Development and reliability of the explicit professional oral communication observation tool to quantify the use of non-technical skills in healthcare.

Background: A lack of non-technical skills is increasingly recognised as an important underlying cause of adverse events in healthcare. The nature and number of things professionals communicate to each other can be perceived as a product of their use of non-technical skills. This paper describes the development and reliability of an instrument to measure and quantify the use of non-technical skills by direct observations of explicit professional oral communication (EPOC) in the clinical situation.

Application of root cause analysis on malpractice claim files related to diagnostic failures.

Background: Large numbers of claim files present a potentially valuable source of information to get insight on possibilities for prevention of claims. Therefore, the feasibility of root cause analyses on incidents leading to liability claims at The Netherlands' largest medical liability insurer was assessed.

Methods: Feasibility was defined by validity, reliability and applicability.

The relationship between patient safety culture and the implementation of organizational patient safety defences at emergency departments.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the association between 11 patient safety culture dimensions and the implementation of 7 organizational patient safety defences.

Design: Data were gathered within a cross-sectional, retrospective survey.

Setting: Emergency departments (EDs) in the Netherlands.

Reliability, validity, and utility of instruments for self-report and informant report concerning symptoms of ADHD in adult patients.

Objective: To study the correlation between symptoms of ADHD in adults, obtained with different methods and from different sources.

Method: Information was obtained from 120 adults with ADHD, their partners, and their parents, using the ADHD Rating Scale, the Conners' Adult ADHD Rating Scales (CAARS), the Brown Attention-Deficit Disorder Scale (BADDS), and the structured interview Diagnostic Interview Schedule-IV, section L (DIS-L).

Results: All self-report rating scales can be used to assess ADHD symptoms in clinical samples of adults.

Possible confusion between primary hypersomnia and adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

We explored the possibility of diagnostic confusion between hypersomnias of central origin (narcolepsy and idiopathic hypersomnia, IH) and the adult form of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We included 67 patients with narcolepsy, 7 with IH and 61 with ADHD. All patients completed the Epworth Sleepiness Scale and the ADHD Rating Scale.