Journal of evaluation in clinical practice
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Despite research being done on spinal tuberculosis, diagnosing this condition at an early stage remains problematic due to its insidious onset and the varying symptoms being associated. Most individuals present to the health care facility with either simple back pain at an early stage or neurological complications at a later stage, when spinal compression and vertebral collapse have occurred as a result of delayed diagnosis. The prevention of secondary complications is therefore dependent on early recognition and diagnosis. The objective of this review was to identify common clinical patterns in case presentations and develop an evidence-based clinical guidance tool to assist clinicians in the early identification of spinal tuberculosis. ⋯ Through the use of an evidence-based clinical guidance tool, the clinician could be guided in the early suspicion and management of individuals with spinal tuberculosis and prevention of secondary complications.
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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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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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Literature have showed inconclusive or contradictory results regarding medication review services effectiveness in optimizing process indicators. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the process indicators of a medication review service between pharmacists and physicians. ⋯ The collaborative medication review service optimized the process indicators. Drug-related problems identification and resolution required more than three pharmaceutical consultations. Most of the pharmaceutical interventions were accepted by prescribers. Thus, collaborative medication review services may be fundamental to the construction of more effective and safe health systems.
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In the United States chronic illnesses have become a way of life for multiple generations - they are the number one cause of death and disability (accounting for more than 70% of deaths), 60% of American adults have at least one chronic disease, and 40% have multiple chronic conditions. Although multiple factors contribute to the growth in chronic disease prevalence, a major factor has been overreliance on health care systems for promoting health and preventing disease. Large health care systems are ill equipped for this role since they are designed to detect, treat, and manage disease, not to promote health or address the underlying causes of disease. ⋯ The paper demonstrates means for integrating the social determinants of health into collaborative place-based approaches, for aligning community assets and reducing health disparities. It concludes by discussing how asset-based community development can promote social connectivity and improve health, and how our approach reflects the emerging national consensus on the importance of place-based population system change.