scholarly journals A COVID-19 field hospital in a conference centre – The Cape Town, South Africa experience

Author(s):  
Bonny Bulajic ◽  
Kamlin Ekambaram ◽  
Colleen Saunders ◽  
Vanessa Naidoo ◽  
Lee Wallis ◽  
...  

Background: The coronavirus pandemic has put extreme pressure on health care services in South Africa.Aim: To describe the design, patients and outcomes of a field hospital during the first wave of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.Setting: The Cape Town International Convention Centre was the first location in Cape Town to be commissioned as a field hospital that would serve as an intermediate care bed facility.Methods: This was a retrospective descriptive study of patients admitted to this facility between 8th June 2020 and 14th August 2020 using deidentified data extracted from patient records.Results: There were 1502 patients admitted, 56.4% female, with a mean age of 58.6 years (standard deviation [s.d.]: 14.2). The majority of patients (82.9%) had at least one comorbidity, whilst 15.4% had three or more. Nearly 80.0% (79.8%) of patients required oxygen and 63.5% received steroids, and only 5.7% of patients were required to be transferred for escalation of care. The mean length of stay was 6 days (s.d.: 4.8) with an overall mortality of 5.7%.Conclusion: This study highlights the role of a field hospital in providing surge capacity. Its use halved the predicted duration of stay at acute care hospitals, allowing them the capacity to manage more unstable and critical patients. Adaptability and responsivity as well as adequate referral platforms proved to be crucial. Daily communication with the whole health care service platform was a critical success factor. This study provides information to assist future health planning and strategy development in the current pandemic and future disease outbreaks.

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
T Funk ◽  
B Forsberg

Abstract Background In the Stockholm region, a regional political assembly is responsible for health care services for a population of 2.3 million. In November 2017, the political leadership decided on a programme to project health and healthcare developments in the Stockholm region until 2040 as a basis for a longterm health plan. This presentation aims to describe the methodology used, share some results and raise some questions for further work. Through the presentation we also seek collaboration with European partners involved in similar health planning work. Methodology Six perspectives for analysis were defined and under each a set of areas for deeper analysis identified. It was agreed that the planning should be fact-driven. Under the constraint of availability, data covering the period 2000 to 2017 was collected for around 90 variables. Data was gathered from various publicly available databases and was analysed in Microsoft Excel. Results Stockholm’s population increased continuously since the millennial shift and could increase by another 28% until 2040. Since 2000, life expectancy increased by 2 years for women and 3 years for men. More than 85% of the burden of disease is caused by chronic diseases. However, the overall disease burden per 100 000 population has been decreasing over the years. In 2017, more than 21 million outpatient care visits were done. Extrapolations of these trends show that the disease burden per capita will continue to decrease, but the total burden of disease as well as demand for health care will continue to increase. Discussion A fact-based analysis of future health and healthcare proved to be an efficient base for planning and discussions of future health care services. Results confirmed some well-established perceptions of developments but also pointed to some misconceptions and established “facts” that proved to be false. New digital services make prediction of the future health service mix dynamic and challenging. Key messages To meet future health care needs, future health and health care trends should be planned for and considered in decision making processes. Forecasts and health care planning should be fact-based to have an as accurate picture of future health and health care trends as possible.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 258-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Leonie Ward ◽  
David Shaw ◽  
Evelyn Anane-Sarpong ◽  
Osman Sankoh ◽  
Marcel Tanner ◽  
...  

This study explores stakeholder experiences and perspectives on end-of-trial obligations at the close of a phase II/III Pediatric Malaria Vaccine Trial (PMVT) [GSK/PATH-MVI RTS, S) (NCT00866619]. We conducted 52 key informant interviews with major stakeholders of an international multicentre PMVT in Ghana and Tanzania. The responses fell into four main themes: (a) Communicating End-of-Trial, (b) Maintaining Health Care Services, (c) Dissemination of Results, and (d) Post-Trial Access. Interviewee responses shared important practical experiences and insights that complement current thinking in the literature on research ethics guidance: (a) accompany end-of-trial communication with information on personal and family health care responsibilities, (b) establish public health indicators to measure the impact of research on a health care system, (c) design a gradual exit strategy with opportunities to address unplanned events, (d) endorse a principled approach of continuity of care when designing a health care service handover, and (e) devise an actionable post-trial treatment access pathway with diverse stakeholder representatives.


2011 ◽  
Vol 467-469 ◽  
pp. 1056-1065
Author(s):  
Hui Lung Hsieh ◽  
Chung Hung Tsai ◽  
Bi Kun Chuang

With the growing number of aging population and chronic illnesses, how to help elderly residents access the health care service timely is a challenge for health care institutions in Taiwan. Recent advances in information, communication and biomedical technologies have combined to allow the development of various types of telemedicine technology designed to enhance or expand the health care services of elderly residents. However, most telecare studies focused only on medical care or development of technology rather than on comprehensive evaluation of residents’ (or patients’) perception about service processes. The purpose of this study was to explore rural residents’ perceptions and usage intention of a telecare system after they have used it. Results from this exploratory study showed that most elderly people have never heard or touched telecare systems before the study was conducted. However, the general perceptions of such systems included improvement of interacting with medical staffs, safety protection, convenient care, and one needed item of services in daily life. Especially, the mostly risk perception was privacy risk, that is, data confidentiality and individual privacy. Generally, most elderly residents evaluated their telecare experiences and perceptions as being positive. Besides, most elderly resident were willing to use the telecare system without fees. However, they felt risky about confidentiality and privacy toward this technology. To improve trustworthy perception of this novel technology, telecare providers should implement appropriate safeguards to protect patient health information exchanged in a telecare setting. Also, the physicians/nurses should take the time to communicate with the residents, especially in the form of education, about the benefits of technology. To optimize the effectiveness of this promising technique, more research on the relationship between residents’ (or patients’) perceptions and influences of technology will need to be conducted continually in future.


Author(s):  
Selami Özcan ◽  
Kerim Baş ◽  
H. Yunus Taş

Effects of excessive information level difference between providers and receivers of health care services on patients will be presented with this work. Fundamental concepts like health care service, information asymmetry and it’s effects will be explained. Information levels of attempts and treatments that were put in practice to the patients, surgical operations and billing will be studied and the outputs of the information level difference between the provider and the receiver will be determined. In this research, it will be revealed if the practical applications and the concepts in the literature overlap each other and developing a new method towards evaluating the information level difference will be attempted. Patients who received a certain number of treatments will be targeted. Survey questions that will be asked to the patients will try to reveal the amount of information on the procedure they have undertaken and the between this level of information and the their satisfaction. SPSS software is used for the analysis of the data. Resolving of the relation between patient satisfaction themeasured percentage of level of information about the procedure the subject have undertaken will be attempted during the evaluation of the survey results. The effects of gender, age and education on level of information-customer satisfaction will also be investigated while determining the patients level of information with this survey.


Today’s Wireless Body Area Networks technology augmented the wireless sensors communication more smart in the e-health line. With this sensors deployment prominent body parameters simply monitored remotely and the corresponding data is stored and transmitted the same for treatment purpose to the e-healthcare destination. Primarily Wireless Body Area Networks health care service is deliberately used in telemedicine, mobile health, elderly care, to monitor the chronic diseases and in emergency cases- the medical rehabilitations provided immediately without delay to the respective patient by the medical professional through internet service. As the demand of Wireless Body Area Networks e-health service increases, its ability is further enhanced once it is provided with more security and privacy to the enabled user’s data with more integrity, confidentiality, availability features. Wireless Body Area Networks makes the people to improve their quality of life provided with affordable cost and flexibility in usage having minimum operation of events. Researcher’s shows an interest over the past years in e-health care services adaptability and concerns more on real-world complications. This survey paper mainly focuses on the conceptual structure of Wireless Body Area Networks communication, security and privacy issues, and allocated frequency bands.


2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 330-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dulce O Almeida ◽  
Sônia CL Chaves ◽  
Ronaldo A Souza ◽  
Felipe F Soares

ABSTRACT Introduction Endodontic therapy is a specialized procedure more demanded by patients within public oral health care in the country. Then, single-visit endodontic therapy may offer advantages to the health care services, to the professionals, and to the patients by reducing access barriers. Materials and methods A meta-analysis was done and the variables evaluated were periapical repair, microbiological control, and postobturation pain in randomized clinical trials (RCTs) involving endodontic treatment of nonvital teeth at single- or multiple visits. Results About 17 RCTs were included. There were no differences found in periapical repair or microbiological control in single- and multiple-visit therapy. Single-visit endodontic therapy resulted in 21% less postobturation pain (relative risks = 0.79; 95%, confidence interval: 0.66-0.94). Conclusion There was less postobturation pain in the single-visit endodontic therapy group. In the public dental care, this analysis favors the adoption of this one therapy because it will be possible to increase the patient access and the supply of this therapy. Clinical significance It is possible to get a better cost-effectiveness for the patients and the health care service. This is very important because the reduction of the cost to the patient allows it to become a complete treatment. The health service, in turn, is able to be better used, with a greater supply of this service. How to cite this article Almeida DO, Chaves SCL, Souza RA, Soares FF. Outcome of Single- vs Multiple-visit Endodontic Therapy of Nonvital Teeth: A Meta-analysis. J Contemp Dent Pract 2017;18(4):330-336.


2007 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 628 ◽  
Author(s):  
Belinda J Gabbe ◽  
Ann M Sutherland ◽  
Owen D Williamson ◽  
Peter A Cameron

To establish the use of health care services 6 months following major trauma, 243 blunt major trauma patients were recruited during their acute hospital stay and followed up by telephone interview at 6 months post-injury. Data collected at 6 months included health care service usage and their level of disability according to the Glasgow Outcome Scale ? Extended (GOSE). Ninety-four percent of patients were living in the community at 6 months, and most (69%) reported continued use of health care services. Of those with ongoing disability, non-compensable patients were significantly more likely (OR 3.7; 95% CI, 1.6?8.6) to have ceased health care service use than compensable patients, independent of injury severity.


Author(s):  
Gökçe Dağtekin ◽  
Zeynep Demirtaş ◽  
Aziz Soysal ◽  
Nilgün Yildirim ◽  
Fatih M. Önsüz ◽  
...  

Background: The study aimed to evaluate the level of knowledge and awareness of glaucoma and their possible determinants in a group of people diagnosed with glaucoma and in a population based group without glaucoma.Methods: The study included people with an age range of 40 to 80years; 410 patients without glaucoma who admitted to primary health care service and 113 patients who admitted to hospitals with diagnosis of glaucoma. In addition to Glaucoma Knowledge Level Questionnaire (GKLQ), participants were asked about their socio-demographic characteristics, level of awareness and resources of the information about glaucoma. Multivariate logistic regression and multiple linear regression analyses were used to assess the variants which have impact on the level of the awareness about glaucoma and to evaluate the factors effective on the score of GKLQ, respectively.Results: The ratio of awareness about glaucoma was found to be 64.1% in people without glaucoma. The knowledge and awareness about glaucoma were found to be higher in glaucoma patients compared to healthy people but not at a desired level. The education level was the only factor effecting both awareness and knowledge about glaucoma.Conclusions: As awareness about glaucoma can lead to early detection, the assessment of the knowledge and awareness about glaucoma is very important in terms of disease prevention. Health education and preventive health care services should be programmed including for both glaucoma patients and healthy people based on the level of their education.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-66
Author(s):  
Nabila Asghar ◽  
Majid Ali ◽  
Fatima Farooq ◽  
Urooj Talpur

For the last few decades, demographic changes require new and expensive medical innovations, which ultimately put the health care system under financial pressure. Therefore, provision of efficient services for the sustainability in health care system is mandatory. The objective of this study is to explore the performance of health care services provided in 55 OIC member countries during 2011 and 2015.The bootstrap Data Envelopment Analysis and Truncated regression approach have been applied to observe the health system and estimate the efficiency score  in 55 OIC member countries. The findings of DEA show that cost efficiency (CE), technical efficiency (TE) and allocative efficiency (AE) of health care system of OIC member countries on average are 0.52, 0.72, and 0.70, respectively. It indicates that OIC countries are not good at selecting cost efficient input mix. The results of truncated regression approach indicate that out-pocket health expenditures is the most important determinant relative to other indicators. It is suggested that it is hard to improve the overall health system at most efficient level. For this purpose there is a need to educate the mass and provide the better opportunities so that people can earn handsome amount, through which they may have better health care.


2020 ◽  
Vol 85 ◽  
pp. 02009
Author(s):  
Daiga Behmane ◽  
Anda Batraga ◽  
Mara Greve ◽  
Didzis Rutitis

The study evaluates foreign patients' experience and satisfaction in relation to the health care received in Latvia. By applying the gap model of service evaluation, the study reveals the difference between expected and received service outcome in Latvia, and draws conclusions about the importance of individual and patient experience factors related to the overall patient satisfaction. The study concludes that in all groups of factors matrix proposed in the study: (1) general travel or destination factors; (2) communication factors; (3) factors related to the choice of service and (4) factors related to the choice of health care institution, patients evaluated the perceived health care outcome higher than the expected outcome. The results of the study lead to the conclusion that there is a significant gap in foreign patients' knowledge regarding the possibilities of receiving a high-level health care service in Latvia. The results also reveal the most important determinants of patient experience and related satisfaction.


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