Journal of evaluation in clinical practice
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The Withdrawal Assessment Tool (WAT-1) is one of the most widely used clinician-reported outcome measures to evaluate iatrogenic withdrawal symptoms (IWS) in critically ill children. However, the WAT-1's measurement properties have not been aggregated. Aggregating psychometric research on the WAT-1 will enhance appropriate use, and outline gaps for future empirical research. The aim of this systematic review is to critically appraise, compare, and summarize the measurement properties and evidence quality, and describe the interpretability and feasibility of the WAT-1 for identifying IWS symptoms in critically ill children. ⋯ The results of this review indicate that the WAT-1 is a precise, easy to use measure of IWS in critically ill children despite some measurement property inconsistencies and gaps in the publication record. More information is required to support its content validity, responsiveness, internal consistency, cross-cultural validity, and interpretability.
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Despite the available evidence to support optimal practices in rehabilitation, significant knowledge practice gaps persist. Opinion leaders (OLs) and knowledge brokers (KBs) can enhance the success of knowledge translation (KT) interventions and improve uptake of best practices among clinicians. However, the literature on the mechanisms underpinning OLs'/KBs' activities, and guidance on the type of support needed for successful implementation of these roles in rehabilitation contexts is scarce. This research aimed to highlight the differences and similarities between OLs and KBs with respect to context, mechanism, and outcomes as well as describe the common patterns of OLs and KBs by creating a context-mechanism-outcomes configuration. ⋯ Findings of this realist review converge to create a context-mechanism-outcomes configuration with suggestions to optimally utilize OLs/KBs in rehabilitation. The configurations suggest desirable features that can lead to a greater potential to achieve targeted goals. It is preferable that OLs/KBs be embedded in the organization and that they are adequately skilful and well-trained. Also, OLs/KBs should perform the required roles using KT interventions adapted to the local context.
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Heart failure (HF) clinics are highly effective, yet not optimally utilized. A realist review was performed to identify contexts (eg, health system characteristics, clinic capacity, and siting) and underlying mechanisms (eg, referring provider knowledge of clinics and referral criteria, barriers in disadvantaged patients) that influence utilization (provider referral [ie, of all appropriate and no inappropriate patients] and access [ie, patient attends ≥1 visit]) of HF clinics. ⋯ Given the burden of HF and benefit of HF clinics, more research is needed to understand, and hence overcome sub-optimal use of HF clinics. In particular, an understanding from the perspective of referring providers is needed.
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Cell-based therapeutics are among the latest advances in health care technologies. The rapid evolution of stem cell science in Iran has necessitated the application of scientific achievements in clinical settings. However, various issues hindered their translation, in particular, impediments in the interactions of basic stem cell scientists and clinicians. We highlighted the impediments in the interactions of stem cell scientists and physicians involved in the opinion of professionals from both groups. ⋯ Most of the impediments were seemingly global, for example, the incoherent medical and basic science educational systems, the vulnerable career path of physician-scientists, and an increasing tendency towards overspecialization. However, some local specific issues were also described, for example, limited funding opportunities and the negative impacts of the division of medical education from the ministry of science, research, and technology in Iran. Proposed interventions include the reinforcement of physician-scientist programs, designing a distributed leadership model, and bringing back the scientific integrity to higher education in Iran.
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There are various models attempting to predict 30-day readmissions of acutely admitted internal medicine patients. However, it is uncertain how to create a parsimonious index that has equivalent predictive ability and can be extrapolated to other settings. ⋯ An index derived from the number of previous hospital admissions, days since last admission, age, and length of stay in days differentiated between the risks of readmission within 30 days without the need for discharge diagnosis and laboratory variables.