Public hospital

BACKGROUND: The discontinuation of "Mother-Baby Friendly" accreditation, coupled with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, has contributed to reduced breastfeeding rates observed in parts of South Africa. Consequently, the Child, Youth and School Health cluster of the National Department of Health, with support from the World Health Organization and United Nations Children's Fund, organised a Mother-Baby Friendly initiative revitalisation workshop. METHODS: Held in Johannesburg, South Africa, on June 29-30, 2022, the workshop brought together local and international breastfeeding promotion experts to engage on issues related to the revitalisation of the Mother-Baby Friendly Initiative...

BACKGROUND: Health literacy (HL) has become a subject of major interest in public health worldwide. It is known to be linked to self-efficacy in care use and to global health status, and a non-negligible frequency of problematic or inadequate levels of HL in populations worldwide is reported. As this has yet to be evaluated in France, the present study aimed to evaluate the HL level of patients in a French emergency department (ED). METHODS: We conducted a descriptive, cross-sectional observational, single center study in the ED of the Lyon Sud hospital (Hospices civils de Lyon, Lyon, France)...

BACKGROUND: The Taliban takeover in August 2021 ended a decades-long conflict in Afghanistan. Yet, along with improved security, there have been collateral changes, such as the exacerbation of the economic crisis and brain drain. Although these changes have altered the lives of Afghans in many ways, it is unclear whether they have affected access to care. This study aimed to analyse Afghans' access to care and how this access has changed after August 2021. METHODS: The study relied on the collaboration with the non-governmental organisation EMERGENCY, running a network of three hospitals and 41 First Aid Posts in 10 Afghan provinces...

BACKGROUND: Since 2005, the healthcare system in Ethiopia has implemented policies to promote the provision of free maternal healthcare services. The primary goal of these policies is to enhance the accessibility of maternity care for women from various socioeconomic backgrounds. Additionally, the aim is to increase the utilization of maternity services, such as institutional deliveries, by removing financial obstacles that pregnant women may face. Even though maternity services are free of charge...

BACKGROUND: China initiated the Medical Alliances (MAs) reform to enhance resource allocation efficiency and ensure equitable healthcare. In response to challenges posed by the predominance of public hospitals, the reform explores public-private partnerships within the MAs. Notably, private hospitals can now participate as either leading or member institutions. This study aims to evaluate the dynamic shifts in market share between public and private hospitals across diverse MAs models...

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) represents a significant health challenge in Egypt, yet there exists limited understanding regarding the knowledge, attitudes, and physical activity levels associated with CVD. These factors play a pivotal role in developing effective prevention and management strategies. Hence, this cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate Egyptian adults' knowledge, attitudes, and physical activity (KAP) levels. METHODS: Data were collected using a previously validated questionnaire encompassing demographic characteristics, CVD knowledge (including risk factors and symptoms), attitudes toward CVD, and self-reported physical activity levels...

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to assess the acceptability and attitudes of women towards human papillomavirus (HPV) self-sampling and compare the effectiveness of two delivery modes utilising face-to-face and online website for cervical cancer screening in Hong Kong. METHODS: Women aged 30-65 years were invited to participate by distributing the study information pamphlets at the specialist clinics of a regional acute hospital. Those who were interested in participating were given the option to join directly face-to-face or through an online website...

BACKGROUND: Road traffic accidents (RTAs) are predicted to become the world's seventh leading cause of death by 2030. Given the significant impact of RTAs on public health, effective hospital preparedness plays a pivotal role in managing and mitigating associated health and life-threatening issues. This study aims to meticulously evaluate the preparedness of selected hospitals in western Iran to handle road traffic accidents with mass casualties (RTAs-MC). METHODS: The study employed a descriptive-analytical approach, utilizing a reliable and valid questionnaire to measure hospitals' preparedness levels...

BACKGROUND: As a primary form of work-related violence in the healthcare sector, patient mistreatment negatively impacts nurses' well-being. To date, there has yet reached a definitive conclusion on the mediating mechanism and boundary conditions behind the influence of patient mistreatment on nurses' emotional exhaustion. METHODS: This study employed a convenience sampling method to recruit a sample of 1672 nurses from public hospitals in Western China. The data were collected through anonymous self-report questionnaires and analyzed using hierarchical regression and conditional processes to investigate a theoretical framework encompassing patient mistreatment, emotional exhaustion, social sharing of negative events, organizational support, and trait resilience...

BACKGROUND: Sarcopenic obesity emerges as a risk factor for adverse clinical outcomes in non-hospitalized older adults, including physical disabilities, metabolic diseases, and even mortality. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we investigated the overall SO prevalence in non-hospitalized adults aged ≥ 65 years and assessed the sociodemographic, clinicobiological, and lifestyle factors related to SO. METHODS: We searched the PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science databases for studies reporting the prevalence of SO from database inception to October 2023...

BACKGROUND: The dissemination of clinical trial results is an important scientific and ethical endeavour. This survey of completed interventional studies in a French academic center describes their reporting status. METHODS: We explored all interventional studies sponsored by Rennes University Hospital identified on the French Open Science Monitor which tracks trials registered on EUCTR or clinicaltrials.gov, and provides an automatic assessment of the reporting of results...

OBJECTIVE: To determine (i) the prevalence of overweight and obesity among children presenting to all EDs in a large regional Australian city and (ii) whether age, sex, socioeconomic status (SES) or hospital setting (public vs private) were associated with overweight and obesity. METHODS: This prospective observational study included children aged ≥2 and <18 years who presented to any of three EDs over an 18 month period who had their height and weight measured...

BACKGROUND: Obesity is an important cause for the precocious or early puberty. However, the association between obesity-related loci and the risk of precocious puberty as well as the effect of gene-environment interaction are unclear, especially in the Chinese children population. METHODS: This was a case-control study using baseline data from two cohorts and hospital cases in China. 15 SNPs loci and several environmental factors were included in the analysis of 1201 participants...

Radiological imaging to examine intracranial blood vessels is critical for preoperative planning and postoperative follow-up. Automated segmentation of cerebrovascular anatomy from Time-Of-Flight Magnetic Resonance Angiography (TOF-MRA) can provide radiologists with a more detailed and precise view of these vessels. This paper introduces a domain generalized artificial intelligence (AI) solution for volumetric monitoring of cerebrovascular structures from multi-center MRAs. Our approach utilizes a multi-task deep convolutional neural network (CNN) with a topology-aware loss function to learn voxel-wise segmentation of the cerebrovascular tree...

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Food access is an important social determinant of health and refers to geographical and infrastructural aspects of food availability. Using publicly available data on food access from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), geospatial analyses can identify regions with variable food access, which may impact acute pancreatitis (AP), an acute inflammatory condition characterized by unpredictable outcomes and substantial mortality. This study aimed to investigate the association of clinical outcomes in patients with AP with geospatial food access...

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of coma among patients in critical care units in Chile. We also aimed to provide insight into the demographic characteristics, etiologies, and complications associated with coma. METHODS: A single day cross-sectional study was conducted through a national survey of public and private hospitals with critical and intensive cardiac care units across Chile. Data were collected using an online questionnaire that contained questions regarding critically ill patients' information, demographic characteristics, etiology and duration of coma, medical complications, and support requirements...

Glasgow, Scotland's largest city, has been experiencing an HIV outbreak among people who inject drugs (PWID) since 2015. A key focus of the public health response has been to increase HIV testing among those at risk of infection. Our aim was to assess the impact of COVID-19 on HIV testing among PWID in Glasgow. HIV test uptake in the last 12 months was quantified among: (1) PWID recruited in six Needle Exchange Surveillance Initiative (NESI) surveys (n = 6110); linked laboratory data for (2) people prescribed opioid agonist therapy (OAT) (n = 14,527) and (3) people hospitalised for an injecting-related hospital admission (IRHA) (n = 12,621) across four time periods: pre-outbreak (2010-2014); early-outbreak (2015-2016); ongoing-outbreak (2017-2019); and COVID-19 (2020-June 21)...

Over the course of the past six decades, liver transplantation has evolved to become the treatment of choice for chronic end-stage liver disease and some cases of acute hepatic failure. Currently, more than 34,000 liver transplants are conducted worldwide per annum, and overall one year survival rates exceed 90%. However, the early years of human liver transplantation were beset by failure. Eyewitness reports from this period make for tragic, yet compelling reading. Volume 12 of The History of Anaesthesia Society Proceedings contains one such account, written by Dr Elizabeth Gibbs...

This review addresses the escalating challenge posed by antibiotic resistance, highlighting its profound impact on global public health, including increased mortality rates and healthcare expenditures. The review focuses on the need to adopt the One Health approach to effectively manage antibiotic usage across human, animal, and environmental domains. Antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) are considered as comprehensive strategies that encompass both core and supplementary initiatives aimed at enhancing prudent antibiotic use...

BACKGROUND: Information on the causes of deaths from diarrhoea in children younger than 5 years is needed to design improved preventive and therapeutic approaches. We aimed to conduct a systematic analysis of studies to report estimates of the causes of deaths from diarrhoea in children younger than 5 years at global and regional levels during 2000-21. METHODS: For this systematic review and Bayesian multinomial analysis, we included 12 pathogens with the highest attributable incidence in the Global Enteric Multicenter Study...