NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: North Slave Region

Tags: health care evaluation, knowledge transfer, emergency services

Objective(s): To determine the knowledge needs and preferences of healthcare providers working in general emergency departments (EDs) through an established partnership with 34 general EDs across Canada.

Project Description: The purpose of this study is to determine the knowledge needs and preferences of healthcare providers working in general emergency departments (EDs) through an established partnership with 34 general EDs across Canada. The individual interviews, focus groups, and structured participant observation will be conducted in up to 10 of these general EDs. For the needs assessment phase of this initiative the specific objectives are to: 1. establish relationships with urban, rural, and community general EDs across Canada; 2. large-scale quantitative data collection through electronic surveys of health care professionals and consumers at 34 general EDs across Canada to assess knowledge needs and the preferred method of knowledge transfer in the context of established evidence; 3. small-scale qualitative data collection with health care professionals and consumers up to 10 sites selected for maximum diversity from the 34 general EDs. Qualitative data collection includes: -individual interviews and/or focus groups with healthcare professionals in up to 10 TREKK sites -structured participant observations of healthcare consumers in ED waiting rooms in up to 10 TREKK sites; and, 4. determine the specific knowledge needs of health care professionals and consumers to inform the assembly of existing evidence. Qualitative Study Design: This will be an exploratory, descriptive study. Hypotheses will be generated, not tested. Inclusion Criteria: 1. Healthcare Professionals: Participants must be employed in one of the institutions where the data is being collected and be one of the following healthcare professionals: physician, attending physician, medical resident, medical fellow, registered nurse, licensed practical nurse, registered dietician, social worker, pharmacist, occupational therapist, physiotherapist, respiratory therapist or an ED administrator. 2. Healthcare Consumers: Participants must be parents or legal guardians of children, 18 years of age or younger. The child must be waiting to be seen by an emergency clinician at one of the participating TREKK site emergency departments. Sample Size: This is an exploratory, descriptive study, thus the goal is to achieve as much information as possible. 1. Healthcare Professionals: Due to the variability in the number of staff at each of the urban, rural, and community-based general EDs the research team are anticipating an average of 6-20 participants at each of the 8 sites for a total of 48-160 health care professional participants nationally. These numbers were based on an informal gathering of current staff at the participating sites, and the number of 48-160 participants across Canada will be achievable based on this information. 2. Healthcare Consumers: Given that the research team are conducting structured participant observations, the unit of analysis will be length of time, not the number of participants. The research team will observe the typical behaviors of parents in the ED waiting room during defined observation periods at various times of the day. Process of Seeking Consent 1. Healthcare Professionals: Interviews and/or focus groups will be advertised in information sessions and posters in the ED. All potential participants that attend the interview/focus group will be asked to read an information sheet and sign a consent form in the presence of a witness. 2. Healthcare Consumers: A consent waiver is requested for the structured participant observations (already approved by the University of Alberta where the study is based). This study meets the criteria outlined in Article 3.7 of the Tri-Council Policy Statement 2(TCPS2), which indicates that the Research Ethics Board (REB) may approve research without requiring that the researcher obtain the participant’s consent in accordance with Articles 3.1 to 3.5 where the REB is satisfied, and documents, that all of the following apply: (a) the research involves no more than minimal risk to the participants; (b) the lack of the participant’s consent is unlikely to adversely affect the welfare of the participant; (c) it is impossible or impracticable to carry out the research and to answer the research question properly, given the research design, if the prior consent of the participant is required; (d) whenever possible and appropriate, after participation, or at a later time during the study, participants will be debriefed and provided with additional pertinent information in accordance with Articles 3.2 and 3.4, at which point they will have the opportunity to refuse consent in accordance with Article 3.1; and (e) the research does not involve a therapeutic intervention, or other clinical or diagnostic interventions. Additionally, based on Article 10.3 in the TCPS2 there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in an ED waiting room and the observations will not identify participants in any way; therefore, there is no harm in observing healthcare consumers in this environment. Everyone entering the participating ED will be made aware of the research study via posted notices, which will include instructions for opting out of the study observations. No observations will take place while individuals who have opted out of the study are present in the ED. Participation is optional and potential participants will have complete freedom to choose to participate or not without consequence. There are no anticipated risks to participants. Because participants have the freedom to choose whether to participate or not, if they at any time feel that the risks become greater than the benefits, they can simply opt out without consequence. Study staff will conduct information sessions to present preliminary survey data to health care professionals. A final report of the Needs Assessment results/findings will be created and disseminated to all TREKK stakeholders in early 2014. Non-technical summaries will be distributed to all TREKK sites, posted on the TREKK website, and distributed to the Aurora Research Institute. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from October 9, 2013 to December 31, 2013.