[Current Status of and Barriers to the Implementation of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery in 77 Tertiary Hospitals]

Objective

To investigate the status of and obstacles to the implementation of enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) in tertiary-care general hospitals in China.

Methods

Questionnaire on the Current Status of and Barriers to the Implementation of ERAS in Tertiary-Care Hospitals, a self-developed questionnaire, was used to conduct a survey of 77 tertiary hospitals from 21 provinces across China between May 2022 and June 2022. The participating hospitals were selected by convenience sampling. The questionnaire on the current implementation status of ERAS was mainly focused on the departments involved and the ERAS programs implemented, incorporating a total of 25 items of three dimensions, preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative. The answer to each question consisted of 5 options from "never" to "always", which corresponded to 1 to 5 points on the scoring scale, with the higher scores indicating better implementation of the program concerned. In the questionnaire on barriers to ERAS implementation and recommendations, 10 items of two dimensions, including hospital management, and patient and caregiver, were concerned with the barriers to implementation. The answer to each question consisted of 5 options from "disagree" to "strongly agree", which corresponded to 1 to 5 points on the scoring scale, with the higher scores indicating the greater importance of the barriers.

Results

ERAS programs were implemented in 73 (94.8%) hospitals. The best-implemented items were preoperative education (4.73±0.51), prevention and treatment of deep vein thrombosis (4.55±0.71), and postoperative follow-up (4.40±0.81). The items of poor implementation status were preoperative prehabilitation (2.71±1.40), preoperative oral carbohydrate drinks (3.03±1.49), and early ambulation after surgeries (3.04±1.22). The main obstacles to ERAS implementation included a lack of effective incentive systems, poor motivation among the medical and nursing staffs (3.21±0.93), a lack of disease-specific clinical implementation pathways (3.16±1.06), and a lack of experience in multidisciplinary teamwork (2.98±1.17).

Conclusion

There is a high rate of ERAS implementation in tertiary general hospitals in China, but clinical implementation and dissemination are still confronted with many obstacles.

[Investigation and Analysis of the Implementation Status of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery in the Context of Precision Nursing in Xinjiang]

Objective

To investigate the current status of surgical nurses' implementation of enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) concepts in the context of precision nursing in Xinjiang and to provide a basis for the development of precision nursing of ERAS.

Methods

By way of convenience sampling, surgical nurses from 8 tertiary-care hospitals were involved in a survey on their ERAS implementation status in March and April 2023 and the results were collected by online questionnaire.

Results

A total of 985 valid questionnaires were collected. Out of the 8 hospitals covered in the survey, the orthopedics departments of 7 hospitals have implemented ERAS concepts, accounting for 87.50%. The average score for the ERAS Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Questionnaire among the surgical nurses was (182.98±17.69), of which, the average score for ERAS knowledge was (13.08±1.51), the average score for ERAS attitude was (88.75±8.30), and the average score for ERAS practice was (81.15±11.96). A total of 61.02% of the surgical nurses implemented ERAS pathways that concentrated on 4-6 pathways, with the prevention of postoperative ileus after surgery being the most commonly implemented pathway, accounting for 498 (50.56%) surgical nurses. A total of 78.48% of the nurses considered work overload to be the most important obstacle to implementing ERAS in the context of precision nursing. Poor multidisciplinary team collaboration and poor awareness of implementation among the nurses ranked the second and the third, accounting for 74.92% and 71.57%, respectively, of the surgical nurses.

Conclusion

ERAS has won the approval of surgical nurses in Xinjiang, but it is still not widely implemented in all surgical fields. In addition, the quantity and quality of ERAS pathways implemented still need to be further improved. The development of ERAS in the context of precision nursing remains a long-term challenge.

Support for balancing cancer treatment and work by occupational health nurses: support structures and implementation status

This study aimed to quantitatively grasp the structure of support for balancing cancer treatment and work among occupational health nurses (OHNs) with the current implementation status. The anonymous questionnaire was designed based on the findings of our previous qualitative study and distributed to OHNs. The degrees of support implementation for workers with cancer, superiors and colleagues, and human resource managers were assessed for each item. Factor analysis of support items was conducted, and Wilcoxon signed-rank test was carried out to compare the support scores between the factors. Support for workers with cancer comprised six factors in which the factor, concerning the provision of information regarding resources inside and outside the company, showed the lowest score. Support for superiors and colleagues was divided into three factors, and that for human resource managers comprised two factors. By Mann-Whitney's U-test, it was found that OHNs, who worked without full-time occupational health physicians for smaller companies, showed significantly higher implementation for several support factors, such as support to human resource managers. This study revealed the structure as well as implementation status of OHNs' support for balancing cancer treatment and work, which will provide suggestions for developing training programs for OHNs to promote these activities.

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for Palliative Care in German Comprehensive Cancer Centers - an evaluation of the implementation status

BACKGROUND

The working group for palliative medicine within the Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC) network funded by the German Cancer Aid in Germany has developed and published 14 Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for palliative care in CCCs. This study analyzed to what extent these SOPs have been implemented in the clinical routine in the CCC network one year after their publication.

METHODS

An online-based survey on the implementation status, limitations in daily practice and further themes was conducted between April and July 2018. In total, 125 health professionals in specialized palliative care from all 16 CCC locations were invited to participate. The data were analyzed descriptively using SPSS.

RESULTS

The response rate was 52.8%. More than half of the respondents (57.6%) knew about the free availability of SOPs on the CCC network website. The extent to which each SOP was being used actively in practice by the survey respondents ranged from a low of 22.7% (for the "Fatigue" SOP) to a highest of 48.5% (for the "Palliative Sedation" and "Respiratory Distress" SOPs). The respondents became aware of the SOP through recommendations from colleagues, team meetings or from the head of the department. The SOPs "Respiratory distress of an adult palliative patient" and "Palliative sedation" were perceived as the most practically oriented and understandable. Barriers to use SOPs were mainly limited time resources and lack of knowledge of existence and availability.

CONCLUSIONS

In practice, better knowledge about the SOPs and at the same time increased use can be achieved through systematic training or discussion of SOPs in regular team meetings. There is a need to take measures to optimize the implementation in clinical practice.

Tobacco control achievements and priority areas in the WHO Europe Region: A review

INTRODUCTION

Tobacco control efforts have been advancing globally, including the adoption and entry into force of the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention of Tobacco Control (FCTC), as well as the adoption of the European Union EU Tobacco Products Directive. With the present review, the European Network for Smoking and Tobacco Prevention (ENSP) and European Respiratory Society (ERS) aim to provide a comprehensive overview on the status of WHO FCTC implementation, policy achievements and priority areas across countries in the WHO Europe Region.

METHODS

The review was conducted through a triangulation of data extracted from a survey administered to ENSP members, the WHO FCTC Implementation Database, Tobacco Control Laws and the Tobacco Control Scale 2016.

RESULTS

Using the WHO MPOWER measures as a framework, we report on the implementation status of nine FCTC articles across 47 countries in the WHO Europe Region. The average number of articles fully implemented was 3.58. FCTC articles least fully implemented were: Article 5.3 on Tobacco Industry Interference (25.5%, n=12), Article 20 on Research (34.0%, n=16), and Article 15 on Illicit trade (40.4%, n=19). The most commonly fully implemented articles were: Article 8 on Smoke-free legislation (63.8%, n=30), Article 16 on Underage sales (57.4%, n=27), and Article 6 on Price and tax measures (51.2%, n=24). Policy achievements and recommended priority areas for future national tobacco control activities varied greatly among countries.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings highlight the multitude of successes in tobacco control efforts across the region in recent years, but point out the need to address gaps in FCTC implementation.