Asia-Pacific Journal of Health Management (ACHSM)
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The Roles of Managers in Addressing Sustainable Development Goals and Addressing the Burden of Chronic Disease
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Patterns of Utilization of Maternal Healthcare Services in Haryana, India
Get PDFBackground: Despite being a relatively smaller state, Haryana’s per capita Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) is high. The statistical data on the status of women has a different story to share. Objective: This study analyzes the maternal healthcare situation in Haryana to examine the differential in utilization of maternal health care service i.e. antenatal care on the basis of socio economic and socio demographic indicators such as Women’s age at Birth, Birth order, Education, Residence, Religion, Wealth index and Caste. Methodology: The present study uses the third round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data which is similar to the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS). DHS collects, disseminates national data on health and population in developing countries. Findings: Indicate that economic status, husband’s education and caste have effect on the utilization of antenatal care services. Conclusion: The present study demonstrates several socio economic and demographic factors affecting the utilization of antenatal care services in Haryana. Efforts need to be taken at community and household level to improve utilization. Abbreviations: NFHS- National Family Health Survey; DHS- Demographic and Health Surveys; MDG- Millennium Development Goals; SC/ST-Scheduled caste/Scheduled tribe; WHO-World Health Organization; MOHFW- Ministry of Health and Family Welfare; ANM – Auxiliary Nurse Midwife; VIF – Variance Inflation Factor; OBC- Other Backward Classes; ANC- Antenatal Care; TBA – Trained Birth Attendan
Dental Emergency Attendance at an Australia Tertiary Children’s Hospital
Get PDFoai:journal.achsm.org.au:article/1Objective: Dental emergencies are a significant impact on the health system. The resource needs are complex and consume services in the tertiary health sector. It is important that we examine the reasons and types of attendances to look for ways to mitigate this demand. The aim was to identify the rate of dental emergencies according to age groups, genders and Indigenous status.Design: A retrospective analysis of dental emergencies at the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH; tertiary children hospital in Perth) was performed. Setting: The study included data from hard-copy files of patients admitted to the PMH.Main outcome measures: The records of 239 children who attended the PMH in Perth with dental emergency problems during the first 3 months of 2017 were analyzed. Findings: The major reasons for dental emergencies were infection and trauma. The most common age group was children between 3 to 6 years old. In this age group, boys attended more than girls due to dental injury. Although there were equal presentations of dental infection and dental trauma cases, dental infection cases mostly required hospitalization and treatment under general anesthetic. Conclusion: While some dental emergencies are unavoidable, increasing awareness about dental hygiene, regular checkups and early dental treatments in children could decrease emergency visits and prevent conditions such as dental infection
Evaluating Health Literacy Environments in Australian Health Services
Get PDFThe term ‘health literacy’ refers to the knowledge and skills used by an individual to make decisions about his or her own health. However, the environment in which health decisions are made is increasingly recognised as a critical component of health literacy. The health literacy environment can help to moderate the typical relationship between low individual health literacy and poor health. Becoming a more health literate healthcare organisation may require only meager financial investment for relatively large effectiveness gains. In this article, a review of Australian government health policies identifies three major foci relevant to the health literacy environment: the complexity of health services, the content of health information, and the physical environment. An overarching theme identified in this review is the importance of consumer input in evaluating all aspects of the health literacy environment. Despite major policy imperatives and the ongoing need to ensure health investments are socially equitable and cost-effective, there is little published evidence of Australian healthcare services evaluating their own health literacy environment. This article establishes the importance of evaluating the health literacy of Australian healthcare services and reviews four potentially useful evaluation tools
Organisational Climate for Change and Innovativeness: A social capital perspective
Get PDFPurpose: Acute health services around the world are increasingly required to respond to accreditation institutes, the changing needs and expectations of patients and societal values that demand continuous improvement in quality and efficiencies. Many change initiatives and innovative attempts have failed or resulted in lower performance than expected. The purpose of this paper is to increase understanding of the organisational contextual factors such as social capital and organisational climate that interact with the change implementation processes and provide a new perspective for change management in the unique environment of acute health care.
Methodology: This mixed methods study was executed in three different sized operating theatre suites. A survey and in-depth interviews were used to reveal a current organisational climate for innovativeness through team member perspectives. The strength of each organisational climate was assessed with reference to the level of disparity in the participant responses. In-depth interviews and observations provided understanding of how social capital is developed and maintained, then examined in context with the climate for innovativeness to understand how contextual factors, social capital and climate interact.
Findings: It has been demonstrated that social capital in the operating theatre suite has bearing on the organisational climate for change and innovativeness. Size and structure of an organisation influence how social networks develop; policies and management practices influence how different networks interact; and, the combination of contextual factors and social capital influences the organisational climate for innovativeness.
Originality/value: Managing social capital can offer a people-focused perspective through which to design and implement change and enhance an organisational climate for innovativeness
Evaluation of the State-Wide Implementation of an Allied Health Workforce Redesign System: Utilisation of the Calderdale Framework
Get PDFBackground: Increasing demand for allied health services is driving workforce redesign towards greater productivity within budgetary constraints. To date, there has been limited research into workforce redesign tools at an organisational level. The aim of this article was to evaluate an implementation of The Calderdale Framework for state-wide service delivery workforce redesign within allied health settings across Queensland.
Method: A multi-phase methodology with mixed methods of data collection was used. This included analysis of documents, staff surveys, and semi-structured, in-depth interviews with staff from work units utilising the Framework across the state.
Findings: The primary mechanisms for implementation were staff training and provision of centralised resources. Across the state, all health services engaged in training and most completed associated workforce redesign projects. However, the number and type of projects varied across the state as did the successful projects. Feedback from staff indicated the structured nature of the framework was viewed positively, but was time intensive to perform. Local contextual factors heavily influenced workforce redesign success.
Conclusion: Key factors pertaining to state-wide workforce redesign include: providing coordinated and centralised systems to support staff, ensuring adequate training, prioritising the development of key local staff, and proactively managing local contextual factors
Does Consultation Time Influence Patient Perception of Provider Communication Style, Patient Satisfaction, and Word of Mouth Recommendation in India? A mediation analysis
Get PDFBackground: In medically underserved developing countries such as India, the length of the consultation is often compromised; providers, it appears, have lost their natural empathetic tendencies and try to substitute talk with techniques and procedures. Despite this, surprisingly, patient satisfaction is high in India. This raises questions on the importance of understanding how patients feel about the clinical consultation length and the way it affects their satisfaction. In this context, this study analysed if the time spent with the patient predicted different changes to patient satisfaction with the provider and word of mouth recommendation.Methods: This cross sectional study comprised a sample of working Indian adults (N=501), completing communication competence measures and indicating their satisfaction and word of mouth recommendation potential. The four step Baron and Kenny’s model of mediation analysis, apart from the GLM and factor analysis, was used for the analysisResults: Findings showed that the communication style of the providers positively influenced the health outcomes such as patient satisfaction and word of mouth recommendation, and the length of direct consultation time mediated this relationship. Gender wise, male patients were more likely to complain about poor communication competency of the providers and less consultation time than female patients Conclusion: We conclude that patients positively associate a longer clinical consultation time with empathetic and competent providers and be willing to recommend him/her to others. However due to extreme paucity of qualified providers in India, patients generally ignore or suffer problems related to time or communication style
Managers of Health Services in Australia 2006-2016
Get PDFPurpose: Activity in health services is expanding faster than population growth and that of the production of all goods and services in Australia. This paper is concerned with the number and characteristics of its managers in relation to the number of people employed and resources used. It also assesses different trends in hospitals and other medical and health services.
Methodology/Design: Design of the analyses follows specifications set by the authors for tabulations prepared by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) from the censuses of population conducted by ABS in 2006 and 2016.
Analysis: Assesses changes in the number and variations in the characteristics of managers of hospitals and medical and other health services, in relation to the number of people employed, contrasted with changes in all industries.
Findings: There are different trends in hospitals and medical and other health services, with a decline in the number of employees per manager in medical and other health services and a slight rise in hospitals. The older average age of health service managers continued to rise, similarly to that for all industries. The proportion of female managers in health services, below the average for all employees, increased somewhat during the decade. The distribution among the various fields of study remained about the same; but level of education, higher than the average for all industries continued to rise.The growth in average income of managers during the decade was somewhat lower than in all industries, due to a lower increase rate in medical and other health services. The proportion of managers of indigenous status rose substantially – almost double the proportion in all industries.
Implications: The findings are of relevance to those concerned with the management of health services and training of the growing number of managers of health services in Australia
