Advantages of Low Output Mobile Communication Systems in Hospitals

Mobile telephone systems using radio waves with very low power outputs rarely interfere with electronic medical equipment, which allows them to be safely installed in hospitals. The Personal Handy-phone System, PHS, which was developed and is widely used in Japan, is one such system. It has many useful functions including voice communication, string message transfer, e-mail, an answering system limited to selected persons or groups, paging, automatic call transfer, and handset positioning. In this paper we discuss the benefits of these functions confer to hospital communication systems.     

Towards the Systematic Development of Medical Networking Technology

Currently, there is a disparity in the availability of doctors between urban and rural areas of developing countries. Most experienced doctors and specialists, as well as advanced diagnostic technologies, are available in urban areas. People living in rural areas have less or sometimes even no access to affordable healthcare facilities. Increasing the number of doctors and charitable medical hospitals or deploying advanced medical technologies in these areas might not be economically feasible, especially in developing countries. We need to mobilize science and technology to master this complex, large scale problem in an objective, logical, and professional way. This can only be achieved with a collaborative effort where a team of experts works on both technical and non-technical aspects of this health care divide. In this paper we use a systems engineering framework to discuss hospital networks which might be solution for the problem. We argue that with the advancement in communication and networking technologies, economically middle class people and even some rural poor have access to internet and mobile communication systems. Thus, Hospital Digital Networking Technologies (HDNT), such as telemedicine, can be developed to utilize internet, mobile and satellite communication systems to connect primitive rural healthcare centers to well advanced modern urban setups and thereby provide better consultation and diagnostic care to the needy people. This paper describes requirements and limitations of the HDNTs. It also presents the features of telemedicine, the implementation issues and the application of wireless technologies in the field of medical networking.     

Negligible electromagnetic interaction between medical electronic equipment and 2.4 GHz band wireless LAN

Wireless LANs using radio waves have recently gained popularity for installation in hospitals. Because electromagnetic waves transmitted from mobile telephones have been shown to cause interference with medical electronic equipment, prudence would seem necessary when introducing radio wave communication devices into hospitals. Therefore, we tested the effect of wireless LAN communication on medical electronic equipment and the effect of electronic equipment on wireless LAN communication. We observed nine pieces of electronic equipment in the operating mode while transmitting radio waves from a wireless LAN. Even when the access point was put very close to the medical electronic equipment surface and data was transmitted, no malfunction of the equipment was observed. The medical electronic equipment caused little change in the effectiveness of the communication device, although radio waves emitted from electric knives and a remote patient monitor reduced the reception rate to about 60%. The communication speed of the wireless LAN was temporarily reduced only when a microwave oven was located close to and facing the access point. Because output in Japan is limited to a maximum of 10 mW, wireless LAN following the IEEE802.11b standard should be able to be installed safely in Japanese hospitals. However, wireless LAN access points should not be installed near microwave ovens.     

远程心电筛查助力分级诊疗的管理难点及瓶颈

我国心血管疾病(CVD)患病率和发病率仍在持续增高,且近几年农村地区CVD死亡率持续超过城市地区。远程心电筛查有益于基层医疗卫生机构CVD筛查,但其也存在一定的难点。本文就如何提高远程心电筛查的知晓度、可信度以及居民的获得感?如何调动基层医生积极性,主动地参与到筛查的工作中?如何解决基层医生管理能力与管理经验不足,只能提供单一的筛查、沟通的服务?如何解决基层医疗卫生机构与上级医院的双向转诊中各级医院之间缺乏协同机制,没有持续运行的筛查团队+诊断团队+评估团队+治疗团队+随访管理团队的问题进行讨论,并提出了:合理高效利用各方资源;落实分级诊疗、加强团队分工协作;充分发挥护理和公共卫生团队的能力,制订不同筛查方案;加强上级医疗机构专家对基层医生的技术支持,增加基层医疗卫生机构社会效益;在工作中进行人才培养,提升基层人员的专业水平;“互联网+基层医疗”赋能双向转诊;构建病例的大数据库;构建医疗健康集团,分工协作等建议。     

移动APP随访系统助力医院扩展医疗服务

利用移动APP随访系统助力医院扩展医疗服务,介绍系统架构与功能,分析应用效果,指出该系统的应用能够促进医患沟通,减少医患矛盾,提高医疗服务质量,降低医护工作量,助力区域医疗建设。     

Successfully managing a rapidly growing peritoneal dialysis program in Southern China

Background  The maximal use of the limited resource to improve peritoneal dialysis (PD) penetration and clinical outcomes is a challenge for all PD centers. In this study, we reported the experience and outcomes in successfully managing a rapidly growing PD center in Southern China.

Methods  A standard PD program with a team consisted of 6 nephrologists (3 doctors were in charge of catheter insertion and in-patients care, the other 3 doctors focused on PD patients’ follow-up and education) and 11 nurses in a PD center at Sun Yat-sen University was established for PD patients follow-up in 2005. A prospective and observational study was conducted in all patients undergoing continuous ambulatory PD (CAPD) at our center from January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2009.

Results  The yearly number of prevalent CAPD patients was 297, 409, 547 and 695 in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, respectively. The PD catheter insertion was performed by the nephrologists with open surgical procedure and 94% of catheters were patent at one year. In 841 incident CAPD patients, the survival rates at the end of 1, 2, 3 and 4 years were 94%, 87%, 83% and 76%, respectively, while cumulative technique survival rates (death-censored) were 98%, 95%, 91% and 90%, respectively. Peritonitis rate was 1/68.5 patient months.

Conclusions  Better patient and technical survival rates as well as lower peritonitis episode have been achieved in our rapidly growing PD center. A standardized PD program, well-trained team members of PD doctors and nurses, and continuous quality improvement of PD are important elements in managing a successful PD program.

     

南京市浦口区家庭医生签约服务开展现况调研

目的　了解南京市浦口区家庭医生签约服务开展情况、面临的主要问题及改善对策,为南京市浦口区进一步推广家庭医生签约服务提供参考依据。方法　2017年7月,采用便利抽样法选取南京市浦口区桥林街道、星甸街道、泰山街道、汤泉街道社区卫生服务中心的负责人、家庭医生及其团队成员共31名进行面对面半结构式访谈。采用自制访谈提纲,访谈内容包括：简单介绍南京市浦口区家庭医生签约服务开展情况;家庭医生签约后的特色服务项目与主要服务内容;签约居民分级诊疗存在的问题;目前家庭医生签约服务工作面临哪些主要问题和困难等。结果　目前南京市浦口区开展家庭医生签约服务主要包含门诊签约和社区签约两种形式,居民对家庭医生签约服务的接受程度较高,家庭医生签约服务对慢性病老年人吸引力最大。开展的特色家庭医生签约服务包含家庭医生APP线上交流;家庭医生公布手机号以方便沟通;发放家庭医生签约服务卡,享受特定医疗服务项目折扣。签约居民分级诊疗存在的问题：签约居民根据就医需求可自行前往二、三级医院,不需要家庭医生为其进行转诊;家庭医生APP转诊预约功能未起到实质性的作用。目前家庭医生签约服务工作面临的主要问题和困难：签约流程过于繁琐;如何界定家庭医生手机咨询服务时间;签约居民对家庭医生职责界定不清;激励机制不健全,医务人员积极性不高;签约后药品种类配备不全;原全科医生引入家庭医生模式后工作量增加、精力不济;家庭医生APP需要进一步完善服务项目的开发。结论　南京市浦口区家庭医生签约服务开展情况较好,但还存在诸多问题,建议政府财政投入到位,完善绩效考核机制;医保助力家庭医生,落实分级诊疗制度;加强家庭医生医疗知识培训与沟通技巧,招募家庭医生人才;增加社区卫生服务中心药品的品种以及医保报销的常用药物;完善家庭医生APP;切实推进家庭医生签约服务的开展。     

临床医学毕业生医患沟通能力现状与思考

目的了解临床医学毕业生的医患沟通能力现状,分析形成的原因,并探讨加强培养的对策,以期为医学生医患沟通能力的培养提供参考。方法用自行设计的问卷对湖北医药学院2016届366名临床医学毕业生的医患沟通能力进行抽样调查,又以大体相同的内容调查患者及家属(266名)对毕业生医患沟通能力的评价。计数资料呈现偏态分布的采用Kolmogorov-Smirnov Z方式检验,计数资料呈现正态分布的采用卡方检验,检验水准α=0.05。结果临床医学毕业生医患沟通能力整体水平不高,非言语技能(包括四个条目,分别为仪容仪表、身体语言、语速音量以及目光接触)总体符合率能达到63.5%(930/1464),但言语、倾听、理解等技能以及职业化及道德水平符合率都不足50%;不同性别的毕业生在不同类别的沟通技能上水平不同;毕业生的自我评价与患者及家属对毕业生的评价有区别。结论注重在校医学生普通人际沟通能力的培养;加强医学生医患沟通能力,特别是医学道德和职业化的教育和培养;强化青年医师医患沟通能力的继续教育。     

北京市东城区社区医生在实施心力衰竭分级诊疗过程中的教学培训需求调查研究

目的 为推动《心力衰竭分级诊疗的技术方案》在不同医疗机构(三甲医院、二级医院和基层卫生单位)的联动管理,对于北京市东城社区医生在相关培训需求方面进行调研。 方法 依据《心力衰竭分级诊疗的技术方案》设计定量问卷,共47个问题。问卷由东城卫管中心发送至东城社区医生工作群。 结果 共178名社区医生回答了问卷,中位年龄为36岁(32~47岁),中位社区工作年限为10年(5~13年)。88.2%的社区医生愿意长期管理心力衰竭患者。在心力衰竭高危因素管理方面,73.6%的社区医生认为患者已经接受了心力衰竭高危因素的管理。在诊断方面,52.2%的医生没有信心听懂心音。在日常管理方面,最大的问题是缺乏心衰指南的培训(72.5%),导致约有75.8%的医生不能遵照指南用药。此外约有79.8%的医生不能识别心脏辅助装置的适应证。在心衰转诊方面,79.8%的医生不知辖区内有多少心衰患者,75.3%的医生无法与转诊单位的专科医师取得联系,获取转诊患者的诊疗信息。在患者教育方面,突出的问题是患者不能进行良好的容量管理(72.5%)和不遵从医嘱(71.3%)。在转诊方面,92.7%的社区医生希望能够与专科医生以团队合作的方式进行病例讨论。 结论 推动心衰分级诊疗,社区医生需要在心衰诊断,尤其是心衰指南进行培训,加强患者自我管理的教育,建立社区与专科医生之间的转诊和培训平台。      

Review of systems for recognising and responding to clinical deterioration in Singapore hospitals: a nationwide cross-sectional study

INTRODUCTIONThe Rapid Response System for recognising and responding to clinically deteriorating patients has been progressively implemented in acute care hospitals across the globe. This study sought to review the implementation of this system in acute public hospitals in Singapore.METHODSA cross-sectional study using a face-to-face survey questionnaire was conducted.RESULTSFive out of seven invited hospitals completed the questionnaire and rated the Rapid Response System as either high priority or essential, and indicated its importance over other patient safety indicators. Sensitivity and specificity of the triggering criteria and non-adherence to the escalation protocol were highlighted issues. Only two hospitals had a dedicated response team for providing emergency help to deteriorating ward patients. Limited manpower resources, unclear roles between the primary and response teams, and the potential deskilling of ward staff were reported barriers that inhibited the uptake of a response team. All hospitals had a committee that oversaw its system operation, provided training to ward staff, and used information technology to support the implementation.CONCLUSIONA variety of approaches have been taken to support the system of recognising and responding to clinical deterioration. This calls for a national approach to enable the standardisation of clinical processes, sharing of educational resources and multi-site evaluation.     

移动医疗服务平台的患者管理机制、效果与风险分析

从时间、空间、信息3个维度剖析了移动医疗服务平台的运作机制,从患者、医生、医院3个角度分析了移动医疗服务平台的患者管理效果和移动医疗服务平台存在的问题与隐患,提出医疗机构应该积极引入并借助移动医疗服务平台实现患者的连续性管理,发挥医生的主观能动性,增强对医生的激励作用等建议。     

Survey of junior hospital doctors' attitudes to cardiopulmonary resuscitation

Most cardiac arrest teams are made up of junior doctors. The stressful effect of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on doctors has not previously been established. A questionnaire was sent to all 52 junior doctors who participated in the cardiac arrest team at a district general hospital. Forty one questionnaires were returned by 22 junior house officers, 12 senior house officers, and seven specialist registrars. The questionnaire was anonymous so non-responders could not be recontacted. Seventy three per cent found CPR stressful. The main reason for stress was the inappropriateness of CPR on the individual patient (12), poor outcome (13), no advanced life support (ALS) course (4), and the procedure itself (4). Fifty four per cent felt the number of inappropriate CPR had increased in the last six months with the main reason given (48%) being failure of senior staff to make "do not resuscitate" orders. Ninety seven per cent felt some CPRs were inappropriate; 70% felt a debriefing session should occur after CPR, while 88% reported not having one. Seventy six per cent felt competent at performing CPR, 22% felt incompetent of whom none had undergone ALS training. Fifty eight per cent found it difficult to discuss CPR with patients; 46% found it difficult to discuss CPR with relatives. Most junior doctors feel stress from CPR. Adequate review by senior doctors with documentation of do not resuscitate orders where appropriate, after discussion with patients, might be beneficial. Adequate training, improving communication skills, and support for junior doctors in the cardiac arrest team need to be reviewed since improvement in these areas may reduce stress.     

Emergency and after-hours work performed in country hospitals

Country doctors perform emergency work in addition to their conventional general practice role. Over a one-month period 17 general practitioners in four Hunter Region towns recorded all emergency calls describing the time they were called, the severity of the patients' conditions, the skills used and the time taken. A scale to measure severity of illness was devised and tested for this purpose. There were 1197 emergency calls, mostly seen at the local hospital, either in the outpatients department or on the wards. They were unevenly distributed in time, with fewer calls at night, but the doctors were disturbed during nearly half of their nights on call. Of the calls 15% were for trivial reasons, 34% were for patients who needed standard general practice care, and 50% were for patients who needed the services of the hospital or were already inpatients. Most attendances were brief, but 15% took more than 30 minutes and some much longer. Counselling skills were used for 47% of patients and technical skills in 22%. The strain of the work involved and the disturbance of personal life justify extra payments to country doctors, and the adequacy of current pay schedules is questioned. However, the peculiarities of funding result in the State Health Department underwriting most emergency costs in country towns, whereas in the cities the Commonwealth Department of Health pays for a larger proportion, leading to concern about the high apparent costs of country hospitals. The information in this survey may help improve planning for training and remuneration of country doctors to help ease the current shortage.     

应急机动卫勤分队队员心理健康及相关因素分析

目的了解应急机动卫勤分队队员心理健康状况及其相关因素。方法采用临床症状自评量表（SCL-90）、卡特尔十六种个性因素问卷（16PF）、生活事件量表（LES）和简易应对方式问卷（SCSQ）对136名分队队员进行测试，并进行多元回归分析。结果应急机动卫勤分队队员SCL-90得分均低于军人常模，且达刭非常显著水平（p〈0．01）；与维和部队比较，除强迫、人际关系敏感、敌对、恐怖和精神病性外，均高于维和部队官兵。以SCL-90总分为因变量。卡特尔十六种个性因素及八个次级因素分、应对方式和生活事件得分为自变量进行逐步多元回归分析，结果表明影响心理健康的因素有3项，分别为适应焦虑、恃强性和消极应对等，3个变量能联合预测SCL-90总分39．4％的变异量。结论应急机动卫勤分队队员心理健康水平较高。个性因素及应对方式对心理健康水平有一定程度影响。     

Can health care teams improve primary care practice?

In health care settings, individuals from different disciplines come together to care for patients. Although these groups of health care personnel are generally called teams, they need to earn true team status by demonstrating teamwork. Developing health care teams requires attention to 2 central questions: who is on the team and how do team members work together? This article chiefly focuses on the second question. Cohesive health care teams have 5 key characteristics: clear goals with measurable outcomes, clinical and administrative systems, division of labor, training of all team members, and effective communication. Two organizations are described that demonstrate these components: a private primary care practice in Bangor, Me, and Kaiser Permanente's Georgia region primary care sites. Research on patient care teams suggests that teams with greater cohesiveness are associated with better clinical outcome measures and higher patient satisfaction. In addition, medical settings in which physicians and nonphysician professionals work together as teams can demonstrate improved patient outcomes. A number of barriers to team formation exist, chiefly related to the challenges of human relationships and personalities. Taking small steps toward team development may improve the work environment in primary care practices.     

An Implementation of Wireless Medical Image Transmission System on Mobile Devices

The advanced technology of computing system was followed by the rapid improvement of medical instrumentation and patient record management system. The typical examples are hospital information system (HIS) and picture archiving and communication system (PACS), which computerized the management procedure of medical records and images in hospital. Because these systems were built and used in hospitals, doctors out of hospital have problems to access them immediately on emergent cases. To solve these problems, this paper addressed the realization of system that could transmit the images acquired by medical imaging systems in hospital to the remote doctors’ handheld PDA’s using CDMA cellular phone network. The system consists of server and PDA. The server was developed to manage the accounts of doctors and patients and allocate the patient images to each doctor. The PDA was developed to display patient images through remote server connection. To authenticate the personal user, remote data access (RDA) method was used in PDA accessing the server database and file transfer protocol (FTP) was used to download patient images from the remove server. In laboratory experiments, it was calculated to take ninety seconds to transmit thirty images with 832 × 488 resolution and 24 bit depth and 0.37 Mb size. This result showed that the developed system has no problems for remote doctors to receive and review the patient images immediately on emergent cases.     

社会网络分析在药物治疗管理服务教学模式优化中的应用

目的/意义 运用社会网络理论研究药物治疗管理服务(medication therapy management services, MTMs)培训团队知识共享指标,为优化教学培训模式提供参考。方法/过程 以MTMs第五期培训团队为试验组,以第四期培训团队为对照组,运用社会网络分析方法,了解培训团队中知识共享的特点,并改进教学模式。结果/结论 MTMs第五期培训团队的网络规模、网络密度、连线总数、节点平均连线数、任意两节点间平均关联度以及整体网络互惠性均有增加,成员间交流更多,成员间知识共享较第四期有显著改进。通过社会网络分析,发现培训团队知识共享中存在的问题,采取有针对性的改进措施,可促进隐性知识的传播,提升培训效果。     

Should doctors inform terminally ill patients? The opinions of nationals and doctors in the United Arab Emirates.

OBJECTIVES: To study the opinions of nationals (Emiratis) and doctors practising in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with regard to informing terminally ill patients. DESIGN: Structured questionnaires administered during January 1995. SETTING: The UAE, a federation of small, rich, developing Arabian Gulf states. PARTICIPANTS: Convenience samples of 100 Emiratis (minimum age 15 years) and of 50 doctors practising in government hospitals and clinics. RESULTS: Doctors emerged as consistently less in favour of informing than the Emiratis were, whether the patient was described as almost certain to die during the next six months or as having a 50% chance of surviving, and even when it was specified that the patient was requesting information. In the latter situation, a third of doctors maintained that the patient should not be told. Increasing survival odds reduced the number of doctors selecting to inform; but it had no significant impact on Emiratis' choices. When Emiratis were asked whether they would personally want to be informed if they had only a short time to live, less than half responded in the way they had done to the in principle question. CONCLUSIONS: The doctors' responses are of concern because of the lack of reference to ethical principles or dilemmas, the disregard of patients' wishes and dependency on survival odds. The heterogeneity of Emiratis' responses calls into question the usefulness of invoking norms to explain inter-society differences. In the current study, people's in principle choices did not provide a useful guide to how they said they would personally wish to be treated.     

建立良好医患沟通 推进和谐医患关系

医患关系是医疗实践活动中最基本的关系,医患关系不和谐的一个重要原因是沟通不畅。建立良好的医患沟通要围绕＂以病人为中心＂,通过医务人员沟通能力培养,管理制度建设,不断加强医患间人文性交流,推进和谐医患关系。     

Female doctors in Victoria, 1977

A survey of medical manpower in Victoria in 1977 revealed that 17% of registered medical practitioners were female and that the proportion of females was much higher among younger graduates. Seventy-eight per cent of female doctors were currently working in Victoria, compared with 82% of male doctors; 3.8% were "not working temporarily" compared with 0.6% of male doctors; and 3.9% were "retired" compared with 1.9% of male doctors. Female doctors accounted for only 8% of specialists in private practive, compared with 15% of general practitioners, more than 20% of salaried staff members of hospitals and other semigovernment and government bodies, and 40% of the staff members of community health centres. Thirty-eight per cent of female doctors were working part time. The need for part-time training programmes and part-time work, and the difficulties of female graduates becoming specialists are discussed. The implications of increasing proportions of female doctors entering the medical work force during the next decade, and the lower average working hours of female doctors compared with those of males, are considered in relation to the increasing supply of medical manpower in Australia.