Given the negative impact of adverse events on the wellbeing of healthcare providers, easy access to psychological support is crucial. We aimed to describe the types of support resources available in healthcare organizations, their benefits for second victims, peer supporters’ experiences, and implementation challenges. We also explored how these resources incorporate aspects of Safety I and Safety II. We searched six databases up to 19 December 2019 and additional literature, including weekly search alerts until 21 January 2021. Two reviewers independently performed all methodological steps (search, selection, quality assessment, data extraction, formal narrative synthesis). The 16 included studies described 12 second victim support resources, implemented between 2006 and 2017. Preliminary data indicated beneficial effects not only for the affected staff but also for the peer responders who considered their role to be challenging but gratifying. Challenges during program implementation included persistent blame culture, limited awareness of program availability, and lack of financial resources. Common goals of the support programs (e.g., fostering coping strategies, promoting individual resilience) are consistent with Safety II and may promote system resilience. Investing in second victim support structures should be a top priority for healthcare institutions adopting a systemic approach to safety and striving for just culture.

A culture of safety is important for the delivery of safe, high-quality care, as well as for healthcare providers’ wellbeing. This systematic review aimed to describe and synthesize the literature on patient safety attitudes of the next generation of healthcare workers (health professional students, new graduates, newly registered health professionals, resident trainees) and assess potential differences in this population related to years of study, specialties, and gender. We screened four electronic databases up to 20 February 2020 and additional sources, including weekly e-mailed search alerts up to 18 October 2020. Two independent reviewers conducted the search, study selection, quality rating, data extraction, and formal narrative synthesis, involving a third reviewer in case of dissent. We retrieved 6606 records, assessed 188 full-texts, and included 31 studies. Across articles, healthcare students and young professionals showed overwhelmingly positive patient safety attitudes in some areas (e.g., teamwork climate, error inevitability) but more negative perceptions in other domains (e.g., safety climate, disclosure responsibility). Women tend to report more positive attitudes. To improve safety culture in medical settings, health professions educators and institutions should ensure education and training on patient safety.

Objectives The COVID-19 pandemic is putting a huge strain on the provision and continuity of care. The length of sickness absence of the healthcare workers as a result of SARS-CoV-2 infection plays a pivotal role in hospital staff management. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the timing of COVID-19 recovery and viral clearance, and its predictive factors, in a large sample of healthcare workers. Study design Retrospective cohort study. Methods The analysis was conducted on data collected during the hospital health surveillance programme for healthcare staff at the University Hospital of Verona; healthcare workers were tested for SARS-CoV-2 through RT-PCR with oro-nasopharyngeal swab samples. The health surveillance programme targeted healthcare workers who either had close contact with SARS-CoV-2 infected patients or were tested as part of the screening-based strategy implemented according to national and regional requirements. Recovery time was estimated from the first positive swab to two consecutive negative swabs, collected 24 hours apart, using survival analysis for both right-censored and interval-censored data. Cox proportional hazard was used for multivariate analysis. Results During the health surveillance programme, 6455 healthcare workers were tested for SARS-CoV-2 and 248 (3.8%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.4–4.3) reported positive results; among those who tested positive, 49% were asymptomatic, with a median age of 39.8 years, which is significantly younger than symptomatic healthcare workers (48.2 years, p < 0.001). Screening tests as part of the health surveillance programme identified 31 (12.5%) of the positive cases. Median recovery time was 24 days (95% CI 23–26) and 21.5 days (95% CI 15.5–30.5) in right- and interval-censoring analysis, respectively, with no association with age, sex or presence of symptoms. Overall, 63% of participants required >20 days to test negative on two consecutive swabs. Hospitalised healthcare workers (4.8%) were older and had a significantly longer recovery time compared with non-hospitalised healthcare workers in both analyses (33.5 vs 24 days, p = 0.005). Conclusions Recovery from COVID-19 and viral clearance may take a long time, especially in individuals who are hospitalised. To detect asymptomatic cases, screening programmes for healthcare workers is recommended.

BackgroundThe burden of diabetes-related deaths reached two million in 2019 globally. Accessibility to health care services and adherence to follow-up and therapy are key to improving outcomes for diabetic patients. We aimed to assess outpatient department (OPD) service utilization and diabetes-related hospitalizations over a period of 44 months.Methods A retrospective cohort study was conducted on OPD visits and hospitalizations recorded between January 1, 2018, and August 31, 2021, at the St Luke Catholic Hospital (Ethiopia). All diabetic patients were included in the analysis. A linear regression model was used for univariate analysis of OPD visits and hospitalizations and their association with potential predictors. The autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) method was applied to both the time series of OPD visits and hospitalizations. Potential predictors were sociodemographic factors, COVID-19 cases, mean monthly temperature and precipitations. ResultsIn the time series analysis, OPD visits increased over time (P < 0.01) while hospitalizations were stable. The time series model was ARIMA (0,1,1) for OPD visits and ARIMA (0,0,0) for hospitalizations. There were 1685 diabetes OPD patients (F = 732, 43%). Females had an average of 16% fewer OPD accesses per month (P < 0.01) and a lower number of hospitalizations per month (P = 0.03). There were 801 patients missing follow-up (48%). The time between follow-up increased with age (P < 0.01). OPD visits decreased differently by geographic area as COVID-19 cases increased (P < 0.01). There were 57 fewer forecast OPD visits per month on average using COVID-19 cases as ARIMA regressor. The odds ratio (OR) of new diagnosis at hospitalization was lower in patients with type 2 diabetes (OR = 0.26, 95% CI = 0.14-0.49, P = 0.02).Conclusions Despite an increase in OPD visits for diabetic patients over the study period, the number of losses at follow-up and diagnoses at hospitalization remains high. Female sex, older age, and COVID-19 were associated with impaired OPD service accessibility. Primary health care should be implemented to achieve better health coverage and improve diabetes management. Electronic supplementary material:The online version of this article contains supplementary material.

Background: Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), are chronic diseases that have been increasingly treated with biological drugs in recent years. Newly developed coding algorithms for IBD identification using claims databases are needed to improve post-marketing surveillance of biological drugs. Objective: To test algorithms to identify CD and UC, as indication for use of biological drugs approved for IBD treatment, using a claims database. Methods: Data were extracted from the Caserta Local Health Unit database between 2015 and 2018. CD/UC diagnoses reported by specialists in electronic therapeutic plans (ETPs) were considered as gold standard. Five algorithms were developed based on ICD-9-CM codes as primary cause of hospital admissions, exemption from healthcare service co-payment codes and drugs dispensing with only indication for CD/UC. The accuracy was assessed by sensitivity (Se), specificity (Sp), positive (PPV) and negative predicted values (NPV) along with computation of the Youden Index and F-score. Results: In the study period, 1205 subjects received at least one biological drug dispensing approved for IBD and 134 (11.1%) received ≥1 ETP with IBD as use indication. Patients with CD and CU were 83 (61.9%) and 51 (38.1%), respectively. Sensitivity of the different algorithms ranged from 71.1% (95% CI: 60.1-80.5) to 98.8 (95% CI: 93.5-100.0) for CD and from 64.7% (95% CI: 50.1-77.6) to 94.1 (95% CI: 83.8-98.8) for UC, while specificity was always higher than 91%. The best CD algorithm was "Algorithm 3", based on hospital CD diagnosis code OR CD exemption code OR [IBD exemption code AND dispensing of nonbiological drugs with only CD indication] (Se: 98.8%; Sp: 97.2%; PPV: 84.5%, NPV: 99.8%), achieving the highest diagnostic accuracy (Youden Index=0.960). The best UC algorithm was "Algorithm 3", based on specific hospital UC diagnosis code OR UC exemption code OR [IBD exemption code AND golimumab dispensing] OR dispensing of non-biological drugs with only UC indication (Se: 94.1%; Sp: 91.6%; PPV: 50.0%; NPV: 99.4%), and achieving the highest diagnostic accuracy (Youden Index=0.857). Conclusion:In a population-based claims database, newly coding algorithms including diagnostic and exemption codes plus specific drug dispensing yielded highly accurate identification of CD and UC as distinct indication for biological drug use.