International journal of health care quality assurance
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Int J Health Care Qual Assur · Jan 2014
ReviewQuality of care and health professional burnout: narrative literature review.
Quality of care and health professional burnout are important issues in their own right, however, relatively few studies have examined both. The purpose of this paper is to explore quality of care and health professional burnout in hospital settings. ⋯ The narrative literature review suggests that weak retention rates, high turnover, heavy workloads, low staffing levels and/or staffing shortages conspire to create a difficult working environment for health professionals, one in which they may struggle to provide high-quality care and which may also contribute to health professional burnout. The review demonstrates that health workforce planning concerns, such as these, impact on health professional burnout and on the ability of health professionals to deliver quality care. The review also demonstrates that most of the published papers published between 2000 and 2013 addressing health professional burnout and quality of care were nursing focused.
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Int J Health Care Qual Assur · Jan 2014
Multicenter StudySaudi Arabian ICU safety culture and nurses' attitudes.
The purpose of this paper is to examine nurses' attitudes towards safety culture in six Saudi Arabian intensive care units (ICUs). ⋯ To the knowledge, this is the first study to use SAQ to examine nurses' safety culture attitudes in Saudi Arabian ICUs. The present findings provide a baseline and further details about Saudi Arabian ICU safety. Study participants represented nine nationalities, indicating the nursing workforce's diversity, which is expected to continue in the future. Such a nursing cultural heterogeneity calls for further studies to examine and evaluate attitudes and values to improve ICU safety culture.
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Managing severe sepsis early has several benefits. Correct early management includes delivering an appropriate fluid challenge. The purpose of this paper is to assess whether junior doctors prescribe adequate fluid challenges to severely septic patients. ⋯ This, the first case-based survey the authors could find, highlights an issue requiring significant improvement. The implications are likely to be relevant to clinicians in all UK hospitals.
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Int J Health Care Qual Assur · Jan 2014
The new neck of femur fracture target: experience in a district general hospital.
The hip fracture "best practice tariff" (BPT) came into effect in April 2010. It advocated two key improvements: surgery within 36 hrs of arrival in the emergency department; and multi-disciplinary care directed by ortho-geriatrician from admission to discharge. The aim of this paper is to look at the 36 hours to operation target and its implications for orthopaedic department trauma service staff in a busy district general hospital, and to evaluate the measures implemented to meet the target. ⋯ This paper aims to answer how busy department staff address an issue that professionals in every English hospital are facing.
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Int J Health Care Qual Assur · Jan 2014
Improving process quality for pediatric emergency department.
Overcrowding in emergency departments (EDs) leads to longer waiting times and results in higher number of patients leaving the ED without being seen by a physician. EDs need to improve quality for patients' waiting time and length of stay (LoS) from the perspective of process and flow control management. The paper aims to discuss these issues. ⋯ A process and flow control management scheme based on patient group characteristics may improve service quality and lead to a better patient satisfaction in ED.