Why was this transfusion given? Identifying clinical indications for blood transfusion in health care data.

Background: To enhance the utility of transfusion data for research, ideally every transfusion should be linked to a primary clinical indication. In electronic patient records, many diagnostic and procedural codes are registered, but unfortunately, it is usually not specified which one is the reason for transfusion. Therefore, a method is needed to determine the most likely indication for transfusion in an automated way.

Validation of multisource electronic health record data: an application to blood transfusion data.

Background: Although data from electronic health records (EHR) are often used for research purposes, systematic validation of these data prior to their use is not standard practice. Existing validation frameworks discuss validity concepts without translating these into practical implementation steps or addressing the potential influence of linking multiple sources. Therefore we developed a practical approach for validating routinely collected data from multiple sources and to apply it to a blood transfusion data warehouse to evaluate the usability in practice.

A baseline assessment by healthcare professionals of Dutch pharmacotherapeutic care for the elderly with polypharmacy.

Background: Polypharmacy is common in the elderly population and is associated with an increased risk of adverse drug events. To diminish this risk, the guideline 'Polypharmacy in the Elderly' has been developed in 2012. This study examines, to what extent Dutch pharmacotherapeutic practice amongst elderly with polypharmacy mirrors the best practice described in this guideline and which barriers threaten it.

Crew resource management training in the intensive care unit. A multisite controlled before-after study.

Introduction: There is a growing awareness today that adverse events in the intensive care unit (ICU) are more often caused by problems related to non-technical skills than by a lack of technical, or clinical, expertise. Team training, such as crew resource management (CRM), aims to improve these non-technical skills. The present study evaluated the effectiveness of CRM in the ICU.

Implementation of Crew Resource Management: A Qualitative Study in 3 Intensive Care Units.

Objectives: Classroom-based crew resource management (CRM) training has been increasingly applied in health care to improve safe patient care. Crew resource management aims to increase participants' understanding of how certain threats can develop as well as provides tools and skills to respond to such threats. Existing literature shows promising but inconclusive results that might be explained by the quality of the implementation.

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.

Effectiveness of classroom based crew resource management training in the intensive care unit: study design of a controlled trial.

Background: Crew resource management (CRM) has the potential to enhance patient safety in intensive care units (ICU) by improving the use of non-technical skills. However, CRM evaluation studies in health care are inconclusive with regard to the effect of this training on behaviour and organizational outcomes, due to weak study designs and the scarce use of direct observations. Therefore, the aim of this study is to determine the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of CRM training on attitude, behaviour and organization after one year, using a multi-method approach and matched control units.