Health-care professional behaviour

8 important questions on Health-care professional behaviour

(Enhancing) evidence-based  health care

The conscientious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients or the delivery of health services. Current best evidence is up-to-date information from relevant, valid research about the effects of different forms of health care, the potential for harm from exposure to particular agents, the accuracy of diagnostic tests, and the predictive power of prognostic factors

Trends in research: randomised controlled trials (RCT)

Experiments used to evaluate the effects of health-care interventions (such as a drug, urgical procedure or therapy). They involve the random allocation of participants to at least one treatment group and a comparable control group. Where possible, participants are 'blinded' and researchers who measure the outcome variable are also unaware of the participants' treatment allocation (placebo of test drug?)

Trends in research: systematic reviews

- focus on integrating evidence
- systematic review: present a balanced summary of the existing research, enabling decisions on effectiveness to be based on all relevant studies of adequate quality
- Or: A complete, unbiased collection of all the original studies of acceptable quality that examine the same therapeutic question
  • Higher grades + faster learning
  • Never study anything twice
  • 100% sure, 100% understanding
Discover Study Smart

Trends in research: meta-analysis

- focus on integrating evidence
- a statistical analysis (!) which combines the results of 2 or more independent studies (trials or observational studies) considered by the analyst to be 'combinable'
- weighs the size of different studies included
- more power to detect small, but significant effects
- more precise estimate of size of effect
- fundamentally limited by the quality of the underlying studies (the so-called GIGO principle of 'garbage in, garbage out')

Systematic reviews of interventions

- Foucs on integrating evidence from trials to change HCPs behavoiur
- however, often trials do not exactly describe the content of the intervention
- for example, what can an intervention of 'clinical eduction' mean?- a review of behaviour change interventions resulted in modest improvements in care. BUT, considerable variation in effects

Development of a theoretical framwork of HCP behaviour change

- apparant failure of implementation researchers to acknowledge the importance of BEHAVIOUR!
- often other labels for 'behaviour':
* knowledge transfer
* implementation research
* quality of care research
* guideline adherence...

ROGY Care trial

- a cluster randomised controlled clinical trial
- (RCT) will be conducted, in which 12 hospitals will be randomised to either 'usual care' or 'SCP care'.

Changing HCP behaviour?

The HCPs involved in the SCP arm attended an instruction-evening to enhance the complete use of the SCP, by providing them with practical guidelines on how to discuss the SCP inforamtion with patients.

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

  • A unique study and practice tool
  • Never study anything twice again
  • Get the grades you hope for
  • 100% sure, 100% understanding
Remember faster, study better. Scientifically proven.
Trustpilot Logo