Patient and family engagement in patient safety in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: a scoping review.

BACKGROUND: Patients can play a key role in delivering safe care by becoming actively involved in their health care. This study aimed at reviewing the literature for evidence of patients' and families' engagement in patient safety in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR). METHODS: We conducted a scoping review of the literature published in English using PubMed, Medline, CINAHL, Scopus, ISI Web of Science, and PsycINFO until June 2023. RESULTS: A total of 9019 studies were screened, with 22 meeting the inclusion criteria. Our review found few published studies of patient and family engagement in patient safety research in the EMR. Thirteen studies explored the attitudes, perceptions, and/or experiences / preferences of patients, families, and healthcare providers (HCPs) regarding patient engagement in patient safety. Nine publications reported patient involvement in patient safety activities at varying levels. Three categories of factors were identified that may affect patient involvement: patient-related (e.g., lack of awareness on their role in preventing harms, unwillingness to challenge HCPs' authority, and cultural barriers); HCP-related (e.g., negative attitudes towards patient engagement, poor patient-provider communication, and high workload); and healthcare setting-related (e.g., lack of relevant policies and guidelines, lack of training for patients, and HCPs, and lack of patient-centered approach). CONCLUSION: This review highlighted limitations in the current literature on patient and family engagement in patient safety in the EMR, including both the depth of evidence and clarity of concepts. Further research is needed to explore how to actively involve patients and their families, as well as to determine whether such involvement translates into improved safety in practice.

A scoping review of community health needs and assets assessment: concepts, rationale, tools and uses.

BACKGROUND: Community health needs and assets assessment is a means of identifying and describing community health needs and resources, serving as a mechanism to gain the necessary information to make informed choices about community health. The current review of the literature was performed in order to shed more light on concepts, rationale, tools and uses of community health needs and assets assessment. METHODS: We conducted a scoping review of the literature published in English using PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, PDQ evidence, NIH database, Cochrane library, CDC library, Trip, and Global Health Library databases until March 2021. RESULTS: A total of 169 articles including both empirical papers and theoretical and conceptual work were ultimately retained for analysis. Relevant concepts were examined guided by a conceptual framework. The empirical papers were dominantly conducted in the  United States. Qualitative, quantitative and mixed-method approaches were used to collect data on community health needs and assets, with an increasing trend of using mixed-method approaches. Almost half of the included empirical studies used participatory approaches to incorporate community inputs into the process. CONCLUSION: Our findings highlight the need for having holistic approaches to assess community's health needs focusing on physical, mental and social wellbeing, along with considering the broader systems factors and structural challenges to individual and population health. Furthermore, the findings emphasize assessing community health assets as an integral component of the process, beginning foremost with community capabilities and knowledge. There has been a trend toward using mixed-methods approaches to conduct the assessment in recent years that led to the inclusion of the voices of all community members, particularly vulnerable and disadvantaged groups. A notable gap in the existing literature is the lack of long-term or longitudinal-assessment of the community health needs assessment impacts.