Stress and quality of life in dermatological patients: Are out-patients' needs different?

The debut, progression and maintenance of skin disease are related to stress(acne, alopecia areata, atopic dermatitis, lichen planus, psoriasis, urticaria, vitiligo, herpes, hyperhidrosis, pemphigus, rosacea or seborrheic dermatitis). Environmental, socio-professional, life events are representing external factors. Personality, previous experiences, traits of anxiety are individual factors influencing the state of stress. Perceived stress could be more harmful especially in "high reactors" to stress. Coping abilities to stress could be increased in social programs. There was a recent interest in measuring the quality of life in the last years. There are dermatology and disease specific questionnaires that could help. Out-patients have less time to wait for very sophisticated procedures. They expect faster results. For simple, acute diseases it is important to have a good communication and good understanding of the instructions to get results as soon as possible. For chronic diseases a strong long-term alliance is needed, so the patients should revisit for his benefit and not for giving up. Small questions regarding potential stressful events, impact on the quality of life, stigmatization, the level of symptoms(pruritus), psychiatric comorbidities(anxiety, depression), short questionnaires for quality of life give us a better picture, personalize the doctorpatient relationship and could influence the choice of treatment. Many skin disorders could be seen from a psychosomatic point of view and the final goal, especially for the chronic diseases, is to improve through our treatments the impact on the quality of patient's life.

The Economics of Reorganizing Otolaryngology Out-Patient Services for COVID-19 Pandemic in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

The Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has widespread implications for clinical practice of otolaryngologists in clinics and hospitals. With various reports of otolaryngology practitioners catching infection, a profound structural reorganization of ENT services in the clinic is mandatory for protecting both patients and healthcare workers. The present study focused on quantifying the cost involved in reorganizing the otolaryngology out-patient services in a third world country during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Though the pandemic has increased the cost of running of an otolaryngology practice world over, the impact is huge in India as penetration of health insurance/social security is minimal. As out of pocket expenditure forms a significant proportion of healthcare spending by majority in India, any transfer of additional cost incurred because of Covid-19 pandemic to the patient will burn a bigger hole in their pocket.

Knowledge and Attitude towards Cervical Cancer Screening among Females Attending out Patient Department in Health Centre IIIs in Oyam District

Cervical cancer is a serious health concern in Uganda. Early screening and detection certainly improves chances of survival and treatment outcome. Sound knowledge and positive attitudes highly influence acceptability and uptake of screening methods. This descriptive cross-sectional study determines knowledge and attitudes towards Cervical Cancer screening amongst female out-patients aged 15 - 49 years, attending Health Centre IIIs in Oyam District, Northern Uganda. A systematically obtained sample of 445 respondents was interviewed using semi-structured questionnaires and focused group discussions. Quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS 16.0. Directed content analysis of themes of transcribed qualitative data was conducted manually. Of the 445 respondents, only 62.7% (n = 279) had heard of cervical cancer amongst which only 35.1% (n = 85) had been screened;13.7% (n = 34) did not know what screening was;3.7% (n = 9) were not sure and 5.8% (n = 14) knew it as removal of the cervix. Only 39.1% (n = 174) believed that cervical cancer can be prevented. There is still limited knowledge and lots of misconceptions about cervical cancer screening in the communities, which requires massive sensitization of the population at risk to change negative attitudes and maximize acceptability to screening methods.

High Blood Pressure in External Consultation in Cardiology of Kati

Objective: To study hypertension and its manifestations in?Out-patients’ Department of Cardiology of Kati. Methods: The study was traversal and it was based on a sample of 300 patients, reached during the interval of 12 (twelve) months (from June 2012 to June 2013). Results: The predominance was among the females with 68.7%. The average age was about?55.8 ± 12.2 years old. The extreme ages were?about 21 and 90 years?old. In the set,?66% of the patients lived in the town of Kati.?The symptoms of Dieulafoy were predominantly the reasons for consultation with 55.7%. The cardiac frequency in the vast majority of cases was normal (85.3%). The left ventricular hypertrophy in the electrocardiogram was observed in more than half of the cases,?that is to say,?51.3%. In a bit higher proportion,?the echocardiography Doppler became normal,?that is to say,?54%. Brain scanner done on 9 patients found out signs of cerebrovascular stroke in 8 patients,?that is to say,?a frequency of 88.9%. In 76% of cases?of orthostatic hypotension,?the patients were hypertensive.?The blood pressure was normal during the passage of orthostatism in the cases of 258 of our patients,?that is to say,?86.0% of the cases. However, the orthostatic hypotension (OH) was observed in the cases of 42 patients, that is to say,?14.0% of the cases. In this set of patients,?41.6% of the moans were due to cephalgias and dizziness’s. The monotherapy of patients with OH represented 47.6% of the cases. Blood pressure was not controlled in 66.7% of the?cases of?OH. The biological examinations required were normal in 52.4% of the cases. Conclusion: The hypertension is a disease which is frequently the reason for consultation in cardiology. The symptoms of Dieulafoy can be the signs of call. The complications are sometimes recurrent. The orthostatic hypotension should be found out even under monotherapy on a balanced or non-balanced hypertensive patient through treatment.

Pattern of Dermatophytes Isolated in the Medical Microbiology Laboratory of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Rivers State, Nigeria

Dermatophytoses are the most common dermatological conditions but they are however not life threatening or debilitating hence medical care is sought usually due to aesthetic reasons and chronicity of the lesions despite several self-medications. The purpose of this study was to determine the distribution pattern of dermatophytes isolated in the medical microbiology laboratory of University of Port Harcourt teaching hospital (UPTH). This is a 5-year desk review of the Dermatophytes isolated in the medical microbiology laboratory of UPTH. Relevant Patients’ data were retrieved and analyzed. A total of seventy (70) dermatophytes were isolated over the five-year period as follows: Trichophyton species accounted for 55 (79%), Epidermophyton species were 8 (11%) and Microsporum species 7 (10%). The peak age range of patients from which dermatophytes were isolated was 31 - 40 years with a male to female ratio of 1:1.7. The majority of patients being 49 (70%) were referred from the dermatology outpatient clinic (DOPC) and the most frequent clinical diagnosis was Tinea corporis. Trichophyton species were the commonest cause of dermatophytoses in adult patients in Port Harcourt where the most common clinical presentation was Tinea corporis.

Predictors of hypoglycemia in insulin-treated patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in Basrah

AIM To measure the incidence and determinants(predictors) of hypoglycemia among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM) who were on insulin treatment for at least one year. METHODS The present study is an out-patients based inquiry about the risk and predictors of hypoglycemia among patients with T2DM seeking care at the Al-Faiha Specialized Diabetes, Endocrine, and Metabolism Center, in Basrah over a period of 7 mo(from 15^(th) of April, 2013 to 15^(th) of October, 2013). The data used in the study were based on all detailed interview and selected laboratory investigations. A total of 336 patients could be included in the study.RESULTS The incidence of overall hypoglycemia among the studied patients was 75.3% within the last 3 mo preceding the interview. The incidence of hypoglycemia subtypes were 10.2% for severe hypoglycemia requiring medical assistance in the hospital, 44.36% for severe hypoglycemia treated at home by family; this includes both confirmed severe hypoglycemia with an incidence rate of 14.6% and unconfirmed severe hypoglycemia for which incidence rate was 29.76%. Regarding mild self-treated hypoglycemia, the incidence of confirmed mild hypoglycemia was 21.42%, for unconfirmed mildhypoglycemia the incidence rate was 50.0% and for total mild hypoglycemia, the incidence rate was 71.42%. The most important predictors of hypoglycemia were a peripheral residence, increasing knowledge of hypoglycemia symptoms, in availability and increasing frequency of self-monitoring blood glucose, the presence of peripheral neuropathy, higher diastolic blood pressure, and lower Hemoglobin A1c.CONCLUSION Hypoglycemia is very common among insulin-treated patients with T2DM in Basrah. It was possible to identify some important predictors of hypoglycemia.

Infection Prevention Strategies in Cardiac Rehabilitation [1]—A Behavioral Intervention for Patients [2]

Background: Healthcare Acquired Infections (HAI) result in over 100 thousand deaths each year with one third of these deaths preventable via behaviors such as hand washing among health care providers in inpatient settings. Less research has been conducted in outpatient exercise settings such as cardiac rehabilitation (CR) among patients. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of HAI prevention strategies in a CR setting among patients. Methods: Observations of the frequency of hand washing among CR patients pre and post four HAI strategies including provision of HAI education and signs, hand washing demonstrations, a HAI prevention video, and hand sanitizer samples. Washing hands prior to CR (WI) was observed as well as washing hands prior to leaving the CR center (WO). Methods included recording the frequency of WI and WO among all patients at baseline and after each of the four interventions. Mean frequencies of WI and WO were compared among a mean of 22 - 43 CR patient visits over 12 weeks using descriptive statistics and t-tests to determine if changes were significant pre and post intervention strategies. Results: At baseline, no patients WI or WO during an outpatient CR visit. Post interventions 1 - 4, the percentage of patients WI and WO was 33 and 34, 32 and 26, 32 and 29, 33 and 22 respectively. At a one-year follow up, the percentage of patients WI and WO was 40%. Conclusion: Increases in frequency and the percentage of WI and WO were observed among patients meriting continued examination of HAI prevention strategies among patients in outpatient exercise settings such as CR.

Reducing Paediatric Outpatient Waitlists—A Proposed Allied Health Multidisciplinary Approach

Extremely long Australian paediatric outpatient waiting lists have resulted in large numbers of children waiting to see a paediatrician. Analyses of the patient referrals suggest that a large proportion of children may benefit from allied health input, in addition to being seen by the paediatrician. This paper provides an organisational strategy that involves streamlining Allied Health clinical services in an effort to assist with bringing down a Paediatric Out-patient waitlist. The paper describes principles to guide the formation of a Paediatric Allied Health Multi-Disciplinary team that proposes assessment and brief interventions. The service would focus on supporting the paediatricians through the use of structured procedures, telephone intakes, multidisciplinary triage, shared and standardised assessments, collaborative formulations and reports, brief interventions, clinical-community linkages, and allied health student support. A variety of additional important organisational principles are proposed to facilitate patient flow from the perspective of streamlining administrative processes, having adequate administrative support, shared responsibilities, teamwork, flexibility, carrying out intake assessments, determining which referrals were appropriate for allied health, and working closely with medical staff.

Trip and mode choice decisions to out-patient health care facilities:A longitudinal analysis

This paper analyzes the impact of health indicators on an individual's trip and mode choices to out-patient care facilities.The study's focus is an out-patient trip to a health care facility,and the source of data is the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study(CHARLS)for 2011.2013 and 2015.Based on a random utility framework,the study finds that making a rip to ureat an ilness or for a check-up increases the likelihood of an out-patient trip by 52 and 31 probability points,respectively.Out-patient visits for which in-surance is not relevant,When the individual pays most of the out:of-pocket costs and when the facility is a public facility are also important factors.Diagnosed and other per-sonal health factors have some but much more modest effects on one's trip choice.The analysis also identifies differential modal impacts of health indicators.A series of robustness tests generally confirm the results and identify areas for further research.Including a no-trip option,the biannual sunvey and infrequent out-patient trip-making mitigate endogeneity concerns.The analysis has broad health policy and transportation implications for an ageing population whose share is increasing.