Asia-Pacific Journal of Health Management (ACHSM)
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Enablers for Allied Health Front-line Managers in Public Health Environments to Deliver Sustainable Patient Care
No full textBackground: Many allied health managers do not feel equipped to face the challenges of evolving business environments such as public hospitals The increasing demand on public hospitals due to chronicity of disease, an aging population and rising health costs will require managers to be resourceful, adaptable, influential and innovative The research on this topic is scarce with a lack of robust studies specific to allied health front-line managers working in public healthcare settings.
Objectives: The review of the literature aims to identify enablers for front-line allied health managers to be more effective and better prepared for working in complex and challenging healthcare environments such as public hospitals.
Method: Literature searches were performed using Scopus, PubMed, PsychINFO, CINAHL, ProQuest and Google Scholar databases for articles published between January 2000 and November 2019. Hand searching of reference lists of included papers also occurred. The included articles were studies containing cohorts of allied health professionals working in any healthcare setting that directly related to the study of management and/or leadership.
Results: The literature findings on this topic were scarce, however review of the 22 studies that met the criteria identified nine potential enablers for allied health front-line managers. These included incorporating effective leadership styles, leadership attributes and characteristics for working in health, allied health structure, representation of allied health in contexts of influence, associations/network and organisational support, evidence-based and tailored allied health programs, measurable and robust feedback on performance and succession planning for the future.
Conclusion: By identifying potential enablers, key strategies, resources and supports could be developed for allied health front-line managers working in complex settings such as public hospitals, which ultimately lead to improvements in patient safety, quality and experience.
Implications for Practice: More research with front-line allied health managers in practice is required to explore and validate the identified enablers. Once validated, further studies to determine the strategies, resources, influences and supports that could be developed to support enacting them would be important. Providing the necessary enablers to allied health front-line managers would equip them to manage the increasing challenges facing public healthcare organisations that are required to be more sustainable while delivering quality care to patients
Including Stakeholders When Implementing New Technologies
No full textObjective: Technologies such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) offer many benefits to health care providers and may raise stakeholder concerns. This study reviews a new technology from another industry, summarizes previous research on medical applications of RFID, and analyses survey responses on RFID applications. The goal is to develop principles for evaluating and implementing new technologies.
Design: Marketing and stakeholder theories were used to develop lessons from the case study and from prior research. A survey was mailed to adults in four Midwestern states in the US.
Main Outcome Measures: Respondent support ratings for two medical and two non-medical applications of RFID were analysed using principal component analysis and binary logistic regressions. Profiles of those supporting the applications were developed.
Results: The case study highlighted the importance of considering the needs and concerns of all stakeholders. Previous studies suggested that many hospital administrators who examined RFID may not have included some stakeholders. This research found that support for RFID varied across respondents and across applications. Anxiety about technology was negatively linked with RFID support. Religiosity also had negative coefficients for some applications.
Conclusions: Administrators considering new technologies need to consider patient privacy needs and stakeholder concerns. Surveying stakeholders and utilizing advisory boards could help administrators tailor their actions to the communities they serve. A few opponents to a technology can limit its adoption. Regular, two-way communications may help health care organizations improve technology decisions and enhance the odds of implementation success
Role of Critical Success factors (CSF) in the implementation of Six Sigma in hospitals: A preliminary study in Pakistan
No full textSix sigma can enable us to determine the possible solutions to most of the problems which are being faced by the healthcare system of Pakistan. Six sigma is a viable way to make healthcare rapid and proficient. It is already being successfully utilized around the globe in service as well as the manufacturing sector. This research is a preliminary study; conducted, in an attempt, to highlight the issues in healthcare like scarcity of medicines, the inefficiency of medical staff, insufficient beds and low doctor/patient ratio in hospitals of Pakistan. A proposal is proposed for a viable solution in the form of six-sigma. For this study, six-sigma identifies the potential issue by involving all employees of the targeted sectors. The collection of primary data was done from employees at quality departments in hospitals and via survey. The importance of critical success factors in the public and private hospitals of Pakistan was determined by the aforementioned survey. Critical analysis pointed out that most of the employees were unaware of the quality initiatives and six-sigma
Corona Virus (COVID – 19)
No full textIt is difficult while writing an editorial, at this time, to ignore the extensive impact of the Corona virus (COVID-19) and it is probably important for us, as health professionals to give it some considered thought, outside the immediacy of current activity. I say this as someone recently returned from work related overseas travel, with my travel not meeting the government-imposed return deadline by some seven hours. This required my quarantine and/or isolation for some two weeks. After my first week of exclusion from most of my family, friends and working remotely and online it seems that the rest of Australia has caught up with my circumstance, many stood down from work, many businesses closed, a massive effort by the health system and economic rescue or support packages being implemented by government. It seems that I will have little opportunity to relax and celebrate with others at the end of this week....
Medical Quality and Well-Being Perception of Senior Tourists
No full textObjectives: Advanced medical treatments and service quality for Hong Kong residents are well regarded. However, numerous senior residents continue to explore alternative medical treatments and wellbeing activities outside the region. The research objectives of this study are 1) to assess the perception of senior tourists of the medical quality attributes of medical tourism destinations and 2) to compare the different perceptions of tourists of medical service attributes, wellbeing and behavioural intention towards medical tourism destinations.
Design: The questionnaire instrument was written in English and Chinese based on the literature review. The target population was senior residents with experience in seeking medical treatments and services abroad, specifically, outside Hong Kong. Convenience sampling was employed to recruit senior respondents to answer the questionnaire. Data collection was from July to October 2019 in residential areas and senior citizen neighbourhood centres in Hong Kong.
Results: Results show that among the 74 respondents, only 42% have overseas medical experiences. The countries involved are Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, China, the United States, Malaysia and Thailand. The senior residents have a more positive perception of medical quality (e.g. appointment procedure, short waiting time and physician reliability) and wellbeing (e.g. response to needs and social wellbeing) in overseas medical destinations compared with Hong Kong. However, no mean difference is observed in behavioural intention between Hong Kong and overseas medical destinations from the perspective of the senior respondents.
Conclusions: Hong Kong senior residents may consider travelling overseas to seek medical treatments and wellbeing activities. Senior residents tend to travel to nearby countries for cosmetic/plastic surgery, eye surgery/Lasik and dental surgery. Moreover, senior residents perceive the communication skills of physicians and staff overseas in answering enquiries on medical procedures whilst receiving medical treatment as high quality compared with Hong Kong
Green Burial in Hong Kong
No full textGreen Burial is a burial method which uses biodegradable materials to entomb the dead body instead of cremating by using embalmed liquid. It aims to let the body return to the nature naturally. With an ageing population, there is an increase of demand on columbarium and niches in Hong Kong, and green burial has been introduced as a more sustainable option to bury the deceased. The current paper has summarised the official documents regarding the green burial programme proposed by the Hong Kong government. The reason why people do not prefer green burial may be due to the Chinese traditional belief and the lack of education. Methods of delivery of message and social media coverage are issues leading to people not being encouraged to use green burial. United States and Singapore develop improved approaches in performing green burial. The effect in promoting green burial services is evaluated in this study and recommendations on improving the way of promotion are proposed
Treasure in Elderly Care Learning: A service-learning experience at a neighbourhood centre in Hong Kong
No full textService-learning is a useful learning activity for students to understand and analyse the health and social conditions of elderly recipients. It offers a practical environment for the study of ageing. Students make the service-learning meaningful, by combining the course idea and concepts in the activity during service. Students enhance learning experience by finding an appropriate health suggestion to the elderly while investigating the health conditions of the elderly. Students enrich additional vision by designing effective activities for the elderly and explaining the course idea to the elderly. The elderly provide opinion in the activity and inspire students to have a better management for further life and service-learning. In this study, an experience of service learning in elderly home is described. It covers several themes: (a) preparation of service learning, (b) analysis of designed activities, (c) reflection on this service-learning, (d) comparison of in-class learning and service-learning
Active Aging Management in Iran: Designing a model
No full textObjective: Active ageing constitutes one of the guiding perspectives on policies, but the factors influencing ageing have not received considerable attention. The present study aimed to identify the factors affecting active ageing management in Iran.
Design: Drawing on quantitative data gathered through a questionnaire filled out by 287 participants and an interview with 20 experts.
Main outcome measures: The instrument was a questionnaire based on the five-point Likert scale. Questions with CVR>0.49 and with CVI>0.7 were accepted. To assess the reliability of the questionnaire, Cronbach's alpha coefficient was (0.92) used. The adequacy of the sample size was estimated at 0.952, based on the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) index. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS Ver 22. An exploratory factor analysis was used to explore and evaluate the dimensions of the model through a mathematical approach. Also, confirmatory factor analysis was utilized to verify the model, using AMOS 24 software.
Results: Eight factors were identified as effective factors in active ageing management in Iran, which include: Organizational structure (0/83), services (0/80), control (0/74), financing (0/72), government grants (0/71), policy making (0/68), selected area to focus (0/65), members (0/63). Organizational structure and member components had the most and least significant effects.
Conclusions: Establishing a High Council with the presence of the President's representative, allocating a specific budget for the elderly, determining the responsibilities of the government and the related organizations, determining the responsibility and providing suitable services can lead to the effective management of active ageing
Library Bulletin - Special Issue - COVID-19 Resource Update
No full textClick the title to readLibrary Bulletin - Special Issue - COVID-19 Resource Updat
Yogic Interventions for Psycho-Physical Well-Being Under Covid-19 Times & After
No full textHealth indeed is Wealth. The Corona Virus Pandemic has impacted the best health-care systems world-wide; even as the world grapples with the massive loss of human life causing pain to millions. The Pandemic is no more just a medical health challenge; it has thrown up spiritual and emotional challenges as it is affecting our belief system.
Prevention is Better than Cure is the mantra. Since, there is no allopathic medicine solution available; people are adopting various measures like social distancing and personal sanitization. There is an urgent need to assist the individuals to take all the preventive measures possible to boost their immunity, improve the respiratory system, and lessen the anxiety, stress, and depression. It can be difficult to not feel anxiety and sometimes panic over the coronavirus outbreak, with the onslaught of updates on news and social media.
Yoga has emerged as the perfect tool that an individual can follow to establish physical, mental, and spiritual balance to develop robust health and combat physical and emotional challenges. Yoga offers another path, a fresh perspective with which to deal with events that are beyond our control. The different asanas of yoga can help us to prevent COVID-19 by boosting our immune system and managing the stress that one is going through in this time of uncertainty.
This study tries to specifically evaluate the impact of the preventive measures undertaken through Yoga practice. 126 respondents from different states of India were requested to perform yoga daily for 30 days. Significant changes were observed and are mentioned in detail.