scholarly journals Transforming health: Introduction of new management structure at secondary healthcare of Pakistan

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
N A Chaudary ◽  
MN Navid Tahir ◽  
G Mubin
Keyword(s):  
Public Awareness ◽  
Healthcare Delivery ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Quality Of Healthcare ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Smooth Transition ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
District Health ◽  
The Public ◽  
Health Administrators

Abstract While public awareness on health issues is increasing, it has become more significant for the public funded health sector to retain the trust of its patients. It is specifically important in a country like Pakistan where the burden of patients in terms of number is compounded by recurring diseases outbreaks. Recent evidence shows that well-thought management systems can ease the pressure on provision of health services to a larger extent than previously anticipated. To address the managerial challenges of secondary care hospitals, health policy planners of the Punjab (Pakistan) had introduced a New Management Structures (NMS) 'team of non-clinical management graduates' under the Revamping Program of District & Tehsil Headquarter D/THQ hospitals in 2016. After 3 years of execution, a study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of this initiative. 24 in-depth interviews were conducted with the relevant stakeholders and 10 FGDs were conducted with the NMS teams. Thematic analysis & field observations were used to facilitate the presentation of results. The findings show that NMS teams have ensured greater efficiency in management operations of hospitals. Most of the research participants were appreciated for their skills and dedication to work. The hospital and district Health administrators were satisfied with the concept and need of NMS in healthcare system. They claimed that the need for NMS was justified and the intervention has significantly contributed to address the shortcomings inherent in the old management system. However, few stakeholders highlighted the need for further capacity building and robust service structure of NMS teams. The NMS initiative across all secondary hospitals of Punjab has improved the overall quality of healthcare service delivery in D/THQ Hospitals. It can be safely concluded that a specialized workforce in form of NMS is vital in ensuring smooth transition and up-gradation of hospitals under the revamping project Key messages Healthcare delivery is moving towards more specialized skills in terms of both healthcare services and management. NMS is vital in ensuring smooth transition and up-gradation of D/THQ hospitals.

Using RFID and Wi-Fi in Healthcare

2015 ◽  
pp. 771-788
Author(s):  
Alexiei Dingli ◽  
Dylan Seychell
Keyword(s):  
Detection System ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Fall Detection ◽  
Quality Of Healthcare ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Semantic Web Technologies ◽  
Quality Health Care ◽  
Elderly Parents ◽  
The Public ◽  
Quality Health

Europe faces a considerable challenge in providing good quality health care in the forthcoming future as the aging population increases. The phenomenon also results in a considerable cost on society due to the dependency on the public health sector particularly because such individuals would not be able to contribute to the economy. On the other hand, younger persons would need to make alternative arrangements to assist their elderly parents or relatives, potentially affecting productivity. The project PervasIve Nursing And docToral Assistant (PINATA) seeks to tackle this matter through the merging of Ambient Intelligence (AmI) and semantic web technologies. PINATA utilises pervasive devices to aid doctors and nurses to focus on the patient and thus improve the quality of healthcare services. This project proves the significant importance of using wireless technology in healthcare. This paper focuses on the use of Wi-Fi and RFID in an effort to enable continuous and intelligent monitoring of patients' conditions remotely. Results show that the detection system performs well (over 80%) accuracy on fall detection and the manual readings mapped 100% with the results collected by the system over the Wi-Fi infrastructure discussed in this paper.

scholarly journals A scorecard for local body election candidates in New Zealand

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
P Stone
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Public Health Issue ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
District Health ◽  
Public Health Perspective ◽  
The Public

Abstract Local elections are held every 3 years in NZ for District Health Boards (DHB). The public has low capability to scrutinise candidates for their knowledge/experience in public health governance. As a result, there is low voting turn-out for elections. So, 3 PHA branches developed scorecards for 2019 candidates. Our aims addressed 3 problems: 1. How to raise public awareness about local DHB elections 2. How to engage voters and provide them with information about candidates from a public health perspective 3.Can we encourage candidates to discuss public health issues/ preventative measures publicly. We hoped to promote democracy by increasing informed voter turnout. Scorecards were based on candidates' responses to a survey with 3 dimensions: alignment with public health values; health sector governance experience; views on a specific public health issue (water fluoridation). Survey responses were scored by panels of branch members. Southern branch sent the survey to 28 DHB candidates across 2 DHBs, and 24 replied in time. Wellington branch sent it to 23 CCDHB candidates and 16 replied in time. Canterbury's response rate was just over 50%, 11 of 21 surveys were returned. We produced scorecards for results in formats for printing and sharing online. We shared them on PHA's website, social media and featured them in the e-newsletter. Each branch launched them at local Meet the DHB Candidate events where hundreds of paper copies were distributed. There was good online interest in the scorecards: 3453 previews, 287 downloads for further printing/distribution. Many candidates committed, if elected, to policy solutions presented them at our events. There was significant increase (684 in Southern, 698 in Wellington, 2006 in Canterbury) in DHB voter turnout in 2019, compared to last election with no scorecards. Not all top-scoring candidates were subsequently elected onto respective DHBs, but for Wellington and Southland all elected had high scores. Key messages PHANZ plays a role in supporting NZ democracy by filling a gap in public information about election candidates, whether they are fit for purpose when scrutinised through the public health lens. Election Scorecard are effective for raising public awareness, providing scrutiny of the candidates from a public health perspective, encouraging candidates to consider public health issues.

Corrupt Practices in the Public Health Sector: A Focus on Metropolitan Local Government Areas of Kano State, Nigeria

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 149
Author(s):  
Mohammed Mustapha Namadi
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Healthcare Provision ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Health Sector ◽  
The Government

Corruption is pervasive in Nigeria at all levels. Thus, despite recent gains in healthcare provision, the health sector faces numerous corruption related challenges. This study aims at examining areas of corruption in the health sector with specific focus on its types and nature. A sample size of 480 respondents aged 18 years and above was drawn from the eight Metropolitan Local Government Areas of Kano State, using the multistage sampling technique. The results revealed evidence of corrupt practices including those related to unnecessary-absenteeism, diversion of patients from the public health facilities to the private sector, diverting money meant for the purchase of equipment, fuel and diesel, bribery, stealing of medications, fraud, misappropriation of medications and unjustifiable reimbursement claims. In order to resolve the problem of corrupt practices in the healthcare sector, the study recommended the need for enforcement of appropriate code of ethics guiding the conduct of the health professionals, adoption of anti-corruption strategies, and strengthening the government monitoring system to check corruption in public health sector in order to ensure equitable access to healthcare services among the under-privileged people in the society.

scholarly journals Association of patients’ perception of quality of healthcare received and colorectal cancer screening uptake: An analysis of two national surveys in the United States

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karan Chawla ◽  
Angesom Kibreab ◽  
Victor & Scott ◽  
Edward L. Lee ◽  
Farshad Aduli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Colorectal Cancer ◽  
United States ◽  
Healthcare Delivery ◽  
Quality Of Healthcare ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
The United States ◽  
Crc Screening ◽  
Fair Poor ◽  
National Trends

Objective: It is unknown whether patients’ ratings of the quality of healthcare services they receive truly correlate with the quality of care from their providers. Understanding this association can potentiate improvement in healthcare delivery. We evaluated the association between patients’ ratings of the quality of healthcare services received and uptake of colorectal cancer (CRC) screening. Subject and Methods: We used two iterations of the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) of adults in the United States. HINTS 2007 (4,007 respondents; weighted population=75,397,128) evaluated whether respondents were up-to-date with CRC screening while HINTS 4 cycle 3 (1,562 respondents; weighted population=76,628,000) evaluated whether participants had ever received CRC screening in the past. All included respondents from both surveys were at least 50 years of age, had no history of CRC, and had rated the quality of healthcare services that they had received at their healthcare provider’s office in the previous 12 months. Results: HINTS 2007 data showed that respondents who rated their healthcare as good, or fair/poor were significantly less likely to be up to date with CRC screening compared to those who rated their healthcare as excellent. We found comparable results from analysis of HINTS 4 cycle 3 data with poorer uptake of CRC screening as the healthcare quality ratings of respondents’ reduced. Conclusion: Our study suggested that patients who reported receiving lower quality of healthcare services were less likely to have undergone and be compliant with CRC screening recommendations. It is important to pay close attention to patient feedback surveys in order to improve healthcare delivery.

scholarly journals Robotics and AI for Teleoperation, Tele-Assessment, and Tele-Training for Surgery in the Era of COVID-19: Existing Challenges, and Future Vision

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Navid Feizi ◽  
Mahdi Tavakoli ◽  
Rajni V. Patel ◽  
S. Farokh Atashzar
Keyword(s):  
Surgical Procedures ◽  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Healthcare Delivery ◽  
Quality Of Healthcare ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Daily Basis ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Risk Of Infection ◽  
Post Surgery ◽  
Operative Assessment

The unprecedented shock caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has severely influenced the delivery of regular healthcare services. Most non-urgent medical activities, including elective surgeries, have been paused to mitigate the risk of infection and to dedicate medical resources to managing the pandemic. In this regard, not only surgeries are substantially influenced, but also pre- and post-operative assessment of patients and training for surgical procedures have been significantly impacted due to the pandemic. Many countries are planning a phased reopening, which includes the resumption of some surgical procedures. However, it is not clear how the reopening safe-practice guidelines will impact the quality of healthcare delivery. This perspective article evaluates the use of robotics and AI in 1) robotics-assisted surgery, 2) tele-examination of patients for pre- and post-surgery, and 3) tele-training for surgical procedures. Surgeons interact with a large number of staff and patients on a daily basis. Thus, the risk of infection transmission between them raises concerns. In addition, pre- and post-operative assessment also raises concerns about increasing the risk of disease transmission, in particular, since many patients may have other underlying conditions, which can increase their chances of mortality due to the virus. The pandemic has also limited the time and access that trainee surgeons have for training in the OR and/or in the presence of an expert. In this article, we describe existing challenges and possible solutions and suggest future research directions that may be relevant for robotics and AI in addressing the three tasks mentioned above.

Development, Integration, and Deployment of Mobile Information Services in Healthcare

2012 ◽  
pp. 242-261
Author(s):  
Jelena Mirkovic ◽  
Haakon Bryhni
Keyword(s):  
Healthcare Delivery ◽  
Quality Of Healthcare ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Security And Privacy ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Mobile Healthcare ◽  
Mobile Access ◽  
User Friendly ◽  
Mobile Information Services

The use of mobile and wireless technologies has great potential to improve the efficiency and quality of healthcare delivery. The main goal of this chapter is to describe the current state of the art in the research field of development and integration of mobile services in the healthcare sector by addressing the two main challenges: usability and security. The authors investigate the main requirements and approaches for developing highly usable, user-friendly, and well-accepted mobile healthcare services. In addition, they identify various ways of addressing security and privacy issues in mobile healthcare services and discuss the advantages and shortcomings of each approach. Finally, the chapter presents the CONNECT (Care Online: Novel Networks to Enhance Communication and Treatment) project and describes how security and usability issues can be addressed during the development of mobile access to a multi-modal Internet-based patient support system.

scholarly journals The Challenges of the IS/IT Projects in the Healthcare Sector

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Gomes ◽  
Mário Romão
Keyword(s):  
User Satisfaction ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Quality Of Healthcare ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Operational Efficiency ◽  
Integrated System ◽  
Superior Performance ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Emergent Technologies

Essentially, the purpose of investment in information systems and information technology (IS/IT) is to improve the operational efficiency of the organizations, reducing costs and improving levels of quality. Thus, many traditional appraisal techniques are used to evaluate tangible benefits, which are based on direct project costs. Since the 1980s, IS/IT has positioned itself as a strategic tool that through flexibility and innovative ways can produce superior performance. The health sector has sought to improve its effectiveness and efficiency by adopting IS/IT solutions to increase the quality of services, namely patient safety, organizational efficiency, and end-user satisfaction. Hospitals are complex organizations, and this complexity magnifies the opportunity for inevitable human errors. A poorly integrated system can decrease operational efficiency and reduce the quality of healthcare services. The issue remains controversial, as evidenced by several articles. The authors noticed that emergent technologies may offer opportunities to those who can exploit them effectively.

scholarly journals Public priorities for osteoporosis and fracture research: results from a focus group study

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley Hawarden ◽  
Clare Jinks ◽  
Waheed Mahmood ◽  
Laurna Bullock ◽  
Steven Blackburn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Focus Groups ◽  
National Survey ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Research Priorities ◽  
Fragility Fractures ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Public ◽  
Delays In Diagnosis

Abstract Summary Four focus groups were conducted with members of the public to identify important areas for future osteoporosis research. Participants identified priorities to increase public awareness of osteoporosis, reduce delays in diagnosis, improve communication between healthcare providers and to improve follow-up and information provision about causes of osteoporosis, medication harms and prognosis. Purpose Patients and the public must be involved in setting research agendas to ensure relevant and impactful questions are prioritised. This study aimed to understand what people living with osteoporosis and fragility fractures felt was important to research, to inform the content of a national survey on research priorities in this area. Methods Focus groups were conducted with members of the public with experience of osteoporosis or fragility fractures. The topic guide was co-developed with a patient and public involvement research user group, and explored participants’ experiences of osteoporosis including diagnosis, management and effect upon their lives, what aspects of their ongoing care was most important to them and what about their care or condition could be improved. Focus groups were audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed thematically. Results A total of twenty-three participants were recruited to four focus groups. Analysis identified two main themes: challenges in living with osteoporosis and healthcare services for osteoporosis. Information needs was a further cross-cutting theme. Participants called for increased public awareness of osteoporosis and wanted healthcare services to address conflicting messages about diet, exercise and medication. Participants described long delays in diagnosis, poor communication between primary and secondary care and the need for structured follow-up as important areas for future research to address. Conclusion The findings from this study provide an understanding of research priorities from the perspective of patients and the public, have informed the content of a national survey and have implications for patient education, health services research and policy.

scholarly journals Towards a Shariah Compliance Model for Healthcare Centres with reference to Spiritual Healers: Issues and Challenges

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramizah Wan Muhammad
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Tertiary Care ◽  
Healthcare Delivery ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Healthcare Delivery System ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Healthcare Centre ◽  
The Public ◽  
The People ◽  
Spiritual Healers

Generally, a good healthcare centre comprises of qualified manpower, right policies and right procedures in providing primary care, secondary care and tertiary care for the patients as well as in public health. Other than manpower, healthcare centres must also look at social, religious and cultural factors affecting the recipients of the healthcare services given by the healthcare centres. In this paper, the author will look at some pertinent issues such as the need to have spiritual healers in any healthcare centre to help the patients in dealing with fatal illness. The spiritual healer is to help the patient and give him motivation so that he could have a positive mind throughout his journey in battling with his illness. Sometimes we have patients who refused to listen to the doctor's advice. Thus, the role of the spiritual healer would be important in assisting the healthcare centres and its management to convince him. Another issue is the privacy, respect and trust between patients and doctors as well as with the management of the healthcare centres. One of the duties of the healthcare centres’ management and doctors is, to respect the patient's religion and his faith. These three issues are amongst the important issues which every healthcare centre must look upon. Definitely there are a lot of challenges in addressing the above mentioned issues such as the procedures, methods on how to execute these issues and most importantly the perception of the public. In Islam, health care is one of the five important elements in which the Prophet SAW has mentioned in one hadith to be taken care of. A study has shown that a nation-building efforts has no meaningwithout the best public health and healthcare delivery system to the people.

scholarly journals Patient satisfaction survey: A gateway to quality improvement in primary healthcare in the IAF

2021 ◽  
Vol 65 ◽  
pp. 105-108
Author(s):  
VV Joshi ◽  
R Dev ◽  
NK Tripathy
Keyword(s):  
Patient Satisfaction ◽  
Primary Healthcare ◽  
Short Form ◽  
Tertiary Care ◽  
Healthcare Delivery ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Quality Of Healthcare ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Important Indicator ◽  
Tertiary Healthcare

Patient satisfaction is an important indicator to assess and improve quality of healthcare services. In Armed Forces Medical Services, studies on patient satisfaction are scant and mainly hospital based. Hence, a study was conducted with an objective to assess patient satisfaction in seven Primary Healthcare Delivery Centers (PHDCs) in one of the operational commands in the Indian Air Force (IAF). Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire Short Form 18 (PSQ-18), a simple tool, was used for the survey. The study was unique in the sense that few centers in the survey were remotely located from tertiary care hospitals and the Medical Officers in these PHDCs were relatively inexperienced. The analysis of the survey clearly brought out distinct differences in certain dimensions of patient satisfaction across the PHDCs. In addition, utility of the Hindi translated version of PSQ-18 was ascertained. Based on the results of the study, few important conclusions were drawn; (a) patient satisfaction could be assessed using simple questionnaire such as PSQ-18, (b) the Hindi translated version of PSQ-18 can also be used as a useful tool depending on the participants’ preference, and (c) the observed dimensions affecting patient satisfaction could be addressed through specific interventions. Similar survey is recommended to be conducted across primary, secondary, and tertiary healthcare establishments in the IAF.

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