scholarly journals Scientia Potentia Est: How the Italian World of Oncology Changes in the COVID-19 Pandemic

2020 ◽  
pp. 1017-1023
Author(s):  
Zelmira Ballatore ◽  
Lucia Bastianelli ◽  
Filippo Merloni ◽  
Nicoletta Ranallo ◽  
Luca Cantini ◽  
...  

PURPOSE After coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic by the WHO, a response from the Italian Health System to react to an unprecedented condition became necessary and sudden. The COVID-19 pandemic has required oncologists to redefine clinical organization and patient management. The purpose of our study was to document the difficulties emerging during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Italian oncology. METHODS We broadcasted an electronic survey to oncologic health care professionals. It consisted of 45 questions ranging from individual perception of pandemic management by hospital centers to physicians’ and nurses’ psychological distress and patient care. RESULTS A total of 383 oncology health workers participated in the survey. The majority were female (71.8%) and from central Italy (46.2%). Impressively, a total of 357 (93%) participants declared the oncologic department reorganized routine clinical activity, but only 40.5% were adequately trained about the required procedures; 20% of the survey respondents think they have not received adequate and timely protective devices. CONCLUSION Our survey demonstrated the flexibility of oncologic teams. However, the emergency response quality has been heterogeneous, and several drawbacks have emerged from the first analyses investigating how the world of oncology changes in the COVID-19 pandemic. Information, protection, testing, and training of health care professionals are key words that should be kept in mind to encourage recovery after this tragedy and to be ready to face a similar emergency in the future.

2021 ◽  
pp. 104973232098783
Author(s):  
Stacey Power ◽  
Keelin O’Donoghue ◽  
Sarah Meaney

Ireland has had a reliance on voluntary groups to provide peer-to-peer bereavement support. The aim of this study was to explore volunteers’, within these voluntary groups, experiences of supporting parents following a fatal fetal anomaly diagnosis. Purposive sampling was used to recruit volunteers ( n = 17) and face-to-face interviews undertaken. NVivo12 was utilized to assist in the thematic analysis of the data. Five themes; “motivation for altruistic acts,” “being challenged,” “value of education and training,” “supporting volunteers to support others,” and “it is not a sprint, it is a marathon” were identified. Volunteers felt comfortable in their peer-support role but found the lack of knowledge regarding newly implemented termination of pregnancy (TOP) services challenging. The importance of education/training was identified, emphasizing the need for collaboration with health care professionals and other voluntary organizations for support. The findings illustrate the need for collaborative working between health care professionals and volunteers to assist them in supporting bereaved parents.


1996 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 113-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola T A Hopkins ◽  
John A White ◽  
Lesley Rushton ◽  
Jackie Gordon

PEDIATRICS ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 110 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 210-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary T. Story ◽  
Dianne R. Neumark-Stzainer ◽  
Nancy E. Sherwood ◽  
Katrina Holt ◽  
Denise Sofka ◽  
...  

Objective. The primary aim of this study was to evaluate among health care professionals their attitudes, perceived barriers, perceived skill level, and training needs in the management of child and adolescent obesity. Methods. A national needs assessment consisting of a mailed questionnaire was conducted among a random sample of health care professionals. The survey was completed by 202 pediatricians, 293 pediatric nurse practitioners, and 444 registered dietitians. Results. The majority of all respondents felt that childhood obesity was a condition that needs treatment (75%–93%), and affects chronic disease risk (76%–89%) and future quality of life (83%–93%). The most frequent barriers were lack of parent involvement, lack of patient motivation, and lack of support services. Registered dietitians were less likely to identify barriers to treatment compared with pediatricians or pediatric nurse practitioners. The most common areas of self-perceived low proficiency were in the use of behavioral management strategies, guidance in parenting techniques, and addressing family conflicts. All 3 groups expressed high interest in additional training on obesity management of children and adolescents, especially in the area of behavioral management strategies and parenting techniques. Those practitioners with >10 years of practice reported the greatest interest in training. Conclusions. Pediatric practitioners view child and adolescent obesity with concern and feel that intervention is important. However, several important barriers interfere with treatment efforts and will need to be addressed. There is also a need for increased training opportunities related to obesity prevention and treatment. The results of this study provide directions and priorities for training, education, and advocacy efforts.


2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 169
Author(s):  
WaleedS Beshyah ◽  
SalemA Beshyah ◽  
Salim Yaghi ◽  
AnasS Beshyah ◽  
MuhammadH Farooqi ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 215-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tao Wang ◽  
Alex Molassiotis ◽  
Betty Pui Man Chung ◽  
Jing-Yu Tan

Objectives: This study aimed to obtain an overview of the current research status of palliative care in Mainland China and identify research directions for future studies by characterizing palliative care studies conducted among patients with any life-limiting illness in Mainland China and published in a peer-reviewed journal before November 2016. Methods: A review guide with 7 categories was initially developed based on existing international palliative care definitions and guidelines through content analysis. Ten databases were used to identify relevant studies from the inception of online cataloging to November 2016. Studies conducted in Mainland China and their research topic that fell within one of the categories of the review guide were included for further analysis. Descriptive analysis was adopted to summarize the relevant findings. Results: 54 studies found to be relevant were included for the analysis. Three studies on “palliative care education and training” (category 1) asserted that education and training programs were scant in Mainland China and that only 1 program had been devised within the health-care context of Shanghai. Five studies on “palliative care screening and timely identification” (category 2) highlighted the absence of early screening criteria or checklists and referral procedures for palliative care. Thirty-one studies on “palliative care needs assessment (n = 12/31) and implementation (n = 19/31)” (category 3) were identified, and various methodological flaws were observed in most of these included studies. Twelve studies on “advanced decision-making” (category 4) were identified, all of which focused on investigating the attitudes of patients with cancer, their families, and/or health-care professionals toward advanced decision-making only. The percentage of patients, family members, and health-care professionals who held positive attitudes toward advanced decision-making were varied and suboptimal, particularly for family members (51.4%-58.0%). Five studies on “caring for patients at the end of life” (category 5) were identified, and the experience of health-care professionals in caring for those patients was explored. No studies relating to “death and bereavement care” (Category 6) and “psychological support for palliative care providers” (Category 7) were identified. Conclusion: The current research status of palliative care in Mainland China remains at an early stage with minimal palliative care services used. Although several knowledge gaps were identified, the first step, which should be addressed, is assessing the palliative care needs. An appropriate and ongoing needs assessment could provide important information for constructing comprehensive education and training programs of palliative care, identifying prognostic factors of timely palliative care referral, and developing evidence-based and tailored palliative care services.


Diagnosis ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 107-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark L. Graber ◽  
Joseph Rencic ◽  
Diana Rusz ◽  
Frank Papa ◽  
Pat Croskerry ◽  
...  

Abstract Diagnostic error is increasingly recognized as a major patient safety concern. Efforts to improve diagnosis have largely focused on safety and quality improvement initiatives that patients, providers, and health care organizations can take to improve the diagnostic process and its outcomes. This educational policy brief presents an alternative strategy for improving diagnosis, centered on future healthcare providers, to improve the education and training of clinicians in every health care profession. The hypothesis is that we can improve diagnosis by improving education. A literature search was first conducted to understand the relationship of education and training to diagnosis and diagnostic error in different health care professions. Based on the findings from this search we present the justification for focusing on education and training, recommendations for specific content that should be incorporated to improve diagnosis, and recommendations on educational approaches that should be used. Using an iterative, consensus-based process, we then developed a driver diagram that categorizes the key content into five areas. Learners should: 1) Acquire and effectively use a relevant knowledge base, 2) Optimize clinical reasoning to reduce cognitive error, 3) Understand system-related aspects of care, 4) Effectively engage patients and the diagnostic team, and 5) Acquire appropriate perspectives and attitudes about diagnosis. These domains echo recommendations in the National Academy of Medicine’s report Improving Diagnosis in Health Care. The National Academy report suggests that true interprofessional education and training, incorporating recent advances in understanding diagnostic error, and improving clinical reasoning and other aspects of education, can ultimately improve diagnosis by improving the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of all health care professionals.


2003 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 37-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Germaine A. Griswold ◽  
Frederick W. Foley ◽  
June Halper ◽  
Nicholas G. LaRocca ◽  
Vance Zemon

When health care professionals were asked about their perceptions of, assessment of, and treatment methods for sexual dysfunction, they acknowledged that sexual dysfunction was a frequent problem for MS patients, although few addressed the issue with their patients. Most also believed that very few of the patients actually sought help for sexual dysfunction. In addition to comfort level and training as the strongest predictors determining inquiry behavior, respondents indicated that lack of time with patients was an important factor in not inquiring about sexual function. As a whole, the group had minimal training in human sexuality. This questionnaire-based study found that amount of training was a significant predictor of both comfort level in discussing sexual functioning and the frequency in which discussions were initiated with patients. The results suggest that more training would facilitate MS health care professionals' comfort and assessment behaviors of sexual dysfunction. (Int J MS Care. 2003; 5: 37–38, 44–51)


Author(s):  
Architha Aithal ◽  
Ateendra Jha

Many developing countries are facing a crisis in human health resources due to a critical shortage of health workers. Despite of many trained health care professionals our health care system is struggling to provide optimum services to the patients. Gaps still exist with respect to patient care, which are unevenly delivered. The data collected from 228 subjects reveals that only 7.01% of the subjects have received counseling always, 59.65% think that counseling should be given and only 41.66% are satisfied with current health care system while 56.57% are not satisfied. Our study shows that there is a huge burden on health care professionals due to a high number of the patient load which leads to the hindrance in optimum patient care and finally leads to the degradation in the quality of health care services. Now time has approached when the term task shifting should be taken seriously especially in the health care sectors. Pharmacists, an ignored profession in the health care sector have a crucial role for optimum patient care. It is the demand of the scenario that pharmacist should be taken as a key role player between the patient and prescriber. A proper communication between the patient and prescriber can be established only if all health care professionals will start working to assist each other not to compete with each other.


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