Introduction Clinical reasoning, a major competency for all health professionals, has been defined and studied 'within' each profession. We do not know if content, process and outcomes are comparable 'between' physician and nursing clinical reasoning. This paper aims to set up a protocol for an integrative review to analyse and synthesise the scientific nursing and medical clinical reasoning literature. It builds on the history of nursing and medical clinical reasoning research and aims to create a higher level of conceptual clarity of clinical reasoning, to increase mutual understanding in collaboration in patient care, education and research. Methods and analysis This integrative review follows stepwise the methods described by Whittmore and Knafl: problem identification, literature search, data evaluation, data analysis and presentation. The initial systematic and comprehensive search strategy is developed in collaboration with the clinical librarian and is performed in electronic databases, PubMed, CINAHL, PsycInfo and Web of Science from 30 March 2020 to 27 May 2020. Empirical and theoretical studies are included. This search will be accompanied by ancestry searching and purposeful sampling. A Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses flow chart will summarise the selection process. The quality of eligible studies will be evaluated with a checklist, suitable for diverse study methods. The data analysis is inspired by concept analysis of Walker and Avant and layered analysis of an intervention of Cianciolo and Regehr. We will extract the data of the included studies conforming these layers and features, to capture the multifaceted nature of clinical reasoning in both professions. The data will be presented in a validity matrix to facilitate comparing and contrasting. Ethics and dissemination Ethics approval is not required. The outcomes will be disseminated through conference presentations and publications.
Background Coeliac disease (CD) has an estimated prevalence of similar to 1% in Europe with a significant gap between undiagnosed and diagnosed CD. Active case finding may help to bridge this gap yet the diagnostic yield of such active case finding in general practice by serological testing is unknown. Objective The aim of this study was to determine (1) the frequency of diagnosed CD in the general population, and (2) to investigate the yield of active case finding by general practitioners. Methods Electronic medical records of 207.200 patients registered in 49 general practices in The Netherlands in 2016 were analysed. An extensive search strategy, based on International Classification of Primary Care codes, free text and diagnostic test codes was performed to search CD- or gluten-related contacts. Results The incidence of CD diagnosis in general practice in 2016 was 0.01%. The prevalence of diagnosed CD reported in the general practice in the Netherlands was 0.19%, and considerably higher than previously reported in the general population. During the one year course of the study 0.95% of the population had a gluten-related contact with their GP; most of them (72%) were prompted by gastrointestinal complaints. Serological testing was performed in 66% (n = 1296) of these patients and positive in only 1.6% (n = 21). Conclusion The number of diagnosed CD patients in the Netherlands is substantially higher than previously reported. This suggests that the gap between diagnosed and undiagnosed patients is lower than generally assumed. This may explain that despite a high frequency of gluten-related consultations in general practice the diagnostic yield of case finding by serological testing is low.
Introduction Clinical reasoning, a major competency for all health professionals, has been defined and studied ‘within’ each profession. We do not know if content, process and outcomes are comparable ‘between’ physician and nursing clinical reasoning. This paper aims to set up a protocol for an integrative review to analyse and synthesise the scientific nursing and medical clinical reasoning literature. It builds on the history of nursing and medical clinical reasoning research and aims to create a higher level of conceptual clarity of clinical reasoning, to increase mutual understanding in collaboration in patient care, education and research. Methods and analysis This integrative review follows stepwise the methods described by Whittmore and Knafl: problem identification, literature search, data evaluation, data analysis and presentation. The initial systematic and comprehensive search strategy is developed in collaboration with the clinical librarian and is performed in electronic databases, PubMed, CINAHL, PsycInfo and Web of Science from 30 March 2020 to 27 May 2020. Empirical and theoretical studies are included. This search will be accompanied by ancestry searching and purposeful sampling. A Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses flow chart will summarise the selection process. The quality of eligible studies will be evaluated with a checklist, suitable for diverse study methods. The data analysis is inspired by concept analysis of Walker and Avant and layered analysis of an intervention of Cianciolo and Regehr. We will extract the data of the included studies conforming these layers and features, to capture the multifaceted nature of clinical reasoning in both professions. The data will be presented in a validity matrix to facilitate comparing and contrasting. Ethics and dissemination Ethics approval is not required. The outcomes will be disseminated through conference presentations and publications.
Introduction: In the Netherlands, as in many other countries, current clinical guidelines are directed at single diseases. Patients with multiple chronic conditions may benefit from a more patient-tailored approach. Therefore, our objective is to explore the general practice care needs of patients with multimorbidity from a patient perspective. We also assessed their care experiences and the impact of chronic conditions on their daily functioning. Methods: We conducted a qualitative study, using semi-structured interviews complemented with self-report questionnaire assessments for triangulation, with consenting community-dwelling patients with three or more chronic conditions. Participants were identified through purposeful sampling in three general practices. Two researchers independently coded and thematically analyzed the audiotaped and anonymously transcribed interviews using the constant comparative method. The self-report questionnaire assessments were used to describe the patient characteristics and for triangulation of the data retrieved from the semi-structured interviews. Results: After 12 interviews, saturation was achieved. Overall, most participants were positive about their relationship with the general practitioner (GP) and practice nurse (PN) as well as the care they received in general practice. However, several unmet care need themes were observed: firstly, lack of a holistic approach (by the GP and PN), in particular, insufficient attention to the patient's state of functioning, their limitations in daily life, and their well-being; secondly, they mentioned that personal continuity of care was important to them and sometimes lacking; thirdly, lack of patient-tailored explanations about diseases and treatments. Conclusion: From a community-dwelling multimorbid patient perspective, general practice care could benefit from improving personal continuity of care, attention to personal circumstances and daily functioning, and patient-tailored communication.
Abstract Aim: To develop a proactive person-centered care approach for persons with (multiple) chronic diseases in general practice, and to explore the impact on ‘Quadruple aims’: experiences of patients and professionals, patient outcomes and costs of resources use. Background: The management of people with multiple chronic diseases challenges health care systems designed around single disease. Patients with multimorbidity often receive highly fragmented care that may lead to inefficient, ineffective and potentially harmful treatments and neglect of essential health needs. A more comprehensive, person-centered approach is advocated for persons with multiple morbidities. However, examples on how to provide more person-centered care and evidence of its impact are scarce. A group of Dutch general practitioners (GPs) took the initiative to develop such a care approach. Methods/Design: Mixed methods with a development and pilot-testing phase. The proactive person-centered approach will be developed using an action-based research design consisting of multiple plan-act-observe-reflect-adjust cycles. In each cycle, experiences of patients and primary care professionals from 13 practices will be collected via interviews, observations and focus groups. Starting point for the first cycle is a ‘person-centered consultation’ of up to 1 h in which the GP discusses the health status and health care needs of the patient. Furthermore, shared decisions between GP and patient are made on treatment goals and follow-up. In the pilot-test phase, a nested case cohort study allows to explore the impact of the new approach on ‘Quadruple aim’ outcomes comparing persons with and without exposure to the new care approach. Discussion: This study will provide a proactive person-centered approach for persons with multimorbidity in primary care and estimate its potential impact on quadruple outcomes.
OBJECTIVES:Training in and assessment of consultation skills are high on the agenda of vocational training institutes for postgraduate training. There is a need to establish valid and reliable instruments to assess consultation skills in authentic settings. We investigated the number of assessors and observations needed to achieve reliable assessments of the consultation skills of general practice trainees (GPTs) using a communication instrument (MAAS-Global) and either standardised patient (SP) encounters or videotaped real patient (RP) encounters.METHODS:Eight teachers at the Vrije Universiteit (VU) University Medical Centre in Amsterdam attended a training course on the use of the MAAS-Global instrument, which they subsequently used to assess the consultation skills of 53 GPTs in 176 videotaped consultations (102 with SPs, 74 with RPs). All consultations were randomly allocated and assessed by two teachers independently. The reliability of the ratings was estimated using generalisability theory.RESULTS:It was easier to obtain acceptable reliability using RP consultations than SP consultations. Two assessors and five consultations were required to achieve minimal reliability (generalisability coefficient 0.7) with RPs, whereas three assessors and 30 consultations were needed to achieve minimal reliability with SPs.CONCLUSIONS:Inter-observer and context variability in the assessment of the consultation skills of GPTs remains high. To achieve acceptable levels of reliability, large samples of observations are required in both formats, but, interestingly, RP encounters require a smaller sample than SP encounters.
PurposeThe effect of patient feedback interventions as a method of improving physicians' consultation (i.e., communication, interpersonal) skills is equivocal; research is scarce, and methods and rigor vary. The authors conducted this systematic review to analyze the educational effect of feedback from real patients on physicians' consultation skills at the four Kirkpatrick levels.MethodThe authors searched five databases (PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane, PsycInfo, ERIC; April 2010). They included empirical studies of all designs (randomized controlled, quasi-experimental, cross-sectional, and qualitative) if the studies concerned physicians in general health care who received formal feedback regarding their consultation skills from real patients. The authors have briefly described aspects of the included studies, analyzed their quality, and examined their results by Kirkpatrick educational effect level.ResultsThe authors identified 15 studies (10 studies in primary care; 5 in other specialties) in which physicians received feedback in various ways (e. g., aggregated patient reports or educator-mediated coaching sessions), conducted in the United States, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. All studies that assessed level 1 (valuation), level 2 (learning), and level 3 (intended behavior) demonstrated positive results; however, only four of the seven studies that assessed level 4 (change in actual performance or results) found a beneficial effect.ConclusionsSome evidence for the effectiveness of using feedback from real patients to improve knowledge and behavior exists; however, before implementing patient feedback into training programs, educators and policy makers should realize that the evidence for effecting actual improvement in physicians' consulting skills is rather limited.
CONTEXT:This study aimed to assess if an additional patient feedback training programme leads to better consultation skills in general practice trainees (GPTs) than regular communication skills training, and whether process measurements (intensity of participation in the programme) predict the effect of the intervention.METHODS:We carried out a controlled trial in which two sub-cohorts of GPTs were allocated to an intervention group (n = 23) or a control group (n = 30), respectively. In 2006, allocated first-year GPTs in the VU University Medical Centre attended a patient feedback training programme in addition to the regular communication skills training. The control group attended only regular communication skills training. Trainees were assessed by simulated patients who visited the practices and videotaped the consultations at baseline and after 3 months. The videotapes were randomly assigned to eight trained staff members. The MAAS-Global Instrument (range 0-6) was used to assess (a change in) trainee consultation skills.RESULTS:were analysed using a multi-level, linear mixed-model analysis. Results Data on 50 GPTs were available for the follow-up analysis. Both intervention group and control group GPTs improved their consultation skills: mean MAAS-Global scores for all participants were 3.29 (standard deviation [SD] 0.75) at baseline and 3.54 (SD 0.66) at follow-up (P = 0.047). The improvement in MAAS-Global scores in the intervention group did not differ significantly from the improvement in the control group. The analysis showed a trend for intensity of participation in the patient feedback programme to predict greater improvement in MAAS-Global scores.DISCUSSION:Although the baseline scores were already in the high range, consultation skills in both groups improved significantly. This is reassuring for current teaching methods. The patient feedback programme did not improve consultation skills more than regular communication skills training. However, a subgroup of GPTs who participated intensively in the programme did improve their consultation skills further in comparison with the less motivated subgroup.
Objective: A focus on the communicator competency is considered to be an important requirement to help physicians to acquire consultation skills. A feedback questionnaire, in which patients assess consultation skills might be a useful learning tool. An existing questionnaire on patient perception of patient-centeredness (PPPC) was adapted to cover the 'communicator' items in the competency profile. We assessed the face and content validity, the construct validity and the internal consistency of this new patient feedback on consultation skills (PFC) questionnaire.Methods: We assessed the face validity of the PFC by interviewing patients and general practice trainees (GPTs) during the developmental process. The content validity was determined by experts (n = 10). First-year GPTs (23) collected 222 PFCs, from which the data were used to assess the construct validity (factor analysis), internal consistency, response rates and ceiling effects.Results: The PFC adequately covers the corresponding 'communicator' competency (face and content validity). Factor analysis showed a one-dimensional construct. The internal consistency was high (Cronbach's alpha 0.89). For the single items, the response rate varied from 89.2% to 100%; the maximum score (ceiling effect) varied from 45.5% to 89.2%.Conclusion: The PFC appears to be a valid, internally consistent instrument.Practical implications: The PFC may be a valuable learning tool with which GPTs, other physicians and medical students can acquire feedback from patients regarding their consultation skills. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
Objective: To develop an attractive and effective patient feedback training programme for general practice trainees (GPTs).Methods: First, an exploratory study was conducted in which patients and GPTs were interviewed after they had worked with patient feedback. This contributed to the development of the patient feedback training programme. Subsequently, in a feasibility study, first-year GPTs asked patients to give feedback on their consultation skills by completing a questionnaire. The outcomes of group discussions with the GPTs and the results of the evaluation forms filled in by the GPTs were analysed.Results: Forty-eight GPTs collected 878 questionnaires. GPTs and patients alike expected patient feedback to be a major tool for acquiring consultation skills. The GPTs encountered several obstacles in the organisation of this programme in their practice. They reported that the learning effects were more limited than they had expected because patients gave positively biased answers and because not all consultations provided an appropriate source of patient feedback.Conclusion: The new patient feedback programme on consultation skills is feasible for patients and GPTs.Practice implications: To optimise the educational potential and benefits of patient feedback, GPTs should ask for feedback from patients after challenging consultations, and should stimulate patients to be critical in their answers. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All fights reserved.
Pretransplant rinse solutions have been shown to reduce reperfusion injury in cold-stored liver grafts, especially at the nonparenchymal level in sinusoidal endothelial cells (SEC). In this study, different rinse temperatures were tested in a rat liver preservation model. Livers were washed out in situ via the portal vein with cold (4 °C) University of Wisconsin (UW) solution, and after hepatectomy (t0), were stored for 8, 16, or 24 h of cold ischemia time (CIT). After storage, livers were flushed with UW solution at either 4 °C, 20 °C, or 37 °C and reperfused for 90 min (37 °C). Control livers were reperfused at t0 without preflush. Levels of hyaluronic acid (HA), purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP), AST, and LDH were measured in the reperfusion medium. Bile production was monitored during reperfusion. At the end of reperfusion, liver biopsies were taken for enzyme hystochemistry (5'-nucleotidase and LDH). After 8-h CIT and a flush at 4 °C, a release of endogenous HA (−7 %) was observed, whereas uptake of exogenous HA occurred after the 20 °C flush (2 %, P = NS) and after the 37 °C flush (24 %, p < 0.001). HA release occurred at all three preflush temperatures after the 16-h CIT but was significantly lower when flushed at 37 °C (–10 %) that at 4 °C and 20 °C (−64 % and −17 %, respectively, p = 0.05). After the 24-h CIT, the release of endogenous HA increased in the 4 °C and 20 °C preflush groups, but not in the 37 °C group. Levels of PNP and AST increased until the 24-h CIT in all groups but were significantly lower after preflush at 37 °C. Release of LDH did not increase with increasing periods of cold storage in any of the flush series. Compared to control livers, mean bile production during reperfusion was significantly decreased following preflush at 4 °C or 37 °C after all periods of CIT. No differences in mean bile production could be demonstrated in the three preflush groups after any period of CIT. LDH activity in liver tissue was best preserved after the 8 and 16-h CIT in combination with the 37 °C preflush, indicating less hepatocellular damage. In conclusion, in cold stored rat livers flushed at 37 °C before reperfusion, SEC and hepatocellular damage is attenuated.
The uptake of hyaluronic acid (HA) was used to assess preservation damage to sinusoidal endothelial cells (SEC) during cold storage and subsequent normothermic reperfusion of rat livers. After 8, 16, 24, and 48 h storage in University of Wisconsin (UW) solution, livers were gravity-flushed via the portal vein with a standard volume of cold UW solution containing 50 μg/l HA. The effluent was collected for analysis of HA, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). The mean uptake of HA at 0 h was 59.1%±4.6% (mean±SEM). After 8 h of storage, HA uptake was similar (55.5%±7.3%), whereas after 16 h of storage it was reduced to 34.7%±5.8%. At 24 and 48 h of storage, no uptake of HA was found. In a second series of experiments, livers were stored in UW solution and subsequently reperfused for 90 min with a Krebs-Henseleit solution (37°C) in a recirculating system containing 150 μg/l HA. Following 8 h of storage, 34.6%±8.0% of the initial HA concentration was taken up from the perfusate. After 16 and 24 h of storage, no uptake of HA was found. The results of this study indicate that damage to SEC occurs progressively during storage, leading to zero uptake of HA by the rat livers at 24 h of cold ischemia time. Additional reperfusion injury to the SEC was demonstrated by the reduced ability of the SEC to take up HA following normothermic reperfusion. The uptake of exogenous HA in preserved livers, used as a tool to assess SEC injury, enables the detection of early preservation damage.
From 1983 to 1992 a total of 240 patients with a pancreatic head tumor underwent laparotomy to assess the resectability of the tumor. In 44 patients the tumor was not resected because of distant metastases (n=20) or major vascular involvement or local tumor infiltration (n=24) not detected during the preoperative workup. A palliative biliary and gastric bypass was performed in these patients. All other patients underwent a subtotal (Whipple's resection, n=164) or total (n=32) pancreaticoduodenectomy. However, in 56 cases after Whipple's resection, microscopic examination of the specimen showed tumor invasion in the dissection margins. For this reason, these resections were considered palliative. We compared hospital mortality, morbidity, and long-term survival of patients who had undergone a biliary and gastric bypass for a locally advanced tumor (group A, n=24) with a matched group of patients who had undergone a macroscopically radical Whipple's resection that on microscopic examination proved to be nonradical (group B, n=36). Both groups were comparable with regard to age (mean 61 years in both groups), duration of symptoms (8 weeks in group A and 10 weeks in group B), and tumor size (mean 4.25 cm in group A and 4.30 cm in group B). Median postoperative hospital stay was 18 days in group A and 25 days in group B. Postoperative complications (intraabdominal abscess, gastrointestinal hemorrhage, anastomotic leakage, delayed gastric emptying) occurred in 33% of patients in group A and in 44% of patients in group B. Hospital mortality was 0% and 3% in group A and group B, respectively. Survival in group B was significantly longer than in group A (p<0.03). Survivals after 1 and 2 years were 22% and 2% in group A versus 44% and 24% in group B, respectively. These results support our view that when a macroscopically radical resection seems feasible, a Whipple's resection should be carried out. In case of microscopic, residual tumor, the Whipple procedure offers acceptable palliation.