Articles

Healthcare establishments as owner-operators of digital billboards: making the most of excellent roadside visibility and high traffic counts to better connect with patients

Given the importance of communicating effectively with current and prospective patients, healthcare institutions must direct considerable energies toward achieving associated excellence. Pursuits usually cente...

Authors: James K. Elrod and John L. Fortenberry Jr.

Economic evaluations in community aged care: a systematic review

This paper reports the methods and findings from a systematic review of economic evaluations conducted in the community aged care sector between 2000 and 2016.

Authors: Norma B. Bulamu, Billingsley Kaambwa and Julie Ratcliffe

Using the behavior change wheel to identify barriers to and potential solutions for primary care clinical guideline use in four provinces in South Africa

Clinical practice guidelines risk having little impact on healthcare if not effectively implemented. Theory informed, targeted implementation may maximise their impact. Our study explored barriers to and facil...

Authors: Tamara Kredo, Sara Cooper, Amber Abrams, Jocelyn Muller, Jimmy Volmink and Salla Atkins

Qualitative study exploring the phenomenon of multiple electronic prescribing systems within single hospital organisations

A previous census of electronic prescribing (EP) systems in England showed that more than half of hospitals with EP reported more than one EP system within the same hospital. Our objectives were to describe th...

Authors: Zamzam Ahmed, Yogini Jani and Bryony Dean Franklin

EMPATHIC-N in a Greek-Cypriot sample: confirming its factorial structure

Family-centered care has been receiving increased attention during the last decades and health professionals recognize family satisfaction with care as an important health indicator. The Empowerment of Parents...

Authors: Elena Papamichael, Myria Ioannou and Michael A. Talias

The prevalence and clinical seriousness of medication discrepancies identified upon hospital admission of pediatric patients

Medication discrepancies are seen frequently in hospital setting upon admission or discharge. Medication Reconciliation service is a practice designed to ensure that patients’ medications are ordered in a corr...

Authors: Rana Abu Farha, Khawla Abu Hammour, Sayida Al-Jamei, Raja AlQudah and Mohammed Zawiah

Establishing Good Samaritan programs in healthcare institutions: a method for enhancing patient experiences and increasing loyalty

Healthcare institutions deliver essential services that practically everyone needs at least periodically over the course of their lives. Hospital admissions, in particular, place patients in circumstances very...

Authors: James K. Elrod and John L. Fortenberry Jr.

Driving brand equity in health services organizations: the need for an expanded view of branding

Branding—the assignment of names, logos, slogans, and related elements of identity to institutions and their product offerings for the purpose of conveying desired images to target audiences—is of paramount im...

Authors: James K. Elrod and John L. Fortenberry Jr.

Formulating productive marketing communications strategy: a major health system’s experience

Healthcare establishments serve as key community resources, bringing into locales a wealth of resources aimed at enhancing and improving health and wellness. Without effective communications, current and prosp...

Authors: James K. Elrod and John L. Fortenberry Jr.

Target marketing in the health services industry: the value of journeying off the beaten path

Target marketing, a practice used to more effectively address the wants and needs of customers, involves three interrelated activities: market segmentation, targeting, and product positioning. The practice fol...

Authors: James K. Elrod and John L. Fortenberry Jr.

Am I seeing things through the eyes of patients? An exercise in bolstering patient attentiveness and empathy

Modern marketing thought heavily emphasizes the need for healthcare providers to possess a customer orientation, placing patients at the focal point of attention within health and medical establishments. This ...

Authors: James K. Elrod and John L. Fortenberry Jr.

Catalyzing marketing innovation and competitive advantage in the healthcare industry: the value of thinking like an outsider

Marketing arguably is the most critical administrative responsibility associated with the pursuit and realization of growth and prosperity, making prowess in the discipline essential for any healthcare institu...

Authors: James K. Elrod and John L. Fortenberry Jr.

Engaging patients, enhancing patient experiences: insights, innovations, and applications

Authors: Stephen J. O’Connor and Katherine A. Meese

Identifying MSM-competent physicians in China: a national online cross-sectional survey among physicians who see male HIV/STI patients

Men who have sex with men (MSM) are at high risk of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and sexually transmitted infection (STI) in China. Inadequate clinical services and poor clinical competency amo...

Authors: Peipei Zhao, Bolin Cao, Cedric H. Bien-Gund, Weiming Tang, Jason J. Ong, Yi Ding, Weiying Chen, Joseph D. Tucker and Zhenzhou Luo

Indigenous land management as primary health care: qualitative analysis from the Interplay research project in remote Australia

For Indigenous Australians, health transcends the absence of disease, and includes the health and wellbeing of their community and Country: their whole physical, cultural and spiritual environment. Stronger re...

Authors: Rosalie Schultz, Tammy Abbott, Jessica Yamaguchi and Sheree Cairney

Detecting the priority areas for health workforce allocation with LISA functions: an empirical analysis for China

Health workforce misdistribution leads to severe inequity and low-efficiency in health services in the developing countries. Targeting at China, this research aims to reveal, visualize and compare the geograph...

Authors: Bin Zhu, Yang Fu, Jinlin Liu, Rongxin He, Ning Zhang and Ying Mao

Nursing home leaders’ and nurses’ experiences of resources, staffing and competence levels and the relation to hospital readmissions – a case study

Thirty-day hospital readmissions represent an international challenge leading to increased prevalence of adverse events, reduced quality of care and pressure on healthcare service’s resources and finances. The...

Authors: Malin Knutsen Glette, Olav Røise, Tone Kringeland, Kate Churruca, Jeffrey Braithwaite and Siri Wiig

Are health facilities well equipped to provide basic quality childbirth services under the free maternal health policy? Findings from rural Northern Ghana

Basic inputs and infrastructure including drugs, supplies, equipment, water and electricity are required for the provision of quality care. In the era of the free maternal health policy in Ghana, it is unclear...

Authors: Philip Ayizem Dalinjong, Alex Y. Wang and Caroline S. E. Homer

The development and validation of a scale to explore staff experience of governance of economic efficiency and quality (GOV-EQ) of health care

In publicly funded health care systems, governance models are developed to push public service providers to use tax payers’ money more efficiently and maintain a high quality of service. Although this implies ...

Authors: Sara Korlén, Anne Richter, Isis Amer-Wåhlin, Peter Lindgren and Ulrica von Thiele Schwarz

Improving TB case notification in northern Uganda: evidence of a quality improvement-guided active case finding intervention

Strategies to identify and treat undiagnosed prevalent cases that have not sought diagnostic services on their own, are necessary to treat TB in patients earlier and interrupt transmission. Late presentation f...

Authors: Esther Karamagi, Simon Sensalire, Martin Muhire, Herbert Kisamba, John Byabagambi, Mirwais Rahimzai, Frank Mugabe, Upenytho George, Jacqueline Calnan, Dejene Seyoum and Estella Birabwa

E-IMR: e-health added to face-to-face delivery of Illness Management & Recovery programme for people with severe mental illness, an exploratory clustered randomized controlled trial

E-mental health holds promise for people with severe mental illness, but has a limited evidence base. This study explored the effect of e-health added to face-to-face delivery of the Illness Management and Rec...

Authors: Titus A. A. Beentjes, Peter J. J. Goossens, Hester Vermeulen, Steven Teerenstra, Maria W. G. Nijhuis-van der Sanden and Betsie G. I. van Gaal

Transitional care interventions reduce unplanned hospital readmissions in high-risk older adults

Acute hospital services account for the largest proportion of health care system budgets, and older adults are the most frequent users. As a result, older people who have been recently discharged from hospital...

Authors: Kathleen Finlayson, Anne M. Chang, Mary D. Courtney, Helen E. Edwards, Anthony W. Parker, Kyra Hamilton, Thu Dinh Xuan Pham and Jane O’Brien

Differences between the perspectives of physicians and patients on the potential barriers to optimal diabetes control in China: a multicenter study

To investigate the potential barriers to optimal diabetes control by evaluating the different perspectives of physicians and patients on such matters in China.

Authors: Chun Liu, Shaoyong Xu, Jie Ming, Aihua Jia, Yingji Wei, Hui Li, Yang Jiao, Mingxi Song, Yadong Zhao, Yafang Du, Wenjuan Yang, Xiaoqiang Lu, Shengqi Shi, Hui Tong, Guangtang Jia, Guohua Zhao…

The impact of health literacy on shared decision making before elective surgery: a propensity matched case control analysis

Poor health literacy affects over 90 million Americans. The primary aim of the study was to evaluate a possible association between health literacy and decision conflict in surgical patients.

Authors: Gildasio S. De Oliveira Jr, Martin Errea, Jane Bialek, Mark C. Kendall and Robert J. McCarthy

Standardized outcome measures for pregnancy and childbirth, an ICHOM proposal

Value-based health care aims to optimize the balance of patient outcomes and health care costs. To improve value in perinatal care using this strategy, standard outcomes must first be defined. The objective of...

Authors: Malini Anand Nijagal, Stephanie Wissig, Caleb Stowell, Elizabeth Olson, Isis Amer-Wahlin, Gouke Bonsel, Allyson Brooks, Matthew Coleman, Shamala Devi Karalasingam, James M N Duffy, Tracy Flanagan, Stefan Gebhardt, Meridith E Greene, Floris Groenendaal, J Ravichandran R Jeganathan, Tessa Kowaliw…

Family members’ experience with in-hospital health care after severe traumatic brain injury: a national multicentre study

Family member’s experience and satisfaction of health care in the acute care and in-patient rehabilitation are important indicators of the quality of health care services provided to patients with severe traum...

Authors: Unn Sollid Manskow, Cathrine Arntzen, Elin Damsgård, Mary Braine, Solrun Sigurdardottir, Nada Andelic, Cecilie Røe and Audny Anke

How to assure access of essential RMNCH medicines by looking at policy and systems factors: an analysis of countdown to 2015 countries

In 2000, the Millennium Development Goals set targets for social achievements by 2015 including goals related to maternal and child health, with mixed success. Several initiatives supported these goals includi...

Authors: Jane Briggs, Martha Embrey, Blerta Maliqi, Lisa Hedman and Jennifer Requejo

Process evaluation of a National Primary Eye Care Programme in Rwanda

Visual impairment is a global public health problem, with an estimated 285 million affected globally, of which 43% are due to refractive error. A lack of specialist eye care in low and middle-income countries ...

Authors: Jennifer L. Y. Yip, Tess Bright, Sebastian Ford, Wanjiku Mathenge and Hannah Faal

Results from a proactive follow-up intervention to improve linkage and retention among people living with HIV in Uganda: a pre-/post- study

Despite gains in HIV testing and treatment access in sub-Saharan Africa, patient attrition from care remains a problem. Evidence is needed of real-world implementation of low-cost, scalable, and sustainable so...

Authors: Caroline E. Boeke, Vennie Nabitaka, Andrea Rowan, Katherine Guerra, Pamela Nawaggi, Vivienne Mulema, Victor Bigira, Eleanor Magongo, Patricia Mucheri, Andrew Musoke and Cordelia Katureebe

CCSchool: a multicentre, prospective study on improving continuum of care in children and adolescents with mental health problems associated with school problems in Germany

Most psychiatric disorders in childhood and adolescence cause impairment in academic performance. Early interventions in school are thought to reduce the burden of disorder and prevent chronicity of disorder, ...

Authors: Isabel Boege, Julia Herrmann, Julia Katharina Wolff, Ulrike Hoffmann, Michael Koelch, Marc Kurepkat, Steffen Lütte, Alexander Naumann, Hans Dieter Nolting and Jörg Michael Fegert

Delivering postpartum family planning services in Nepal: are providers supportive?

Health service providers play a key role in addressing women’s need for pregnancy prevention, especially during the postpartum period. Yet, in Nepal, little is known about their views on providing postpartum f...

Authors: Mahesh C. Puri, Manju Maharjan, Erin Pearson, Elina Pradhan, Yasaswi Dhungel, Aayush Khadka and Iqbal H. Shah

What are the perceived added values and barriers of regulating long-term care in the home environment using a care network perspective: a qualitative study

Changes in Dutch policy towards long-term care led to the Dutch Health and Youth Care Inspectorate testing a regulatory framework focusing on care networks around older adults living independently. This regula...

Authors: Didi Verver, Annemiek Stoopendaal, Hanneke Merten, Paul Robben and Cordula Wagner

Drug overdose in the ED: a record linkage study examining emergency department ICD-10 coding practices in a cohort of people who inject drugs

Drug overdose is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity amongst people who inject drugs (PWID). Drug overdose surveillance typically relies on the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) coding s...

Authors: Rehana Di Rico, Dhanya Nambiar, Mark Stoové and Paul Dietze

Practice of emergency obstetric care signal functions and reasons for non-provision among health centers and hospitals in Lake and Western zones of Tanzania

The Lake and Western Zones of Tanzania that encompass eight regions namely; Kagera, Geita, Simiyu, Shinyanga, Mwanza, Mara Tabora and Kigoma have consistently been reported with the poorest Maternal Newborn an...

Authors: Edward Maswanya, Projestine Muganyizi, Stella Kilima, Deus Mogella and Julius Massaga

Disabled people’s experiences of accessing reasonable adjustments in hospitals: a qualitative study

The UK Equality Act 2010 requires providers of health services to make changes or ‘reasonable adjustments’ to their practices in order to protect disabled people from discrimination or disadvantage when access...

Authors: Stuart Read, Pauline Heslop, Sue Turner, Victoria Mason-Angelow, Nadine Tilbury, Caroline Miles and Chris Hatton

Patient preferences for treatment of acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections in the emergency department

Limited research has assessed patient preferences for treatment disposition and antibiotic therapy of acute bacterial skin and skin structure infection (ABSSSI) in the emergency department (ED). Understanding ...

Authors: Safa S. Almarzoky Abuhussain, Michelle A. Burak, Kelsey N. Kohman, Gabrielle Jacknin, Serina B. Tart, Athena L. V. Hobbs, Danyel K. Adams, Michael D. Nailor, Katelyn R. Keyloun, David P. Nicolau and Joseph L. Kuti

The impact of regional screening policies on the diffusion of cancer screening participation in Belgium: time trends in educational inequalities in Flanders and Wallonia

We investigate whether the extent of educational inequalities in the use of Pap smears (cervical cancer screening) and mammograms (breast cancer screening) in Belgium has changed over time in accordance with t...

Authors: Barbara Willems and Piet Bracke

A discrete event simulation model to evaluate the treatment pathways of patients with cataract in the United Kingdom

The number of people affected by cataract in the United Kingdom (UK) is growing rapidly due to ageing population. As the only way to treat cataract is through surgery, there is a high demand for this type of s...

Authors: Eren Demir, David Southern, Syed Rashid and Reda Lebcir

Varying viewpoints of Belgian stakeholders on models of interhospital collaboration

Hospitals are increasingly parts of larger care collaborations, rather than individual entities. Organizing and operating these collaborations is challenging; a significant number do not succeed, as it is diff...

Authors: Melissa De Regge, Kaat De Pourcq, Paul Gemmel, Carine Van de Voorde, Koen Van den Heede and Kristof Eeckloo

Characteristics, course and outcome of patients receiving physiotherapy in primary health care in Norway: design of a longitudinal observational project

Physiotherapists (PTs) in primary health care manage patients with large variation in medical diagnosis, age, functional status, disability and prognosis. Lack of knowledge and systematically collected data fr...

Authors: Kari Anne I. Evensen, Hilde Stendal Robinson, Ingebrigt Meisingset, Astrid Woodhouse, Marit Thielemann, Wenche S. Bjorbækmo, Gard Myhre, Anne E. Hansen, Ottar Vasseljen and Nina K. Vøllestad

Successful implementation of a combined learning collaborative and mentoring intervention to improve neonatal quality of care in rural Rwanda

Globally, neonatal mortality remains high despite interventions known to reduce neonatal deaths. The All Babies Count (ABC) initiative was a comprehensive health systems strengthening intervention designed by ...

Authors: Jennifer Werdenberg, Francois Biziyaremye, Merab Nyishime, Evrard Nahimana, Christine Mutaganzwa, David Tugizimana, Anatole Manzi, Shalini Navale, Lisa R. Hirschhorn and Hema Magge

Pharmacy-based hypertension care employing mHealth in Lagos, Nigeria – a mixed methods feasibility study

Access to quality hypertension care is often poor in sub-Saharan Africa. Some community pharmacies offer hypertension monitoring services, with and without involvement of medical doctors. To directly connect p...

Authors: Heleen E. Nelissen, Anne L. Cremers, Tochi J. Okwor, Sam Kool, Frank van Leth, Lizzy Brewster, Olalekan Makinde, René Gerrets, Marleen E. Hendriks, Constance Schultsz, Akin Osibogun and Anja H. van’t Hoog

“Our voices matter”: a before-after assessment of the effect of a community-participatory intervention to promote uptake of maternal and child health services in Kwale, Kenya

Community-participatory approaches are important for effective maternal and child health interventions. A community-participatory intervention (the Dialogue Model) was implemented in Kwale County, Kenya to enh...

Authors: Vernon Mochache, Eunice Irungu, Hajara El-Busaidy, Marleen Temmerman and Peter Gichangi

The state of nutrition care in outpatient hemodialysis settings in Malaysia: a nationwide survey

This study aimed to assess the situational capacity for nutrition care delivery in the outpatient hemodialysis (HD) setting in Malaysia by evaluating dietitian accessibility, nutrition practices and patients’ ...

Authors: Ban-Hock Khor, Karuthan Chinna, Abdul Halim Abdul Gafor, Zaki Morad, Ghazali Ahmad, Sunita Bavanandam, Ravindran Visvanathan, Rosnawati Yahya, Bak-Leong Goh, Boon-Cheak Bee and Tilakavati Karupaiah

Using the candidacy framework to understand how doctor-patient interactions influence perceived eligibility to seek help for cancer alarm symptoms: a qualitative interview study

‘Candidacy’ is concerned with the way people consider their eligibility for accessing health services. We used the Candidacy Framework to explore how the doctor-patient relationship can influence perceived eli...

Authors: Sara Tookey, Cristina Renzi, Jo Waller, Christian von Wagner and Katriina L. Whitaker

The Sustain and Spread Framework: strategies for sustaining and spreading nutrition care improvements in acute care based on thematic analysis from the More-2-Eat study

Successful improvements in health care practice need to be sustained and spread to have maximum benefit. The rationale for embedding sustainability from the beginning of implementation is well recognized; howe...

Authors: Celia Laur, Jack Bell, Renata Valaitis, Sumantra Ray and Heather Keller

Assessment of cardiopulmonary resuscitation knowledge and skills among healthcare providers at an urban tertiary referral hospital in Tanzania

Early and effective CPR increases both survival rate and post-arrest quality of life. In limited resource countries like Tanzania, there is scarce data describing the basic knowledge of CPR among Healthcare pr...

Authors: Winfrida T. Kaihula, Hendry R. Sawe, Michael S. Runyon and Brittany L. Murray

Correction to: Frequency and predictors of health services use by native Hawaiians and Pacific islanders: evidence from the U.S. National Health Interview Survey

Following publication of the original article [1], the author reported the following errors in Table 1 and Table 2.

Authors: Marie-Rachelle Narcisse, Holly Felix, Christopher R. Long, Teresa Hudson, Nalin Payakachat, Zoran Bursac and Pearl A. McElfish

Healthcare leadership with political astuteness (HeLPA): a qualitative study of how service leaders understand and mediate the informal ‘power and politics’ of major health system change

The implementation of strategic health system change is often complicated by the informal politics and power of health systems, such as competing interests and resistant groups. Evidence from other industries ...

Authors: Justin Waring, Simon Bishop, Jenelle Clarke, Mark Exworthy, Naomi J. Fulop, Jean Hartley and Angus I. G. Ramsay

Lean thinking to improve emergency department throughput at AORN Cardarelli hospital

Throughout the world, emergency departments (ED) are characterized by overcrowding and excessive waiting times. Furthermore, the related delays significantly increase patient mortality and make inefficient use...

Authors: Giovanni Improta, Maria Romano, Maria Vincenza Di Cicco, Anna Ferraro, Anna Borrelli, Ciro Verdoliva, Maria Triassi and Mario Cesarelli