Many low-resource settings have a shortage of physicians and health workers. (1) In order to provide patient-centred continuous care more effectively, primary care systems can include team-based care strategies in their clinic workflows and protocols. Team-based care uses multidisciplinary teams (wh...ich may involve new staff, or the shifting of tasks among existing staff). Teams can include patients themselves, primary care physicians, and other allied health professionals, such as nurses, pharmacists, counsellors, social workers, nutritionists, community health workers, or others. Teams reduce the burden on physicians by utilizing the skills of trained health workers. Strong evidence shows that team-based care is effective in improving hypertension control among patients in a cost-effective way. (2) Some amount of task shifting/team-based care is already taking place in many settings; this module provides further guidance on how to maximize this approach for greater impact.
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Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world, was devastated by an earthquake in 2010. The disaster uncovered the realities of a non-existent mental health care system with only ten psychiatrists nationwide. Attempts were made to assess the increased prevalence of mental illness, likely due to t...he trauma to which many were exposed. Several interventions were carried out with aims to integrate mental health into primary health care services. The interplay between socio-cultural beliefs and health (both mental and physical) in Haiti has been widely commented upon by both foreign aid and local caregivers. Observations frequently highlight barriers to the willingness of patients to seek care and to their acceptance of biomedicine over traditional Vodou beliefs. The perception of Haitian beliefs as barriers to the availability and acceptance of mental health care has intensified the difficulty in providing effective recommendations and interventions both before and after the earthquake. Argued in this review is the importance of considering the interactions between socio-cultural beliefs and mental health when developing models for the prevention, screening, classification and management of mental illness in Haiti. These interactions, especially relevant in mental health care and post-disaster contexts, need to be acknowledged in any healthcare setting. The successes and failures of Haiti’s situation provide an example for global consideration.
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STGs are designed to assist health care professionals in making decisions about appropriate, effective patient care. However, health managers often have trouble setting and meeting the high standards required of modern, developed health care systems. With stakeholders expressing concern over issues ...such as strength of evidence, transparency, conflicts of interest, and effective implementation, it is clear that many health care professionals need further guidance in developing and making use of STGs.
This manual guides health professionals through the process of establishing and implementing STGs, placing special emphasis on the low- and middle-income country (LMIC) context. By including tools, templates, and success stories as well as hyperlinks to useful resources, the manual helps health practitioners understand not only important concepts of treatment guidelines, but also how they can best be used in practice.
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Guidelines for Good Clinical Laboratory Practices (GCLP) outlines the principles and procedures to be followed by medical laboratories involved in clinical research and/or patient care so as to provide quality data which can be used for health research and patient treatment. As the use of laboratory... tests (often expensive) are increasingly becoming a part of medical diagnosis and research, generation of quality data would be a cost-effective and ethically sound strategy.
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Extract from "Essentials of Pharmaceutical Practice - EPP Handbook" by Ecumenical Pharmaceutical Network (EPN) (ISBN 978-9966-094-44-5). Chapter contents: Definition and understanding about SOPs - Importance of SOPs - Role of SOPs in ensuring quality of services in the pharmacy - Developing SOPs fo...r various processes carried out in the pharmacy - Making effective and active use of SOPs.
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The updated List of Essential Diagnostics contains 46 general tests that can be used for routine patient care as well as for the detection and diagnosis of a wide array of disease conditions, and 69 tests intended for the detection, diagnosis and monitoring of specific diseases.
The List is divid...ed into two sections depending on the user and setting: one for community settings, which includes self-testing; and a second one for clinical laboratories, which can be general and specialized facilities.
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A guidance document in simple language for health personnel, setting out their rights and responsibilities in conflict and other situations of violence. It explains how responsibilities and rights for health personnel can be derived from international humanitarian law, human rights law and medical e...thics.The document gives practical guidance on:
- The protection of health personnel, the sick and the wounded; - Standards of practice; - The health needs of particularly vulnerable people; - Health records and transmission of medical records; - "Imported" health care (including military health care);
- Data gathering and health personnel as witnesses to violations of international law; - Working with the media
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The provision of safe and efficacious blood and blood components for transfusion or manufacturing use involves a number of processes, from the selection of blood donors and the collection, processing and testing of blood donations to the testing of patient samples, the issue of compatible blood and ...its administration to the patient. There is a risk of error in each process in this “transfusion chain” and a failure at any of these stages can have serious implications for the recipients of blood and blood products. Thus, while blood transfusion can be life-saving, there are associated risks, particularly the transmission of bloodborne infections.
Screening for transfusion-transmissible infections (TTIs) to exclude blood donations at risk of transmitting infection from donors to recipients is a critical part of the process of ensuring that transfusion is as safe as possible. Effective screening for evidence of the presence of the most common and dangerous TTIs can reduce the risk of transmission to very low levels.
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This factsheet provides base level information to practitioners for awareness raising, training, advocacy, project design and proposal writing. The information may be used and sent out widely, with reference to the Kenya Red Cross, The Association of the Physically Disabled of Kenya, CBM and Handica...p International. The overall information in this factsheet is also applicable to older persons and other vulnerable groups
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Afr J Tradit Complement Altern Med. (2016) 13(4):123-131
Out of 400 questionnaires distributed to the participants, 389 were returned with data acceptable for analysis. Ages of the participants ranged from 18 to 75 years (Mean=43 + 11.6). Out of the 272 (69.9%) participants who conceded that th...ey had used medicinal herbs at least once, 30 (7.7%) participants used medicinal herbs frequently while 242 (62.2 %) rarely used the herbs. At least 20 plant species belonging to 16 families were reportedly used by the participants. Asteraceae was the most common plant family reportedly used by the participants. Allium sativum and Dicoma anomala, reportedly used by 21.0% and 14.3% respectively, were the most commonly used medicinal herbs in this population. In addition, boosting the immune system and treating gastrointestinal ailments, apparently cited by 32% and 28% participants respectively, were the most commonly reported reasons for using medicinal herbs.
http://dx.doi.org/10.21010/ajtcam.v13i4.17
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The report and an accompanying series of studies show the global uptake of the World Health Organization (WHO) Surgical Safety Checklist in its first ten years since its launch and recommend ways the Checklist can be more effectively used to improve surgical safety for millions at risk.
The report ...found that uptake has been remarkably positive: the Checklist has been adopted in almost 90% of operating rooms in countries with a high Human Development Index (HDI), a country-level measure of health, education, and standard of living. It was referenced by at least 139 (70%) of the world's countries and is included as a national standard by the health ministries of at least 20 countries. The Checklist has also had beneficial qualitative impact, introducing a culture of safety and improved communication within surgical teams, increasing patient trust, and improving job satisfaction.
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The GAP articulates five objectives for tackling AMR, and sets out the tasks required to achieve them, highlighting
roles and responsibilities for country governments, the One Health Tripartite organizations (FAO, OIE and WHO) and other national and international partners. To ensure that all stakeh...olders assume their roles and responsibilities, and to assess whether they are collectively effecting the necessary change in AMR, the implementation of the GAP needs to be routinely monitored and evaluated. To that end, the Tripartite organizations co-developed a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework for the GAP, as outlined in this document
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How has the DRC Ebola outbreak impacted Sexual and Reproductive Health in North-Kivu?
Recommendations (more specifics found in the assessment):
1. Sexual and reproductive health needs and services are to be embedded in the EVD response from the outset.
2. Reduce delays at every stage of the patie...nt journey, particularly for women experiencing obstetric complications, including complications from abortion.
3. Support individuals and communities to mitigate SRH risks posed during and after EVD epidemic:
4. Formulate SRH guidelines for the EVD context involving experts in all relevant fields.
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Antimicrobial resistance represents a big threat to public health. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that every year two million Americans are infected with a (multi-)drug resistant bacterium, resulting in 23,000 deaths. The WHO has repeatedly drawn attention to this majo...r health issue. In the worst-case scenario, we will shortly run out of effective antibiotics. Surgery and cancer therapy will then become very dangerous due to the risk of infection associated with such treatments. (Organ) transplantation will become close to impossible as the immunosuppression necessary for transplant patients makes them highly vulnerable to infections. Some infections we can easily treat today could turn deadly. It is therefore conceivable that infectious diseases once again become the leading cause of death as in early 20th century.
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The role of environmental contamination in transmission of COVID-19 virus is currently not clear. This protocol has been designed to determine (viable) virus presence and persistence on fomites in various locations where a patient infected with COVID-19 is currently receiving care or being isolated,... and to understand how this may relate to COVID-19 transmission events in these settings. It is therefore important that it is done as part of a comprehensive outbreak investigation and that information obtained by environmental studies is combined with the results of epidemiological, laboratory and sequence data from COVID-19 patient investigations.
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Efficient triage of patients with COVID-19 at all health facility levels (primary, secondary and tertiary) will help the national response planning and case management system cope with patient influx, direct necessary medical resources to efficiently support the critically ill and protect the safety... of health-care workers. The objective of this algorithm is to give overall guidance for the triage and referral of symptomatic COVID-19 patients. Intended for use by ministries of health, hospital administrators and health workers involved in response planning for COVID-19 and/or patient triage, management and referral, this algorithm provides a general framework to be adapted to local health systems in countries.
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his document, a first of its kind, clearly sets out the standards for rehabilitation and provides guidance on building or strengthening the capacity of EMTs in this area.The importance of early rehabilitation for functional outcomes is well documented. Rehabilitation needs can pe...rsist far beyond the departure of EMTs; therefore, close, supportive collaboration must be established with local services. Emergency response presents an opportunity to rebuild devastated health systems and build local rehabilitation capacity. This document emphasizes the importance of aligning practices to the local context and maximizing opportunities for training and mentorship. The minimum standards and recommendations described will result in faster access of patients to rehabilitation services and equipment and a better transition between EMTs and local health facilities.
Available in English, German, Arabic, Chinese
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This document, a first of its kind, clearly sets out the standards for rehabilitation and provides guidance on building or strengthening the capacity of EMTs in this area.The importance of early rehabilitation for functional outcomes is well documented. Rehabilitation needs can p...ersist far beyond the departure of EMTs; therefore, close, supportive collaboration must be established with local services. Emergency response presents an opportunity to rebuild devastated health systems and build local rehabilitation capacity. This document emphasizes the importance of aligning practices to the local context and maximizing opportunities for training and mentorship. The minimum standards and recommendations described will result in faster access of patients to rehabilitation services and equipment and a better transition between EMTs and local health facilities.
Available in English, German, Arabic, Chinese
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A Meand to enhancing HIV prevention in key populations. This document has been developed out of the increasing need to set up standards and procedures to prevent and respond to violence against key populations.
tep 1 Competencies have been designed to provide staff with the core skills required to care for a critically ill patient safely, whilst under supervision. It is expected that Step 1 competencies will be completed prior to commencing an academic critical care programme.
Steps 2 & 3 Competencies hav...e been designed to further develop your essential critical care skills and will require enhanced theoretical knowledge to underpin your practice. It is anticipated that Steps 2 & 3 competencies will be undertaken whilst undertaking an academic critical care programme.
Step 4 Competencies have been designed to provide staff with the core skills required to take charge in a critical care unit; building management and leadership capability into your professional development, to demonstrate safe and effective coordination and prioritisation of unit workload, workforce and resources.
You can downlaod any of the Steps Competency Documents from this link
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