The COVID-19 pandemic created an urgent need for an innovative method of care delivery for psychosocial oncology. The psychosocial oncology services at the University Health Network in Toronto, Canada transitioned expeditiously to digital technologies that were readily available and accessible for patients and clinicians, facilitating care provision while reducing the...
Investigating experiences of staff and callers of call centers/hotlines during the Covid-19 pandemic is essential to identify perceived strengths, challenges, and opportunities for improving service delivery. This study aimed to explore experiences and perspectives of staff and callers of the 4030 call center during the Covid-19 pandemic. This was a qualitative study in which...
People living with HIV face disproportionately high rates of mental health issues (MH) and substance use disorders (SUD), which can contribute to reduced antiretroviral treatment (ART) adherence. When left untreated, these psychosocial comorbidities pose an additional threat to the goals of the Ending HIV Epidemic Initiative, which aims to optimize HIV outcomes in states like...
Health and social care professionals face multiple challenges, including a shrinking workforce, a rapidly aging population, and crises such as pandemics, which increase stress and the risk of mental health problems. Preventing these problems is essential to maintaining a stable workforce and ensuring the quality of care. This study investigates the proportion of health and social...
A well-forecast healthcare workforce ensures that there are enough professionals to meet the growing and changing health needs of the population. The number of doctors in a country or region is influenced by various factors, including demographic and economic conditions, policies, and educational capacity. However, the most important factor is the change in population size. Aim...
Despite persistent tobacco control efforts, the prevalence of smoking, especially among low-income populations, remains high. The prevalence of tobacco use among the primarily low-income populations served by Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), is approximately 5 percentage points higher than the national average. Evidence based interventions such as clinician delivered...
In Sudan, where physician anaesthesiologists are critically scarce (0.47/100,000 population), non-physician anaesthesia providers (NPAPs) deliver most perioperative care, a situation exacerbated by conflict-driven health system collapse. Despite global evidence supporting task sharing and task shifting, NPAP safety outcomes in fragile settings remain unquantified. This study...
Limited engagement with health services contributes to the poorer HIV care outcomes observed in young people. We conducted a cluster-randomised trial to investigate the impact of community-based integrated HIV and sexual and reproductive health (SRH) service (CHIEDZA) for young people on HIV outcomes in three provinces in Zimbabwe. Here we examine the uptake of services. In the...
Swedish public healthcare is increasingly characterised by a growing administrative layer and complex governance structures. While administrative personnel have grown in numbers, their coordination and integration with core clinical operations appears to remain underdeveloped, leading to tensions, conflicts and perceived power vacuums. Despite the growing complexity, little...
Timely initiation of therapy is critical for patients with HER2-positive early breast cancer, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where health-system constraints delay care. We evaluated whether a Patient Navigation Program could reduce time from registration to initiation of dual anti-HER2 therapy in Egypt. Retrospective cohort study at the Breast Cancer...
Cataract is the leading cause of avoidable blindness worldwide, and limited surgical access continues to affect elimination efforts, especially in low- and middle-income countries. In line with this burden, Rwanda implemented two complementary models for cataract surgery services: The Mobile Teams Outreach Cataract Surgery Model (MTO-CSM) and the Continuous Hospital-Based...
The phenomenon of demographic changes and the aging population requires Territorial Ambulatory Healthcare (TAH) to provide increasingly high-quality and sustainable care to a growing number of individuals with chronic diseases. In this context, Healthcare Lean Management (HLM) can support sustainable care quality, increasing patient satisfaction and process performance. According...
Although Senegal’s Universal Health Coverage (UHC) program has improved access to care, it has sometimes led to overuse of health services. Moreover, the program’s substantial financial debt to health facilities (HFs) has exposed them to organizational and financial problems, making it difficult to renew drug stocks and pay salaries on time. The multiple effects of the UHC...
Patient safety and quality of care depend on well-trained, motivated staff. Competitive wages are critical for staff satisfaction and retention. Understanding the factors that affect nurses’ and physicians’ wages is the first step to tackling these factors and improving retention and recruitment while reducing shortages. The aim of this study was i) to describe the distribution...
In the framework of continuous improvement of medical quality, specific (single) disease management has become a key priority. However, the current research on the correlation of various items for single disease management and efficiency indicators of hospitals is insufficient, and an in-depth discussion is urgently needed to optimize management strategies. Therefore, we explored...
Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) is an effective intervention shown to significantly lower neonatal morbidity and mortality, especially among low-birth-weight (LBW) infants. Despite its success, many families struggle to implement KMC effectively post-discharge. This qualitative study employed a hermeneutical-phenomenological approach to explore the experiences of mothers and families...
On-the-day surgery cancellations (OTDSCs) have been a longstanding global problem, bringing significant suffering to patients and carers, and substantial waste across healthcare systems. Any cancellation of a surgery that occurs for any reason on the day of the scheduled surgery is defined as an OTDSC. Despite the high prevalence of OTDSCs, little is known about why they happen...
Timely admission and treatment of critically ill patients to Intensive Care Units (ICU) is shown to reduce premature mortality. However, low- and middle-income countries face many challenges in providing ICU services. This study describes the profile of patients admitted to ICU and their outcomes at the Central Regional Referral Hospital in Bhutan. This was an observational study...
Achieving universal access to healthcare is a specific target of Sustainable Development Goal 3 which seeks to promote health and well-being for all. However, the subjective well-being (SWB) in Xizang and its relationship with healthcare accessibility are inadequately understood. This study aims to assess the magnitude of SWB and examine its relationship with healthcare...
The DRG-based payment system has gained widespread adoption globally, yet evidence about its impact on care quality remains scarce. In 2020, China implemented its inaugural national DRG payment initiative, the China Healthcare Security-Diagnosis Related Group (CHS-DRG), driven by the pressing need to regulate healthcare provider behaviors. To evaluate the changes in process and...
Grommet insertion is one of the most common surgeries in childhood. While post-operative care has been traditionally provided by Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) specialists, workforce capacity challenges have led to the delegation of care to alternate workforces, including audiology. This study aims to evaluate safety and effectiveness of audiology-led post-grommet services and to...
Some populations remain chronically underserved to healthcare services because of poor housing conditions, lack of health insurance /administrative status, difficulties in French languages, disabilities, …. Health mediation, by promoting the ability of services to adapt their organization and supporting underserved populations in overcoming the obstacles encountered, could be an...
Access to contraception and its use are crucial for meeting women’s fertility goals and preferences regarding the number and timing of children. Despite the implementation of various family planning programs, there is a lack of substantial evidence to evaluate their impact on contraceptive use, which is needed to guide future investments or adjustments. In this paper, we assessed...
Pelvic Floor Dysfunction (PFD) is common, especially among older people, causing physical and psychological issues and high costs. Pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) is a first-line, non-surgical treatment; however, resource limitations pose challenges. Digital interventions show potential, yet there’s a lack of a comprehensive digital service package for community-dwelling...
The medicines’ pathway in nursing homes (NHs) is complex and challenging, resulting in processes that are prone to medication errors and lack person-centredness. There is a clear need for quality improvement initiatives, for which a systems approach - rather than isolated interventions - is considered more effective. In this context, the Process Optimization Of the Medicines...