Impact of severe mental illness on healthcare use and health outcomes for people with type 2 diabetes: a longitudinal observational study in England.

Background: People with severe mental illnesses (SMIs) have reduced life expectancy compared with the general population. Diabetes is a contributor to this disparity, with higher prevalence and poorer outcomes in people with SMI.

Aim: To determine the impact of SMI on healthcare processes and outcomes for people with type 2 diabetes (T2DM).

Repeated analyses of national clinical audit reports demonstrate improvements in feedback methods.

Background: There is growing interest in the impact of national clinical audit programmes on the quality of healthcare. There is also an evolving evidence-base for enhancing the design and delivery of audit and feedback. We assessed the extent to which a sample of UK national clinical audit feedback reports met a set of good practice criteria over three time points.

Recruitment and retention of participants from socioeconomically deprived communities: lessons from the Awareness and Beliefs About Cancer (ABACus3) Randomised Controlled Trial.

Background: Recruitment of research participants poses challenges in socioeconomically deprived areas. The Awareness and Beliefs About Cancer (ABACus) phase 3 Randomised Control Trial recruited adult participants from socioeconomically deprived areas using a combined healthcare/community engagement model. We report the strategies used to successfully recruit and retain our trial participant sample.

Should Radiation Exposure be an Issue of Concern in Children With Multiple Trauma?

Objective: The aims of this study were 3-fold: first, establish the level of radiation exposure experienced by the pediatric trauma patients; second, model the level of risk of developing fatal carcinogenesis; and third, test whether pattern of injury was predictive of the level of exposure.

Summary Background Data: There are certain conditions that cause children to be exposed to increased radiation, that is, scoliosis, where level of radiation exposure is known. The extent that children are exposed to radiation in the context of multiple traumas remains unclear.

Target Product Profiles for medical tests: a systematic review of current methods.

Background: A Target Product Profile (TPP) outlines the necessary characteristics of an innovative product to address an unmet clinical need. TPPs could be used to better guide manufacturers in the development of 'fit for purpose' tests, thus increasing the likelihood that novel tests will progress from bench to bedside. However, there is currently no guidance on how to produce a TPP specifically for medical tests.

Investigating the association between early years foundation stage profile scores and subsequent diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder: a retrospective study of linked healthcare and education data.

Objective: We set out to test whether the early years foundation stage profile (EYFSP) score derived from 17 items assessed by teachers at the end of reception school year had any association with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis in subsequent years. This study tested the feasibility of successfully linking education and health data.

Design: A retrospective data linkage study.

Dengue fever - an update review and implications for Nigeria, and similar countries.

Background: In the last five decades, dengue has emerged as one of the most important infectious diseases, following a 30-fold increase in global incidence throughout tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. The actual numbers of dengue cases are under-reported and many cases are misclassified.

Objectives: This article describes the epidemiology, pathophysiology, clinical features and management of dengue.

'Warning: allergic to penicillin': association between penicillin allergy status in 2.3 million NHS general practice electronic health records, antibiotic prescribing and health outcomes.

Background: The prevalence of reported penicillin allergy (PenA) and the impact these records have on health outcomes in the UK general population are unknown. Without such data, justifying and planning enhanced allergy services is challenging.

Objectives: To determine: (i) prevalence of PenA records; (ii) patient characteristics associated with PenA records; and (iii) impact of PenA records on antibiotic prescribing/health outcomes in primary care.

Role of patient and public involvement in implementation research: a consensus study.

Background: Patient and public involvement (PPI) is often an essential requirement for research funding. Distinctions can be drawn between clinical research, which generally focuses on patients, and implementation research, which generally focuses on health professional behaviour. There is uncertainty about the role of PPI in this latter field.

Dental Public Health In Action: Putting Oral Health on the Local Public Health Agenda.

Oral health is a key public health issue across England. In Wakefield in the north of England, local data suggested the oral health of local children was significantly worse than the national average. This paper describes the work undertaken by Wakefield Council to strategically address this issue.

A Systematic Review of Discrete-Choice Experiments and Conjoint Analysis Studies in People with Multiple Sclerosis.

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disabling, inflammatory, and degenerative disease of the central nervous system that, in most cases, requires long-term disease-modifying treatment (DMT). The drugs used vary in efficacy and adverse effect profiles. Several studies have used attribute-based stated-preference methods, primarily to investigate patient preferences for initiating or escalating DMT.

Longer-term needs of stroke survivors with communication difficulties living in the community: a systematic review and thematic synthesis of qualitative studies.

Objective: To review and synthesise qualitative literature relating to the longer-term needs of community dwelling stroke survivors with communication difficulties including aphasia, dysarthria and apraxia of speech.

Design: Systematic review and thematic synthesis.

Method: We included studies employing qualitative methodology which focused on the perceived or expressed needs, views or experiences of stroke survivors with communication difficulties in relation to the day-to-day management of their condition following hospital discharge.

Process evaluation of integrated early child development care at private clinics in poor urban Pakistan: a mixed methods study.

Background: In poor urban Pakistan, private GP clinics lack adequate services to promote early child development (ECD) care. A clinic-based contextualised ECD intervention was developed for quarterly tool-assisted counselling of mothers.

Aim: To explore the experience and implementation of ECD intervention by the private care providers and clients, for further adaptation for scaling of quality ECD care, at primary level private healthcare facilities in Pakistan.

An overview of systematic reviews on the public health consequences of social isolation and loneliness.

Objectives: Social isolation and loneliness have been associated with ill health and are common in the developed world. A clear understanding of their implications for morbidity and mortality is needed to gauge the extent of the associated public health challenge and the potential benefit of intervention.

Study Design: A systematic review of systematic reviews (systematic overview) was undertaken to determine the wider consequences of social isolation and loneliness, identify any differences between the two, determine differences from findings of non-systematic reviews and to clarify the direction of causality.

Supervised Machine Learning Algorithms Can Classify Open-Text Feedback of Doctor Performance With Human-Level Accuracy.

Background: Machine learning techniques may be an effective and efficient way to classify open-text reports on doctor's activity for the purposes of quality assurance, safety, and continuing professional development.

Objective: The objective of the study was to evaluate the accuracy of machine learning algorithms trained to classify open-text reports of doctor performance and to assess the potential for classifications to identify significant differences in doctors' professional performance in the United Kingdom.

Methods: We used 1636 open-text comments (34,283 words) relating to the performance of 548 doctors collected from a survey of clinicians' colleagues using the General Medical Council Colleague Questionnaire (GMC-CQ).

Immediate chest X-ray for patients at risk of lung cancer presenting in primary care: randomised controlled feasibility trial.

Background: Achieving earlier stage diagnosis is one option for improving lung cancer outcomes in the United Kingdom. Patients with lung cancer typically present with symptoms to general practitioners several times before referral or investigation.

Methods: We undertook a mixed methods feasibility individually randomised controlled trial (the ELCID trial) to assess the feasibility and inform the design of a definitive, fully powered, UK-wide, Phase III trial of lowering the threshold for urgent investigation of suspected lung cancer.

Redesign and commissioning of sexual health services in England - a qualitative study.

Objectives: Responsibility for the commissioning of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services transferred from the National Health Service to local authorities in England in 2013. This transfer prompted many local authorities to undertake new procurements of these SRH services. This study was undertaken to capture some of the lessons learnt in order to inform future commissioning and system redesign.

Using a mHealth tutorial application to change knowledge and attitude of frontline health workers to Ebola virus disease in Nigeria: a before-and-after study.

Background: The Ebola epidemic exposed the weak state of health systems in West Africa and their devastating effect on frontline health workers and the health of populations. Fortunately, recent reviews of mobile technology demonstrate that mHealth innovations can help alleviate some health system constraints such as balancing multiple priorities, lack of appropriate tools to provide services and collect data, and limited access to training in health fields such as mother and child health, HIV/AIDS and sexual and reproductive health. However, there is little empirical evidence of mHealth improving health system functions during the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.

Can pictorial images communicate the quality of pain successfully?

Chronic pain is common and difficult for patients to communicate to health professionals. It may include neuropathic elements which require specialised treatment. A little used approach to communicating the quality of pain is through the use of images.

Are we monitoring the quality of cataract surgery services? A qualitative situation analysis of attitudes and practices in a large city in South Africa.

Purpose: To evaluate the current quality "assurance" and "improvement" mechanisms, the knowledge, attitudes and practices of cataract surgeons in a large South African city.

Methodology: A total of 17 in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with ophthalmologists in June 2012 at 2 tertiary institutions in the Republic of South Africa. Recruitment of the purposive sample was supplemented by snowball sampling.

Development of oral health policy in Nigeria: an analysis of the role of context, actors and policy process.

Background: In Nigeria, there is a high burden of oral health diseases, poor coordination of health services and human resources for delivery of oral health services. Previous attempts to develop an Oral Health Policy (OHP) to decrease the oral disease burden failed. However, a policy was eventually developed in November 2012.

An international cross-sectional survey of antimicrobial stewardship programmes in hospitals.

Objectives: To report the extent and components of global efforts in antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) in hospitals.

Methods: An Internet-based survey comprising 43 questions was disseminated worldwide in 2012.

Results: Responses were received from 660 hospitals in 67 countries: Africa, 44; Asia, 50; Europe, 361; North America, 72; Oceania, 30; and South and Central America, 103.