Efficacy and safety of bendamustine, rituximab and bortezomib treatment in relapsed/refractory Waldenstrom Macroglobulinaemia: results of phase 2 single-arm FIL-BRB trial.

This multicentre phase II study Fondazione Italiana Linfomi (FIL)-bortezomib plus rituximab plus bendamustine (BRB) tested a combination of bendamustine (90 mg/m on days 1-2), rituximab (375 mg/m intravenously on day 1) and bortezomib (1.3 mg/m sc on days 1, 8, 15, 22) every 28 days for six cycles in 38 symptomatic patients with relapsed/refractory Waldenstrom macroglobulinaemia (RR-WM). Moreover, MYD88 and CXCR4 mutations were tested by droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR) both at baseline and at the end of treatment in 21 patients.

[The network of the EASY-NET programme: a contribution to knowledge on the effectiveness of audit&feedback].

This work is the third in a series of articles dedicated to the EASY-NET network programme. The first article described the rationale, structure, and methodologies; while the second evaluated the adherence of individual audit&feedback A&F interventions tested in EASY-NET to literature recommendations. This contribution provides a concise summary of the effectiveness results of A&ented by clinical and organizational areas: chronic disease management, emergency territorial and hospital care for acute conditions, post-acute rehabilitation, hospital oncology care, childbirth, and caesarean sections.

[How to optimize Audit&Feedback: experience from the EASY-NET programme].

This is the second of a series of papers dedicated to the EASY-NET research programme (NET-2016-02364191). The rationale, structure and methodologies are described in the previous contribution. Scientific literature demonstrated that Audit & Feedback (A&F) is an effective strategy for continuous quality improvement and its effectiveness varies considerably according to factors that are currently little known.

[A&F: integrating research into practice and practice into research.].

This article proposes a focus on Audit & Feedback (A&F)'s sustainability. If on one side, it is essential to ask how to bring A&F interventions out of research programs into clinical practices and contexts of care. On the other, it is fundamental to ensure that the experiences gained within care contexts can inform research, helping to define the research objectives and questions whose development can support paths of change.

[The EASY-NET research programme: background, structure, and methodology].

This is the first contribution of a series of interventions describing the EASY-NET research program (Bando Ricerca Finalizzata 2016, funds 2014-2015; NET-2016-02364191). Here, the objective is to illustrate the background and the research question, the structure and organization, the methodologies and the expected results of the programme. The main theme is audit&feedback (A&F), a proven and widespread technique for improving the quality of health care.

[Fifteen ways to optimize feedback.].

This article proposes a series of insights that are drawn from the most up-to-date scientific literature and functional for an optimal implementation of Audit & Feedback (A&F). The focus is on the "feedback" component of the methodology. Some key issues of the feedback are the capability to address changes perceived as priorities for the recipients, recommend actions that bring real improvements, and allow the people to whom recommendations are addressed to manage them.

[Audit & Feedback: how it works.].

This article is the first of a series that aims to describe the Audit & Feedback (A&F) methodology. Some key elements focus on what A&F is and how it works. While it is an effective tool for promoting change in professional behaviour and improving the quality of care, there is still substantial uncertainty concerning how to implement A&F interventions to maximize its effects.

Clinical and epidemiological characteristics associated with pneumonia at disease onset in patients admitted for COVID-19 to the Emergency Department of a large Hospital in Piedmont (North-Western Italy).

Objectives: to explore clinical and epidemiological characteristics associated with an imaging feature of COVID-19 pneumonia at disease onset, in order to identify factors that may be evaluable by general practitioners at patient's home, and which may lead to identify a more severe disease, needing hospitalization.

Design: this is a retrospective/prospective observational hospital cohort.

Setting And Participants: the study population includes all patients consecutively admitted to the emergency department of Città della salute e della scienza University Hospital from 01.

[A&F to monitor and promote quality in healthcare during the COVID-19 emergency: the EASY-NET work].

We are presenting here the findings of the reaction to the COVID-19 epidemic during the period March to June 2020 of those centres participating in the research EASY-NET which is on-going in Italy, funded by the Ministry of Health and co-founded by the Regional Health Authorities. The objective of EASY-NET is to evaluate the effectiveness of the audit and feedback (A&F) strategies in different clinical and organizational settings in seven regions. As a negative consequence of the COVID-19 epidemic, the activities of the project have suddenly slowed down; nevertheless, the COVID-19 epidemic represented an opportunity to apply the A&F methodology and support the healthcare within the regional authorities in order to manage and monitor the impact of this new disease.

[Covid-19 and clinical-epidemiological research in Italy: proposal of a research agenda on priority topics by the Italian association of epidemiology].

Background: the Covid-19 pandemic has provoked a huge of clinical and epidemiological research initiatives, especially in the most involved countries. However, this very large effort was characterized by several methodological weaknesses, both in the field of discovering effective treatments (with too many small and uncontrolled trials) and in the field of identifying preventable risks and prognostic factors (with too few large, representative and well-designed cohorts or case-control studies).

Objectives: in response to the fragmented and uncoordinated research production on Covid-19, the   italian Association of Epidemiology (AIE) stimulated the formation of a working group (WG) with the aims of identifying the most important gaps in knowledge and to propose a structured research agenda of clinical and epidemiological studies considered at high priority on Covid-19, including recommendations on the preferable methodology.

[Audit and Feedback approach in the CoViD-19 emergency: adaptation of the EASY-NET project in the AOU Città della Salute e della Scienza of Turin.].

CoViD-19 pandemic heavily impacted most on-going research activities, causing delays and need of re-programming. EASY-NET (NET-2016-02364191) is a network project, started in April 2019, co-funded by the Italian Ministry of Health and the participating regions. Within the general project, centred on the evaluation of Audit and Feedback (A&F) strategies in improving quality and equity in different health care contexts, the Piedmont region is responsible of the work package 3 (WP3) on specific oncology pathways and procedures.

[Qualitative experiential analysis of the BRASS scale.].

Background: Hospital discharge can potentially represent an issue. Therefore, it is important to early identify patients at higher risk. A valid tool in this field is the Blaylock Risk Assessment Screening Score (BRASS).

[Diagnostic imaging procedures and prescribing appropriateness: are administrative data a proper instrument? An experience from Piedmont Region (Northern Italy)].

Objectives: to assess at population level if healthcare administrative data can be suitable to identify variability and determinants of the prescribing rates for some diagnostic imaging procedures at high-risk of inappropriateness.

Design: population-based observational study.

Setting And Participants: Piedmont Region (Northern Italy) adult population (>20 years) in year 2013.