scholarly journals A Cross-sectional Study on Challenges Faced and Strategies Adopted in Responding to Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) by Hospital Administrators in Kaski District

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 256-260
Author(s):  
KC Deepti ◽  
S Poudel ◽  
SB Hamal Thakuri ◽  
S Shrestha

Background: Following the outbreak of Coronavirus disease in 2019, the year 2020/21 has been an incredibly challenging one for all global health-care systems. Methods: A cross sectional descriptive research design was used to conduct the study. The study was carried out in all general private and public hospitals of Kaski district of Nepal. Data were collected from 25th October to 5th December, 2020 from the Hospital administrators using a semi structured interview schedule. Descriptive statistics were used for data analysis. Results: Most (96.3%) of the hospitals reported that increased cost or expenses of the hospitals creating financial threat is the most challenging situation that hospitals are facing in this pandemic. In addition shortages of ventilators creating ethical dilemma for patient allocation and changing guidelines from authorities have been reported as a challenge by 88.9 percent of the hospitals respectively. All of the surveyed hospitals had developed the use of thermometers for screening at the hospital entrances to minimize the risk. Conclusion: Hospitals in this pandemic are facing a lot of challenges with regard to staff management, PPE management and so on. Hence they need to adopt best strategies in responding to the corona virus.

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
M. Maggio ◽  
M. Barbolini ◽  
Y. Longobucco ◽  
L. Barbieri ◽  
C. Benedetti ◽  
...  

Objectives: Frailty is a pre-disability condition in older persons providing a challenge to Health-Care Systems. Systematic reviews highlight the absence of a gold-standard for its identification. However, an approach based on initial screening by the General Practitioner (GP) seems particularly useful. On these premises, a 9-item Sunfrail Checklist (SC), was developed by a multidisciplinary group, in the context of European Sunfrail Project, and tested in the Community. Objectives: – to measure the concordance between the judgments of frailty (criterion-validity): the one formulated by the GP, using the SC, and the one subsequently expressed by a Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment Team (CGA-Team); – to determine the construct-validity through the correspondence between some checklist items related to the 3 domains (physical, cognitive and social) and the three tools used by the CGA-Team; – to measure the instrument’s performance in terms of positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV). Design: Cross-sectional study, with a final sample-size of 95 subjects. Setting: Two Community-Health Centers of Parma, Italy. Participants: Subjects aged 75 years old or more, with no disability and living in the community. Measurements: We compared the screening capacity of the GP using the SC to that one of CGA-Team based on three tests: 4-meter Gait-Speed, Mini-Mental State Examination and Loneliness Scale. Results: 95 subjects (51 women), with a mean age of 81±4 years were enrolled. According to GPs 34 subjects were frail; the CGA-Team expressed a frailty judgment on 26 subjects. The criterion-validity presented a Cohen’s k of 0.353. Construct-validity was also low, with a maximum contingency-coefficient of 0.19. The analysis showed a PPV of 58.1% and a NPV equal to 84.6%. Conclusions: Our data showed a low agreement between the judgements of GP performed by SC and CGA-Team. However, the good NPV suggests the applicability of SC for screening activities in primary-care.


2020 ◽  
Vol 51 ◽  
pp. 102111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenpeng Cai ◽  
Bin Lian ◽  
Xiangrui Song ◽  
Tianya Hou ◽  
Guanghui Deng ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 399-406
Author(s):  
Hooshang Dadgar ◽  
◽  
Saman Maroufizadeh ◽  
Jalal Bakhtiyari ◽  
Atabak Vosoughi ◽  
...  

Objectives: COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences highlighted the importance of using telerehabilitation systems and affected the professional’s attitude toward it. This study aimed to investigate the feasibility, satisfaction, and attitude of rehabilitation professionals toward telerehabilitation during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran. Methods: A web-based cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the feasibility, satisfaction, and attitude of rehabilitation professionals toward virtual training and telerehabilitation during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 118 occupational therapists, speech therapists, audiologists, psychologists, and educators completed the study questionnaires. Results: The findings indicate that the correlations among satisfaction, feasibility, advantages, and compatibility were significant (r ranging from 0.418 to 0.717). There were significant but weak positive correlations between years of working experience and scores of feasibility and advantages. In addition, the mean scores of feasibility, advantages, compatibility, and complexity in participants who provided telerehabilitation before the COVID-19 pandemic were higher than other respondents. Discussion: Because of the positive role of telerehabilitation in a situation such as the COVID-19 pandemic, health care systems should create mechanisms for its optimal use, protocol preparation, health professionals training, and infrastructure acquisition.


Author(s):  
Anil Ingole ◽  
Jayashree Sajjanar ◽  
Jaykumar Gade ◽  
Minal Soni ◽  
Karan Jaiswal ◽  
...  

Introduction: This highly infective new virus, named Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus-2 (Sars-CoV-2), is a corona virus responsible of an acute respiratory syndrome, often asymptomatic but potentially lethal, named Corona Virus Disease 19 (COVID-19). Airborne and direct contact contamination is a major infection pathway of Sars-CoV-2. SARS-CoV-2 transmission during dental procedures can therefore happen through the inhalation of aerosol/droplets from infected individuals or direct contact with mucous membranes, oral fluids, and contaminated instruments and surfaces .Therefore, dentists have a high risk of getting infected from patients and potentially spreading it to their peers, families, and other patients. Aim: To evaluate fear and assess practice modification among dentist against COVID-19 in India Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study a total of 260 general dental practitioners, postgraduates and graduates across Central India, who were registered under the Dental Council of India, were included in the survey. A questionnaire consisting of 22 Questions with regard to COVID -19 fear and practice modification was designed and the questionnaire was circulated through a web designed program. The responses were collected, and data were analyzed descriptively using SPSS Statistics for Windows version 27.0. Results: There is a description of the fear and anxiety levels of dental care professionals towards COVID-19; 83.85% of participants were afraid of getting infected with COVID-19 from either a patient or a co-worker. While treating a coughing or a patient suspected to be infected with COVID-19, 90% were anxious. In terms of using personal protection, 63.85% believed that a surgical mask is not enough to prevent cross-infection of COVID-19. In comparison, 93.08% favored the use of N-95 masks for routine dental procedures during the current outbreak. Although the majority 91.15% recommended routine universal precautions of infection control. Conclusion: Overall, this study sheds light on the association of COVID-19 factors and fear and anxiety elevated among dentists during working in this pandemic. Covid-19 spread all over world and is worsening day by day. On current scenario several dental practices have either modified their services according to recommended guidelines to emergency treatment only, or closed down practices for an uncertain period.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (36) ◽  
pp. 1176-1185
Author(s):  
Esraa Abd Almuhsen ALI ◽  
Hussein Fadhil ALJAWADI

Congenital disabilities affect a remarkable proportion of neonates and have a significant role in hospital admission, morbidity, and pediatrics mortality. Besides, the long-term morbidity and disability caused by birth defects may have a considerable effect on the development of the child and family and health care systems. In Misan, congenital disabilities are considered a third common cause of neonatal mortality. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence, types, and risk factors of congenital disabilities to have an action plan toward preventing the occurrence of these defects. A cross-sectional study performed in the neonatal care unit in Misan Hospital for Child and Maternity during the period of two years (2018 and 2019). Misan province is located in the South East of Iraq. The information was collected from the files of patients and registration records. Any delivered a live neonate with birth defects was enrolled in this study. These cases were diagnosed depending on history, clinical examination supported by other investigations, and radiographic studies whenever needed. The prevalence rates of congenital disabilities were 7.1/1000 and 6.6/1000 live birth in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Central nervous system involvement was the most typical pattern. Congenital disabilities were more frequent in male, single, and term babies of maternal age 18-35 years living in an urban area with a consanguinity history. Thus, the prevalence rate of congenital disabilities was notably high in Misan. Efforts toward prevention, as well as improving the prenatal diagnosis, would be essential.


Author(s):  
Sabeena Kizhedath ◽  
Gopesh Valoth ◽  
Bindhu Vasudevan

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a painful, chronic disease with widespread burden on patients, communities, social and health care systems. Intraarticular (IA) Hyaluronic acid (HA) and corticosteroids are established treatments for OA knee. However, concerns exist regarding effect, duration, safety, effectiveness across population and heterogeneity. Aim of the study is to compare the efficacy and safety of IA HA with THA in the treatment of primary osteoarthritis knee.Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was done among 30 patients. One group (n=15) received IA THA 20mg/2mL on day 0 and other group (n=15) received IA HA 20mg/2 mL on day 0, 7 and 14 under aseptic precautions. The efficacy assessment using VAS for overall pain, joint line tenderness and 15m walking time in seconds were recorded. Side effects if any were noted.Results: Comparing both treatments IA THA provided superior short-term pain relief. But HA showed sustained benefit up to six months.Conclusions: OA being a chronic disease process, we need a drug which has a long-lasting effect. Additive effect of HA and THA can be considered for better efficacy.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eline Van Den Broek-Altenburg ◽  
Adam Atherly ◽  
Nick Cheney ◽  
Teresa Fama

Abstract Background: Reducing inappropriate referrals to specialists is a challenge for the healthcare system as it seeks to transition from volume to value-based healthcare. Given the projection of a severe shortage of rheumatologists in the near future, innovative strategies to decrease demand for rheumatology services may prove more fruitful than increasing the supply of rheumatologists. Efforts to increase appropriate utilization through reductions in capacity may have the unintended consequence of reducing appropriate care as well. This highlights the challenges in increasing the appropriate use of high cost services as the health system transitions to value based care. The objective of this study was to analyze factors affecting appropriateness of rheumatology services.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of patients receiving Rheumatology services between November 2013 and October 2019. We used a proxy for “appropriateness”: whether or not there was any follow-up care after the first appointment. Results from regression analysis and physicians’ chart reviews were compared using an inter-rater reliability measure (kappa). Data was drawn from the EHR 2013-2019. Results: We found that inappropriate referrals increased 14.3% when a new rheumatologist was hired, which increased to 14.8% after wash-out period of 6 months; 15.7% after 12 months; 15.5% after 18 months and 16.7% after 18 months. Other factors influencing appropriateness of referrals included severity of disease, gender and insurance type, but not specialty of referring provider. Conclusions: Given the projection of a severe shortage of rheumatologists in the near future, innovative strategies to decrease demand for rheumatology services may prove more fruitful than increasing the supply of rheumatologists. Innovative strategies to decrease demand for rheumatology services may prove more fruitful than increasing the supply of rheumatologists. These findings may apply to other specialties as well. This study is relevant for health care systems that are implementing value-based payment models aimed at reducing inappropriate care.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharath Chandra Guntuku ◽  
Jonathan Purtle ◽  
Zachary F Meisel ◽  
Raina M Merchant ◽  
Anish Agarwal

BACKGROUND As policy makers continue to shape the national and local responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, the information they choose to share and how they frame their content provide key insights into the public and health care systems. OBJECTIVE We examined the language used by the members of the US House and Senate during the first 10 months of the COVID-19 pandemic and measured content and sentiment based on the tweets that they shared. METHODS We used Quorum (Quorum Analytics Inc) to access more than 300,000 tweets posted by US legislators from January 1 to October 10, 2020. We used differential language analyses to compare the content and sentiment of tweets posted by legislators based on their party affiliation. RESULTS We found that health care–related themes in Democratic legislators’ tweets focused on racial disparities in care (odds ratio [OR] 2.24, 95% CI 2.22-2.27; <i>P</i>&lt;.001), health care and insurance (OR 1.74, 95% CI 1.7-1.77; <i>P</i>&lt;.001), COVID-19 testing (OR 1.15, 95% CI 1.12-1.19; <i>P</i>&lt;.001), and public health guidelines (OR 1.25, 95% CI 1.22-1.29; <i>P</i>&lt;.001). The dominant themes in the Republican legislators’ discourse included vaccine development (OR 1.51, 95% CI 1.47-1.55; <i>P</i>&lt;.001) and hospital resources and equipment (OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.18-1.25). Nonhealth care–related topics associated with a Democratic affiliation included protections for essential workers (OR 1.55, 95% CI 1.52-1.59), the 2020 election and voting (OR 1.31, 95% CI 1.27-1.35), unemployment and housing (OR 1.27, 95% CI 1.24-1.31), crime and racism (OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.18-1.26), public town halls (OR 1.2, 95% CI 1.16-1.23), the Trump Administration (OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.19-1.26), immigration (OR 1.16, 95% CI 1.12-1.19), and the loss of life (OR 1.38, 95% CI 1.35-1.42). The themes associated with the Republican affiliation included China (OR 1.89, 95% CI 1.85-1.92), small business assistance (OR 1.27, 95% CI 1.23-1.3), congressional relief bills (OR 1.23, 95% CI 1.2-1.27), press briefings (OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.19-1.26), and economic recovery (OR 1.2, 95% CI 1.16-1.23). CONCLUSIONS Divergent language use on social media corresponds to the partisan divide in the first several months of the course of the COVID-19 public health crisis.


Author(s):  
Shatrughan Pareek ◽  
Narendra Kumar Kaushik ◽  
Diwakar Verma ◽  
Anupam Pareek ◽  
Yashawant Ramawat ◽  
...  

Background: Corona virus disease (COVID-19) is declared pandemic by the WHO.  It is a very contagious disease. The global mortality rate of Corona virus disease is around 3.1%. The study was conducted with aim to assess the knowledge and practices towards Corona virus disease among urban population. Awareness towards the disease is important for prevention and control.Methods: The research design was community based descriptive cross-sectional design. The study was conducted in selected urban communities of Bikaner district, Rajasthan. A structured knowledge questionnaire and Practice scale were distributed to subjects from March 2020 to April 2020. In present study, 327 subjects were included in the study by random sampling technique. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 22.0.Results: In the present study, 56.27% were male and 43.73% were female. Nearly 70% participants were graduate and above in educational status. In present study, mostly subjects (76%) have average to good knowledge and practice towards COVID-19. Finding of the study suggests that there was a weak correlation between knowledge and practices of urban people towards corona virus infection. The correlation was not significant (p value=0.1976) at 0.05 level of significance. The study also revealed that knowledge has association with only educational qualification and gender shown association with practices of urban population.Conclusions: Knowledge and practices among population towards the disease are crucial to minimize morbidity and mortality due to the disease. The people have knowledge towards corona virus infection but they are not implementing it into practice. 


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eline van den Broek-Altenburg ◽  
Adam Atherly ◽  
Nick Cheney ◽  
Teresa Fama

Abstract Background Reducing inappropriate referrals to specialists is a challenge for the healthcare system as it seeks to transition from volume to value-based healthcare. Given the projection of a severe shortage of rheumatologists in the near future, innovative strategies to decrease demand for rheumatology services may prove more fruitful than increasing the supply of rheumatologists. Efforts to increase appropriate utilization through reductions in capacity may have the unintended consequence of reducing appropriate care as well. This highlights the challenges in increasing the appropriate use of high cost services as the health system transitions to value based care. The objective of this study was to analyze factors affecting appropriateness of rheumatology services. Methods This was a cross-sectional study of patients receiving Rheumatology services between November 2013 and October 2019. We used a proxy for “appropriateness”: whether or not there was any follow-up care after the first appointment. Results from regression analysis and physicians’ chart reviews were compared using an inter-rater reliability measure (kappa). Data was drawn from the EHR 2013–2019. Results We found that inappropriate referrals increased 14.3% when a new rheumatologist was hired, which increased to 14.8% after wash-out period of 6 months; 15.7% after 12 months; 15.5% after 18 months and 16.7% after 18 months. Other factors influencing appropriateness of referrals included severity of disease, gender and insurance type, but not specialty of referring provider. Conclusions Given the projection of a severe shortage of rheumatologists in the near future, innovative strategies to decrease demand for rheumatology services may prove more fruitful than increasing the supply of rheumatologists. Innovative strategies to decrease demand for rheumatology services may prove more fruitful than increasing the supply of rheumatologists. These findings may apply to other specialties as well. This study is relevant for health care systems that are implementing value-based payment models aimed at reducing inappropriate care.


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