Wait Time, Public and Private Hospitals

A policy of aging in place should be accompanied by physical and social environments that support healthy aging. This article describes how a property development company in Hong Kong sought to elicit the views of older people and their caregivers towards elderly services through a market research company, using questionnaire surveys followed by focus groups. Over 80% of all participants rated healthy dietary habits and exercise, maintaining mental and spiritual health, and maintaining a generally healthy lifestyle as important...

BACKGROUND: Diabetes is a chronic disease that requires lifelong management and care, affecting around 422 million people worldwide and roughly 37 million in the United States. Patients newly diagnosed with diabetes must work with health care providers to formulate a management plan, including lifestyle modifications and regular office visits, to improve metabolic control, prevent or delay complications, optimize quality of life, and promote well-being. OBJECTIVE: Our aim is to investigate one component of system-wide access to timely health care for people with diabetes in New York City (NYC), namely the length of time for someone with newly diagnosed diabetes to obtain an appointment with 3 diabetes care specialists: a cardiologist, an endocrinologist, and an ophthalmologist, respectively...

OBJECTIVE: A systematic and straightforward triage system is crucial for the proper and timely care of patients within the emergency department (ED). This study unfolds a detailed understanding of the impact of the Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) on patient care and resource allocation in a private tertiary hospital. To the best of our knowledge, this is the only article studying the impact of the CTAS in one of the private hospitals in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to achieve triage optimisation strategies...

The Australian government pays $6.7 billion per year in rebates to encourage Australians to purchase private health insurance (PHI) and an additional $6.1 billion to cover services provided in private hospitals. What is the justification for large government subsidies to a private industry when all Australians already have free coverage under Medicare? The government argues that more people buying PHI will relieve the burden on the public system and may reduce waiting times. However, the evidence supporting this is sparse...

BACKGROUND: Global and local health organizations track surgical system efficiency to improve surgical system performance using various efficiency metrics, such as operating room (OR) output, surgical incision start time (SIST), turnover time (TOT), cancellation rate among elective surgeries, and in-hospital surgery wait time. We evaluated the surgical system efficiency and factors affecting the efficiency in health facilities across Ethiopia. METHODS: A cross-sectional study design with retrospective record review was used to evaluate the surgical system efficiency in 163 public and private health facilities in Ethiopia from December 2020 to June 2021...

Norway's extended free choice (EFC) reform extends the patient's choice of publicly funded hospitals for treatment to authorized private institutions (EFC providers). We study the effects of the reform on waiting times, number of visits, and patients' Charlson Comorbidity Index scores in public hospitals. We use a difference-in-differences model to compare changes over time for public hospitals with and without EFC providers in the catchment area. Focusing on five prevalent somatic services, we find that the EFC reform did not exert pressure on public hospitals to stimulate shorter waiting times and more visits...

INTRODUCTION: We examine trends in inguinal hernia repairs with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic and secular trends in Ontario, Canada. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study. Hernia repairs performed January 1, 2010-December 31, 2022 were captured from health administrative inpatient and outpatient databases. Patients managed in three clinical settings were examined: public hospital in-patient, semi-private hospital in-patient (Shouldice Hospital), and public hospital out-patient...

BACKGROUND: While the number of medical images has increased substantially, the demand has outpaced access, resulting in long wait times in many countries. Long wait times are a key problem for patient safety and quality of care as they can result in prolonged suffering, delayed diagnosis and treatment, as well as poorer prognosis and loss of lives. Surprisingly, little is known about wait times for imaging services. OBJECTIVE: Investigate wait times for specific imaging services in Norway and to compare wait times with the total number of examinations and their development over time...

People living with HIV (PLHIV) satisfaction regarding to care could play an important role in the elimination of HIV epidemic by 2030. We assessed Burkina Faso PLHIV satisfaction regarding to their care, and identified its associated factors. A representative nationwide cross-sectional study was performed in 2021-2022 in 30 HIV/AIDS care sites. PLHIV aged at least 18 years, receiving ART for six months or plus were included. Individual and structural data were collected using a questionnaire administered by trained investigators...

BACKGROUND: Pharmaceutical care is an essential component of healthcare services, and patient satisfaction with these services is crucial for improving overall health outcomes. We aimed to evaluate patient satisfaction and perception with pharmaceutical care services provided at public and private hospitals for outpatient pharmacies. This study can provide insights into the quality of pharmaceutical services provided in both settings and identify areas for improvement. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional 1-month study was conducted in three hospitals in Nablus city in the Northern District of West Bank, Palestine...

BACKGROUND: There is a paucity of studies documenting medical malpractice litigation in countries of the Arabian Gulf, such as Oman. OBJECTIVES: To describe the characteristics of malpractice claims, the outcomes decided by the medical liability committee, and predictors of medical errors. METHODS: This is a retrospective observational study that reviewed medical malpractice cases registered in Oman over a 12-year period (2010-2021) with the medical liability committee, known as the Higher Medical Committee (HMC)...

INTRODUCTION: People arriving to the emergency department with mental health problems experience varying and sometimes inferior outcomes compared with people without mental health problems, yet little is known about whether or how their arrival mode is associated with these outcomes. This study describes and compares demographics, clinical characteristics, and patient and health service outcomes of adult mental health emergency department patient presentations, based on arrival mode: brought in by ambulance, privately arranged transport, and brought in by police...

The private sector's contribution to Universal health coverage (UHC) has been increasingly recognised by policymakers in low- and middle-income countries. This study aimed to identify service-provider and consumer-level factors affecting choice of private over public health services in Vietnam. A concurrent mixed-method design was adopted. A quantitative phase explored consumers' health service choice by analysing data from a random national sample of 10,354 individuals aged 16 and over. The qualitative phase investigated how private and public providers organise their services to influence consumer choices by conducting interviews with policymakers, hospital and clinic managers, and health practitioners...

OBJECTIVE: To identify potential barriers to care, this study examined the general psychiatry outpatient new appointment availability in the US, including in-person and telepsychiatry appointments, comparing results between insurance types (Medicaid vs. private insurance), states, and urbanization levels. METHOD: This mystery shopper study investigated 5 US states selected according to Mental Health America Adult Ranking and geography to represent the US mental health care system...

The treatment of severe mental illness has undergone a paradigm shift over the last fifty years, away from a primary emphasis on hospital-based care and toward community-based care. Some of the forces driving this deinstitutionalization have been scientific and patient-centered, such as better differentiation between acute and subacute risk, innovations in outpatient and crisis care (assertive community treatment programs, dialectical behavioral therapy, treatment-oriented psychiatric emergency services), gradually improving psychopharmacology, and an increased appreciation of the negative effect of coercive hospitalization, except when risk is very high...

Each Italian region is required to manage and disclose data relating to waiting times for healthcare services which are provided by both public and private hospitals and local health units accredited to the Sistema Sanitario Nazionale (SSN - in English, National Healthcare System). The current law governing data relating to waiting times and their sharing is the Piano Nazionale di Governo delle Liste di Attesa (PNGLA - in English National Government Plan for Waiting Lists). However, this plan does not propose a standard to monitor such data, but only provides a few guidelines that the Italian regions are required to follow...

Despite government efforts, many rural Pakistani women forgo regular antenatal visits, are unprepared for birth, and deliver at home or in private facilities, because they are dissatisfied with public health services. This study examined pregnant women's perceptions of public health hospital prenatal care to suggest areas for improvement. Using simple random sampling, 200 pregnant women visiting a secondary care public health facility in Sargodha District, Pakistan, were enrolled in a cross-sectional study...

INTRODUCTION: Coronavirus disease-19 led to a significant reduction in surgery worldwide. Studies, however, of the effect on surgical volume for pediatric patients in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) are limited. METHODS: A survey was developed to estimate waitlists in LMICs for priority surgical conditions in children. The survey was piloted and revised before it was deployed over email to 19 surgeons. Pediatric surgeons at 15 different sites in eight countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Ecuador completed the survey from February 2021 to June 2021...

This study aims to analyze the care trajectories of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who were hospitalized and are currently undergoing rehabilitation regarding their use of and access to the healthcare network (HN). An evaluative, qualitative study was carried out based on interviews with patients in the city of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. The care trajectories were reconstructed at three different occasions that express their experiences with the healthcare and support network during the pandemic: prevention, support and diagnosis measures; hospitalization; post-COVID-19 care, rehabilitation and support...

Prevention strategies are essential to reduce the rate of surgical site infection (SSI) in orthopaedic surgery. Members of the Royal Belgian Society for Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology (SORBCOT) and the Belgische Vereniging voor Orthopedie en Traumatologie (BVOT) were asked to answer a 28-question questionnaire on the internet about the application of surgical antimicrobial prophylaxis measures and to compare them with current inter- national recommendations. 228 practicing orthopedic surgeons responded to the survey from different regions (Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels), different hospitals (university, public and private), different levels of experience (< 5 years, 5 to 10 years and > 10 years) and different subspecialties (lower limb, upper limb and spine)...