PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore how traditional ritual practices are incorporated into the context of contemporary healthcare. METHODS: An ethnographic study was conducted, using observations and interviews with 27 first-time mothers and 3 nurses at a postpartum nursing center in Taipei, Taiwan. RESULTS: Nursing routines, policies and care provision at the center affected the way traditional ritual practices were conducted. New mothers in this study constructed their everyday activities at the center by incorporating and modifying the ritual practices inside and outside the postpartum nursing center setting. CONCLUSIONS: Social changes have an influence on traditional postpartum ritual practices so a postpartum nursing center becomes a choice for postpartum women. Thus, health care professionals should value their own functions and roles at the postpartum nursing center since the new mothers regard them as the primary support resource to help them recover from giving birth. Therefore, they need to re-examine their practices from the postpartum women's perspective to provide better support and sensitive care to postpartum women and their families.
Adult ; Ambulatory Care Facilities/trends ; Attitude of Health Personnel ; Education, Nonprofessional ; Female ; Humans ; Length of Stay ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional/trends ; Mothers/education/psychology ; Nurse's Role ; Nursing Process ; Obstetric Nursing/*trends ; Postnatal Care/*trends ; Postpartum Period/*ethnology ; Taiwan/ethnology

Ensuring timely access to specialist care is an important indicator of the quality of a health service. Demand for cardiology outpatient appointments has grown considerably in the last decade, leading to increased waiting time for cardiology appointments at public hospitals. This paper examines the effectiveness of past and ongoing strategies initiated by the National Heart Centre, many of which were in collaboration with SingHealth Polyclinics, documents the lessons learnt, and provides a framework for approaching this problem. Instead of a simplistic approach where institutions react to long waiting times by growing capacity to meet demand, this paper emphasises the need to focus on the final intended outcome (timely diagnosis and treatment) rather than on a single performance indicator, such as waiting time. A broad systems approach at the national level is advocated, rather than piecemeal, uncoordinated actions by individual hospitals.
Ambulatory Care Facilities ; Cardiology ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; therapy ; Cooperative Behavior ; Efficiency, Organizational ; Health Services Accessibility ; Health Services Needs and Demand ; Humans ; Primary Health Care ; Referral and Consultation ; trends ; Singapore