Clinical practice, public health, and policy guidelines should be developed based on a systematic approach that uses the best available evidence. The advent of the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) framework has facilitated this, resulting in a transparent approach to guideline development. GRADE suggests that guideline developers seldom make strong recommendations based on low or very low confidence in effect estimates (strong l/vl). The World Health Organization (WHO) produces recommendations that guide public health policy and, in 2003, WHO adopted the GRADE approach to guideline development. Initial anecdotal evidence suggested that WHO issues a large number of strong recommendations and particularly strong l/vl. Our research team evaluated the nature of WHO recommendations and conducted a qualitative study using interviews of guideline panel members. Key findings included: i) WHO makes a large proportion of recommendations as strong l/vl ii) many strong l/vl are inconsistent with GRADE guidance iii) reasons guideline panel members offered for strong l/vl included skepticism about the value of making conditional recommendations; political considerations; a high confidence in benefits despite formal ratings of low confidence; and long-standing practices, funding, and policy; iv) methodologist interviewees indicated panelists’ lack of commitment to conditional recommendations; a perceived tension between methodologists and panelists due to resistance to adhering to GRADE guidance; both financial and non-financial conflicts of interest among panel members as explanations of strong l/vl; and the need for greater clarity of, and support for, the role of methodologists as co-chairs of panels. The understanding of when and why strong l/vl are formulated at WHO is an important methodological issue that has implications not just for WHO, but for a wide range of guideline developers elsewhere. Our findings offer insights that may guide interventions to enhance trustworthiness of practice guidelines. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Despite substantial healthcare costs, patient outcomes are sub-optimal in the United States and Canada compared to other countries that spend proportionally less on healthcare. This has led to recognition of the need to improve healthcare value, utilization of tools including clinical practice guidelines and development of initiatives such as the Choosing Wisely Campaign to achieve this goal. In spite of the intuitive appeal of these interventions designed to increase physician awareness of evidence and empower patients to engage in shared decision-making, they have had limited success in changing practice and physician prescribing behaviours. Using a mixed-methods approach, this thesis represents a purposeful attempt to understand the failure of existing approaches through an examination of the factors that influence clinical decision making. Specifically, the thesis integrates quantitative and qualitative methodologies to develop a deeper understanding of clinical decision-making. Consisting of a clinical vignette based survey, the quantitative study explores decision-making in four specific commonly encountered case contexts. After choosing the preferred management option, participants rated the influence of different factors on their decisions. Follow-up questions explored knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding incorporating cost considerations into decision-making. The results of the study were explored further in the qualitative component of the mixed study. The results indicate that clinical decision-making is influenced by an interrelated set of socioecological factors with evidence and clinical practice guidelines playing a secondary role. Because lack of knowledge is not a major factor in guideline discordant care, strategies to improve knowledge will have minimal effect in improving care. The qualitative study included an inquiry into the need for teaching and learning on the topic of cost and cost-effectiveness and sought input from physicians working in diverse settings on methods and topics that need to be included in medical education. The contributions of this thesis include a deeper understanding of the factors that influence clinical decision-making and suggestions for enhancing medical education. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Despite the highest health-care expenditure in the world, patient health outcomes are suboptimal in the United States (US). Additionally, out-of-pocket patient costs are increasingly a cause of financial distress to American patients. Although Canada spends comparatively less than the US on healthcare, it is one of the top ten countries for healthcare spending as a proportion of the gross domestic product. In spite of this level of spending, patient outcomes in the US and Canada are worse when compared to many other economically developed countries that spend relatively less on healthcare. A substantial portion of healthcare spending is for services that do not improve patient outcomes while services proven to improve patient outcomes are underused. Utilizing sequential quantitative and qualitative studies this thesis is a purposeful attempt to identify and examine the factors that influence clinical decision making by physicians. The knowledge gained in this study may help inform the development and evaluation of strategies targeted at increasing adoption of evidence-based practices leading to improved health-outcomes at affordable costs.

Les connaissances décisionnelles sont un type particulier de connaissances dont le but est de décrire des processus de prise de décision. En cancérologie, ces connaissances sont généralement regroupées dans des guides de bonnes pratiques cliniques. Leur publication est assurée par des organismes médicaux suite à un processus d'édition collaboratif complexe. L'informatisation des guides a conduit à la volonté de formaliser l'ensemble des connaissances contenues de manière à pouvoir alimenter des systèmes d'aide à la décision. Ainsi, leur édition peut être vue comme une problématique d'acquisition des connaissances. Dans ce contexte, le but de cette thèse est de proposer des méthodes et des outils permettant de factoriser l'édition des guides et leur formalisation. Le premier apport de cette thèse est l'intégration des technologies du Web social et sémantique dans le processus d'édition. La création du wiki sémantique OncoLogiK a permis de mettre en oeuvre cette proposition. Ainsi, un retour d'expérience et des méthodes sont présentés pour la migration depuis une solution Web statique. Le deuxième apport consiste à proposer une solution pour exploiter les connaissances décisionnelles présentes dans les guides. Ainsi, le framework KCATOS définit un langage d'arbres de décision simple pour lequel une traduction reposant sur les technologies du Web sémantique est développée. KCATOS propose en outre un éditeur d'arbres, permettant l'édition collaborative en ligne. Le troisième apport consiste à concilier dans un même système les approches pour la création des guides de bonnes pratiques informatisés : l'approche s'appuyant sur les connaissances symbolisée par KCATOS et l'approche documentaire d'OncoLogiK. Leur fonctionnement conjoint permet de proposer une solution bénéficiant des avantages des deux approches. De nombreuses perspectives sont exposées. La plupart d'entre elles visent à améliorer les services aux utilisateurs et l'expressivité de la base de connaissances. En prenant en compte le travail effectué et les perspectives, un modèle réaliste visant à faire du projet Kasimir un système d'aide à la décision complet est proposé / Decision knowledge is a particular type of knowledge that aims at describing the processes of decision making. In oncology, this knowledge is generally grouped into clinical practice guidelines. The publication of the guidelines is provided by medical organizations as a result of complex collaborative editing processes. The computerization of guides has led to the desire of formalizing the knowledge so as to supply decision-support systems. Thus, editing can be seen as a knowledge acquisition issue. In this context, this thesis aims at proposing methods and tools for factorizing editing guides and their formalization. The first contribute on of this thesis is the integration of social semantic web technologies in the editing process. The creation of the semantic wiki OncoLogiK allows to implement this proposal. Thus, a feedback and methods are presented for the migration from a static web solution. The second contribution consists in a solution to exploit the knowledge present in the decision-making guides. Thus, KcatoS framework defines a simple decision tree language for which a translation based on semantic web technologies is developed. KcatoS also proposes an editor of trees, allowing collaborative editing online. The third contribution is to combine in a single system approaches for the creation of clinical guidelines: the approach based on the knowledge symbolized by KcatoS and the documentary approach symbolized by OncoLogiK. Their joint operation can propose a solution benefiting from the advantages of both approaches. Many future works are proposed. Most of them aim at improving services to users and the expressiveness of the knowledge base. Taking into account the work and prospects, a realistic model to create a decision-support system based on clinical guidelines is proposed

Residents in nursing facilities are more prone to falls than those living in the community. Injuries resulting from falls impact residents, their families, and healthcare costs. The gap in nursing practice was the lack of a comprehensive fall-prevention program in a long-term care facility that had experienced high fall rates among residents. This project addressed whether an educational program using the American Medical Directors Association's clinical practice guideline and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's STEADI (Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths, & Injuries) toolkit for fall- prevention improved the self-efficacy of direct-care staff in preventing falls among residents in a long-term care facility. The practice-focused question focused on whether education on the use of an integrated multifactorial fall-prevention guideline would increase confidence of long-term care staff in reducing falls in long-term care residents. The evaluation used the 11-item Self-Efficacy for Preventing Falls-Nurse scale for 5 licensed nursing staff and the 8-item Self-Efficacy for Preventing Falls-Assistant scale for 21 nursing assistants. The positive change in self-efficacy scores of nurses and nursing assistants after the education program was greatest for face-to-face team communication regarding fall risk and individual resident prevention plans. The use of best-practice guidelines that improve fall risk-assessment and use of fall precautions to decrease the number of falls and falls with injury has the potential to bring about positive social change by improving the nursing care of nursing home residents, resulting in improved resident safety and quality of life.

<p>The overall aim of this thesis was to study the implementation of guidelines, change processes and contextual variables from the perspective of improvements and neonatal nursing care’s endeavours to be more evidenced-based. Because health care is exposed to extensive change pressure and because the impact of effectiveness research on clinical practice is limited, it becomes urgent to understand how knowledge utilisation initiatives can be facilitated.</p><p>Three studies involved managers and nurses at all neonatal units in Sweden. Two of these studies also included nurses from other healthcare organisations. The fourth study included all staff at four neonatal units. The study designs used were cross-sectional, comparative and prospective longitudinal surveys; questionnaires were used as data collection tools in all four studies.</p><p>Evaluation of the utilisation of the neonatal nursing guidelines showed that the guidelines were known to the nurse managers and used at most of the units, though to varying degrees and in different ways. Fifteen months after guideline dissemination, 8 of 35 units had changed practice, of which 2 units had completed the implementation process of a guideline. Involvement in the preceding guideline project facilitated the completion of improvement projects compared with participation in training courses for quality improvement (QI) only. There was no difference between these two groups on long-standing involvement in improvement work. Nurses who continued QI work over a 4-year period were more active in seeking research and implementing research findings in clinical practice than those who ceased the improvement work. The QI-sustainable nurses reported better contextual support for research-related activities. In a separate study staff perceptions of organisational factors appeared stable over the course of one year at the aggregated level. Improvements in skills development and participatory management predicted higher overall organisational and staff well-being. </p><p>The findings emphasize the importance of including both individual and organisational factors in the strategic planning for evidence-based nursing. Plans have to be long-term and consider that change is a slow process. Leadership commitment is essential and there are clear benefits in developing a learning and professional supportive environment as well as of involving staff in organisational decision making.</p>

The overall aim of this thesis was to study the implementation of guidelines, change processes and contextual variables from the perspective of improvements and neonatal nursing care’s endeavours to be more evidenced-based. Because health care is exposed to extensive change pressure and because the impact of effectiveness research on clinical practice is limited, it becomes urgent to understand how knowledge utilisation initiatives can be facilitated. Three studies involved managers and nurses at all neonatal units in Sweden. Two of these studies also included nurses from other healthcare organisations. The fourth study included all staff at four neonatal units. The study designs used were cross-sectional, comparative and prospective longitudinal surveys; questionnaires were used as data collection tools in all four studies. Evaluation of the utilisation of the neonatal nursing guidelines showed that the guidelines were known to the nurse managers and used at most of the units, though to varying degrees and in different ways. Fifteen months after guideline dissemination, 8 of 35 units had changed practice, of which 2 units had completed the implementation process of a guideline. Involvement in the preceding guideline project facilitated the completion of improvement projects compared with participation in training courses for quality improvement (QI) only. There was no difference between these two groups on long-standing involvement in improvement work. Nurses who continued QI work over a 4-year period were more active in seeking research and implementing research findings in clinical practice than those who ceased the improvement work. The QI-sustainable nurses reported better contextual support for research-related activities. In a separate study staff perceptions of organisational factors appeared stable over the course of one year at the aggregated level. Improvements in skills development and participatory management predicted higher overall organisational and staff well-being. The findings emphasize the importance of including both individual and organisational factors in the strategic planning for evidence-based nursing. Plans have to be long-term and consider that change is a slow process. Leadership commitment is essential and there are clear benefits in developing a learning and professional supportive environment as well as of involving staff in organisational decision making.

No description available.

Evidence-based practice, whose roots emanate from the mid-1960s, aims to provide fair, high-quality, and soundly researched health care with patients' best interests as a priority. Clinical practice guidelines are evidence-based and designed to assist clinicians with sound decision making. Despite the importance of evidence-based practice and the efforts invested into its development and dissemination, its uptake and implementation are poor. The disconnect between evidence-based practice and its translation into clinical practice was previously reported in low-to-middle income countries. This study investigated South African audiologists' and otorhinolaryngologists' (ear, nose and throat specialists') self-reported orientation to evidence-based practice. Second, adherence to evidence-based clinical practice guidelines was assessed with reference to the diagnosis and management of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, a common vestibular condition for which a firm evidence base supporting treatment exists. A two-part quantitative approach was adopted. Part one surveyed South African audiologists and otorhinolaryngologists with the Evidence-Based Practice Profile Questionnaire and an additional researcher-developed questionnaire pertaining to the diagnosis and management of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. A total of 130 survey responses were included in this study. Independent sample t-tests, one-way ANOVAs and Fisher's Exact tests were used to analyse the survey data. Part two used a retrospective record review at a tertiary academic hospital in the Western Cape of South Africa. Medical folders of patients diagnosed with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, between 2010 – 2018 (n = 80), were analysed. The diagnosis and management strategies were recorded and compared against a gold standard evidence based guideline for congruence. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse and understand the data. Survey scores showed a positive association between increased years of experience and healthcare professionals' knowledge (p = .008) and confidence (p = .003) in evidence-based practice. Otorhinolaryngologists might be more knowledgeable than audiologists in evidence-based practice due to their increased training and exposure to evidence-based practice in their specialising years. Findings from the retrospective record review suggested adherence to the clinical practice guidelines in the diagnosis and management of posterior semi circular canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. The study outcomes propose that evidence-based clinical practice guidelines developed in the Global North may not be appropriate for the different health contexts that exist in low-to-middle income South Africa (e.g., rural settings). However, the benign paroxysmal positional vertigo clinical practice guidelines were adhered to at a tertiary, academic hospital in Cape Town. The results also support the notion that increased exposure to evidence-based practice reinforces its approach. Outcomes from this study raise implications for the development and dissemination of context-appropriate, evidence-based clinical practice guidelines.

No description available.

Background: Physical activity (PA) is an important component of a healthy pregnancy and has consistently been associated with improved weight management and a reduced risk of pregnancy complications. While the percentage of pregnant women meeting PA guidelines internationally is alarmingly low, no such data exists for the Canadian population. PA in pregnancy may also be a useful intervention for preventing and managing cardiometabolic dysfunction, but research in pregnancy is limited. Objectives: 1) To describe the PA and exercise habits of women in early pregnancy and assess the percentage of women meeting SOGC/CSEP guidelines for exercise in pregnancy; 2) To determine the association of PA with maternal cardiometabolic health in early pregnancy. Study Design: Maternal blood samples, and PA, dietary, and adiposity measures were collected from a subset of women in early pregnancy (12 – 17 wk gestation) upon enrollment in the Be Healthy in Pregnancy RCT. Fasted blood samples were analyzed for glucose, triglycerides, insulin, leptin, adiponectin and C-reactive protein (CRP). Self-reported and objectively measured PA were assessed using the PARmed-X for Pregnancy and an accelerometer. PA was quantified by three parameters: daily step count, energy expenditure (kcal/day) and meeting the SOGC/CSEP recommendations. Results: For the 198 participants of age 31 ± 4 years; BMI 25.4 ± 4.7kg/m2; at 13 ± 2 wk gestation (mean ± SD), 19.2% reported not exercising in early pregnancy. Approximately half of participants met the minimum SOGC/CSEP recommendation (15 min, 3x/wk), but only 14.2% met the preferred SOGC/CSEP recommendation (30 min, 4x/wk). Meeting the preferred recommendation was associated with lower CRP. Daily step count and energy expenditure (kcal/day) were not significantly associated with glucose, triglycerides, insulin, leptin, adiponectin or CRP. Percent body fat and a higher diet quality were associated with some of the cardiometabolic biomarkers. Conclusion: In a healthy pregnant cohort, while the majority had PA below recommendations, measured PA was not associated with most cardiometabolic biomarkers thus cardiometabolic risk in early pregnancy was low. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)