Upper limb and hand patterns in cerebral palsy: Reliability of two new classifications

AIM

To evaluate the inter- and intra-rater reliability of two previously developed classifications of upper limb and hand patterns.

METHOD

Two hundred and twelve films of patients with CP (118 of UL postures and 94 of hand tasks; median age 14, 3-46 years) were viewed by 18 examiners from 2 different rehabilitation centers, and one expert who had participated in the design of the classifications. They classed upper limb (3 patterns with sub-types) and hand patterns (2 patterns with subtypes) twice, at 2 months' interval. Inter- and intra-rater reliability were analysed.

RESULTS

Intra-rater and inter-rater reliability were very high for upper limb and hand patterns (0.87 < k < 0.92), and high for the subtypes (0.58 < k < 0.68). Examiners stated that both classifications were useful and feasible in clinical practice.

INTERPRETATION

Despite the single, short training session on use of the classifications, agreement between the examiners and the expert examiner was good to high, confirming that these classifications are easy to use and reliable. The classifications proposed here provide homogenous terminology for use in both clinical practice and research, to describe, evaluate and follow-up changes in upper limb and hand patterns in patients with cerebral palsy, particularly those with dyskinesia.

Assessment of patient safety culture: what tools for medical students?

BACKGROUND

The assessment of patient safety culture refers mainly to surveys exploring the perceptions of health professionals in hospitals. These surveys have less relevance when considering the assessment of the patient safety culture of medical students, especially at university or medical school. They are indeed not fully integrated in care units and constitute a heterogeneous population. This work aimed to find appropriate assessment tools of the patient safety culture of medical students.

METHODS

Systematic review of the literature. Surveys related to a care unit were excluded. A typology of the patient safety culture of medical students was built from the included surveys.

RESULTS

Eighteen surveys were included. In our typology of patient safety culture of medical students (15 dimensions), the number of dimensions explored by survey (n) ranged from 1 to 12, with 6 "specialized" tools (n ≤ 4) and 12 "global" tools (N ≥ 5). These surveys have explored: knowledge about patient safety, acknowledgment of the inevitability of human error, the lack of skills as the main source of errors, the errors reporting systems, disclosure of medical errors to others health professionals or patients, teamwork and patient involvement to improve safety in care.

CONCLUSIONS

We recommend using Wetzel's survey for making an overall assessment of the patient safety culture of medical students at university. In a specific purpose-e.g. to assess an educational program on medical error disclosure-the authors recommend to determine which dimensions of patient safety will be taught, to select the best assessment tool. Learning on patient safety should however be considered beyond the university. International translations of tools are required to create databases allowing comparative studies.

Cluster randomized trial to evaluate the impact of team training on surgical outcomes

Background

The application of safety principles from the aviation industry to the operating room has offered hope in reducing surgical complications. This study aimed to assess the impact on major surgical complications of adding an aviation-based team training programme after checklist implementation.

Methods

A prospective parallel-group cluster trial was undertaken between September 2011 and March 2013. Operating room teams from 31 hospitals were assigned randomly to participate in a team training programme focused on major concepts of crew resource management and checklist utilization. The primary outcome measure was the occurrence of any major adverse event, including death, during the hospital stay within the first 30 days after surgery. Using a difference-in-difference approach, the ratio of the odds ratios (ROR) was estimated to compare changes in surgical outcomes between intervention and control hospitals.

Results

Some 22 779 patients were enrolled, including 5934 before and 16 845 after team training implementation. The risk of major adverse events fell from 8·8 to 5·5 per cent in 16 intervention hospitals (adjusted odds ratio 0·57, 95 per cent c.i. 0·48 to 0·68; P &lt; 0·001) and from 7·9 to 5·4 per cent in 15 control hospitals (odds ratio 0·64, 0·50 to 0·81; P &lt; 0·001), resulting in the absence of difference between arms (ROR 0·90, 95 per cent c.i. 0·67 to 1·21; P = 0·474). Outcome trends revealed significant improvements among ten institutions, equally distributed across intervention and control hospitals.

Conclusion

Surgical outcomes improved substantially, with no difference between trial arms. Successful implementation of an aviation-based team training programme appears to require modification and adaptation of its principles in the context of the the surgical milieu. Registration number: NCT01384474 (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov).

Sarcoidosis and lymphoma: a comparative study

AIM

To assess the clinical features and outcome of lymphoma when associated with sarcoidosis and to determine whether this association gives lymphoma a better prognosis.

DESIGN

Multicentre retrospective cohort study.

METHODS

Retrospective chart review.

RESULTS

Twenty-one patients were included (9 males, 12 females). Median age at sarcoidosis diagnosis was 48 years (range: 24-68 years). In 14 cases, lymphoma occurred within a previously known sarcoidosis. Five patients received a concomitant diagnosis of sarcoidosis and lymphoma, whereas lymphoma preceded sarcoidosis in two patients. Three patients were diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma and 18 patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) (n = 11), follicular lymphoma (n = 2), chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (n = 2), anaplastic large cell lymphoma ALK + (n = 1), angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (n = 1) and T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia (n = 1)). Thirteen patients were alive and in complete remission. Median age at the time of diagnosis of sarcoidosis was lower in patients with concomitant lymphoma compared with patients with sarcoidosis preceding lymphoma (34 years vs. 51 years, P = 0.01). Patients presenting with DLBCL associated with sarcoidosis were compared with DLBCL without sarcoidosis. No statistical difference was found in the risk of death or progression between the two groups (P = 0.685).

CONCLUSIONS

We report here the largest series of lymphoma associated sarcoidosis patients. As opposed to previous studies, we observed a predominance of patients with DLBCL. Our study confirms the concept of the sarcoidosis-lymphoma syndrome. Large B-cell lymphoma does not have a better prognosis when associated with sarcoidosis.

Implementation of a computerized system in pediatric wards to improve nutritional care: a cluster randomized trial

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES

Malnutrition occurs frequently in hospitalized children. We aimed to assess whether a computerized system could lead to improved clinical practices in malnourished children.

SUBJECTS/METHODS

Healthcare workers (242) from six departments in a pediatric university hospital participated in a cluster randomized trial, studying 1457 malnourished children hospitalized from September 2009 to August 2011. Following a baseline observational pre-intervention period, all departments were randomized into either intervention or control arms. A computerized malnutrition-screening system was implemented in the intervention group to automatically trigger a dietetic referral in real time. Furthermore, the nutrition support team conducted an awareness campaign with healthcare workers and a leadership-based strategy to reinforce the message during the entire study period. Adherence to practice guidelines (daily weights, investigation of etiology for malnutrition, management by a dietitian and application of refeeding protocols) was compared between pre- and post-intervention periods in both the intervention and trial arms.

RESULTS

When compared with the pre-intervention period, the clinical practices were significantly improved within the intervention arm for every outcome (P<0.01), whereas remained unchanged in the control arm. In addition, during the post-intervention period, malnutrition etiology investigation by physicians (adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 4.4, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.7-11.8, P=0.003) and management by a dietitian (OR 2.7, 95% CI 1.0-6.9, P=0.046) occurred more frequently in the intervention clusters.

CONCLUSIONS

Implementation of an electronic system to detect malnutrition in real time was associated with a rapid improvement in clinical practices for better care of hospitalized children.

Validation of the French version of the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture questionnaire

OBJECTIVE

To assess the psychometric properties of the French version of the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture questionnaire (HSOPSC) and study the hierarchical structure of the measured dimensions.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional survey of the safety culture.

SETTING

18 acute care units of seven hospitals in South-western France.

PARTICIPANTS

Full- and part-time healthcare providers who worked in the units.

INTERVENTIONS

None.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Item responses measured with 5-point agreement or frequency scales. Data analyses A principal component analysis was used to identify the emerging components. Two structural equation modeling methods [LInear Structural RELations (LISREL) and Partial Least Square (PLS)] were used to verify the model and to study the relative importance of the dimensions. Internal consistency of the retained dimensions was studied. A test-retest was performed to assess reproducibility of the items.

RESULTS

Overall response rate was 77% (n = 401). A structure in 40 items grouped in 10 dimensions was proposed. The LISREL approach showed acceptable data fit of the proposed structure. The PLS approach indicated that three dimensions had the most impact on the safety culture: 'Supervisor/manager expectations & actions promoting safety' 'Organizational learning-continuous improvement' and 'Overall perceptions of safety'. Internal consistency was above 0.70 for six dimensions. Reproducibility was considered good for four items.

CONCLUSIONS

The French HSOPSC questionnaire showed acceptable psychometric properties. Classification of the dimensions should guide future development of safety culture improving action plans.

Outbreak of staphylococcal bullous impetigo in a maternity ward linked to an asymptomatic healthcare worker

An outbreak of staphylococcal bullous impetigo occurred over a period of five months in a maternity ward involving seven infected and two colonised neonates. The skin lesions were due to epidermolytic toxin A-producing Staphylococcus aureus. Infection control measures were implemented and a retrospective case-control study performed. Contact with an auxiliary nurse was the only risk factor for cases of bullous impetigo (P<0.01). The nurse cared for all seven cases and was an asymptomatic nasal carrier of the epidemic strain. Repeated courses of decontamination treatment failed to eradicate carriage. Nine months after the last case, another neonate developed a more severe form of bullous impetigo and the auxiliary nurse was reassigned to an adult ward.