To Örebro University

OBJECTIVE: In Sweden, an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) screening programme was gradually implemented from 2009 to reduce the incidence of rupture and thereby mortality. AAA screening introduces a variety of unintended, but generally unavoidable, harms, e.g. stress and worry. Such psychosocial consequences have previously only been investigated with generic measures. Therefore, the aim of this study was to describe and compare the psychosocial consequences in men with a screening detected AAA to men with a normal screening result after they participated in the Swedish national AAA-screening programme using a validated psychometric instrument.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: This study was a cross-sectional survey. Data were originally collected to validate the COS-AAA and has previously been published in details. The Consequences of Screening in Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (COS-AAA) questionnaire was sent to 250 men with a screening detected AAA and 500 with a normal screening result who were randomly selected from a Swedish population-based screening register.

RESULTS: In total, 158 (63%) men with a screening detected AAA and 275 (55%) men with a normal screening result completed the COS-AAA. We found that men with a screening detected AAA reported negative psychosocial consequences to a greater extent in 10 of 13 COS-AAA Part 1 scales, all statistically significant except three (behaviour, sleep and negative experiences from examination). For COS-AAA Part 2, there was a statistically significant difference between groups in four of five scales.

CONCLUSIONS: Men diagnosed with a screening detected AAA, reported more negative psychosocial consequences compared to men with a normal result. Screening for abdominal aorta aneurism (AAA) introduces intended benefits and unintended harms. Adequate measures are necessary to determine the balance between them.Key points:This study applied a condition-specific questionnaire with high content validity and adequate psychometric properties to measure psychosocial consequences in men participating in AAA screening.We found that men with a screening detected AAA reported more negative psychosocial consequences than men with a normal aorta size.The risk of negative psychosocial consequences is important to include in the decision making on whether to participate in screening or not.

The medical profession is highly specialized, demanding continuous learning, while also undergoing rapid development in the rise of data-driven healthcare. Based on clinical scenarios, this study explores how resident physicians view their roles and practices in relation to informed patients and patient-centric digital technologies. The paper illustrates how the new role of patients alters physicians' work and use of data to learn and update their professional practice. It suggests new possibilities for developing collegial competence and using patient experiences more systematically. Drawing on the notion of flipped healthcare, we argue that there is a need for new professional competencies in everyday data work, along with a change in attitudes, newly defined roles, and better ways to identify and develop reliable online sources. Finally, the role of patients, not only as consumers but also producers of healthcare, is a rather formidable and complex cultural change to be addressed.

Background: In interview studies, men under surveillance for screening-detected abdominal aortic aneurysms have reported ambivalence towards this diagnosis: the knowledge was welcomed together with worries, feelings of anxiety and existential thoughts about life's fragility and mortality due to the diagnosis. Previous surveys about health-related quality of life aspects among men under surveillance for screening-detected aneurysm have all used generic patient-reported outcomes. Therefore, the aim of this study was to extend the core-questionnaire Consequences of Screening for use in abdominal aortic aneurysm screening by testing for comprehension, content coverage, dimensionality, and reliability.

Methods: In interviews, the suitability, content coverage, and relevance of the core-questionnaire Consequences of Screening were tested on men under surveillance for a screeningdetected abdominal aortic aneurysm. The results were thematically analysed to identify the key consequences of abnormal screening results. Item Response Theory and Classical Test Theory were used to analyse data. Dimensionality, differential item functioning, local response dependency and reliability were established by item analysis, examining the fit between item responses and Rasch models.

Results: The core-questionnaire Consequences of Screening was found to be relevant for men offered regular follow-up of an asymptomatic screening-detected abdominal aortic aneurysm.Fourteen themes especially relevant for men diagnosed with a screening-detected abdominal aortic aneurysm were extracted from the interviews: 'Uncertainty about the result of the ultra sound examination', 'Change in body perception', 'Guilt', 'Fear and powerlessness', 'Negative experiences from the examination', 'Emotional reactions', 'Change in lifestyle', 'Better not knowing', 'Fear of rupture', 'Sexuality', 'Information', 'Stigmatised', 'Self-blame for smoking', 'Still regretful smoking'. Altogether, 55 new items were generated: 3 were single items and 13 were only relevant for former or current smokers. 51 of the 52 items belonging to a theme were confirmed to fit Rasch models measuring fourteen different constructs. No differential item functioning and only minor local dependency was revealed between some of the 51 items.

Conclusions: The reliability and the dimensionality of a condition-specific measure with high content validity for men under surveillance for a screening-detected abdominal aortic aneurysm have been demonstrated. This new questionnaire called COS-AAA covers in two parts the psychosocial experience in abdominal aortic aneurysm screening.

Aims: Frail elderly patients who have multiple illnesses do not fare well in modern health care systems, mainly due to a lack of care planning and flawed communication between health professionals in different care organisations. This is especially noticeable when patients are discharged from hospital. The aim of this study was to explore health care professionals' experience of obstacles and opportunities for collaboration.

Methods: Health professionals were invited to participate in three focus groups, each consisting of a hospital physician, a primary care physician, a hospital nurse, a primary care nurse, a municipal home care nurse or an assistant officer, a physical or occupational therapist and a patient or a family member representative. These individual people were then asked to discuss the obstacles and opportunities for communication between themselves and with the patients and their relatives when presented with the case report of a fictitious patient. Content analysis was used to identify categories.

Results: Several obstacles were identified for effective communication and care planning: insufficient communication with patients and relatives; delayed collaboration between care-givers; the lack of an adequate responsible person for care planning; and resources not being distributed according to the actual needs of patients. The absence of an overarching responsibility for the patient, beyond organisational borders, was a recurring theme. These obstacles could also be seen as opportunities.

Conclusions: Obstacles for collaboration were found on three levels: societal, organisational and individual. As health care professionals are well aware of the problems and also see solutions, management for health care should support employees' own initiatives for changes that are of benefit in the care of frail elderly patients with multiple illnesses.

OBJECTIVE: There is a presumption that hospital readmission rates amongst persons aged ≥65 years are mainly dependent on the quality of care. In this study, our primary aim was to explore the association between 30-day hospital readmission for patients aged ≥65 years and socioeconomic characteristics of the studied population. A secondary aim was to explore the association between self-reported lack of strategies for working with older patients at primary health care centres and early readmission.

DESIGN: A cross-sectional ecological study and an online questionnaire sent to the heads of the primary health care centres. We performed correlation and regression analyses.

SETTING AND SUBJECTS: Register data of 283,063 patients in 29 primary health care centres in the Region Örebro County (Sweden) in 2014.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Thirty-day hospital readmission rates for patients aged ≥65 years. Covariates were socioeconomic characteristics among patients registered at the primary health care centre and eldercare workload.

RESULTS: Early hospital readmission was found to be associated with low socioeconomic status of the studied population: proportion foreign-born (r = 0.74; p < 0.001), proportion unemployed (r = 0.73; p < 0.001), Care Need Index (r = 0.74; p < 0.001), sick leave rate (r = 0.51; p < 0.01) and average income (r = -0.40; p = 0.03). The proportion of unemployed alone could explain up to 71.4% of the variability in hospital readmission (p < 0.001). Primary health care centres reporting lack of strategies to prevent readmissions in older patients did not have higher hospital readmission rates than those reporting they had such strategies.

CONCLUSION: Primary health care centres localized in neighbourhoods with low socioeconomic status had higher rates of hospital readmission for patients aged ≥65. Interventions aimed at reducing hospital readmissions for older patients should also consider socioeconomic disparities.

Key Points

• In Sweden, hospital readmission within 30 days among patients aged ≥65 has been used as a measure of quality of primary care for the elderly.
• However, in our study, elderly 30-day readmission was associated with low neighbourhood socioeconomic status.
• A simple survey in one Swedish region showed that the primary health care centres that lacked active strategies for working with aged patients did not have higher hospital readmission rates than those that reported having strategies.
• Interventions aimed at reducing elderly hospital readmissions should therefore also consider the socioeconomic disparities in the elderly.

Objective: To explore general practitioners' (GP) experiences of dealing with requests for the renewal of weak opioid prescriptions for chronic non-cancer pain conditions.

Design: Qualitative focus group interviews. Systematic text condensation analysis.

Setting and subjects: 15 GPs, 4 GP residents and 2 interns at two rural and two urban health centres in central Sweden.

Main outcome measures: Strategies for handling the dilemma of prescribing weak opioids without seeing the patient.

Results: After analysing four focus group interviews we found that requests for prescription renewals for weak opioids provoked adverse feelings in the GP regarding the patient, colleagues or the GP's inner self and were experienced as a dilemma. To deal with this, the GP could use passive as well as active strategies. Active strategies, like discussing the dilemma with colleagues and creating common routines regarding the renewal of weak opioids, may improve prescription habits and support physicians who want to do what is medically correct.

Conclusion: Many GPs feel umcomfortable when prescribing weak opioids without seeing the patient. This qualitative study has identified strategic approaches to deal with that issue.

The prevalence of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is reported to be 2.2%-8% among men >65 years. During recent years, screening programs have been developed to detect AAA, prevent ruptures, and thereby saving lives. Therefore, most men with the diagnosis are monitored conservatively with regular reviews. The objective of the study was to describe how men diagnosed with abdominal aortic aneurysm <55 mm discovered by screening experience the process and diagnosis from invitation to 1 year after screening. A total of eleven 65-year-old men were included in three focus groups performed in a University Hospital in Sweden. These were qualitatively analyzed using manifest and latent content analysis. The experience of the screening process and having an abdominal aortic aneurysm in a long-term perspective revealed three categories: "trusting the health care system," emphasizing the need for continual follow-ups to ensure feelings of security; "the importance size," meaning that the measure was abstract and hard to understand; and "coping with the knowledge of abdominal aortic aneurysm," denoting how everyday life was based mostly on beliefs, since a majority lacked understanding about the meaning of the condition. The men want regular surveillance and surrendered to the health care system, but simultaneously experienced a lack of support thereof. Knowing the size of the aorta was important. The men expressed insecurity about how lifestyle might influence the abdominal aortic aneurysm and what they could do to improve their health condition. This highlights the importance of communicating knowledge about the abdominal aortic aneurysm to promote men's feelings of security and giving space to discuss the size of the aneurysm and lifestyle changes.

Clinical context—Abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) are often asymptomatic until they rupture, when the death rate is greater than 80%. If diagnosed before rupture, AAA can be treated with surgery, which has a mortality of 4-5% Diagnostic change— Sweden, the UK, and the US have initiated screening programmes for AAA. There are also proposals to change the aortic diameter for diagnosis from ≥30 mm to 25 mm Rationale for change—Early diagnosis by screening allows the opportunity of surgery to prevent ruptures Leap of faith—Detecting asymptomatic aneurysms will reduce AAA mortality and morbidity Impact on prevalence—Our estimates indicate that screening almost doubles AAA prevalence, but most AAAs are small and at low risk of rupture. Changing the definition of an AAA from 30 mm to 25 mm would double prevalence again Evidence of overdiagnosis—We estimate that if 10 000 men are invited to screening, 46 AAA deaths can be prevented over 13-15 years but 176 would have an AAA ≥30 mm detected that remained asymptomatic after 13 years. A recent drop in AAA prevalence reduces the benefits of screening and worsens the benefit:harm ratio Harms of overdiagnosis—Asymptomatic men are labelled at risk of a life threatening condition for which they will be under lifelong surveillance. Of 10 000 men invited to AAA screening, 37 (95% confidence interval 15 to 60) overdiagnosed men had unnecessary preventive surgery, of whom 1.6 (1.4 to 1.7) died Limitations—Figures for exact calculations of overdiagnosis are not available and unlikely to emerge. The psychosocial consequences of living with a screen detected AAA are inadequately investigated. Cost effectiveness data on screening are inconclusive Conclusion— Screening programmes have changed the meaning of an AAA diagnosis from a life threatening condition to a risk factor. AAA screening programmes should be revisited because of reduced benefits in modern populations and because data suggest considerable harm

Background and Aims

It is unclear to what extent spirometric performance and interpretation is standardized in Sweden. The aim of this study was to find out how spirometry is performed and interpreted in large Swedish hospitals.

Methods

In telephone interviews, technicians and physicians working with lung function measurements at 21 large Swedish hospitals were interviewed about routines for spirometry.

Results

Answers were obtained from 37 of the 42 departments contacted revealing differences in the spirometric routines. Some departments lack a written method description, and three different prediction equations were used among the departments. Different ways of calculating the forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1)/vital capacity (VC) ratio (FEV%) were found and also differences in performance and interpretation of the reversibility test. When diagnosing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, none of the departments reported using an individualized diagnostic limit of FEV1/VC based on age, sex and height.

Conclusion

There is a need for standardization of performance and interpretation of the spirometry test in Sweden and probably also in other countries.

Enligt Socialstyrelsens målbeskrivning för läkarnas specialistutbildning ska ST-läkaren tillägna sig ett vetenskapligt förhållningssätt.

Det är oklart vad målet innebär och hur det ska tolkas, vilket speglas i de olika specialistföreningarnas olika anvisningar och kursernas olika utformning.

De traditionella FoU-kurser som erbjuds har inte alltid motsvarat ST-läkarnas förväntningar.

Två fokusgruppsintervjuer med ST-läkare från olika specialiteter visar att ST-läkare anser att det är viktigt att tillägna sig ett vetenskapligt kritiskt tänkande för att kunna granska sina egna behandlingsmetoder och be­möta patienternas frågor.