Health Science University

About: Health Science University is a based out in . It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Medicine. The organization has 9559 authors who have published 8727 publications receiving 200292 citations.

Hospital organisation, management, and structure for prevention of health-care-associated infection: a systematic review and expert consensus

Abstract: Despite control efforts, the burden of health-care-associated infections in Europe is high and leads to around 37,000 deaths each year. We did a systematic review to identify crucial elements for the organisation of effective infection-prevention programmes in hospitals and key components for implementation of monitoring. 92 studies published from 1996 to 2012 were assessed and ten key components identified: organisation of infection control at the hospital level; bed occupancy, staffing, workload, and employment of pool or agency nurses; availability of and ease of access to materials and equipment and optimum ergonomics; appropriate use of guidelines; education and training; auditing; surveillance and feedback; multimodal and multidisciplinary prevention programmes that include behavioural change; engagement of champions; and positive organisational culture. These components comprise manageable and widely applicable ways to reduce health-care-associated infections and improve patients' safety.

New sequence variants associated with bone mineral density

Abstract: In an extended genome-wide association study of bone mineral density among 6,865 Icelanders and a follow-up in 8,510 subjects of European descent, we identified four new genome-wide significant loci. These are near the SOST gene at 17q21, the MARK3 gene at 14q32, the SP7 gene at 12q13 and the TNFRSF11A (RANK) gene at 18q21. Furthermore, nonsynonymous SNPs in the C17orf53, LRP4, ADAM19 and IBSP genes were suggestively associated with bone density.

Postoperative adhesions: ten-year follow-up of 12,584 patients undergoing lower abdominal surgery.

Abstract: PURPOSE: Postoperative adhesions are a significant problem after colorectal surgery. However, the basic epidemiology and clinical burden are unknown. The Surgical and Clinical Adhesions Research Study has investigated the scale of the problem in a population of 5 million. METHODS: Validated data from the Scottish National Health Service Medical Record Linkage Database were used to define a cohort of 12,584 patients undergoing open lower abdominal surgery in 1986. Readmissions for potential adhesion-related disease in the subsequent ten years were analyzed. The methodology was conservative in interpreting adhesion-related disease. RESULTS: In the study cohort 32.6 percent of patients were readmitted a mean of 2.2 times in the subsequent ten years for a potential adhesion-related problem. Although 25.4 percent of readmissions were in the first postoperative year, they continued steadily throughout the study period. After open lower abdominal surgery 7.3 percent (643) of readmissions (8,861) were directly related to adhesions. This varied according to operation site: colon (7.1 percent), rectum (8.8 percent), and small intestine (7.6 percent). The readmission rate was assessed to provide an indicator of relative risk of adhesion-related problems after initial surgery. The overall average rate of readmissions was 70.4 per 100 initial operations, with 5.1 directly related to adhesions. This rose to 116.4 and 116.5, respectively, after colonic or rectal surgery—with 8.2 and 10.3 directly related to adhesions. CONCLUSIONS: There is a high relative risk of adhesion-related problems after open lower abdominal surgery and a correspondingly high workload associated with these readmissions. This is influenced by the initial site of surgery, colon and rectum having both the greatest impact on workload and highest relative risk of directly adhesion-related problems. The study provides sound justification for improved adhesion prevention strategies.

A rapid synthesis of the evidence on interventions supporting self-management for people with long-term conditions (PRISMS Practical systematic Review of Self-Management Support for long-term conditions)

Abstract: Background Despite robust evidence concerning self-management for some long-term conditions (LTCs), others lack research explicitly on self-management and, consequently, some patient groups may be overlooked. Aim To undertake a rapid, systematic overview of the evidence on self-management support for LTCs to inform health-care commissioners and providers about what works, for whom, and in what contexts. Methods Self-management is ‘the tasks . . . individuals must undertake to live with one or more chronic conditions . . . [including] . . . having the confidence to deal with medical management, role management and emotional management of their conditions’. We convened an expert workshop and identified characteristics of LTCs potentially of relevance to self-management and 14 diverse exemplar LTCs (stroke, asthma, type 2 diabetes mellitus, depression, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic kidney disease, dementia, epilepsy, hypertension, inflammatory arthropathies, irritable bowel syndrome, low back pain, progressive neurological disorders and type 1 diabetes mellitus). For each LTC we conducted systematic overviews of systematic reviews of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of self-management support interventions (‘quantitative meta-reviews’); and systematic overviews of systematic reviews of qualitative studies of patients’ experiences relating to self-management (‘qualitative meta-reviews’). We also conducted an original systematic review of implementation studies of self-management support in the LTCs. We synthesised all our data considering the different characteristics of LTCs. In parallel, we developed a taxonomy of the potential components of self-management support. Results We included 30 qualitative systematic reviews (including 515 unique studies), 102 quantitative systematic reviews (including 969 RCTs), and 61 studies in the implementation systematic review. Effective self-management support interventions are multifaceted, should be tailored to the individual, their culture and beliefs, a specific LTC and position on the disease trajectory, and underpinned by a collaborative/communicative relationship between the patient and health-care professional (HCP) within the context of a health-care organisation that actively promotes self-management. Self-management support is a complex intervention and although many components were described and trialled in the studies no single component stood out as more important than any other. Core components include (1) provision of education about the LTC, recognising the importance of understanding patients’ pre-existing knowledge and beliefs about their LTC; (2) psychological strategies to support adjustment to life with a LTC; (3) strategies specifically to support adherence to treatments; (4) practical support tailored to the specific LTC, including support around activities of daily living for disabling conditions, action plans in conditions subject to marked exacerbations, intensive disease-specific training to enable self-management of specific clinical tasks; and (5) social support as appropriate. Implementation requires a whole-systems approach which intervenes at the level of the patient, the HCP and the organisation. The health-care organisation is responsible for providing the means (both training and time/material resources) to enable HCPs to implement, and patients to benefit from, self-management support, regularly evaluating self-management processes and clinical outcomes. More widely there is a societal need to address public understanding of LTCs. The lack of public story for many conditions impacted on patient help-seeking behaviour and public perceptions of need. Conclusions Supporting self-management is inseparable from the high-quality care for LTCs. Commissioners and health-care providers should promote a culture of actively supporting self-management as a normal, expected, monitored and rewarded aspect of care. Further research is needed to understand how health service managers and staff can achieve this culture change in their health-care organisations. Study registration This study is registered as PROSPERO CRD42012002898. Funding The National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research programme.