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Background: The national survey of parent experiences with inpatient pediatric care contribute to the Norwegian system of health care quality indicators. This article reports on the statistical association between parent experiences of inpatient pediatric care and aspects of health care delivery, child health status and health outcome as assessed by the parents, and the parents' sociodemographic characteristics., Methods: 6,160 parents of children who were inpatients at one of Norway's 20 pediatric departments in 2005 were contacted to take part in a survey that included the Parent Experience of Pediatric Care questionnaire. It includes 25 items that form six scales measuring parent experiences: doctor services, hospital facilities, information discharge, information about examinations and tests, nursing services and organization. The six scales were analyzed using OLS-regression., Results: 3,308 (53.8%) responded. Mean scores ranged from 62.81 (organization) to 72.80 (hospital facilities) on a 0-100 scale where 100 is the best possible experience. Disappointment with staff, unexpected waiting, information regarding new medication, whether the staff were successful in easing the child's pain, incorrect treatment and number of previous admissions had a statistically significant association with at least five of the PEPC scale scores. Disappointment with staff had the strongest association. Most sociodemographic characteristics had weak or no associations with parent experiences., Conclusions: The complete relief of the child's pain, reducing unexpected waiting and disappointment with staff, and providing good information about new medication are aspects of health care that should be considered in initiatives designed to improve parent experiences. In the Norwegian context parent experiences vary little by parents' sociodemographic characteristics.

Background: Appraisal, or independent performance review (IPR) is used in human resources management in the commercial and public sectors to evaluate the performance of an employee against agreed local organisational expectations and objectives, and to identify their requirements for development and effective management. IPR for NHS consultants may provide essential information for job planning, contribute towards medical appraisal for revalidation, and facilitate productivity and quality improvement., Aims: To develop a framework for IPR for consultants, and to determine attitudes on its value, process and content., Method: Information from commercial, public and voluntary sector models and published and other literature sources were used to develop an IPR framework. This was assessed through a three-cycle action research methodology involving qualitative interviews with 22 consultants (predominantly with medical management roles)., Results: The domains of the IPR framework included: (1) performance against objectives; (2) behaviour and leadership; (3) talent management; (4) agreed future objectives. A number of themes were identified from the consultant interviews including: ineffective current appraisal systems reflecting a lack of valid performance data and allotted time; a lack of empowerment of medical managers to address performance issues; IPR as a more explicit system, offering value in evaluating doctors performance; and the dependence of successful implementation on the engagement of the Trust executive., Conclusions: IPR may have value for performance evaluation of consultants, contributing toward job planning and complementing medical appraisal. Support by their employing organisation and engagement with medical managers in design and implementation is likely to be essential.

This exploratory and descriptive study took place in one Canadian province. The study aimed to: (1) to identify and describe the nature and extent of current risk assessment and management approaches used in the adult inpatient mental health and forensic units; and (2) to identify good practice and shortfalls in the nature and extent of the approaches currently utilized. Data were collected from 48 participants through nine focus groups. Participants reported that they used a clinical approach to risk assessment. They had also not considered risk assessment and management as a proactive structured process. Education and training was also limited and skills were developed over time through practice. Five keys issues are discussed as important: reliance on clinical judgement alone is not the best choice to make; the need to consider risk as a whole concept; risk management being more reactive than proactive; education and training; and client involvement in risk assessment., (© 2012 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

To provide the safest and most effective patient care, alarms should be actionable, timely, and noticeable, they should clearly convey information, and they should be correctly addressed by caregivers. This requires that many things go right, from when a patient condition triggers an alarm to when an intervention is provided. Unfortunately, things sometimes go wrong. Find out where the process can break down, and how to prevent that from happening.

A quality improvement project was conducted to improve hand hygiene at a children's hospital. Interventions included education, performance feedback, an incentive program, and a marketing campaign. There were 9,322 observations performed over a 5-year period. Hospital-wide adherence increased from 39.9% to 97.9%. Adherence of 95% or greater was sustained for over 3 years.

The purpose of this study was to determine the number of weekly acquisitions permissible using a mobile PET/SPECT scanner for myocardial perfusion/viability imaging in an intensive care unit (ICU) based on the effective dose to patients and staff. The effective dose to other patients and staff in an ICU was calculated following recommendations from the American Association of Physicists in Medicine Task Group 108 report (AAPM TG-108). The number of weekly acquisitions using 555 MBq (15 mCi) Tc-99m for myocardial perfusion or F-18 for myocardial viability was determined using the regulatory limits described in the Code of Federal Regulations 10 CFR 20. To increase the number of weekly acquisitions allowed, a reduction in administered dose and portable shielding was considered. A single myocardial perfusion image can be acquired with Tc-99m each week with a dose reduction to 455 MBq (12.3 mCi) without additional shielding. To acquire a myocardial viability image with F-18, an activity reduction to 220 MBq (5.9 mCi) is required to meet the regulatory effective dose limit without additional shielding. More than one weekly acquisition can be performed if additional shielding or activity reduction is utilized. A method for calculating dose to patients and staff in an ICU has been developed using conservative assumptions and following AAPM TG-108. This calculation must be repeated for each individual clinic before any acquisition is performed.

There are currently many assistant professions in the German healthcare system which have either a more nursing or a more medical character. All these assistant professions have in common that as yet they do not require uniform training criteria but members of these professions undertake some aspects of medical activities. At the center lies the difficulty of more political than legal discussion on whether members of these assistant professions and also nursing personnel are allowed to or should undertake medical activities. This article illuminates the legal status quo.

Background: Good compliance with hygiene guidelines is essential to prevent bacterial transmission and health care-associated infections. However, the compliance is usually <50%., Methods: A multimodal and multidisciplinary hygiene intervention was launched once the baseline compliance was determined through direct observations in 4 departments of obstetrics and gynecology. Detailed evaluations of the compliance rates were performed at point of stability (at 80%) and follow-up (3 years after hygiene intervention). Validation of direct observations was performed using blinded double appraisal and multiappraisal., Results: At baseline, the compliance with barrier precautions and the dress code at the 4 departments were 39% to 47% and 79% to 98%, respectively. Point of stability was reached approximately 1 year after the hygiene intervention was launched. The compliance with barrier precautions was significantly higher at follow-up compared with baseline in 3 departments. In the validation by double appraisal, 471 of 483 components were judged identical between observers. In the multiappraisal, 95% to 100% of the observers correctly judged the 7 components., Conclusion: It is possible to improve compliance with hygiene guidelines, but, to ensure a long-lasting effect, a continuous focus on barrier precautions is required. Observation is a valid method to monitor compliance., (Copyright © 2013 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To assess the feasibility and effectiveness of the International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) multidimensional hand hygiene approach in 19 limited-resource countries and to analyze predictors of poor hand hygiene compliance., Design: An observational, prospective, cohort, interventional, before-and-after study from April 1999 through December 2011. The study was divided into 2 periods: a 3-month baseline period and a 7-year follow-up period., Setting: Ninety-nine intensive care unit (ICU) members of the INICC in Argentina, Brazil, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Greece, India, Lebanon, Lithuania, Macedonia, Mexico, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, and Turkey., Participants: Healthcare workers at 99 ICU members of the INICC., Methods: A multidimensional hand hygiene approach was used, including (1) administrative support, (2) supplies availability, (3) education and training, (4) reminders in the workplace, (5) process surveillance, and (6) performance feedback. Observations were made for hand hygiene compliance in each ICU, during randomly selected 30-minute periods., Results: A total of 149,727 opportunities for hand hygiene were observed. Overall hand hygiene compliance increased from 48.3% to 71.4% ([Formula: see text]). Univariate analysis indicated that several variables were significantly associated with poor hand hygiene compliance, including males versus females (63% vs 70%; [Formula: see text]), physicians versus nurses (62% vs 72%; [Formula: see text]), and adult versus neonatal ICUs (67% vs 81%; [Formula: see text]), among others., Conclusions: Adherence to hand hygiene increased by 48% with the INICC approach. Specific programs directed to improve hand hygiene for variables found to be predictors of poor hand hygiene compliance should be implemented.

Developing a culture of safety is a core element of many efforts to improve patient safety and care quality. This systematic review identifies and assesses interventions used to promote safety culture or climate in acute care settings. The authors searched MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Cochrane, and EMBASE to identify relevant English-language studies published from January 2000 to October 2012. They selected studies that targeted health care workers practicing in inpatient settings and included data about change in patient safety culture or climate after a targeted intervention. Two raters independently screened 3679 abstracts (which yielded 33 eligible studies in 35 articles), extracted study data, and rated study quality and strength of evidence. Eight studies included executive walk rounds or interdisciplinary rounds; 8 evaluated multicomponent, unit-based interventions; and 20 included team training or communication initiatives. Twenty-nine studies reported some improvement in safety culture or patient outcomes, but measured outcomes were highly heterogeneous. Strength of evidence was low, and most studies were pre-post evaluations of low to moderate quality. Within these limits, evidence suggests that interventions can improve perceptions of safety culture and potentially reduce patient harm.

Background: The proper handling and disposal of Bio-medical waste (BMW) is very imperative. There are well defined set rules for handling BMW worldwide. Unfortunately, laxity and lack of adequate training and awareness in execution of these rules leads to staid health and environment apprehension., Objective: To assessthe awareness and practice regarding biomedical waste management among health care personnel in Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) DESIGN: A cross sectional study design., Setting: Kenyatta National Hospital, Subjects: Doctors, Nurses and support staff who have worked in the institution for more than six months and consented were evaluated., Results: The total level of awareness on biomedical waste management among health care personnel was found to be 60%. The doctors scored 51% which was the lowest score the nurses scored 65% which was the highest score while the support staff scored 55%. As for the practices, the results showed that most of the healthcare personnel were aware of the biomedical waste management practices in the hospital with the lowest scores emerging from doctors and this shows no association between knowledge on biomedical waste management and education. When asked how they would describe the control of waste management in the institution 59% said good and 40% said fair while 1% said poor., Conclusion: The present study therefore outlines the gap between biomedical waste management rules and inadequate state of execution and awareness in practice. It is recommended that enhancement be done to the already existing Hospital Infection Control Committee to supervise all the aspects of biomedical waste management. Periodical training programmes for biomedical waste handling and disposal to the staff with focus on doctors is highlighted.

Assessment and improvement of turnaround times (TAT) as well as customer satisfaction is essential for laboratory quality management. This study in a specialized hospital in Alexandria, Egypt measured the current TAT for outpatient department bilirubin samples and evaluated the satisfaction of physicians with aspects of clinical laboratory services. While the mean TAT for 110 bilirubin tests [58.1 (SD 31.8) min] was within the College of American Pathologists' benchmark, the 90th percentile was long (96.7 min); 62.7% of tests were reported within 60 min. The mean overall satisfaction score of physicians (range 1-5) was 3.46 (SD 0.49). The highest satisfaction rating was for staff courtesy while the lowest ratings were for laboratory management responsiveness, outpatient stat TAT and critical value notification. Quality or reliability of results was judged by physicians as the most important factor (32.3%), followed by routine test TAT (18.5%). Further analysis of the different steps of the TAT would be helpful and follow-up through examining outliers is recommended

Purpose: Business process reengineering (BPR) is touted in the literature as the dramatic improvements necessary for competitiveness, but in practice there are many unsuccessful cases. A more systematic and rigorous factor-assessment deemed important to each BPR phase and overall project success is needed. This paper aims to assess the extent to which proposed success factors in a hospital contribute to each BPR phase's success.., Design/methodology/approach: Based on the relevant literature, desirable results from each project phase were defined. Overall project success was defined as the benefits hospital managers derive from BPR according to manager opinions. A total of 192 hospital administrators shared their last BPR experience, where changes were operational for at least one year., Findings: Recommendations are made for hospital managers to focus attention and resources on factors important to BPR success. Hospital managers are not emphasizing the most important activities and tasks recommended in the BPR literature, such as changes to customer/market related business processes, every business activity's value-added element and applying the right innovative technology. Based on the whole findings, top managers should not engage BPR before ensuring that important success factors are present., Originality/value: While many researchers identified and/or tested factors important to BPR success, this is the first study to explore BPR success factors' importance to each project phase, from inception to overall project success assessment phase.

How does the healthcare security professional protect patients, staff and visitors from harm in the face of a Family and Friends philosophy espoused by many hospitals, a philosophy marked by less restrictive visiting hours, free movement throughout the facility, extended dining hours in the cafeterias and a general feeling of openness? How are security professionals expected to deal with an increase in threats of violence in such a restriction-free environment? In this article the author proposes a number of ways to secure a facility under such challenging circumstances.

Although actual shootings in hospitals may occur rather infrequently, incidents that threaten such outcomes occur with more regularity than any of us would like to admit, the author says. In this article he relates such an incident, which, thanks to the combination of an engaged population, effective physical security controls, and an effective response allowed for the successful diffusion of the situation without loss of life.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of the quality of senior management leadership on social support and job design, whose main effects on strains, and moderating effects on work stressors-to-strains relationships were assessed., Design/methodology/approach: A survey involving distribution of questionnaires was carried out on a random sample of health care employees in acute hospital practice in the UK. The sample comprised 65,142 respondents. The work stressors tested were quantitative overload and hostile environment, whereas strains were measured through job satisfaction and turnover intentions. Structural equation modelling and moderated regression analyses were used in the analysis., Findings: Quality of senior management leadership explained 75 per cent and 94 per cent of the variance of social support and job design respectively, whereas work stressors explained 51 per cent of the variance of strains. Social support and job design predicted job satisfaction and turnover intentions, as well as moderated significantly the relationships between quantitative workload/hostility and job satisfaction/turnover intentions., Research Limitations/implications: The findings are useful to management and to health employees working in acute/specialist hospitals. Further research could be done in other counties to take into account cultural differences and variations in health systems. The limitations included self-reported data and percept-percept bias due to same source data collection., Practical Implications: The quality of senior management leaders in hospitals has an impact on the social environment, the support given to health employees, their job design, as well as work stressors and strains perceived., Originality/value: The study argues in favour of effective senior management leadership of hospitals, as well as ensuring adequate support structures and job design. The findings may be useful to health policy makers and human resources managers.

Introduction: A substantial barrier to improving disaster preparedness in Australia is a lack of prescriptive national guidelines based on individual hospital capabilities. A recent literature review revealed that only one Australian hospital has published data regarding its current preparedness level., Objectives: To establish baseline levels of disaster knowledge, preparedness, and willingness to respond to a disaster among one hospital's staff, and thus enable the implementation of national disaster preparedness guidelines based on realistic capabilities of individual hospitals., Methods: An anonymous questionnaire was distributed to individuals and departments that play key roles in the hospital's external disaster response. Questions concerned prior education and experience specific to disasters, general preparedness knowledge, perceived preparedness of themselves and their department, and willingness to respond to a disaster from a conventional and/or chemical, biological, or radiological incident., Results: Responses were received from 140 individuals representing nine hospital departments. Eighty-three participants (59.3%) had previously received disaster education; 53 (37.9%) had attended a disaster simulation drill, and 18 (12.9%) had responded to an actual disaster. The average disaster preparedness knowledge score was 3.57 out of 10. The majority of respondents rated themselves as "not really" prepared and were "unsure" of their respective departments' level of preparedness. Most respondents indicated a willingness to participate in both a conventional incident involving burns and/or physical trauma, and an incident involving chemical, biological or radiological (CBR) weapons., Conclusions: Australian hospital staff are under-prepared to respond to a disaster because of a lack of education, insufficient simulation exercises, and limited disaster experience. The absence of specific national standards and guidelines through which individual hospitals can develop their capabilities further compounds the poverty in preparedness.

Nosocomial food outbreaks due to infected food handlers is primarily due to inadequate knowledge and faulty practices of food handlers during diarrhoeal episodes. The aim of this study was to assess: 1) prevalence of enteropathogen infection among food handlers working in our hospital during 2007 to 2011 and 2) adequacy of precautions taken by them during gastroenteritis episodes. Stool samples submitted by food handlers during 2007 to 2011 were examined for the presence of enteropathogens by standard methodology. For the second part of the study, a questionnaire regarding practices during episodes of diarrhoea in food handlers or their family members was handed out to willing participants. During the years 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011 respectively, 3.9%, 9.8%, 5.1% and 9.4% food handlers were found infected with enteropathogens. The most common parasite detected was Entamoeba histolytica. Bacterial enteropathogens prevalence was very low during these years. There was high awareness (78.8%) among the food handlers regarding routine testing of faeces. Only 64.7% knew that it was important to report for purpose of treatment and leave. While 9.4% had suffered from diarrhoeal episodes in between intervals of annual microbiological testing, only 4.7% took appropriate treatment and availed medical leave. A regular training programme on food safety should be established and emphasis should be laid on mandatory reporting and stool testing of kitchen personnel as well as abstaining from work till they are medically fit.

Recognition that serious deficiencies in mutual respect and team work were hampering safe and effective patient care led to the creation of the cultural change initiative described here. We feel this has widespread applicability to other healthcare settings. The After Action Review (AAR) concept was adapted for use in the NHS for the first time as it provides a deceptively simple vehicle to structure healthy blame free team interactions with the aim of improving practice and team behaviours. The organizational and psychological barriers to being able to do this in multi-professional teams are accentuated by the hierarchical nature of the clinical context, but this project has begun to make lasting change so that AAR is an approach that is now widely understood and frequently used.

Infection control is the most essential component of an effective overall management strategy for prevention of nosocomial Clostridium difficile infection (CDI). The cornerstones of CDI prevention are appropriate contact precautions and strict hand hygiene. Other important tactics are effective environmental cleaning, identification and removal of environmental sources of C. difficile, and antibiotic stewardship. Hospitalists, as coordinators of care for each patient and advocates for quality care, can spearhead these efforts., (Copyright © 2012 Society of Hospital Medicine.)

Gastrointestinal endoscopy is rarely performed in low-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa. One reason is the lack of available medical doctors and specialists in these countries. At Zomba Central Hospital in Malawi, clinical officers (non-physician clinicians with 4 years of formal training) were trained in upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Prospectively recorded details of 1732 consecutive esophagogastroduodenoscopies (EGDs) performed between September 2001 and August 2010 were analyzed to evaluate whether upper gastrointestinal endoscopy can be performed safely and accurately by clinical officers. A total of 1059 (61.1%) EGDs were performed by clinical officers alone and 673 (38.9%) were carried out with a medical doctor present who performed or assisted in the procedure. Failure and complication rates were similar in both groups (P=0.105). Endoscopic diagnoses for frequent indications were generally evenly distributed across the two groups. The main difference was a higher proportion of normal findings and a lower proportion of esophagitis in the group with a doctor present, although this was significant only in patients who had presented with epigastric/abdominal pain (P<0.001). In conclusion, delegating upper gastrointestinal endoscopy to clinical officers can be feasible and safe in a setting with a shortage of medical doctors when adequate training and supervision are provided., (© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.)

Managers increasingly understand that employee engagement is a prerequisite for high performance. This article examines how job, work environment, management and organizational factors influence levels of engagement among healthcare employees. Original data come from the Ontario Hospital Association-NRC Picker Employee Experience Survey, involving over 10,000 employees in 16 Ontario hospitals. The article provides a clear definition and measure of engagement relevant to healthcare. In addition to identifying the main drivers of engagement, findings shows that a high level of employee engagement is related to retention, patient-centred care, patient safety culture and employees' positive assessments of the quality of care or services provided by their team. Implications of these findings for healthcare leaders are briefly considered.

Background: The compliance of hospital staff with guidelines for the active surveillance of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in Israel has not been determined., Objectives: To evaluate the compliance of hospital staff with guidelines for the active surveillance of MRSA and assess its impact on the incidence of nosocomial MRSA bacteremia., Methods: We assessed compliance with MRSA surveillance guidelines by assessing adherence to the screening protocol and reviewing medical and nursing charts of patients colonized with MRSA, and observed hand hygiene opportunities among health care workers and colonized patients. Rates of nosocomial MRSA bacteremia and of adherence with hand hygiene among overall hospital staff were obtained from archived data for the period 2001-2010., Results: Only 32.4% of eligible patients were screened for MRSA carriage on admission, and 69.9% of MRSA carriers did not receive any eradication treatment. The mean rate of adherence to glove use among nurses and doctors was 69% and 31% respectively (P<0.01) and to hand hygiene 59% and 41% respectively (P<0.01). The hospital overall rate of adherence to hand hygiene increased from 42.3% in 2005 to 68.1% in 2010. Rates of nosocomial MRSA bacteremia decreased by 79.2%, from 0.48 (in 2001) to 0.1 (in 2010) per 1000 admissions (P<0.001)., Conclusions: The compliance of medical and nursing staff with guidelines for active MRSA surveillance was poor. The encouraging increase in adherence to hand hygiene and concomitant decrease in nosocomial MRSA bacteremia is gratifying. The deficiencies in compliance with MRSA infection control policy warrant an adjusted strategy based on the hospital resources.

The analysis of operative functioning of maternity hospital is presented. The study results characterize the work loads, the level of professional qualification of medical personnel, the level of pathology of delivery demanding an operative invasion. The conditions of effective decision making in financial issues are discussed.

Background: A significant need is met by volunteer groups who provide free reconstructive plastic surgery for underserved children in developing countries. However, at present there are no consistent guidelines for volunteer groups in plastic surgery seeking to provide high-quality and safe care., Methods: With these quality and safety standards in mind, in 2006, the Volunteers in Plastic Surgery Committee of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons/Plastic Surgery Educational Foundation undertook a project to develop a detailed set of guidelines for volunteer groups from developed countries seeking to provide plastic surgery services to children in developing countries. To make the guidelines include both surgical and anesthetic needs, they were developed in conjunction with the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia., Results: Guidelines for the delivery of plastic surgery care by volunteer groups to developing countries have been reviewed and approved by the boards of both organizations (the American Society of Plastic Surgeons/Plastic Surgery Educational Foundation and the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia). These include guidelines for the initial site visit, site and patient selection, staff and equipment that should be available, and procedures that can be safely performed based on the site and available facilities. Guidelines for assessment of outcomes, dealing with adverse outcomes, and quality improvement are also provided., Conclusions: Any plastic surgery group undertaking an international mission trip should be able to go to one source to find a detailed discussion of the perceived needs in providing high-quality, safe care for children. The present document was created to satisfy this need.