Exploring the impacts of organisational structure,policy and practice on the health inequalities of marginalised communities: Illustrative cases from the UK healthcare system

This paper explores how organisational structure, policies and practices in healthcare can inadvertently disadvantage marginalised populations (e.g. individuals from ethnic minority backgrounds) and reinforce health inequalities. We draw upon three diverse UK healthcare settings (long term care institutions, high security hospitals and community pharmacies) to illustrate how systemic injustices negatively impact on access to care, treatment and health outcomes. The first case study considers the care of older people within nursing homes; specifically the disempowering effects of this service structure and impacts of choice reduction upon health and their access to health provision. The second case study explores the impact of security restrictions upon patients within high security hospitals, focusing particularly on the maintenance of relationships and support networks outside of the hospital. The third and final case study, draws upon a national community pharmacy medicine management service to illustrate ways in which policies and guidelines inadvertently obstruct patients' engagement with the service within a community setting. We draw upon these settings to highlight inequalities within different contexts and to illustrate the ways in which well intended services can inadvertently disadvantage marginalised communities in multiple ways.     

吉林省38所医院护理工作抽查情况分析

吉林省第一周期的医院评审工作基本结束,为了巩固成果,防止滑坡,吉林省医院评审委员会多次组织专家对38所二三级甲乙等医院护理工作进行现场抽查。对吉林省护理工作的概况及抽查中发现的共性问题进行了分析。同时建议:加强护理人员的职业道德教育;解决护理人员编制不足问题;提高护理人员技术劳务价值;运用激励手段提高护理工作质量。     

Lower Lid Blepharoplasty—The Transconjunctival Approach: Extended Indications

The transconjunctival blepharoplasty is an elegant and secure technique especially in young people and helps to avoid the hazard of a scar. In older patients, it saves them the possible sequelae such as rounding sclero show or possible ectropion after a classical operation. Because there is no visible scar, the transconjunctival approach respects the integrity of the functional structure of the orbital septum and the orbicular muscle, the active support of the lower eyelid.     

Electronic patient-provider communication: will it offset office visits and telephone consultations in primary care?

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Electronic patient-provider communication promises to improve efficiency and effectiveness of clinical care. This study aims to explore whether a secure web-based messaging system is an effective way of providing patient care in general practices. METHOD: We conducted a randomised controlled trail and recruited 200 patients from the waiting area in one primary clinic in Norway. Participants were randomised to either the intervention group, which received access to a secure messaging system, or the control group receiving standard care without such access. Primary outcome measures were number of online consultations, telephone consultations and office visits in the two groups. Data were derived from patient records and collected 1 year prior to (baseline), and 1 year after the intervention. RESULTS: Forty-six percent of the patients who were given access to the messaging system (n=99) used the online communication system on at least one occasion (ranging from 1 to 17 messages per patient per year). A total of 147 electronic messages were sent to six general practitioners during a 1-year trial period. Eleven percent of the messages were to schedule an appointment. In 10% of the messages, the GP was unable to respond adequately and recommended an office visit. The reduction in office visits over time was greater for the intervention group than for the control group (P=0.034). There was however no significant difference in the number of telephone consultations between the groups during the study (P=0.258). CONCLUSION: The use of a secure electronic messaging system reduced the number of office visits at the general practice, but not phone consultations.     

Long QT syndrome with a high mortality rate caused by a novel G572R missense mutation in KCNH2

In a four-generation family with long QT syndrome, syncopes and torsades de pointes ventricular tachycardia (TdP) were elicited by abrupt awakening in the early morning hours. The syndrome was associated with a novel KCNH2 missense mutation, G572R, causing the substitution of a glycine residue at position 572, at the end of the S5 transmembrane segment of the HERG K(+)-channel, with an arginine residue. This segment is involved in the channel pore and the mutation may cause a reduction in the rapidly activating delayed rectifier K+ current (Ikr), or changed gating properties of the ion channel, leading to prolonged cardiac repolarization. The electrocardiograms of affected persons showed prolonged QT interval and notched T waves. Despite treatment with atenolol, 200 mg twice daily, the proband still experienced TdP episodes. Three untreated relatives of the proband died suddenly, and unexpectedly, at 18, 32, and 57 years of age. The G572R mutation is thus associated with a high mortality rate, and the clinical presentation illustrates that some mutations may not be controllable by just beta-blockade.     

新冠肺炎疫情定点医院的改造与思考

分析了综合医院临时改造为收治新冠肺炎患者定点医院时所遇到的问题,针对医院路线、门诊及住院楼区域、供氧设备、涉及人员及救治体系等采取符合传染病防护要求的改造措施。建议综合医院引入传染病医院建设与管理理念,合理规划建筑布局和医疗设备精细化布局,完善人员管理机制,建立应急组织机构,优化流程管理体系,以期为综合医院后期建设提供借鉴。     

某院三级查房考核质量分析

目的了解三级查房中各级医师存在问题,提出改进策略。方法由7名具有高级职称的临床专家,按照统一评分标准进行观摩并打分,利用词云图分析存在问题。结果一级医师存在辅助检查解读不全面、疑难点报告不清晰、病历陈述缺项、查体手法不规范及查体前后未执行手卫生等问题;二级医师存在解答疑难问题不全面、临床思维讲解不透彻及查体纠正不到位等问题;三级医师存在对国内外最新知识进展讲解不全面及对查房内容点评不到位等问题。结论各级医师查房中都存在一定问题。医院管理者应针对不同级别医师提供个性化培训,促其努力提升医疗服务能力。同时,树立优秀科室榜样,充分发挥榜样带动作用。此外,还应充分利用人工智能技术辅助。     

Accuracy in coronary graft flow measurement

A blood flow calibration apparatus is described for use with electromagnetic flow probes. It is an automatic gravity-flow system, which provides a constant level and therefore constant flow at any preset rate. On several occasions, the use of this device has helped to determine whether flow probes require simple adjustment, factory repair, or replacement. Using this system, a systematic error in the manufacturer's "precalibration" averaging +22% (range, 9 to 50%) has been discovered, and appropriate corrections have been made. The accuracy of these corrections has been confirmed by a rapid, in vivo method of calibration, which also is described and which can be carried out during the conduct of aortocoronary bypass operation. It is recommended that all groups measuring coronary graft flow become familiar with their electromagnetic flowmeter and probes by means such as those described, in the interest of accurate flow measurement after bypass operation.     

Innovation as hospital culture: a trial and demonstration facility in an acute-care hospital ward

This short communication describes the establishment of a trial and demonstration facility for new products, technologies, methods and procedures in an acute-care hospital ward at Concord Hospital in Sydney, Australia. The importance of innovation for all businesses, including hospitals, is discussed; and, why a project like the Model Ward can promote innovation as part of the corporate culture. The Model Ward development, implementation and its benefits are reported on and discussed.     

Histoire et fonctions des Unités pour Malades Difficiles (1re partie). Du quartier de sûreté à l’Unité pour Malades Difficiles de Villejuif,plus d’un siècle de prise en charge

This article is the first in a series of three, dedicated to the history and functions of what is known as a UMD in France: Unités pour Malades Difficiles, or “Units for Difficult Patients”. This particular article focuses on the oldest such secure structure, UMD Henri Colin, created in 1910 in Villejuif as a quartier de sûreté, or a “secure ward”. The article aims to detail evolutions in treatment and the types of patient treated over more than one hundred years, parallel to social change. Four distinct chronological periods are examined, for their perspective on professional practice as much as for the reasons given for patients’ admission and the psychopathological profiles of “dangerous” patients. Clinical vignettes are used to illustrate this historical evolution.