高校科技期刊的业务流程再造实践——以《中国有色金属学报》为例

【目的】 在媒体融合的背景下,探索高校科技期刊获得良性、可持续发展的业务流程再造方案。【方法】 通过问卷调查法和深度访谈法,对《中国有色金属学报》学术用户的实际需求进行诊断分析,并依据《中国有色金属学报》一年内的业务流程再造实践,总结和设计普适性较强的高校科技期刊业务流程再造方案。【结果】 《中国有色金属学报》在学术用户群体服务与管理、学术资源挖掘和利用、缩短出版周期和媒体融合等方面进行业务流程再造并取得了显著成效。【结论】 高校科技期刊要想谋求新的发展和突破,必须基于用户日益增长的学术需求进行业务拓展,同时基于技术和机制,与时俱进地进行业务流程再造。     

Involvement of Patients and Medical Professionals in the Assessment of Relative Effectiveness: A Need for Closer Cooperation

ObjectivesInvolvement of patients and medical professionals in assessment of relative effectiveness (relative effectiveness assessment) contributes to an efficient and effective health technology assessment (HTA) process and supports acceptance and implementation of the outcome. This study aimed to analyze stakeholder involvement in assessing relative effectiveness and how the parties involved value this collaboration.MethodsThis is a document analysis of all drug assessments completed in 2019 (20) by the public HTA agency of The Netherlands, enriched with semistructured interviews with employees of the HTA agency (18) and representatives of patient (5) and medical (11) associations involved in these assessments. Data were analyzed, coded, and categorized.ResultsIn almost half of the assessments, there was no coordination with the medical associations at the start of the relative effectiveness assessment and no patient associations involved in this phase. During the assessment procedure, patient and medical associations were always asked to comment on the draft report. Nevertheless, the strict 5-day deadline that the HTA agency uses as a response period often hampered a proper response and involvement. According to interviewees of the HTA agency, this leads to a great diversity in the substantive quality of their input. Patient and medical associations indicated that the HTA agency relies too much on “paper knowledge,” which leads to a (perceived) lack of alignment with clinical practice.ConclusionsThe limited involvement results in a lack of coordination and mutual trust. Optimizing involvement of patients and medical professionals in HTA practice requires effort from all parties involved. Procedural adjustments and better coordination, especially at the start of the assessment, would probably improve cooperation.     

Using time series analysis to forecast the health-related quality of life of post-menopausal women with non-metastatic ER+ breast cancer: A tutorial and case study

BackgroundTime series models are widely used forecasting techniques in health care for long time series and are typically built in commercial statistical packages. However, for short time series data, such as health-related quality of life (HRQoL), guidance on how to select and use appropriate time series models is lacking. This tutorial provides a step-by-step guide adopting a time series analysis framework for HRQoL forecasting.ObjectiveWe walk through a case study examining the forecasting of the effects of adjuvant endocrine therapy on the HRQoL of post-menopausal women with non-metastatic ER + breast cancer using data from the HRQoL sub-protocol of the Tamoxifen arm of the Arimidex, tamoxifen, alone or in combination (ATAC) trial.MethodsThe forecasting of HRQoL consists of four steps: 1) data extraction and accuracy check, 2) forecasting horizon definition and identification of data pattern, 3) forecasting model identification and fitting using five forecasting approaches appropriate for short time series ((i) double exponential smoothing, (ii) double moving average, (iii) fuzzy forecasting, (iv) grey forecasting, and (v) Volterra series), 4) forecasting model selection. A user-friendly visual basic for applications (VBA) Excel add-in is made available to interested users to facilitate the application of the tutorial.ResultsThe Grey method and Volterra series appeared to be good candidates to forecast the effects of adjuvant endocrine therapy on the HRQoL of post-menopausal women with non-metastatic ER + breast cancer enrolled in the ATAC trial.ConclusionIt is feasible to forecast the effects of treatments on HRQOL even when the time series is short.     

“The median isn't the message”: How to communicate the uncertainties of survival prognoses to cancer patients in a realistic and hopeful way

This study investigated how doctors communicate the uncertainties of survival prognoses to patients recently diagnosed with life‐threatening cancer, and suggests ways to improve this communication. Two hundred thirty‐eight Norwegian oncologists and general practitioners (GPs) participated in Study 1. The study included both a scenario and a survey. The scenario asked participants to respond to a hypothetical patient who wanted to know how long (s)he could be expected to live. There were marked differences in responses within both groups, but few differences between the GPs and oncologists. There was a strong reluctance among doctors to provide patients with a prognosis. Even when they were presented with a statistically well‐founded right‐skewed survival curve, only a small minority provided hope by communicating the variation in survival time. In Study 2, 177 healthy students rated their preferences for different ways of receiving information regarding the uncertainty of a survival prognosis. Participants who received an explicitly described right‐skewed survival curve believed that they would feel more hopeful. These participants also obtained a more realistic understanding of the variation in survival than those who did not receive this information. Based on the findings of the two studies and on extant psychological research, the author suggests much‐needed guidelines for communicating survival prognoses in a realistic and optimistic way to patients recently diagnosed with life‐threatening cancer. In particular, the guidelines emphasise that the doctor explains the often strongly right‐skewed variation in survival time, and thereby providing the patient with realistic hope.     

Three opportunities for standardization: A literature review of the variation among pharmacists’ patient care services terminology

BackgroundVariation describing pharmacists’ patient care services exist, and this variation contributes to the prevalent misunderstanding of pharmacists' roles. In contrast, standard phraseology is a critical practice among highly reliable organizations and a way to reduce variation and confusion.ObjectiveThis work aims to identify and define pharmacists’ patient care service terms to identify redundancies and opportunities for standardization.MethodsBetween May to August 2018, terms and definitions were searched via PubMed, Google Scholar and statements/policies of professional pharmacy organizations. Two references per term were sought to provide an “early definition” and a “contemporary definition.” Only literature published in English was included, and data gathered from each citation included the date published, the term's definition, and characterization of the reference's source as either a regulatory or professional body. A five-person expert panel used an iterative technique to revise and verify the list of included terms and subsequent literature review results. Terms were then searched in the National Library of Medicine's Medical Subject Heading Database (MeSH) in July, 2019.ResultsThere are fifteen commonly misunderstood terms that refer to the patient care services provided by pharmacists. The appearance of these terms in the literature spanned nearly five decades. Nearly half of terms appeared first in regulatory, law or policy documents; of these, two terms had contemporary definitions appearing in the professional literature that differed from their early regulatory definition. Three opportunities to improve standardization include: (1) Implementation of standardized phraseology systems similar to nursing's Clinical Care Classification System; (2) Academics' adherence to standardized MeSH terms; and (3) Clarification of pharmacy education accreditation standards.ConclusionNumerous terms are used to describe pharmacists' patient care services, with many definitions of terms overlapping in several key components. The profession has made concerted efforts to consolidate and standardize terminology in the past, but more opportunities exist.