The results indicate that a broad variety of factors may influence CHPs' (non-)adherence to the CAP guidelines. Efforts to improve implementation of the guidelines should focus on improving familiarity with their contents, enhancing self-efficacy, promoting intra-agency cooperation, supporting professionals in dealing with uncooperative parents and improving inter-agency cooperation. Recommendations for future research are provided.
The COVID-19 pandemic puts health and care systems under pressure globally. This current paper highlights challenges arising in the care for older and vulnerable populations in this context and reflects upon possible perspectives for different systems making use of nested integrated care approaches adapted during the work of the EU-funded project VIGOUR (“Evidence based Guidance to Scale-up Integrated Care in Europe”, funded by the European Union’s Health Programme 2014–2020 under Grant Agreement Number 826640).
This case-control study investigated the association between timing and duration of breech presentation in pregnancy and developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH). Children with DDH aged 3 years or younger ( n = 191) were compared with healthy controls ( n = 209). Data on outcome, exposure and, covariates were collected using a parents’ self-report online questionnaire. Term children with breech presentation at one or more check-ups after 30.0 weeks gestation had a twofold higher risk of developing DDH compared to children who had never presented in breech (OR 2.01; 95% CI [1.28, 3.15]). The strength of the association increased with duration of breech presentation (5–8 weeks: OR 2.65; 95% CI [1.36, 5.18]; 9–12 weeks: OR 3.63; 95% CI [1.82, 7.24]). Children who had presented in breech at least once in gestational period 37.0-birth had a 3.24 (95% CI [1.86, 5.65]) times higher risk of DDH, whereas the risk for children with breech presentation in gestational period 30.0–36.6 only was not increased. Also after adjusting for confounders, children who had presented in breech after gestational week 37.0-birth had a more than threefold higher risk of DDH (OR 3.33; 95% CI [1.81, 6.13]) compared to children who were never in breech or in gestational period 30.0–36.6 only.
Background
Healthcare professionals’ adherence to guidelines on child protection is not self-evident. This study assessed the effects of a computerised support tool on child healthcare professionals’ adherence to the seven recommended guideline activities, and on time spent seeking information presented in this guideline.
Methods
A community-based intervention trial design was applied, comparing access to a paper-based guideline (control) with access to a paper-based guideline supplemented with a computerised guideline support tool (intervention). A total of 168 child healthcare doctors and nurses working in one large Dutch organisation were allocated to an intervention or control group. Outcomes were professionals’ performance of seven recommended guideline activities and the amount of time spent seeking information presented in the guideline. Professionals’ adherence was measured using two methods: health record analysis and a self-report questionnaire. The questionnaire was also used to collect data on the amount of time spent seeking guideline information.
Results
In total, 152 health records (102 in the intervention group and 50 in the control group) were available for analysis. The tool was registered in 14% of the records in the intervention group. Performance of activities, corrected for intentional non-adherence, was except for one activity, high (range 80–100%); no differences were found between the control and intervention groups. Forty-nine questionnaires (24 in the intervention group and 25 in the control group) were analysed. Sixty-three percent of the questionnaire respondents (15/24) claimed to have used the tool. No differences in guideline adherence were found between the two groups. Respondents in the intervention and control groups spent, on average, 115 and 153 min respectively seeking relevant information presented in the guideline.
Conclusions
The results regarding use of the tool were inconclusive as the outcomes differed per method. In contrast to expectations, performance of guideline activities was high in both groups. The support tool may decrease the amount of time spent on seeking guideline information. However, given the high adherence scores and small number of questionnaire respondents, the outcomes failed to reach statistical significance. Future research should focus on studying the effects of the tool after a longer period of availability.
Electronic supplementary material
The online version of this article (10.1186/s12911-019-0884-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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