Journal of evaluation in clinical practice
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Appropriate patient reassurance is an essential feature of clinical practice. My recent experience as a patient, interpreted via my expertise as a health services researcher, led me to insights on ideal and suboptimal reassurance styles in the context of worrisome symptoms. Reassurance is complex: often poorly defined in the scientific literature, rarely rigorously studied, imperfectly understood, and requiring some adaptation to each patient situation. ⋯ Explicit medically appropriate reassurance notably reduced my concerns and anxiety. Interactions devoid of key reassurance components (acknowledging concerns, contextualising the problem, providing information on risk and next steps and incorporating discussion) exacted an unnecessary psychic toll. The striking differences among my clinicians' approaches illustrate how more thoughtful and salubrious interactions can occur using straightforward existing guidance on best reassurance practices, even without burdensome training, time, or resources.
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Healthcare systems are facing unprecedented need to respond to an ever-evolving context of providing safe person-centred care to its citizens and staff. This transformation requires a rethink of healthcare leadership. Systems leaders are critical for culture change; to support safe patient care, facilitate innovation, build person-centred teams, and develop a collaborative workforce. ⋯ However, a global model would translate this role within health systems more broadly. Potential exists for integrated expertise to enable quality care across the system to meet the needs of their local communities. With this in mind, this scoping review aimed at exploring the Multi Professional Consultant Practitioner role-what it is and how it contributes to system transformation.
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Chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP) is a leading driver of disability. Primary care clinicians treat most patients with CNCP. Yet, they are often unable to identify appropriate pain treatments, mainly due to concerns about the safety and effectiveness of available medications. Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) can be useful tools to guide primary care clinicians in selecting pain treatments based on the best available evidence. ⋯ Most CPGs focused on opioid management, with contradictory recommendations for non-opioid management based on low-quality evidence. Additional research is needed to strengthen the evidence for using non-opioid and non-pharmacological interventions to manage patients with CNCP.
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The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated rapid adaptation of clinical competence assessments, including the transition of Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE) from in-person to virtual formats. This study investigates the construct equivalence of a high-stakes OSCE, originally designed for in-person delivery, when adapted for a virtual format. ⋯ The study found that while examinee ability and case difficulty estimates exhibited some invariance between in-person and virtual OSCE formats, criteria involving physical assessments faced challenges in maintaining construct equivalence. These findings highlight the need for careful consideration in adapting high-stakes clinical assessments to virtual formats to ensure fairness and reliability.
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Observational Study
Trajectories and Influencing Factors of Self-Management Behaviour in Patients With Knee Osteoarthritis: A Longitudinal Study.
To explore the trajectory of self-management behaviour and its influencing factors in patients with knee osteoarthritis. ⋯ The authors would specially thank all the participants in this study.