Journal of evaluation in clinical practice
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The Hamilton depression rating scale (HDRS) is seen as an international gold standard for the measurement of depression. High rates of untreated depression, including perinatal depression, support the rationale to adapt and validate a structured version of the HDRS to be used by non-clinicians in low-income settings. ⋯ The AFFIRM-HDRS is adequately structured to be used by non-clinicians in an isiXhosa speaking perinatal population. It is hoped that this structured tool can be used to assist with identification and referral of these at-risk populations by non-clinicians in resource-constrained environments, thereby playing a role in addressing the treatment gap for perinatal depression in LMICs.
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The objective of this study was to identify the factors influencing workarounds to the Hospital Information System (HIS) in Malaysian government hospitals. ⋯ This study provided the key factors as to why doctors were involved in workarounds during the implementation of the HIS. It is important to understand these factors in order to help mitigate work practices that can pose a threat to patient safety.
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Data on abortion services are critical for monitoring trends in access and utilization, evaluating policies, and examining a wide range of research questions. Accurate and timely data, however, can be difficult to obtain for abortion services. Oregon is one of several states that use state funds to finance abortion services in their Medicaid programmes. Oregon's Medicaid programme contracts with managed care plans that receive global budgets to provide care. Abortion services, however, must be billed directly to the state through fee-for-service (FFS) billing to ensure that federal funds are not used. In this study, we identify possible abortions using Medicaid insurance claims data from Oregon and categorize identified abortions as high, medium, or low confidence according to convergent validity analysis of FFS billing. ⋯ Research on abortion services using insurance claims has important implications for women's health care and public health policy. A high-quality claims-based measure can facilitate monitoring the provision of abortion services within health systems and evaluation of initiatives to increase equitable abortion access.
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Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is a serious health problem that affects women of all ages worldwide, including their quality of life (QOL). Interventions on lifestyle modification can be a suitable therapy. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of a PCOS pharmaceutical care service on QOL for women diagnosed with PCOS living in Syria (a country affected by war) and Jordan (non-war-zone country). ⋯ A pharmacist led intervention on lifestyle modification delivered to PCOS women led to positive effects on QOL scores. The intervention was successful in Syria and Jordan. This highlights the significant role that pharmacists can play in improving the life of women with PCOS whether living in war or non-war-zone countries.
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There are currently no criteria to guide appropriate prescribing to older persons in Africa. Although the American Geriatrics Society-Beers (AGS-Beers) Criteria appear to be favoured by African researchers, there is a need to adapt its recommendations to the continent's health care systems. This study aimed to adapt the AGS-Beers recommendations to Nigerian and South African health care contexts. ⋯ The 2015 AGS-Beers Criteria were adapted to the Nigerian and South African health care contexts. The adapted and the parent recommendations differed in their context specificity. The recommendations may serve as a guide to clinicians when prescribing medications to older persons in Nigeria and South Africa.