What does it mean to involve consumers successfully in NHS research? A consensus study

OBJECTIVE: To obtain consensus on the principles and indicators of successful consumer involvement in NHS research. DESIGN: Consensus methods were used. An expert workshop, employing the nominal group technique was used to generate potential principles and indicators. A two-round postal Delphi process was used to obtain consensus on the principles and indicators. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Participants were drawn from health, social care, universities and consumer organizations. A purposive sampling strategy was used to identify people who had experience and/or knowledge of consumer involvement in NHS research. Six researchers and seven consumers participated in an expert workshop. Ninety-six people completed both rounds of the Delphi process. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Consensus on principles and indicators of successful consumer involvement in NHS research. RESULTS: Eight principles were developed through an expert workshop and Delphi process, and rated as both clear and valid. Consensus was reached on at least one clear and valid indicator by which to measure each principle. CONCLUSIONS: Consensus has been obtained on eight principles of successful consumer involvement in NHS research. They may help commissioners, researchers and consumers to deepen their understanding of this issue, and can be used to guide good practice.     

Social work, general practice and evidence-based policy in the collaborative care of older people: current problems and future possibilities

While collaborative (or joint) working between social services and primary healthcare continues to rise up the policy agenda, current policy is not based on sound evidence of benefit to either patients or the wider community. Both sets of practitioners report benefits for their own work from adopting new arrangements for collaboration. The underlying assumption behind much of this activity is that a greater degree of integration provides benefits to both users and their carers, a perspective that at times obscures the issue of resource availability, especially in the form of practical community services such as district nursing and home help. At the present time there is insufficient evidence to demonstrate that formal arrangements for collaborative working (CW) are better than those forged informally between committed individuals or teams. Furthermore, arrangements for CW have not hitherto been widely evaluated in systematic studies with a comparative design and focus on outcomes for users and carers rather than on processes. In this paper we propose a number of process measures for future evaluation of CW: (1) study populations must be comparable; (2) details of how services are actually delivered must be obtained and colocation should not be assumed to mean collaboration; (3) care packages in areas of comparable resources should be examined; (4) both destinational outcomes and user‐defined evaluations of benefit should be considered; (5) possible disadvantages of integrated care also need to be actively considered; (6) evaluations should include an economic analysis. Those implementing new policies in Primary Care Trusts have, at present, little sound evidence to guide them in their innovative work. However, they should take the opportunity to rigorously test the advantages and disadvantages of collaboration.     

Effect of chronic alcohol consumption on plasma lipid, vitamins A, and E in Korean alcoholics

This human study was conducted to evaluate the effect of chronic alcohol consumption on plasma concentrations of lipid and the antioxidative system in 44 Korean alcoholics and 45 age-, sex-, and nationality-matched nonalcoholic subjects. Plasma triacylglycerols and atherogenic index were higher in alcoholics than in control subjects. Plasma total cholesterol was not different among groups, but plasma high-density lipoprotein cholesterol was lower in alcoholics. There were positive correlations between ethanol consumption and plasma lipid peroxide and atherogenic index in all subjects; there were negative correlations between ethanol consumption and plasma high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in all subjects. There were no significant differences between alcoholics and control subjects in plasma concentrations of α-tocopherol, although plasma α-tocopherol/lipid tended to be lower in alcoholics. Plasma retinol was lower in alcoholics. These results suggest that chronic ethanol consumption can contribute to increased risk for vascular diseases in Korean alcoholics.     

膝前框形钢丝内固定治疗髌骨骨折

目的探讨采用钢丝环扎 膝前方框形张力带钢丝内固定法治疗髌骨骨折的经验和临床效果.方法对35例髌骨骨折应用此方法治疗,基中男性24例,女性11例,30例获得3～24个月随访.结果优19例,良10例,可1例,优良率96.7%.术后未出现骨折再移位,无伤口感染.愈合时间6～12周.结论该方法符合生物力学原理,操作简便,适应证广,能早期关节活动,是治疗髌骨骨折的理想方法之一.