scholarly journals Mobile dental clinic revitalization to improve oral health services in the covid-19 pandemic era at Sambirejo District Community Health Center, Kabupaten Langkat

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 350-360
Author(s):  
Wandania Farahanny ◽  
Ika Andryas ◽  
Rini Octavia N ◽  
Olivia A Hanafiah

One of pandemic effect is that people being afraid to have their regular dental treatment and tends to have their own medication. Dentist and dental nurses as workerin public health provider also afraid on doing dental treatment on a reason highly contamination and transmission of the virus. Delaying aerosol generating procedures is found as the only choice, except for emergency case. However, the uncertainty of pandemic era and dental treatment needs, urge the health workers to have innovation in dental treatment service.  Using mobile dental clinic Dinas Kesehatan Kabupaten Langkat di Puskesmas Sambirejo is a solution. The implementation of service activities in mobile dental clinic are mainly in self Protection equipment, SOP in  Standart Precaution, sterlisation and aseption and also patients admision flow in pandemic era for health care providers as a way to improve their knowledge in handling patient in pandemic era. The delay of action in dental procedur can be solved by facilitating mobile dental clinic according to standard health protocol. Instead of only reaching rural area, this mobile dental clinic can also be used in narrow building with limited space. The SOP protocol can also be used by dentis and dental nurses to control infection in mobile dental clinic. This article tries to support government in raising the degree of mouth and dental health services in pandemic era.

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed Yunus Rafiq ◽  
Hannah Wheatley ◽  
Hildegalda P. Mushi ◽  
Colin Baynes

Abstract Background Numerous studies have examined the role of community health workers (CHWs) in improving the delivery of health services and accelerating progress towards national and international development goals. A limited but growing body of studies have also explored the interactions between CHWs’ personal, communal and professional identities and the implications of these for their profession. CHWs possess multiple, overlapping roles and identities, which makes them effective primary health care providers when properly supported with adequate resources, but it also limits their ability to implement interventions that only target certain members of their community, follow standard business working days and hours. In some situations, it even prevents them from performing certain duties when it comes to sensitive topics such as family planning. Methods To understand the multiple identities of CHWs, a mixture of qualitative and ethnographic methods was utilized, such as participant observation, open-ended and semi-structured interviews, and focus group discussions with CHWs, their supervisors, and their clients. The observation period began in October 2013 and ended in June 2014. This study was based on implementation research conducted by the Connect Project in Rufiji, Ulanga and Kilombero Districts in Tanzania and aimed to understand the role of CHWs in the provision of maternal and child health services in rural areas. Results To our knowledge, this was the first study that employed an ethnographic approach to examine the relationship between personal, communal and professional identities, and its implications for CHWs’ work in Tanzania. Our findings suggest that it is difficult to distinguish between personal and professional identities among CHWs in rural areas. Important aspects of CHW services such as personalization, access, and equity of health services were influenced by CHWs’ position as local agents. However, the study also found that their personal identity sometimes inhibited CHWs in speaking about issues related to family planning and sexual health. Being local, CHWs were viewed according to the social norms of the area that consider the gender and age of each worker, which tended to constrain their work in family planning and other areas. Furthermore, the communities welcomed and valued CHWs when they had curative medicines; however, when medical stocks were delayed, the community viewed the CHWs with suspicion and disinterest. Community members who received curative services from CHWs also tended to become more receptive to their preventative health care work. Conclusion Although CHWs’ multiple roles constrained certain aspects of their work in line with prevalent social norms, overall, the multiple roles they fulfilled had a positive effect by keeping CHWs embedded in their community and earned them trust from community members, which enhanced their ability to provide personalized, equitable and relevant services. However, CHWs needed a support system that included functional supply chains, supervision, and community support to help them retain their role as health care providers and enabled them to provide curative, preventative, and referral services.


Author(s):  
Rebecca Bisanju Wafula (BSCN, MSCHSM) ◽  
Dr. Richard Ayah (MBCHB, MSC, PHD)

Background: Long waiting time in outpatient clinics is a constant challenge for patients and the health care providers. Prolonged waiting times are associated with poor adherence to treatment, missed appointment and failure or delay in initiation of treatment and is a major factor towards the perception of the patient towards the care received. Objective: To determine the waiting time and associated factors among out patients attending staff clinic at University of Nairobi health services. Method: A cross-sectional study design was used and data collected from 384 ambulatory patients over a period of four weeks using an interviewer administered pretested structured exit questionnaire with a time-tracking section. Simple random sampling was used to select respondents in a walk- in outpatient clinic set up. Data was cleaned and analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 20. Analysis of variance (ANOVA), and cross tabulation was used to establish associations between the independent variable and dependent variables. Results: In total 384 patients were tracked and interviewed. The average patient waiting time was 55.3mins.Most respondents (52%) suggested that improving availability of staff at their stations would help to reduce patient waiting time. In this study, gender (P=0.005) and availability of doctors (p=0.000) were found to affect patient waiting time with women waiting longer than the male patients. Conclusion: Majority of the patients spent about an hour at the facility to be served. Inadequate number of health workers was the main cause of long waiting time.


Author(s):  
Ayu Rahajeng Dianing Negari ◽  
Annisa Nurida ◽  
Musa Ghufron ◽  
Muhammad Anas

Background: Satisfaction is a feeling that the consumers feel when the service they receive meets or surpass their expectations. Public satisfaction with health care services is still a significant issue for health institutions in improving the service quality. Despite various efforts that health care providers have made, some residents in an area were unsatisfied with the health services in their environment.Objective: To determine the effect of the dimensions of health service quality on patient satisfaction at the Primary Health Care 1 Melaya, Jembrana, BaliMethod: Analytical observational study, a cross-sectional design. The total sample was 70 respondents. Data collection was performed using questionnaires. Multiple linear regression was used to analyze the average value of patient satisfaction based on the five dimensions of quality of health care.Result: The dimensions of tangibility, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy have a significance value (p<0.05), while the reliability dimension has no significance value (p>0.05). So the formula used to predict patient satisfaction with health services received is as follows:y = 0,352+0,295*X1–0,104*X2–0,201*X3+0,334*X4+0,180*X5The dimension of health services that has the largest influence on the satisfaction of inpatients is assurance. Patients feel assured and satisfied when the health workers communicate their expertise and competencies before doing their work.Conclusion: Tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, and assurance were four of five dimensions of health services that have significantly influenced the satisfaction of inpatients.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guy Tobias

Background: First infections of COVID-19 pandemic occurred in December 2019 in China and then spread rapidly all over the world. In February 2020, the first Corona case was diagnosed in Israel, since then, three national lockdowns have been imposed. Israeli Ministry of health published guidelines for dental treatment during times of social distancing which include: 1) Questioning patients prior to admittance. 2) Increasing intervals between appointments. 3) Restricting number of people permitted in the waiting room to prevent crowds. 4) Wearing masks at all times. 5) Wearing long sleeve waterproof surgical gowns, goggles / face shield. Methods: Data from 54 dental clinics (MaccabiDent health maintenance organization) were collected between March and October 2020 regarding: 1) Number of treatments performed. 2) Number of health care providers participating in the procedures. 3) Number of patients with positive COVID-19 results. 4) Number of healthcare workers positive for COVID-19. 5) Number of paramedical and administrative staff positive for COVID-19. 6) Number of patients treated by dentists who later turned out to be infected by the virus. Results: 1,079 dentists and 354 dental hygienists worked during the study period, and performed 1.29 million procedures of these, seventy eight dentists treated 99 verified COVID-19 patients. 17 dentists (1.58%) tested positive for the virus. Conclusion: By following guidelines, the risk of transmission of coronavirus is minimal in the dental setting. Practical Implications: This article reinforces the evidence regarding the importance of education and following guidelines regarding infection control for dental professionals employed in public clinics.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-155
Author(s):  
Jean Moore

The regulation of health professions in the United States is a primary responsibility of states. The structure and content of the specific regulations of each state impact the provision of health services, affecting costs, quality and access. There is concern that current state-based and profession-specific regulatory structures cannot serve as a basis for the innovations the health workforce needs for health reform. This paper reviews aspects of state-based health professions regulations that limit the effective use of health workers and also one of its key advantages: their ability to provide local solutions to address access problems. The paper describes elements that generate changes in the demand for health services and health care providers. Finally, strategies are recommended to improve decision-making related to practice including: standardization of practice scopes between different states; permanent updating of specific acts of professional practice in each state, in accordance with the evolution of professional competencies; use of the best evidence to authorize new professions or expand the scope of practice of the existing ones and, when this evidence does not exist, to promote programs to test new modalities of work. Taking into account the pace of changes in the health system in the United States, there is a growing urgency for reforms to ensure adequate size and training of the workforce for the future.


2002 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 22-29
Author(s):  
Joanne Bratchell

ABSTRACTThe shift in the philosophy of care for people with learning disabilities from institutional care to living in the community has placed greater demands on generic health services. Alack of training and appropriate skills have been identified as problem areas for health care providers who may be required to care for this group of people. The dental health of people with learning disabilities has shown no improvement over the last fifty years despite advances in dental treatment. Requests for dental care present practitioners with ethical and legal problems due to a reduced capacity to give informed consent. The provision of dental care for patients with learning disabilities in the day surgery unit of a local hospital is critically evaluated and recommendations are then made as to how current practice may be improved with reference to the findings of current literature.


Author(s):  
Rogério Meireles Pinto ◽  
Rahbel Rahman ◽  
Margareth Santos Zanchetta ◽  
W. Galhego-Garcia

Abstract Background Narrative medicine (NM) encourages health care providers to draw on their personal experiences to establish therapeutic alliances with patients of prevention and care services. NM medicine practiced by nurses and physicians has been well documented, yet there is little understanding of how community health workers (CHWs) apply NM concepts in their day-to-day practices from patient perspectives. Objective To document how CHWs apply specific NM concepts in Brazil’s Family Health Strategy (FHS), the key component of Brazil’s Unified Health System. Design We used a semi-structured interview, grounded in Charon’s (2001) framework, including four types of NM relationships: provider–patient, provider–colleague, provider–society, and provider–self. A hybrid approach of thematic analysis was used to analyze data from 27 patients. Key Results Sample: 18 females; 13 White, 12 “Pardo” (mixed races), 12 Black. We found: (1) provider–patient relationship—CHWs offered health education through compassion, empathy, trustworthiness, patience, attentiveness, jargon-free communication, and altruism; (2) provider–colleague relationship—CHWs lacked credibility as perceived by physicians, impacting their effectiveness negatively; (3) provider–society relationship—CHWs mobilized patients civically and politically to advocate for and address emerging health care and prevention needs; (4) provider–self relationship—patients identified possible low self-esteem among CHWs and a need to engage in self-care practices to abate exhaustion from intense labor and lack of resources. Conclusion This study adds to patient perspectives on how CHWs apply NM concepts to build and sustain four types of relationships. Findings suggest the need to improve provider–colleague relationships by ongoing training to foster cooperation among FHS team members. More generous organizational supports (wellness initiatives and supervision) may facilitate the provider–self relationship. Public education on CHWs’ roles is needed to enhance the professional and societal credibility of their roles and responsibilities. Future research should investigate how CHWs’ personality traits may influence their ability to apply NM.


2021 ◽  
pp. 238008442110119
Author(s):  
M. McNally ◽  
L. Rock ◽  
M. Gillis ◽  
S. Bryan ◽  
C. Boyd ◽  
...  

Background: The COVID-19 novel coronavirus closed oral health care in Nova Scotia (NS) Canada in March 2020. Preparing for a phased reopening, a knowledge exchange coalition (representing government, academia, hospitals, oral health professions, and regulators) developed return-to-work (RTW) guidelines detailing the augmentation of standard practices to ensure safety for patients, oral health care providers (OHPs), and the community. Using online surveys, this study explored the influence of the RTW guidelines and related education on registered NS OHPs during a phased return to work. Methods: Dissemination of R2W guidelines included website or email communiques and interdisciplinary education webinars that coincided with 2 RTW phases approved by the government. Aligned with each phase, all registered dentists, dental hygienists, and dental assistants were invited to complete an online survey to gauge the influence of the coalition-sponsored education and RTW guidelines, confidence, preparedness, and personal protective equipment use before and after the pandemic. Results: Three coalition-sponsored multidisciplinary webinars hosted 3541 attendees prior to RTW. The response to survey 1 was 41% (881/2156) and to survey 2 was 26% (571/2177) of registrants. Survey 1 (82%) and survey 2 (89%) respondents “agreed/strongly agreed” that R2W guidelines were a primary source for guiding return to practice, and most were confident with education received and had the skills needed to effectively treat patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Confidence and preparedness improved in survey 2. Gowns/lab coat use for aerosol-generating procedures increased from 26% to 93%, and the use of full face shields rose from 6% to 93% during the pandemic. Conclusions: A multistakeholder coalition was effective in establishing and communicating comprehensive guidelines and web-based education to ensure unified reintegration of oral health services in NS during a pandemic. This multiorganizational cooperation lay the foundation for responses to subsequent waves of COVID-19 and may serve as an example for collaboratively responding to future public health threats in other settings. Knowledge Transfer Statement: The return-to-work strategy that was developed, disseminated, and assessed through this COVID-19 knowledge exchange coalition will benefit oral health practitioners, professional regulators, government policy makers, and researchers in future pandemic planning.


Author(s):  
Ariana Kong ◽  
Michelle Dickson ◽  
Lucie Ramjan ◽  
Mariana S. Sousa ◽  
Joanne Goulding ◽  
...  

The aim of this study was to explore whether oral health was an important consideration for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women during pregnancy, whether oral health could be promoted by Aboriginal health staff, and strategies that would be appropriate to use in a new model of care. A qualitative descriptive methodology underpinned the study. All participants in this study identified as Aboriginal, with no Torres Strait Islander participants, and were from New South Wales, Australia. The interviews were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. From the data, two themes were constructed. The first theme identified that oral health was not always the first priority for participants as poor accessibility alongside other competing commitments were challenges to accessing oral health services. The second theme highlighted how relationships with personal networks and healthcare providers were essential and could be used to support maternal oral health during pregnancy. Effective strategies to promote oral health during pregnancy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women should involve key stakeholders and health care providers, like Aboriginal Health Workers, to facilitate culturally safe support and tailored oral health advice.


Author(s):  
Fatemeh Rahmanian ◽  
Soheila Nazarpour ◽  
Masoumeh Simbar ◽  
Ali Ramezankhani ◽  
Farid Zayeri

AbstractBackgroundA dimension of reproductive health services that should be gender sensitive is reproductive health services for adolescents.ObjectiveThis study aims to assess needs for gender sensitive reproductive health care services for adolescents.MethodsThis was a descriptive cross-sectional study on 341 of health care providers for adolescents in health centers and hospitals affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in Iran in 2016. The subjects of the study were recruited using a convenience sampling method. The tools for data collection were: (1) a demographic information questionnaire and; (2) a valid and reliable questionnaire to Assess the Needs of Gender-Sensitive Adolescents Reproductive Health Care Services (ANQ-GSARHS) including three sections; process, structure and policy making for the services. Data were analyzed using SPSS 21.ResultsThree hundred and forty-one health providers with an average working experience of 8.77 ± 5.39 [mean ± standard deviation (SD)] years participated in the study. The results demonstrated the highest scores for educational needs (92.96% ± 11.49%), supportive policies (92.71% ± 11.70%) and then care needs (92.37% ± 14.34%) of the services.ConclusionsProviding gender sensitive reproductive health care services for adolescents needs to be reformed as regards processes, structure and policies of the services. However, the gender appropriate educational and care needs as well as supportive policies are the priorities for reform of the services.


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