Challenges of conducting research in long-term care facilities: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this review is to describe the challenges and barriers to conducting research in long-term care facilities. METHODS: A literature search was conducted in Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Central, PsycINFO and CINAHL. Keywords used included "long term care", "nursing home", "research", "trial", "challenge" and "barrier", etc. Resulting references were screened in order to identify relevant studies that reported on challenges derived from first-hand experience of empirical research studies. Challenges were summarized and synthesized. RESULTS: Of 1723 references, 39 articles were selected for inclusion. To facilitate understanding we proposed a classification framework of 8 main themes to categorize the research challenges presented in the 39 studies, relating to the characteristics of facility/owner/administrator, resident, staff caregiver, family caregiver, investigator, ethical or legal concerns, methodology, and budgetary considerations. CONCLUSIONS: Conducting research in long-term care facilities is full of challenges which can be categorized into 8 main themes. Investigators should be aware of all these challenges and specifically address them when planning their studies. Stakeholders should be involved from an early stage and flexibility should be built into both the methodology and research budget.

National Dementia Strategies: What Should Canada Learn?

BACKGROUND: In order to provide appropriate care for the aging population, many countries are adopting a National Dementia Strategy (NDS). On June 22, 2017, Canada announced it will become the 30th country to launch a NDS. In light of this announcement and as Canada prepares to develop its own NDS, we conducted this review to examine and compare the NDSs of the other previous 29 countries with Canadian government's policies to date. METHODS: NDSs were compared according to their major priorities. The primary endpoints were the framework conditions and key actions outlined in the strategies. Secondary endpoints included the years active, involvement of stakeholders, funding, and implementation. RESULTS: We were able to review and compare 25 of the 29 published NDSs. While the NDSs of each country varied, several major priorities were common among the strategies-increasing awareness of dementia, reducing its stigma, identifying support services, improving the quality of care, as well as improving training and education and promoting research. CONCLUSIONS: This review comprehensively lists and compares the NDSs of different countries. The results should be of great interest to policy-makers, health-care professionals and other key stakeholders involved in developing Canada's forthcoming NDS. We hope that policy-makers in Canada can review other NDSs, learn from their example, and develop an effective NDS for our country.

Use of multimedia in patient and caregiver education for cancer pain management: a literature review.

Pain is one of the most prominent symptoms faced by cancer patients. It is known that patient and caregiver-targeted educational interventions addressing the proper use of pain management may provide significant clinical value. This review examines the literature surrounding the use of multimedia interventions for patient and caregiver education (PCE) on pain management compared to traditional educational interventions. A literature search was conducted in Ovid MEDLINE (1946-July Week 2, 2016), Ovid Embase (1947-2016 Week 29), and Ovid Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (up to June 2016). Paired reviewers conducted title and abstract screening and full-text screening to identify experimental, quasi-experimental and cohort studies evaluating one or more multimedia-based PCE interventions focused on cancer pain and pain management and targeting patients and/or caregivers. Findings were extracted by paired reviewers and synthesized qualitatively. Of the 68 full-text papers assessed, 7 were deemed relevant, of which 5 were RCTs and 2 were observational studies. We found limited but convincing quantitative data to suggest that the use of multimedia use in pain management education for patients/caregivers has greater value-added benefit compared to standard education. While there is evidence suggesting a positive effect on pain-related outcomes with the use of multimedia-based patient and caregiver-targeted interventions, it is limited to a small number of lower-quality studies. More robust and large-scale studies are needed to supplement existing evidence and provide more insight regarding the usability and user-friendliness of these tools in practice.

Application of magic in healthcare: A scoping review.

STUDY DESIGN: Scoping review. INTRODUCTION: The art and science of magic traces back to ancient days. Physicians are often compared to magicians metaphorically. Nonetheless, there exist various genuine applications of magic in the healthcare setting. PURPOSE: To explore and summarize the literature reporting the applications of magic tricks or any derived techniques in healthcare or clinical environments. METHODS: A literature search was performed on ten databases: Medline, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane Central, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, PEDro, Scopus, the International Index to Performing Arts, General OneFile and Newstand, to identify references related to the application of magic in healthcare. Relevant studies were charted, categorized, and summarized. RESULTS: 29 relevant references were found, consisting of 20 peer-reviewed publications and nine popular literature articles. Five distinct applications of magic in the clinical setting were identified. The literature showed an overall lack of academic evidence.