Using Texting Tools to Reinforce Communication in the Online Classroom

In this study, we sought to analyse experiences in weight management among physicians working in the area of obesity and contrast these experiences with best practices. By understanding experiences of physicians working in obesity management, we can better support implementation of best practices in their day-to-day practice. An online survey of Canadian primary care physicians, internists and endocrinologists recruited from a nationwide market research database was conducted. The survey captured demographic characteristics and perceptions about weight loss and its management. One hundred and ninety-two physicians (140 primary care, 22 internists and 30 endocrinologists) were recruited and completed the survey. Challenges identified by the physicians in helping patients lose weight included patients' poor compliance and lack of time and resources to address the issue. Most physicians reported considering obesity to be a chronic disease, but most did not incorporate a multi-dimensional, chronic disease model of obesity treatment (i.e., combination of lifestyle interventions with psychological, medical and/or surgical interventions). Endocrinologists reported management practices consistent with a chronic disease model more frequently than primary care physicians. These data highlight the need for improvement in obesity management, particularly in primary care. Despite proliferation of guidelines on best practices, implementation of these practices into daily practice remains low.

Community-wide initiatives (CWI) to prevent teen pregnancy were implemented in 10 communities in the USA. The CWI supported the implementation of evidence-based teen pregnancy interventions (EBIs) and implementation of best practices for adolescent reproductive health care. Implementation was supported through mobilizing communities, educating stakeholders, and strategies to promote health equity. We assessed indicators of progress of the CWI for the following five project components (data collected from 2010 to 2015): community mobilization, stakeholder education, working with diverse communities, evidence-based interventions, and increasing access to clinical services and the potential contributions of training and technical assistance. Communities engaged multiple stakeholder groups to contribute to planning, community outreach and education, and partnership development and used multiple dissemination methods to share information on adolescent reproductive health needs and teen pregnancy prevention strategies. The amount of training and technical assistance from state- and community-based organizations was associated with increased numbers of youth receiving EBIs and increased provision of contraceptives. The number of health centers implementing best practices for adolescent reproductive health services increased; conducting sexual health assessments, offering hormonal contraception or IUD, and offering quick start of IUDs were associated with increases in long-acting reversible contraception utilization. These findings demonstrate that scaled prevention efforts can occur with adequate support including training and technical assistance and community awareness and engagement in the process. The findings raise important questions for understanding what factors contribute to successful community-wide implementation of EBIs and health center best practices for contraceptive access and whether these lead to reductions in teen pregnancies in highly impacted communities.

Over 100 million displaced people rely on health services in humanitarian contexts, defined as unstable or transitory settings created in response to complex emergencies. While services are often described, there is a dearth of evidence on best practices for successful implementation to guide efforts to optimize health delivery. Implementation science is a promising but underutilized tool to address this gap. This scoping review evaluates implementation science in health services for forced migrants in humanitarian settings. We conducted a scoping review according to JBI methodologies. A search of eight databases yielded 7,795 articles, after removal of duplicates, that were screened using PRISMA-ScR guidelines. Data extraction assessed study descriptors, implementation objects, barriers, facilitators, implementation strategies, and use of implementation frameworks in service delivery. Data from 116 studies represented 37 countries and 11 topic areas. Methods were mainly cross-sectional with low-medium evidence rigor. Mental health programs (25%) and vaccination services (16%) were the most common objects of implementation. Thirty-eight unique barriers were identified including resource limitations (30%), health worker shortages (24%), and security risks (24%). Among 29 facilitators, the most common were health worker availability (25%), pre-existing partnerships (25%), and positive perceptions towards the intervention (20%). More than 90% of studies collectively identified 35 implementation strategies, the most common being capacity building (44%), stakeholder engagement (35%), information dissemination (38%), and feedback mechanisms (25%). Only 10 studies used formal implementation models, with RE-AIM (n = 3) and Intervention mapping (n = 2) being most frequent. In this scoping review, we found similar barriers, facilitators, and implementation strategies across diverse humanitarian migrant settings and services. However, the use of rigorous methods and formal implementation models was rare. Frameworks included RE-AIM, CFIR, and Precede-Proceed. Increased use of implementation science frameworks and methods will help humanitarians more rigorously and systematically evaluate and develop best practices for implementation of health services for migrants in humanitarian settings.

Implementing Best Practices in Pressure Ulcer Care: The Role of Continuous Quality Improvement

Introduction: There are some studies done in adults that demonstrate implementation of best practices with bedside checklists. We wanted to determine the effect of bedside checklists in the pediatric ICU. Methods: This prospective observational study included a checklist with 9 domains that was used daily during morning bedside rounds for patients under the age of 18 years admitted to the pediatric ICU in May 2013. Data was collected on daily patient encounters. Patients admitted over 15 days were excluded from the study. The 9 domains were decided upon after careful consideration of important interventions that are, in most circumstances, inadvertently overlooked; but when implemented optimize cost, patient comfort and safety, and resource utilization. Simple descriptive statistics was used to analyze baseline data, and percentages were used to determine consideration of the domains in the checklist and implementation of practice changes. Results: There were 34 patients and 94 encounters. Mean age was 77 ± 63.5 months, mean weight 27.2 ± 23.3 kg. There was 100% compliance (all 94 encounters) on consideration and discussion about all 9 domains after checklist use was started. 1) PICU status change: 72 encounters were PICU status, changed to intermediate 38% of time after discussion; 2) change of vital sign check from every 1 hour: 45 encounters vitals check every 1 hour, 31% changed after discussion; 3) intravenous (IV) steroid change to oral (PO): 16 encounters getting IV -50% changed after discussion; 4) IV ranitidine change to PO: 32 encounters getting IV -32% changed after discussion; 5) scheduled CBC: 17% of encounters- 25% changed after discussion; 6) scheduled basic metabolic panel: 15% of encounters -57% changed after discussion; 7) scheduled blood gas: 19% of encounters - 62% changed after duscussion; 8) scheduled chest X-ray: 6% of encounters - 17% changed after discussion; 9) discharge to home time: discussion about discharge was done 100% of time, 59% of the 34 patients were discharged during the study period, expected time to discharge was written on 65% of discharges and 85% of discharges was done within 4 hours of that time. Conclusions: Mandatory bedside checklist consisting of important management goals in the pediatric ICU is a simple, effective tool to prompt simple decision making that are important aspects of overall quality health care delivery, but may otherwise be overlooked in the setting of more urgent matters.

Software development industry is a key factor in the worldwide economy. In Mexico, this sector consists mostly of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and they represent the 99% of the business software industry. This highlights the importance of implementing best practices in software engineering SMEs to ensure continuous improvement. In this context, there are several models, methodologies and standards that contain best practices focused on improving software development processes such as CMMI-DEV v1.3, ISO 12207, ISO 15504, etc. However, to implement it in SMEs they should be tailored according to the organization size and type of business. Therefore, SMEs require the use of techniques and tools that help them implementing the best practices. This paper aims to present a proposal of a method for creating catalogs of tools and techniques related to software development project management, specifically in risk management, that will provides a set of techniques and tools than an SME can select according to its specific needs in order of facilitate the implementation of best practices.

University–community partnerships (UCPs) are increasingly utilized to address issues in education. In this article, we present reflections on best practices for child- and family-focused UCPs. These reflections emerged before, during, and after a convening that brought together representatives from five UCPs in the United States that emphasized early childhood development and received funding from the same philanthropic source. The convening elicited perspectives on best practices for UCPs and identified community- and university-related contextual factors that affected implementation of these best practices. The findings from this study will contribute to the enhancement of future UCPs in education.

The Higher Education Access Certificate programme, initiated in Uganda in 2016, is a bridging pathway for students who do not meet the conventional entry requirements for tertiary education. This study investigates the impact and implementation of the programme, particularly its effectiveness in increasing enrollment in STEM fields, and identifies best practices for implementation. The research involved a review of existing studies on STEM education alongside the collection of qualitative data through focus groups, case studies, and surveys, aimed at understanding the experiences and perspectives of programme participants. The findings indicate that HEAC, with a focus on science and innovation, has provided a valuable alternative route to higher education. Enrollment in HEAC certificate programmes has notably increased due to the programme’s accreditation and adoption. Nevertheless, challenges have emerged, including concerns about graduation quality, bureaucratic approval processes, and tuition-related issues. The HEAC programme is recognized as a viable strategy for addressing educational inequalities and promoting Sustainable Development Goal 4 by offering underprivileged students an opportunity for further education and supporting socioeconomic development through STEM fields. The chapter underscores the importance of sustained funding and expansion of HEAC to ensure equitable access to high-quality education and the growth of a diverse STEM relevant workforce.

Pressure ulcer reduction is a healthcare priority. Good clinical guidelines have the potential to transform pressure ulcer prevention and management practices. However, evidence suggests these guidelines are inconsistently utilised. The aim of this study was to explore health practitioners' perceived barriers and enablers to the implementation of evidence-based pressure ulcer prevention and management recommendations in an integrated community care setting. The study used a qualitative exploratory design. It took place in a community Trust in London, England. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of registered nurses and allied healthcare professionals (AHPs). The Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) informed both data collection and data analysis. Analysis followed a five-step process including deductive coding of the transcripts and inductive generation of specific belief statements. Nine nurses and four AHPs took part in the study. Six TDF domains were identified as most relevant to the implementation of best practice in pressure ulcer prevention and management: Goals, Knowledge, Skills, Beliefs about capabilities, Environmental context and resources and Social influences. All participants felt it was important to prevent pressure ulcers and were motivated to do so. Key enablers to the implementation of evidence-based practice included high levels of self-reported pressure ulcer knowledge and skills (nurses), responsive community equipment provision, the introduction of novel Pressure Ulcer Implementation Facilitator roles and integrated team working. Barriers included self-reported deficits in knowledge and skills (AHPs), worries about inspecting intimate anatomical locations (AHPs), difficulties initiating conversations with patients about risk and behaviour change, high workloads and clutter in the home. Family members and mobile working solutions were identified as both enablers and barriers. Potential routes to addressing implementation challenges are identified and recommendations made for future research.

This chapter discusses ways to support social work practitioners in their attempts to use evidence-based practice to assess, intervene with, and better understand clients. Although social work practitioners report little use of evidencebased practices, many express a desire to use methods that are considered to be valid (Drake et al., 2001; Mullen, Bacon, 2000, 2003; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1999). There is an emerging literature addressing implementation of evidence-based practices in organizations, but little attention has been given to how individual practitioners can be helped to use evidence-based practice (Addis, Krasnow, 2000; Torrey et al., 2001). While implementation strategies that seek system change by focusing on specific service delivery systems or organizations are important, there are limitations to such efforts. The sheer number of organizations defies any attempt to change them one by one. Also, many practitioners provide services outside such organizational settings, such as in private practice. Accordingly, in addition to implementation strategies directed at service systems and organizations, attention needs to be paid to how practitioners themselves can be helped to implement evidence-based practices. This is the focus of this chapter. This chapter describes evidence-based practice, approaches to dissemination and implementation of best practices that can be of benefit to practitioners, organizational and environmental supports needed for practitioners to function as evidencebased practitioners, and suggestions for training social work practitioners in evidence-based practice.

Data loss is one of the key issues in distributed systems that could cause operational interruptions, wrong analysis, and financial losses. Modern data-driven operations are built on distributed systems, which should be robust given the expanding component interdependence and increasing complexity of data pipelines. Backfill and reprocessing techniques, studied in this work as strategies of minimizing data loss, are what maintain data accuracy and operational continuity. Together with the significant challenges provided by distributed architectures-scalability, latency, and fault tolerance-the paper offers pragmatic best practices for implementation. Tools such as Databricks, Kafka, and S3-which let trustworthy, scalable, automated data recovery processes-enable foundational pieces for these systems. With the aid of real-life scenarios and new technology, this paper tries to provide a complete framework for companies willing to enhance their distributed systems against data loss risks, thus making them resilient and robust in front of increasing data demands.

This review paper explores the intricate relationship between Customer Orientation, Knowledge Management, and Firm Performance, providing a comprehensive analysis of their collective impact on contemporary business practices. Anchored in a robust conceptual framework, the literature review traces the historical evolution of both Customer Orientation and Knowledge Management, elucidating their theoretical foundations and setting the stage for the analysis. The paper examines the drivers and dimensions of Customer Orientation, identifying factors influencing its adoption and strategies for measurement within organizations. Simultaneously, it delves into Knowledge Management, exploring diverse models and best practices for implementation. By analyzing the interplay between Customer Orientation and Knowledge Management, the study uncovers synergies, explores successful integration through real-world case studies, and addresses the challenges and limitations of this dynamic relationship. The paper employs a meticulous methodology, outlining research design, data collection, and analysis with clear criteria for selecting and reviewing relevant studies. Empirical evidence is presented, including quantitative findings, qualitative insights, and a synthesis of results, to determine the tangible impact on Firm Performance. The implications for business practices are discussed, offering practical applications, managerial recommendations, and insights into future trends. The paper concludes with a summary of key findings, highlighting contributions to the field and calling for further research. This review serves as a valuable resource for academics, practitioners, and policymakers seeking a nuanced understanding of the forces shaping modern organizational success.

In today’s digital landscape, where data is a critical asset for businesses, building a resilient backup infrastructure is paramount to ensuring data availability and protection. This research investigates the synergy between three essential elements—data redundancy, encryption, and Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) to enhance backup system resilience. Data redundancy, achieved through methods like the 3-2-1 rule and cloud replication, ensures continuous availability and protection against hardware failures. Encryption secures backup data, making it unreadable to unauthorized users and safeguarding sensitive information in compliance with regulatory standards. RBAC, on the other hand, provides granular control over user access, enforcing the principle of least privilege and minimizing the risk of unauthorized data manipulation. By combining these strategies, organizations can mitigate the risks of data loss, breaches, and unauthorized access, creating a robust, secure, and efficient backup infrastructure. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of how these technologies can be integrated, offers best practices for implementation, and discusses the future of backup systems in an increasingly complex threat environment. Keywords: Backup Infrastructure, Data Redundancy, Data Encryption, Role-Based Access Control, RBAC, Data Security, Disaster Recovery, Data Protection, Cloud Backup, Data Availability, Security Best Practices, IT Resilience, Cybersecurity, Backup Strategies.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) gives an organization a competitive edge by centralizing organization data and collaborating among supply chain networks. There are many types of software packages available, so most of the research proposed methods for prioritizing the best system. However, they did not suggest how to implement it, or which practices should be employed. So, this paper aims to propose a framework and a method for the selection of an ERP system and the best practice for implementation at the same time. A hybrid method of Logarithmic Fuzzy Preference Programming (LFPP) and Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) is presented for solving the problem. LFPP is reliable in obtaining weights, while DEMATEL can capture interrelationships between practices. It was applied to a case study supply chain network of a Thai automotive parts manufacturer to demonstrate the applicability; it could establish the priorities of criteria, rank alternatives, and select the appropriate practices at the same time. There is no study about software and practice selection by use of this proposed method before. The comparison of LFPP and the Fuzzy Full Consistency Method (FUCOM-F) was also performed. It shows that FUCOM-F uses a smaller number of pairwise comparisons than LFPP, but the obtained weights of LFPP are more consistent with the evaluation matrix than using FUCOM-F.

Risk assessment tools to predict postpartum hemorrhage.