Asia-Pacific Journal of Health Management (ACHSM)
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Assessment of Staff Performance in CSSD Unit by 360 Degree Evaluation Method
No full textBackground: 360 degree evaluation is a method that an employee is evaluated by the others and given feedback to him/her. Considering the proper implementation of the sterilization process is important in the prevention of nosocomial infections and has a direct impact on the quality of performance of the surgical team in the operating room. This study was conducted to the Evaluation of CSSD Unit Personnel Performance in Sterilization Process using the 360 Degree technique.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the educational hospitals of Gillan Province in IRAN, between 2018 and 2019. Assessment of staff performance in CSSD Unit was done by 360 Degree evaluation method in five different stages. The evaluators included the infection control nurses, Supervisors of the sterilization unit, the researcher and the staff of these units as self-assessors. Finally, the collected data were analyzed using SPSS version 20.
Results: The evaluation mean scores were as following: the researcher, 75.97 ± 18.9; infection control nurse, 87.62 ± 7.2; unit supervisor, 87.61 ± 7.8 and staff self-assessment, 88.01 ± 8.1; at different stages of the sterilization process. From all assessors view, the highest and lowest scores were related to the cleaning and Health dimensions.
Conclusion: According to assessor’s agreement in scoring of different stages of the sterilization process, the 360 degree evaluation method is a valuable tool in assessment of the staff performance in important tasks. By applying this method, it can be ethically prevented evaluators' individual judgment
In This Issue
No full textWelcome to this fourth issue of the year, a record in the number of issues produced and yes, we continue to receive significant numbers of articles for publication. We appreciate the enthusiasm of authors but ask for their patience in our ability to process, peer review and publish.
Exciting news for the APJHM was that we have been accepted for inclusion in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). Allowing that organisation to speak for itself, we quote ‘We are absolutely delighted to welcome this journal into DOAJ and look forward to seeing the article metadata soon.’
The benefits of supplying DOAJ with our metadata are said to be: - Statistics show more than 900 000-page views and 300 000 unique visitors a month to DOAJ from all over the world. - Many aggregators, databases, libraries, publishers, and search portals collect DOAJ free metadata and include it in their products. Examples are Scopus, Serial Solutions and EBSCO. - DOAJ is OAI compliant and once an article is in DOAJ, it is automatically harvestable. - DOAJ is Open URL compliant and once an article is in DOAJ, it is automatically linkable. - Over 95% of the DOAJ Publisher community said that DOAJ is important for increasing their journal's visibility - DOAJ is often cited as a source of quality, open access journals in research and scholarly publishing circles.'
This is encouraging news for our authors, readers the ACHSM and SHAPE who are involved and supportive of the APJHM.The first article in this issue is an important commentary from the National President of ACHSM, Dr Neale Fong, who provides insights into leadership and management in the Covid_19 period, the positioning of the College and its offerings at this time and an announcement about the commencement of a certification process for College members.
The editorial again addresses the continuing progress of Covid-19 internationally. The editorial focusses on lessons learned across a number of nation states with a hope that this will encourage health professionals, policy makers, politicians, communities to reflect on the experience so far and develop a reasonably consistent framework and strategy that might improve future approaches to pandemic management. We would welcome contributions in this context.
Turato and Oprescu describe enablers for allied health front-line managers in public health environments to deliver sustainable patient care in a review article in the Australian context. This article is followed by Yousef Yaghoobi and colleagues designing an empowerment model for Iranian health centre managers: A comprehensive study that examine empowerment models for Iranian health centre managers to develop capabilities and competencies for this group. Muddle in a research article describes the relationship between leadership style and hospital employee engagement in Papua New Guinea. Arya provides a distinctly unique contribution in being a fine detective in learning health leadership lessons to conclude this group of articles particularly relevant to health management.
The next group of articles commences with the contribution of Bain, Goswami, Lloyd and Davis describing the post-implementation evaluation of a digital dictation system in a large health service using HOT-Fit framework, in Victoria Australia. This is followed by an article by seven colleagues from Iran that provides a research article on the assessment of staff performance in a CSSD unit using a 360-degree evaluation method. A further group of colleagues from Iran have also provided systematic review and meta-analysis of the care burden of informal care givers of haemodialysis patients, concluding that we should develop appropriate strategies to improve the quality of life for this group.The next contribution from Yadav from India provides a comparative study of health as an economic dimension in respect to China and India. Colleagues from Nepal, Thailand and Australia make a topical contribution entitled ‘infodemic monikers in social media during the covid-19 pandemic. Das and colleagues provide a contribution that addresses community preparedness and responses to prevention and control of Covid_19 in Bangladesh. As usual we conclude with our library bulletin provided by Yaping Liu
Understanding Mental Health Services and Help-Seeking Behaviors Among College Students in Vietnam
No full textObjective: Due to the significant higher prevalence, yet less attention of mental health problems among Asian college students, we decided to investigate the effectiveness and efficiency of mental health services and help-seeking behaviors in Vietnamese universities. By conducting this study, we hope to contribute to current literature on the factors that contribute to professional mental health taking behavior of college students in Vietnam as well as suggest strategies to reduce possible barriers that prevent them from seeking professional help.
Design: We first conducted a pilot study to test the reliability and validity of our measurements. We then made necessary adjustments and distributed the final questionnaires to a university in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Collected data was analyzed through exploratory factor analysis.
Results: Among the three measurements of psychological openness, help-seeking propensity, and indifference to stigma, results indicated that the model explains students’ help-seeking intention reasonably well than others.
Conclusions: Using theory of planned behavior, this study aims at examining predictors of professional mental health seeking behavior among college students in Vietnam. Our findings indicate that help-seeking propensity significantly influences Vietnamese students’ intention to seek professional healthcare. Through this study, we suggest some guidance to the school administrators the factors that encourage students to take professional mental care
Exploring the Backyard of nCOVID: Determinants of death toll in pandemics
No full textHeterogeneity in number of deaths in different countries during the ongoing nCOVID crisis challenged us to look for determinants of pandemic death toll across the world. Using the past two decades data of pandemic deaths in the world, this study considered if engagement in international trade, health care expenditure and population density have any impact on the pandemic death toll. Using linear regression model controlled for types of disease, we not only found trade significantly impacting death toll, but also surprisingly found positive correlation between share of healthcare expenditure in GDP and fatalities in pandemics. Our findings suggest that policy intervention is required for mitigating health impacts of trade and ‘tweaking’ the health expenditure towards pandemic prevention
Psychological Risk Factors for Healthcare Professionals in the Epidemic Process
No full textIn this study, it is aimed to reveal the increased psychological risk factors for the healthcare professionals who perform their duties with great devotion during the epidemic process. This article, which was prepared by making use of the studies in the literature, aimed to examine the factors that prepare increased stress and burnout during the epidemic process. It is seen that the factors that cause burnout and depersonalization among healthcare workers in the process of providing health services, increase in the epidemic process and gain new dimensions. Especially risk factors faced by emergency personnel are always considered as a professional risk factor in daily operation, but the negative emotions and thoughts caused by daily functioning in the epidemic process increase much more. In this context, the importance of increasing the psychological resilience of healthcare professionals and supporting them psycho-socially is increasing. Providing these supports during and after the epidemic is also important in terms of maintaining quality in health care. It is considered that the provision of mental health professionals who will provide continuous support for healthcare professionals in the institution should be among the mandatory occupational health and safety measures
Can Developing Countries Handle the Mental Burden Due to the Lockdown Situation? Understanding the uncertainty and management of COVID-19 pandemic
No full textBackground: Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic can be referred to as a life-threatening war where every country is fighting with an invisible untold enemy. Realizing the disease severity and managing the prevention is crucial in current situations. Hence, it is time to follow the lockdown protocol until the situation improves worldwide.
Method: We have searched all the possible validated resources such as WHO, governmental data-sharing portal, news media, blogs, and existing empirical studies. We identified the significant inputs from social media platforms provided by healthcare entrepreneurs, clinicians, and interrelated different domain experts. Here we qualitatively narrated an in-depth understanding of the phenomena and proposed a few steps to deal with the mental burden in developing country context.
Result: There must be some effective strategy to reduce the mental burden and availability of the health consultancy services continuously to deal with such vulnerable situations. Telehealth is one such solution in a developed country where the healthcare system is well equipped to offer such services.
Conclusions: Here, we have presented a few proposed steps that can be adapted/practiced dealing with a similar situation in developing and densely populated nation like India. This approach may help to deal with such emergencies and challenges for healthcare management in lockdown conditions
The Deployment of Virtual Reality (VR) to Promote Green Burial
No full textPopulation projections for Hong Kong suggest that the city will accommodate 8.22 million people in 2043. One in every three people are expected to be older than 65 in 2066. The long-held Chinese traditions for burial of deceased with reverence and honour, coupled with the chronic land shortage have presented an excessive demand for cemetery space. Niches are seldom recycled and the inadequate supply of new columbarium niche requires the family of the deceased to consider alternative way for keeping cremated ashes. To ease the demand, “green burial” has been launched and promoted by the HKSAR government through different print and social media. Currently, scattering of cremains in Gardens of Remembrance or at sea are the two common ways to perform green burial. The public acceptance of green burial is still a questionable and is under-researched.
This study is going to deploy innovative technology, virtual reality (VR) to increase physical and psychological fidelity in highly resembled scenarios for the people. On one hand, VR gives immeasurable value to people when they are enabled to navigate different circumstances (physical fidelity) before considering the use of green burial. On the other hand, VR enables the people to engage in different mental processes (psychological fidelity) replicated from an array of cognitive reaction and sentiments with the choice of green burial. In order to optimize the configuration of the VR settings, we will conduct a face-to-face, semi-structured and in-depth interview with different practitioners. In the study, we explore: (1) To what extent the enhancement of physical fidelity of innovative technologies debunk public’s misconception of green burial? (2) To what extent the enhancement of psychological fidelity of innovative technologies debunk public’s misconception of green burial? (3) To what extent the simulated experience derived from innovation technologies change the public acceptance of green burial
Time Banking for Elderly in Hong Kong: Current practice and challenges
No full textTo reduce the burden of the ageing population, time banking can be one of the possible approaches in the community to maximise social capital. Time banking aims to exchange one’s time to serve others and the time of service can be saved as credit so as to swap for services when necessary. It can create a virtuous cycle for providing and receiving services. Several positive outcomes to service providers and recipients of time banking are identified in this review paper. Nevertheless, there is a lack of practical adoption of time banking in Hong Kong. To analyse the challenges of the adoption of time banking in Hong Kong, the current practices of time banking in Hong Kong will be evaluated. To promote time banking in Hong Kong, governmental, technical and educational support are recommended
Retrospective Evaluation on Patient Screening and Counseling Service on Direct-acting Antivirals Against Hepatitis C
No full textObjective: Drug-drug interactions and risk of hepatitis B reactivation potentially affect treatment outcomes of direct-acting antivirals (DAA) against hepatitis C. A comprehensive pharmacist screening and counseling service was implemented in a Hong Kong hospital, which aims to optimize the efficacy and safety of DAA therapy while minimizing the risk of drug wastage. The objective of the service review is to explore potential roles of pharmacist in hepatitis C management.
Design: We retrospectively evaluate all cases under service from June 2017 to September 2018.
Main outcome measures: Outcomes measured include drug-related problems (DRP) identified, treatment discontinuation and failure rates.
Results: There were 44 cases under provision of service, all completed therapy except 1 died from underlying disease. 25 DRPs, predominantly categorized as drug-drug interactions, were documented. The interactions commonly involved acid-lowering agents. 1 case was noted with inadvertently lengthening of treatment duration. No cases of treatment failure or hepatitis B reactivation were reported.
Conclusion: The safety concerns and high cost of DAA have created a new challenge to healthcare providers. Comprehensive screening and counseling by pharmacists are valuable to ensure safe and effective use of DAA, hence reducing unnecessary drug wastage
Health Information: Applications and challenges in the COVID-19 pandemic
No full textGlobal health systems are under immense pressure with the exponential growth and spread of COVID-19. Public health and health system responses to the pandemic have relied on health information reporting, visualisation, and projections of incidence, morbidity, and mortality. This commentary aims to explore how health information has been used to inform the public, manage risk, understand capacity, prepare the health system and to plan public health strategy. We also aim to share the health information challenges and our insights to inform future debate and strategic investment. This paper will be relevant to health service and health information managers wanting to understand vulnerabilities and focus for future health information initiatives