Experiences of ethnic minority patients who are living with a primary chronic bowel condition: a systematic scoping review with narrative synthesis.

BACKGROUND: Prevalence of chronic gastrointestinal diseases has been rising amongst ethnic minority populations in Western countries, despite the first-generation migrants originating from countries of low prevalence. Differences caused by genetic, environmental, cultural, and religious factors in each context may contribute towards shaping experiences of ethnic minority individuals living with primary bowel conditions. This review aimed to explore the experiences of ethnic minority patients living with chronic bowel conditions. METHODS: We conducted a systematic scoping review to retrieve qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods studies from eight electronic databases, and manually searched reference lists of frequently cited papers. RESULTS: Fourteen papers met the inclusion criteria: focussing on inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, and coeliac disease. Core themes were narratively analysed. South Asians had limited understanding of inflammatory bowel disease and coeliac disease, hindered by language and literacy barriers, particularly for older generations, suggesting that culturally relevant information is needed. Family support was limited, and Muslim South Asians referred to religion to understand and self-manage inflammatory bowel disease. Ethnic minority groups across countries experienced: poor dietary intake for coeliac disease and inflammatory bowel disease, cultural conflict in self-managing diet for inflammatory bowel disease which increased anxiety, and there was a need for better quality of, and access to, healthcare services. British ethnic minority groups experienced difficulties with IBD diagnosis/misdiagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: Cultural, religious, and social contexts, together with language barriers and limited health literacy influenced experiences of health inequalities for ethnic minority patients living with chronic bowel diseases.

Linking social work agency perspectives on interprofessional education into a school of nursing and midwifery.

Recent policy documents have highlighted the importance of developing interprofessional education to support interprofessional practice. In particular improving communication between health and social care agencies has been highlighted as an educational and practice priority. This study set out to explore the interprofessional training needs of social work practitioners with social work agencies in North East London to ensure that the interprofessional courses were relevant to social work. Findings from 15 qualitative interviews with key health and social care professionals in eight London boroughs will be presented. The findings suggest that there is great diversity in the budgets, resources and approaches taken to post qualifying training across the boroughs and between agencies and that training needs analysis for experienced practitioners is at an early stage of development workforce planning to the commissioning of education. Social work services identified bespoke training and the accreditation of their existing programmes as important. Responding to rapid organizational change and immediate training needs was a key priority in the services interviewed. However, limited funding to release social workers to take up interprofessional post-qualifying training remains a constraint for training officers, and how training was planned and organized by both practitioners and providers was considered important.

Recruitment and retention of dental nurses and dental hygienists in general practice.

PURPOSE OF STUDY: To explore the recruitment and retention of dental nurses and dental hygienists working in general dental practice in West Kent, and to identify training needs. BASIC PROCEDURE: Questionnaire survey of 195 general dental practices in West Kent. MAIN FINDINGS: Problems with turnover of staff were reported by 19% of practices. Some 49% of practices reported difficulties in recruiting dental nurses, 6% had experienced difficulties recruiting dental hygienists, and 15% had difficulties recruiting both nurses and hygienists. The median length of service for both dental nurses and dental hygienists was five years. Approximately 39% of practices had advertised single posts three or more times. Difficulties in recruiting were related more strongly to ensuring the right person for the job, than to a shortage of applicants. PRINCIPAL CONCLUSIONS: Difficulties in the recruitment and retention of dental nurses and dental hygienists were reported by dental practices in West Kent. These are likely to be exacerbated by the requirement that all dental nurses be registered with the General Dental Council.