Using automated active infrared counters to estimate footfall on urban park footpaths: behavioural stability and validity testing.

BACKGROUND: Using infrared counters is a promising unobtrusive method of assessing footfall in urban parks. However, infrared counters are susceptible to reliability and validity issues, and there is limited guidance for their use. The aims of this study were to (1) determine how many weeks of automated active infrared count data would provide behaviourally stable estimates of urban park footfall for each meteorological season, and (2) determine the validity of automated active infrared count estimates of footfall in comparison to direct manual observation counts. METHODS: Three automated active infrared counters collected daily footfall counts for 365 days on three footpaths in an urban park within Northampton, England, between May 2021 - May 2022. Intraclass correlation coefficients were used to compare the behavioural stability of abbreviated data collection schedules with total median footfall within each meteorological season (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter). Public holidays, events, and extreme outliers were removed. Ten one-hour manual observations were conducted at the site of an infrared counter to determine the validity of the infrared counter. RESULTS: At least four-weeks (28 days) of infrared counts are required to provide 'good' to 'excellent' (Intraclass correlation > 0.75, > 0.9, respectively) estimates of median daily footfall per meteorological season in an urban park. Infrared counters had, on average, -4.65 counts per hour (95% LoA -12.4, 3.14; Mean absolute percentage error 13.7%) lower counts compared to manual observation counts during one-hour observation periods (23.2 ± 15.6, 27.9 ± 18.9 counts per hour, respectively). Infrared counts explained 98% of the variance in manual observation counts. The number of groups during an observation period explained 78% of the variance in the difference between infrared and manual counts. CONCLUSIONS: Abbreviated data collection schedules can still obtain estimates of urban park footfall. Automated active infrared counts are strongly associated with manual counts; however, they tend to underestimate footfall, often due to people in groups. Methodological and practical recommendations are provided.

Communication as a High-Stakes Clinical Skill: "Just-in-Time" Simulation and Vicarious Observational Learning to Promote Patient- and Family-Centered Care and to Improve Trainee Skill.

Patient-provider communication is a hallmark of high-quality care and patient safety; however, the pace and increasingly complex challenges that face overextended teams strain even the most dedicated clinicians. The COVID-19 pandemic has further disrupted communication between clinicians and their patients and families. The dependence on phone communication and the physical barriers of protective gear limit nonverbal communication and diminish clinicians' ability to recognize and respond to emotion. Developing new approaches to teach communication skills to trainees who are often responsible for communicating with patients and their families is challenging, especially during a pandemic or other crisis. "Just-in-time" simulation-simulation-based training immediately before an intervention-provides the scaffolding and support trainees need for conducting difficult conversations, and it enhances patients' and families' experiences. Using a realistic scenario, the author illustrates key steps for effectively using just-in-time simulation-based communication training: assessing the learner's understanding of the situation; determining what aspects of the encounter may prove most challenging; providing a script as a cognitive aid; refreshing or teaching a specific skill; preparing learners emotionally through reflection and mental rehearsal; coaching on the approach, pace, and tone for a delivery that conveys empathy and meaning; and providing specific, honest, and curious feedback to close a performance gap. Additionally, the author acknowledges that clinical conditions sometimes require learning by observing rather than doing and has thus provided guidance for making the most of vicarious observational learning: identify potential challenges in the encounter and explicitly connect them to trainee learning goals, explain why a more advanced member of the team is conducting the conversation, ask the trainee to observe and prepare feedback, choose the location carefully, identify everyone's role at the beginning of the conversation, debrief, share reactions, and thank the trainee for their feedback and observations.

[How to adapt qualitative research to confinement contexts]. / Cómo adaptar una investigación cualitativa a contextos de confinamiento.

The confinement of the population, researchers, shows the need to adapt the qualitative methodology, techniques and tools, to the current context generated by COVID-19. The Internet and the social media allow the collection of textual data, sequences, images or narratives about a limited reality for access to it in person. We enter the era of e-research, nuancing and reorienting the observation, conversation, collection and analysis of information. Currently, we are working on techniques and models of good practice in this area. This note includes data collection tools used in qualitative research in health sciences, a selection of techniques for qualitative online research is made, and 10 rules for the design of an e-research of this type are provided.