This paper introduces the application of a calling and queuing system for blood sample collection in a large hospital in China. Besides the basic function, it has following functions. (a) A real name system: get the number according to the laboratory application form to prevent the phenomena of buying a number and an empty number. (b) Two times waiting: the patient should wait at the main hall, then at the blood sampling window so as to improve the work efficiency. (c) The flowchart for an outpatient blood testing is as following: getting the number --> waiting --> blood sampling --> getting the test information report. This system is capable of not only optimizing the work flow, but also improving the clinical environment. It shortens the patient's waiting time and raises the laboratory quality as well.
Ambulatory Care ; methods ; Ambulatory Care Information Systems ; Blood Specimen Collection ; Laboratories, Hospital ; organization & administration

Motion artifacts are a main interference source of ambulatory physiology signals. The interference in wearable detection systems is more serious because of using dry electrodes. On account of the instantaneity in motion artifacts and periodicity in physiological signal, we presented a new method based on periodic component analysis for motion artifact reduction. The single channel signal is transformed into multi-channel signal with multi resolution analysis, and then periodic component analysis can help us to separate the normal physiological signal from motion artifacts. A case study in electrocardiogram (ECG) demonstrates that periodic component analysis is better than the empirical mode decomposition and adaptive filtering methods. Periodic component analysis as a time domain method can discriminate the signal with frequency aliasing, and recover the ECG waveform feature corrupted. This method can be easily extended to other physiological signal processing.
Algorithms ; Ambulatory Care ; methods ; Artifacts ; Electrocardiography, Ambulatory ; methods ; Humans ; Monitoring, Physiologic ; methods ; Principal Component Analysis ; methods ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Patients with aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease (AERD) tend to have more severe clinical course and also tend to be recalcitrant to conventional medical and surgical treatment. This study aimed to assess the long-term outcome of endoscopic sinus surgery in AERD patients. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: Fifteen patients with AERD (n=15) were identified through a retro-spective chart review, and compared with 74 patients of CRSwNP (with asthma n=23; without asthma n=51) by analyzing preoperative and postoperative symptoms, endoscopic score, Lund-Mackay CT score, number of revision surgery or outpatient procedures, frequency of clinic visits and medications. The CRS control status was evaluated according to the European Position Paper on Rhinosinusitis and Nasal Polyps 2012 criteria and logistic regression analyses were conducted to investigate the determining factors of preoperative and postoperative symptoms. RESULTS: The AERD group showed higher disease severity than other groups preoperatively: endoscopic score (CRSwNP s asthma 6.3±2.6 vs. CRSwNP c asthma 6.5±2.3 vs. AERD 8.8±1.4, p<0.05), CT score (12.2±4.9 vs. 17.0±4.8 vs. 18.0±2.1, p<0.05), and overall symptom score (30.8±0.4 vs. 33.8±1.5 vs. 37.9±0.7, p<0.01). The rate of revision surgery and outpatient procedures, postoperative clinic visit and prescription rate were higher in the AERD group (p<0.05, respectively). However, postoperative symptom scores and CRS control status were not significantly different among three groups (p=0.267 and p=0.996, respectively). CONCLUSION: Although AERD patients showed higher preoperative endoscopic scores and revision surgery rates, postoperative subjective symptoms were comparable to those of other groups with long-term follow up, suggesting the importance of frequent outpatient care after endoscopic sinus surgery.
Ambulatory Care ; Asthma ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Methods ; Nasal Polyps ; Outpatients ; Postoperative Care ; Prescriptions

Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is the only well-established home-based dialysis therapy in Singapore. As it is a home-based modality, PD should be considered as a preferred mode of kidney replacement therapy (KRT) for patients with kidney failure during this COVID-19 pandemic as it avoids frequent visits to hospitals and/or satellite dialysis centres. The highly infectious nature of this virus has led to the implementation of the Disease Outbreak Response System Condition orange status in Singapore since early February 2020. This paper summarises the strategies for management of several aspects of PD in Singapore during this COVID-19 pandemic, including PD catheter insertion, PD training, home visit and assisted PD, outpatient PD clinic, inpatient management of PD patients with or without COVID-19 infection, PD as KRT for COVID-19 patients with acute kidney injury, management of common complications in PD (peritonitis and fluid overload), and management of PD inventory.
Ambulatory Care/methods* ; COVID-19/prevention & control* ; Home Care Services ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Infection Control/methods* ; Pandemics ; Peritoneal Dialysis/methods* ; Self Care/methods* ; Singapore/epidemiology*

BACKGROUND: Although several traditional treatments have been applied for recalcitrant viral warts, these treatments have rarely resulted in complete recovery. To treat the recalcitrant viral wart, alternative therapies are required. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of quadrivalent HPV vaccine for recalcitrant wart treatment. METHODS: From 2012 to 2014, 17 patients who provided informed consent were enrolled. All patients received 3 doses of quadrivalent HPV vaccine at 0, 2, and 6 months, respectively. During clinic visits, doctors checked the grade of improvement, patient satisfaction, and treatment side effects. After completion of the 3 doses, the patients were followed up for 5 months with outpatient visits and telephone inquiries. RESULTS: After the third dose, 58.8% of patients showed complete remission and 41.2% showed no response after 5 months. There were no statistically significant differences in sex, age, disease duration, number, anatomic site, and previous treatment between the complete remission group and the no-response group. An adverse effect (syncope) was observed in one patient. CONCLUSION: Compared with traditional aggressive therapies, quadrivalent HPV vaccine is a simple method and does not usually interfere with the patient's work or social life. Quadrivalent HPV vaccine is an effective and safe alternative treatment for recalcitrant warts.
Ambulatory Care ; Clinical Study* ; Complementary Therapies ; Humans* ; Informed Consent ; Methods ; Outpatients ; Papillomaviridae* ; Patient Satisfaction ; Telephone ; Warts*

PURPOSE: Feeding problems are common for typically developing children and have negative effects on physical, behavioral, and cognitive development. The purpose of the current study was to examine factors related to childhood feeding problems for typically developing children via parental reports. METHODS: The feeding questionnaire developed by the authors and the Childhood Eating Behavior Inventory (CEBI) were administered to 796 parents of children who recruited from 2 pediatric outpatient clinics (n=379) and community (n=417). Problem eaters (PE) were identified by parental report and frequency analysis was conducted for types of feeding problems and its severity, problem behaviors during mealtime, the feeding methods of the parents, and the need for treatment. RESULTS: The CEBI scores were significantly different between the PE and non-problem eaters (NPE), which suggests that the parental reports were reliable. The younger children had more feeding problems than the older children. The most frequent and severe feeding problems were selective eating and longer mealtimes across all age groups. One-half of the children had more than one problem behaviors during mealtime. Most parents of PE used ineffective methods to deal with children's behaviors during meal time, such as cajoling, which was related to their increased level of stress. Many parents reported their children need professional help for the feeding problems. CONCLUSION: Feeding problems are prevalent among children, especially younger children. Children with feeding problems showed a number of problem behaviors during mealtime and parental coping methods appeared to be ineffective. The need for treatment was considerable, thus the characteristics of this population must be acknowledged for providing proper treatment and advice.
Ambulatory Care Facilities ; Child ; Eating ; Feeding Behavior ; Feeding Methods ; Humans ; Meals ; Parents ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Escalating healthcare costs in Singapore have produced a significant movement of patients into ambulatory care, and the consequent dearth of clinical teaching materials. This deficiency has likewise prompted the creation of ambulatory teaching clinics and the use of standardised patients and simulators. In the last few decades, educators have utilised digital technology, for instance, digitally recorded heart and breath sounds, and digitised video vignettes, in medical education. We describe several pedagogical initiatives that we have undertaken at our university school of medicine.
Ambulatory Care ; Curriculum ; Diffusion of Innovation ; Education, Medical ; methods ; Humans ; Medical Informatics ; trends ; Singapore ; User-Computer Interface

PURPOSE: Patients often complain of change of defecation pattern and it is necessary to quantify their symptoms. To quantify symptoms, use of questionnaire is ideal, so we adopted a simple and easily writable visual analogue scale for irritable bowel syndrome questionnaire (VAS-IBS). The aim of this study was to develop and validate the Korean version of VAS-IBS questionnaire (Korean VAS-IBS) that can adequately reflect the defecation pattern. METHODS: This study translated English VAS-IBS into Korean using the forward-and-back translation method. Korean VAS-IBS was performed on 30 patients, who visited the outpatient clinic and had no possibility of special defecation pattern. Detailed past medical history and Bristol stool chart was added to the questionnaire. The survey was conducted twice, and the median interval between the 2 surveys was 10 days (8–11 days). Cronbach α for internal consistency reliability and intraclass correlation coefficients for test-retest reliability were analyzed. RESULTS: Korean VAS-IBS achieved acceptable homogeneity with a Cronbach α coefficient of 0.66–0.79 showing adequate internal consistency reliability. In addition, intraclass correlation coefficients showed significant test-retest reliability with 0.46–0.80 except for the question assessing the “perception of psychological wellbeing.” CONCLUSION: The Korean VAS-IBS is a valid and reliable questionnaire for the measurement of the symptoms of defecation pattern changes.
Ambulatory Care Facilities ; Defecation* ; Humans ; Irritable Bowel Syndrome* ; Methods ; Reproducibility of Results ; Translations ; Visual Analog Scale

This study investigated the German experience in the transition to a unified health care system and suggests the following implications for Korea. First, Germany could have made use of the unification process better if there had been a good road map. Therefore Korea must develop a well prepared road map that considers all possible situations. Second, Germany saw an opportunity for the improvement of the health care system in the early stage of unification but could not take advantage of it because the situation changed dramatically and they had not sufficiently prepared for it. Korea should take into account the opportunity for improvement of the present health care system, such as the roles of public health and traditional medicine. Thirdly, the conditions f North Korea seem to be far worse than those of former East Germany and also worse than even those of other transition countries. Therefore Korea should design a long-term road map taking as many variables into account as possible, including the different rigid way of thinking and the interrelationship among the social sectors. Fourthly, during the German reunification unexpected factors changed the direction of the events. Korea should have a separate plan for the unexpected factors.
Ambulatory Care ; Delivery of Health Care/methods/*organization & administration/standards ; Germany ; Germany, East ; Humans ; Medicine, Traditional ; Public Health ; Republic of Korea

BACKGROUND: We compared the diagnostic accuracy between visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) and modified cervicography as an alternative screening method for cervical precancerous lesions. METHODS: A diagnostic cross-sectional study was performed at the outpatient clinic at an Indonesian national referral hospital from February until April 2015. We collected samples from patients who sequentially underwent VIA examination, modified cervicography, and colposcopy. RESULTS: A total of 185 patients were included in this study. Modified cervicography showed positive results in 7.6% of patients, while 7.0% of patients had a VIA positive result. This is compared to 5.4% of patients showing abnormal colposcopy results. From those results, we obtained that sensitivity and specificity of VIA were 96.0% and 90.9%. Meanwhile, sensitivity and specificity of modified cervicography were 97.7% and 90.9%, respectively, compared to colposcopy as a gold standard. CONCLUSIONS: Modified cervicography and VIA are reliable tools for cervical cancer screening, with comparable sensitivity and specificity. Modified cervicography can be used as a supplementary tool to improve the documentation of VIA and as an alternative to VIA alone.
Acetic Acid* ; Ambulatory Care Facilities ; Colposcopy ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Humans ; Mass Screening* ; Methods* ; Referral and Consultation ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms