Publications by authors named "Andrea Hilton"
Article Synopsis
- Acute leukaemias (AL) are severe blood cancers that can be treated with intensive chemotherapy, but this also increases the risk of serious infections, particularly invasive fungal infections (IFIs), due to low white blood cell counts (neutropenia).
- Current guidelines suggest using antifungal agents as a preventive measure in high-risk patients, but there's a significant issue of overprescribing these medications. Biomarkers like galactomannan and β-D-glucan could improve the diagnosis of IFIs when used together rather than separately.
- The BioDriveAFS study is a large clinical trial involving 404 participants that will compare a biomarker-based antifungal management strategy to traditional antifungal prophyl
Background: The principle of epistemic justice (EJ) recognises the need for a person's voice to be both heard (testimonial) and understood (hermeneutic) in the generation of meaning. Funding bodies now require all research to have embedded patient and public involvement (PPI) - an active partnership between patients, carers, and the public with researchers, which influences and shapes research.
Aim: Current PPI initiatives potentially enable testimonial justice - ensuring voices are heard.
Background: Sleep disturbance is a prevalent condition among people living with dementia (PLwD) or mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Its assessment and management within primary care is complex because of the comorbidities, older age, and cognitive impairment typical of this patient group.
Aim: To explore how primary care clinicians assess, understand, and manage sleep disturbance for PLwD or MCI; if and why such initiatives work; and how people and their carers experience sleep disturbance and its treatment.
Article Synopsis
- Patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) in healthcare research ensures that research is conducted "with" or "by" the public, emphasizing active participation in shaping research directions rather than being passive subjects.
- The TIMES study, focused on improving sleep management for individuals with dementia, has effectively integrated PPIE by valuing the voices of participants and collaborating with various community organizations.
- The editorial highlights the importance of inclusivity and shares practical experiences and tips for researchers, drawing on six key UK standards for public involvement and featuring a diverse advisory forum incorporating various community perspectives.
On average, people with dementia live with 4.6 additional health conditions. Additionally, two thirds of carers of people with dementia are spouses, and are also likely to live with multimorbidity, given that older age is strongly associated with an increase in health conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: The aim of this study was to systematically search and synthesise findings from peer-reviewed qualitative studies describing the experiences of those living with chronic cough.
Methods: A systematic search was conducted to identify all studies that used qualitative methodology to report on the experiences of adults living with chronic cough. A thematic synthesis of the first-hand narratives was undertaken.
Article Synopsis
- The ageing population is leading to an increase in individuals living with dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI), resulting in a significant prevalence of sleep disturbances, yet there's no standardized management in UK primary care.
- This realist review aims to explore definitions, assessments, diagnoses, and management of sleep disturbances among people with dementia or MCI by engaging a group of stakeholders, including patients and healthcare professionals.
- The findings will contribute to developing a tailored sleep management tool and will follow ethical guidelines and reporting standards to ensure clarity and transparency in the results.*
Background: Older people and people with dementia experience a high prevalence of multiple health conditions. The terms 'comorbidity' and 'multimorbidity' are often used interchangeably to describe this, however there are key conceptual differences between these terms and their definitions. This has led to issues in the validity and comparability of research findings, potentially inappropriate intervention development and differences in quality of health care.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To understand the perspectives of healthcare practitioners and women of reproductive age regarding addressing prevention of an alcohol exposed pregnancy before conception.
Methods: A scoping review of mixed methods, qualitative and quantitative research was conducted. Medline, CINAHL, EMBASE and PsychInfo databases were searched for literature published by March 2022.
Introduction: Community pharmacists and their teams have remained accessible to the public providing essential services despite immense pressures during the COVID-19 pandemic. They have successfully expanded the influenza vaccination programme and are now supporting the delivery of the COVID-19 vaccination roll-out.
Aim: This rapid realist review aims to understand how community pharmacy can most effectively deliver essential and advanced services, with a focus on vaccination, during the pandemic and in the future.
Purpose: This phase 1 study aimed to develop a Type 1 diabetes (T1DM) educational resource for adolescents (10-19 years) in China, and to test its validity for improving diabetes knowledge, self-efficacy and adherence.
Design And Methods: This phase 1 study was carried out in four phases: preliminary development of the Type 1 diabetes educational resource in English based on the health belief model (HBM) and the International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes (ISPAD) Consensus Guidelines 2014; translation of the resource into Chinese; readability testing of the resource; and face and content validity testing for scientific and clinical accuracy.
Results: Type 1 diabetes educational resource with 17 "topics" in four sections was developed for 10-19-years old adolescents in China.
Article Synopsis
- People in care homes with dementia often show challenging behaviors, and doctors sometimes prescribe anti-psychotic medications, which can have serious side effects.
- This study looked at whether it is possible to review the medications of these patients and train staff to help manage the behaviors better.
- The results showed that measuring the effects of these changes is doable, and most participants were able to contribute to important data about their health and the costs involved.
Background: "Behaviour that Challenges" is common in people living with dementia, resident in care homes and historically has been treated with anti-psychotics. However, such usage is associated with 1800 potentially avoidable deaths annually in the UK. This study investigated the feasibility of a full clinical trial of a specialist dementia care pharmacist medication review combined with a health psychology intervention for care staff to limit the use of psychotropics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe structure of mentors' behaviour in clinical nursing education: Confirmatory factor analysis.
Nurse Educ Today
September 2018
Aims: To study if a three-factor structure of mentors' behaviour identified through exploratory factor analysis could be confirmed in a dataset assessing mentors' performance using structural equation modelling.
Background: To measure mentor's behaviour in clinical nursing education in China, a specific instrument was developed and preliminarily validated; a three-factor structure (professional development, facilitating learning and psychosocial support) was identified in a dataset of assessment of the importance of mentors' each behaviour using exploratory factor analysis and Mokken scale analysis.
Design: A cross-sectional study with online and hard copy survey was applied.
Background: Little is known about the general medicines management issues for people with dementia living in the community. This review has three aims: firstly to explore and evaluate the international literature on how people with dementia manage medication; assess understanding of medicines management from an informal carers perspective; and lastly to understand the role that healthcare professionals play in assisting this population with medicines management.
Methods: A mixed studies review was conducted.
Background: The prevalence of dementia is increasing rapidly. People with dementia may be prescribed complex medication regimens, which may be challenging for them and any carers involved to safely manage.
Objective: To describe and understand the key challenges, in relation to medication issues, experienced by people with dementia and their informal carers dwelling in the community and the potential role of community pharmacists.
Background: To understand nursing students' expectation from their mentors and assess mentors' performance, a scale of mentors' behavior was developed based on literature review and focus group in China.
Objectives: This study aims to explore the structure of mentors' behavior.
Design: A cross-sectional survey.
Objectives: To review mentorship measurement tools in various fields to inform nursing educators on selection, application, and developing of mentoring instruments.
Design: A literature review informed by PRISMA 2009 guidelines.
Data Sources: Six databases: CINHAL, Medline, PsycINFO, Academic Search Premier, ERIC, Business premier resource.
Introduction: The inappropriate use of antipsychotics in people with dementia for behaviour that challenges is associated with an estimated 1800 deaths annually. However, solely focusing on antipsychotics may transfer prescribing to other equally dangerous psychotropics. Little is known about the role of pharmacists in the management of psychotropics used to treat behaviours that challenge.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: This study aimed to use qualitative methodology to understand the current role of community pharmacists in limiting the use of antipsychotics prescribed inappropriately for behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia.
Design: A qualitative study employing focus groups was conducted. Data were analysed using thematic analysis.