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The purpose of this study is to explore the psychosocial aspects of palliative care provision for incarcerated persons drawing on a human rights perspective.

Seven databases were searched to identify empirical studies published from 2010 to 2020. Articles included were qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods, written in English and with westernised health/prison settings, with a key focus on the psychosocial aspects of palliative care provision and human rights. The quality of the articles was appraised using the Mixed Methods Assessment Tool (2018).

The results from 26 articles revealed multiple models of care, with the US prison hospice program depicted as optimal, because of the use of trained incarcerated caregivers, working as aides to the interprofessional team. The bereavement needs of caregivers were highlighted. The barriers to adequate psychosocial care were negative public discourse, prison processes and resources, provider attitudes and the incarcerated person’s level of knowledge and trust. Identified facilitators were related to incarcerated persons’ caregiving programs, a sense of purpose and visitation leniency. Human rights principles were identified in studies that featured compassionate release and advance care planning.

There is inconsistency in the literature regarding what constitutes psychosocial care, which meant that the authors needed to draw on multiple literature sources to formulate a definition. Additionally, the review only included studies written in English, meaning some high-quality studies could have been missed. The articles that conducted interviews with incarcerated individuals were undertaken in male prisons only and not female prisons.

Understanding the importance of psychosocial care for incarcerated persons with a life-limiting illness requires a shift in negative public discourse and the need for a stronger human rights focus. Some countries, such as the USA and UK, are achieving effective outcomes; however, countries such as Australia are yet to contribute to this knowledge base.

If palliative care is a human right, then its philosophy should be considered in its entirety, with the inclusion of psychosocial care.

The purpose of this study is to identify the knowledge and management skills of health-care workers regarding psychosocial and mental health priorities and needs of individuals with COVID-19.

This is a cross-sectional descriptive study. The data collected conveniently from 101 health-care workers in Jordan directly managing care of individuals with COVID-19.

Health-care workers have moderate-to-high level of knowledge and management skills of psychological distress related to COVID-19; means ranged from 50%–70% agreement and confidence. In general, health-care workers were able to identify mental and psychosocial health needs and priorities at a moderate level. Health-care workers knowledge had a positive and significant correlation with age (r = 0.24, p = 0.012) and years of experience (r = 0.28, p = 0.004), and a significant difference was found in their management between those who are trained on psychological first aids and those who are not (t = −3.11, p = 0.003).

There is a need to train health-care workers to integrate psychosocial and mental health care to manage care psychological distress related to COVID-19.

This study is emphasizing the need for mental health psychosocial support training and in integration. Health-care workers providing care to individuals with COVID-19 are not aware of mental health priorities and needs of their patients. This paper contributes to the body of knowledge adding more understanding about competencies of health-care workers providing care and their preparedness to manage care individuals with COVID-19.

This study aims to assess the quality of care among adult oncology patients in tertiary care hospitals in Karachi by using an international standard of quality of care and to identify domains where improvement is needed.

This is a cross-sectional study carried out at two tertiary care hospitals of Karachi, Pakistan, belonging to private and public sector, respectively, between February and April 2018. Face-to-face interviews were conducted using a modified questionnaire having five-point Likert scale questions regarding satisfaction of patients with doctors, nursing staff, information provided and the hospital standards. SPSS 20 was used for statistical analysis, and the results were expressed using mean, frequencies, percentages and p-values.

The authors approached 415 patients, out of which 389 patients agreed to participate in the study. For both hospitals, the lowest mean scores were for sections pertaining to satisfaction with psychosocial support and information provided. The mean satisfaction score of patients from the private hospital were found to be significantly higher as compared to patients from the public hospital for all domains of patient care (p-value < 0.01 using t-test for two independent samples). The data showed an increasing trend of “satisfied” responses as the household income increased.

A comparative study should be conducted with the aim of pinpointing the differences in areas in which there is a significant difference in positive satisfaction levels between private and public sectors. Similar research could also be expanded adding other variables that affect quality of care such as doctor's approach to their patients, time given during each consultation and patient's understanding of doctor's knowledge. Further studies can be done to bridge the gaps between what a doctor views as standard care and what the patient knows will help them receive a more holistic approach to care.

Assessing the quality of care helps determine gaps in care and allocating health resources accordingly. In clinical practice, emphasis needs to be given on increased duration and improved quality of patient counselling to improve the low satisfaction levels of patients regarding the psychosocial support. Addressing patients' concerns should be made part of clinical teaching from an undergraduate level. As far as patient access to doctors of the specific speciality is concerned, hospital managements should adopt systems to ensure continuum of care and come up with mechanisms to bridge the discrepancy between a patient's needs and doctor availability.

After being identified as a major deficiency, training doctors in the sensitivities of the population and demographics, especially with respect to socio-economic statuses, can aid in enhancing patient satisfaction to the treatment. Implementation of patient-centred care leads to greater satisfaction with care, which, in turn, increases a patient's self efficacy in managing important aspects of their care and improves health care-related quality of life.

Cancer patients have long-term exposure to the hospital environment. A patient's satisfaction with the quality of care is an important determinant in patient compliance to the treatment protocol and required hospital visits. There is a dearth of research on the outpatient quality of care in the oncology departments in Karachi. This study provides an overview of the quality of care available to cancer patients in Karachi both in public and private sectors. The results of our study identify the gaps in the quality of care being provided to the patients in a developing country like Pakistan, which can be used to improve the quality of care, leading to better patient outcomes.

Attention has been increasingly devoted to the development of methods for assessing the quality of care in long‐term care (LTC) facilities, especially for government surveillance. A study is described which used the tracer method to provide data on the quality of care in Israeli LTC institutions. Advantages of the tracer method include its incorporation of structural, process and outcome measures and its focus on a number of representative tracer conditions. The study tested the ability of the tracer method to provide data on the quality of care, and facilitated adoption of this methodology by the government for their annual inspections.

The role of care as a critical influence on child nutrition, health, and development has received increasing attention in the last decade. While the role of care has been well elaborated at a conceptual level, we still lack simple valid and reliable tools to measure many aspects of care. Psychosocial care includes the behaviors and practices that support children's healthy growth and psychosocial development. The research presented here constitutes one of the first attempts to quantify some of the various dimensions of child‐care practices (namely type, quality, and frequency) and to summarize the information into a composite, age‐specific index of child‐care practices. The main purpose of this research is to examine, specifically within the context of Pakistan, which of the maternal and household characteristics constituted more severe constraints to the provision of good child care. The main findings of this research have important policy implications. They suggest that specific training in child feeding and the use of preventive health services for poor mothers with little formal education could have a large impact on the growth of children living in impoverished environments.

This study aims to examine the characteristics of pregnant women who used methamphetamine to determine the differences in characteristics between teenagers (aged under 20 or 20–25 years) and adult women who used methamphetamine during this period.

This retrospective study extracted data from the medical records of obstetric patients who gave birth between 2011 and 2015 in a tertiary hospital in Thailand. All included patients were diagnosed with amphetamine use disorder. Demographic data, history of antenatal care, history of substance use and psychiatric evaluations were recorded.

Four hundred and twelve patients were recruited for analysis. Of these, 194 (53.4%) did not attend regular antenatal care, 326 (92.1%) had unplanned pregnancies and 42 (12.5%) had a history of abortions. Socially, 47 patients (21.7%) reported drug use in their families and 160 (49.5%) reported a history of parental separation. Compared with the adult and 20–25 years groups, the < 20 years group tended to have a lower educational level, have experienced parental separation and had more regular antenatal care.

Pregnant teenagers with methamphetamine use had psychosocial difficulties. Physicians should be aware of these psychosocial issues, including education and family planning.

These findings showed that pregnant women who used methamphetamine faced psychosocial difficulties, unplanned pregnancies and inadequate antenatal care. Adult and teenage pregnant women who used methamphetamine differed in some ways. For example, teenage pregnant women tended to be of a lower education level, experienced parental separation and had a history of more frequent antenatal care. Further longitudinal research exploring the outcomes of mothers who used methamphetamine and their children is needed to build on the existing evidence.

The purpose of this paper is to describe an international survey of hospital executives and administrators’ perspectives on the contributions of their affiliation with a Ronald McDonald House (RMH) as an example of accommodation in family-centered care to the hospital’s mission, operations and patient experience.

RMHs worldwide provided the names and e-mail addresses of the people holding key leadership positions in their main hospital partner, who in turn were invited to complete an internet-based survey (530 participants; response rate of 54.5 percent).

Hospital leaders reported very positive opinions about the contributions of their RMHs affiliation to their ability to serve seriously ill children and their families. This included such important outcomes as increasing family integrity and family participation in care decisions; and decreasing psychosocial stress and hospital social work resource burdens associated with lodging, food, transportation and sibling support. Hospital chief executive offices (CEOs) and medical directors reported very strong and positive opinions regarding the value-added of their RMHs affiliation in many areas, including enhanced marketing of hospital specialty services and reduced length of stay.

Survey response bias is a limitation, although the results are still useful in terms of identifying multiple ways in which RMHs are perceived as contributing to hospitals’ operations and provision of family-centered care.

Overall, the results suggest that, internationally, hospital leaders believe that RMHs play a key and valued role in their provision of family-centered care to seriously ill children and their families.

Family accommodation is more than the simple provision of lodging and plays an integral role how hospitals approach family-centered care.

This international study contributes to the general literature on the role of family accommodation in hospitals’ provision of family-centered care and the specific and very sparse literature on RMHs in particular.

The purpose of this paper of inter-professional networks is to analyze the evolution of relationships between professional groups enacting new forms of collaboration to address clinical imperatives.

This paper uses a case study based on semi-structured interviews with physicians and nurses, document analysis and informal discussions.

This study documents how two inter-professional networks were developed through professional agency. The findings show that the means by which networks are developed influence the form of collaboration therein. One of the networks developed from day-to-day, immediately relevant, exchange, for patient care. The other one developed from more formal and infrequent research and training exchanges that were seen as less decisive in facilitating patient care. The latter resulted in a loosely knit network based on a small number of ad hoc referrals while the other resulted in a tightly knit network based on frequent referrals and advice seeking.

Developing inter-professional networks likely require a sustained phase of interpersonal contacts characterized by persuasion, knowledge sharing, skill demonstration and trust building from less powerful professional groups to obtain buy-in from more powerful professional groups. The nature of the collaboration in any resulting network depends largely on the nature of these initial contacts.

The literature on inter-professional healthcare networks focusses on mandated networks such as NHS managed care networks. There is a lack of research on inter-professional networks that emerged from the bottom up at the initiative of healthcare professionals in response to clinical imperatives. This study looks at some forms of collaboration that these “grass-root” initiatives engender and how they are consolidated.

This position paper focuses on the current tensions and challenges of aligning inpatient care with innovations in mental health services. It argues that a cultural shift is required within inpatient services. Obstacles to change including traditional perceptions of the role and responsibilities of the psychiatrist are discussed. The paper urges all staff working in acute care to reflect on the service that they provide, and to consider how the adoption of new ways of working might revolutionise the organisational culture. This cultural shift offers inpatient staff the opportunity to fully utilise their expertise. New ways of working may be perceived as a threat to existing roles and responsibilities or as an exciting opportunity for professional development with increased job satisfaction. Above all, the move to new ways of working, which is gathering pace throughout the UK, could offer service users1 a quality of care that meets their needs and expectations.