Releasing time to care: a quality improvement project aimed to increase direct rehabilitation time in a Stroke Rehabilitation Centre.

Stroke is a leading cause of disability among adults, and any treatment that improves functional outcome, like higher intensity of rehabilitation therapy, can significantly reduce its financial burden. Clinicians on a stroke rehabilitation ward are expected to track and nationally report on rehabilitation time to contribute to the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP), a process that was manual, paper-based, time-consuming and redundant, which in turn impacted on a reduction in clinical time to provide stroke rehabilitation. We aimed to release 20% of clinical time by reducing inefficiencies within their time management and reporting process, ensuring that clinicians had more time available for direct patient care.

Clinic-Level Predictors of Psychotherapy Dosage in the Military Health System.

Objective: This study aimed to describe the demand for, supply of, and clinic processes associated with behavioral health care delivery in the Military Health System and to examine the clinic-level factors associated with receipt of a minimally adequate dosage of psychotherapy.

Methods: This retrospective study used administrative behavioral health data from eight military treatment facilities (N=25,433 patients; N=241,028 encounters) that were participating in a larger implementation study of evidence-based psychotherapy for posttraumatic stress disorder. Minimally adequate dosage of psychotherapy was defined in two ways: at least three sessions within a 90-day period and at least six sessions within a 90-day period.

Daily variation in sleepiness among firefighters while working the 24/48 and 48/96 shift schedules.

Objective: To assess the daily relationship between prior-night total sleep time (TST) and next-day, afternoon sleep propensity among firefighters operating from two popular fire department shift schedules.

Methods: Dataset included 22 firefighters (24/48 shift schedule) and 20 firefighters (48/96 shift schedule). Daily TST was assessed using actigraphy and daily sleep propensity was assessed using the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), completed every afternoon.

Addressing the need for individual-level exposure monitoring for firefighters using silicone samplers.

Background: Firefighters are occupationally exposed to hazardous chemical mixtures. Silicone passive sampling devices capture unique exposures over time with minimal impact to the participant and allow for the analysis of a broad chemical space.

Objective: Silicone dog tags were worn by firefighters while on- and off-duty to measure individual exposures, identify potential occupational exposures, and assess their relation to occupational variables including fire response frequency, rank, and years as a firefighter.

Meta-Analysis of Incidence and Mortality of Firefighter Cancer: An Update on Emerging Science.

Background: Firefighters are faced with a broad range of toxic exposures during their work, including known and suspected carcinogens. The current study is an update to the previously published meta-analysis of cancer risk among firefighters by Soteriades and colleagues, and focuses on studies published from 2008 to 2020.

Methods: A comprehensive search of the literature was conducted, including electronic databases and bibliographies of recently published papers.