scholarly journals Application of a physical science model in the analysis of patient flow in a hospital

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 34
Author(s):  
Sinval Lins Silva ◽  
Jose M.A. Figueiredo

One of the most relevant aspects in hospital management relies on how to properly control and predict the patient flow, that is, the paths and the time sequence a whole set of patients run in their journey inside the hospital, as they look for treatment. This issue is of the utmost importance since it interferes in the quality of the healthcare delivered to a person and also has a huge impact on both the costs for the patient and the operational costs for the hospital. This work intends to collaborate with the comprehension of the patient flow analysis and to offer a mathematical model analogous to a physical model capable of, qualitatively at first sight, describing the main variables and properties of this flow. We also present the logical elements that allow the manager to develop quantitative flow evaluations adaptable to a specific institution, based on local measurements of the variables described here. This theoretical formulation can directly be applied to practical situations concerning the management of patient flow. The relevant variables and their mathematical relations can be used by the manager in order to quantify each relevant patient circuit in a hospital. This way, it is expected that recurring problems derived from the unwanted variations in the patient flow can be anticipated and corrected by the manager.

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Shah ◽  
F. M. Ali ◽  
A. Y. Finlay ◽  
M. S. Salek

Abstract Background A person’s chronic health condition or disability can have a huge impact on the quality of life (QoL) of the whole family, but this important impact is often ignored. This literature review aims to understand the impact of patients' disease on family members across all medical specialities, and appraise existing generic and disease-specific family quality of life (QoL) measures. Methods The databases Medline, EMBASE, CINHAL, ASSIA, PsycINFO and Scopus were searched for original articles in English measuring the impact of health conditions on patients' family members/partner using a valid instrument. Results Of 114 articles screened, 86 met the inclusion criteria. They explored the impact of a relative's disease on 14,661 family members, mostly 'parents' or 'mothers', using 50 different instruments across 18 specialities including neurology, oncology and dermatology, in 33 countries including the USA, China and Australia. These studies revealed a huge impact of patients' illness on family members. An appraisal of family QoL instruments identified 48 instruments, 42 disease/speciality specific and six generic measures. Five of the six generics are aimed at carers of children, people with disability or restricted to chronic disease. The only generic instrument that measures the impact of any condition on family members across all specialities is the Family Reported Outcome Measure (FROM-16). Although most instruments demonstrated good reliability and validity, only 11 reported responsiveness and only one reported the minimal clinically important difference. Conclusions Family members' QoL is greatly impacted by a relative's condition. To support family members, there is a need for a generic tool that offers flexibility and brevity for use in clinical settings across all areas of medicine. FROM-16 could be the tool of choice, provided its robustness is demonstrated with further validation of its psychometric properties.


2021 ◽  
Vol 108 (Supplement_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
T Schrire ◽  
C Estela

Abstract Introduction Plastic Surgery Minor Operations is a fast paced, rapid turnover operative environment. It is reliant on effective communication, accurate surgery, and time efficiency. It was noticed in our department that there was confusion regarding booking and operative intentions leading to delays in surgery and over-running lists. This was worsening patient experience and leading to delays in patient care. Method In response to the delays and confusion in booking, a new booking form was created, so all patients have a standardised booking containing the necessary information. This form was disseminated across all the booking clinics and formed a vital part of the pre-operative check in process. Results The audit was carried out at the time of introduction, and then re-audited a year later to see if the form has improved care for patients. Results showed that with the new booking form, people were not having to cancel or rearrange patients. Patient booking forms were sufficient, and a copy of the clinic letter no longer required for the operation to proceed or for clarity. It was noted that more senior advice was sought. Conclusions The new form has improved patient flow and quality of patient care, whilst streamlining the booking process.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-67
Author(s):  
Salah Mahdi Abbas Alyasari

The present study is concerned with determining the effect of organizational reputation on employee engagement in the University of Warth Al-Anbiya. The study is conducted on (50) teaching staff at University of Warith Al-Anbiya. A questionnaire has been designed to collect the required data to measure the sub-dimensions of organizational reputation with the sub-dimensions of organizational immersion and to determine the level of impact between the variables. A set of statistical methods has been used to measure the relevant variables (mean, standard deviation, correlation coefficient "Pearson"). The study indicates a strong direct correlation between the components of organizational reputation with its dimensions (social responsibility, organization image, creativity, quality of service, Attracting the talented) and between employee engagement with its dimensions (enthusiasm, dedication, assimilation). The study has reached a set of conclusions. A set of proposals and recommendations was put forward, the most important of which is the assess of the capabilities of workers and working to identify their needs for continuous training and qualification to enable them to meet new work requirements as well as attract talents and improve the reputation of an organization.


2021 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 60-71
Author(s):  
Grażyna Bączek ◽  
Monika Szyszka ◽  
Sylwia Rychlewicz

Introduction: The definition of motherhood is manifold. The responsibilities of motherhood should be considered biologically, psychologically and socially. Conscious motherhood is characterized amongst others by the responsibility of parents for procreative decisions, care for the health, development and safety of the child. In Poland, the model of a woman as mother, who dedicates her life to birthing and raising her offspring, dominates. This has a huge impact on the future functioning of the offspring as citizens of Poland. Materials and method: Study was conducted through a diagnostic survey in a group of 365 women (284 of which are mothers of three or more children, the remaining 81 being mothers of one child). A self-developed survey containing 29 multiple choice questions with a single correct response as well as a standardized assessment tool SWLS- Life Satisfaction Scale E. Diener, R.A. Emmons, R.J. Larson, S. Griffin (adaptation: Z. Juczyński) were used as a research tool. Results: The vast majority of respondents are satisfied with their role as mother (97.1%). Many of the women do not plan to have more children (44.1%). In the respondents' opinion, childbirth is a social privilege of a woman (p<0.05). Mothers of more than one child have definitively declared that having multiple children does not decrease the quality of life of women, is a source of life satisfaction, aids in the fulfillment of societal roles and does not impede professional development (p<0.05). A constant partner, religious beliefs and relations with other women having more than two children are important factors for respondents when deciding to expand their family (p<0.05). Women who have given birth to three or more children have greater life satisfaction as compared to mothers of a single child (p<0.05). Conclusion: Women are happy to be mothers. Motherhood is not a factor hindering their social and private functioning. Women's procreative decisions are influenced by fixed income, formal relationships and religious beliefs. Mothers of large families have greater life satisfaction in comparison to mothers of one child who do not desire more children.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (14) ◽  
pp. 3558 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Bolcato ◽  
Alberto Cuzzolin ◽  
Maicol Bissaro ◽  
Stefano Moro ◽  
Mattia Sturlese

The number of entries in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) has doubled in the last decade, and it has increased tenfold in the last twenty years. The availability of an ever-growing number of structures is having a huge impact on the Structure-Based Drug Discovery (SBDD), allowing investigation of new targets and giving the possibility to have multiple structures of the same macromolecule in a complex with different ligands. Such a large resource often implies the choice of the most suitable complex for molecular docking calculation, and this task is complicated by the plethora of possible posing and scoring function algorithms available, which may influence the quality of the outcomes. Here, we report a large benchmark performed on the PDBbind database containing more than four thousand entries and seventeen popular docking protocols. We found that, even in protein families wherein docking protocols generally showed acceptable results, certain ligand-protein complexes are poorly reproduced in the self-docking procedure. Such a trend in certain protein families is more pronounced, and this underlines the importance in identification of a suitable protein–ligand conformation coupled to a well-performing docking protocol.


2020 ◽  
Vol 59 ◽  
pp. 102241
Author(s):  
Shuo Wang ◽  
Beiyi Liu ◽  
Li Xu ◽  
Takehiro Tamura ◽  
Nobuyuki Kyouno ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. 6591-6609 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Lucatero ◽  
Henrik Madsen ◽  
Jens C. Refsgaard ◽  
Jacob Kidmose ◽  
Karsten H. Jensen

Abstract. This study analyzes the quality of the raw and post-processed seasonal forecasts of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) System 4. The focus is given to Denmark, located in a region where seasonal forecasting is of special difficulty. The extent to which there are improvements after post-processing is investigated. We make use of two techniques, namely linear scaling or delta change (LS) and quantile mapping (QM), to daily bias correct seasonal ensemble predictions of hydrologically relevant variables such as precipitation, temperature and reference evapotranspiration (ET0). Qualities of importance in this study are the reduction of bias and the improvement in accuracy and sharpness over ensemble climatology. Statistical consistency and its improvement is also examined. Raw forecasts exhibit biases in the mean that have a spatiotemporal variability more pronounced for precipitation and temperature. This variability is more stable for ET0 with a consistent positive bias. Accuracy is higher than ensemble climatology for some months at the first month lead time only and, in general, ECMWF System 4 forecasts tend to be sharper. ET0 also exhibits an underdispersion issue, i.e., forecasts are narrower than their true uncertainty level. After correction, reductions in the mean are seen. This, however, is not enough to ensure an overall higher level of skill in terms of accuracy, although modest improvements are seen for temperature and ET0, mainly at the first month lead time. QM is better suited to improve statistical consistency of forecasts that exhibit dispersion issues, i.e., when forecasts are consistently overconfident. Furthermore, it also enhances the accuracy of the monthly number of dry days to a higher extent than LS. Caution is advised when applying a multiplicative factor to bias correct variables such as precipitation. It may overestimate the ability that LS has in improving sharpness when a positive bias in the mean exists.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rowena Almeida ◽  
William G. Paterson ◽  
Nancy Craig ◽  
Lawrence Hookey

Background. The increasing demand for endoscopic procedures coincides with the paradigm shift in health care delivery that emphasizes efficient use of existing resources. However, there is limited literature on the range of endoscopy unit efficiencies.Methods. A time and motion analysis of patient flow through the Hotel-Dieu Hospital (Kingston, Ontario) endoscopy unit was followed by qualitative interviews. Procedures were directly observed in three segments: individual endoscopy room use, preprocedure/recovery room, and overall endoscopy unit utilization.Results. Data were collected for 137 procedures in the endoscopy room, 139 procedures in the preprocedure room, and 143 procedures for overall room utilization. The mean duration spent in the endoscopy room was 31.47 min for an esophagogastroduodenoscopy, 52.93 min for a colonoscopy, 30.47 min for a flexible sigmoidoscopy, and 66.88 min for a double procedure. The procedure itself accounted for 8.11 min, 34.24 min, 9.02 min, and 39.13 min for the above procedures, respectively. The focused interviews identified the scheduling template as a major area of operational inefficiency.Conclusions. Despite reasonable procedure times for all except colonoscopies, the endoscopy room durations exceed the allocated times, reflecting the impact of non-procedure-related factors and the need for a revised scheduling template. Endoscopy units have unique operational characteristics and identification of process inefficiencies can lead to targeted quality improvement initiatives.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 155-161
Author(s):  
Abigail Spring ◽  
David Griffiths ◽  
Daisy Nirmal ◽  
Gao Jing ◽  
Nadine Marrouche ◽  
...  

Vulval irritation and discomfort can be a common presentation to both primary and secondary care. These symptoms can become increasingly prevalent due to physiological changes, which occur to the female genitalia following menopausal transition or due to inflammatory conditions. The correct diagnosis and management can have a huge impact on the patients’ quality of life. However, due to the nature of the symptoms, there can be delayed presentation to healthcare professionals. This article gives an overview of the most common benign vulval conditions in the post-menopausal woman, their clinical features and the diagnosis and initial management.


2012 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 96-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sauli Karvonen ◽  
Matti Lehto ◽  
Jussi Elo

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