Potentially harmful non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) utilisation persists at undesirable rates worldwide. The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on interventions to de-implement potentially harmful NSAIDs in healthcare settings and to suggest directions for future research.

Scoping review.

PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, Cochrane Central and Google Scholar (1 January 2000 to 31 May 2022).

Studies reporting on the effectiveness of interventions to systematically reduce potentially harmful NSAID utilisation in healthcare settings.

Using Covidence systematic review software, we extracted study and intervention characteristics, including the effectiveness of interventions in reducing NSAID utilisation.

From 7818 articles initially identified, 68 were included in the review. Most studies took place in European countries (45.6%) or the USA (35.3%), with randomised controlled trial as the most common design (55.9%). Interventions were largely clinician-facing (76.2%) and delivered in primary care (60.2%) but were rarely (14.9%) guided by an implementation model, framework or theory. Academic detailing, clinical decision support or electronic medical record interventions, performance reports and pharmacist review were frequent approaches employed. NSAID use was most commonly classified as potentially harmful based on patients’ age (55.8%), history of gastrointestinal disorders (47.1%), or history of kidney disease (38.2%). Only 7.4% of interventions focused on over-the-counter (OTC) NSAIDs in addition to prescription. The majority of studies (76.2%) reported a reduction in the utilisation of potentially harmful NSAIDs. Few studies (5.9%) evaluated pain or quality of life following NSAIDs discontinuation.

Many varied interventions to de-implement potentially harmful NSAIDs have been applied in healthcare settings worldwide. Based on these findings and identified knowledge gaps, further efforts to comprehensively evaluate the effectiveness of interventions and the combination of intervention characteristics associated with effective de-implementation are needed. In addition, future work should be guided by de-implementation theory, focus on OTC NSAIDs and incorporate patient-focused strategies and outcomes, including the evaluation of unintended consequences of the intervention.

Breastfeeding sets the foundation for healthy growth and development, with many recognised benefits for both infant and maternal health. Thus, socioeconomic disparities in breastfeeding—which are widely reported in the USA and many other Western countries1—contribute significantly to socioeconomic health disparities across the lifespan. Breastfeeding intentions are an established predictor of breastfeeding outcomes, yet most...

A hard lockdown was presumed to lead to delayed diagnosis and treatment of serious diseases, resulting in higher acuity at admission. This should be elaborated based on the estimated acuity of the cases, changes in findings during hospitalisation, age structure and biological sex.

Retrospective monocentric cross-sectional study.

German Neuroradiology Department at a .

In 2019, n=1158 patients were admitted in contrast to n=884 during the first hard lockdown in 2020 (11th–13th week).

Three radiologists evaluated the initial case acuity, classified them into three groups (not acute, subacute and acute), and evaluated if there was a relevant clinical deterioration. The data analysis was conducted using non-parametric methods and multivariate regression analysis.

A 24% decrease in the number of examinations from 2019 to 2020 (p=0.025) was revealed. In women, the case acuity increased by 21% during the lockdown period (p=0.002). A 30% decrease in acute cases in men was observable (in women 5% decrease). Not acute cases decreased in both women and men (47%; 24%), while the subacute cases remained stable in men (0%) and decreased in women (28%). Regression analysis revealed the higher the age, the higher the acuity (p

The lockdown led to a decrease in neuroradiological consultations, with delays in seeking medical care. In women, the number of most severe cases remained stable, whereas the mean case acuity and age increased. This could be due to greater pandemic-related anxiety among women, however, with severe symptoms they were seeking for medical help. In contrast in men, the absolute number of most severe cases decreased, whereas the mean acuity and age remained nearly unaffected. This could be attributable to a reduced willingness to seek for medical consultation.

Incidents of maternal morbidity and mortality (MMM) continue to rise in the USA. Significant racial and ethnic health inequities exist, with Native American (NA) women being three to four times more likely to die than white, non-Hispanic women, and three to five times more likely to experience an incident of severe maternal morbidity. Few studies have identified individual and community-level risk factors of MMM experienced by NA women. Therefore, this systematic review will identify said risk factors of MMM experienced by NA women in the USA.

This systematic review will be conducted according to the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews, and the findings will be reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines (PRISMA). The search strategy will include searches from electronic databases: PUBMED, EMBASE, CINAHL and SCOPUS, from 1 January 2012 to 10 October 2022. The search strategy will include terms related to the search concepts: ‘maternal’, ‘Native American’ and ‘MMM’. Bibliographies of selected articles, previously published reviews and high-yield journals will also be searched. All included papers will be evaluated for quality and bias using NIH Quality Assessment Tools for Observational Studies. A description of the study findings will be presented in a tabular format organised by outcome of interest along with study characteristics.

There are no formal ethics approvals needed for this protocol. The findings of this systematic review will be shared with academic, governmental, community-based, institutes and NA (tribal) entities via a published peer-reviewed article, informational brief, poster and oral presentations.

CRD42022363405.

The confidence of young people diagnosed with psychosis is often low. Positive self-beliefs may be few and negative self-beliefs many. A sense of defeat and failure is common. Young people often withdraw from many aspects of everyday life. Psychological well-being is lowered. Psychological techniques can improve self-confidence, but a shortage of therapists means that very few patients ever receive such help. Virtual reality (VR) offers a potential route out of this impasse. By including a virtual coach, treatment can be automated. As such, delivery of effective therapy is no longer reliant on the availability of therapists. With young people with lived experience, we have developed a staff-assisted automated VR therapy to improve positive self-beliefs (Phoenix). The treatment is based on established cognitive behavioural therapy and positive psychology techniques. A case series indicates that this approach may lead to large improvements in positive self-beliefs and psychological well-being. We now aim to conduct the first randomised controlled evaluation of Phoenix VR.

80 patients with psychosis, aged between 16 and 30 years old and with low levels of positive self-beliefs, will be recruited from National Health Service (NHS) secondary care services. They will be randomised (1:1) to the Phoenix VR self-confidence therapy added to treatment as usual or treatment as usual. Assessments will be conducted at 0, 6 (post-treatment) and 12 weeks by a researcher blind to allocation. The primary outcome is positive self-beliefs at 6 weeks rated with the Oxford Positive Self Scale. The secondary outcomes are psychiatric symptoms, activity levels and quality of life. All main analyses will be intention to treat.

The trial has received ethical approval from the NHS Health Research Authority (22/LO/0273). A key output will be a high-quality VR treatment for patients to improve self-confidence and psychological well-being.

ISRCTN10250113.