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Occupational injuries and diseases amongst healthcare workers of the department of health in Limpopo ProvinceLekgothoane, Adelaide Maropeng January 2012 (has links)
Thesis (MPH) -- University of Limpopo, 2012. / SUMMARY
OCCUPATIONAL INJURIES AND DISEASES AMONGST HEALTHCARE
WORKERS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH IN LIMPOPO PROVINCE
AIM: To analyse and provide data on the incidence of occupational injuries and the
prevalence of occupational diseases amongst healthcare workers of Department of Health in Limpopo Province.
OBJECTIVES: The specific objectives of the study were as follows:
1. To determine the most common occupational types of injuries and/or diseases amongst healthcare workers with regard to the demographic profile (i.e. age, gender, occupation, workstation) of healthcare workers;
2. To establish outcomes of these injuries and diseases fatalities regard to the demographic profile (i.e. age, gender, occupation, workstation) of healthcare workers; and
3. To assess the association between the predominant injuries and diseases with the
profile of the health care workers
METHOD: The researcher sourced data electronically from Department of Health as quarterly reports, four (4) for each year of the financial years 2007/2008, 2008/2009 and 2009/2010 respectively. The data was consolidated into financial years, cleaned out part of 2007 and 2010 so at to remain with 3 calendar years (2007, 2008 &2009) prior analysis.
RESULTS: There were 725 per 100 000 healthcare workers affected by injuries and diseases during the study period. These injuries/and diseases affected more males than females above 40 years with the mean age being 43 years. Of the 631 injuries and diseases reported, 89% were injuries whist 11 % were diseases with most employees from Mopani district. The most common injuries which affected HCWs
thus included needle stick injuries (24%), slip/trip/fall (23%), motor vehicle accidents
(14%), injuries by external objects (10%) and assaults (7%). The most common diseases which affected HCWs were found to be TB (69%), diseases by chemical
agents (12%), cholera (9%) and poisoning (2%). The needle stick injury affected
clinical nurses (59%) more than other professionals; moreover, TB affected 63.6% of
nurses. The captured outcome of this injury/disease was 4 fatalities among EMS
personnel.
CONCLUSION: In conclusion, this study demonstrates that tuberculosis is the most
common occupational disease acquired whilst needle stick injury is the commonest
occupational injury sustained by healthcare workers of the Department of Health,
Limpopo Province. The employees were therefore affected by preventable
occupational injuries and diseases.
RECOMMENDATIONS: Preventative programs need to be strengthened to reduce
morbidity of tuberculosis and needle stick injuries amongst employees.
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AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF HOSPITAL LEADERSHIPUnknown Date (has links)
This study investigated the phenomenon of hospital leadership in a free-standing psychiatric hospital attached to a private, non-profit medical center. This phenomenon was studied primarily because little is known about leadership in hospitals. Therefore, the question: What is hospital leadership? was addressed. Secondary issues pertaining to external, internal, and personal aspects of hospital leadership were also addressed. They included developing understanding of: (a) How environmental constraints might affect the practice of hospital leadership; (b) how the practice of hospital leadership might vary internally; and (c) how the values and beliefs of hospital leaders might affect the practice of hospital leadership. / Hospital leadership was considered to be a form of cultural expression; therefore, ethnography was chosen as the method of research. Moreover, ethnography was chosen because it encourages development of grounded concepts and theory; outcomes expected to inform the practice of hospital leadership. / Research proceeded in three stages--entry and orientation, data gathering, and ethnography preparation--and used observation, interviewing, and secondary sources of information to generate data. Data were recorded as fieldnotes, and were analyzed continuously according to Spradley's (1980) Developmental Research Sequence Method. Data were presented as follows: Narrative descriptions of key domains, critical events, and emergent themes; ranked frequency tables for guided interview responses; taxonomies for other domains; and topological and schematic diagrams to summarize the cultural scene and concluding thesis. / This thesis suggests leadership is essentially a process of implementing a mission through the attainment of goals. It involves two major components: Values and power. Values are necessary to establish the mission; power is necessary to overcome goal constraints. Outcomes provide measures of goal attainment and quality of leadership. Feedback provides information on constraints, clarifying where power should be directed. Goals may be modified in the process. / Implications include: Successful leadership requires (a) there be a clear mission, implicitly shared by members of an organization; (b) that a leader have sufficient power to overcome constraints; and (c) that a leader be able to benefit from feedback. Future research possibilities suggested by these implications were discussed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-12, Section: B, page: 3526. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.
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Patient and nurse collaboration in decision-making concerning long-term management of a newly formed colostomyThompson, Julia Mary, University of Western Sydney, Faculty of Nursing and Health Studies January 1997 (has links)
This study included three projects which investigated aspects of decision-making in a nursing context. The specific decision studied concerned selection of a long term management strategy for use by a patient with a newly fashioned colostomy. Literature reviewed reveals debate about the extent to which patients should participate in decisions about their health care, but ongoing work using the Autonomy Preference Index provides an argument for partnerships in decision-making between patients and health care professionals. This research contributed to the knowledge base in stomal therapy nursing, decision theory, collaborative practice in nusing, assessment of patient satisfaction and health communication theory. The clinical implications and applications of the findings are far reaching because of the pervasiveness of patient decision-making in nursing practice / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
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The Relational Person Within a Practical Theology of Health CareMcArdle, Patrick, res.cand@acu.edu.au January 2006 (has links)
Aim: The aim of this thesis is to elaborate a theological understanding of health care at its most vulnerable point: the meaning and exercise of personhood itself. Personhood, as I develop the concept, is understood in relational terms. Through this exploration of the relational dimensions of the human person, I provide a conceptual framework in which health care is able to derive fresh vigour and inspiration. This approach accomplishes two things: it establishes a role for theological insights in the public discourse of health care; secondly, it demonstrates that theology is able to assist health care to better understand itself and renew itself. As an exercise in Practical Theology, the investigation is interdisciplinary in nature, drawing on insights from philosophy, health care and various dimensions of theology. Scope: Historically, the focus of theologically motivated contributions to health and medicine has been on ethical dilemmas that arise in clinical practice. In this thesis, however, the focus is on bringing theology and health care into dialogue in order to advance the conversation between the two disciplines. The thesis, therefore, has three elements that determine its scope. Firstly, advancing the place of the human person in health care theory and practice: hence, this thesis is an exercise in practical theology. Secondly, situating theology in a field of engagement with wider contemporary culture—especially the culture of health care—in a genuinely interdisciplinary manner. Thirdly, critiquing current theory and practice in health care, and reinvigorating the central meanings and values that inform and motivate health care. Conclusions: There are five substantial conclusions deriving from the research and argument of this thesis: Firstly, and the basis for other conclusions, the theology developed in the thesis argues that a relational model of the human person is indispensable to contemporary health care. Secondly, while relational personhood is not a panacea for all the dilemmas posed by modern health care, thinking about personhood in relational terms opens the possibility of a dialogical approach to ethical dilemmas in health care. Thirdly, relational personhood represents a fundamental shift in the discourse of health care and of theology. Fourthly, a focus on relationships inspires a priority for the vulnerable and gives rise to an ethic of responsibility. Fifthly, a practical theology of relational personhood can bring about a rapprochement between religious concerns and health care.As I note in the conclusion to the thesis: “These are not dramatic claims but they do have the capacity to transform both disciplines and to enable them to more adequately meet their own goals.”
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The Ethical Implications of Incorporating Managed Care into the Australian Health Care ContextMcCabe, Helen, res.cand@acu.edu.au January 2004 (has links)
AIMS Managed care is a market model of health care distribution, aspects of which are being incorporated into the Australian health care environment. Justifications for adopting managed care lie in purported claims to higher levels of efficiency and greater ‘consumer’ choice. The purpose of this research, then, is to determine the ethical implications of adapting this particular administrative model to Australia’s health care system. In general, it is intended to provide ethical guidance for health care administrators and policy-makers, health care practitioners, patients and the wider community. SCOPE Managed care emerges as a product of the contemporary, neo-liberal market with which it is inextricably linked. In order to understand the nature of this concept, then, this research necessarily includes a limited account of the nature of the market in which managed care is situated and disseminated. While a more detailed examination of the neo-liberal market is worthy of a thesis in itself, this project attends, less ambitiously, to two general concerns. Firstly, against a background of various histories of health care distribution, it assesses the market’s propensity for upholding the moral requirements of health care distributive decision-making. This aspect of the analysis is informed by a framework for health care morality the construction of which accompanies an inquiry into the moral nature of health care, including a deliberation about rights-claims to health care and the proper means of its distribution. Secondly, by way of offering a precautionary tale, it examines the organisational structures and regulations by which its expansionary ambitions are promoted and realised. CONCLUSIONS As a market solution to the problem of administering health care resources, the pursuit of cost-control, if not actual profit, becomes the primary objective of health care activity under managed care. Hence, the moral purposes of health care provision, as pursued within the therapeutic relationship and expressed through the social provision of health care, are displaced by the economic purposes of the ‘free’ market. Accordingly, the integrity of both health care practitioners and communities is corrupted. At the same time, it is demonstrated that the claims of managed care proponents to higher levels of efficiency are largely unfounded; indeed, under managed care, health care costs have continued to rise. At the same time, levels of access to health care have deteriorated. These adverse outcomes of managed care are borne, most particularly, by poorer members of communities. Further, contrary to the claims of its proponents, choice as to the availability and kinds of health care services is diminished. Moreover, the competitive market in which managed care is situated has given rise to a plethora of bankruptcies, mergers and alliances in the United States where the market is now characterised by oligopoly and monopoly providers. In this way, a viable market in health care is largely disproved. Nonetheless, when protected within a non-market context and subject to the requirements of justice, a limited number of managed care techniques can assist Australia’s efforts to conserve the resources of health care. However, any more robust adoption of this concept would be ethically indefensible.
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What cost hospital quality : performance uncertainty under market reform /Fisher, Ronald, January 2006 (has links)
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Commonwealth University, 2006. / Prepared for: Dept. of Health Administration. Bibliography: leaves 274-293.
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Barriers to Oral Health Care among People Living with HIV in Kwazulu Natal and the Western Cape.Turton, Mervyn Sydney. January 2008 (has links)
<p>HIV/AIDS is a major problem in South Africa with more than 25 percent of the adult population infected with HIV. Oral lesions and various opportunistic infections characterize the progression of HIV making it imperative for people living with HIV to have access to good quality oral care. There is a need to examine accessibility and use of dental services in South Africans living with HIV as very little research in this regard, has been undertaken. Aim: To investigate the barriers to oral health care for people living with HIV in the KZN and the WC. Research Design and Methodology: A cross-sectional study utilising a self-administered questionnaire and semi-structured interviews has been employed. Participants were people living with HIV older than 18 years attending HIV clinics located throughout Kwa-Zulu Natal and WC. Binary logistic regression was performed to determine the variables associated with not obtaining care.</p>
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Integrative Health Care: The Aritsts' Health Centre finds a Home at the Toronto Western HospitalSoklaridis, Sophia 01 August 2008 (has links)
This thesis examines an integrative health care (IHC) clinic set within a tertiary hospital located in large city in Canada. The enquiry began by exploring how biomedical and CAM practitioners, artists, hospital administrators, and the Artists’ Health Centre Foundation (AHCF) members interacted, communicated, and collaborated with one another for integrative patient/client care at the Artists’ Health Centre (AHC). Individual stakeholders’ knowledge and attitudes toward IHC are explored, to understand how these affected the everyday interactions among stakeholders. The thesis also examines the organizational structures of the hospital and the AHCF.
The use of qualitative research provided useful in-depth accounts of respondents’ experiences of IHC. Semi-structured focus groups with artists, health-care practitioners, hospital administrators, and AHCF members, and ten in-depth interviews with the health-care practitioners were conducted between June, 2006, and February, 2007. Steps were taken to ensure the trustworthiness of the collected data. Qualitative research software, NVIVO, was used to manage the data.
The findings suggest that despite a perceived lack of scientific evidence, attitudes towards IHC were positively influenced when biomedical practitioners had a personal experience with CAM therapies and when practitioners developed more confidence in their own work. There remained questions about the need for and presence of IHC at the AHC, as neither the hospital nor the AHCF worked in consultation with the practitioners and artists to develop a shared vision of IHC.
The majority of respondents described the level of communication as “sporadic” and one-sided and thus not optimal for creating a communicative environment. Most respondents perceived communication among the stakeholders as one-sided and thus not optimal for creating a communicative environment. There was a lack of understanding regarding scope of practice and how to integrate the various practitioners, particularly CAM. This led to a lack of referrals and had a direct effect on practitioners’ level of confidence. Mechanisms of communication were informal and there were no formalized structures in place to facilitate communication or integration with one another. Additionally, there was no systematic way of charting patient information at the AHC.
Respondents all agreed that IHC was an ideal to strive for and many noted how financial limitations impeded the evolution of integrative health care at AHC, truly forming a barrier to IHC. Strategies for sustainability and management of AHC funds included using a business model or an insurance model.
Important implications of this research include enhancing the current knowledge of teamwork, collaboration, and integration among practitioners in general, and biomedical and CAM practitioners in particular. This research used existing IHC models, interdisciplinary teamwork models, and educational and organizational theories for building a theoretical and conceptual framework of IHC at the AHC. Combining these models with organizational theory shed light on relationship dynamics among CAM and biomedical practitioners while taking into consideration the several structural and process dimensions of integration.
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The regional disparity of congenital anomalies in Saskatchewan and its impact on the utilization of health servicesMetcalfe, Amy Lynn 25 August 2007
Congenital anomalies (CAs) are the leading cause of infant mortality and one of the leading causes of death for young children in developed countries. As significant improvements have been seen world-wide in controlling childhood infectious disease and issues related to poor nutrition, CAs are now making a proportionally bigger impact on the health of the worlds children. In addition to the impact of CA status on the individual child and ones family, prevalence of CAs has a significant impact on the population, as children with birth defects can cost the system a great deal of money in the provision of specialized health and education services.<p>When conducting surveillance of five selected CAs between 1990 and 1999, Saskatchewan Health found significant regional differences in the prevalence of these CAs. The purpose of this study is to ascertain whether or not there is a regional difference in all types of CAs, to assess whether or not any regional disparities also exist in the use of health care services by children with and without CAs and to determine what factors influence childrens use of health care services in the study population.<p>This study follows a birth cohort of 17,414 children (9169 cases and 8245 controls) born between January 1, 1994 to December 31, 1998 until their 5th birthday, death or emigration out of Saskatchewan. Through graphical analysis, it was revealed that while an overall regional difference does not exist in the prevalence of CAs in Saskatchewan, there are regional differences in the prevalence of 13 of the 22 specific categories of conditions studied. One-way ANOVAs showed that children with CAs have higher numbers of physician visits (p<0.001) and hospitalizations (p<0.001), and longer lengths of stay in hospital (p<0.001) than children without CAs. Regional differences were found for all outcome variables for the total population, and for children with and without CAs. The outcome with the most substantial differences between children with and without CAs was length of stay, which may indicate differential access to outpatient services throughout the province. Finally, using Andersons theoretical framework of factors that influence the use of health care services (need characteristics, predisposing characteristics and enabling characteristics) three negative binomial models were built to examine childrens use of health care services using variables from each category. <p>This study found significant regional differences for all outcome measures studied, and found that region of residence was a significant predictor of childrens use of health care services even after accounting for a variety of other maternal and child factors.
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Integrative Health Care: The Aritsts' Health Centre finds a Home at the Toronto Western HospitalSoklaridis, Sophia 01 August 2008 (has links)
This thesis examines an integrative health care (IHC) clinic set within a tertiary hospital located in large city in Canada. The enquiry began by exploring how biomedical and CAM practitioners, artists, hospital administrators, and the Artists’ Health Centre Foundation (AHCF) members interacted, communicated, and collaborated with one another for integrative patient/client care at the Artists’ Health Centre (AHC). Individual stakeholders’ knowledge and attitudes toward IHC are explored, to understand how these affected the everyday interactions among stakeholders. The thesis also examines the organizational structures of the hospital and the AHCF.
The use of qualitative research provided useful in-depth accounts of respondents’ experiences of IHC. Semi-structured focus groups with artists, health-care practitioners, hospital administrators, and AHCF members, and ten in-depth interviews with the health-care practitioners were conducted between June, 2006, and February, 2007. Steps were taken to ensure the trustworthiness of the collected data. Qualitative research software, NVIVO, was used to manage the data.
The findings suggest that despite a perceived lack of scientific evidence, attitudes towards IHC were positively influenced when biomedical practitioners had a personal experience with CAM therapies and when practitioners developed more confidence in their own work. There remained questions about the need for and presence of IHC at the AHC, as neither the hospital nor the AHCF worked in consultation with the practitioners and artists to develop a shared vision of IHC.
The majority of respondents described the level of communication as “sporadic” and one-sided and thus not optimal for creating a communicative environment. Most respondents perceived communication among the stakeholders as one-sided and thus not optimal for creating a communicative environment. There was a lack of understanding regarding scope of practice and how to integrate the various practitioners, particularly CAM. This led to a lack of referrals and had a direct effect on practitioners’ level of confidence. Mechanisms of communication were informal and there were no formalized structures in place to facilitate communication or integration with one another. Additionally, there was no systematic way of charting patient information at the AHC.
Respondents all agreed that IHC was an ideal to strive for and many noted how financial limitations impeded the evolution of integrative health care at AHC, truly forming a barrier to IHC. Strategies for sustainability and management of AHC funds included using a business model or an insurance model.
Important implications of this research include enhancing the current knowledge of teamwork, collaboration, and integration among practitioners in general, and biomedical and CAM practitioners in particular. This research used existing IHC models, interdisciplinary teamwork models, and educational and organizational theories for building a theoretical and conceptual framework of IHC at the AHC. Combining these models with organizational theory shed light on relationship dynamics among CAM and biomedical practitioners while taking into consideration the several structural and process dimensions of integration.
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