Journal of evaluation in clinical practice
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This study aims to examine the factors influencing COVID-19 vaccine uptake among healthcare professionals (HCPs) and the general population in Cyprus. ⋯ Public health policymakers can use national campaigns and long-term planning to build public trust in national healthcare authorities and raise awareness about the benefits of vaccination. Such strategies could pave the way for adequate vaccine uptake and prepare the public for unfavourable scenarios, such as future pandemics.
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Medically trained health professionals have been central to the development of policy responses to the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) crisis. In their multiple roles-as clinicians, public health leaders, members of scientific advisory boards, and also as media pundits and health professionals-they have helped shape discourses of science-based policy options during the first 2 years of the pandemic. In particular, health professionals as a collective voice insisted on the necessity of society-wide measures of social control to curb the morbidity and mortality of the virus. ⋯ To illustrate these tensions, we discuss the public fallout between vocal members of the OSAT, an ad hoc biomedical-led organization, and the Government of Ontario in light of the disagreement on the scope of 'stay home' orders to manage the third wave of the pandemic in the Spring of 2021 and, more recently, the mass protest against mass-scale public health measures in Ottawa, Canada. We argue that while decision making under emergency conditions is a difficult task, the legitimacy of the social contract between medicine and society depends on medical experts' judicious exercise of public health ethics principles. We offer a set of recommendations for building a more collaborative response to future health crises.
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Education of patients is thought to be key to high-quality oral anticoagulant (OAC) medication management. Theoretically, improving patients' knowledge should improve their self-management skills and adherence. The study's objective was to explore the opinions of healthcare providers and patients on the desired content and format of patient education on OACs, in addition to perceived barriers to high-quality patient education. ⋯ Our findings suggest that patients, caregivers and healthcare providers support the need for education on OACs, including for patients taking DOACs. Specific important content and proper education format are needed. The optimal combination of content, format, duration, timing and sources for OAC education requires further research.
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Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) have been evaluated for reporting transparency and methodological quality in a number of studies in various disciplines, but few studies have focused on critical care and none on pharmacotherapy-related guidelines specifically. The objective of this study was to evaluate the quality of critical care CPGs with a focus on pharmacotherapy using the Appraisal of Guidelines, Research and Evaluation (AGREE) II instrument. ⋯ The majority of critical care guidelines that include pharmacotherapy recommendations were recommended for use by study authors when the AGREE II instrument was applied. While guidelines generally scored highly in clarity of presentation, additional time and effort should focus on providing solutions to guideline implementation and inclusion of patient preferences.
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Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) have been shown to improve healthcare services and clinical outcomes. However, they are useful resources only to the degree that they are developed according to the most rigorous standards. Multiple studies have demonstrated significant variability between CPGs with regard to specific indicators of quality. The Ordre des psychologues du Québec (OPQ), the College of psychologists of Quebec, has published several CPGs that are intended to provide empirically supported guidance for psychologists in the areas of assessment, diagnosis, general functioning, treatment and other decision-making support. The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of these CPGs. ⋯ The findings of this study demonstrate the need for more methodological rigour in CPGs development as such, recommendations to improve CPG quality are discussed.