Understanding and Using Patient Experience Feedback to Improve Health Care Quality: Systematic Review and Framework Development

Patient experience data is increasingly collected worldwide; however, questions persist regarding how it is used to improve health care quality. Synthesizing information from the existing literature, we have developed an empirically based framework to help organizations and managers understand what to do with patient experience feedback to improve health care quality at the organizational level. We identified six post-data collection/analysis activities, which were categorized into three main themes: 1) make sense of the data, 2) communicate and explain the data, and 3) plan for improvement. Our framework suggests that simply executing a survey will not improve performance. It is necessary that leaders understand the data, disseminate findings to all stakeholders, help staff understand the data, and then create a platform where all key stakeholders can be involved in discussing the results to generate improvement plans

Women's Experiences with Cervical Cancer in Ghana

Cervical cancer remains a significant global public health concern, and its impact in low- and middle-income countries, including Ghana is profound. Existing policies in Ghana focus on early screening and diagnosis. While the primary step of diagnosis is important and widely represented in literature, the evidence on the experiences of women diagnosed with cervical cancer remain sparse. The aim of this scoping review, therefore, is to explore and map the available literature on the experiences of women diagnosed with cervical cancer in Ghana. This study was conducted according to the framework developed by Arksey and O’Malley and reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews. Five databases (Google Scholar, PubMed, SCOPUS, CINAHL, and Africa Journal online) were searched using key words and key terms. Two authors independently screened the titles and abstracts, and the full texts of the included studies. Out of the 463 studies identified through the database search, ten studies met the eligibility criteria and were included in the review. The findings reveal that, the experiences of Ghanaian women with cervical cancer are multifaceted. These experiences are influenced by physical, psychological, and socio-cultural factors with significant impact on their quality of life. The women expressed ongoing discomfort due to bleeding and chronic pain. Psychologically, the women expressed pervasive anxiety, due to the fear associated with the diagnosis, and the cost associated living with cervical cancer. The socio-cultural experiences varied among the women. While some of the women expressed receiving support from their family members and friends, others reported receiving immense support from their significant others. Policy makers must consider including the experiences of women with cervical cancer in policy to provide interventions that meet their specific needs

A Comparative Study of use of the Library and the Internet as Sources of Information by Graduate Students in the University Of Ghana

This study was conducted to compare Internet use and library use among graduate students. It was based on the assumption that graduate students use the Internet more than the library. Literature on library and the Internet were reviewed. The researcher adopted convenient sampling technique to select the sample for the study. Data was collected using questionnaires. Collected data was statistically analyzed and interpreted using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Findings of the study indicated students do not bypass the library in satisfying their information need. They use both the library and the Internet, although Internet usage was more than the library, hence the Internet was the most preferred source of information. It was recommended that the library should be upgraded to meet recent advancement in research

Locating Female ‘Voices’ in the Minamata Convention on Mercury in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Case of Ghana

Countries that have ratified the Minamata Convention on Mercury, a United Nations-backed international treaty designed to protect human health and the environment from releases of mercury and mercury compounds, are required to produce a National Action Plan (NAP). Each must state, very clearly, how the mercury being used at artisanal and small-scale gold mines will be phased out. In most areas of sub-Saharan Africa, however, devising a comprehensive NAP promises to be an enormous and indeed, challenging, undertaking. Here, the institutional capacity and resources, expertise and at times, commitment needed to capture the level of detail the Minamata Secretariat expects to be included in each NAP are woefully lacking. One of the more challenging tasks ahead, given the shortage of hard data available on the sector’s populations, production and activities, promises to be the design and implementation of appropriate educational, communication and support-related strategies for the ‘vulnerable populations’ who rely on work at artisanal and small-scale gold mines for their incomes. This is especially significant for women, who, despite accounting for at least 50 percent of the region’s artisanal and small-gold mine workforce, mostly carry out the manual work at the lower tiers of the sector’s labour hierarchies. Taking stock of this largely ‘invisible’ work and the circumstances driving individuals to pursue employment in this sector in the first place, this paper reflects critically on the challenges with reducing women’s exposure to mercury at artisanal and small-scale gold mines in sub-Saharan Africa. It draws on findings from ongoing research in Ghana, the location of one of the largest and most dynamic artisanal and small-scale gold mining sectors in the region

Poverty, Adaptation and Vulnerability: An Assessment of Women’s Work in Ghana’s Artisanal Gold Mining Sector

This paper contributes to the debate on the link between poverty and artisanal and small‐scale mining (ASM) – low‐tech, labour‐intensive mineral extraction and processing – in sub‐Saharan Africa. It specifically seeks to advance discussion on the idea that throughout the region, the sector’s operators are trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty. Drawing upon ongoing research being conducted on marginalized women engaged in ASM in Ghana, an attempt is made to further nuance the ‘poverty trap‐ASM’ narrative. In the context of sub‐Saharan Africa, debates on this issue should focus on the challenges faced by marginalized groups such as women, in particular how their growing dependence upon monies earned from the sector for their livelihoods has increased their vulnerability

Understanding and Using Patient Experience Feedback to Improve Health Care Quality: Systematic Review and Framework Development

Patient experience data is increasingly collected worldwide; however, questions persist regarding how it is used to improve health care quality. Synthesizing information from the existing literature, we have developed an empirically based framework to help organizations and managers understand what to do with patient experience feedback to improve health care quality at the organizational level. We identified six post-data collection/analysis activities, which were categorized into three main themes: 1) make sense of the data, 2) communicate and explain the data, and 3) plan for improvement. Our framework suggests that simply executing a survey will not improve performance. It is necessary that leaders understand the data, disseminate findings to all stakeholders, help staff understand the data, and then create a platform where all key stakeholders can be involved in discussing the results to generate improvement plans

Formalizing Artisanal Gold Mining under the Minamata Convention: Previewing the Challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa

This article contributes to a growing body of literature which explores how the Minamata Convention on Mercury is influencing the development of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) – low-tech mineral extraction and processing – in sub-Saharan Africa. Conceived to raise awareness of the environmental impact of mercury and to minimize its use in industry, the Convention focuses heavily on ASM, the largest source of anthropogenic emissions of mercury worldwide. Article 7 of the Convention requires ratifying countries with ‘more than significant quantities of ASGM [artisanal and small-scale gold mining]’ to draft comprehensive National Action Plans (NAPs) that outline training programs for the handling of mercury and strategies for reducing emissions from artisanal and small-scale gold mines. The focus here, however, is on one point in particular, the importance of which, thus far, has been largely-overlooked: the need for ratifying countries to include in their NAPs ‘Steps to facilitate the formalization or regulation of the artisanal and small-scale gold mining sector’. In sub-Saharan Africa, where most ASM activities are found in the informal ‘space’, this promises to be a contentious issue moving forward. The article explains why this is the case, drawing heavily on findings from research being conducted in Ghana, Sierra Leone and Mali, three of the region’s most dynamic ASM economies

Poverty, adaptation and vulnerability: An assessment of women's work in Ghana's artisanal gold mining sector

This paper contributes to the debate on the link between poverty and artisanal and small‐scale mining (ASM) – low‐tech, labour‐intensive mineral extraction and processing – in sub‐Saharan Africa. It specifically seeks to advance discussion on the idea that throughout the region, the sector’s operators are trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty. Drawing upon ongoing research being conducted on marginalized women engaged in ASM in Ghana, an attempt is made to further nuance the ‘poverty trap‐ASM’ narrative. In the context of sub‐Saharan Africa, debates on this issue should focus on the challenges faced by marginalized groups such as women, in particular how their growing dependence upon monies earned from the sector for their livelihoods has increased their vulnerability

Formalizing artisanal gold mining under the Minamata convention: Previewing the challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa

This article contributes to a growing body of literature which explores how the Minamata Convention on Mercury is influencing the development of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) – low-tech mineral extraction and processing – in sub-Saharan Africa. Conceived to raise awareness of the environmental impact of mercury and to minimize its use in industry, the Convention focuses heavily on ASM, the largest source of anthropogenic emissions of mercury worldwide. Article 7 of the Convention requires ratifying countries with ‘more than significant quantities of ASGM [artisanal and small-scale gold mining]’ to draft comprehensive National Action Plans (NAPs) that outline training programs for the handling of mercury and strategies for reducing emissions from artisanal and small-scale gold mines. The focus here, however, is on one point in particular, the importance of which, thus far, has been largely-overlooked: the need for ratifying countries to include in their NAPs ‘Steps to facilitate the formalization or regulation of the artisanal and small-scale gold mining sector’. In sub-Saharan Africa, where most ASM activities are found in the informal ‘space’, this promises to be a contentious issue moving forward. The article explains why this is the case, drawing heavily on findings from research being conducted in Ghana, Sierra Leone and Mali, three of the region’s most dynamic ASM economies