Laurea University of Applied Sciences

BACKGROUND:In 2005, the Norwegian Directorate of Health implemented a national care bundle of education and training on correct perineal protection during childbirth to reduce increasing incidence of obstetric anal sphincter injuries. The intervention involved manual support of the perineum using one hand protecting the perineum, with the other hand controlling the expulsion speed of the baby's head, communicating with the individual in labor to avoid pushing during the last phase of fetal head crowning to reduce the risk of obstetric anal sphincter injuries, and performing a lateral or mediolateral episiotomy with correct technique by indication when necessary. OBJECTIVE:To determine the secular trends of obstetric anal sphincter injuries incidence in nulliparous individuals with singleton spontaneous vaginal births at≥22 weeks' gestation in Norway during 2002‒2022. STUDY DESIGN:This was a population-based cohort study based on real-world data of 324,930 nulliparous pregnant individuals with singleton spontaneous vaginal births at≥22 weeks gathered from Medical Birth Registry of Norway. The main outcome measure was obstetric anal sphincter injuries incidence during the 21-year time period from 2002 to 2022. Secular trends of obstetric anal sphincter injuries were determined separately for the 7 3-year time periods. Both descriptive statistics and multivariable analyses by logistic regression were performed. Both crude and adjusted odds ratios with 95% confidence interval were determined. RESULTS:We observed that the obstetric anal sphincter injuries incidence reduced significantly from 5.4% during 2002‒2004 to 2.1% during 2020‒2022. After adjustment for the individual's age and country of birth, infant birthweight, use of epidural analgesia, and episiotomy, the obstetric anal sphincter injuries incidence was reduced by 63% (adjusted odds ratio = 0.37, 95% confidence interval = 0.34-0.40) from 2002‒2004 to 2020‒2022. This reduction in obstetric anal sphincter injuries incidence was independent of individual characteristics, episiotomy use, and infant birthweight. The use of epidural analgesia during birth accounted for 7.8% to 15.8% of the observed reduction in obstetric anal sphincter injuries incidence between 2002 and 2016. CONCLUSION:The substantial decrease in obstetric anal sphincter injuries incidence among nulliparous individuals with singleton spontaneous vaginal births can be attributed to the widespread adoption of manual perineal protection techniques, following comprehensive staff training.

This article explores an Innovation Bootcamp concept used in two international intensive learning events to develop digital transformation competencies in healthcare. Based on a trialogical learning approach, the bootcamps brought together students, educators, and industry partners to work on real innovation challenges from companies. Combining methods from innovation and service design, the structure supported rapid ideation, prototyping, and concept development. Results show that authentic industry involvement, multidisciplinary teamwork, and in-person collaboration enriched students' engagement and learning, boosted creativity, and improved the relevance of proposed solutions. Feedback from participants indicates that Bootcamp provides an effective environment for collaborative knowledge-building, engagement, and practical digital transformation skills. The model also shows promise for broader use in online and hybrid digital health education.

Comprehensive orientation is essential for ensuring client and patient safety, strengthening safety culture, and supporting workforce competence in social and health care. Although orientation is recognized as an important patient safety intervention, little is known about how comprehensively client and patient safety topics are incorporated into orientation programs. This study evaluated the extent to which client and patient safety topics were incorporated into orientation programs across Finnish wellbeing services counties. DATA:A cross-sectional electronic survey was conducted in 2024. The questionnaire was based on the Finnish national client and patient safety orientation framework and included thirty-nine orientation topics covering safety management, occupational safety, safety culture, risk management, medication safety, infection prevention, information security, and emergency preparedness. Responses were requested from ten predefined social and health care service areas in each of Finland's 23 wellbeing services counties. Fourteen counties participated, yielding 107 responses. RESULTS:Traditional client and patient safety topics were widely incorporated into orientation programs. The highest affirmative responses concerned individual job responsibilities, confidentiality, processing of client and patient information, occupational safety, medication competence, and incident reporting (all 96-99%). In contrast, psychological safety (58%), second victim practices (14%), self-monitoring programs and plans (42% and 54%), safety culture assessment (41%), and client and patient safety in digital and remote services (62%) were incorporated less frequently. CONCLUSIONS:This study provides a national overview of client and patient safety orientation practices based on responses from participating Finnish wellbeing services counties. Traditional client and patient safety topics were widely incorporated into orientation programs, whereas psychological safety, second victim support, self-monitoring, and digital safety were less consistently represented. The findings suggest that implementation of patient safety priorities is uneven across safety domains, with newer organizational and systems-oriented topics appearing less embedded in orientation than traditional clinical safety topics. Orientation may therefore be viewed not merely as an onboarding activity but also as a strategic mechanism for implementing patient safety priorities within healthcare organizations.

In the field of sports analytics, computer vision has become a revolutionary technology that allows the assessment of performance in real time and coach-driven data. The paper describes an AI-enhanced basketball training system, and it uses YOLOv11, which is used in object detection; Byte Track, which is used in the detection of multiple objects; and Re-identification (Re-ID), which is used in identifying an object across frames to ensure its consistency. The suggested system tracks players in an automated manner, estimates speed, creates a heatmap of their movements, and analyzes ball possession with the help of a self-annotated dataset that consists of more than 5,200 images. Relative experiments with YOLOv5, YOLOv8s, and YOLOv11s show that YOLOv11s performs better with a validation $\mathrm{mAP} 0.5: 0.95$ of 0.30, precision of 0.86, recall of 0.83, and F1-score of 0.82 and can be used in real-time applications. Property tracking and spatial analytics allow objective evaluation of player intensity, position dominance, and possession on the team. The suggested framework will present coaches and athletes with objective performance metrics and enable them to make better tactical decisions and optimize individual training depending on the metric.

CyberSecPro responds to Europe’s urgent need for advanced cybersecurity skills in critical sectors—health, energy, and maritime—by introducing a modular, industry-driven training framework designed for professionals. Developed through a consortium of 27 academic and industry partners, the initiative bridges the persistent gap between higher education and operational cybersecurity practice. This paper presents CyberSecPro’s strategic foundations and its pedagogical innovations, including experiential learning, scenario-based exercises, and gamified approaches that foster hands-on competence. The curriculum integrates micro-credentials and recognized certifications to support workforce mobility and lifelong learning, while aligning with European standards such as ENISA’s European Cybersecurity Skills Framework (ECSF). Sector-specific modules address real-world challenges through simulations, hackathons, and problem-based learning, ensuring relevance to professional roles in critical infrastructure protection. Dissemination activities demonstrate the programme’s scalability and transferability across diverse contexts, offering actionable insights for educators, policymakers, and industry stakeholders. By harmonizing outcomes from prior EU-funded projects and embedding best practices in curriculum design, CyberSecPro establishes a replicable model for cybersecurity education that strengthens resilience in Europe’s digital ecosystem. This paper highlights lessons learned and recommendations for advancing professional cybersecurity training in alignment with evolving threats and policy priorities.