scholarly journals Exploring Challenges to COVID-19 Vaccination in the Darfur Region of Sudan

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alanood Elnaeem Mohamed ◽  
Yasir Ahmed Mohammed Elhadi ◽  
Nora Alnaeem Mohammed ◽  
Aniekan Ekpenyong ◽  
Don Eliseo Lucero-Prisno
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
Access To Health Services ◽  
Access To Health ◽  
Essential Services ◽  
The Face ◽  
Global Access ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Vaccination Hesitancy

The current COVID-19 pandemic has affected the ability of health systems to provide essential services globally. The Darfur region, located in the western part of Sudan, has been largely devastated by the war that began in 2003 and has been drawing considerable attention from the international community. The war, which erupted as a result of environmental, political, and economic factors, has led to tragic outcomes. Collapsing health-care infrastructures, health workforce shortages, lack of storage facilities for medicines and medical products, and inadequate access to health services are some of the effects of the war. After Sudan received the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access facility, significant challenges have been implicated in the delivery, storage, and use of the vaccine in the Darfur region. Lack of vaccine storage and transportation facilities, vaccination hesitancy, inequity in the distribution to health facilities, and shortage of health-care professionals resulting from insecurity and instability have added an extra layer of burden on local authorities and their ability to manage COVID-19 vaccinations in the region adequately. Addressing the impact of COVID-19 requires an effectively managed vaccination program. In the face of current challenges in Darfur, ensuring a fully vaccinated population might remain far-fetched and improbable if meaningful efforts are not put in place by all stakeholders and actors to address some of the challenges identified.

scholarly journals Exploring Accessibility of Community Pharmacy Services

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah E. Kelling
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Community Pharmacy ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Community Pharmacists ◽  
Access To Health Services ◽  
The Public ◽  
Access To Health ◽  
Accessibility Of Health Services ◽  
System Access

Objective: To use selected literature to describe strengths and opportunities for improvement related to accessibility of health services in the community pharmacy setting. Summary: Pharmacists have been described as one of the most accessible health care professionals, particularly as nearly 90% of Americans live within 5 miles of a community pharmacy. However, geography alone does not provide access to health services. Individuals must be able to gain entry into the health care system, access a health care location where needed services are provided, and find a health care provider with whom the patient can communicate and trust. Current and potential opportunities for community pharmacists to increase access via each step are described. Conclusion: Community pharmacists are highly accessible health care professionals who are trusted by patients. Opportunities exist to further increase access to dispensing and non-dispensing services in order to better meet the needs of the public.   Type: Commentary

Americans’ View of the Impact of COVID-19: Perspectives on Racial Impacts and Equity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Carman ◽  
Anita Chandra ◽  
Carolyn Miller ◽  
Christopher Nelson ◽  
Jhacova Williams
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Access To Health Care ◽  
The Public ◽  
Equity And Access ◽  
Access To Health ◽  
The Face ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Context: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a disparate effect on African Americans and Latino groups. But it is unknown how aware the public is of these differences, and how the pandemic has changed perceptions of equity and access to health care. Methods: We use panel data from nationally representative surveys fielded to the same respondents in 2018 and 2020 to assess views and changes in views over time. Findings: We found that awareness of inequity is highest among Non-Hispanic Black respondents and higher income and higher educated groups, and that there have been only small changes in perceptions of inequity over time. However, there have been significant changes in views of the government’s obligation ensure access to health care. Conclusions: Even in the face of a deadly pandemic, one that has killed disproportionately more African Americans and Latinos, many in the U.S. continue not to recognize that there are inequities in access to health care and the impact of COVID-19 on certain groups. But policies to address inequity may be shifting. We will continue to follow these respondents to see whether changes in attitudes endure over time or dissipate.

Changing the Face of Health Care: A Participatory Theater Intervention for Promoting Retention of Under-Represented Minority Students in Health Care

2021 ◽  
Vol 75 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. 7512510280p1-7512510280p1
Author(s):  
Sally Wasmuth ◽  
NiCole Keith ◽  
Kevin T. Pritchard
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Minority Students ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Minority Student ◽  
Health Professions ◽  
Health Care Education ◽  
Sequential Mixed Methods ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Participatory Theater

Abstract Date Presented Accepted for AOTA INSPIRE 2021 but unable to be presented due to online event limitations. Health workforce diversity and under-represented minority student enrollment in health professions programs are major sources of concern for allied health professions. We used sequential mixed methods to examine the impact of a participatory theater intervention on minority students’ engagement in their educational journeys toward becoming health care professionals, with the goal of promoting diversity in health care education, and found a significant increase in meaningful participation. Primary Author and Speaker: Sally Wasmuth Contributing Authors: NiCole Keith, Kevin T. Pritchard

scholarly journals The impact of social health insurance on rural populations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Green ◽  
Bruce Hollingsworth ◽  
Miaoqing Yang
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Health Insurance ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Social Health Insurance ◽  
Social Health ◽  
Rural Populations ◽  
Access To Health Services ◽  
Access To Health ◽  
The Impact

AbstractImproving health outcomes of rural populations in low- and middle-income countries represents a significant challenge. A key part of this is ensuring access to health services and protecting households from financial risk caused by unaffordable medical care. In 2003, China introduced a heavily subsidised voluntary social health insurance programme that aimed to provide 800 million rural residents with access to health services and curb medical impoverishment. This paper provides new evidence on the impact of the scheme on health care utilisation and medical expenditure. Given the voluntary nature of the insurance enrolment, we exploit the uneven roll-out of the programme across rural counties as a natural experiment to explore causal inference. We find little effect of the insurance on the use of formal medical care and out-of-pocket health payments. However, there is evidence that it directed people away from informal health care towards village clinics, especially among patients with lower income. The insurance has also led to a reduction in the use of city hospitals among the rich. The shift to village clinics from informal care and higher-level hospitals suggests that the NRCMS has the potential to improve efficiency within the health care system and help patients to obtain less costly primary care. However, the poor quality of primary care and insufficient insurance coverage for outpatient services remains a concern.

scholarly journals Building capacity for implementation—the KT Challenge

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnes T. Black ◽  
Marla Steinberg ◽  
Amanda E. Chisholm ◽  
Kristi Coldwell ◽  
Alison M. Hoens ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Patient Care ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Practice Change ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Science Literature ◽  
Health Care Settings ◽  
Improvement Programs ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background The KT Challenge program supports health care professionals to effectively implement evidence-based practices. Unlike other knowledge translation (KT) programs, this program is grounded in capacity building, focuses on health care professionals (HCPs), and uses a multi-component intervention. This study presents the evaluation of the KT Challenge program to assess the impact on uptake, KT capacity, and practice change. Methods The evaluation used a mixed-methods retrospective pre-post design involving surveys and review of documents such as teams’ final reports. Online surveys collecting both quantitative and qualitative data were deployed at four time points (after both workshops, 6 months into implementation, and at the end of the 2-year funded projects) to measure KT capacity (knowledge, skills, and confidence) and impact on practice change. Qualitative data was analyzed using a general inductive approach and quantitative data was analyzed using non-parametric statistics. Results Participants reported statistically significant increases in knowledge and confidence across both workshops, at the 6-month mark of their projects, and at the end of their projects. In addition, at the 6-month check-in, practitioners reported statistically significant improvements in their ability to implement practice changes. In the first cohort of the program, of the teams who were able to complete their projects, half were able to show demonstrable practice changes. Conclusions The KT Challenge was successful in improving the capacity of HCPs to implement evidence-based practice changes and has begun to show demonstrable improvements in a number of practice areas. The program is relevant to a variety of HCPs working in diverse practice settings and is relatively inexpensive to implement. Like all practice improvement programs in health care settings, a number of challenges emerged stemming from the high turnover of staff and the limited capacity of some practitioners to take on anything beyond direct patient care. Efforts to address these challenges have been added to subsequent cohorts of the program and ongoing evaluation will examine if they are successful. The KT Challenge program has continued to garner great interest among practitioners, even in the midst of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, and shows promise for organizations looking for better ways to mobilize knowledge to improve patient care and empower staff. This study contributes to the implementation science literature by providing a description and evaluation of a new model for embedding KT practice skills in health care settings.

The Use of and Attitude Towards Telehealth in Rural Communities

2007 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Mauldon
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Routine Practice ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Urban Hospital ◽  
Primary Health ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Rural Patients

This paper reports on the attitudes of a sample of health care providers towards the use of telehealth to support rural patients and integrate rural primary health and urban hospital care. Telehealth and other information technologies hold the promise of improving the quality of care for people in rural and remote areas and for supporting rural primary health care providers. While seemingly beneficial for rural patients, study participants believed that telehealth remains underused and poorly integrated into their practice. In general, participants thought that telehealth is potentially beneficial but places constraints on their activities, and few actually used it. Published literature usually reports either on the success of telehealth pilot projects or initiatives that are well resourced and do not reflect the constraints of routine practice, or has an international focus limiting its relevance to the Australian context. Because of the paucity of systematic and generalisable research into the effects of the routine use of telehealth to support rural patients, it is unclear why health care professionals choose to provide such services or the costs and benefits they incur in doing so. Research and policy initiatives continue to be needed to identify the impact of telehealth within the context of Australian primary health care and to develop strategies to support its use.

The Impact of the SAGE & THYME Foundation Level Workshop on Factors Influencing Communication Skills in Health Care Professionals

2014 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Connolly ◽  
Joanne M. Thomas ◽  
Julie A. Orford ◽  
Nicola Schofield ◽  
Sigrid Whiteside ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals Fragilidades e fortalezas da assistência à saúde do homem na atenção primária à saúde

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (32) ◽  
pp. 53-61
Author(s):  
Angélica Cristina Silveira Marques ◽  
Adriani Izabel de Souza Moraes ◽  
Sílvia Carla da Silva André Uehara
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
Men’S Health ◽  
Men's Health ◽  
Health It ◽  
Access To Health Services ◽  
Primary Health ◽  
Access To Health ◽  
Care Health ◽  
The City

O processo de adoecimento dos homens vem sendo determinado pelo seu comportamento na sociedade e como expressam suas crenças de masculinidade. O objetivo deste trabalho foi identificar as ações realizadas pelos enfermeiros da Atenção Primária à Saúde (APS) direcionadas à promoção da saúde do homem. Trata-se de uma pesquisa descritiva, exploratória e de abordagem quantitativa. A pesquisa foi realizada com 29 enfermeiros de serviços da APS do município de São Carlos-SP. Os dados foram coletados por meio de uma entrevista, utilizando um instrumento validado. Os dados foram analisados por meio da estatística descritiva. A pesquisa foi aprovada pelo Comitê de Ética em Pesquisa. Os resultados mostram que 65,5% (19) dos enfermeiros referiram não ter recebido capacitação sobre a saúde do homem. Quanto aos fatores facilitadores do acesso dos homens nos serviços de saúde, destacam-se que 19% (11) das respostas incluíram o vínculo estabelecido entre os profissionais e usuários; e, como agentes dificultadores, em 35,1% (19) das respostas foi ressaltada a cultura do homem. Para uma maior efetividade da assistência à saúde do homem, torna-se necessário a sensibilização de profissionais e gestores de saúde na busca de estratégias para facilitar o acesso da população masculina aos serviços de saúde.Descritores: Saúde do Homem, Atenção Primária à Saúde, Enfermagem. Fragilities and strengths of man's health care in primary health careAbstract: The illness process of men has been determined by their behavior in society and how they express their beliefs about masculinity. The objective of this study was to identify the actions performed by nurses of Primary Health Care (PHC) directed to the promotion of men's health. It is descriptive, exploratory, and quantitative approach research. The research was conducted with 29 nurses from the PHC services of the city of São Carlos-SP. Data were collected through an interview using an instrument validated. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Still, data collection began after approval by the Research Ethics Committee. The results show that 65.5% (19) of the nurses reported not having received training on men's health. Regarding factors that facilitate men's access to health services, it is noteworthy that 19% (11) of the answers included the bond established between professionals and users; and, as hindering agents, 35.1% (19) of the answers highlighted men's culture. Thus, for greater effectiveness of men's health care, health professionals and managers need to be sensitized in the search for strategies to facilitate the male population's access to health services.Descriptors: Men's Health, Primary Health Care, Nursing. Fragilidades y fortalezas de la atención médica del hombre en la atención primaria de saludResumen: El proceso de enfermedad de los hombres ha sido determinado por su comportamiento en la sociedad y cómo expresan sus creencias sobre la masculinidad. El objetivo de este estudio fue identificar las acciones realizadas por las enfermeras de Atención Primaria de Salud (APS) dirigidas a la promoción de la salud de los hombres. Es una investigación de enfoque descriptivo, exploratorio y cuantitativo. La investigación se realizó con 29 enfermeras de los servicios de APS de la ciudad de São Carlos-SP. Los datos fueron recolectados a través de una entrevista utilizando un instrumento validado. Los datos se analizaron mediante estadística descriptiva. Aún así, la recopilación de datos comenzó después de la aprobación del Comité de Ética en Investigación. Los resultados muestran que el 65.5% (19) de las enfermeras informaron no haber recibido capacitación sobre la salud de los hombres. En cuanto a los factores que facilitan el acceso de los hombres a los servicios de salud, cabe destacar que el 19% (11) de las respuestas incluyeron el vínculo establecido entre profesionales y usuarios; y, como agentes obstaculizadores, el 35,1% (19) de las respuestas destacaron la cultura de los hombres. Por lo tanto, para una mayor efectividad de la atención médica de los hombres, los profesionales de la salud y los gerentes deben ser sensibilizados en la búsqueda de estrategias para facilitar El acceso de la población masculina a los servicios de salud.Descriptores: Salud del Hombre, Atención Primaria de Salud, Nursing.

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