Things in the library 9th November...

Things about millennium children...

The Centre for Mental Health and UCL’s Institute of Education have published a report 'Children of the Millennium' which finds that one child in every twelve in the UK has behavioural problems from a young age into their teenage years, putting them at risk of a lifetime of disadvantage and poor health. Children with persistent problems are much more likely to have a multitude of risks early in life, including poverty and housing insecurity, parental mental illness and developmental delay.

The project focused on the analysis of pathways of conduct problems during childhood, comparing the pathways by gender; the impact of multiple risks over time; and pathways of conduct disorder for children with multiple mental health difficulties.
As a result of this work, they are calling for:

• Concerted action across government to reduce the risk of severe and persistent behavioural problems
• Government to seek to reduce child poverty and housing insecurity
• The NHS to continue to boost mental health support to new parents
• Local authorities to get the funding they need to boost early years services such as Sure Start and to offer evidence-based parenting programmes to families with the greatest needs.

Things about babies and expectant mothers... 

Progress on stillbirths and neonatal and infant mortality has slowed down in the UK in recent years. This explainer from Nuffield Trust looks at the possible reasons why, and what can be done about it.

Things about the High Street...

The Royal Society for Public Health has a new report  'Health on the High Street: Running on Empty 2018' as part of its campaign to offer practical guidance for local authorities and members of the public who want to make their high streets more health-promoting. Their research looked at the health impact of a range of high street outlets – extending their 2015 analysis to include vape shops, convenience stores, off-licences, cafes, and empty shops – and used this measure to rank Britain’s major towns and cities by the impact of their high streets on the public’s health and wellbeing.

A key finding was around the proliferation of empty shops on Britain’s high streets – their clustering in more deprived areas, and the negative impact they can have on community wellbeing and spirit, representing a decline in community assets. 

Things about reading group...

We have just finished reading 'The Turn of the Screw' and our next meeting on Wed 5th December at 17:15 we are sharing Winter / Christmas poems or short extracts accompanied by seasonal drinks & mince pies. We will also be choosing our reading for the next few months – please email your suggestions in advance.

Things about children...

The University of Sheffield has published a series of policy briefings on working against the challenges faced by children and ensuring they have the best possible chances in life. The four policy briefings cover: the effectiveness of early intervention; single parent families; the role of voluntary organisations in supporting and monitoring young carers; the services provided for young people leaving care.

• Care proceedings in England: the case for clear blue water 

• Stop the clock: how can we prevent young carers undertaking inappropriate of excessive care? 

• Family portrait: single parent families and transitions over time 

• Turning 18: independence or cliff edge? 

Things about keeping unwell children out of hospital...

As part of the King's Fund series 'Practical approaches to delivering better value in the NHS' this blog is from a paediatrician at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.  'Better value and a better night's sleep: keeping acutely unwell children and adults out of hospital'  discusses their concept of a ‘virtual hospital’ that adds value by both improving quality (using patient experience and outcomes as key indicators) and reducing costs.

Things to make...

Seeing as the winner of Great British Bake off was a University of Sheffield researcher I thought we ought to have one of his recipes...one of the easier ones! I hope to try this one for chocolate-dipped orange madeleines at the weekend so fingers crossed! 

 

Things in the library 20th April...

Things about mental health...
A new report from YoungMinds warns that while there is growing awareness about children and young people’s mental health, it is still far too difficult for young people with mental health problems to get the help they need. The #FightingFor report, which is being published to mark the charity’s 25th anniversary, shows that while most people believe that there is less stigma about mental health than there used to be, young people and parents face a huge range of barriers to finding the right support.

Things about critical appraisal...
Sarah will be running her next Critical Appraisal course for SCH staff on 14th May 9.30 - 13.00 - you need to book a place on this via Course Bookings on the intranet. You will learn how to critically appraise healthcare information and to understand why this is important. No previous knowledge required and free of charge but booking essential as it will not run unless there are sufficient attendees.

ScHARR  is running  a 1 day course on 8th May Instant Evidence Based Medicine: How to Critically Appraise Research . This course will look at how to understand and appraise research articles. You will learn how to quickly read a paper and grasp its key findings, how to interpret and understand key data, how to appraise a paper’s methods and assess its usefulness and value. You will look at ‘internal validity’ - how close the research has got to the ‘truth’, and ‘external validity’ - can the research be usefully applied in your own work situation? Overall the course aims to help you become a better user of research. Bookings will automatically close at midnight on Wednesday, 25th April 2018 cost £399

Things about transition services...
An article from Canadian Family Physician journal seeks to demonstrate how family physicians can contribute to a piece of the journey of improving quality-of-life outcomes for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) when they undergo the transition from adolescence to adulthood.





Things about obesity...

The article  'Family Functioning and Childhood Obesity Treatment: a Family Systems Theory-Informed Approach.' in Academic Pediatrics provides the background and evidence for use of FST, detail how families organise around weight-related behaviours that contribute to obesity, and based on their organisation what type of treatment may be beneficial, FST-informed or family-based behavioural interventions. Finally, a suggested family-based clinical algorithm is provided detailing the use of FST through assessment, intervention, and follow-up that can be refined over time by providers and researchers committed to viewing obesity in the context of the family and family dynamics.

Things about fruit juice...
Whether or not drinking 100% fruit juice causes poor health is controversial. Although 100% fruit juice may contain as much sugar as regular soda, it provides needed nutrients to diets. This article in Advances in Nutrition systematically reviews the current evidence of the association of 100% fruit juice consumption and chronic health conditions in children and adults. They focused on data from systematic reviews and meta-analyses about cardiometabolic health outcomes, liver disease, and caries. They conclude that aside from increased risk of tooth decay in children and small amounts of weight gain in young children and adults, there is no conclusive evidence that consumption of 100% fruit juice has adverse health effects. Guidelines from groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics and Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommending that 100% fruit juice may be consumed in moderation are consistent with the available evidence and should be used to inform food policies.

Things to eat...

With the welcome return of the sun this week, I thought I would pick Minted melon, tomato & prosciutto salad today and it's particularly useful to those of us without kitchens at the moment!

Things in the library 19 May...

Things about nurses...
As part of National Nurses Week the publishers Wiley are putting together a free health collection updated each month.The collection will cover topics like combating stress, mindfulness
and work-life balance. Plus, they have tips to help us look after our health. The focus for May is fitness – so they have advice on getting more active including a free exercise plan. Access the resources here - you will need to register

Things about sustainability and transformation partnerships...
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has published 'State of Child Health short report series: sustainability and transformation partnerships'.  The RCPCH has undertaken a review of Sustainability and Transformation Plans from a child health perspective.  The report finds that while most STPs set out the case for change well and cover important key themes such as prevention, early intervention, more care delivered in the community, better mental health services and integrated working, there is a lack of detail underpinning the vision.  It concludes that the lack of profile given to infants, children and young people by the majority of STPs is a cause for concern.

Things about diabetes...
The National Paediatric Diabetes Audit report for 2015-2016 was been published in February.  It is an analysis of data provided by healthcare professionals working in clinics, hospital wards, hospital departments and any other hospital unit diagnosing and treating children and young people with diabetes mellitus in England and Wales.
This 2015/16 report covers the health checks (care processes) and outcomes for children and young people with diabetes who have attended PDUs during the period from 1st April 2015 through to 31st March 2016. The report acknowledges improvements in diabetes care made during this period, but also aims to highlight deficiencies in care and make specific recommendations to commissioners of health services, regional diabetes networks, and PDUs to address the quality of recording of data relating to patient care and outcomes and the clear inequalities in outcomes across England and Wales.

Things about transition of care...
The Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care Group have published a review recently on 'Transition of care for adolescents from paediatric services to adult health services'.This review assessed the effectiveness of interventions to improve the transition of care for adolescents with chronic conditions and ongoing healthcare needs, as they transferred from child to adult health services.

Things about nature...
There was an interesting seminar at the University of Sheffield recently 'Can a dose of nature become a standard prescription for a mental health problem?'  and it is possible to watch it or download the slides. This is part of Improving Wellbeing through Urban Nature (IWUN) which is a three year research project aiming to find out more about how Sheffield’s natural environment can improve the health and well-being of the city’s residents, and especially those with disproportionately high levels of poor health.

Things about decisions by children...
Various international laws and guidelines stress the importance of respecting the developing autonomy of children and involving minors in decision-making regarding treatment and research participation. However, no universal agreement exists as to at what age minors should be deemed decision-making competent. Minors of the same age may show different levels of maturity. In addition, patients deemed rational conversation-partners as a child can suddenly become non-compliant as an adolescent. Age, context and development all play a role in decision-making competence. In this article  ( Medical decision-making in children and adolescents: developmental and neuroscientific aspects) the authors adopt a perspective on competence that specifically focuses on the impact of brain development on the child's decision-making process.

Things to eat...
If you cook for someone with diabetes, high cholesterol or high blood pressure than the recipe search on the British Heart Foundation's website might be of interest. You can enter a keyword eg chicken then select  a particular condition or nutritional requirements along with cuisine, meal course and cooking time to make some suggestions for you. Nutritional information is given for each recipe

Things in the library 20 Jan ...

New Things about TRIP....
One of Trip’s main aims is to help users find the best available evidence with the minimum of effort. The latest update has some innovative new features, all there to support your evidence search. Don't forget that for a second year you have access to PRO features by registering as NHS staff.

• Answer Engine. They’ve been discussing this for nearly five years and seriously working on it for over twelve months. Obtain instant answers to some clinical questions, seamlessly integrated in to your search experience.
• SmartSearch. An useful system to help speed up your search and to help users avoid missing important documents. They analyse the articles you click and use that to predict other articles that are highly relevant.
• Search suggestions. Incorporated in to your results allowing you to easily produce a more focused search.
• Broken links. Arguably a minor upgrade, but very important. Broken links can be a terrible user experience. Take out your frustrations by hitting the new ‘Broken link’ feature under each result.

Things about transition and epilepsy...

A recent article in Epilepsy & Behavior discusses 'The transition from pediatric to adult care for youth with epilepsy: Basic biological, sociological, and psychological issues'.  Below they summarise a few of the broad concerns that arise from this review.

• Brain development – Impulsive pleasure seeking and risky behaviour may be the result of an imbalance between frontal and limbic maturation and should be anticipated.
• Endocrinological development – Puberty has a major effect on development, personality, and behaviour.
• Sexual development – Peer relationship problems may interfere with normal sexual development. Sexual debut is early in youth with epilepsy and long-term sexual experiences are often unsatisfactory.
• Psychological development – Normal developmental stages in adolescence may be disrupted by epilepsy. While epilepsy may contribute to adjustment problems, some of these issues are related to normal developmental concerns. Family dysfunction has a strong effect on maturation of adolescents with epilepsy. Severe behaviour problems with intellectual disability and/or autistic spectrum disorder are not typically related to family dysfunction and have multiple etiologies.
• Bone health – The degree of risk for and mechanisms of bone disorders in childhood-onset epilepsy are unclear. For those at increased risk, serum vitamin D and DXA screening may be useful along with supplemental vitamin D.

Things about 3D printing of drugs for children....

An article this week in AAPS PharmSciTech discusses the potential for using 3D printing for paediatric drugs the abstract is below. This article is part of a topical collection on the theme Pediatric Drug Development and Dosage Form Design.

The first medicine manufactured by three-dimensional (3D) printing was recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The advantages of printing as a manufacturing route enabling more flexibility regarding the dose, and enlarging individual treatment options, have been demonstrated. There is a particular need for flexible drug delivery solutions when it comes to children. Printing as a new pharmaceutical manufacturing technology brings manufacturing closer to the patient and can easily be adjusted to the required dosing scheme, offering more flexibility for treatments. Printing of medicine may therefore become the manufacturing route of choice to provide tailored and potentially on-demand treatments for patients with individual needs. This paper intends to summarize and discuss the state of the art, the crucial aspects which should be taken into account, and the still-open questions, in order to make 3D printing a suitable manufacturing route for pediatric drugs.

Things about PKU...
A Key European guidelines for the diagnosis and management of patients with phenylketonuria was published in the Lancet recently. From the 70 recommendations formulated, in this Review they describe ten that they deem as having the highest priority.

An e-book for surgeons...
We have recently purchased an e-book copy of  the latest edition of Spitz Operative Pediatric Surgery for SCH staff. Follow the link and login with your free NHS Open Athens account.
Not a surgeon???.....then login to the e-book portal and search for what you are interested in. You can browse books free for 5 mins and if there is a resource which you think will be well used by your department ask us if we can purchase it.

Things with crunch...
As a quick easy and quite healthy dessert why not try these Honey nut crunch pears?  This recipe uses cornflakes but I expect other cereals would work well too!