Health Literacy of Newly-Admitted Cancer Patients in Vietnam: Difficulties Understanding Treatment Options and Processing Health-Related Information

Having a good understanding of cancer patients’ health literacy in the early stage of diagnosis can help to implement strategies to improve the management process and overall health outcomes. The study aims to describe health literacy and its association with socio-demographic characteristics among newly admitted cancer patients. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 262 newly admitted patients of a cancer hospital in Vietnam using the Vietnamese version of the HLS-SF12 questionnaire. Descriptive analytics and regression analysis were used to describe health literacy and examine associated factors. Older age, lower level of education, and living in rural areas were associated with lower health literacy while there was no significant relationship between gender and health literacy among newly admitted cancer patients. Many newly admitted patients, especially the older patients have difficulties understanding the different treatment options (54%) and evaluating the reliability of health information on the internet (43%). During the early stage of treatment, strategies should be implemented with regards to patients’ health literacy, to properly educate patients and their caregivers to improve communication, adherence to medication, lifestyle, and overall better quality of life and treatment outcome.

Assessment of Knowledge, Practices, and Challenges of Pharmaceuticals Inventory Control Among Pharmacy Professionals Working in Selected Public Health Facilities of West Arsi Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia

Background: Good pharmaceutical inventory control enables health facilities (HFs) to provide complete health care by ensuring the availability of safe, effective, and affordable pharmaceuticals and related supplies of the required quality, inadequate quantity, at the required place and at all times. It boosts patients’ trust in the HFs and motivates working staff. However, it needs well-trained and skilled professionals. The aim of the current study was, therefore, assessing knowledge, practice, and challenges of pharmacy professionals conducting inventory control in selected public health facilities of West Arsi Zone, Oromia regional state for the year 2016 to 2018. Method: A mixed-methods study design was used to assess pharmacy professionals’ knowledge, skills, and challenges in applying inventory management methods. A semi-structured questionnaire was implemented for quantitative, whereas an open-ended question was employed for key informants (KIs) to explore qualitative data. Result: Ninety percent of pharmacy professionals knew about VEN analysis concepts and 70% about ABC analysis. However, none of them had a concept of FSN and XYZ analysis. Among the respondents who knew the concept, 75% had gained knowledge through formal training and 10% of them learned from on-job training. When they asked about the methods of inventory control, 60% responded as they did not hear about it. Of those who said “Yes” on being asked to mention at least 1 method of it, 80% could not able to correctly mention the methods used in inventory control. However, 44%, 62.5%, and 75% of respondents had practiced ABC, VED, and ABC-VED matrix analysis respectively. The challenges that prevented these professionals from practicing pharmaceutical inventory control in their HFs were grouped into price-related, training-related, human resource-related, and managerial-related factors. Conclusion: Inventory control is the heart of the pharmaceutical supply system. Without its healthy action, HFs’ goal attainment will not be viable. Problems of sick pharmaceutical inventory control are directly related to a lack of knowledge and appreciation of it by the concerned bodies. The current finding revealed almost all pharmacy professionals included in the study had little knowledge about how to manage their inventories. Managers’ unwillingness to cooperate and facilitate necessary resources prevented the professionals from doing inventory control.

Cost Determinants of Continuum-Care Episodes for Hip Fracture

Many factors affect the healthcare costs and outcomes in patients with hip fracture (HF). Through the construction of a Continuum-Care Episode (CCE), we investigated the costs of CCEs for HF and their determinants. We used data extracted from administrative databases of 5094 consecutive elderly patients hospitalized in 2017 in Emilia Romagna, Italy, to evaluate the overall costs of the CCE. We calculated the acute and post-acute costs from the date of the hospital admission to the end of the CCE. The determinants of costs by type of surgical intervention (total hip replacement, partial hip replacement, open reduction, and internal fixation) were investigated using generalized linear regression models. Regardless of the type of surgical intervention, hospital bed-based rehabilitation in public or private healthcare facilities either followed by rehabilitation in a community hospital/temporary nursing home beds or not were the strongest determinants of costs, while rehabilitation in intermediate care facilities alone was associated with lower costs. CCE’s cost and its variability is mainly related to the rehabilitation setting. Cost-wise, intermediate care resulted to be an appropriate setting for providing post-acute rehabilitation for HF, representing the one associated with lower overall costs. Intermediate care organizational setting should be privileged when planning integrated care HF pathways.

Mothers’ Experiences and Perceptions of Facility-based Delivery Care in Rural Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, delivery wards are a part of primary healthcare services. However, although the maternal mortality rate is very high, approximately 50% of mothers use skilled birth attendants. This study focused on how women in a rural southern district of Ethiopia experience maternity care offered at the local delivery wards. In this qualitative, exploratory study, 19 women who had given birth in a healthcare facility were interviewed in 2019. Individual in-depth interviews were supplemented with observations conducted at 2 different delivery wards in the same district in 2020. Two main themes emerged from the thematic content analysis: increased awareness and safety were the primary reasons for giving birth at a healthcare facility, and traditions and norms affected women’s birth experiences in public maternity wards. The main shortcomings were a shortage of medicine, ambulance not arriving in time, and lack of care at night. For some women, being assisted by a male midwife could be challenging, and the inability to afford necessary medicine made adequate treatment inaccessible. Providing continuous information gave the women a certain feeling of control. Strong family involvement indicated that collectivistic expectations were key to rural delivery wards. The healthcare system must be structured to meet women’s needs. Moreover, managers and midwives should ensure that birthing women receive high-quality, safe, timely, and respectful care.

Covid-19 Preparedness and Response Capability: A Case Study of the Hanoi Primary Healthcare System

This study examined the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) preparedness and response of the health system (HS) in Hanoi, Vietnam, and identified enabling factors and barriers. This cross-sectional, mixed-methods study was conducted in 4 urban and peri-urban districts that included some wards with COVID-19-positive cases and some without. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) analytical frameworks were used. Overall, 10% of health facilities (HFs) failed to fully implement COVID-19 risk determination; 8.8% failed to fully implement stronger community partnerships with local stakeholders to support public health (PH) preparedness; 35% and 2.5% incompletely implemented and did not implement evaluation of PH emergency operations, respectively; 10% did not identify communication channels to issue public information, alerts, warnings, and notifications; 25% incompletely implemented identification, development of guidance, and standards for information; 72.5% had good preventive and treatment collaboration; and 10% did not fully implement procedures for laboratory testing and reporting results. Enablers included sufficient infrastructure and equipment, strong leadership, and good cross-public-sector collaboration with police and military forces. Barriers included workforce constraints, overburdened and inconsistent reporting systems, inappropriate financial mechanisms, ambiguous health governance, and lack of private-sector engagement. Nonetheless, the HS preparedness and response were satisfactory, although further coordinated efforts in evaluation, coordination, communication, and volunteering remain necessary.

Benchmarking European Home Care Models for Older Persons on Societal Costs: The IBenC Study

This study aims to benchmark mean societal costs per client in different home care models and to describe characteristics of home care models with the lowest societal costs. In this prospective longitudinal study in 6 European countries, 6-month societal costs of resource utilization of 2060 older home care clients were estimated. Three care models were identified and compared based on level of patient-centered care (PCC), availability of specialized professionals (ASP) and level of monitoring of care performance (MCP). Differences in costs between care models were analyzed using linear regression while adjusting for case mix differences. Societal costs incurred in care model 2 (low ASP; high PCC & MCP) were significantly higher than in care model 1 (high ASP, PCC & MCP, mean difference €2230 (10%)) and in care model 3 (low ASP & PCC; high MCP, mean difference €2552 (12%)). Organizations within both models with the lowest societal costs, systematically monitor their care performance. However, organizations within one model arranged their care with a low focus on patient-centered care, and employed mainly generalist care professionals, while organizations in the other model arranged their care delivery with a strong focus on patient-centered care combined with a high availability of specialized care professionals.

The Vulnerability of Health Infrastructure to the Impacts of Climate Change and Sea Level Rise in Small Island Countries in the South Pacific

Anthropogenic climate change and related sea level rise will have a range of impacts on populations, particularly in the low lying Pacific island countries (PICs). One of these impacts will be on the health and well-being of people in these nations. In such cases, access to medical facilities is important. This research looks at the medical facilities currently located on 14 PICs and how climate change related impacts such as sea level rise may affect these facilities. The medical infrastructure in each country were located using information from a range of sources such as Ministry of Health (MoH) websites, World Health Organization, Doctors Assisting in South Pacific Islands (DAISI), Commonwealth Health Online, and Google Maps. A spatial analysis was undertaken to identify medical infrastructure located within 4 zones from the coastline of each country: 0 to 50 m, 50 to 100 m, 100 to 200 m, and 200 to 500 m. The findings indicate that 62% of all assessed medical facilities in the 14 PICs are located within 500 m of the coast. The low-lying coral atoll countries of Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Tokelau, and Tuvalu will be highly affected as all medical facilities in these countries fall within 500 m of the coast. The results provide a baseline analysis of the threats posed by sea-level rise to existing critical medical infrastructure in the 14 PICs and could be useful for adaptive planning. These countries have limited financial and technical resources which will make adaptation challenging.

Factors that Determine Comprehensive Categorical Classification of EHR Implementation Levels

Electronic Health Records (EHRs) have the potential to alleviate patient safety mistakes. Of the various levels of EHR, advanced or higher-level functionalities of EHR are designed to improve patient safety. Certain organizational and environmental factors may pose as barriers toward implementing all of the functionalities, leaving certain hospitals intermediate between basic and comprehensive levels of implementation. This study identifies a comprehensive categorical classification that includes hospitals that have functionalities between basic and comprehensive levels of EHR and determines the organizational and environmental factors that may influence hospitals to implement one or more combinations of these categories. A longitudinal panel design was used. Ordinal logistic regression with random effects model was fitted with robust cluster standard errors. Our sample consisted of non-federal general acute care hospitals utilizing a panel design from 2010 to 2016 with 17 586 hospital-year observations (or an average of 2600 hospitals per year). Larger size hospitals, ones with higher total margin, metropolitan and urban hospitals, system affiliated hospitals, and those in higher managed care penetration areas have higher odds of belonging in one of the higher categories of EHR implementation. Hospitals that can access a greater amount of human resources and financial assets from their environments, may implement higher levels of EHR. Initial and maintenance costs of EHR, interoperability issues, and inability to distribute high costs of training across facilities may stymie implementation of higher EHR functionalities. Policymaking to encourage competition among vendors may possibly lower the implementation price for hospitals with limited resources.

Understanding Complaints in the Emergency Department

The aim of this research is to identify the main determinants of patients’ complaints and potential mediators and moderators in this regard. This research shows that complaints can result from a complex set of processes involving direct, mediating, and moderating effects. Interventions aimed at reducing patients’ complaints should consider specific patient groups and experiences.

Intensive Care Unit Services Preparedness for the Pandemic: An Efficiency Analysis

Intensive care unit (ICU) services efficiency and the shortage of critical care professionals has been a challenge during pandemic. Thus, preparing ICUs is a prominent part of any pandemic response. The objective of this study is to examine the efficiencies of ICU services in Turkey right before the pandemic. Data were gathered from the Public Hospital Statistical Year Book for the year 2017. Analysis are presented at hospital level by comparing teaching and non-teaching hospitals. Bootstrapped data envelopment analysis procedure was used to gather more precise efficiency scores. Three analysis levels are incorporated into the study such as, all public hospitals (N = 100), teaching (N = 53), non-teaching hospitals (N = 47), and provinces that are providing high density of ICU services through the country (N = 54). Study results reveal that average efficiency scores of ICU services obtained from teaching hospitals (eff = 0.65) is higher than non-teaching (eff = 0.54) hospitals. After applying the bootstrapping techniques, efficiency scores are significantly improved and the difference between before and after bootstrapping results are statistically significant ( P < .05). Province based analysis indicates that, ICU services efficiencies are high for provinces located in southeast part of the country and highly populated places, such as İstanbul. Evidence-based operational design that considers the spatial distribution of health resources and effective planning of critical care professionals are critical for efficient management of intensive care. Study results will be helpful for health policy makers to deeply understand dynamics of critical care.