Improving Knowledge of Audit and Feedback among Health Care Professionals in Sicily.

Audit and Feedback (A&F) is considered one of the most significant tools for implementing continuous Quality Improvement (QI) in the healthcare field. The audit process is a structured inspection of professional practice against known standards or targets. The results of this inspection are subsequently feedback from professionals in order to implement an improvement process. The Italian Ministry of Health has recently funded the network project EASY-NET, with the main objective of evaluating the effectiveness of A&F strategies to improve healthcare practice and equity in various clinical and organizational settings in seven Italian regions. The Sicily region is represented within the EASY-NET project by the IRCCS Centro Neurolesi Bonino-Pulejo of Messina as the Work Package 7 (WP7). One of the objectives of the WP7 is to assess mechanisms and tools to enhance the effectiveness of A&F strategies. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence that training interventions can have on improving knowledge of A&F strategies among healthcare professionals. The study employed a quasi-experimental design with a pretest-posttest evaluation strategy. The participants' initial knowledge of A&F strategies was evaluated through a baseline survey. Subsequently, the participants attended an online training workshop led by A&F experts, and a follow-up survey consisting of the same set of questions was conducted at the end of the process. Results showed statistically significant positive changes in the level of knowledge of A&F among participants following the training intervention. Furthermore, dividing the participants into two subgroups based on their professional background revealed significant differences in the level of knowledge of A&F methodologies between the observed categories of healthcare professionals. In conclusion, the study revealed that training interventions can be facilitators to implementing effective A&F programs.

Unmet Needs for Family Caregivers of Elderly People With Dementia Living in Italy: What Do We Know So Far and What Should We Do Next?

Care of the elderly with dementia represents one of the major challenges for the modern society worldwide. The burden of dementia care often falls on the family members, entailing heavy psychosocial and economic consequences. The aim of this study was to evaluate the caregiver's perspective concerning the support for disease management on behalf of the physicians and the local Sicilian administrations (Italy), and the burden of care and effects on their lifestyle, to propose new prevention strategies and service for managing dementia and caregiver's burden. Fifty-nine caregivers of Italian elderly people with dementia (mean age, 73; age range: 63-83) were interviewed, and 55 of them completed an ad hoc self-report questionnaire composed of 54 multiple-choice questions. Our findings suggest that caregivers need more information on the disease's management, as well as on how to deal with the stress due to the disease burden. Moreover, a negative perception about the services offered from the local administration emerged. Assistive technology (AT) could be useful in promoting interaction between general practitioners and specialized centers for diagnosis, pharmacological and psychosocial treatments, and in saving costs. Moreover, case manager could follow patients and support family members within the care pathway, besides collecting and sharing information among the different health professionals involved. Further studies should be aimed at investigating whether AT and/or the use of specific educational strategies could be the right approach for meeting the needs of families living with dementia.