. [source] Five-year prospective analysis of dietary intake and clinical status in malnourished cystic fibrosis patientsJOURNAL OF HUMAN NUTRITION & DIETETICS, Issue 4 2003J. Walkowiak Abstract Background, Poor growth and malnutrition still pose a problem in cystic fibrosis (CF). The aim of the present study was to assess nutrition, as well as clinical status, of malnourished CF patients during a nutritional care programme. Material and methods, The study comprised 38 CF patients, aged 1,18 years old. The prospective annual assessment of dietary intake and clinical status was carried out during 1994,98. Results, The energy intake increased, in comparison with recommended daily allowances, from 83.6 ± 4.8% in 1994 to 107.9 ± 4.9% in 1998. A similar tendency was observed for the percentage of energy derived from fat (30.3 ± 0.8% versus 35.1 ± 0.8%) and protein (11.4 ± 0.4% versus 13.8 ± 0.4%). In subsequent years of the study, an improvement in the fat profile of the diet (with a higher consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids) was observed. The observed increase of vitamin A and E consumption was related chiefly to changes in the doses of supplementation. During these 5 years, an improvement in nutritional status (Z-score: height ,1.34 ± 0.13 versus ,1.08 ± 0.14 and weight ,1.40 ± 0.09 versus ,1.12 ± 0.08) and lung function (forced expiratory volume in 1 s: 75.5 ± 2.0% versus 77.8 ± 2.2%) was observed. Conclusion, The nutritional care programme resulted in stable quantitative and qualitative changes in dietary intake. Although the diet does not reach the recommended level of high-energy intake, the positive impact of increasing nutrient intake on the nutritional and clinical status of malnourished CF patients was documented. [source] The outcome of a preventive dental care programme on the prevalence of localized aggressive periodontitis in Down's syndrome individualsJOURNAL OF INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY RESEARCH, Issue 7 2006M. Zigmond Abstract Background Periodontal disease in Down's syndrome (DS) individuals develops earlier and is more rapid and extensive than in age-matched normal individuals. The present study evaluated a group of DS patients, who had been participating in a 10-year preventive dental programme, for the impact of the programme on their periodontal status. Methods Thirty DS patients (mean age 23.3 ± 4 years) were compared with 28 age-matched healthy controls (mean age 22.8 ± 5 years). The hygiene level, gingival condition and periodontal status (periodontal probing depth, clinical attachment level and radiographic alveolar bone loss) were determined. Results In spite of similar oral hygiene and gingival measures, DS patients, as opposed to the control ones, had a severe periodontal disease. The prevalence, extent and severity of periodontitis in the DS group were significantly greater than in the control group. The teeth most commonly and severely affected were the lower central incisors and the upper first molars. DS patients lost significantly more teeth due to periodontitis. Conclusions The clinical and radiographic picture found in the present DS group is characteristic of localized aggressive periodontitis. Within the limitations of this study, it seems that the preventive dental programme had no effect on periodontal destruction progression of localized aggressive periodontitis in DS individuals and that impaired oral hygiene plays a relatively minor role in the pathogenesis of this disease. Future controlled studies are needed to assess the effectiveness of different preventive dental programmes in preventing the progression of periodontitis in DS patients. [source] Prevention of occupational skin disease: a workplace intervention study in geriatric nursesBRITISH JOURNAL OF DERMATOLOGY, Issue 2 2009M. Dulon Summary Background, Health care workers have an increased risk of occupational dermatosis. Objectives To determine whether a skin care programme reduces skin disease on the hands of geriatric nurses and increases protective behaviour and the provision of skin care products at the workplace. The intervention was based on a 2-h skin care training session and an occupational advisory service. Methods, The study design was a randomized intervention study with a control group. Three hundred and eighty-eight geriatric nurses were included in the intervention group exposed to a skin care programme (IG; n = 146) and in the control group (CG; n = 242). Both groups completed questionnaires on exposure and underwent clinical examinations of their hands at the beginning and after a 12-month period. Preventive measures initiated by the employer at the workplace were documented at baseline and at 3 months after the intervention. Results, At baseline, no difference between the IG and the CG was found with respect to skin changes or work-related behaviour. At follow-up, the frequency of skin disease was significantly reduced in the IG, from 26% at baseline to 17% at follow-up, whereas the frequency remained almost unchanged in the CG. Effects on behaviour in the IG included significant increases in the use of moisturizers and hand disinfection instead of hand washing. The provision of cotton gloves and barrier cream products increased at intervention workplaces. Conclusions, Effective implementation of an occupational skin care programme for geriatric nurses should include both the training of the nurses and an occupational advisory service for management. [source] Does what happens in group care stay in group care?CHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 3 2010The relationship between problem behaviour trajectories during care, post-placement functioning ABSTRACT Residential programmes for youth may improve youth behaviour during placement, but it is not clear whether there is an association between a youth's behaviour pattern during placement and post-placement outcomes. Life course perspective has been used to understand longitudinal patterns and pathways, and new statistical methods have been developed to identify latent trajectory groups. This study used administrative data from a family-style group care programme to assess whether a youth's externalizing behaviour trajectory while in placement can significantly predict delinquency and adjustment outcomes at discharge and 6-month follow-up. Findings from multinomial logistic regression revealed a statistically significant relationship between a youth's behaviour trajectory class and outcomes. Behaviour pattern during care was a stronger predictor of outcome than cross-sectional measures such as other demographic factors, placement history or mental-health need indicators. [source] Growing up and moving on in rheumatology: development and preliminary evaluation of a transitional care programme for a multicentre cohort of adolescents with juvenile idiopathic arthritisCHILD: CARE, HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 4 2006Article first published online: 5 JUN 200 Growing up and moving on in rheumatology: development and preliminary evaluation of a transitional care programme for a multicentre cohort of adolescents with juvenile idiopathic arthritis . McDonaghJ.E., ShawK.L. & SouthwoodT.R. ( 2006 ) Journal of Child Health Care , 10 , 22 , 42 . [source] Maternity care options influence readmission of newbornsACTA PAEDIATRICA, Issue 5 2008Lotta Ellberg Abstract Aim: To analyse morbidity and mortality in healthy newborn infants in relation to various routines of post-natal follow-up. Design: cross-sectional study. Setting: maternity care in Sweden. Population: healthy infants born at term between 1999 and 2002 (n = 197 898). Methods: Assessment of post-natal follow-up routines after uncomplicated childbirth in 48 hospitals and data collected from the Swedish Medical Birth Register, Hospital Discharge Register and Cause-of-Death Register. Main outcome measure: neonatal mortality and readmission as proxy for morbidity. Results: During the first 28 days, 2.1% of the infants were readmitted generally because of infections, jaundice and feeding-related problems. Infants born in hospitals with a routine neonatal examination before 48 h and a home care programme had a readmission rate [OR, 1.3 (95% CI, 1.16,1.48)] higher than infants born in hospitals with routine neonatal examination after 48 h and 24-h care. There were 26 neonatal deaths. Conclusion: Post-delivery care options and routines influence neonatal morbidity as measured by hospital readmission rate. A final infant examination at 49,72 h and an active follow-up programme may reduce the risk of readmission. [source] Development of a conceptual tool for the implementation of kangaroo mother careACTA PAEDIATRICA, Issue 6 2003A-M Bergh Aim: To develop a conceptual tool to assist healthcare workers and management in the implementation of a kangaroo mother care programme. Methods: A qualitative research approach was followed and methods included on-site observations and informal conversational interviews, as well as unstructured, in-depth interviews with senior managers, doctors and nurses at two large training hospitals in the north of South Africa. A consultative process was used to refine the tool. Results: The patterns that emerged from the data were captured in a diagram, entitled: "Main issues in the establishment of kangaroo mother care". In addition, a set of core questions was developed to assist in decision-making at institutional level. Conclusion: The diagram and questions contain concepts that could be adapted and used by a healthcare facility's multidisciplinary team in planning the implementation of kangaroo mother care and in reviewing the progress made in the implementation and the quality of the kangaroo mother care provided. [source] Convalescence after colonic surgery with fast-track vs conventional careCOLORECTAL DISEASE, Issue 8 2006D. H. Jakobsen Abstract Objective, To compare convalescence after colonic surgery with a fast-track rehabilitation programme vs conventional care. Background, Introduction of a multimodal rehabilitation programme (fast-track) with focus on epidural anaesthesia, minimal invasive surgical techniques, optimal pain control, and early nutrition and mobilization together with detailed patient information have led to a shorter hospital stay after colonic surgery. There are not much data on convalescence after discharge. Methods, A prospective, controlled, non-randomized interview-based assessment in 160 patients undergoing an elective, uncomplicated, open colonic resection or the Hartmann reversal procedure with a fast-track or a conventional care programme in two university hospitals. A structured interview-based assessment was performed preoperatively, and day 14 and 30 postoperatively. Results, Patients undergoing colonic surgery with a fast-track programme regained functional capabilities earlier with less fatigue and need for sleep compared with patients having conventional care. Despite early discharge of the fast-track patients (mean 3.4 days vs 7.5 days), no differences were found according to the need for home care, social care and visit to general practitioners, although the fast-track group had an increased number of visits at the outpatient clinic for wound care. More patients in the fast-track group were re-admitted, but the overall mean total hospital stay was 4.2 days vs 8.3 days in the conventional group. Conclusion, A fast-track rehabillitation programme led to a shorter hospital stay, less fatigue and earlier resumption of normal activities, without the increased need for support after discharge compared with conventionally treated patients after uncomplicated colonic resection. [source] Community forensic psychiatry: restoring some sanity to forensic psychiatric rehabilitationACTA PSYCHIATRICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 2002J. Skipworth Objective:, To review clinical and legal paradigms of community forensic mental health care, with specific focus on New Zealand, and to develop a clinically based set of guiding principles for service development in this area. Method:, The general principles of rehabilitating mentally disordered offenders, and assertive community care programmes were reviewed and applied to the law and policy in a New Zealand forensic mental health setting. Results: There is a need to develop comprehensive community treatment programmes for mentally disordered offenders. The limited available research supports assertive community treatment models, with specialist forensic input. Ten clinically based principles of care provision important to forensic mental health assertive community treatment were developed. Conclusion:, Deinstitutionalization in forensic psychiatry lags behind the rest of psychiatry, but can only occur with well-supported systems in place to assess and manage risk in the community setting. The development of community-based forensic rehabilitation services in conjunction with general mental health is indicated. [source] Alcohol use and non-adherence to antiretroviral therapy in HIV-infected patients in West AfricaADDICTION, Issue 8 2010Antoine Jaquet ABSTRACT Aim To investigate the association between alcohol use and adherence to highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients in subSaharan Africa. Design and setting Cross-sectional survey conducted in eight adult HIV treatment centres from Benin, Côte d'Ivoire and Mali. Participants and measurements During a 4-week period, health workers administered the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test to HAART-treated patients and assessed treatment adherence using the AIDS Clinical Trials Group follow-up questionnaire. Findings A total of 2920 patients were enrolled with a median age of 38 years [interquartile range (IQR) 32,45 years] and a median duration on HAART of 3 years (IQR 1,4 years). Overall, 91.8% of patients were identified as adherent to HAART. Non-adherence was associated with current drinking [odds ratio (OR) 1.4; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.1,2.0], hazardous drinking (OR 4.7; 95% CI 2.6,8.6) and was associated inversely with a history of counselling on adherence (OR 0.7; 95% CI 0.5,0.9). Conclusions Alcohol consumption and hazardous drinking is associated with non-adherence to HAART among HIV-infected patients from West Africa. Adult HIV care programmes should integrate programmes to reduce hazardous and harmful drinking. [source] Building our global family , achieving treatment for allHAEMOPHILIA, Issue 2010M. W. SKINNER Summary., Building our global family by reaching out to women, children and youth and those in sub-Saharan Africa to achieve Treatment for All. The World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH) has committed to recognizing and incorporating the critical and important challenges that are faced by women with bleeding disorders within our global family. The next crucial steps include the development of outreach and registry programmes which can be adapted globally to accelerate the identification of such women, and to educate and guide them to the appropriate clinical care setting. Equally important, awareness must be raised within the broader medical community where women would typically first present with clinical symptoms. Family practitioners, nurse-midwives, obstetricians, gynaecologists and community health clinics will increasingly be strategic and central to WFH outreach efforts, in addition to serving as new care partners essential to the multidisciplinary model of care. Adapting and implementing the WFH development model regionally within Africa is proving to be a successful approach both for the introduction as well as the development of sustainable national care programmes for patients with bleeding disorders. The targeted development of solid national programmes such as in South Africa, Senegal and Kenya has expanded the training capacity of the WFH, as well as providing key regional examples. Local medical professionals are now responsible for providing the training in many regional programmes. Children with bleeding disorders in low-income countries are at great risk of dying young. WFH data demonstrate that among such patients, as the economic capacity of a country decreases so does the ratio of adults to children. The organization of care, training of a multi-disciplinary healthcare team, and education of patients and their families lead to improved mortality independent of economic capacity or increased clotting factor concentrate availability. Additionally, through enhanced youth education, awareness and engagement, we will assure continuity within WFH national member organizations, build greater unity within our global family and capture the innovation and creativity of their ideas to improve Treatment for All. [source] Haemophilia care then, now and in the futureHAEMOPHILIA, Issue 2009J. OLDENBURG Summary., Epidemiological data show the benefits of dramatically improved haemophilia care in all life-stages. There are improved administration techniques and dosing regimens, a shift from on-demand treatment to prophylaxis, successful treatment protocols for immune tolerance induction in patients with inhibitors and enhanced approaches to overall patient management. Improvements also include the introduction of virus inactivation methods for plasma derived clotting factor concentrates and the development of recombinant factor VIII therapy, which practically eliminated the risk of infectious disease transmission. Recombinant factor concentrates are recommended as treatment of choice by several guidelines today. All these developments have resulted in increased health-related quality of life and life expectancy in haemophilia patients, who are transitioning from childhood to adulthood with healthy joints and an overall healthy status today. Because of increased life expectancy, these patients are expected to experience age-related clinical problems that were not previously observed in this population. With respect to this, the spectrum of haemophilia care will be extended to diseases of older ages with the need of including further disciplines in comprehensive haemophilia care programmes. Despite these advances, the short half-life of factor VIII, requiring re-administration every 2 or 3 days and the development of inhibitors remains a challenge. Bayer's research and development currently focuses on the optimization of recombinant coagulation factors to address these challenges. Haemophilia care has experienced significant improvements within the past decades. Novel technologies and continued clinical research have facilitated the development of treatment regimen that resulted in dramatic increases in the life expectancy and quality of life of haemophilia patients. To set the scene for the following papers dealing with haemophilia care from paediatrics to geriatrics, developments behind these improvements and some aspects of future research will be presented in this paper. [source] Home management of haemophiliaHAEMOPHILIA, Issue 2 2004J. M. Teitel Summary., The demonstrated benefits of home care for haemophilia include improved quality of life, less pain and disability, fewer hospitalizations, and less time lost from work or school. Although reduced mortality has not been demonstrated, the substantial increase in longevity since the early 1980s correlates with the introduction of home treatment and prophylaxis programmes. These programmes must be designed and monitored by haemophilia treatment centres (HTC), which are staffed with professionals with broad and complementary expertise in the disease and its complications. In return, patients and their families must be willing to accept the reciprocal responsibilities that come from administering blood products or their recombinant equivalents at home. Patients with inhibitors to factors VIII or IX pose special challenges, but these complications do not obviate participation in home care programmes. Home care was an essential prerequisite to the introduction of effective prophylactic factor replacement therapy. Prophylaxis offers significant improvements in quality of life, but requires a substantial commitment. The use of implantable venous access devices can eliminate some of the difficulty and discomfort of peripheral venous access in small children, but brings additional risks. The future holds the promise of factor concentrates for home use that have longer half-lives, or can be administered by alternate routes. Knowledge of patient genotypes may allow treatments tailored to avoid complications such as inhibitor development. Gene therapy trials, which are currently ongoing, will ultimately lead to gene-based treatments as a complement to traditional protein-based therapy. [source] Non-linearity in the cost-effectiveness frontierHEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue 6 2006Joanne Lord Abstract Conventional cost-effectiveness decision rules rely on the assumptions that all health care programmes are divisible and exhibit constant returns to scale for a homogeneous population; hence, the path between adjacent programmes on a cost-effectiveness frontier must be linear. In this paper we build a framework to analyse non-linear ,expansion' paths. We model the impact of two key sources of non-linearity: economies of scale or scope in the production of health care; and prioritisation of patients who are most likely to benefit from more expensive and more effective treatments. We conclude that the expansion path might be linear, convex or concave, depending on the situation. The path might also exhibit vertical discontinuity due to fixed costs or horizontal discontinuity due to indivisibility. The efficiency of resource allocation might be improved by empirical estimation of expansion paths. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this approach compared with a standard stratified analysis. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Alternative approaches to obtain optimal bid values in contingent valuation studies and to model protest zeros.HEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue 2 2001Estimating the determinants of individuals' willingness to pay for home care services in day case surgery Abstract The use of day case surgery has increased rapidly as an alternative to inpatient surgery. Little is known, however, about the value of day case surgery to patients. The aim of this paper was to develop a contingent valuation survey to investigate how individuals value the costs of shifting from inpatient to day case surgery based on home care services. Using the willingness to pay (WTP) approach, two kinds of sequential experiments are compared: the maximum likelihood recursion (MLR) method and the C-optimal sequential procedure. The goal of sequential experimentation is to find bid values that provide the maximum possible information about the parameters of the WTP distribution, especially when the sample size is small. The C-optimal sequential procedure is shown to be an improvement, in terms of the statistical precision in small samples, over the MLR method. In addition, the paper presents a double hurdle (DH) approach for modelling the determinants of individuals' WTP. Using data from a contingent valuation survey conducted in 1996 on patients selected from the Day Case Surgery Unit in a hospital in the region of Catalonia, we argue that participation in the market offered and the level of consumption, that is, people's WTP, should be treated as individual choices. The results show that income and sex are related to WTP. Also, in this study, a clear presence of starting-point bias, introduced by the bid offered, was found. It is concluded that the WTP technique is potentially useful in evaluating health care programmes, although it is important to note that the criteria used to find an optimal design (in our model to minimize the asymptotic variance of the estimator used) may be restrictive from an economic point of view. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Critical evaluation of the use of research tools in evaluating quality of life for people with schizophreniaINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MENTAL HEALTH NURSING, Issue 1 2007Jeanette Hewitt ABSTRACT:, Schizophrenia may lead to impairments in many aspects of life, including physical, cognitive, and role functioning. The subjective quality of life of people with schizophrenia has been shown to be lower than in the general population and appropriate patient-assessed health outcome measures are necessary to capture the distress and disability experienced by people living with a serious mental illness. Although psychiatry has been slow to become involved in quality of life measurement, the use of quality of life instruments has now been recognized as a means of evaluating the outcome of care interventions, in terms of symptoms and functioning. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of two widely used instruments: The Medical Outcomes Study Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) and The Lancashire Quality of Life Profile (LQoLP) in terms of reliability and validity in measuring the quality of life of people with schizophrenia. The LQoLP appeared to be best suited for evaluation of care programmes, whereas the SF-36 was more appropriate for medical trials, comparisons between patient groups, and assessment of the direct consequences of treatment on health and function. Subjective quality of life should, however, be considered to be distinct from clinical status and quality of life assessment should include the broadest range of indicators, to reflect the holistic ethos of mental health nursing. [source] Using systemic reflective practice to treat couples and families with alcohol problemsJOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC & MENTAL HEALTH NURSING, Issue 7 2010B. FLYNN rgn rmn dip cpn dip acc ma Accessible summary ,,Alcohol services in the UK generally treat clients from an individual medical and psychiatric perspective. Carers, partners, children and other family members are infrequently actively involved in the clients' care process. ,,A reflective family-based approach was introduced in an attempt to improve treatment engagement with drinkers with relatives. Favourable findings from several self-reporting research and evaluation studies are provided and analysed. ,,The use of this intervention was found to be effective in facilitating change in drinking and relationships. Family members when involved in the care management proved to be influential in the behaviour change process. ,,Family group reflecting interventions should be used more extensively and involvement of partners and family members in care programmes should be promoted. Implications for the extended use of the intervention both in addiction settings and wider health and social care practice are discussed. Abstract In the UK, an adult with a drinking problem is generally treated from an individual perspective with minimal involvement of carers and relatives. In response to this gap in service provision, a systemic reflecting intervention was introduced to assist couples and families experiencing alcohol-related difficulties. The article documents the background and development of this initiative. Findings from evaluation and clinical outcome studies are reviewed and demonstrate how the use of the approach proved to be effective in facilitating positive change both in drinking and family behaviour. In conclusion, the paper explores the implications of how systemic reflective practice with family groups may be extended and be usefully used in wider addiction, diverse mental and general health-care settings. [source] How to implement the multidisciplinary approach in prostate cancer management: the Belgian modelBJU INTERNATIONAL, Issue 2008Simon Van Belle The Belgian oncology care system has been the subject of a major reorganization in recent years. The basis of this reorganization is the obligatory implementation of standardized care programmes in every hospital and the recognition of dedicated oncology specialists. Furthermore, health authorities created the multidisciplinary oncology consultation (MOC), as it was recognized that there was a need to organize and to reimburse the existing multidisciplinary approach. At MOC, a patient's case is discussed and a strategic plan is developed for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up. The conditions that have to be met for reimbursement of this MOC are strictly defined by law and include yearly follow-up meetings. The success of this multidisciplinary approach is partially attributable to legal requirements and reimbursement, but also to the willingness of the medical community to accept the concept that a multidisciplinary approach is the best investment to improve patient outcomes in cancer care. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||