Hypothyroidism and Type D Personality: Results From E-MPATHY, a Cross-sectional International Online Patient Survey.

Context: Between 10% and 15% of people with hypothyroidism experience persistent symptoms, despite achieving biochemical euthyroidism. The underlying causes are unclear. Type D personality (a vulnerability factor for general psychological distress) is associated with poor health status and symptom burden but has not been studied in people with hypothyroidism.

Hypothyroidism and Somatization: Results from E-Mode Patient Self-Assessment of Thyroid Therapy, a Cross-Sectional, International Online Patient Survey.

Between 10% and 15% of hypothyroid patients experience persistent symptoms despite achieving biochemical euthyroidism. Unexplained persistent symptoms can be a sign of somatization. This is associated with distress and high health care resource use and can be classified as somatic symptom disorder (SSD).

Parents' Experiences of Communication in Neonatal Care (PEC): a neonatal survey refined for real-time parent feedback.

Objective: Assessing parent experiences of neonatal services can help improve quality of care; however, there is no formally evaluated UK instrument available to assess this prospectively. Our objective was to refine an existing retrospective survey for 'real-time' feedback.

Methods: Co-led by a parent representative, we recruited a convenience sample of parents of infants in a London tertiary neonatal unit.

The Impact of Hypothyroidism on Satisfaction with Care and Treatment and Everyday Living: Results from E-Mode Patient Self-Assessment of Thyroid Therapy, a Cross-Sectional, International Online Patient Survey.

Hypothyroid patients often report dissatisfaction and poor quality of life. This survey explored the impact of hypothyroidism on patient satisfaction, everyday living, experiences with health care professionals, and influence of demographic and socioeconomic factors. Cross-sectional questionnaire survey targeting an international population of hypothyroid patients.

How can patient experience scores be used to predict quality inspection ratings? A retrospective cross-sectional study of national primary care datasets in the UK.

Objectives: The relationship between patient feedback in the General Practice Patient Survey (GPPS) and Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspections of practices was investigated to understand whether there is an association between patient views and regulator ratings of quality. The specific aims were to understand whether patients' self-reported experiences of primary care can predict CQC inspection ratings of GP practices by: (i) Measuring the association between GPPS results and CQC inspection ratings of GP practices; (ii) Building a predictive model of GP practice quality ratings that use GPPS results; and (iii) Evaluating the predictive model for risk stratification.

Design: Retrospective analysis of routinely collected data using decision tree modelling.

Observational study of the association between diverse licensed premises types and alcohol-related violence in an inner-London borough.

Background: An ecological correlation has been observed between licensed premises and alcohol-related violence (ARV). In the UK to date, no evidence directly connects alcohol-related harm to a single premises type. Recent policies have called for a diversified alcohol offer, yet quantitative evidence in support remains sparse.

Education around medication review and deprescribing: a survey of medical and pharmacy students' perspectives.

Research into the practice of medication review is developing across the world in response to the ever-increasing burden of inappropriate polypharmacy. Education, training and support of undergraduates and novice practitioners to equip them to participate in the medication review process could lead to long-term shifts in practice. The purpose of this study was to explore the awareness of pharmacy and medical undergraduates about medication review, deprescribing and polypharmacy, in order to inform improvement strategies.

Validating a methodology to measure frailty syndromes at hospital level utilising administrative data.

Background: Identifying older people with clinical frailty, reliably and at scale, is a research priority. We measured frailty in older people using a novel methodology coding frailty syndromes on routinely collected administrative data, developed on a national English secondary care population, and explored its performance of predicting inpatient mortality and long length of stay at a single acute hospital.

Methodology: We included patient spells from Secondary User Service (SUS) data for those ≥65 years with attendance to the emergency department or admission to West Middlesex University Hospital between 01 July 2016 to 01 July 2017.

Experiences and supportive care needs of UK patients with pancreatic cancer: a cross-sectional questionnaire survey.

Objectives: Patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer have the poorest survival prognosis of any cancer. This survey aimed to describe their experiences of care and supportive care needs to inform future service provision.

Design: Cross-sectional questionnaire survey of patients with pancreatic cancer in the UK.

An observational study to examine how cumulative impact zones influence alcohol availability from different types of licensed outlets in an inner London Borough.

Objectives: Cumulative impact zones (CIZs) are a widely implemented local policy intended to restrict alcohol availability in areas proliferated with licensed outlets. Limited previous research has questioned their effectiveness and suggested they may play a more nuanced role in shaping local alcohol environments. This study evaluates the association between CIZ implementation and the number of licence applications made, and the number issued, relative to a control region.

Improving patient safety for older people in acute admissions: implementation of the Frailsafe checklist in 12 hospitals across the UK.

Background: checklists are increasingly proposed as a means to enhance safety and quality of care. However, their use has been met with variable levels of success. The Frailsafe project focused on introducing a checklist with the aim to increase completion of key clinical assessments and to facilitate communication for the care of older patients in acute admissions.

Are the Epworth Sleepiness Scale and Stop-Bang model effective at predicting the severity of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA); in particular OSA requiring treatment?

Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is a condition characterised by repetitive upper airway collapse during sleep. The condition carries a range of health sequelae that can prove fatal in cases with co-existing risk factors for the condition, such as obesity and hypertension. Utilisation of a high-performance screening tool for OSA is thus important.

Preschool children who are frequent attenders in emergency departments: an observational study of associated demographics and clinical characteristics.

Background: Unscheduled visits to emergency departments (ED) have increased in the UK in recent years. Children who are repeat attenders are relatively understudied.

Aims: To describe the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of preschoolers who attend ED a large District General Hospital.

Deprescribing medicines in the acute setting to reduce the risk of falls.

Background: Falls are a common cause of morbidity and hospitalisation in older people. Inappropriate prescribing and polypharmacy contribute to falls risk in elderly patients. This study's aim was to quantify the problem and find out if medication review in the hospital setting led to deprescribing of medicines associated with falls risk.

Finding consensus on frailty assessment in acute care through Delphi method.

Objective: We seek to address gaps in knowledge and agreement around optimal frailty assessment in the acute medical care setting. Frailty is a common term describing older persons who are at increased risk of developing multimorbidity, disability, institutionalisation and death. Consensus has not been reached on the practical implementation of this concept to assess clinically and manage older persons in the acute care setting.

Applying quality improvement methods to address gaps in medicines reconciliation at transfers of care from an acute UK hospital.

Objectives: Reliable reconciliation of medicines at admission and discharge from hospital is key to reducing unintentional prescribing discrepancies at transitions of healthcare. We introduced a team approach to the reconciliation process at an acute hospital with the aim of improving the provision of information and documentation of reliable medication lists to enable clear, timely communications on discharge.

Setting: An acute 400-bedded teaching hospital in London, UK.

Considering chance in quality and safety performance measures: an analysis of performance reports by boards in English NHS trusts.

Objectives: Hospital board members are asked to consider large amounts of quality and safety data with a duty to act on signals of poor performance. However, in order to do so it is necessary to distinguish signals from noise (chance). This article investigates whether data in English National Health Service (NHS) acute care hospital board papers are presented in a way that helps board members consider the role of chance in their decisions.

A pilot survey of junior doctors' attitudes and awareness around medication review: time to change our educational approach?

Objectives: Our aim was to explore junior doctors' attitudes and awareness around concepts related to medication review, in order to find ways to change the culture for reviewing, altering and stopping inappropriate or unnecessary medicines. Having already demonstrated the value of team working with senior doctors and pharmacists and the use of a medication review tool, we are now looking to engage first year clinicians and undergraduates in the process.

Method: An online survey about medication review was distributed among all 42 foundation year one (FY1) doctors at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in November 2014.

A retrospective observational analysis to identify patient and treatment-related predictors of outcomes in a community mental health programme.

Objectives: This study aims to identify patient and treatment factors that affect clinical outcomes of community psychological therapy through the development of a predictive model using historic data from 2 services in London. In addition, the study aims to assess the completeness of data collection, explore how treatment outcomes are discriminated using current criteria for classifying recovery, and assess the feasibility and need for undertaking a future larger population analysis.

Design: Observational, retrospective discriminant analysis.

Using geographical information systems and cartograms as a health service quality improvement tool.

Introduction: Disease prevalence can be spatially analysed to provide support for service implementation and health care planning, these analyses often display geographic variation. A key challenge is to communicate these results to decision makers, with variable levels of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) knowledge, in a way that represents the data and allows for comprehension. The present research describes the combination of established GIS methods and software tools to produce a novel technique of visualising disease admissions and to help prevent misinterpretation of data and less optimal decision making.