OBJECTIVES Assessing the degree of involvement and participation in thoracic surgical research as well as surgical quality improvement conducted across Canadian institutions is difficult as no common data collection system and no prior studies exist. As a pilot investigation, we designed and conducted a membership survey of the Canadian Association of Thoracic Surgeons (CATS) to evaluate the ex...

OBJECTIVE To report on the results of the consensus process integrating evidence from preliminary studies to develop the first version of the Comprehensive ICF Core Set and a Brief ICF Core Set for obstructive pulmonary diseases. METHODS A formal decision-making and consensus process integrating evidence gathered from preliminary studies was followed. Preliminary studies included a Delphi exe...

OBJECTIVE To report on the results of the consensus process to develop the first version of both a Comprehensive ICF Core Set and a Brief ICF Core Set for breast cancer. METHODS A formal decision-making and consensus process integrating evidence gathered from preliminary studies was realized. Preliminary studies included a Delphi exercise, a systematic review, and an empirical data collection...

BACKGROUND Peer support is valued by its users. Nevertheless, there is initial low take-up of formal peer support programmes among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), with fewer patients participating than expressing an interest. There is little evidence on reasons for low participation levels. Few studies have examined the perspectives of carers. OBJECTIVE To explore with CKD patient...

Abstract Machine learning algorithms can study existing data to perform specific tasks. One of the well-known machine is backpropagation algorithm, but this algorithm often provides poor convergence speed in training process and a long time. The purpose optimize standard using Beale-Powell conjugate gradient so that time needed achieve not too long, which later be used as reference information ...

Petitioning is a well established form of political participation in most liberal democracies, but little is known about petitioners, their socio-demographics, motivations and assessments of petitioning processes. In 2005, the German parliament introduced public e-petitions which are submitted, signed and discussed on the Internet. This article reports a 2007 survey of 571 traditional and 350 e...

When patients take an active role in their healthcare, the results may be better, safer care. That is the premise behind the Ontario Hospital Association's (OHA) "Your Health Care--Be Involved" campaign. Launched in September 2005 by the OHA's Patient Safety Support Service, the campaign encourages active two-way communication between patients and providers and highlights the important role of ...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a statement about the involvement of patients in the education of health and social care professionals developed at an international conference in November 2015. It aims to describe the current state and identify action items for the next five years. Design/methodology/approach – The paper describes how patient involvement in education has devel...

During the time spent at medical school, students may be presented with various opportunities to engage in teaching and medical education. Often these opportunities are passed up or indeed overlooked all together. However, the value of developing teaching skills and engaging in such activities for the dissemination, application and translation of medical knowledge is of great importance to the ...

A qualitative survey was carried out in six countries to gather insights into potential barriers to patient participation in cancer clinical trials (CTs) to help stakeholders develop strategies to improve recruitment and participation. While the research was exploratory in nature, the findings highlight the critical role that doctors play in terms of CTs participation. The research also indicat...