Continuum of care

AIM: The aim of this paper is to outline the steps taken to develop an operational checklist to assess primary healthcare (PHC) all-hazards disaster preparedness. It then describes a study testing the applicability of the checklist. BACKGROUND: A PHC approach is an essential foundation for health emergency and disaster risk management (H-EDRM) because it can prevent and mitigate risks prior to disasters and support an effective response and recovery, thereby contributing to communities' and countries' resilience across the continuum of the disaster cycle...

ISSUES ADDRESSED: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Aboriginal) people in South Australia are overburdened by cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. The South Australian Aboriginal Chronic Disease Consortium (Consortium) was established in June 2017 as a collaborative partnership to lead the implementation of three state-wide chronic disease plans using a strategic approach to identifying key priority areas for action. METHODS: In 2017-2018, the Consortium Coordinating Centre facilitated a priority setting process, which involved extensive consultation, including a prioritisation survey and stakeholder workshops...

INTRODUCTION: Following HIV testing services (HTS), the World Health Organization recommends prompt linkage to prevention and treatment. Scale-up of effective linkage strategies is essential to achieving the global 95-95-95 goals for maintaining low HIV incidence by 2030 and reducing HIV-related morbidity and mortality. Whereas linkage to care including same-day antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation for all people with HIV is now routinely implemented in testing programmes, linkage to HIV prevention interventions including behavioural or biomedical strategies, for HIV-negative individuals remains sub-optimal...

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the characteristics and quality of publicly available COVID-19 information education and communication (IEC) materials in India between March and December 2020. DESIGN: An explanatory sequential mixed-method design was employed to examine the characteristics and quality of 265 purposefully selected IEC materials. SETTING: The IEC materials analysed were those published between March and December 2020 on the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare website, Government of India...

The world is turned upside down: How parents of children with spina bifida experience transition. A qualitative study Abstract: Background: The coming of age of a child with spina bifida (SB) requires the transition from child-centred to adult-centred health care. This transition process (TP) calls for adjustments to the parental role, while health professionals assume a central position in accompanying the families. It is unclear how parents experience the TP in times of complex change and what support needs arise in the process...

Objective: This article aims to conduct a scoping review of what constitutes effective relational interactions between caregivers (CGs) and older persons (OPs) across formal residential care settings. Methods: A scoping review of publications between January 2000 and December 2021 yielded 10,929 articles, and after removing duplicates and applying exclusion criteria, 36 articles were analysed. Results: Articles were scrutinised for interactions involving both CGs and OPs, using a thematic framework analysis to identify effective relational constructs...

INTRODUCTION: The postpartum period is critical for the health and well-being of women and newborns, but there is limited research on the most effective methods of post-childbirth follow-up. This scoping review synthesizes evidence from high-, middle-, and low-income countries on approaches to following up individuals after discharge from childbirth facilities. METHODS: Using a systematic search in Ovid MEDLINE, we identified quantitative studies describing post-discharge follow-up methods deployed up to 12 months postpartum...

UNLABELLED: Artificial intelligence (AI) in oncology is advancing beyond algorithm development to integration into clinical practice. This review describes the current state of the field, with a specific focus on clinical integration. AI applications are structured according to cancer type and clinical domain, focusing on the four most common cancers and tasks of detection, diagnosis, and treatment. These applications encompass various data modalities, including imaging, genomics, and medical records...

INTRODUCTION: Hypertension is the leading risk factor for morbidity and mortality throughout the world and is pervasive in United States emergency departments (ED). This study documents the point prevalence of subclinical heart disease in emergency patients with asymptomatic hypertension. METHOD: This was a prospective observational study of ED patients with asymptomatic hypertension conducted at two urban academic EDs that belong to an eight-hospital healthcare organization in New York...

INTRODUCTION: In the Investigating the Impact of Alzheimer's Disease Diagnostics in British Columbia (IMPACT-AD BC) study, we aimed to understand how Alzheimer's disease (AD) cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarker testing-used in medical care-impacted medical decision-making (medical utility), personal decision-making (personal utility), and health system economics. METHODS: The study was designed as an observational, longitudinal cohort study. A total of 149 patients were enrolled between February 2019 and July 2021...

OBJECTIVES: Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy is a new treatment for patients with myeloma and other B cell malignancies where advanced practice nurses (APN) can make a great contribution. The aim of this review is to identify key aspects of current literature relevant to APNs working with this population. METHODS: Discussion of selected peer-reviewed literature and best practice guidelines found through electronic database searches (CINAHL, MEDLINE)...

BACKGROUND: Approximately 37 million individuals in the United States (US) have chronic kidney disease (CKD). Patients with CKD have a substantial morbidity and mortality, which contributes to a huge economic burden to the healthcare system. A limited number of clinical pathways or defined workflows exist for CKD care delivery in the US, primarily due to a lower prioritization of CKD care within health systems compared with other areas (e.g., cardiovascular disease [CVD], cancer screening)...

BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis (TB) is a significant public health disease and a major contributor to illness and death worldwide, including in Ethiopia. There are many information from first source which had inconclusive result in Ethiopia. Therefore, this review aimed to produce pooled evidence on the TB treatment delay and factors associated with it. METHODS: The absence of a similar study with a systematic review and meta-analysis was confirmed. Articles from online available and unpublished sources conducted within Ethiopia between 2002 and 2024, were thoroughly screened using electronic sources such as Medline, Embase, Hinari, PubMed, the Cochrane Library, the Web of Science, and Google Scholar...

Background Structural harm reduction is an approach to care for people who use drugs (PWUD) that incorporates services and resources (e.g., naloxone, sterile syringes). As conceptualized in our previous research, harm reduction is also "relational," encompassing a patient-provider relationship that is non-judgmental and respectful of patients' autonomy. Little is known about providers' knowledge or attitudes towards harm reduction beyond structural strategies, whose availability and legality vary across geographical settings...

BACKGROUND: There are limited population-level data on the pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) care continuum in eastern Africa. Here, we assessed the PrEP care continuum following PrEP rollout in a Ugandan community with ∼40% HIV seroprevalence. METHODS: We used cross-sectional population-based data collected between September 3 and December 19, 2018 from a Lake Victoria fishing community in southern Uganda to measure levels of self-reported PrEP knowledge, ever use, and discontinuation following 2017 PrEP rollout via a U...

Background Racial disparities in outcomes across the HIV care continuum, including in viral suppression, have been observed among sexual minority men (SMM) living with HIV. Structural factors are drivers of these disparities, yet data is lacking at the individual level on how day-to-day experiences of these structural factors contribute to losing viral suppression, and what happens to SMM after loss of viral suppression, including whether they achieve viral suppression again over time. Method We conducted longitudinal semi-structured interviews with a subsample of men living with HIV drawn from a larger cohort study...

BACKGROUND: Evidence shows that there is a high prevalence of mental health challenges including depression and anxiety, among Chinese university students. Providing mental health care providers with professional training is crucial to implementing effective mental health promotion initiatives in university settings. Globally, the focus of the mental health system is shifting to recovery and the importance of empowerment is increasingly being emphasized. There is a call to integrate empowerment education into professional training programs for health service providers with the goal of mobilizing them to become mental health champions capable of advancing mental health care...

OBJECTIVE: To explore the association between place of residence (metropolitan, urban, rural) and guideline concordant processes of care in the first year of type 2 diabetes management. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of new metformin users between April 2015 and March 2020 in Alberta. Outcomes were identified as guideline concordant processes of care through the review of clinical practice guidelines and published literature. Using multivariable logistic regression, the following outcomes were examined by place of residence: dispensation of a statin, angiotensin-converting-enzyme-inhibitor (ACEi) or angiotensin-II-receptor-blocker (ARB), eye examination, and glycated hemoglobin A1C, cholesterol, and kidney function testing...

This review serves to compare contemporary clinical practice recommendations for the management of heart failure (HF), as codified in the 2021 European Society of Cardiology (ESC) guideline, the 2022 American College of Cardiology (ACC)/American Heart Association (AHA)/Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA) guideline, and the 2023 focused update of the 2021 ESC document. Overall, these guidelines aim to solidify significant advances throughout the HF continuum since the publication of previous full guideline iterations (2013 and 2016 for the ACC/AHA and ESC, respectively)...

BACKGROUND: Pursuant to studies, receiving the three key maternal health services (Antenatal Care, Skilled Delivery Service, and Postnatal Care) in a continuum could prevent 71% of global maternal deaths. Despite the Western African region being known for its high maternal death and poor access to maternal health services, there is a dearth of studies that delve into the spectrum of maternal health services uptake. Hence, this study aimed to assess the level and predictors of partial and adequate utilization of health services in a single analytical model using the most recent Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data (2013-2021)...