258 research outputs found

    Telemedicine

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    Telemedicine is a rapidly evolving field as new technologies are implemented for example for the development of wireless sensors, quality data transmission. Using the Internet applications such as counseling, clinical consultation support and home care monitoring and management are more and more realized, which improves access to high level medical care in underserved areas. The 23 chapters of this book present manifold examples of telemedicine treating both theoretical and practical foundations and application scenarios

    Occupational Health and Safety in the Healthcare Sector

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    Healthcare workers are exposed to several different occupational risk factors, and they pay an important tribute in terms of occupational diseases and work-related injuries. Currently, the COVID-19 pandemic has focused the attention on the problem of the infectious risk, which is certainly among the risks typically expected and specifically recognized for the health personnel, but also other occupational risks should not be overlooked, as, e.g., the risks associated with work-organization factors and with the exposure to chemical and physical agents. The health consequences associated with the exposure to all these factors have relevant impacts in terms of induced diseases, DALYs, sickness absence from work and costs for the health systems. According to these premises, this reprint has collected manuscripts addressing topics related to the prevention of the occupational risks in the healthcare sector, including original articles and reviews on the prevention of work-related illnesses and injuries of the health personnel, as well as on the evaluation of the risks in the healthcare workplaces, and on the topics of risk perception and of the knowledge and attitudes of the workers towards the preventive procedures and the use of protections. The themes of the prevention of occupational infectious risk, biomechanical overload of the musculoskeletal system and work-related psychosocial factors are specifically discussed in the papers collected

    Occupational Health and Safety in the Healthcare Sector

    Get PDF
    Healthcare workers are exposed to several different occupational risk factors, and they pay an important tribute in terms of occupational diseases and work-related injuries. Currently, the COVID-19 pandemic has focused the attention on the problem of the infectious risk, which is certainly among the risks typically expected and specifically recognized for the health personnel, but also other occupational risks should not be overlooked, such as, e.g., the risks associated with work-organization factors and with the exposure to chemical and physical agents. The health consequences associated with the exposure to all these factors have relevant impacts in terms of induced diseases, DALYs, sickness absence from work and costs for the health systems. According to these premises, this reprint has collected manuscripts addressing topics related to the prevention of the occupational risks in the healthcare sector, including original articles and reviews on the prevention of work-related illnesses and injuries of the health personnel, as well as on the evaluation of the risks in the healthcare workplaces, and on the topics of risk perception and of the knowledge and attitudes of the workers towards the preventive procedures and the use of protections. The themes of the prevention of occupational infectious risk, biomechanical overload of the musculoskeletal system and work-related psychosocial factors are specifically discussed in the papers collected

    The leadership trinity: examining the interplay between healthcare organisational context, collective leadership and leadership effectiveness in the health sector - a multiple case study of district hospitals in the Western Cape Province, South Africa

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    To address the current leadership challenges within the South African health system, it is important to understand what influences the nature and practice of leadership within healthcare organisations. This thesis presents research about the interlinkages between context, leadership practices and staff satisfaction and morale – as indicators of leadership effectiveness - in district hospitals. The study represents one of the few detailed empirical inquiries into these issues in South Africa and adds to the still limited body of relevant empirical evidence in low- and middle-income countries. The research specifically drew on organisational and leadership theory to shape its strategies of data collection and analysis. It was conducted in two case study, district-level, hospitals. Multiple sources of data were collected, including document reviews, non-participant observations, and in-depth qualitative interviews. Data from staff satisfaction surveys carried out separately from this study were also considered. The in-depth interviews involved the three broad cadres of clinical, nursing, and administrative staff working within the hospitals, including those with and without formal managerial roles. Thematic analysis was applied in analysing experience in each case study hospital and also in cross-case analysis. This analysis involved iterative inductive, deductive, and abductive processes. The thesis generates insights about the leadership practices experienced in the case study hospitals that may both engender (positive practices) or undermine (negative practices) staff satisfaction and morale. Positive leadership practices also nurtured the collective leadership that itself enhanced teamworking and influenced the hospital context to spread collective leadership more widely. These leadership practices were, in turn, influenced by contextual elements internal and external to the hospital, some of which themselves had possible consequences for staff satisfaction and morale. Critical features of hospital external context included hospitals' histories and backgrounds, as well as the wider bureaucratic context of rigidity in which they are situated. Key features of hospital internal context influencing collective leadership were, meanwhile, internal power structures and processes, professional identity, and cross-professional relationships. This analysis of the interactions between hospital context, collective leadership and staff satisfaction and morale illuminates the complex dynamics of hospitals. This Leadership Trinity offers insights of relevance to health system reform in South Africa, and more specifically, to implementation of current National Health Insurance proposals

    Web 2.0 for social learning in higher education

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    Healthcare Access

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    Adequate healthcare access not only requires the availability of comprehensive healthcare facilities but also affordability and knowledge of the availability of these services. As an extended responsibility, healthcare providers can create mechanisms to facilitate subjective decision-making in accessing the right kind of healthcare services as well various options to support financial needs to bear healthcare-related expenses while seeking health and fulfilling the healthcare needs of the population. This volume brings together experiences and opinions from global leaders to develop affordable, sustainable, and uniformly available options to access healthcare services

    Information Technology's Role in Global Healthcare Systems

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    Over the past few decades, modern information technology has made a significant impact on people’s daily lives worldwide. In the field of health care and prevention, there has been a progressing penetration of assistive health services such as personal health records, supporting apps for chronic diseases, or preventive cardiological monitoring. In 2020, the range of personal health services appeared to be almost unmanageable, accompanied by a multitude of different data formats and technical interfaces. The exchange of health-related data between different healthcare providers or platforms may therefore be difficult or even impossible. In addition, health professionals are increasingly confronted with medical data that were not acquired by themselves, but by an algorithmic “black box”. Even further, externally recorded data tend to be incompatible with the data models of classical healthcare information systems.From the individual’s perspective, digital services allow for the monitoring of their own health status. However, such services can also overwhelm their users, especially elderly people, with too many features or barely comprehensible information. It therefore seems highly relevant to examine whether such “always at hand” services exceed the digital literacy levels of average citizens.In this context, this reprint presents innovative, health-related applications or services emphasizing the role of user-centered information technology, with a special focus on one of the aforementioned aspects

    Qualitative analysis of older adults' experiences with sepsis

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    Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)Atypical symptoms, multiple co-morbidities and a lack of public awareness make it difficult for older adults to know when to seek help for sepsis. Diagnosis delays contribute to older adults’ higher sepsis mortality rates. This research describes patients’ and caregivers’ experiences with the symptom appraisal process, self-management strategies, provider-nurse-patient interactions, and barriers when seeking sepsis care. Convenience and purposive stratified sampling were utilized on two data sources. A nurse-patient and nurse-family caregivers were interviewed. Online stories by older adult patient survivors or family members from the Faces of Sepsis ™ Sepsis Alliance website were analyzed. Emergent themes were identified using qualitative descriptive methods. Listlessness and fatigue were most bothersome symptoms for the nurse-family caregivers. Fever, pain and low blood pressure were most common complaints, followed by breathing difficulty, mental status changes and weakness. Patients expressed “excruciating pain” with abdominal and soft tissue sources of infection, and with post-operative sepsis. Concern was expressed that self-management strategies and medications create barriers by masking typical sepsis signs. Health care providers’ interpersonal interactions, lack of awareness of sepsis symptoms and guidelines, complacency towards older adults, and denial by patients were barriers. Further barriers were staff inexperience, delays, care omissions, and tension between health care providers, patients and caregivers—with emerging advocacy by patients and family. In conclusion, providers should assess previous self-management strategies when evaluating symptoms. At primary care visits or hospital discharge, older patients with risk factors need anticipatory guidance for sepsis symptoms and possible emergent infections--specifically patients with pre-existing risk factors such as urinary tract infections, pneumonia, or operative events. Public and professional education are needed to overcome a lack of urgency and understanding of symptoms for diagnosis, treatment and guideline adherence for inpatients and outpatient clinics. Further research on subjective sepsis symptoms may improve patient-clinician communications when evaluating sepsis in older adults
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