Remote Patient Monitoring at Home in Patients With COVID-19: Narrative Review.

Background: During the pandemic, health care providers implemented remote patient monitoring (RPM) for patients experiencing COVID-19. RPM is an interaction between health care professionals and patients who are in different locations, in which certain patient functioning parameters are assessed and followed up for a certain duration of time. The implementation of RPM in these patients aimed to reduce the strain on hospitals and primary care.

Experiences with the implementation of remote monitoring in patients with COVID-19: A qualitative study with patients and healthcare professionals.

Introduction: This study investigated how patients with COVID-19, telemonitoring (TM) teams, general practitioners (GPs) and primary care nurses in Belgium experienced remote patient monitoring (RPM) in 12 healthcare organizations, in relation to the patients' illness, health, and care needs, perceived quality of care, patient and health system outcomes, and implementation challenges.

Design: A qualitative research approach was adopted, including focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews.

Methods: Four different groups of participants were interviewed, that is, patients (n = 17), TM teams (n = 27), GPs (n = 16), and primary care nurses (n = 12).

[Somatic care in psychiatry : barriers perceived by patients and health professionals].

Disparities in access to, use of and delivery of somatic health care contribute to widening gaps in morbidity and mortality between psychiatric patients and the general population. We conducted a qualitative semi-structured interview study with psychiatric patients and health professionals from different psychiatric care settings to understand these poor physical health outcomes. Optimal somatic follow-up of patients with severe mental illness seems to be hampered by (1) provider-related elements (attitude, training, experiences); (2) organisational aspects (equipment, infrastructure, staff, pharmacy, communication networks); (3) psychiatric patient-related elements and (4) financial barriers.

Barriers to Somatic Health Care for Persons With Severe Mental Illness in Belgium: A Qualitative Study of Patients' and Healthcare Professionals' Perspectives.

Background: A huge and still growing mortality gap between people with severe mental illness (SMI) and the general population exists. Physical illnesses, mainly cardiovascular diseases, substantially contribute to the high mortality rates in patients with SMI. Disparities in somatic health care access, utilisation, and provision contribute to these poor physical health outcomes.

Developing an agency's position with respect to patient involvement in health technology assessment: the importance of the organizational culture.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to map the PI culture at KCE in the context of the development of organization-wide supported position statements about PI.

Methods: A nominal group technique was used to measure the PI culture at KCE. Arguments for and against PI and conditions for PI in different phases of the HTA process were collected.

Nutrition Support Teams: A Systematic Review.

Background: The concept of a nutrition support team (NST) was first introduced at the end of the 20th century in the US and Europe. Expected benefits include reduced (inappropriate) prescription of (par)enteral nutrition; however, to the authors' knowledge, no recent review has assessed the effectiveness of NSTs. Therefore, this systematic review evaluated the effectiveness of NSTs with respect to the prevalence of adult patients receiving (par)enteral nutrition.

Patients with dementia in hospitals: a nation-wide analysis of administrative data 2010-2014.

Purpose: Considering the limited information available, the aim of the study was to examine the prevalence and characteristics of inpatients with dementia in Belgian general hospitals.

Methods: All admissions of inpatients aged at least 40 years with or without dementia were retrieved from the nationwide administrative hospital discharges database for the period 2010-2014.

Results: Admissions of inpatients aged 40 years or more with dementia have increased to reach 83,017 out of 1,285,593 admissions (6.

Effects of empathic and positive communication in healthcare consultations: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background Practitioners who enhance how they express empathy and create positive expectations of benefit could improve patient outcomes. However, the evidence in this area has not been recently synthesised. Objective To estimate the effects of empathy and expectations interventions for any clinical condition.

Evaluating the need to reform the organisation of care for major trauma patients in Belgium: an analysis of administrative databases.

Purpose: In light of the international evolutions to establish inclusive trauma systems and to concentrate the care for the most severely injured in major trauma centres, we evaluated the degree of dispersion of trauma care in Belgium.

Methods: We used descriptive statistics to illustrate the dispersion of major trauma care in Belgium based on two independent administrative databases: the registry of Mobile Intensive Care Units (2009-2015) and the Belgian Hospital Discharge Dataset (2009-2014).

Results: Patients with a severe trauma (n = 3856 in 2015) were transported towards 145 different hospital sites (on a total of 198 hospital sites) resulting in a median of 17 cases per hospital site (min = 1; P25 = 4; P75 = 30; max = 165).

[The placebo effects of good communication].

- Good communication is important for patients and can elicit placebo effects: true psychobiological effects not attributable to the medical-technical intervention.- It is, however, often unclear which communication behaviours influence specific patient outcomes.- In this article we present insights into the potential effect of specific communication, via specific mechanisms, on specific patient outcomes, including patients' perception of pain.

Effects of eHealth for patients and informal caregivers confronted with cancer: A meta-review.

Background: eHealth can be defined as information provision about illness or health care and/or support for patients and/or informal caregivers, using the computer or related technologies. eHealth interventions are increasingly being used in cancer care, e.g.

The effectiveness of interventions in supporting self-management of informal caregivers of people with dementia; a systematic meta review.

Background: Informal caregivers of people with dementia are challenged in managing the consequences of dementia in daily life. The objective of this meta-review was to synthesize evidence from previous systematic reviews about professional self-management support interventions for this group.

Methods: In March 2014, searches were conducted in PubMed, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Embase and PsycINFO.

The effect of patient-practitioner communication on pain: a systematic review.

Background And Objective: Communication between patients and health care practitioners is expected to benefit health outcomes. The objective of this review was to assess the effects of experimentally varied communication on clinical patients' pain.

Databases And Data Treatment: We searched in July 2012, 11 databases supplemented with forward and backward searches for (quasi-) randomized controlled trials in which face-to-face communication was manipulated.

Negotiating jurisdiction in the workplace: a multiple-case study of nurse prescribing in hospital settings.

This paper reports on a multiple-case study of prescribing by nurse specialists in Dutch hospital settings. Most analyses of interprofessional negotiations over professional boundaries take a macro sociological approach and ignore workplace jurisdictions. Yet boundary blurring takes place and healthcare professionals renegotiate formal policies in the workplace.

[People with dementia have more contact with their general practitioners: contact with GPs peaks around the time of diagnosis].

Objective: To investigate how often and why people with dementia and their partners have contact with the general practitioner (GP) before and after the diagnosis of dementia.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Method: Patients given the diagnosis of 'dementia' in the period 2006-2011 were selected from patient records of GP practices participating in the NIVEL Primary Care Database; data were also collected from the patients' partners.

The effects of nurse prescribing: a systematic review.

Background: In 2008, we conducted a systematic review on the effects of nurse prescribing using studies with a comparative design. In view of the growing number of countries that are introducing nurse prescribing and the fact that several studies into nurse prescribing have been conducted recently, there is a need for an updated review to reassess the available information on the effects of nurse prescribing when compared to physician prescribing.

Objective: To identify, appraise and synthesise the evidence on the effects of nurse prescribing when compared to physician prescribing on the quantity and types of medication prescribed and on patient outcomes.

Perspectives on care and communication involving incurably ill Turkish and Moroccan patients, relatives and professionals: a systematic literature review.

Background: Our aim was to obtain a clearer picture of the relevant care experiences and care perceptions of incurably ill Turkish and Moroccan patients, their relatives and professional care providers, as well as of communication and decision-making patterns at the end of life. The ultimate objective is to improve palliative care for Turkish and Moroccan immigrants in the Netherlands, by taking account of socio-cultural factors in the guidelines for palliative care.

Methods: A systematic literature review was undertaken.

Costs and financial benefits of video communication compared to usual care at home: a systematic review.

We conducted a systematic review of video communication in home care to provide insight into the ratio between the costs and financial benefits (i.e. cost savings).

Problems and unmet needs of patients discharged "home to self-care".

Purpose Of Study: The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which patients discharged "home to self care" experienced problems and unmet needs. A secondary aim was to explore potential differences in problems and unmet needs between medical and surgical patients.

Primary Practice Setting: The study setting was acute care in 2 hospitals that were part of a large academic medical center in the Midwest.

[Australian Medical Sheepskin for prevention of pressure ulcers: individual patient data meta-analysis shows effectiveness].

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of the Australian Medical Sheepskin (AMS) on the prevention of sacral pressure ulcers based on combined data from 3 previously published trials.

Design: Meta-analysis of randomised clinical trials (RCTs).

Method: The effectiveness of these specially treated sheepskins from the Merino sheep was studied in three RCT's (2 involving Australian hospital patients and 1 involving Dutch nursing-home patients).

A multilevel analysis of three randomised controlled trials of the Australian Medical Sheepskin in the prevention of sacral pressure ulcers.

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of the Australian Medical Sheepskin in preventing sacral pressure ulcers (PUs), based on combined data from existing published trials.

Design And Setting: Data from two randomised controlled trials (RCTs) among Australian hospital patients and one RCT among Dutch nursing home patients were pooled, comprising a total population of 1281 patients from 45 nursing wards in 11 institutions. These data were analysed in two ways: with conventional meta-analysis based on the published effect sizes; and with multilevel binary logistic regression based on the combined individual patient data.

The effectiveness of the Australian Medical Sheepskin for the prevention of pressure ulcers in somatic nursing home patients: a prospective multicenter randomized-controlled trial (ISRCTN17553857).

A multicenter prospective randomized clinical trial was undertaken to investigate the effectiveness of the Australian Medical Sheepskin (AMS) in the prevention of sacral pressure ulcers in somatic nursing home patients. Patients were randomized at admission and were then followed daily for 30 days. The experimental group received usual care plus an AMS as a layer on the mattress within ultimately 48 hours after admission; the control group received usual care only.

An economic appraisal of the Australian Medical Sheepskin for the prevention of sacral pressure ulcers from a nursing home perspective.

Background: Many devices are in use to prevent pressure ulcers, but from most little is known about their effects and costs. One such preventive device is the Australian Medical Sheepskin that has been proven effective in three randomized trials. In this study the costs and savings from the use of the Australian Medical Sheepskin were investigated from the perspective of a nursing home.

Prevention and treatment of intertrigo in large skin folds of adults: a systematic review.

Background: Intertrigo in the large skin folds is a common problem. There is a plethora of treatments, but a lack of evidence about their efficacy. A nursing guideline on this matter had to be updated and broadened in scope to other health care professionals.

A review of quality assessment of the methodology used in guidelines and systematic reviews on oral mucositis.

Aims And Objectives: The objective of this study was to identify and to assess the quality of evidence-based guidelines and systematic reviews we used in the case of oral mucositis, to apply general quality criteria for the prevention and treatment of oral mucositis in patients receiving chemotherapy, radiotherapy or both.

Design: Systematic review.

Methods: Literature searches were carried out in several electronic databases and websites.