Risk Management and Healthcare Policy

BACKGROUND: Health literacy has critical health implications. Health literacy in young people is a pressing matter as it determines their current and future health. Although health literacy research is increasing, there are limited health literacy studies from Africa. The aim of this study was to provide a coherent summary and synthesis of the available health literacy studies among young people in Africa. METHODS: A systematic scoping review was chosen to attain the aim of this study...

OBJECTIVE: Involvement of NLR CARD domain containing 4 (NLRC4) in neuroinflammation has been demonstrated. The aim of this study was to ascertain the prognostic role of serum NLRC4 in severe traumatic brain injury (sTBI). METHODS: In this prospective cohort study including 140 sTBI patients and 140 controls, serum NLRC4 levels were quantified. Follow-up time was 180 days after trauma and poor prognosis was designated as extended Glasgow outcome scale (GOSE) scores of 1-4...

PURPOSE: China developed an innovative episode-based payment scheme for outpatient care, namely "Ambulatory Patient Groups (APGs) + capitation" payment, to constrain inflation in outpatient expenditures. This study aimed to assess the effects of this payment method on volume and expenditures in Chinese public hospitals. METHODS: A quasi-experimental study was conducted with 7 municipal and 12 county hospitals from Jinhua as the intervention group and 15 municipal and 24 county hospitals from three neighbouring cities as the control group...

PURPOSE: To evaluate the impact of using computational data management resources and analytical software on radiation doses in mammography and radiography during the COVID-19 pandemic, develop departmental diagnostic reference levels (DRLs), and describe achievable doses (ADs) for mammography and radiography based on measured dose parameters. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This ambispective cohort study enrolled 795 and 12,115 patients who underwent mammography and radiography, respectively, at the King Fahd Hospital of the University, Al-Khobar City, Saudi Arabia between May 25 and November 4, 2021...

INTRODUCTION: The attention to building a safety culture in nursing homes is relatively less when compared to hospitals. Good patient safety will improve the quality of health services and minimize incidents related to patient safety. This study aims to look at efforts that can be made to improve safety culture in nursing homes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The research design uses phenomenological qualitative with in-depth interviews. Purposive sampling was used with interpretive phenomenological analysis...

AIM: This study investigated the current status and related risk factors of 48-hour unplanned return to the intensive care unit (ICU) to reduce the return rate and improve the quality of critical care management. METHODS: Data were collected from 2365 patients discharged from the comprehensive ICU. Multivariate and 1:1 propensity score matching analyses were performed. RESULTS: Forty patients (1.69%) had unplanned readmission to the ICU within 48 hours after transfer...

PURPOSE: We examine how adolescent free time allocation-namely, screen time and outdoor time-is associated with mental health and academic performance in rural China. METHODS: This paper used a large random sample of rural junior high school students in Ningxia (n = 20,375; age =13.22), with data collected from self-reported demographic questionnaires (to assess free time allocation), the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (to assess mental health), and a standardized math test (to measure academic performance)...

PURPOSE: Quality control circle (QCC) has acquired success in many fields in healthcare industry as a process management tool, whereas its efficacy in surgical antimicrobial prophylaxis (SAP) remains unknown. This study aimed to implement QCC interventions to improve the appropriateness of SAP. METHODS: A QCC activity team was established to grasp the current situation of SAP in clean surgery procedure, set target, formulate corresponding countermeasures and implement and review them in stages...

PURPOSE: The coexistence of multimorbidity and frailty is more likely to increase the risk of physical limitations, mortality and other adverse health outcomes in older adults than their individual occurrence. However, whether and how this coexistence is associated with catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) has not been well assessed. This study aimed to evaluate the independent and coexisting effects of frailty and multimorbidity on CHE. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: A total of 4838 participants obtained from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) without CHE at baseline (2011) were included in the analytical sample...

BACKGROUND: The Fangcang shelter hospital has gradually become the primary management mode in China's fight against this Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in 2020. In early 2022, the Fangcang shelter hospital management model was successfully applied to the new outbreak of COVID-19 in Shanghai also. Although Fangcang shelter hospitals are no longer the prevailing mode of prevention of COVID-19, the management experience of Shanghai makeshift hospitals is worthy of reference for public health...

PURPOSE: This study was to analyze the responses of informants about Instagram infographics on Covid-19 prevention for pregnant women. METHODS: This was a qualitative study that used Rapid Assessment Procedure (RAP) and used pretesting communication theory. The informant selection technique was purposive sampling that consist of three pregnant women as main informants, a midwifery lecturer and a visual graphic designer as key informants. One-to-one pretesting communication procedure was selected because the research was conducted at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, so it had a difficulty in recruiting informants...

OBJECTIVE: The impact of COVID-19 continues to this day, there are many disputes about how medical students should be managed and diverse arrangements were adopted by medical schools around all over the world. The purpose of this study was to discuss the risks and benefits of medical student participation in healthcare in the context of COVID-19. METHODS: An online cross-sectional survey was distributed to 300 Medical students undergoing standardized training program (STP) in China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University...

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore whether children with AH have a higher obesity prevalence and analyze the risk factors for otitis media with effusion(OME) in AH children. METHODS: AH patients aged 3-12 years old that were hospitalized in our hospital for adenoidectomy from June 2020 to September 2022 were included in this study. Height and weight were measured to calculate the body mass index, weight for height and weight z-score to evaluate the development of AH children...

BACKGROUND: The Omicron variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is 2 to 3 times more contagious than the Delta variant and poses a new challenge in containing transmission in community and health care settings. Transmission in hospitals can cause nosocomial outbreak infections and affect patients and health care workers. This study describes a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in a medical ward. The purpose of the investigation was to determine the transmission source of the outbreak, as well as the measures implemented to prevent and control it...

BACKGROUND: Pediatric hypertension become an early marker of cardiovascular diseases, but their antihypertensive drug use patterns are rarely known. PURPOSE: To investigate the epidemiological characteristics of pediatric hypertension and the use of antihypertensive drugs in the real world in China. METHODS: In this study, the demographic, diagnosis, and medication prescription data including the antihypertensive drug types and comorbidities, were analyzed...

INTRODUCTION: The albumin-bilirubin (ALBI) grade objectively assesses liver function with better performance than the Child-Pugh and end-stage liver disease scores. However, the evidence is lacking on the ALBI grade in trauma cases. This study aimed to identify the association between the ALBI grade and mortality outcomes in trauma patients with liver injury. METHODS: Data from 259 patients with traumatic liver injury at a level I trauma center between January 1, 2009, and December 31, 2021 were retrospectively analyzed...

BACKGROUND: Little is known regarding the post-dispensing storage conditions for pharmaceuticals in Saudi Arabia (SA). Most parts of the region are usually hot and humid, which could result in the decline of crucial performance parameters. OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of household drug storage habits in the population of Qassim, and to investigate their storage behaviors as well as knowledge and awareness of factors that may affect drug stability. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted using a simple random sampling technique in the Qassim region...

PURPOSE: Overcrowding is a problem that affects emergency departments (ED) all over the world; it occurs due to a disproportion between user demand and the physical, human and structural resources available. Essential prerequisites to assessing and managing the phenomenon are its accurate measurement and an understanding of its impact. The objective of this systematic review is to identify the characteristics of the problem, analyzing the proposed strategies aimed at improving patient flow, delay in services provided and overcrowding of emergency departments...

In the light of the COP27 Climate Change Conference, the concept of the circular economy has come to the fore with promotion of reuse and recycling of appliances and materials from electronics to clothes. This concept has not been widely taken up by healthcare systems. In this perspective article, we discuss the idea of the circular economy and how, by extension, the concept of "circular medicine" with optimised hospital and medical clinic waste recycling might be promoted in the context of better stewardship of resources in healthcare management...

BACKGROUND: Bee sting injuries in children are accidental and occur in rural areas in summer and autumn. They have the characteristics of rapid onset, rapid change, many complications, complex treatment, and high disability rate. Patients experience various symptoms, such as vomiting, diarrhea, dyspnea, angioedema, multiple neuritis, myocardial infarction, acute renal failure, hypotension, and collapse. Systemic complications of the nervous system are rare. However, some cases of stroke, optic neuritis, and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis are related to bee stings...