Whistleblowing to Expose Criminal Activity in the Health Sector

2020 ◽  
pp. 318-333
Author(s):  
Niyi Awofeso
Keyword(s):  
Patient Safety ◽  
Due Process ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Criminal Activity ◽  
Public Law ◽  
World Health ◽  
The Public ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Internal Whistleblowing

A whistleblower is an employee who alleges wrongdoing by his or her employer (or any organization) of the sort that violates public law or tends to adversely affect the public or at least some members of the concerned organization. The World Health Organization cites healthcare-related fraud as one of 10 leading causes of inefficiency in health systems. Despite the potential of whistleblowing to reduce healthcare fraud and unearth criminal negligence with respect to patient safety, it remains a highly controversial approach for exposing criminal activity and improving patient safety in the health sector. This chapter discusses the main aspects of healthcare fraud as well as the potential of whistleblowing to address such widespread health system deficiencies, particularly those cybersecurity-related. The author favours internal whistleblowing for criminal misdeeds in the health sector as a first resort. Veracity of whistleblowing allegations should not be taken for granted, and due process must be accorded all individuals accused of criminal negligence or fraud.

Pharmacy Leadership Amid the Pandemic: Maintaining Patient Safety During Uncertain Times

2021 ◽  
pp. 001857872110375
Author(s):  
Irene Derrong Lin ◽  
John B. Hertig
Keyword(s):  
Patient Safety ◽  
Safety Data ◽  
Clinical Effectiveness ◽  
World Health ◽  
Leadership Strategies ◽  
Pharmaceutical Supply Chain ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Pharmacy Leaders ◽  
Effective Treatments

The relentless surges of global severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections that caused the Covid-19 disease had pressured researchers and regulators to develop effective treatments quickly. While studying these therapies amid the pandemic, threats to patient care were reported, including (1) maintaining adequate safeguards as clinical effectiveness and safety data evolves, (2) risks from online counterfeit medications, and (3) disruption of the global pharmaceutical supply chain. This article discusses these patient safety threats and suggests strategies that promote patient safety, foster medication intelligence, and mitigate drug shortages. As the world continues to develop safe and effective treatments for Covid-19, patient safety is paramount. In response to the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Safety Challenge: Medication Without Harm, leaders must establish effective approaches to improve medication safety during the pandemic. Successfully integrating these leadership strategies with current practices allows pharmacy leaders to implement robust systems to reduce errors, prevent harm, and advocate for patient safety.

scholarly journals Building evidence on what works (and what does not): practical guidance from the World Health Organization on post-project evaluation of adolescent sexual and reproductive health projects

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Igras ◽  
Marina Plesons ◽  
Venkatraman Chandra-Mouli
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Health ◽  
World Health Organization ◽  
Sexual And Reproductive Health ◽  
Project Evaluation ◽  
World Health ◽  
The Public ◽  
What Works ◽  
The World ◽  
Practical Guidance ◽  
Health Organization

Abstract Over the past 25 years, there has been significant progress in increasing the recognition of, resources for, and action on adolescent health, and adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) in particular. As with numerous other health areas, however, many of the projects that aim to improve ASRH are implemented without well-thought-out plans for evaluation. As a result, the lessons that projects learn as they encounter and address policy and programmatic challenges are often not extracted and placed in the public arena. In such cases, post-project evaluation (PPE) offers the possibility to generate learnings about what works (and does not work), to complement prospective studies of new or follow-on projects. To fill the gap in the literature and guidance on PPE, the World Health Organization developed The project has ended, but we can still learn from it! Practical guidance for conducting post-project evaluations of adolescent sexual and reproductive health projects. This article provides an overview of the guidance by outlining key methodological and contextual challenges in conducting PPE, as well as illustrative solutions for responding to them.

scholarly journals Deafening silence on a vital issue: The World Health Organization has ignored the sexuality of persons with disabilities

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Peta
Keyword(s):  
World Health Organization ◽  
Well Being ◽  
World Health ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
The Public ◽  
National Priority ◽  
Social Welfare System ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization

In 2016, the World Health Organization, through the Global Cooperation on Assistive Technology Initiative, issued the Priority Assistive Products List which is meant to be a guide to member states of the 50 assistive products needed for a basic health care and/or social welfare system; it is also a model from which nations can develop their national priority assistive products lists. The aim of this opinion paper is to share my views about the Priority Assistive Products List on the grounds that it makes no distinct mention of sexual assistive devices, yet research has indicated that sexuality is an area of great concern for persons with disabilities. In any case, sexuality forms a core part of being human, and it impacts on both the physical and mental well-being of all human beings. I conclude in part that, in its present format, the list perpetuates the myth that persons with disabilities are asexual beings who are innocent of sexual thoughts, feelings and experiences. The list also propagates the stereotype that sexuality is a sacred, private, bedroom matter that should be kept out of the public domain, to the detriment of the health and well-being of persons with disabilities.

scholarly journals Peter Chew Formular for calculate Covid-19 Vaccine efficiency

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter chew
Keyword(s):  
Relative Risk ◽  
New England ◽  
Target Population ◽  
World Health ◽  
Medical Worker ◽  
The Public ◽  
1 Peter ◽  
The World ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Health Organization

Abstract Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) said the situation in India was a "devastating reminder" of what the coronavirus could do. India shifts from mass vaccine exporter to importer, worrying the world. Every country needs to vaccinate its citizens faster, vaccination can reduce viral load. This results in vaccination that can reduce transmission, preventing serious illness and death'. Therefore, Countries with higher levels of vaccination can prevent them from becoming "Second India".Preprint study, Vaccination Education App (1). [Peter Chew, 2021] shows that most people do not take the covid-19 vaccine because they question the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine. Therefore, it is important to create a simple formula for calculate the efficiency of the covid-19 vaccine. The purpose of creating this calculation formula is to allow the public to calculate the efficiency of the covid-19 vaccine by themselves, so that they can understand the effectiveness of the vaccine and decide to take the vaccine. This helps to get a high response to COVID vaccinationMethods: Use the Data publish at The New England JOURNAL of MEDICINE, Safety and Efficacy of the BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine [Fernando P. Polack et all , 2020]. Calculate of Pfizer BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine efficiency by using normal formular and Peter Chew Formular , show that the same result are obtain, which is 95.0599 %. In addition, By using public news information, the public can use the Peter Chew formula to easily calculate Covid-19 vaccine efficacy. This is to ensure public can do the calculation themselves. A calculation of relative risk is also provided to provide more information to persuade the public to take the vaccine.Results: The efficiency of Pfizer BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine for Malaysian medical worker calculated by using the Peter Chew formula is 95.0599 %. In addition, the calculation of Peter Chew's formula also shows that before the vaccination, about 12 medical staff were infected every day, but after the full vaccination, only about one medical worker was infected every two days. The calculation of relative risk can also make it easier for the public to know that people who are not vaccinated with Pfizer BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine are 22 times more likely to be infected than people who are fully vaccinated. The above results can convince those who easily question the effectiveness of vaccination.Conclusions: Peter Chew Formular easy to calculate, and the data required for the Peter Chew Formular calculation easy to obtain from public news. This is to ensure that the public can calculate the efficacy of the vaccine by themselves. The information on the calculation can let public compare the average target group get infected every day before and after fully vaccination is also an advantage to let public know the effectiveness of vaccination. One of the advantage of Peter Chew formulator is that we can assume a high target population of vaccination with k = 100, such as the medical worker group When k = 100, the Peter Chew formular calculation becomes very simple. The Proof of Peter Chew Formular must also be shown.

scholarly journals European Immunization Week 2008: Progress towards regional goals

2008 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
Author(s):  
Collective WHO
Keyword(s):  
World Health Organization ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Political Support ◽  
World Health ◽  
Childhood Immunisation ◽  
Regional Office ◽  
The Public ◽  
National Immunisation ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization

The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe established the European Immunization Week (EIW, http://www.euro.who.int/vaccine) in 2005 for three reasons: 1) to raise public awareness of the benefits of immunisation, 2) to support national immunisation systems, and 3) to provide a framework for mobilising public and political support for governmental efforts to protect the public through universal childhood immunisation.

Effectiveness of a Lockdown Policy During a Global Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 01 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yung Chin Shih
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Modeling ◽  
Input Data ◽  
World Health ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Managers ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
The World ◽  
Expected Benefits ◽  
Simultaneous Loss ◽  
Health Organization

Background: In 2019, when the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 (Coronavirus 2019) a pandemic, many of the public managers faced tough situations in their cities due to the simultaneous loss of lives and jobs. In this regard, this study aims to propose a concise model that considers variables like the number of deaths, lethality of the virus, number of jobs and taxes collected by city halls, among others. Our study considers these issues in providing a relevant response and consistent answer to deliberations on the way forward. Method: Mathematical modeling was used to analyze the interaction between the agents involved and computer simulation was chosen to collect results. Results: - Changing the lockdown level (fixed and variable), the results of number of death per week, total number of unemployed, cost of companies and so on are shown. - The results show that for the input data considered, the 0% lockdown (LD) policy is more effective for the economy and tax collection and also succeeds in repressing the effects on the number of deaths. Because of it, the comparison between with pandemic and without pandemic is provided (in percentage). Conclusion: This study shows that implementing the lockdown did not bring expected benefits, because instead of reducing the number of deaths due to the COVID-19, individuals tend to die more from other causes.

Patient Safety Concerns among Emergency Medical Staff and Patients

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-52
Author(s):  
Pi-Fang Hsu ◽  
Wen-Chun Tsai ◽  
Chia-Wen Tsai
Keyword(s):  
Patient Safety ◽  
Emergency Departments ◽  
Medical Staff ◽  
World Health ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Department Of Health ◽  
Perceptions And Attitudes ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization

Recently, much of the world, including the World Health Organization, the European Union and many North American countries, have emphasized patient safety. Around the same time, Taiwan’s Department of Health (DOH) devoted a significant amount of resources to better the quality of medical treatment for their patients. This study explores perceptions of and attitudes towards patient safety among medical staff and patients in emergency departments. Analysis results indicate that medical staff and patients significantly differ in perceptions and attitudes. Results of this study provide a valuable reference for governmental authorities and hospital managers in formulating policies aimed at clarifying perceptions and attitudes regarding patient safety among medical staff and patients in emergency departments.

scholarly journals Summary of the International Patient Safety Conference, June 28—29, 2019, Kathmandu, Nepal

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Deepak C. Bajracharya ◽  
Kshitij Karki ◽  
Chhiring Yangjen Lama ◽  
Rajesh Dhoj Joshi ◽  
Shankar Man Rai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Patient Safety ◽  
Patient Care ◽  
Improve Patient Safety ◽  
World Health ◽  
Patient Centered ◽  
Governmental Organization ◽  
Healthcare Facilities ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Improve Patient

AbstractGlobally, medical errors are associated with an estimated $42 billion in costs to healthcare systems. A variety of errors in the delivery of healthcare have been identified by the World Health Organization and it is believed that about 50% of all errors are preventable. Initiatives to improve patient safety are now garnering increased attention across a range of countries in all regions of the world. From June 28--29, 2019, the first International Patient Safety Conference (IPSC) was held in Kathmandu, Nepal and attended by over 200 healthcare professionals as well as hospital, government, and non-governmental organization leaders. During the conference, presentations describing the experience with errors in healthcare and solutions to minimize future occurrence of adverse events were presented. Examples of systems implemented to prevent future errors in patient care were also described. A key outcome of this conference was the initiation of conversations and communication among important stakeholders for patient safety. In addition, attendees and dignitaries in attendance all reaffirmed their commitment to furthering actions in hospitals and other healthcare facilities that focus on reducing the risk of harm to patients who receive care in the Nepali healthcare system. This conference provides an important springboard for the development of patient-centered strategies to improve patient safety across a range of patient care environments in public and private sector healthcare institutions.

scholarly journals The “Obiettivo Antibiotico” Campaign on Prudent Use of Antibiotics in Sicily, Italy: The Pilot Phase

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (9) ◽  
pp. 3077 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martina Barchitta ◽  
Annalisa Quattrocchi ◽  
Andrea Maugeri ◽  
Maria Clara La Rosa ◽  
Claudia La Mastra ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Antimicrobial Resistance ◽  
General Public ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Educational Interventions ◽  
World Health ◽  
Pilot Phase ◽  
The Public ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization

The issue of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a focus of the World Health Organization, which proposes educational interventions targeting the public and healthcare professionals. Here, we present the first attempt at a regionwide multicomponent campaign in Sicily (Italy), called “Obiettivo Antibiotico”, which aims to raise the awareness of prudent use of antibiotics in the public and in healthcare professionals. The campaign was designed by an interdisciplinary academic team, and an interactive website was populated with different materials, including key messages, letters, slogans, posters, factsheets, leaflets, and videos. The campaign was launched in November 2018 and, as of 21 December 2018, the website had a total of 1159 unique visitors, of which 190 became champions by pledging to take simple actions to support the fight against AMR. Data from social media showed that the audience was between 18 and 54 years of age, with a high proportion of female participants (64%). Interestingly, the LinkedIn page received more than 1200 followers, and Facebook 685 followers. The number of actions taken (pledges) by the audience was 458, evenly divided between experts (53%) and the general public (47%). Additional efforts are needed to reach more people, thus future efforts should focus on further promotion within the Sicilian region to sustain the engagement with the campaign.

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