A study on waiting time of the OPD Patient in a Multispecialty Hospital

In this study, the OPD is defined as the hospital's department where patients received diagnoses and/or treatment but did not stay overnight. Patients spend substantial amount of time in the clinics, waiting for the services to be delivered by physicians and other allied health professionals. The degree to which health consumers are satisfied with the care received is strongly related to the quality of the waiting experience. The methodology for Data collection is a balance of primary and secondary sources. Primary outcome based upon personal visits to the hospital and hospital database. Secondary outcomes based upon the information collected through questionnaire. The present study was aimed at studying the waiting time of outpatient in the multi-speciality hospital. Our observation reveals that many patients face the difficulties in finding the various OPDs. On an average 10 minutes of waiting time outside the various O.P.D. and other departments.As the Hospital is coming up with the new hospital building, it is expected that infrastructural issues can be taken care during the planning and development stage. Assessment of patient’s waiting time and satisfaction is cost effective way for evaluation of heath care services. Keywords: OPD, Waiting Time, Patient management, Hospital management.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Drugs and Pharmaceuticals

: The advancement of computing and technology has invaded all the dimensions of science. Artificial intelligence (AI) is one core branch of Computer Science, which has percolated to all the arenas of science and technology, from core engineering to medicines. Thus, AI has found its way for application in the field of medicinal chemistry and heath care. The conventional methods of drug design have been replaced by computer-aided designs of drugs in recent times. AI is being used extensively to improve the design techniques and required time of the drugs. Additionally, the target proteins can be conveniently identified using AI, which enhances the success rate of the designed drug. The AI technology is used in each step of the drug designing procedure, which decreases the health hazards related to preclinical trials and also reduces the cost substantially. The AI is an effective tool for data mining based on the huge pharmacological data and machine learning process. Hence, AI has been used in de novo drug design, activity scoring, virtual screening and in silico evaluation in the properties (absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity) of a drug molecule. Various pharmaceutical companies have teamed up with AI companies for faster progress in the field of drug development, along with the healthcare system. The review covers various aspects of AI (Machine learning, Deep learning, Artificial neural networks) in drug design. It also provides a brief overview of the recent progress by the pharmaceutical companies in drug discovery by associating with different AI companies.

Genetic profiling: A legal framework to embrace the challenges

<p>The current issues surrounding the use of genetic profiling technologies in New Zealand are analysed and compared with other jurisdictions, resulting in a number of key recommendations for the legal framework. An amendment to the Human Rights Act, review of the Health Information Privacy Code and an increased role for the Insurance and Savings Ombudsman are discussed in light of the developments in other jurisdictions. The implementation of a genetic database registration system and the development of policies to guide employers, insurers and health professionals on acceptable uses of genetic profile information are presented as recommendations to improve the current approaches. The establishment of an Advisory Body would ensure that safeguards against discrimination continue to be fair and effective, keeping pace with the rapid advancements in this field. The increased availability and the more acceptable costing are making the use of genetic profiling technology attractive. This is contributing further to the legal challenges, particularly when combined with the increasing range of applications for the data provided, in such diverse fields as the insurance industry, employment, personalised pharmaceuticals and the use of genetic databases. It is seen as essential that the legal framework promotes and supports the public in their access and use of genetic profiling technologies. These developments promise to be important and at the forefront of future heath care in New Zealand.</p>

Genetic profiling: A legal framework to embrace the challenges

<p>The current issues surrounding the use of genetic profiling technologies in New Zealand are analysed and compared with other jurisdictions, resulting in a number of key recommendations for the legal framework. An amendment to the Human Rights Act, review of the Health Information Privacy Code and an increased role for the Insurance and Savings Ombudsman are discussed in light of the developments in other jurisdictions. The implementation of a genetic database registration system and the development of policies to guide employers, insurers and health professionals on acceptable uses of genetic profile information are presented as recommendations to improve the current approaches. The establishment of an Advisory Body would ensure that safeguards against discrimination continue to be fair and effective, keeping pace with the rapid advancements in this field. The increased availability and the more acceptable costing are making the use of genetic profiling technology attractive. This is contributing further to the legal challenges, particularly when combined with the increasing range of applications for the data provided, in such diverse fields as the insurance industry, employment, personalised pharmaceuticals and the use of genetic databases. It is seen as essential that the legal framework promotes and supports the public in their access and use of genetic profiling technologies. These developments promise to be important and at the forefront of future heath care in New Zealand.</p>

Co-designing interventions for communicating positive newborn bloodspot screening results: use of online Experience-based Co-design (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Each year in England, almost 10,000 parents are informed of their child’s positive newborn bloodspot screening result around 2-8 weeks after birth, depending on the condition. Communication of positive newborn bloodspot screening results is a subtle and skilful task, which demands thought, preparation and evidence to minimise potentially harmful negative sequelae. Evidence exists of variability in the content and the way the result is currently communicated which has the potential to lead to increased parental anxiety and distress. OBJECTIVE The main objective was to co-design interventions to improve delivery of positive newborn bloodspot screening results to families. METHODS The principles of Experience-based Co-design were used with seventeen health care professionals employed in three National Health Service Trusts in England and 21 parents; 13 mothers and 8 fathers of 14 children recruited from the same three National Health Service Trusts. Staff experiences were gathered via semi-structured interviews. Filmed, narrative interviews with parents were developed into a composite film. These data were used to identify priorities for improving communication of positive newborn bloodspot screening results to parents during firstly, separate parent and heath care professionals feedback events followed by joint parent and heath care professionals feedback events. Following this, parents and heath care professionals worked together via online co-design working groups to develop co-designed solutions and additions to existing processes. RESULTS Themes identified from the parent’s interviews included: impact of initial communication; parental reactions; attending the first clinic appointment; impact of staff communication strategies and skills; impact of diagnosis on family and friends; improvements to the communication of positive NBS results; and parents views of NBS. Themes identified from the staff interviews included: communication between health care professionals; process of communicating with the family; parent and family- centred care; availability of resources and challenges to effective communication. Three online co-design working groups were developed, each attended by 12-18 participants who had taken part in the parental or health care professionals’ interviews. The priorities included: changes to the NBS card; standardised laboratory proformas; standardised communication checklists; and an email / letter for providing reliable up to date condition specific information for parents following communication of the positive NBS result. CONCLUSIONS Variation in communication practices for positive NBS results continues to exist. This was influenced by many factors and has the potential to lead to negative sequelae from a parental perspective. Parents and health care professionals were able to successfully work together to identify priorities and develop potential solutions to improve communication of positive NBS results to parents. The adaptation of EBCD to include virtual methods could reduce costs associated with this methodology while also enabling the approach to be more responsive to health care professionals’ and patients’/parents’ busy schedules. CLINICALTRIAL ISRCTN 15330120 INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT RR2-10.1186/s40814-019-0487-5

Persistence of antibodies against Spike glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2 in health care workers post double dose of BBV-152 and AZD1222 vaccines

Rationale: Vaccine rollout in India was initiated in mid-January, 2021 and is supposed to be the only antidote against SARS-CoV-2 as of now.Objectives: To study the dynamicity of vaccine-induced IgG antibody against SARS-CoV-2.Methodology: The present cross-sectional cohort study was undertaken to determine IgG antibody among health care workers with completed dose of either Covaxin or Covishield and were followed for 24 weeks after first dose of either vaccine to record the periodic changes in titre, concentration, clinical growth and persistence of vaccine-induced SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.Results: Serum samples were collected from 614 participants during each follow-up and tested them in two CLIA-based platforms for testing SARS-CoV-2 antibodies both qualitatively and quantitatively. Among these participants, 308 (50.2%) were Covishield recipient and rest 306 (49.8%) took Covaxin. A total of 81 breakthrough cases was recorded among the cohort participants for whom infection post vaccination acted as booster. The rest 533 heath care workers without any history of post-vaccination infection showed significant antibody waning either from T3 (Covaxin recipient) or T4 (Covishield recipient).Conclusion: The clinical implications of waning antibody levels post vaccination are not well understood, and it remains crucial to establish S-antibody thresholds associated with protection against clinical outcomes.