Tag Archives: quality improvement

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Nadeeka Chandraratne, joins CaHRU as an International Research Fellow

NadeekaChandraratneNadeeka Chandraratne joined the Community and Health Research Unit in May 2017 to work on the quality and costs of primary health care, as CaHRU’s second international research fellow.. She will study monitoring and evaluation of primary care systems in the National Health Service (NHS) and their applicability to low and middle income countries with high health standards, like Sri Lanka.

Nadeeka graduated as a medical doctor (MBBS with honours) from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo in 2006. She gained her Master’s (MSc) in Community Medicine from the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine (PGIM) of the University of Colombo in 2011. She also completed a Master’s degree in Development Studies (MDS) at the Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Colombo in 2013 and her MD in Community Medicine from the PGIM in 2016.

During her academic and professional career she has researched, published, trained and given invited presentations on a wide range of public health topics including child sexual abuse, premenstrual syndrome, gender-based violence, sexual harassment in workplaces, economic costs of tobacco and alcohol use, migrant health, child nutrition in communities and social health insurance for universal health coverage. She has won several national and academic awards and prizes for her publications.

sigiriya2Prior to joining our University, she worked as a Consultant to the World Health Organization where she was involved in preparing the WHO Country Cooperation Strategy for Sri Lanka and provided technical support to several activities including health financing for Universal Health Coverage.

She has also worked as a Consultant to UNICEF, and is an External Lecturer for the Department of Health Promotion, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka. She is also a member of the Expert Committee on Alcohol, Tobacco and Illicit Drugs and was the Secretary of the Expert Committee on Women’s Health of the Sri Lanka Medical Association.

At the Ministry of Health Nadeeka has worked in several capacities including as the Medical Officer of Health (MOH) in the most populated area in the country. She worked as a Senior Registrar in Community Medicine at the Gender and Women’s Health Unit, Family Health Bureau, Ministry of Health and a Registrar at the Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine of the University of Colombo.

 

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CaHRU/LIH seminar: Causal models and Directed Acyclic Graphs – Professor Graham Law

Graham LawProfessor Graham Law, who recently joined the university and CaHRU as Professor in Medical Statitics, delivered the latest of CaHRU/LIH’s Implementation Science and Research Methods seminar series – on Causal Models and the use of Directed Acyclic Graphs. Professor Law set out the epidemiological context for the seminar. Epidemiology is the study of disease. The scientific methods used within epidemiology aim to discover the determinants of disease. The state of having the disease is the outcome. Causal models seek to examine the factors that contribute to this outcome. Causation is not usually dealt with by statistics. Instead, statistics concerns itself more with associations and relationships between variables.

dagA Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) comprises variables (nodes) and arrows between nodes (directed edges) such that the graph is acyclic, i.e., it not being possible to start at any node, follow the directed edges in the arrowhead direction, and end up back at the same node. In seeking to represent causation, DAGs typically display a series of factors, mediators and outcomes. Having explained this, Graham split the audience into two groups and challenged them to create their own DAGs to display all the possible factors involved in whether sunlight causes lymphoma. The interactive nature of the seminar engaged the audience. The fun nature of the concluding task made a potentially complicated subject easier for the audience to understand and apply.

By Viet-Hai Phung

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Implementation science and research methods seminar: statistical modelling of time series data

Dr Murray SmithThe latest CaHRU Implementation Science and Research Methods seminar was presented by Dr Murray Smith on 25th October 2016, on the topic of statistical modelling of time series data. Dr Smith, research fellow at the Community and Health Research Unit (CaHRU), is an econometrician with a wide range of experience and research interests in micro-econometric modelling, health informatics, health economic modelling, mathematical statistics and computer algebra. Murray has previously worked as an Associate Professor in the Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics at the University of Sydney, Australia, and as an Associate Professor at the School of Pharmacy, University of Nottingham before coming to the University of Lincoln. His research has focuses on the quality of use of pharmaceutical medicines in chronic disease, with analyses that utilise prescribing data drawn from a large database of general practice patient records.

segmentedregressionHe introduced his topic by defining (and giving examples) of data, and related these to how researchers can statistically model time series data in different ways. Murray described four fundamental components of times series including: time (Tt); Cycle (Ct); Seasonal (St) and Irregular (It). He also gave examples of Time Series Analysis Curves such as survival data, Engle’s AutoRegressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (ARCH) and segmented regression. He showed how modelling time series data can be useful for quality improvement research, as this can facilitate the measurement of outcomes or impact over time and extrapolate or estimate future values or outcomes. A time series method (using segmented regression) is being used in a paper currently being prepared by Dr Murray Smith and Professor Niro Siriwardena for publication.

QIlogoDr Smith concluded his interesting presentation by recommending three key books for further reading on Statistical Modelling of Time Series Data: Time Series Analysis by Jame D Hamilton, Time Series Analysis: Forecasting and Control by George E. P. Box et al. and Introduction to Time Series and Forecasting by Peter J. Brockwell & Richard A. Davis. He made the session so interesting that participants asked for further presentations on time series analysis. For his next seminar, Murray will focus more on use of the method for current research at CaHRU to enable more researchers to apply this method to their research.

By Joseph Akanuwe

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Rachel Hawley co-authors new book on values and ethics in coaching

CaHRU_logotypeA new book, Values and Ethics in Coaching, co-authored by Rachel Hawley of CaHRU will be published next month. Rachel is Project Manager of the HEI Challenge for Patient Supported Quality Improvement led by CaHRU.

The book, which is the first complete guide to exploring values and ethics in coaching, will guide readers through the responsibilities of coaching practice, and helping people recognize and reconcile common ethical dilemmas and Rachelchoices. Part I explores the theory and research underpinning ethical coaching practice, and invites you to examine own personal and professional values. Part II delves into the key ethical considerations in the coaching relationship, including contracting, confidentiality and understanding boundaries. It explores each issue in depth, and offers implications and suggestions for practice. Part III examines individual professional contexts, including coaching in business, sports and healthcare with real life examples and reflections from practising coaches.

Reviews of the publication have been complimentary. Jonathan Pashmore wrote: “Coaches occupy a privileged position, with access to unspoken thoughts, dilemmas and confidences. The ability to understand and work sensitively guiding oneself and clients through the complexity of moral choices that leaders face in modern organisations is a key factor that differentiates excellent coaches from good ones. This book is essential reading for those seeking to put ethical sensitivity at the heart of their practice”. Mike Chitty, Head of Applied Leadership, NHS Leadership Academy said, “An excellent and cleverly pitched contribution to the coaching literature. Very readable, but more importantly readily applied to developing as a coach. The writers have managed to integrate theory and practice in an accessible way that will help coaches to continually strengthen the role of ethics and values in their practice.”

For further information: Iordanou, I., Hawley R. and Iordanou, C. [(2016) Values and Ethics in Coaching: Sage, London and Thousand Oaks, CA, (2016)

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Joseph Akanuwe joins CaHRU

Joseph Akanuwe recently joined CaHRU as a research assistant working on quality improvement and implementation science projects in primary and prehospital care.

Joseph has a nursing and public health background. After qualifying as a registered general nurse (RGN) he worked within primary and secondary care settings as a staff nurse and a casualty and emergency unit manager in Ghana. He went completed his Bachelor’s degree in Nursing and Psychology and a Master’s in Public Health (MPH) at the University of Ghana. Returning to his former Nurses Training College, he worked as a lecturer before moving to the UK.

JosephIn the UK, Joseph has worked as a staff nurse (RN) in the Dartford and Gravesend NHS Trust from 2004 to 2006, and as a renal nurse (specialising in renal haemodialysis) at the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. While working as a renal nurse in Sheffield, Joseph studied at the University of Sheffield, achieving a Master of Medical Science (MMedSci) degress specialising in the management of long term health conditions, and a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) with training in public health research. His MPhil thesis explored the impact of the UK Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) on the quality of diabetes care and health care inequalities in primary care settings in England. Joseph is completing his doctoral studies at the University of Lincoln exploring the perspectives of service users and practitioners on the use of QCancer, a novel cancer risk assessment tool, for early detection of cancer in primary care settings.

Joseph is a Practitioner Member of the UK Faculty of Public Health (FPH), a member of the European Public Health Association, a registered member of the UK Nurses and Midwifery Council (NMC) and an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA). He also contributes to the teaching of the health promotion module, as part of the Health and Social Care and Nursing programmes at the University of Lincoln.