Search

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the experiences and opinions of mental health professionals working in two rehabilitation wards to a clinical dashboard system. Design/methodology/approach – Following the creation of the clinical dashboards, a questionnaire was developed and sent to staff and patients across two clinical wards involved in the clinical dashboard mental health pilot. Findings – The clinical dashboards were viewed as being useful tools for clinicians, supporting engagement. They can offer rapid access to large volumes of clinically useful information, in a palatable format. The pilot suggested that they could be presented in different ways to make them easier to engage with however they could also result in more paperwork for clinicians. Research limitations/implications – The main limitations included the sample size, responder bias and the limited sampling period. It would have been helpful to have obtained further responses to understand why individuals came to their conclusions. Practical implications – The development and use of clinical dashboards in a psychiatric rehabilitation setting offered the opportunity to improve quality, collect and respond to relevant clinical data trends: which is regarded positively by staff and patients. Originality/value – This study represents the first study to examine the use of clinical dashboards within a UK long stay adult mental health ward setting. The results suggest a positive response from both staff and patients and illustrates the potential benefits relating to clinical quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a quick overview of the current journal content. Design/methodology/approach – A review of five papers. Findings – The review section brings together the differing aspects of clinical governance discussed in the current journal. Originality/value – The review section enables readers to prioritise articles with the most relevance for their needs or particular fields of healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the content of the current issue of CGIJ. Design/methodology/approach - The review is prepared by the review editor to highlight key points within each paper. Findings - Enables readers to scan content and select articles of most interest or relevance to their needs. Originality/value - CGIJ is the only Emerald health journal providing this service to its readers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- For accountability purposes, performance information sharing and clear divisions of responsibilities between medical specialists and executive boards are critical. The purpose of this paper is to explore whether these aspects of clinical governance have been taken up by executive boards and medical specialists in the Netherlands. Design/methodology/approach -- This cross-sectional study aimed to explore the information-sharing between medical specialists and executive boards in Dutch hospitals as one key aspect of clinical governance. Between November 2010 and February 2011, 67 medical staff board chairs and 40 chief executive officers completed an online questionnaire concerning information-sharing and the clinical governance practices within their respective hospitals. Findings -- Almost all respondents acknowledged the importance of information-sharing. However, the actual sharing differed per type of performance information. Policy/management information was shared more often than patient care information. Similarly, medical specialists differ in the degree of responsibility the take for specific clinical governance tasks. Almost all were involved in managing complication registries (99 per cent), while few managed hospital accreditation (55 per cent). Research limitations/implications -- With executive boards and medical specialists being increasingly dependent of a shared budget, they have an extra incentive to share information and to take up clinical governance tasks. The study showed that Dutch medical specialists are sharing many types of performance information with the executive board, but that this should be increased to comply with the codes. Thus far, few hospital managers in the study have formalised this in an information protocol, which is potentially the next step for other hospital staff to incorporate as well. Those who have an information protocol seem to be aware of the business case for quality. Originality/value -- This study is the first attempt to explore to what extent Dutch medical specialists share performance information with their respective executive boards and take up clinical governance tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Provides an overview of the content of the current issue of CGIJ. Design/methodology/approach – This review is prepared by the review editor to highlight key points within each article. Findings – Enables readers to scan content and select articles of most interest or relevance to their needs. Originality/value – CGIJ is the only Emerald health journal providing this service to its readers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this audit cycle was to compare the clinical practice of treating children and adolescents with moderate to severe depression with the NICE guidelines. The second aim was to recommend changes in practice to improve compliance to the guidelines and reinvestigate the degree of change two years after the initial recommendations. Design/methodology/approach -- A total of 40 patients within Secondary Care with moderate or severe depression were selected. Data were collected, analyzed and recommendations were made. The second phase of the audit cycle was completed after two years, following similar methods. Findings -- On most of the parameters the clinical practice improved in the re-audit, indicating better compliance with the NICE guidelines. However, on a few areas the compliance did not improve or even deteriorated. Research limitations/implications -- The implications of the results were discussed and final recommendations were made based on the findings and the perceived change in practice. Originality/value -- Literature searches revealed no previous audit cycles to have been conducted on CAMHS compliance to NICE guidelines with regards to treating depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the articles contained in this issue of the journal. This enables a reader to scan the content of the journal which may help in selecting individual articles for more careful reading or for research purposes. Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes the form of a review. Findings – This paper highlights the main findings of published articles in one issue of a journal. Practical implications – The practical implications are to provide added value to the journal by enabling readers to gain a quick overview of the current contents. Originality/value – The originality value is that CGIJ is the only Emerald healthcare journal to offer a review section. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sensorineural hearing loss is a common sequel of bacterial meningitis in childhood and hearing assessment post-meningitis is therefore essential. An audit performed of practice in a tertiary centre paediatric unit over 24 months in 1994-1995 showed an 89 per cent referral and 81 per cent attendance rate for audiological assessment following bacterial meningitis. A repeat retrospective audit was performed over 12 months in 1998-1999 following the introduction of guidelines and measures to improve education of medical staff and communication between professionals. This achieved a 100 per cent referral and attendance rate in a series of 27 children surviving bacterial meningitis in 1998-1999, demonstrating the success of the process of the complete audit cycle in improving clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]