Stereotyping stigma: undergraduate health students' perceptions at handover

Evaluation of the effectiveness of a video-based educational intervention on perinatal mental health related stigma reduction strategies for healthcare professionals: A single group pre-test-post-test pilot study

BACKGROUND

Healthcare professionals have a role to play in reducing perinatal mental health related stigma.

AIM

To assess the effectiveness of a video-based educational intervention developed to provide guidance to healthcare professionals on perinatal mental health related stigma reduction strategies.

DESIGN

A single group pre-test-post-test pilot study with no control group.

SETTING(S)

A university affiliated maternity hospital in Ireland PARTICIPANTS: A convenience sample of registered midwives, nurses and doctors (n = 60) recruited from October 2020-January 2021.

INTERVENTION

A twenty-minute video-based educational intervention.

METHODS

Respondents (n = 60) completed a pre-test (time point one) and post-test (time point-two) questionnaire, and a three-month follow-up post-test questionnaire (time point-three) (n = 39). The questionnaire included the Mental Illness Clinicians' Attitudes Scale, Reported and Intended Behaviour Scale, Reynolds Empathy Scale and open-ended questions. Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test was selected to evaluate the pre-test post-test scores.

RESULTS

The difference in mean Mental Illness: Clinicians' Attitudes-4 scores were statistically significant between time points one and three (z = 3.27, df=36, P = 0.0007) suggesting more positive attitudes towards people with mental health conditions after the intervention. The mean total score for the Reported and Intended Behaviour Scale increased from 18.7 (SD 1.87) at time point one to 19.2 (SD 1.60) at time point two (z= -3.368, df=59, P = 0.0004) suggesting an increase in positive intended behaviours towards those with mental health issues immediately following the intervention. These findings were also corroborated by responses to open-ended survey questions.

CONCLUSIONS

Further research with a larger sample of healthcare professionals evaluated over a longer period would provide further evidence for the sustainability of the intervention.

TWEETABLEABSTRACT

A video-based intervention can increase healthcare professionals' knowledge of perinatal #mentalhealth related stigma reduction strategies @Journal. Link to article.

Educational Interventions to Improve Handover in Health Care: An Updated Systematic Review

PURPOSE

Effective handovers (handoffs) are vital to patient safety. Medical educators investigated educational interventions to improve handovers in a 2011 systematic review. The number of publications on handover education has increased since then, so authors undertook this updated review.

METHOD

The authors considered studies involving educational interventions to improve handover amongst undergraduate or postgraduate health professionals in acute care settings. In September 2016, two authors independently conducted a standardized search of online databases and completed a data extraction and quality assessment of the articles included. They conducted a content analysis of and extracted key themes from the interventions described.

RESULTS

Eighteen reports met the inclusion criteria. All but two were based in the United States. Interventions most commonly involved single-patient exercises based on simulation and role-play. Many studies mentioned multiprofessional education or practice, but interventions occurred largely in single-professional contexts. Analysis of interventions revealed three major themes: facilitating information management, reducing the potential for errors, and improving confidence. The majority of studies assessed Kirkpatrick's outcomes of satisfaction and knowledge/skill improvement (Levels 1 and 2). The strength of conclusions was generally weak.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite increased interest in and publications on handover, the quality of published research remains poor. Inadequate reporting of interventions, especially as they relate to educational theory, pedagogy, curricula, and resource requirements, continues to impede replication. Weaknesses in methodologies, length of follow-up, and scope of outcomes evaluation (Kirkpatrick levels) persist. Future work to address these issues, and to consider the role of multiprofessional and multiple-patient handovers, is vital.

Developing an appreciation of patient safety: analysis of interprofessional student experiences with health mentors

INTRODUCTION

A critical task for health profession educators is to foster student appreciation of patient quality and safety issues. Although instructional methods vary, few focus on the direct communication of the patient experience to students. This qualitative study explores the experiences and learning of health profession students participating in a Safety Module in the Health Mentor Programme.

METHODS

Small interprofessional groups of students were paired with a health mentor, an individual experiencing chronic health challenges. Students followed a 90-minute, semi-structured interview format exploring issues regarding quality care and safety. Following the interviews, students participated in a facilitated asynchronous online discussion and completed a reflective practice paper. An inductive thematic analysis of both of these text-based datasets revealed emerging themes.

RESULTS

Themes identified in the data included: Patient partnerships as critical to optimal care; consideration of a variety of safety issues; importance of advocacy in promoting safety; improvement of future practice enabled through patient perspectives on clinical error; and embracing of interprofessional communication and collaboration.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggest that engagement with the health mentor narratives facilitated students' appreciation of quality and safety issues related to patient care.

Reviewing Tribunal cases and nurse behaviour: putting empathy back into nurse education with Bloom's taxonomy

Recent events in the UK and Australia have shown how poor patient outcomes are achieved when the behaviour of nurses lacks empathy. The UK's Francis Inquiry and the Keogh Report both call for an increase in the 'caring and compassion' of health care workers. A review of cases presented to the nurses' disciplinary tribunal in New South Wales' (Australia) also suggests that the majority of complaints against nurses in this jurisdiction is the result of callousness or lack of empathy. Such events reinforce the need for nurse educators to support nursing students to develop the affective attributes of caring and empathy. This paper considers how to raise the awareness of undergraduate students as a first step to developing empathy by using Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives; and includes a description of how to facilitate interactions with undergraduate nursing students about caring with empathy. Enculturating empathy is an evidence-based method of increasing compassionate care in health organisations generally.