Attitude and Practices of Health Care Professionals and Their Family Members toward Health Care Professionals Dealing with Covid-19 Patients in New Delhi, India

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (30) ◽  
pp. 2249-2254
Author(s):  
Shruti Chopra ◽  
Sabreen Gujral ◽  
Shweta Sood ◽  
Naresh Sharma ◽  
Akshara Singh

BACKGROUND Coronavirus was noticed in the mid-1930’s and the first case of infection in humans was reported as a cold in 1960. In December 2019, clusters of pneumonia cases caused havoc in China. In order to eliminate the infection in the current pandemic, World Health Organisation (WHO) has furnished several recommendations, online courses, and training sessions to increase knowledge, prevention, and control among the health care workers (HCWs). It is crucial to guarantee the safety of not only the health care professionals but also the people who are in close contact with them. We wanted to assess the attitude and safety practices of family members of health care professionals dealing with Covid-19 patients and if the increasing number of cases in India have altered their reaction. METHODS A cross-sectional survey-based study was conducted from July - August 2020 on HCWs dealing with Covid-19 patients and any close contact personnel such as family members of HCWs in order to avoid the spread of Covid-19 among individuals aged 14 - 60 years. RESULTS A total of 368 respondents participated in the study. Majority of the respondents had a positive attitude. In terms of relation, children had a negative attitude towards having their family member deal with Covid-19 patients (46.2 %; N = 46) whereas, 51.5 % (N = 35) spouses had a more positive outlook and 49.2 % (N = 181) respondents reported that the increasing cases in India had altered their initial reaction. CONCLUSIONS Majority of the participants from our study reported a positive attitude towards a family member working in close contact with a Covid-19 patient. More than 50 % of the participants had undertaken various precautions to restrict the spread of the disease. KEY WORDS Health Personnel, Infectious Disease Transmission, Pandemic, Preventive Practices, Relatives

Author(s):  
K. M. Jaiswal ◽  
Lohit S. Vaishnao ◽  
Sujata Dudhgaonkar ◽  
Latesh Raghte ◽  
Mahek S. Kewalramani ◽  
...  

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) ranks as the leading cause of death from infectious disease. The World Health Organization (WHO) has considered TB a global public health disaster since 1993. Four factors affect non-adherence to treatment-the patient, healthcare systems, pharmaco-therapeutics and the key persons, health care professional (HCP). So, the study was conducted to evaluate knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding TB care and control in HCPs working in TB units.Methods: This was a cross-sectional, observational, questionnaire-based study conducted in all the HCPs working for the TB care and control.Results: The responses to the questions of knowledge were variable indicating incompleteness of information, facts, understanding related to TB in HCPs. HCPs show very strong positive attitude for finding every new case of TB is essential. The HCPs disagree to some statements like traditional or alternative medicine assists in wellbeing of TB patients. Practice competency was low with average score 2.32 out of 6, doctors having higher score of 4.62 followed by nurses, lab-technicians, pharmacist and activist with score of 2.57, 1.66, 1.5, 1.25 respectively.  The activist are the key persons in the national tuberculosis program, exhibited the least score in this study indicates they do not have much orientation about the practice of TB treatment. Specific deficiencies existed for some knowledge statements of HCWs on TB. There was disagreement in attitudes regarding stigma and traditional medicine, and practice competencies were poor. Improvement in aspect of KAP of HCPs on TB will help India achieve the goal of End TB.Conclusions: Specific deficiencies existed for some knowledge statements of TB in paramedical staff as compared to doctor participants. There was disagreement in attitudes regarding stigma and traditional medicine, and practice competencies were poor in activists. Improvement in knowledge, attitude and practices of TB in paramedical staff by conducting CME, Workshop, training sessions will help India to achieve the goal of End TB.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-80
Author(s):  
Laxmi Panthy ◽  
Jagadishwor Panthi ◽  
Kapil Amgain ◽  
Pooja Thapaliya ◽  
Jos Van Laar

The Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), which was first discovered in Wuhan, China in December 2019, puts an entire world under unprecedented danger. Powerful nations such as the United States of America and European Union countries having their hardest time to get sufficient medical protective gear, ensure market operation, and eventually to save people from dying of corona infection. To date, 213 countries have been affected. World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed 123,010 deaths and 1914,916 cases with coronavirus positive as of 15 April 2020. It has created a global public health emergency. There is no specific prophylaxis or treatment available yet.  Hand washing, covering one's mouth when coughing, social distancing, self-isolation, and quarantine are preventive measures to hamper the spread of disease. Currently, Nepal has entered into the second phase of the outbreak. Health care workers (HCW) at the frontlines of the battle against COVID-19 are ill-equipped to treat coronavirus patients, due to not having adequate personal protective equipment in Nepal. Additionally, there is a shortage of PPE in the world market due to the aggressive buying of PPE globally. According to UNICEF, demand for protective gear used in response to COVID-19 has increased as high as 1000-2000 folds than of annual demand. Conclusion: In this global scarcity, locally made PPE has become another alternate way for Nepal.  Hence, some of the local garments, hospitals, and local rural municipalities have prepared and delivered to HCWs. Although these Nepal-made PPE are not as high quality as imported ones, they at least offer some protection to medical staff.   Recommendations: Following is our recommendation to the stakeholders:     Learn- from countries with the lowest mortality rate and best medical & preventive practices policies, as fast as possible. Alternative Approaches - are necessary to decrease the risk of exposure to HCWs and are safe for patient care in this global market scarcity of PPE. Solidarity- between richer and poorer countries is necessary. Cooperate globally - international cooperation between governments, scientists, corporations, and health care professionals is not only needed but also necessary to end this pandemic.


Author(s):  
Stuti Debnath

Telemedicine was defined by the World Health Organization as “the delivery of health care services by all health care professionals using technology for the exchange of valid information for the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease and injuries”. In the current scenario of COVID19, telemedicine played a vital role in our live by saving our time and also by helping us in maintaining the social distancing norms. Telemedicine consultation helps to minimize the spread of the virus by providing all kind of health care services without the need of going to the close contact to the clinicians. In our city both government and private hospitals have actively participated and provided their every possible way of contribution to various telemedicine activities. The aim & objective of this study is to find out, satisfaction of the patients in using telemedicine consultation during COVID-19 pandemic. A Survey was administered among 30 patients who had received at least one or more than one telemedicine consultation to know the satisfaction for telemedicine consultation during this COVID-19 pandemic. The survey was done among 30 people between the age group of 30- above 60 year during the year 2021. The survey was done through Google Form. Participants responded to survey questions about their telemedicine consultation during COVID-19 pandemic. The result of the survey shows, 60% people from 30-40 age group, 6.7% people from 41-50 age group, 23.3% people from 51-60 age group & 10% people from above 60 age group used telemedicine during this pandemic. My survey also shows that 20% for new complaint, 16.7% follow up, 33.3% for emergency & 30% for covid 19 related reasons used telemedicine and it also shows that 30% people for sick or well check, 40% people used for safety, 26.7% people used to save time and 3.3% people used telemedicine for other reason for most recent visit. From my study I found out that 53.3% people used telephone & 20% used video conference and 26.7%


10.2196/25060 ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. e25060
Author(s):  
Tobias Kowatsch ◽  
Theresa Schachner ◽  
Samira Harperink ◽  
Filipe Barata ◽  
Ullrich Dittler ◽  
...  

Background Successful management of chronic diseases requires a trustful collaboration between health care professionals, patients, and family members. Scalable conversational agents, designed to assist health care professionals, may play a significant role in supporting this collaboration in a scalable way by reaching out to the everyday lives of patients and their family members. However, to date, it remains unclear whether conversational agents, in such a role, would be accepted and whether they can support this multistakeholder collaboration. Objective With asthma in children representing a relevant target of chronic disease management, this study had the following objectives: (1) to describe the design of MAX, a conversational agent–delivered asthma intervention that supports health care professionals targeting child-parent teams in their everyday lives; and (2) to assess the (a) reach of MAX, (b) conversational agent–patient working alliance, (c) acceptance of MAX, (d) intervention completion rate, (e) cognitive and behavioral outcomes, and (f) human effort and responsiveness of health care professionals in primary and secondary care settings. Methods MAX was designed to increase cognitive skills (ie, knowledge about asthma) and behavioral skills (ie, inhalation technique) in 10-15-year-olds with asthma, and enables support by a health professional and a family member. To this end, three design goals guided the development: (1) to build a conversational agent–patient working alliance; (2) to offer hybrid (human- and conversational agent–supported) ubiquitous coaching; and (3) to provide an intervention with high experiential value. An interdisciplinary team of computer scientists, asthma experts, and young patients with their parents developed the intervention collaboratively. The conversational agent communicates with health care professionals via email, with patients via a mobile chat app, and with a family member via SMS text messaging. A single-arm feasibility study in primary and secondary care settings was performed to assess MAX. Results Results indicated an overall positive evaluation of MAX with respect to its reach (49.5%, 49/99 of recruited and eligible patient-family member teams participated), a strong patient-conversational agent working alliance, and high acceptance by all relevant stakeholders. Moreover, MAX led to improved cognitive and behavioral skills and an intervention completion rate of 75.5%. Family members supported the patients in 269 out of 275 (97.8%) coaching sessions. Most of the conversational turns (99.5%) were conducted between patients and the conversational agent as opposed to between patients and health care professionals, thus indicating the scalability of MAX. In addition, it took health care professionals less than 4 minutes to assess the inhalation technique and 3 days to deliver related feedback to the patients. Several suggestions for improvement were made. Conclusions This study provides the first evidence that conversational agents, designed as mediating social actors involving health care professionals, patients, and family members, are not only accepted in such a “team player” role but also show potential to improve health-relevant outcomes in chronic disease management.


Healthcare ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mizuki Takegata ◽  
Chris Smith ◽  
Hien Anh Thi Nguyen ◽  
Hai Huynh Thi ◽  
Trang Nguyen Thi Minh ◽  
...  

The Caesarean section rate in urban Vietnam is 43% in 2014, which is more than twice the recommended rate (10%–15%) by the World Health Organization. This qualitative study aims to identify the perceptions of pregnant mothers and health care professionals on the medical and social factors related to the increased Caesarean section rate in Vietnam. A qualitative descriptive study was conducted among pregnant mothers and healthcare professionals at two public hospitals in Nha Trang city. A content analysis was adopted in order to identify social and medical factors. As a result, 29 pregnant women and 19 health care professionals were invited to participate in the qualitative interviews. Private interviews were conducted with 10 women who wished to have a Caesarean section, and the others participated in focus group interviews. The main themes of the social factors were ‘request for Caesarean section,’ ‘mental strain of obstetricians,’ and ‘decision-making process.’ To conclude, this qualitative study suggests that there were unnecessary caesarean sections without a clear medical indication, which were requested by women and family members. Psychological fear occurred among women and family, and doctors were the main determinants for driving the requests for Caesarean section, which implies that education and emotional encouragement is necessary by midwives. In addition, a multi-faced approach including a mandatory reporting system in clinical fields and involving family members in antenatal education is important.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Shank Coviello

In 2016, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) reported medical error as the 3rd leading cause of death in healthcare systems in the United States. Effective communication of patient care needs across healthcare disciplines is critical to ensure patient safety, quality of care, and to improve operational efficiencies in healthcare systems. Ineffective collaboration and communication among healthcare professionals within the procedural areas increases the potential of harm as a patient moves from one healthcare professional to another. Health care systems are thus encouraged to train employees with a focus on interprofessional education (IPE) and collaborative practice. IOM and World Health Organization (WHO) recommend the use of IPE to help improve communication and collaboration. However the current educational structure in many institutions does not include IPE. As such, healthcare professionals work in silos, with little or no collaboration with one another, which may result in service duplication, increased service cost, and poor health outcomes for patients.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (15) ◽  
pp. 1098-1101
Author(s):  
Aditi Vinay Chandak ◽  
Surekha Dubey Godbole ◽  
Tanvi Rajesh Balwani ◽  
Tanuj Sunil Patil

Ecosystem, which consists of the physical environment and all the living organisms, on which we all depend, is declining rapidly because of its destruction caused by humans. It’s a two-way relationship between the humans and mother nature. If we destroy the natural environment around us, human life will be seriously affected, and the life of next generation will be endangered unless serious steps are taken. One such effect of human overexploitations has come in the form of coronavirus outbreak. Coronavirus, a contagious disease of 2019 known as Covid-19, is the latest swiftly spreading global infection. The aetiology of Covid-19 is different from SARS-CoV which has the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), but it has the same host receptor, human angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). The novel coronavirus which is zoonotic (spreading from an animal to a human) and mainly found in the bats and pangolins is a single stranded ribonucleic acid virus of Coronaviridae family. 1 The typical structure of 2019-nCoV possessed ‘spike protein’ in the membrane envelope, also expressed various polyproteins, nucleoproteins and membrane protein. The S protein binds to the receptor cell of host to facilitate the entry of virus in the host. Currently four genera for coronavirus are found α-CoV, ßCoV, γ-CoV, δ-CoV. SARS-CoV first originated in Wuhan, China and has spread across the globe. World Health Organization (WHO) and public health emergency of international concern declared it as 2019 - 2020 pandemic disease.2 According to WHO report, (7th April 2020) update on this pandemic coronavirus disease, there have been more than 13,65,004 confirmed cases and 76,507 deaths across the world and these figures are rapidly increasing. Therefore, actions for proper recognition, management and its prevention must be prompted for relevant alleviation of its outspread.3 Health care professionals are mainly indulged in the national crises and are working diligently around-the-clock, small ratio of the health care workers have become affected and few died tragically. Dentists are most often the first ones to be affected because they work with patients in close proximity. On 15th March 2020, the New York Times published an article titled “The workers who face the greatest Coronavirus risk” described the dentists are highly exposed, than the paramedical staffs and general physicians, to the risk of novel coronavirus disease 19.4


2007 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 201-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niamh Gargan ◽  
Janette Chianese

AbstractInformed consent is a fundamental principle of health care ethics. All patients should have equal opportunities in accessing information to help them make informed decisions about their treatments.Literature on informed consent, translators in health care, non-English-speaking patients and the importance of communication and information, most specifically in radiotherapy, were reviewed. Western studies published between 1995 and 2005 were accessed and filtered though two eligibility screens and a critique framework to assess quality.The evidence suggested that many non-English-speaking patients are not in a position to give true informed consent due to lack of interpreters. This may lead to health care professionals giving treatment without full consent. Written information for radiotherapy patients was often only available in English, apart from inner city areas.There appears to be a scarcity of professional interpreters used in the health care setting; the most common practice is to use family members and friends to interpret. This practice results in breach of patient confidentiality, extra pressure on family members and filtration of information.This patient group is often excluded from certain treatment opportunities such as clinical trials. Ideally, a fully accessible professional interpreting service should be available to allow non-English patients equal rights in accessing appropriate health care options and treatments.


2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (11) ◽  
pp. 947-954 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle Zweers ◽  
Alexander de Graeff ◽  
Jette Duijn ◽  
Everlien de Graaf ◽  
Petronella O. Witteveen ◽  
...  

Introduction: Anxiety is a common symptom in the palliative phase, and symptom management depends on the competencies of individual professionals. This study aims to get insight into the needs of anxious hospice patients with advanced cancer regarding support. Method: Semi-structured interviews were performed in admitted hospice patients with cancer. Patients admitted from May 2017 till May 2018 were eligible whether or not they were anxious. Interviews were analyzed and coded within predefined topics. Results: Fourteen patients were included: 10 females, median age 71, and median World Health Organization performance score 3. Most patients were highly educated. Thirteen patients were interviewed within 6 months before death. Information, open communication, sense of control, safety, adequate symptom management, and respect for patients’ coping strategy were the 6 main expressed needs. Conclusion: Assessing patients’ needs regarding anxiety provided important angles where health-care professionals can make a difference in order to support anxious patients in their final stage of life to realize tailored palliative care. Future research should focus on the development of a systematic approach for health-care professionals to manage anxiety in daily care of terminal patients.


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