Combining training in knowledge translation with quality improvement reduced 30-day heart failure readmissions in a community hospital: a case study.

Rationale, Aims And Objectives: Training programmes in evidence-based practice (EBP) frequently fail to translate their content into practice change and care improvement. We linked multidisciplinary training in EBP to an initiative to decrease 30-day readmissions among patients admitted to a community teaching hospital for heart failure (HF).

Methods: Hospital staff reflecting all services and disciplines relevant to care of patients with HF attended a 3-day innovative capacity building conference in evidence-based health care over a 3-year period beginning in 2009.

Levels of stigmatization of patients with previously untreated epilepsy in northern Ecuador.

As part of a population-based study of epilepsy in northern Ecuador, 215 patients with epilepsy and 125 controls were given a questionnaire designed to elicit the degree of stigma associated with epilepsy. Evidence for stigma was also sought from local medical personnel. 144 patients and 98 controls were questioned again 12 months later at study completion to see whether their perceptions had changed.

The characteristics of epilepsy in a largely untreated population in rural Ecuador.

A house-to-house survey of epileptic seizures covering a population of 72,121 persons was carried out in a rural area of northern Ecuador. A cascade system of diagnosis was used to identify all cases of epileptic seizures in this population. 1029 cases were found, of whom 881 were considered to be definite cases and 148 were possible cases.