A Preliminary Note on Some Nutritional Requirements for Reproduction in Female Aedes Aegypti

Author Institution: Department of Zoology and Entomology, The Ohio State University, Columbus 1

Can a mobile app improve the quality of patient care provided by trainee doctors? Analysis of trainees case reports

OBJECTIVES: To explore how a medical textbook app (‘iDoc’) supports newly qualified doctors in providing high-quality patient care. DESIGN: The iDoc project, funded by the Wales Deanery, provides new doctors with an app which gives access to key medical textbooks. Participants’ submitted case reports describing self-reported accounts of specific instances of app use. The size of the data set enabled analysis of a subsample of ‘complex’ case reports. Of the 568 case reports submitted by Foundation Year 1s (F1s)/Year 2s (F2s), 142 (25%) detailed instances of diagnostic decision-making and were identified as ‘complex’. We analysed these data against the Quality Improvement (QI) Framework using thematic content analysis. SETTING: Clinical settings across Wales, UK. PARTICIPANTS: Newly qualified doctors (2012–2014; n=114), F1 and F2. INTERVENTIONS: The iDoc app, powered by Dr Companion software, provided newly qualified doctors in Wales with a selection of key medical textbooks via individuals’ personal smartphone. RESULTS: Doctors’ use of the iDoc app supported 5 of the 6 QI elements: efficiency, timeliness, effectiveness, safety and patient-centredness. None of the case reports were coded to the equity element. Efficiency was the element which attracted the highest number of case report references. We propose that the QI Framework should be expanding to include ‘learning’ as a 7th element. CONCLUSIONS: Access to key medical textbooks via an app provides trusted and valuable support to newly qualified doctors during a period of transition. On the basis of these doctors’ self-reported accounts, our evidence indicates that the use of the app enhances efficiency, effectiveness and timeliness of patient-care in addition consolidating a safe, patient-centred approach. We propose that there is scope to extend the QI Framework by incorporating ‘learning’ as a 7th element in recognition of the relationship between providing high-quality care through educational engagement

A Preliminary Note on Egg Production from Milk-Fed Mosquitoes

Author Institution: Department of Zoology and Entomology, The Ohio State University, Columbus 1

Progress on the Development of Future Airport Surface Wireless Communications Network

Continuing advances in airport surface management and improvements in airport surface safety are required to enable future growth in air traffic throughout the airspace, as airport arrival and departure delays create a major system bottleneck. These airport management and safety advances will be built upon improved communications, navigation, surveillance, and weather sensing, creating an information environment supporting system automation. The efficient movement of the digital data generated from these systems requires an underlying communications network infrastructure to connect data sources with the intended users with the required quality of service. Current airport surface communications consists primarily of buried copper or fiber cable. Safety related communications with mobile airport surface assets occurs over 25 kHz VHF voice and data channels. The available VHF spectrum, already congested in many areas, will be insufficient to support future data traffic requirements. Therefore, a broadband wireless airport surface communications network is considered a requirement for the future airport component of the air transportation system. Progress has been made on defining the technology and frequency spectrum for the airport surface wireless communications network. The development of a test and demonstration facility and the definition of required testing and standards development are now underway. This paper will review the progress and planned future work

Mobile translators for non-English-speaking women accessing maternity services.

noIt is becoming increasingly common for midwives to care for women who do not speak English, and UK interpreting services are often inadequate and underused. Persistent language barriers have been found to contribute to maternal and perinatal mortality thus it is essential that these barriers are overcome to provide safe maternity care. This article reports on a two-stage study undertaken to address this. The study aimed to: • Identify difficulties midwives experience when communicating with non-English-speaking women. Through undertaking a group interview with 11 senior students, four themes emerged: accessing interpreters, working with interpreters, cultural barriers and strategies to address persistent language barriers • Explore the feasibility of using mobile devices with a translation application to communicate in clinical practice. Google Translate was tested in a simulated clinical environment with multi-lingual service users. Google Translate was not adequately developed to be safely used in maternity services. However, a maternity-specific mobile application could be built to help midwives and women communicate in the presence of a persistent language barrier

B759: Balsam Fir (Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.) Phenology in Maine

Spring phenology of balsam fir in Maine was investigated during 1978. Multiple regression models based on climatic and geographic factors were developed for predicting fir phenology and accounted for a maximum of 52.6% of the observed phenological variation. Generalized maps depicting observed and expected phenology patterns are also presented.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/aes_bulletin/1013/thumbnail.jp

Cashing in on curiosity and spectacle: The forensic patient and news media

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology on 24/05/2016, available online: 10.1080/14789949.2016.1187760Health and social care professionals are gatekeepers to, and custodians of, confidential service user information. In the United Kingdom (UK), police investigations have unveiled cases of payments being made to public service officials by journalists in return for service user information. The purpose of this discussion is to investigate such cases in the context of high security forensic care. This paper provides a discussion drawing upon two UK-based case studies of prosecutions of public service workers relating to the sale of confidential information. The analysis presented here illuminates upon the salient and connected issues at work that have led to the transgression of legal obligations and professional responsibilities/principles of confidentiality. A fuller reading of the context in which these transgressions occur, and motivations that exist, may well serve to inform policy, training, guidance or vigilance in relation to the preserving of service user information in the future

The role of the smartphone in the transition from medical student to foundation trainee: a qualitative interview and focus group study

Background The transition from medical student to junior doctor is one of the most challenging in medicine, affecting both doctor and patient health. Opportunities to support this transition have arisen from advances in mobile technology and increased smartphone ownership. Methods This qualitative study consisted of six in-depth interviews and two focus groups with Foundation Year 1 Trainees (intern doctors) and final year medical students within the same NHS Trust. A convenience sample of 14 participants was recruited using chain sampling. Interviews and focus groups were recorded, transcribed verbatim, analysed in accordance with thematic analysis and presented below in keeping with the standards for reporting qualitative research. Results Participants represented both high and low intensity users. They used their smartphones to support their prescribing practices, especially antimicrobials through the MicroGuide™ app. Instant messaging, via WhatsApp, contributed to the existing bleep system, allowing coordination of both work and learning opportunities across place and time. Clinical photographs were recognised as being against regulations but there had still been occasions of use despite this. Concerns about public and colleague perceptions were important to both students and doctors, with participants describing various tactics employed to successfully integrate phone use into their practices. Conclusion This study suggests that both final year medical students and foundation trainees use smartphones in everyday practice. Medical schools and healthcare institutions should seek to integrate such use into core curricula/training to enable safe and effective use and further ease the transition to foundation training. We recommend juniors are reminded of the potential risks to patient confidentiality associated with smartphone use

Predictive genetic testing for Huntington's disease: Exploring participant experiences of uncertainty and ambivalence between clinic appointments

Ambivalence and uncertainty are key themes throughout the psychology of healthcare literature. This is especially so for individuals at risk of Huntington's disease (HD) deliberating the decision to undergo genetic testing because there is currently no treatment that modifies disease progression. A better understanding of the experience of making a decision about genetic prediction will help practitioners support and guide individuals through this process. Our aim was to capture participants' experiences of uncertainty and ambivalence in between their genetic counseling appointments. We explored these issues through the experiences of nine participants who were referred for predictive HD testing at four regional genetics services in England and Wales. Data consisted of recordings of clinic consultations, diaries, and an in‐depth interview conducted at the end of the testing process. Data were analyzed thematically. Four themes were identified representing four possible futures, each future dependent on the decision to undergo testing and the result of that test. Our results showed that participants, as well as attending more to a future that represents their current situation of not having undergone predictive testing, also attended more to a distant future where a positive predictive result is received and symptoms have started. Participants attended less to the two futures that were more immediate once testing was undertaken (a future where a positive result is received and symptoms have not started and a future where a negative result is received). The use of diaries gave us a unique insight into these participants' experiences of ambivalence and uncertainty, psychological distress, and the emotional burden experienced. These findings help inform discussions within the clinic appointment as well as encourage researchers to consider diary use as a method of exploring what happens for individuals outside of clinical encounters