A systematic review of implementation strategies to deliver guidelines on obstetric care practice in low- and middle-income countries.

Background: Healthcare measures to prevent maternal deaths are well known. However, effective implementation of this knowledge to change practice remains a challenge.

Objectives: To assess whether strategies to promote the use of guidelines can improve obstetric practices in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Barriers and enablers to guideline implementation strategies to improve obstetric care practice in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review of qualitative evidence.

Background: Maternal mortality remains a major international health problem in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), and most could have been prevented by quality improvement interventions already demonstrated to be effective, such as clinical guideline implementation strategies. The aim of this systematic review was to synthesise qualitative evidence on guideline implementation strategies to improve obstetric care practice in LMIC in order to identify barriers and enablers to their successful implementation.

Methods: We searched MEDLINE and CINAHL databases for articles reporting research findings on barriers and enablers to guideline implementation strategies in obstetric care practice in LMIC.

Tailored interventions to address determinants of practice.

Background: Tailored intervention strategies are frequently recommended among approaches to the implementation of improvement in health professional performance. Attempts to change the behaviour of health professionals may be impeded by a variety of different barriers, obstacles, or factors (which we collectively refer to as determinants of practice). Change may be more likely if implementation strategies are specifically chosen to address these determinants.

The use of personal digital assistants in clinical decision making by health care professionals: a systematic review.

Ownership of personal digital assistants (PDAs) and smartphones by health professionals is increasingly common. Providing the best available evidence at the point of care is important for time-poor clinical staff and may lead to benefits in the processes and outcomes of clinical care. This review was performed to investigate the usefulness of PDAs in the clinical setting.

WITHDRAWN: Self-management education for children with epilepsy.

Background: Self-management education has been shown to improve the quality of life of children and young people with chronic illnesses. It has been suggested that self-management education may improve seizure control and other outcomes in children and young people with epilepsy.

Objectives: To review systematically the research literature on the effectiveness of self-management education in improving health outcomes for children and young people with epilepsy.

WITHDRAWN: Self-management education for adults with epilepsy.

Background: Self-management education has been shown to improve the quality of life of people with chronic illnesses. It has been suggested that self-management education may improve seizure control and other outcomes in people with epilepsy.

Objectives: To review systematically the research literature on the effectiveness of self-management education in improving health outcomes for adults with epilepsy.

Tailored interventions to overcome identified barriers to change: effects on professional practice and health care outcomes.

Background: In the previous version of this review, the effectiveness of interventions tailored to barriers to change was found to be uncertain.

Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of interventions tailored to address identified barriers to change on professional practice or patient outcomes.

Search Strategy: For this update, in addition to the EPOC Register and pending files, we searched the following databases without language restrictions, from inception until August 2007: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, BNI and HMIC.

Men's and carers' experiences of care for prostate cancer: a narrative literature review.

Objective: To review studies of patients' and carers' experience of prostate cancer care.

Design: Narrative literature review.

Methods: Search strategies were developed for the following databases: MEDLINE (1966-2006), EMBASE (1980-2006), CINAHL (1982-2006) and PsycINFO (1987-2006).

Making use of mortality data to improve quality and safety in general practice: a review of current approaches.

Objective: To review studies of the use of mortality data in quality and safety improvement in general practice.

Design: Narrative review.

Methods: Search of Medline, Embase and CINAHL for articles reporting mortality monitoring or mortality reviews in general practice.

The costs of epilepsy misdiagnosis in England and Wales.

Background: The management of epilepsy incurs significant costs to the United Kingdom (UK) National Health Service (NHS). Making a diagnosis of epilepsy can, however, be difficult and misdiagnosis frequently occurs when patients are seen by non-specialists. This study estimates the financial costs of epilepsy misdiagnosis in the NHS in England and Wales.

How to identify randomized controlled trials in MEDLINE: ten years on.

Objective: The researchers sought to assess whether the widely used 1994 Cochrane Highly Sensitive Search Strategy (HSSS) for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in MEDLINE could be improved in terms of sensitivity, precision, or parsimony.

Methods: A gold standard of 1,347 RCT records and a comparison group of 2,400 non-trials were randomly selected from MEDLINE. Terms occurring in at least 1% of RCT records were identified.