World hospitals and health services : the official journal of the International Hospital Federation最新文献

The problem of disease epidemics is an ever present threat in our increasingly connected world is one that many nations particularly in the developing world, continue to struggle with. However, in recent times, the use of technology has played a crucial role in the effective management of disease outbreaks. The 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa witnessed unprecedented applications of digital innovations to key areas of the public health response- disease surveillance, health worker training and public education; with satisfactory results. In Nigeria in particular, these interventions were partly credited with the swift containment of the outbreak and prevention of significant catastrophic damage. These technological solutions, though relatively simple, present the possibility for reverse technology transfer. Long standing protocols and approaches in disaster response currently in use in developed countries can be modified and improved upon, taking into account lesson from successes achieved using technology in the fight against Ebola in West Africa.

Mobile payment acceptance in healthcare is a relatively new area of research, under explored when compared to related areas of research such as mobile technology for health information and communication. The objectives of this study were to find out the effects of Safaricom's Lipa na M-PESA (LNM) use on clinic administrative costs and revenue, and to study the uptake and acceptability of LNM by patients. The study researched mobile payment acceptability by turning a clinic to be completely cashless for a six-week period. Baseline data was collected to gauge the effects of mobile payment on administrative costs and revenue. Surveys and in-depth interviews were carried out to assess the acceptability of mobile payment among staff and patients. Findings from this experiment demonstrate that mobile technology is acceptable when it is perceived as useful and more convenient to use.

Fundació Integralia Vallès is a pioneer contact center in Europe that has involved the creation of a healthcare reference center managed exclusively by people with disabilities and degenerative diseases to enable their professional development and ultimately integration into the labour market. The environment created under this project enables effective training and building of skills, capacity and work experience as well as promoting social responsibility among a population group that is at risk of exclusion. The major differentiating factor in Fundació Integralia Vallés is the quality of service provided by its staff, who are particularly sensitive to the issues of health, and who provide professional and human dimension in every attention.

Australian governments and health service providers play a continual role in ensuring efficient healthcare budget use, which also concerns the meeting of goals within a universal health system, and ensuring compliance with relevant legislation and regulations. As is the case in most developed countries, there is substantial pressure on healthcare budgets, and this in turn places pressure on the capacity of governments to fund universal healthcare. The mixed public-private system in Australia has some imperfections including the fragmentation of care and limitations to fund use oversight, however overall, the system serves Australians relatively well. This article explores the Australian approach to a mixed public-private system and considers some of the complexities which arise as it to support universal healthcare.

Strategic purchasing is not new, rather it first started in Western Europe in the 1960s, as an approach to improving health system responsiveness, as well as for them more effective matching of supply and demand. In the 1960s some Western European facilities were affected by empty beds, others by overcrowding. Doctors were not showing up for work, due to the establishment of dual practice. There were consumer queues, and complaints that providers were inhumane. There was a shift purchasers in High Income Countries like Organization and Economic Cooperation for Development (OECD) countries, from paying for inputs to outputs and now outcomes. These challenges are yet to be overcome by non-OECD countries. In this article, we discuss the shift towards strategic purchasing in Middle Income Countries (MICs) and Lower Middle Income Countries (MLICs). There are successful models in both categories of emerging markets. The article begins with an overview of health funding, then focuses on the allocation of funds and strategic purchasing.

In this article, we describe how we spread safety culture of correct site surgery from Major Operating Theatre to Day Surgery. We discuss how we integrated the High 5s Project Correct Site Surgery protocol into the Day Surgery Operating Theatre (DSOT) workflow and monitored compliance through audit and feedback. We also reflect on how human factors analysis (HFACS) helps in bridging the gaps by providing a tool for recognizing possible causes of non-compliance. Background: The High 5s Project, established by World Health Organization (WHO), in 2007, is an international collaboration carried out in seven countries - Australia, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Singapore, Trinidad & Tobago and the United States of America - and coordinated by the WHO Collaborating Centre on Patient Safety, The Joint Commission. Its mission is to facilitate implementation and evaluation of standardized patient safety solutions within a global learning community, to achieve measurable, significant and sustainable reductions in high-risk patient safety problems.

Patient safety improvements demand a complex system-wide effort, involving a wide range of actions in performance improvement, environmental safety and risk management, including infection control, safe use of medicines, equipment safety, safe clinical practice and safe environment of care. Healthcare accreditation is one of the major steps towards improving quality and patient safety. Amongst the several accrediting agencies across the world, the Joint Commission International, (JCI) stands out as the gold standard in healthcare accreditation. The patient safety journey for hospitals like the Apollo Group, formally started with Apollo Hospitals, Delhi becoming the first JCI accredited Hospital in India, in 2005. In the years to come, eight hospitals of the Group also became JCI accredited; taking the number of hospitals accredited by JCI to twenty-three in the country. The National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare providers (NABH) was formed thereafter and today nearly three hundred hospitals are accredited by NABH across the country. There is more to patient safety and healthcare quality beyond just accreditation. With a view to further improve patient safety; Apollo Hospitals have taken several initiatives.

The general state of healthcare in the Arab Republic of Egypt has been deemed mediocre at best. With a system that has not kept up with the challenges of a rapidly growing population, the first decade of the 21st century has seen considerable inequality and a lack of social justice in the provision of healthcare services as well as in the passing of necessary and critical reforms. However, in light of the new political order, the healthcare system of the Arab republic of Egypt is one that is ripe with possibilities for growth and improvement. The new constitution of Egypt, established after the Egyptian political revolution of 2011, sets forth very ambitious goals for the healthcare sector of country. These goals include a doubling of government spending on public healthcare to 3% of Egypt's GDP by 2017, and the creation of state health councils to centralize the implementation of new public policy and reforms in the healthcare sector.

Healthcare systems across the world are in need of innovations that can achieve more with less, for more people. African nations have always been good partners for high-income institutions as they develop and test new ideas. However, they are now at the forefront of developing novel approaches to healthcare, grounded in community-centered approaches, but which also capitalize on the potential of digital healthcare. African healthcare leaders should be bold in realizing their own potential, and leaders from high-income countries must be open to innovations emerging from non-traditional sources.