Effective communication between patients, their families, their carers and health care professionals is paramount to the delivery of high quality care. Addressing the ideas, concerns and expectations of these groups may improve their healthcare experience. We propose that opening a new channel of communication between patients, families, carers and healthcare professionals on the wards would im...

Effective nurse shift-to-shift handover is a prerequisite for high-quality inpatient care. Combining person-centeredness with the need for improved handover rituals, we introduced and evaluated person-centered handover (PCH) in an oncological inpatient setting. PCH is the shift-to-shift nursing report performed together with the patient according to a set structure focused on patient participat...

In their recent paper, Jean Adams and Martin White1 make the observation that electoral wards in north-east England with low aggregate measures of education, employment or income generally have shorter straight-line distances to a general practice. They conclude that ‘more deprived areas tend to be better served by health services in terms of geographical proximity to general practices’ (p. 81)...

Copyright: © 2013. The Authors. Licensee: AOSIS OpenJournals. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License. Background: Re-engineering primary health care is a cornerstone of the health sector reform initiated nationally in South Africa in 2009. Using the concept of ward based NGO-run health posts, Tshwane District, Gauteng, began implementing community oriented primary ...

Whilst urban-dwelling individuals who seek out parks and gardens appear to intuitively understand the personal health and well-being benefits arising from 'contact with nature', public health strategies are yet to maximize the untapped resource nature provides, including the benefits of nature contact as an upstream health promotion intervention for populations. This paper presents a summary of...