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Menstrual health is essential for gender equity and the well-being of women and girls. Qualitative research has described the burden of poor menstrual health on health and education; however, these impacts have not been quantified, curtailing investment. The Adolescent Menstrual Experiences and Health Cohort (AMEHC) Study aims to describe menstrual health and its trajectories across adolescence, and quantify the relationships between menstrual health and girls’ health and education in Khulna, Bangladesh.
AMEHC is a prospective longitudinal cohort of 2016 adolescent girls recruited at the commencement of class 6 (secondary school, mean age=12) across 101 schools selected through a proportional random sampling approach. Each year, the cohort will be asked to complete a survey capturing (1) girls’ menstrual health and experiences, (2) support for menstrual health, and (3) health and education outcomes. Survey questions were refined through qualitative research, cognitive interviews and pilot survey in the year preceding the cohort. Girls’ guardians will be surveyed at baseline and wave 2 to capture their perspectives and household demographics. Annual assessments will capture schools’ water, sanitation and hygiene, and support for menstruation and collect data on participants’ education, including school attendance and performance (in maths, literacy). Cohort enrolment and baseline survey commenced in February 2023. Follow-up waves are scheduled for 2024, 2025 and 2026, with plans for extension. A nested subcohort will follow 406 post-menarche girls at 2-month intervals throughout 2023 (May, August, October) to describe changes across menstrual periods. This protocol outlines a priori hypotheses regarding the impacts of menstrual health to be tested through the cohort.
AMEHC has ethical approval from the Alfred Hospital Ethics Committee (369/22) and BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health Institutional Review Board (IRB-06 July 22-024). Study materials and outputs will be available open access through peer-reviewed publication and study web pages.
Trauma contributes to the greatest loss of disability-adjusted life-years for adolescents and young adults worldwide. In the context of global abdominal trauma, the trauma laparotomy is the most commonly performed operation. Variation likely exists in how these patients are managed and their subsequent outcomes, yet very little global data on the topic currently exists. The objective of the GOAL-Trauma study is to evaluate both patient and injury factors for those undergoing trauma laparotomy, their clinical management and postoperative outcomes.
We describe a planned prospective multicentre observational cohort study of patients undergoing trauma laparotomy. We will include patients of all ages who present to hospital with a blunt or penetrating injury and undergo a trauma laparotomy within 5 days of presentation to the treating centre. The study will collect system, patient, process and outcome data, following patients up until 30 days postoperatively (or until discharge or death, whichever is first). Our sample size calculation suggests we will need to recruit 552 patients from approximately 150 recruiting centres.
The GOAL-Trauma study will provide a global snapshot of the current management and outcomes for patients undergoing a trauma laparotomy. It will also provide insight into the variation seen in the time delays for receiving care, the disease and patient factors present, and patient outcomes. For current standards of trauma care to be improved worldwide, a greater understanding of the current state of trauma laparotomy care is paramount if appropriate interventions and targets are to be identified and implemented.
Many adverse events are identified as nursing-sensitive indicators (NSIs) and have evidence-based care bundles known to reduce risk of occurrence. Kamishibai cards are a tool from the manufacturing industry used for practice auditing and improvements. Use of Kamishibai cards is believed to be common in the healthcare setting, but true evidence-based guidelines do not yet exist to guide their implementation.
The aim of this integrative review was to identify best practices around the implementation of Kamishibai cards in the healthcare setting for improvement in NSI-associated outcomes.
Eleven nurses at three facilities worked through the evidence using the Johns Hopkins Evidence-Based Practice Model.
Ten articles were included for this review. Broad themes included direct observation with non-punitive and timely feedback, clearly visualized results, use of evidence-based care bundles, pre-implementation education, and both leadership and frontline-staff involvement. All facilities showed improvement in NSI-associated outcomes after the implementation of K-cards.
In health care, K-cards can be implemented and designed with additional focus on the bundles of care they are intended to audit and staff support, but further evidence would better define guidelines around implementation.
The measure of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) data in electronic health records (EHR) has been critical for addressing health disparities and inequalities, especially for HIV care. Given that gender and sexual minorities (eg, transgender, men who have sex with men and intersex) are key groups in people living with HIV (PLWH), SOGI data can facilitate a more accurate understanding about the HIV outcomes (eg, viral suppression) among this key group and then lead to tailored therapeutic services. The two-step SOGI collection method as an emerging gender measurement can be used to measure SOGI status in medical settings. Using the statewide cohort of PLWH in South Carolina (SC), this project aims to: (1) integrate statewide PLWH cohort data with their birth certificate data to evaluate SOGI measurements from multiple EHR sources; and (2) examine differences in viral suppression based on SOGI measurements.
Our EHR database includes several HIV data sources with patients’ gender information, such as SC Department of Health and Environmental Control Centre (DHEC), Health Sciences South Carolina (HSSC) and Prisma as well as birth certificate data to retrieve the sex at birth. The SC Enhanced HIV/AIDS Reporting System (e-HARS) from DHEC will provide longitudinal viral load information to define a variety of viral suppression status. Datasources like the SC office of Revenue and Fiscal Affairs (RFA) will extract longitudinal EHR clinical data of all PLWH in SC from multiple health systems; obtain data from other state agencies and link the patient-level data with county-level data from multiple publicly available data sources.
The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of South Carolina (Pro00129906) as a Non-Human Subject study. The study’s findings will be published in peer-reviewed journals and disseminated at national and international conferences and through social media.
To explore intensive care nurses' (ICN) perceptions of simulation-based learning (SBL).
A systematic review and meta-synthesis.
The review followed the PRISMA guidelines for reporting a systematic review. A systematic search strategy was developed using a modified PICo framework. A comprehensive search was conducted in July 2023 in CINAHL, OVID Embase, Medline complete, Web of Science, ERIC and Scopus databases for articles published in English between 2013 and 2023. Data were extracted using the Joanna Briggs Institute QARI Data Extraction, with data synthesis guided by Braun and Clark's thematic analysis approach. Quality appraisal was assessed using the CASP tool.
Eleven studies providing qualitative data were included for analysis. Analysis and meta-synthesis led to the construction of two themes: The learning experience and professional growth through collaboration.
The review highlights the balance needed in finding the appropriate simulation approach, with the right level of fidelity, conducted at appropriately regular intervals, incorporating the correct makeup of professional team members, conducted in the right environment and facilitated by a skilled facilitator, to ensure best outcomes and return on investment for ICN's education.
These findings are a valuable resource for educators and organisations considering simulation-based learning initiatives in the intensive care setting.
This review involved analysis of existing literature and as such no unique patient or public involvement occurred.
The systematic review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) reporting guidelines.
To explore how parents experienced their child with delirium and how parents viewed our delirium management bundle.
We conducted a qualitative exploratory descriptive study using semi-structured individual or dyad interviews.
Twelve semi-structured interviews with 16 parents of 12 critically ill children diagnosed with delirium in a paediatric intensive care unit were conducted from October 2022 to January 2023 and analysed through a reflexive thematic analysis.
We generated five themes: (1) knowing that something is very wrong, (2) observing manifest changes in the child, (3) experiencing fear of long-term consequences, (4) adding insight to the bundle, and (5) family engagement.
The parents in our study were able to observe subtle and manifest changes in their child with delirium. This caused fear of lasting impact. The parents regarded most of the interventions in the delirium management bundle as relevant but needed individualization in the application. The parents requested more information regarding delirium and a higher level of parent engagement in the care of their child during delirium.
This paper contributes to understanding how parents might experience delirium in their critically ill child, how our delirium management bundle was received by the parents, and their suggestions for improvement. Our study deals with critically ill children with delirium, their parents, and staff working to prevent and manage paediatric delirium (PD) in the paediatric intensive care unit.
The consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research guidelines were used to ensure the transparency of our reporting.
No patient or public contribution to the research design.
- It increases awareness of the parent's perspective on PD in critically ill children. - It shows how PD might affect parents, causing negative emotions such as distress, frustration, and fear of permanent damage. - It shows that the parents in our study, in addition to the care bundle, requested more information on delirium and more involvement in the care of their delirious child.
by Jane Jere, Allison Ruark, Julie T. Bidwell, Rita M. Butterfield, Torsten B. Neilands, Sheri D. Weiser, Nancy Mulauzi, James Mkandawire, Amy A. Conroy
Cardiometabolic disorders (CMD) such as hypertension and diabetes are increasingly prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa, placing people living with HIV at risk for cardiovascular disease and threatening the success of HIV care. Spouses are often the primary caregivers for people living with CMD, and understanding patients’ and partners’ conceptions of CMD could inform care. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 25 couples having a partner living with HIV and either hypertension or diabetes. Couples were recruited from HIV clinics in Malawi and were interviewed on beliefs around symptoms, causation, prevention, and treatment for CMD. Data were analyzed at the individual and dyadic levels using framework analysis and Kleinman’s theory of explanatory models as a lens. On average, participants were 51 years old and married for 21 years. Approximately 57%, 14%, and 80% had hypertension, diabetes, and HIV. Couples endorsed a combination of biomedical explanatory models (beliefs around physical and mental health) and traditional explanatory models (beliefs around religion and natural remedies), although tended to emphasize the biomedical model. Half of couples believed stress was the main cause of hypertension. For diabetes, diet was believed to be a common cause. In terms of prevention, dietary changes and physical activity were most frequently mentioned. For disease management, medication adherence and diet modifications were emphasized, with some couples also supporting herbal remedies, stress reduction, and faith in God as strategies. Participants were generally more concerned about CMD than HIV due to poor access to CMD medications and beliefs that CMD could lead to sudden death. Within couples, partners often held many of the same beliefs but diverged around which etiological or preventive factors were most important (e.g., stress versus diet) and the best diet for CMD. Health education programs should involve primary partners to build knowledge of CMD and address overlap with HIV, and reinforce accurate information on lifestyle factors for the prevention and treatment of CMD.To explore factors associated with early age at entry into sex work, among a cohort of female sex workers (FSWs) in Nairobi, Kenya.
Younger age at sex work initiation increases the risk of HIV acquisition, condom non-use, violence victimisation and alcohol and/or substance use problems. This study aimed to understand factors in childhood and adolescence that shape the vulnerability to underage sex work initiation.
Building on previous qualitative research with this cohort, analysis of behavioural–biological cross-sectional data using hierarchical logistic regression.
FSWs aged 18–45 years were randomly selected from seven Sex Workers Outreach Programme clinics in Nairobi, and between June and December 2019, completed a baseline behavioural–biological survey. Measurement tools included WHO Adverse Childhood Experiences, Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test and questionnaires on sociodemographic information, sexual risk behaviours and gender-based violence. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression were conducted using hierarchical modelling.
Of the 1003 FSWs who participated in the baseline survey (response rate 96%), 176 (17.5%) initiated sex work while underage (
Lower education level and childhood homelessness, combined with sexual violence and sexual risk behaviours in childhood, create pathways to underage initiation into sex work. Interventions designed for girls and young women at these pivotal points in their lives could help prevent underage sex work initiation and their associated health, social and economic consequences.
Health disparities exist at every step of the HIV care continuum (HCC) among racial/ethnic minority population. Such racial/ethnic disparities may have significantly delayed the progress in HCC in the Southern US states that are strongly represented among geographic focus areas in the 2019 federal initiative titled ‘Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America’. However, limited efforts have been made to quantify the long-term spatiotemporal variations of HCC disparities and their contributing factors over time, particularly in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. This project aims to identify the spatiotemporal patterns of racial disparities of each HCC outcome and then determine the contribution of contextual features for temporal change of disparities in HCC.
This cohort study will use statewide HIV cohort data in South Carolina, including all people living with HIV (PLWH) who were diagnosed with HIV in 2005–2020. The healthcare encounter data will be extracted from longitudinal EHR from six state agencies and then linked to aggregated county-level community and social structural-level data (eg, structural racism, COVID-19 pandemic) from multiple publicly available data sources. The South Carolina Revenue of Fiscal and Affairs will serve as the honest broker to link the patient-level and county-level information. We will first quantify the HCC-related disparities by creating a county-level racial/ethnic disparity index (RDI) for each key HCC outcomes (eg, HIV testing, timely diagnosis), examine the temporal patterns of each RDI over time and then using geographical weighted lasso model examine which contextual factors have significant impacts on the change of county-level RDI from 2005 to 2020.
The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of South Carolina (Pro00121718) as a Non-Human Subject study. The study’s findings will be published in peer-reviewed journals and disseminated at national and international conferences and through social media.
To present the development, implementation and evaluation of a theoretically grounded novel virtual dissemination evaluation (VDE) framework.
Care of intensive care unit patients requires access to the most up-to-date knowledge and best practices. To address this challenge, we present the development, implementation and evaluation of a theoretically grounded novel VDE framework. This framework is applied to a dissemination strategy, NeoECHO, in neonatal intensive care units. Evidence-based virtual education is implemented to prevent, detect and treat necrotizing enterocolitis in neonates.
Research Methodology: Discussion Paper—Methodology.
The virtual dissemination evaluation framework is a sequential combination of Integration of Integrated-Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services and Moore's Expanded Outcomes frameworks. The framework's conceptual determinants, virtual facilitators and implementation evaluations were operationalized in the NeoECHO dissemination strategy and evaluated for feasibility. The virtual dissemination evaluation framework was conceptually mapped, and operational activities were examined including theoretical constructs drawing on insights of nursing theorists, especially Fawcett's criteria (2005) for frameworks with practical application (significance, internal consistency, parsimony, testability and design fit). The NeoECHO strategy was evaluated for virtual dissemination evaluation adherence, operationalization and feasibility of implementation evaluation.
The virtual dissemination evaluation framework meets the criteria for a practical application and demonstrates feasibility for adherence and operationalization consistency. The implementation evaluation was usable in the virtual dissemination of best practices for neonatal care for necrotizing enterocolitis and healthcare providers were actively engaged in using NeoECHO as an implementation strategy.
This examination of the foundational aspects of the framework underscores the rigour required for generalization of practical application. Effective virtual dissemination of evidence-based practices to hospital units requires structured delivery and evaluation, enabling engaged healthcare providers to actualize education rapidly. The virtual dissemination evaluation frameworks' potential for narrowing the evidence-based practice gap in neonatal care showcases its wider significance and applicability.
Care of neonates in NICUs requires a multidisciplinary approach and necessitates access to the most up-to-date knowledge and best practices. More than traditional dissemination methods are required to bridge the implementation gap.
The effective use of the VDE framework can enhance the design, implementation and evaluation of knowledge dissemination, ultimately elevating neonatal care quality.
This paper introduces the VDE framework, a sequential combination of the iPARIHS and Moore's EO frameworks—as a methodological tool for designing, implementing and evaluating a neonatal strategy (NeoECHO) for virtual dissemination of education in NICUs.
No patient or public contribution.
To describe the lived experiences of nurses caring for patients and families in the context of COVID-19 in Brazil and United States.
A phenomenological philosophical approach following the van Manen analysis method.
Participants were recruited in Brazil and the United States, including nurses working in health care settings caring for COVID-19 patients. Recruitment used purposive and snowball sampling. Participants completed a demographic survey and semi-structured interviews that were audio-recorded and transcribed for analysis. A cross-cultural examination occurred among researchers from each country.
The result was described (n = 35) by the themes, representing the essences of each lifeworld (relationship, time, space and body). The nurses' lived experience was one of reframing care while enduring repeated trauma of witnessing disrupted patient-family-nurse relationships. Themes were as follows: (a) Living a silent and lonely experience; (b) Providing connectedness for disrupted patient and family relationships; (c) Feeling the burden of the demands; (d) Being a helping connector; (e) Reshaping spaces amidst evolving interventions and policies; (f) Creating safe spaces, surrounded by turmoil, threat, and distress within an unsafe environment; (g) Reorganizing care and reframing time; (h) Reconciling losses, regrets, victories and lessons.
The nurses' lived experience of caring for patients and families during the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the need to respond to repeated traumas and distress posed by interrupted patient-family and nurse-own family relationships, vulnerable bodies, threatened space and dynamic and volatile time.
Cultural nuances were discovered depending on the practice setting, political discourse and the autonomy of the nurse. Innovative models of care that create structures and processes to support nurses in caring for patients in threatening environments and the commitment to connecting family members have potential to contribute to the ongoing health of the nursing profession.
This scoping review aims to identify and synthesise existing statistical methods used to assess the progress of HIV treatment programmes in terms of the HIV cascade and continuum of care among people living with HIV (PLHIV).
Systematic scoping review.
Published articles were retrieved from PubMed, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) Complete and Excerpta Medica dataBASE (EMBASE) databases between April and July 2022. We also strategically search using the Google Scholar search engine and reference lists of published articles.
This scoping review included original English articles that estimated and described the HIV cascade and continuum of care progress in PLHIV. The review considered quantitative articles that evaluated either HIV care cascade progress in terms of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS targets or the dynamics of engagement in HIV care.
The first author and the librarian developed database search queries and screened the retrieved titles and abstracts. Two independent reviewers and the first author extracted data using a standardised data extraction tool. The data analysis was descriptive and the findings are presented in tables and visuals.
This review included 300 articles. Cross-sectional study design methods were the most commonly used to assess the HIV care cascade (n=279, 93%). In cross-sectional and longitudinal studies, the majority used proportions to describe individuals at each cascade stage (276/279 (99%) and 20/21 (95%), respectively). In longitudinal studies, the time spent in cascade stages, transition probabilities and cumulative incidence functions was estimated. The logistic regression model was common in both cross-sectional (101/279, 36%) and longitudinal studies (7/21, 33%). Of the 21 articles that used a longitudinal design, six articles used multistate models, which included non-parametric, parametric, continuous-time, time-homogeneous and discrete-time multistate Markov models.
Most literature on the HIV cascade and continuum of care arises from cross-sectional studies. The use of longitudinal study design methods in the HIV cascade is growing because such methods can provide additional information about transition dynamics along the cascade. Therefore, a methodological guide for applying different types of longitudinal design methods to the HIV continuum of care assessments is warranted.
by Ashley S. Tseng, Marilyn C. Roberts, Scott J. Weissman, Peter M. Rabinowitz
We analyzed whole genome sequences of 308 Escherichia coli isolates from a marine ecosystem to determine the prevalence and relationships of heavy metal resistance genes (HMRGs) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), as well as the presence of plasmid sequences. We screened all genomes for presence of 18 functional HMRGs conferring resistance to arsenic, cadmium, copper, or cadmium/mercury. In subset analyses, we examined geographic variations of HMRG carriage patterns in 224 isolates from water sources, and sought genetic linkages between HMRGs and ARGs in 25 genomes of isolates resistant to antibiotics. We found high carriage rates of HMRGs in all genomes, with 100% carrying at least one copy of 11 out of 18 HMRGs. A total of 173 (56%) of the isolates carried both HMRGs and plasmid sequences. In the 25 genomes of antibiotic-resistant isolates, 80% (n = 20) carried HMRGs, ARGs, and plasmid sequences, while 40% (n = 10) had linked HMRGs and ARGs on their assembled genomes. We found no evidence of geographic variation in HMRG frequency, nor any association between locational proximity to Superfund sites and co-carriage of HMRGs and ARGs. Our study findings indicate that HMRGs are common among E. coli in marine ecosystems, suggesting widespread heavy metal presence in water sources of a region with history of environmental pollution. Further research is needed to determine the role HMRGs play in driving antimicrobial resistance in human pathogens through genetic linkage and the value their detection in environmental bacterial genomes may offer as an indicator of environmental heavy metal pollution.To create a programme theory of family engagement in paediatric acute care to explicate the relationships between contexts and mechanisms of family engagement that align with family, direct care providers and healthcare organization outcomes.
Realist review and synthesis.
PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO and Web of Science searches for the 2.5-year period (July 2019–December 2021) following our 2021 scoping review.
Following methods described by Pawson and Rycroft-Malone, we defined the scope of the review, searched for and appraised the evidence, extracted and synthesized study findings and developed a supporting narrative of our results.
Of 316 initial citations, 101 were included in our synthesis of the final programme theory. Contexts included family and direct care provider individualism, and the organizational care philosophy and environment. Mechanisms were family presence, family enactment of a role in the child's care, direct care providers facilitating a family role in the child's care, unit/organizational promotion of a family role, relationship building and mutually beneficial partnerships. Outcomes were largely family-focussed, with a paucity of organizational outcomes studied. We identified four context–mechanism–outcome configurations.
This realist review uncovered underlying contexts and mechanisms between patients, direct care providers and organizations in the family engagement process and key components of a mutually beneficial partnership. Given that successful family engagement requires direct care provider and organizational support, future research should expand beyond family outcomes to include direct care providers, particularly nurses and healthcare organization outcomes.
The final programme theory of family engagement in paediatric acute care provides a roadmap for clinicians to develop complex interventions to engage families and evaluate their impact. The components of our final programme theory reflect family engagement concepts that have been evolving for decades.
The team conducting this review included members from the practice setting (JT & KG). In the future, as we and others use this model in practice, we will seek input for refinement from clinicians, patients and caregivers.
FreshRSS 