Context/objectives: The fight against Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) is a long-term undertaking, which requires available, motivated and well-managed human resources (HR). The administrative management of sk...Context/objectives: The fight against Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) is a long-term undertaking, which requires available, motivated and well-managed human resources (HR). The administrative management of skills on both qualitative and quantitative levels is one of the essential functions of a health system. To better implement policies of fight against High Blood Pressure (HBP) and other chronic diseases, it is important to establish strategies to retain health personnel. This loyalty requires favorable working conditions and consideration of the contribution-reward couple. Good working conditions are likely to reduce the phenomenon of medical nomadism;conversely, poor HR management can contribute to their exodus towards exotic “green pastures”, thus leading to an additional crisis in the Cameroonian health system. The fight against HBP is a complex, multifaceted and multifactorial reality that requires appropriate management model for all types of resources mainly HR. The main objective of this research is to show the impact of poor management of human resources in Cameroon health system on medical nomadism and the ineffectiveness of the fight against High Blood Pressure. Method: A cross-sectional descriptive survey among five hundred (500) health facilities in the center region of Cameroon has been conducted. A stratified probabilistic technique has been used, and the number of health facilities to be surveyed has been determined using the “sample size estimation table” of Depelteau. The physical questionnaires have been printed and then distributed to data collectors. After data collection, the latter were grouped during processing in Excel sheets. The Chi-square test was used for data with a qualitative value and that of Kolmogorov-Sminorf for data with a quantitative value to assess the normality and reliability of data. The Crochach’s Alpha reliability test allowed us to have a summary of the means and variances and then to search for intragroup correlations between variables. Descriptive analysis was possible with the XLSTAT 2016 software. Results: 43.60% of Health Facilities (HF) managers were unqualified. 82.20% of HF managers have staff in a situation of professional insecurity. They are mainly contractual (49.00), decision-making agents (24.40%), casual agents (08.80). The proportion of unstable personnel is average of 22.00% and very unstable, 12.00%.展开更多
A three-year research project based in British Columbia, Canada, is attempting to develop a framework and tools to assist healthcare system decision-makers achieve “high performance” in resource allocation. In pursu...A three-year research project based in British Columbia, Canada, is attempting to develop a framework and tools to assist healthcare system decision-makers achieve “high performance” in resource allocation. In pursuit of this objective, a literature search was conducted and two phases of primary data collection are being undertaken: an online survey of senior healthcare decision-makers, and in-depth case studies of potential “high performing” organizations. This paper addresses the survey phase;our aim is to provide a practical example of the mechanics of survey design, of benefit to those who want to better understand our forthcoming results, but also as an aid to other researchers grappling with the hard choices and trade-offs involved in the survey development process. Survey content is described in light of the existing literature, with discussion of the choices made by the research team to decide what questions and items would be included and excluded. The target population for the survey was senior managers in Canadian regional health authorities (or the closest equivalent organizations) in each of the 10 provinces and 3 territories. The paper dis- cusses how this sample was obtained, and describes the survey implementation process.展开更多
The assessment of the fairness of health resource allocation is an important part of the study for the fairness of social development.The data used in most of the existing assessment methods comes from statistical yea...The assessment of the fairness of health resource allocation is an important part of the study for the fairness of social development.The data used in most of the existing assessment methods comes from statistical yearbooks or field survey sampling.These statistics are generally based on administrative areas and are difficult to support a fine-grained evaluation model.In response to these problems,the evaluation method proposed in this paper is based on the query statistics of the geographic grid of the target area,which are more accurate and efficient.Based on the query statistics of hot words in the geographic grids,this paper adopts the maximum likelihood estimation method to estimate the population in the grid region.Then,according to the statistical yearbook data of Hunan province,the estimated number and actual number of hospitals in each grid are analyzed and compared to measure the fairness of health resource allocation in the target region.Experiments show that the geographical grid population assessment based on hot words is more accurate and close to the actual value.The estimated average error is only about 17.8 percent.This method can assess the fairness of health resource allocation in any scale,and is innovative in data acquisition and evaluation methods.展开更多
Countless research studies have demonstrated the detrimental effects of incivility and bullying in healthcare.Despite the abundance of proposed solutions to this issue,many healthcare leaders continue to fail in mitig...Countless research studies have demonstrated the detrimental effects of incivility and bullying in healthcare.Despite the abundance of proposed solutions to this issue,many healthcare leaders continue to fail in mitigating the existence of such negative behaviors in the workplace.Personality attributes of perpetrators and victims have received attention,but much less research has examined the organizational and neoliberal causations of incivility and bullying in healthcare.Being the largest occupational group in the health sector,nursing professionals have the greatest influence and are crucial in ending these behaviors.This discussion paper outlines the effects of incivility and bullying in healthcare and provides a critical analysis on how organizational culture and neoliberal ideology influence the pervasiveness and persistence of these negative behaviors.The analysis reveals that organizational cultures that misuse power,disregard equality,and facilitate oppression,foster the existence of incivility and bullying in the workplace.Such cultures permit perpetrators to misuse their authority to control resource allocation,ignorance to social inequalities,and the silence of victims.Furthermore,the neoliberal concept of deregulation,austerity,and individualism further these behaviors.The neoliberal reforms have led to underfunding of anti-bullying programs and policies,use of bullying behaviours as management strategies,and victim-blaming for profit maximization.Financial cutbacks have resulted in denial and acceptance of uncivil and bullying behaviours in healthcare institutions,which endangers the rights of healthcare providers to a safe workplace environment.To curtail these negative behaviors,robust anti-bullying policies and programs must be strictly enforced and sustained in practice.Further exploration on the association of organizational culture and neoliberal principles to incivility and bullying in healthcare is greatly warranted.展开更多
Objective To discuss issues related to telemedicine in the context of the“Internet plus”and the prevention of novel coronavirus in early 2020,so as to provide some reference for the rapid development of Internet plu...Objective To discuss issues related to telemedicine in the context of the“Internet plus”and the prevention of novel coronavirus in early 2020,so as to provide some reference for the rapid development of Internet plus telemedicine.Methods Literature analysis method was used to summarize the current status of telemedicine at home and abroad.Descriptive statistical analysis and comparative analysis were also conducted to analyze the data of population and health in the“China Health Statistical Yearbook”and“China Statistical Yearbook”from 2009 to 2018.Results and Conclusion The distribution of medical demand and medical resources is uneven in 31 provinces,municipalities and autonomous regions,such problems are more serious between urban and rural areas in different regions.The population’s demand for medical care and the allocation of medical resources have the characteristics of positive correlation,large urban-rural differences and regional imbalance.Confronted with the situation that the uneven distribution of medical resources provides potential development opportunities for telemedicine and the difficulties in the further development of telemedicine,the government should formulate policies to improve the publicity of telemedicine,setting up a full coverage of telemedicine service system.Besides,hospitals should ensure the information security monitoring.展开更多
A mobile medical information system (MMIS) is an integrated application (app) of traditional hospital information systems (HIS) which comprise a picture archiving and communications system (PACS), laboratory informati...A mobile medical information system (MMIS) is an integrated application (app) of traditional hospital information systems (HIS) which comprise a picture archiving and communications system (PACS), laboratory information system (LIS), pharmaceutical management information system (PMIS), radiology information system (RIS), and nursing information system (NIS). A dynamic resource allocation table is critical for optimizing the performance to the mobile system, including the doctors, nurses, or other relevant health workers. We have designed a smart dynamic resource allocation model by using the C4.5 algorithm and cumulative distribution for optimizing the weight of resource allocated for the five major attributes in a cooperation communications system. Weka is used in this study. The class of concept is the performance of the app, optimal or suboptimal. Three generations of optimization of the weight in accordance with the optimizing rate are shown.展开更多
Objectives: To evaluate the impact of external-care-seeking, explore the framework to regulate patients’ seeking doctor behavior and to promote better medical resources allocation. Methods: Obtaining data from regula...Objectives: To evaluate the impact of external-care-seeking, explore the framework to regulate patients’ seeking doctor behavior and to promote better medical resources allocation. Methods: Obtaining data from regular reports from public medical institutions in Shanghai, comparing patients who seek doctors from out-of-Shanghai residence and local patients with insurance in terms of the quantity of service, types of diseases, medical expenses, etc. Results: External-care-seeking has a large quantity, especially in hospitalization. In 2012, the number of discharged population from out-of-Shanghai accounted for 22.74% of the total discharged number, the proportion even higher than 30% in tertiary hospitals. Tertiary hospitals have a significant attraction effect, concentrating 59.42% of the outpatient and emergency visits and 71.82% of the amount of hospitalization, with corresponding cost of 75.86% and 82.56%. The top three divisions in tertiary hospitals for external-care-seeking were surgical, obstetrics and gynecology, internal medicine. Based on the interview, admitting out-of-shanghai patients is conducive to the improvement of the technical level of hospitals, and to the enhancement of the utilization efficiency of health resource. However, the local residents may have less accessibility of high quality of medical service. The average expense of external-care-seeking is higher than that of local patients happened in the same level of hospitals. Conclusions: External-care-seeking will have a more far-reaching impact on the health care system in Shanghai;some interventions might be necessary, such as rationally allocating medical resources based on the estimates of external-care-seeking and establishing a medical service supervision mechanism.展开更多
Background: The north-east (NE) region of Sri Lanka observed a critical health workers’ shortage after the long-lasting armed conflict. This study aimed to explore medical students’ attitudes towards working in the ...Background: The north-east (NE) region of Sri Lanka observed a critical health workers’ shortage after the long-lasting armed conflict. This study aimed to explore medical students’ attitudes towards working in the NE and to identify factors determining such attitudes. Methods: A semi-structured, self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted in two medical schools, one in the NE and the other near the capital, in October 2004. Data were qualitatively analysed using the framework approach. Results: Three main themes were identified: 1) Professional motives and career plans;2) Students’ perceptions of the healthcare situation in the NE;and 3) Students’ choice of the NE as a future practice location. It was found that familiarity with the difficulties faced by the NE people was a major motivation for medical students to work in the NE in the future. For NE students, familiarity was linked to their sense of belonging. For non-NE students, their personal experience of the NE familiarized them with the difficult situation there, which positively influenced their willingness to work there. Demotivations to work in the NE were poor working and living conditions, fewer opportunities for postgraduate education, language differences, insecurity, and fear of an unpleasant social response from the NE communities. Conclusions: NE local medical students had a sense of belonging to the NE and compassion for the Tamil people as members of the ethnic group. They were willing to work in the NE if their concerns about difficult working and living conditions and postgraduate education could be solved. Non-NE students who were familiar with the NE situation through their personal experience also showed a willingness to work there;thus, early exposure programmes in medical education might help to increase the health workforce in the NE. It is also expected that non-NE physicians working for the NE people would facilitate reconciliation and the rebuilding of trust between two ethnic groups.展开更多
Victims are usually overwhelmed by local medical system in an unexpected mass casualty incident (MCI). Triage systems originate from wartime necessity to achieve the greatest efficiency to the maximum number of victim...Victims are usually overwhelmed by local medical system in an unexpected mass casualty incident (MCI). Triage systems originate from wartime necessity to achieve the greatest efficiency to the maximum number of victims. In peacetime, the triage systems are applied to allocate constrained medical resources for the victims in MCI. There are several kinds of triage systems in different countries, such as Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment (START), Sort, Assess, Life-saving interventions, Treatment and/or Transport (SALT), Sacco Triage Method (STM), Careflight triage and Triage Sieve (TS). The START system is widely used in developed countries, especially in USA. The SALT is formulated by a work group of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) based on scientific data. STM is a triage algorithm designed for resource-constrained condition. Besides, the other triage systems show their power in managing the victims in MCI. However, the data of theses popular triage tools are mainly based on simulated tests, lacking of validity and reliability of triage systems. Therefore, the application, reliability, sensitivity and specificity of existing triage tools require to be validated in the real condition of MCI. Furthermore, due to the difference among triage tools used in different countries, international cooperation is demanded for a more highly organized mass-casualty medical response.展开更多
Background: Treatment is an important component of a comprehensive cancer control approach and its outcomes strongly depend on infrastructure, equipment, human and financial resources available. Therefore it is impera...Background: Treatment is an important component of a comprehensive cancer control approach and its outcomes strongly depend on infrastructure, equipment, human and financial resources available. Therefore it is imperative to generate evidence-based tools to assist health policy makers from low resourced countries in planning efficient and equitable treatment services for a defined population based on what it is feasible to these settings. Methods: The intended cancer spe-cific treatment planned and written in the patients’ medical record (treatment prescription) of untreated adult cancer cases (≥18 years of age), excluding non-melanoma skin cancer, was recorded in a chronological way from 1 January 2012 onwards in a group of eight comprehensive cancer centres located in middle income countries and offering the main modalities of cancer treatment (surgery, medical oncology and radiotherapy). Results: A total of 17,713 medical records were reviewed, of which 7106 (54.2%) met the eligibility criteria. Prescription of main cancer treatment modalities were distributed as follows: 57.6% for chemotherapy (n = 4093), 56.8% for surgery (n = 4038), and 46.8% for radiotherapy (n = 3327). There was a predominance of plans consisting of combined treatment modalities over monotherapy (55.2% versus 44.8%). At the time of diagnosis 54.3% of the cancer cases had disease that had spread beyond the primary site, 41.2% were considered as having local disease and in 4.5% of the cases the information on disease extension was unknown. Conclusions: The results obtained should be seen as an approximation of cancer treatment service demand based on what it is currently practiced and therefore feasible in developing countries, particularly in middle income countries.展开更多
文摘Context/objectives: The fight against Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) is a long-term undertaking, which requires available, motivated and well-managed human resources (HR). The administrative management of skills on both qualitative and quantitative levels is one of the essential functions of a health system. To better implement policies of fight against High Blood Pressure (HBP) and other chronic diseases, it is important to establish strategies to retain health personnel. This loyalty requires favorable working conditions and consideration of the contribution-reward couple. Good working conditions are likely to reduce the phenomenon of medical nomadism;conversely, poor HR management can contribute to their exodus towards exotic “green pastures”, thus leading to an additional crisis in the Cameroonian health system. The fight against HBP is a complex, multifaceted and multifactorial reality that requires appropriate management model for all types of resources mainly HR. The main objective of this research is to show the impact of poor management of human resources in Cameroon health system on medical nomadism and the ineffectiveness of the fight against High Blood Pressure. Method: A cross-sectional descriptive survey among five hundred (500) health facilities in the center region of Cameroon has been conducted. A stratified probabilistic technique has been used, and the number of health facilities to be surveyed has been determined using the “sample size estimation table” of Depelteau. The physical questionnaires have been printed and then distributed to data collectors. After data collection, the latter were grouped during processing in Excel sheets. The Chi-square test was used for data with a qualitative value and that of Kolmogorov-Sminorf for data with a quantitative value to assess the normality and reliability of data. The Crochach’s Alpha reliability test allowed us to have a summary of the means and variances and then to search for intragroup correlations between variables. Descriptive analysis was possible with the XLSTAT 2016 software. Results: 43.60% of Health Facilities (HF) managers were unqualified. 82.20% of HF managers have staff in a situation of professional insecurity. They are mainly contractual (49.00), decision-making agents (24.40%), casual agents (08.80). The proportion of unstable personnel is average of 22.00% and very unstable, 12.00%.
文摘A three-year research project based in British Columbia, Canada, is attempting to develop a framework and tools to assist healthcare system decision-makers achieve “high performance” in resource allocation. In pursuit of this objective, a literature search was conducted and two phases of primary data collection are being undertaken: an online survey of senior healthcare decision-makers, and in-depth case studies of potential “high performing” organizations. This paper addresses the survey phase;our aim is to provide a practical example of the mechanics of survey design, of benefit to those who want to better understand our forthcoming results, but also as an aid to other researchers grappling with the hard choices and trade-offs involved in the survey development process. Survey content is described in light of the existing literature, with discussion of the choices made by the research team to decide what questions and items would be included and excluded. The target population for the survey was senior managers in Canadian regional health authorities (or the closest equivalent organizations) in each of the 10 provinces and 3 territories. The paper dis- cusses how this sample was obtained, and describes the survey implementation process.
文摘The assessment of the fairness of health resource allocation is an important part of the study for the fairness of social development.The data used in most of the existing assessment methods comes from statistical yearbooks or field survey sampling.These statistics are generally based on administrative areas and are difficult to support a fine-grained evaluation model.In response to these problems,the evaluation method proposed in this paper is based on the query statistics of the geographic grid of the target area,which are more accurate and efficient.Based on the query statistics of hot words in the geographic grids,this paper adopts the maximum likelihood estimation method to estimate the population in the grid region.Then,according to the statistical yearbook data of Hunan province,the estimated number and actual number of hospitals in each grid are analyzed and compared to measure the fairness of health resource allocation in the target region.Experiments show that the geographical grid population assessment based on hot words is more accurate and close to the actual value.The estimated average error is only about 17.8 percent.This method can assess the fairness of health resource allocation in any scale,and is innovative in data acquisition and evaluation methods.
文摘Countless research studies have demonstrated the detrimental effects of incivility and bullying in healthcare.Despite the abundance of proposed solutions to this issue,many healthcare leaders continue to fail in mitigating the existence of such negative behaviors in the workplace.Personality attributes of perpetrators and victims have received attention,but much less research has examined the organizational and neoliberal causations of incivility and bullying in healthcare.Being the largest occupational group in the health sector,nursing professionals have the greatest influence and are crucial in ending these behaviors.This discussion paper outlines the effects of incivility and bullying in healthcare and provides a critical analysis on how organizational culture and neoliberal ideology influence the pervasiveness and persistence of these negative behaviors.The analysis reveals that organizational cultures that misuse power,disregard equality,and facilitate oppression,foster the existence of incivility and bullying in the workplace.Such cultures permit perpetrators to misuse their authority to control resource allocation,ignorance to social inequalities,and the silence of victims.Furthermore,the neoliberal concept of deregulation,austerity,and individualism further these behaviors.The neoliberal reforms have led to underfunding of anti-bullying programs and policies,use of bullying behaviours as management strategies,and victim-blaming for profit maximization.Financial cutbacks have resulted in denial and acceptance of uncivil and bullying behaviours in healthcare institutions,which endangers the rights of healthcare providers to a safe workplace environment.To curtail these negative behaviors,robust anti-bullying policies and programs must be strictly enforced and sustained in practice.Further exploration on the association of organizational culture and neoliberal principles to incivility and bullying in healthcare is greatly warranted.
基金Source of the project:the Social Science Planning Fund of Liaoning Province(L19BGL034).
文摘Objective To discuss issues related to telemedicine in the context of the“Internet plus”and the prevention of novel coronavirus in early 2020,so as to provide some reference for the rapid development of Internet plus telemedicine.Methods Literature analysis method was used to summarize the current status of telemedicine at home and abroad.Descriptive statistical analysis and comparative analysis were also conducted to analyze the data of population and health in the“China Health Statistical Yearbook”and“China Statistical Yearbook”from 2009 to 2018.Results and Conclusion The distribution of medical demand and medical resources is uneven in 31 provinces,municipalities and autonomous regions,such problems are more serious between urban and rural areas in different regions.The population’s demand for medical care and the allocation of medical resources have the characteristics of positive correlation,large urban-rural differences and regional imbalance.Confronted with the situation that the uneven distribution of medical resources provides potential development opportunities for telemedicine and the difficulties in the further development of telemedicine,the government should formulate policies to improve the publicity of telemedicine,setting up a full coverage of telemedicine service system.Besides,hospitals should ensure the information security monitoring.
文摘A mobile medical information system (MMIS) is an integrated application (app) of traditional hospital information systems (HIS) which comprise a picture archiving and communications system (PACS), laboratory information system (LIS), pharmaceutical management information system (PMIS), radiology information system (RIS), and nursing information system (NIS). A dynamic resource allocation table is critical for optimizing the performance to the mobile system, including the doctors, nurses, or other relevant health workers. We have designed a smart dynamic resource allocation model by using the C4.5 algorithm and cumulative distribution for optimizing the weight of resource allocated for the five major attributes in a cooperation communications system. Weka is used in this study. The class of concept is the performance of the app, optimal or suboptimal. Three generations of optimization of the weight in accordance with the optimizing rate are shown.
文摘Objectives: To evaluate the impact of external-care-seeking, explore the framework to regulate patients’ seeking doctor behavior and to promote better medical resources allocation. Methods: Obtaining data from regular reports from public medical institutions in Shanghai, comparing patients who seek doctors from out-of-Shanghai residence and local patients with insurance in terms of the quantity of service, types of diseases, medical expenses, etc. Results: External-care-seeking has a large quantity, especially in hospitalization. In 2012, the number of discharged population from out-of-Shanghai accounted for 22.74% of the total discharged number, the proportion even higher than 30% in tertiary hospitals. Tertiary hospitals have a significant attraction effect, concentrating 59.42% of the outpatient and emergency visits and 71.82% of the amount of hospitalization, with corresponding cost of 75.86% and 82.56%. The top three divisions in tertiary hospitals for external-care-seeking were surgical, obstetrics and gynecology, internal medicine. Based on the interview, admitting out-of-shanghai patients is conducive to the improvement of the technical level of hospitals, and to the enhancement of the utilization efficiency of health resource. However, the local residents may have less accessibility of high quality of medical service. The average expense of external-care-seeking is higher than that of local patients happened in the same level of hospitals. Conclusions: External-care-seeking will have a more far-reaching impact on the health care system in Shanghai;some interventions might be necessary, such as rationally allocating medical resources based on the estimates of external-care-seeking and establishing a medical service supervision mechanism.
文摘Background: The north-east (NE) region of Sri Lanka observed a critical health workers’ shortage after the long-lasting armed conflict. This study aimed to explore medical students’ attitudes towards working in the NE and to identify factors determining such attitudes. Methods: A semi-structured, self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted in two medical schools, one in the NE and the other near the capital, in October 2004. Data were qualitatively analysed using the framework approach. Results: Three main themes were identified: 1) Professional motives and career plans;2) Students’ perceptions of the healthcare situation in the NE;and 3) Students’ choice of the NE as a future practice location. It was found that familiarity with the difficulties faced by the NE people was a major motivation for medical students to work in the NE in the future. For NE students, familiarity was linked to their sense of belonging. For non-NE students, their personal experience of the NE familiarized them with the difficult situation there, which positively influenced their willingness to work there. Demotivations to work in the NE were poor working and living conditions, fewer opportunities for postgraduate education, language differences, insecurity, and fear of an unpleasant social response from the NE communities. Conclusions: NE local medical students had a sense of belonging to the NE and compassion for the Tamil people as members of the ethnic group. They were willing to work in the NE if their concerns about difficult working and living conditions and postgraduate education could be solved. Non-NE students who were familiar with the NE situation through their personal experience also showed a willingness to work there;thus, early exposure programmes in medical education might help to increase the health workforce in the NE. It is also expected that non-NE physicians working for the NE people would facilitate reconciliation and the rebuilding of trust between two ethnic groups.
文摘Victims are usually overwhelmed by local medical system in an unexpected mass casualty incident (MCI). Triage systems originate from wartime necessity to achieve the greatest efficiency to the maximum number of victims. In peacetime, the triage systems are applied to allocate constrained medical resources for the victims in MCI. There are several kinds of triage systems in different countries, such as Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment (START), Sort, Assess, Life-saving interventions, Treatment and/or Transport (SALT), Sacco Triage Method (STM), Careflight triage and Triage Sieve (TS). The START system is widely used in developed countries, especially in USA. The SALT is formulated by a work group of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) based on scientific data. STM is a triage algorithm designed for resource-constrained condition. Besides, the other triage systems show their power in managing the victims in MCI. However, the data of theses popular triage tools are mainly based on simulated tests, lacking of validity and reliability of triage systems. Therefore, the application, reliability, sensitivity and specificity of existing triage tools require to be validated in the real condition of MCI. Furthermore, due to the difference among triage tools used in different countries, international cooperation is demanded for a more highly organized mass-casualty medical response.
文摘Background: Treatment is an important component of a comprehensive cancer control approach and its outcomes strongly depend on infrastructure, equipment, human and financial resources available. Therefore it is imperative to generate evidence-based tools to assist health policy makers from low resourced countries in planning efficient and equitable treatment services for a defined population based on what it is feasible to these settings. Methods: The intended cancer spe-cific treatment planned and written in the patients’ medical record (treatment prescription) of untreated adult cancer cases (≥18 years of age), excluding non-melanoma skin cancer, was recorded in a chronological way from 1 January 2012 onwards in a group of eight comprehensive cancer centres located in middle income countries and offering the main modalities of cancer treatment (surgery, medical oncology and radiotherapy). Results: A total of 17,713 medical records were reviewed, of which 7106 (54.2%) met the eligibility criteria. Prescription of main cancer treatment modalities were distributed as follows: 57.6% for chemotherapy (n = 4093), 56.8% for surgery (n = 4038), and 46.8% for radiotherapy (n = 3327). There was a predominance of plans consisting of combined treatment modalities over monotherapy (55.2% versus 44.8%). At the time of diagnosis 54.3% of the cancer cases had disease that had spread beyond the primary site, 41.2% were considered as having local disease and in 4.5% of the cases the information on disease extension was unknown. Conclusions: The results obtained should be seen as an approximation of cancer treatment service demand based on what it is currently practiced and therefore feasible in developing countries, particularly in middle income countries.