Accessibility, reliability, and usability of neurosurgical resources

OBJECTIVE Closing the knowledge gap that exists between patients and health care providers is essential and is facilitated by easy access to patient education materials. Although such information has the potential to be an effective resource, it must be written in a user-friendly and understandable manner, especially when such material pertains to specialized and highly technical fields such as neurological surgery. The authors evaluated the accessibility, usability, and reliability of current educational resources provided by the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), Healthwise, and the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). METHODS Online neurosurgical patient education information provided by AANS, Healthwise, and NINDS was evaluated using the LIDA scale, a website quality assessment tool, by medical professionals and nonmedical professionals. A high achieving score is regarded as 90% or greater using the LIDA scale. RESULTS Accessibility scores were 76.7% (AANS), 83.3% (Healthwise), and 75.0% (NINDS). Average usability scores for the AANS, Healthwise, and NINDS were 73.3%, 82.6%, and 82.9%, respectively, when evaluated by medical professionals and 78.5%, 80.7%, and 75.9%, respectively, for nonmedical professionals, respectively. Average reliability scores were 58.5%, 53.3%, 72.6%, respectively, for medical professionals and 70.4%, 66.7%, and 78.5%, respectively, for nonmedical professionals when evaluating the AANS, Healthwise, and NINDS websites. CONCLUSIONS Although organizations like AANS, Healthwise, and NINDS should be commended for their ongoing commitment to provide health care–oriented materials, modification of this material is suggested to improve the patient education value.

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A study to assess the clean hospital initiative and quality of health services using kayakalp tool in a first referral unit, of Khordha district of Odisha, India

International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health ◽

10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20184824 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 5 (12) ◽

pp. 5397 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Mayadhar Panda ◽

Sikata Nanda

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Waste Management ◽

Health Care Providers ◽

Assessment Tool ◽

Care Facility ◽

Health Care Facility ◽

Family Welfare ◽

Situational Analysis ◽

Care Providers

Background: As a part of “Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan” campaign, the Ministry of Health and Family welfare, Govt. of India had launched “Kayakalp” in 2015, an initiative to promote cleanliness and enhance the quality of public health facilities. Our aim was to study the situational analysis of the health institution using Kayakalp tool; to assess the level of cleanliness, hygiene and infection control practices in the facility and to assess the status of Bio-medical waste management in the health care facility and to suggest remedial measures based on the study finding.Methods: It is a hospital based snapshot study done during a period of one year from April 2016 to March 2017. Kayakalp assessment tool was used for analysis.Results: The total scores for upkeep maintenance obtained in 2016-17 was 69 and for the year 2017-18 was 81. There was an increase of total score in the year 2017-18 and it was found to be statistically significant. On assessment in the year 2016-17, for BMW the total score obtained was 58 and in the year 2017-18 it was 81. There was a statistically significant increase in the scores (p=0.001) obtained in the year (2017-18).Conclusions: Improvements in Biomedical waste management can be made by increasing the knowledge, awareness and practices of the health care providers as well as the beneficiaries with regular periodic monitoring.

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Plain Talk About Health: Linguistic Aspects of Mediation between Amish and Mennonites and Health Care Professionals

The Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities ◽

10.18061/jpac.v1i1.7803 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 1

Author(s):

Mark L. Louden

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Health Care Providers ◽

Health Care Professionals ◽

Language Use ◽

Medical Professionals ◽

Care Providers ◽

Public Spheres ◽

Pennsylvania Dutch ◽

Old Order ◽

Cultural Mediator

As the population of Amish and Old Order Mennonites grows exponentially, so are the contacts between Plain people and medical professionals increasing. All Plain adults are bilingual; however, the fact that the primary everyday language for most is Pennsylvania Dutch is important for understanding how they navigate the health care system. In this article I give an overview of language-related questions involved in communication between Plain people and health care providers with a focus on three areas: translation, interpretation, and patterns of language use. Much of the information I present in this article is drawn from my experience as an interpreter and cultural mediator for Plain people in a number of different public spheres, mainly health care.

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Experiences of homosexual patients’ access to primary health care services in Umlazi, KwaZulu-Natal

Curationis ◽

10.4102/curationis.v38i2.1522 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 38 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Nokulunga H. Cele ◽

Maureen N. Sibiya ◽

Dudu G. Sokhela

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Primary Health Care ◽

Nursing Education ◽

Health Care Providers ◽

Health Care Services ◽

Health Care Facilities ◽

Easy Access ◽

Care Providers ◽

Care Services ◽

Primary Health

Background: Homosexual patients are affected by social factors in their environment, and as a result may not have easy access to existing health care services. Prejudice against homosexuality and homosexual patients remains a barrier to them seeking appropriate healthcare. The concern is that lesbians and gays might delay or avoid seeking health care when they need it because of past discrimination or perceived homophobia within the health care thereby putting their health at risk.Aim of the study: The aim of the study was to explore and describe the experiences of homosexual patients utilising primary health care (PHC) services in Umlazi in the province ofKwaZulu-Natal (KZN).Method: A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive study was conducted which was contextual innature. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 participants. The findings of this study were analysed using content analysis.Results: Two major themes emerged from the data analysis, namely, prejudice against homosexual patients by health care providers and other patients at the primary health care facilities, and, homophobic behaviour from primary health care personnel.Conclusion: Participants experienced prejudice and homophobic behaviour in the course of utilising PHC clinics in Umlazi, which created a barrier to their utilisation of health services located there. Nursing education institutions, in collaboration with the National Department of Health, should introduce homosexuality and anti-homophobia education programmes during the pre-service and in-service education period. Such programmes will help to familiarise health care providers with the health care needs of homosexual patients and may decrease homophobic attitudes.

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Viewpoint: Health literacy and patient portals

Journal of Primary Health Care ◽

10.1071/hc15172 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 172 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Yulong Gu ◽

Martin Orr ◽

Jim Warren

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Health Literacy ◽

Health Information ◽

Health Care Providers ◽

Easy Access ◽

Patient Portal ◽

Care Providers ◽

Patient Portals ◽

Health Consumer ◽

Improve Patient

Health literacy has been described as the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions. Improving health literacy may serve to promote concordance with therapy, engage patients in their own health care, and improve health outcomes. Patient portal technology aims at enabling patients and families to have easy access to key information in their own medical records and to communicate with their health care providers electronically. However, there is a gap in our understanding of how portals will improve patient outcome. The authors believe patient portal technology presents an opportunity to improve patient concordance with prescribed therapy, if adequate support is provided to equip patients (and family/carers) with the knowledge needed to utilise the health information available via the portals. Research is needed to understand what a health consumer will use patient portals for and how to support a user to realise the technology?s potential.

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Medical Ethics in Clinical Practice in Nepal: Challenges and Way Forward

Journal of Universal College of Medical Sciences ◽

10.3126/jucms.v6i2.22500 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. 69-72

Author(s):

Shristi Raut ◽

Anand Kumar

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Clinical Practice ◽

Medical Ethics ◽

Health Care Providers ◽

Undergraduate Curriculum ◽

Medical Professionals ◽

Care Providers ◽

Treatment Providers ◽

Level Of Knowledge ◽

Hospital Ethics

Ethics for health care professional have many components. Among them, medical ethics is one of the important but neglected component which deals with issues related to confidentiality, beneficence and non-maleficence between health care providers and stake holders. Four basic principles of medical ethics are autonomy, justice, beneficence and non- maleficence which form the foundation of ethical clinical practice. The level of knowledge on medical ethics that medical students receive during the training is meagre and inadequate. In recent years, clinical practice has become more challenging. This is primarily due to increased opposition, aggression and violence against medical professionals at health care settings. As a result, the gap between clinicians and patients is increasing leading to diminishing trust and real/perceived allegations. In addition, the widening gap between doctors and patients has provided a space for middle men/broker to meddle, oppose and flare up the violence against treatment providers. Doctors and other medical professionals have been increasingly facing such challenges leading to circumspection in their practice, despondence, psychosocial trauma and depression. There is an urgent need of incorporation of medical ethics in undergraduate curriculum and independent hospital ethics committee consisting of experts from the hospital and outside to monitor and provide rational reasons to minimize such challenges.

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Does a Pandemic Preempt Participatory Medicine?

Journal of Participatory Medicine ◽

10.2196/23860 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

pp. e23860

Author(s):

Michael Louis Millenson

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Health Care Providers ◽

Shared Control ◽

Jewish Tradition ◽

Medical Professionals ◽

Mutual Trust ◽

Care Providers ◽

Collaborative Relationship ◽

Participatory Medicine

For those of us who believe deeply in a collaborative relationship between patients and doctors, the chaos created by the COVID-19 pandemic has brought an uncomfortable question to the fore: Is participatory medicine still relevant during a pandemic? Drawing liberally upon the Jewish tradition of Talmudic reasoning, I would like to offer 3 considered replies: “Yes,” “no,” and “it depends.” Sometimes, patients may have no choice but to cede control to medical professionals, even though patients are still the experts on their own lives. Other times, the shared control of participatory medicine is both an ethical and clinical imperative. However, as the worldwide toll exacted by COVID-19 has made us grimly aware, no one is really in control. That is why, in these uncertain times, the path forward requires maintaining mutual trust between health care providers and patients, whatever the circumstances. After all, it is our bodies and our selves at stake.

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COMPARING THE PROGNOSTIC VALUE OF GERIATRIC HEALTH INDICATORS: A POPULATION-BASED STUDY

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igz038.2269 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. S609-S609

Author(s):

Alberto Zucchelli ◽

Davide Vetrano ◽

Giulia Grande ◽

Amaia Calderon-Larranaga ◽

Laura Fratiglioni ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Health Care Providers ◽

Assessment Tool ◽

Frailty Index ◽

Population Based ◽

National Study ◽

Care Providers ◽

Population Based Study ◽

Prediction Of Mortality ◽

Unplanned Hospitalizations

Abstract Several indicators associated with poor outcomes in older persons have been developed, but a direct comparison of their accuracy is lacking. Knowing which indicator performs better in the prediction of specific outcomes could help health care providers to choose the most suitable one. We compared the accuracy in predicting different clinically-relevant outcomes of five indicators: frailty index (FI), frailty phenotype (FP), the Health Assessment Tool (HAT), walking speed (WS), and multimorbidity. Data from the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen, an ongoing population-based study including 3363 people 60+, were used. The ability of the five indicators to predict mortality (3- and 5-year), unplanned hospitalizations (1- and 3-year), and 2+ health provider contacts (6 months prior and after assessment) was compared using the area under the ROC curves (AUC). FI, WS, and HAT showed the best accuracy in the prediction of mortality (AUC for 3-year mortality: 0.84, 0.85, 0.87 respectively; AUC for 5-year mortality: 0.84, 0.85, 0.86 respectively; all p < 0.05). Unplanned hospitalizations were better predicted by the FI (AUC: 1-year 0.73; 3-year 0.72) and HAT (AUC: 1-year 0.73; 3-year 0.71).The most accurate predictor of multiple contacts with health providers was multimorbidity (AUC: 0.67; p < 0.05). All indicators, but multimorbidity, showed higher accuracy among older individuals (75+ years). Different indicators can be used to support physicians during their decision-making process. Some of these tools may also be used to forecast future use of health-care resources, including both hospital-based services and outpatient ones .

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2537

Journal of Clinical and Translational Science ◽

10.1017/cts.2017.152 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 1 (S1) ◽

pp. 41-42

Author(s):

Sonya Makhni ◽

Daniel Tuchman ◽

Farah Fasihuddin ◽

Jason Rogers ◽

Ashish Atreja

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Health Care Providers ◽

Care Providers ◽

Medical Assistants ◽

Health Apps ◽

Frequent Use ◽

Industry Standards ◽

Mobile Health Apps ◽

Specific Implementation ◽

User Friendly

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: To assess the usability and adoption of RxUniverse, a novel platform that enables health care providers to directly disseminate proven, evidence-based mobile health apps to patients. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Among 5 pilot clinical sites, 40 physicians and front-line providers consisting of medical assistants and receptionists were trained on the RxUniverse platform. They were instructed on the platform’s purpose, were shown a demonstration of the functionality, and were observed in a trial process of prescribing an app. Specific implementation plans were designed with the help of the clinic staff in order to best fit in with their present workflows. The well-validated System Usability Score (SUS) was used to assess the usability of the platform. Prescriptions of 100 relevant app prescriptions within a 8-week pilot period was set as the adoption goal. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Within the pilot period, greater than 2000 apps were prescribed across all users. Of the 40 providers trained on the RxUniverse platform, 26 prescribed >5 apps during the trial period. Of these 26 individuals, 18 prescribed >20 apps, 14 prescribed >50 apps, and 5 prescribed >80 apps; 58% of users reported frequent use (weekly or daily) of the platform. In total, 19 responses were received for the SUS survey. The RxUniverse platform received a usability score of 82%. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: As the pace of innovation continues to accelerate, health care providers will need to quickly integrate new digital-based tools into their workflows, and patients will need to be able to easily and readily access these tools. RxUniverse provides the necessary mechanisms, user-friendly interface, and EHR integration functionality to accomplish this. The total number of apps prescribed surpassed 2000, which far exceeded the initial target of 100 apps. The platform also scored an 82% on the SUS, which is considered an “A” by industry standards. By comparison, other health apps considered to have to be in the highest-rating groups have reported scores of 77.5% and an overall average of 68% among all systems. These outcomes demonstrate the high adoption and usability of the RxUniverse platform, an important platform that can be used to prescribe the latest technologies directly to patients.

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Depression in cancer: An evaluation of patient education resources.

Journal of Clinical Oncology ◽

10.1200/jco.2020.38.15_suppl.e24194 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 38 (15_suppl) ◽

pp. e24194-e24194

Author(s):

Jim (Zhang Hao) Li ◽

Mingyang Wang ◽

Paris-Ann Ingledew

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Patient Education ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Health Care Providers ◽

Search Engines ◽

Online Resources ◽

Future Research ◽

Care Providers ◽

Patient Comprehension

e24194 Background: In recent years, there has been increasing awareness surrounding mental health and depression among cancer patients. Concurrently, the internet has cemented its role as a mainstay source of health information for the general public. However, little is known about the quality of online resources addressing depression specifically in cancer patients. Therefore, we aim to systematically evaluate the quality of such information. Methods: The term "depression in cancer patients" was searched online using the search engine Google and the meta-search engines Dogpile and Yippy. A set of predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria was applied to all search results, which yielded 48 websites for inclusion. An evidence-based rating tool was then used to score the websites based on the six domains of Affiliation, Accountability, Interactivity, Structure & Organization, Readability, and Content Quality. The results were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: Of the 48 websites evaluated, 50% were commercial. In terms of accountability measures, 63% of websites disclosed authorship, 54% cited one or more reliable sources, and 38% were updated within the last two years. Although in-site search engines and video support were found in 94% and 52% of websites respectively, the presence of other interactive features were considerably lower. The average readability was at a grade 12.3 level using the Flesch-Kincaid scale and 11.3 using the SMOG Index, both of which were significantly higher than the traditionally recommended grade-six level ( p < 0.0001 for both). The most commonly covered topics were symptoms and treatment – found on 87% and 83% of websites respectively. Prevention and prognosis were not covered by any of the websites. Content accuracy was generally high among covered topics. Conclusions: Many websites addressing depression in cancer have poor authorship disclosure, attribution, and currency. Additional interactive features should be encouraged to facilitate user-friendliness. Poor readability may pose a barrier for patient comprehension, indicating a need for health care providers to proactively guide patients to suitable resources. Despite high content accuracy in other topics, prevention and prognosis are seldom covered. Our results could help guide the development of new patient education materials and better inform health care providers about the limitations of available online resources. Future research should aim to elucidate reasons contributing to difficult readability levels and identify topics that patients need additional information in.

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