BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

Colorectal cancer (CRC) has the third highest incidence in the Philippines. Currently, there is a paucity in literature that is focused on the knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of Filipinos regarding CRC screening. This is the first study in the Philippines that describes this.

This is a cross-sectional study that validated a 52-item Filipino questionnaire on the knowledge on colorectal cancer, willingness to undergo CRC screening, and perceived benefits and barriers to fecal occult blood test (FOBT) and colonoscopy. The study enrolled household heads more than 20 years of age residing in both urban and rural communities in the Philippines.

The UP-PGH CRC KAP (University of the Philippines – Philippine General Hospital Colorectal Cancer Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices) and Rawl Questionnaire’s validity and internal consistency were established in a pilot study of 30 respondents. A total of 288 respondents were then enrolled to the main study group with a median age of 54.0. Knowledge scores for prognosis and utility of CRC screening were modest (6.3/12 and 8.4/20, respectively). Perceived benefit scores to FOBT and colonoscopy were high (9.9/12 and 13.9/16, respectively).Median scores to barriers to FOBT and colonoscopy were intermediate (22.5/36 and 35.8/60, respectively). Notably, a vast majority (86.1%) were willing to participate in CRC screening programs initiated by the government, and 46.9% agreed to undergo screening tests even as out-of-pocket expense.

The UP-PGH CRC KAP Questionnaire as well as the Filipino translation of the Rawl Questionnaire are reliable and valid tools in extensively assessing the knowledge of Filipinos on CRC and willingness to undergo screening, as well as the benefits of and barriers to FOBT and colonoscopy. Knowledge scores were modest suggesting that directed educational campaigns and awareness programs can aid in increasing awareness about CRC and its screening. Household income and highest educational attainment were significantly positively correlated with knowledge scores, and perceived benefits of and barriers to CRC screening. Scores were generally comparable between urban and rural communities.

INTRODUCTION: The number of injuries and expenses from unsafe delivery of health care has heeded the call for a greater patient safety advocacy. The development of an effective reporting system contributes towards this cause. The study aimed to explore the perceptions of nurses regarding critical incidents and investigate the factors affecting their decision to report a certain event. METHODS: Focus group discussions including 28 nurses working in the service wards of a tertiary hospital, and the data gathered were analyzed using descriptive qualitative approach. RESULTS: Three key themes emerged from the discussions: (1) perceptions of an incident, (2) attitudes, norms, and culture of incident reporting in the workplace, and (3) perceptions and suggestions for management actions and improving the reporting system. The study showed that various factors tend to interplay in the identification of an incident as well as the consideration to perform the behavior. DISCUSSION The primary practice and education implications focus on changing the workplace culture and proper orientation of the staff, while further research regarding the role of reporting, and appropriate analysis of error reporting among other health care professionals would be recommended.
hospital communication systems ; nursing education ; critical incidents ; patient safety

Background: Hypertension remains the leading risk factor for mortality due to cardiovascular diseases worldwide. In the Philippines, this is the second most common cause of morbidity, with a rate of 602.4/100,000. Contributory to this burden is low adherence to lifestyle modifications in the general population and among healthcare workers (HCWs). This is observed despite HCWs’ knowledge and access to health services. Key to addressing this problem is patient education regarding healthy lifestyle, which has proven benefits on blood pressure control. Supportive methods, such as text messages and phone calls, can improve adherence. However, there is a gap in local data regarding tele-education, content, and healthcare workers. Objectives: The study aimed to determine adherence to a healthy lifestyle among hypertensive healthcare workers, specifically 1) adherence score to diet, physical activity, smoking cessation, and alcohol intake after 8 weeks of tele- education; 2) change in adherence from baseline to week 8; 3) change in adherence of those who underwent standard versus intensified tele-education. Methods: A randomized, controlled intervention study with 40 participants was conducted. Baseline adherence was recorded at the beginning, standard and intensified tele-education at week 4, and final adherence measurement at week 8. Results Baseline data revealed low total adherence to healthy lifestyle, with the lowest scores for diet (0%) and physical activity (20%). Highest change after week 4 of tele-education was seen in the intervention group diet (50%) and physical activity (70%). Total adherence increased in control (10%) and intervention (45%) groups. However, only the intervention group showed statistical significance (p-value < 0.001). Conclusions. Thus, intensified tele-education given one month after standard face-to-face education is an effective way of increasing adherence of hypertensive HCWs to a healthy lifestyle.
Hypertension ; telemedicine ; patient education

Introduction: Patient education is an integral component of diabetes mellitus care. The emergence of different methods and characteristics of patient education has led to varying outcomes of quality of life (QoL). Herein, we systematically searched for published studies reporting patient education and its methods and characteristics for improving the QoL of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods: In this scoping review, eligible studies from six databases (PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library, Springer Link, Science Direct and Google Scholar) were identified. The keywords used in the search strategies were as follows: health education, health promotion, patient education, diabetes care, QoL, diabetes mellitus and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Two reviewers independently screened all references and full-text articles retrieved to identify articles eligible for inclusion. Results: A total of 203 articles were identified in the initial search. Of them, 166 were excluded after screening the titles and abstracts. Further full-text screening led to the subsequent removal of 22 articles, leaving 15 articles eligible for data extraction. Conclusion There is a broad array of methods of patient education for improving the QoL of patients with T2DM. Self-management education with supplementary supervision and monitoring effectively improves QoL. Future studies must emphasise the application of holistic education covering psychological distress, diet plan, and physical health.
Health Education ; Health Promotion ; Patient Education as Topic ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; Quality of Life

Betacoronavirus ; Coronavirus Infections ; rehabilitation ; Critical Illness ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Pandemics ; Patient Education as Topic ; Pneumonia, Viral ; rehabilitation ; Respiratory Therapy ; methods

PURPOSE: This study aims to examine the effects of nursing interventions based on the Extended Theory of Planned Behavior (ETPB) regarding self-efficacy for exercise (SEE), physical activity (PA), physical function (PF), and quality of life (QOL) in patients with lung cancer who have undergone pulmonary resection.METHODS: This quasi-experimental study was conducted between July 2015 and June 2018 in two university-affiliated hospitals. The intervention included pre-operative patient education, goal setting (action and coping planning), and feedback (behavior intention and perceived behavioral control). The intervention group (IG) (n=51) received nursing interventions from the day before surgery to 12 months after lung resection, while the comparison group (CG) (n=36) received usual care. SEE, PA, PF (dyspnea, functional status, and 6-minute walking distance [6MWD]), and QOL were measured before surgery and at one, three, six, and 12 months after surgery. Data were analyzed using the χ² test, Fisher's exact test, Mann–Whitney U test, t-test, and generalized estimation equations (GEE).RESULTS: There were significant differences between the two groups regarding SEE (χ²=13.53, p=.009), PA (χ²=9.51, p=.049), functional status (χ²=10.55, p=.032), and 6MWD (χ²=15.62, p=.004). Although there were no time or group effects, the QOL mental component (Z=−2.78, p=.005) of the IG was higher than that of the CG one month after surgery. Interventions did not affect dyspnea or the QOL physical component.CONCLUSION: The intervention of this study was effective in improving SEE, PA, functional status, and 6MWD of lung cancer patients after lung resection. Further extended investigations that utilize ETPB are warranted to confirm these results.
Dyspnea ; Exercise ; Humans ; Intention ; Lung Neoplasms ; Lung ; Motor Activity ; Non-Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic ; Nursing ; Patient Education as Topic ; Quality of Life ; Self Efficacy ; Walking

Rotational thromboelastometry (ROTEM) is a point-of-care viscoelastic method and enables to assess viscoelastic profiles of whole blood in various clinical settings. ROTEM-guided bleeding management has become an essential part of patient blood management (PBM) which is an important concept in improving patient safety. Here, ROTEM testing and hemostatic interventions should be linked by evidence-based, setting-specific algorithms adapted to the specific patient population of the hospitals and the local availability of hemostatic interventions. Accordingly, ROTEM-guided algorithms implement the concept of personalized or precision medicine in perioperative bleeding management (‘theranostic’ approach). ROTEM-guided PBM has been shown to be effective in reducing bleeding, transfusion requirements, complication rates, and health care costs. Accordingly, several randomized-controlled trials, meta-analyses, and health technology assessments provided evidence that using ROTEM-guided algorithms in bleeding patients resulted in improved patient's safety and outcomes including perioperative morbidity and mortality. However, the implementation of ROTEM in the PBM concept requires adequate technical and interpretation training, education and logistics, as well as interdisciplinary communication and collaboration.
Cooperative Behavior ; Education ; Health Care Costs ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Interdisciplinary Communication ; Methods ; Mortality ; Organization and Administration ; Patient Safety ; Point-of-Care Systems ; Precision Medicine ; Technology Assessment, Biomedical ; Thrombelastography

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Since the introduction of hospital pharmacy residency programs in 1983, hospital pharmacists in South Korea have been expected to expand their roles. However, their services and the outcomes have not been fully understood. In this study, we conducted a systematic review of Korean hospital pharmacist-provided interventions with regard to intervention type, intervention consequences, and target patient groups. METHODS: A literature search of the following databases was performed: Embase, PubMed, Medline, KoreaMed, RISS, KMbase, KISS, NDSL, and KISTI. The search words were “hospital pharmacist”, “clinical pharmacist”, and “Korea”. Articles reporting clinical or economic outcome measures that resulted from hospital pharmacist interventions were considered. Numeric measures for the acceptance rate of pharmacist recommendations were subjected to meta-analysis. RESULTS: Of the 1,683 articles searched, 44 met the inclusion selection criteria. Most articles were published after 2000 (81.8%) and focused on clinical outcomes. Economic outcomes had been published since 2011. The interventions were classified as patient education, multidisciplinary team work, medication assessment, and guideline development. The outcome measures were physicians’ prescription changes, clinical outcomes, patient adherence, economic outcomes, and quality of life. The acceptance rate was 80.5% (p < 0.005). CONCLUSION: Studies on pharmacist interventions have increased and showed increased patient health benefits and reduced medical costs at Korean hospital sites. Because pharmacists' professional competency would be recognized if the economic outcomes of their work were confirmed and justified, studies on their clinical performance should also include their economic impact.
Humans ; Insurance Benefits ; Korea ; Outcome Assessment (Health Care) ; Patient Compliance ; Patient Education as Topic ; Patient Selection ; Pharmacists ; Pharmacy Residencies ; Prescriptions ; Quality of Life

Long duty hours have been associated with significant medical errors, adverse events, and physician “burn-out”. An innovative night float (NF) system has been implemented in our internal medicine program to reduce the negative effects of long duty hours associated with conventional full-call systems. However, concerns remain if this would result in inadequate training for interns. We developed a structured questionnaire to assess junior doctors’ perceptions of the NF system compared to full calls, in areas of patient safety, medical training, and well-being. Ninety-seven (71%) of the 137 doctors polled responded. Ninety-one (94%) felt the NF system was superior to the full call system. A strong majority felt NF was beneficial for patient safety compared to full call (94% vs. 2%, p<0.001). The NF system was also perceived to reduce medical errors (94% vs. 2%, p<0.001) and reduce physician “burn-out” (95% vs. 5%, p<0.001). Beyond being a practical solution to duty-hour limitations, there was a significant perceived benefit of the NF system compared to the full call in terms of overall satisfaction, patient safety, reducing medical errors and physician “burn-out”.
After-Hours Care ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Education, Medical ; Humans ; Internal Medicine ; Medical Errors ; Patient Safety ; Patient Satisfaction

PURPOSE: This study investigated the attitudes of Korean medical students about patient safety to determine which perspectives required increased focus in terms of educational development. METHODS: Attitudes were assessed using the Patient Safety Questionnaire, a tool designed to measure attitudes toward patient safety among medical students. Questionnaires were distributed to 580 clinical year students across four medical schools in December 2018. RESULTS: A total of 300 returned questionnaires were used in the final analysis. More than half of all respondents agreed (i.e., gave more than 4 out of 7 points) with most items and thoroughly considered the concept of patient safety. However, many students misperceived several items (e.g., professional incompetence as a cause of errors, disclosure responsibility, the importance of patient safety in the curriculum, and situational awareness). CONCLUSION: Attitudes toward patient safety are highly important due to their substantial impacts on behavioral decisions in the clinical setting. As such, patient safety education should be designed to place greater emphasis on proper attitude. This study's findings should be useful for medical instructors who wish to determine the appropriate areas of curricular focus.
Curriculum ; Disclosure ; Education ; Education, Medical ; Humans ; Patient Safety ; Schools, Medical ; Students, Medical ; Surveys and Questionnaires