Agnieszka Ignatowicz

Bio: Agnieszka Ignatowicz is an academic researcher from University of Birmingham. The author has contributed to research in topics: Health care & Thematic analysis. The author has an hindex of 12, co-authored 31 publications receiving 444 citations. Previous affiliations of Agnieszka Ignatowicz include University of Warwick & Aston University.

Internet videoconferencing for patient-clinician consultations in long-term conditions: A review of reviews and applications in line with guidelines and recommendations.

Abstract: BackgroundThe use of internet videoconferencing in healthcare settings is widespread, reflecting the normalisation of this mode of communication in society and current healthcare policy. As the use...

Integrated care pilot in north west London: a mixed methods evaluation

Abstract: Introduction: This paper provides the results of a year-long evaluation of a large-scale integrated care pilot in North West London. The pilot aimed to integrate care across primary, acute, community, mental health and social care for people with diabetes and those over 75 years through: care planning; multidisciplinary case reviews; information sharing; and project management support. Methods: The evaluation team conducted qualitative studies of change at organisational, clinician, and patient levels (using interviews, focus groups and a survey); and quantitative analysis of change in service use and patient-level clinical outcomes (using patient-level data sets and a matched control study). Results: The pilot had successfully engaged provider organisations, created a shared strategic vision and established governance structures. However, engagement of clinicians was variable and there was no evidence to date of significant reductions in emergency admissions. There was some evidence of changes in care processes. Conclusion: Although the pilot has demonstrated the beginnings of large-scale change, it remains in the early stages and faces significant challenges as it seeks to become sustainable for the longer term. It is critical that NHS managers and clinicians have realistic expectations of what can be achieved in a relatively short period of time.

Wake up, wake up! It’s me! It’s my life! patient narratives on person-centeredness in the integrated care context: a qualitative study

Abstract: Person-centered care emphasizes a holistic, humanistic approach that puts patients first, at the center of medical care. Person-centeredness is also considered a core element of integrated care. Yet typologies of integrated care mainly describe how patients fit within integrated services, rather than how services fit into the patient’s world. Patient-centeredness has been commonly defined through physician’s behaviors aimed at delivering patient-centered care. Yet, it is unclear how ‘person-centeredness’ is realized in integrated care through the patient voice. We aimed to explore patient narratives of person-centeredness in the integrated care context. We conducted a phenomenological, qualitative study, including semi-structured interviews with 22 patients registered in the Northwest London Integrated Care Pilot. We incorporated Grounded Theory approach principles, including substantive open and selective coding, development of concepts and categories, and constant comparison. We identified six themes representing core ‘ingredients’ of person-centeredness in the integrated care context: “Holism”, “Naming”, “Heed”, “Compassion”, “Continuity of care”, and “Agency and Empowerment“, all depicting patient expectations and assumptions on doctor and patient roles in integrated care. We bring examples showing that when these needs are met, patient experience of care is at its best. Yet many patients felt ‘unseen’ by their providers and the healthcare system. We describe how these six themes can portray a continuum between having own physical and emotional ‘Space’ to be ‘seen’ and heard vs. feeling ‘translucent’, ‘unseen’, and unheard. These two conflicting experiences raise questions about current typologies of the patient-physician relationship as a ‘dyad’, the meanings patients attributed to ‘care’, and the theoretical correspondence between ‘person-centeredness’ and ‘integrated care’. Person-centeredness is a crucial issue for patients in integrated care, yet it was variably achieved in the current pilot. Patients in the context of integrated care, as in other contexts, strive to have their own unique physical and emotional ‘space’ to be ‘seen’ and heard. Integrated care models can benefit from incorporating person-centeredness as a core element.

Timely Digital Patient-Clinician Communication in Specialist Clinical Services for Young People: A Mixed-Methods Study (The LYNC Study)

Abstract: Background: Young people (aged 16-24 years) with long-term health conditions can disengage from health services, resulting in poor health outcomes, but clinicians in the UK National Health Service (NHS) are using digital communication to try to improve engagement. Evidence of effectiveness of this digital communication is equivocal. There are gaps in evidence as to how it might work, its cost, and ethical and safety issues. Objective: Our objective was to understand how the use of digital communication between young people with long-term conditions and their NHS specialist clinicians changes engagement of the young people with their health care; and to identify costs and necessary safeguards. Methods: We conducted mixed-methods case studies of 20 NHS specialist clinical teams from across England and Wales and their practice providing care for 13 different long-term physical or mental health conditions. We observed 79 clinical team members and interviewed 165 young people aged 16-24 years with a long-term health condition recruited via case study clinical teams, 173 clinical team members, and 16 information governance specialists from study NHS Trusts. We conducted a thematic analysis of how digital communication works, and analyzed ethics, safety and governance, and annual direct costs. Results: Young people and their clinical teams variously used mobile phone calls, text messages, email, and voice over Internet protocol. Length of clinician use of digital communication varied from 1 to 13 years in 17 case studies, and was being considered in 3. Digital communication enables timely access for young people to the right clinician at the time when it can make a difference to how they manage their health condition. This is valued as an addition to traditional clinic appointments and can engage those otherwise disengaged, particularly at times of change for young people. It can enhance patient autonomy, empowerment and activation. It challenges the nature and boundaries of therapeutic relationships but can improve trust. The clinical teams studied had not themselves formally evaluated the impact of their intervention. Staff time is the main cost driver, but offsetting savings are likely elsewhere in the health service. Risks include increased dependence on clinicians, inadvertent disclosure of confidential information, and communication failures, which are mostly mitigated by young people and clinicians using common-sense approaches. Conclusions: As NHS policy prompts more widespread use of digital communication to improve the health care experience, our findings suggest that benefit is most likely, and harms are mitigated, when digital communication is used with patients who already have a relationship of trust with the clinical team, and where there is identifiable need for patients to have flexible access, such as when transitioning between services, treatments, or lived context. Clinical teams need a proactive approach to ethics, governance, and patient safety. [J Med Internet Res 2017;19(4):e102]

Virtue in Medical Practice: An Exploratory Study

Abstract: Virtue ethics has long provided fruitful resources for the study of issues in medical ethics. In particular, study of the moral virtues of the good doctor—like kindness, fairness and good judgement—have provided insights into the nature of medical professionalism and the ethical demands on the medical practitioner as a moral person. Today, a substantial literature exists exploring the virtues in medical practice and many commentators advocate an emphasis on the inculcation of the virtues of good medical practice in medical education and throughout the medical career. However, until very recently, no empirical studies have attempted to investigate which virtues, in particular, medical doctors and medical students tend to have or not to have, nor how these virtues influence how they think about or practise medicine. The question of what virtuous medical practice is, is vast and, as we have written elsewhere, the question of how to study doctors’ moral character is fraught with difficulty. In this paper, we report the results of a first-of-a-kind study that attempted to explore these issues at three medical schools (and associated practice regions) in the United Kingdom. We identify which character traits are important in the good doctor in the opinion of medical students and doctors and identify which virtues they say of themselves they possess and do not possess. Moreover, we identify how thinking about the virtues contributes to doctors’ and medical students’ thinking about common moral dilemmas in medicine. In ending, we remark on the implications for medical education.

Population and Housing Census

Abstract: The questionnaires from the field were received, checked and stored by the data processing personnel. They checked: 1. The completeness of the questionnaires 2. The correct bubbling 3. The correct number of questionnaires per household, if total males + total females > 8 as the questionnaire ONLY accommodated maximum of 8 household members. 4. The reference number appears in all the 10 pages of the questionnaires.

Supporting the Health Care Transition From Adolescence to Adulthood in the Medical Home

Abstract: Risk and vulnerability encompass many dimensions of the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Transition from pediatric, parent-supervised health care to more independent, patient-centered adult health care is no exception. The tenets and algorithm of the original 2011 clinical report, “Supporting the Health Care Transition from Adolescence to Adulthood in the Medical Home,” are unchanged. This updated clinical report provides more practice-based quality improvement guidance on key elements of transition planning, transfer, and integration into adult care for all youth and young adults. It also includes new and updated sections on definition and guiding principles, the status of health care transition preparation among youth, barriers, outcome evidence, recommended health care transition processes and implementation strategies using quality improvement methods, special populations, education and training in pediatric onset conditions, and payment options. The clinical report also includes new recommendations pertaining to infrastructure, education and training, payment, and research.

Video consultations for covid-19.

Abstract: An opportunity in a crisis?

Innovative care for chronic conditions: building blocks for action

Abstract: Chronic health conditions have been on the rise across the world. But few health care systems, have proved able to cope with managing this dramatic increase in chronic conditions. This report from the World Health Organization (WHO) provides a comprehensive framework for the prevention framework for the prevention and management of Chronic health conditions around the world. Chronic health conditions were defined in this report as “health problems that persist across time and require some degree of health care management”. This new report addresses how policy makers can take effective and innovative action to tackle these conditions. The report addresses the following issues: Exploring chronic conditions, including how and why they are increasing, what is their economic impact on patients, families, communities, and governments, and how to reduce their prevalence. The deficits in current systems of health to successfully manage chronic conditions because the acute care model dominates health care systems. The acute care model increased health care expenditures without improving populations health status. A new framework for health care systems to improve care for chronic conditions. This framework is comprised of fundamental components within the patient, health care organization and community, and policy levels. These components were described as “building blocks” that can be used to re-design a health care system to manage long-term health problems more effectively. The report describes eight essential elements for improving and creating innovations in the care of chronic conditions. These elements include: Supporting a shift in attitudes, so that decision­ makers, health workers and patients are aware that a shift in resources from the acute, episodic model of care is needed to meet the different of chronic conditions. Building political commitment to the process of preventing and managing chronic conditions. Avoiding fragmentation of services, to ensure that the care for chronic conditions is integrated. To align and analyze policies which affect chronic conditions, such as agricultural regulations, labor laws and health education. To use new, team care models and evidence-based skills for managing chronic conditions, worth more efficient use of health care personnel. To re-oriented Health care for chronic conditions around the patient and family. To support patients within their communities, because communities can fill a crucial gap in health services that are not provided by organized health care. To emphasize prevention, as many of the complications of chronic conditions can be prevented or reduced. This report provides a well-formulated framework for decision-makers and health service planners to implement strategies for comprehensively managing chronic conditions.