BACKGROUND: The Northern Mindanao Medical Center has set standards for quality of care as it was awarded ISO accreditation last 2015. Patient's waiting time in the Emergency Room (ER) of a tertiary hospital is a measure of effective health care delivery.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the waiting time among non-urgent adult patients seen in the Emergency Room-Triage and Ambulatory Care of the Northern Mindanao Medical Center-Department of Family and Community Medicine (NMMC-DFCM) from May 2016 to October 2016.

METHODOLOGY: The descriptive research design using time and motion activities of each non-urgent case at the NMMC Emergency Room was used. The following variables were included: the socio-demographic data as to the patient's age, gender, address,and occupation; as well as physician-related and administrative-related factors. Tabulation was done using Microsoft Excel. The Central Tendency (Mean) and Dispersion (SD,Range) were computed. 

RESULTS: A total of 1,290 patients were examined and who experienced average waiting time of 247.1 minutes. Patients were mostly in 18-30 age group (45%), females (52%), came from within Cagayan de Oro City (71%) and unemployed (67%). The longest waiting time (257.3 minutes) were handled by junior residents and seen in the Morning shift (263.7 minutes). Higher caseloads were noted in the Afternoon Shift (587 patients). On the other hand, the weekdays were busiest and longest waiting time (762 patients and 263.4 minutes, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS: The demographic profile of the youngest and female population in the study and coming from Cagayan de Oro City used the ER for non-urgent conditions and majority of patients were unemployed. The mean waiting time was 247.1 minutes. Patients managed by junior residents and seen during the Morning shift revealed longest waiting time On the other hand, Weekdays were busiest overall and were noted in the Afternoon Shift; with pronounced during the Holidays.

Human ; Female ; Adult ; Triage ; Tertiary Care Centers ; Community Medicine ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Ambulatory Care ; Physicians ; Accreditation ; Occupations

Background and Objective: The burden of caring for others comes naturally for healthcare providers particularly nurses as this is part of their altruistic nature. The right balance of caring for others and self-care is key to a healthy professional quality of life (ProQOL) which encompasses Compassion Satisfaction and prevents Burnout (BO) and Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS). With the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic that has resulted in higher morbidity and mortality, the demands of the healthcare system on nurses are overwhelming. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence, and the related factors of compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress among nurses in a government facility during a pandemic Method: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study which utilized a validated Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) selfadministered questionnaire measuring Compassion Satisfaction, Burnout, and Secondary Traumatic Stress (Stamm, 2010). The survey was conducted from June 1-30, 2020 among a sample size of 204 qualified and willing nurses who signed an informed consent. All data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and parametric statistical tests (T-test and ANOVA). Statistical significance was at 99% CI and p-value of 0.05. Results: A total of 204 qualified and willing nurses were included in the study. Majority of the respondents belonged to the 2035 years of age bracket. Sixty-seven percent were female, married (54%); with no children (50%); finished BSN (91%); currently holding a Nurse II position (34%) with less than 5 years government service (56%) and with less than 5 years of field experience (58%). Seventy-seven percent (77%) did not have pre-existing diseases while 33% had either Hypertension, Diabetes Mellitus, Bronchial Asthma and other non-communicable diseases. Overall ProQOL mean scores ranged from average to high compassion satisfaction; low to average Burnout; and low to average Secondary Traumatic Stress. Related factors found significant at p vale 0.05 or less were areas of rotation and years in the field of practice Conclusion The study showed that the mean scores of the nurse respondents’ ProQOL encompassing Compassion Satisfaction, Burnout, and Secondary Traumatic Stress indicate a healthy ProQOL from June 1-30, 2020. Areas of rotation and years in the field of practice are statistically significant in relation to ProQOL mean scores. All other factors are not statistically significant correlates
Burnout, Psychological ; Compassion Fatigue ; Nurses ; COVID-19 ; Burnout, Professional

BACKGROUND

Caustic ingestion is a major public health problem worldwide [1]. It imposes huge economic burden in terms of medical cost to poorly resourced health system of developing countries [2]. Household cleaning products, such as sodium hypochlorite (NaOCI), are the most common cause of caustic exposure [3]. NaOCI ingestion consistently ranks second in caustic ingestion cases in Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC) based on toxicology census from 2015 to 2018. The aim of this study is to determine the epidemiologic profile, clinical findings and outcome of admitted patients who ingested NaOCI.

METHODS

This a single-center descriptive, cross-sectional study of 40 cases of sodium hypochlorite ingestion admitted at NMMC from January 2015 to December 2018.

RESULTS

There were a total of 17 males and 23 females. Majority of patients were 0-5 years of age (46.5%; mean age of 2), followed by age range of 18-64 years old (40.0%; mean age of 35). Twenty-nine cases (72. 5%) cases of NaOCI ingestion were accidental and the remaining 11 (27.5%) were non-accidental. The non-accidental cases belong to the 12-17 (mean age 15.3) and 18-64 (mean age 31) years old age groups at 33.3% and 66.7%, respectively, with prevalence in females at 81.8%. Non-accidental cases increase with age, and among females. Majority of all ingested less than 50 ml of NaOCI. Two non-accidental cases (18.2%) ingested more than 100 ml of NaOCI were observed to have more than 2 signs and symptoms. Majority of patients presented with vomiting. Greater portion of non- accidental cases complained of abdominal or epigastric pain (54.5% vs 10%), oropharyngeal erythema (9.1 % vs 6.9), and odynophagia (45.5% vs 0). None of the patients had serious signs and symptoms. All patients were discharged improved and without sequelae.

CONCLUSION

Most NaOCI cases were accidental especially in children. Non-accidental cases increase significantly with age, with most cases found among adolescents and young adults, with higher prevalence among females. Majority of patients only ingested less than 50 ml, and that ingestion of 100 ml or more of NaOCI is associated with more than 2 signs and symptoms. The most predominant symptom is vomiting. Greater portion of non-accidental cases complained of abdominal or epigastric pain and odynophagia. None of the patients exhibit severe signs and symptoms. This study showed that all 40 cases of sodium hypochlorite ingestion did not have sequelae upon discharge.

Human ; Sodium Hypochlorite