BACKGROUND India has announced a goal of universal access to quality tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis and treatment. A number of novel diagnostics could help meet this important goal. The rollout of one such diagnostic, Xpert MTB/RIF (Xpert) is being considered, but if Xpert is used mainly for people with HIV or high risk of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) in the public sector, population-level impa...

OBJECTIVE To integrate informal registered medical practitioners (IRMP) in Directly Observed Therapy Short Course (DOTS) implementation to improve case detection rate. METHODS This interventional study was conducted in the settlement area of Malir district whereas New Karachi was taken as control, between February to November 2005. All registered healthcare providers within 5 kilometer around...

The aim of this thesis was to examine the cost-effectiveness of specific advanced home care and home rehabilitation interventions and to improve economic evaluation methods when applied to advanced home care. This included a comparison of two alternative ways of administering oxygen at home to patients with chronic hypoxaemia, as well as a review of scientific evidence on costs and effects of h...

INTRODUCTION Rural and remote settings pose particular healthcare and service delivery challenges. Providing appropriate care and support for individuals with dementia and their families living in these communities is especially difficult, and can only be accomplished when the needs of care providers and the context and complexity of care provision are understood. This paper describes formal an...

As governments seek to expand access to quality health care services, policy makers in many countries are confronting the problem of informal payments to medical personnel. The aim of this study was to help health planners in Albania understand informal payments occurring in government health facilities. Researchers used in-depth interviews and focus groups with 131 general public and provider ...

Informal caregivers have long been used as health care providers. It is also not uncommon in present days, to see such practice in the community. This practice of caring normally occurs within the context of the family. The purpose of the study is to explore and describe the educational and supportive needs of informal caregivers. This will assist in planning and establishing health education p...

OBJECTIVE To understand healthcare providers' experiences with improvised uterine balloon tamponade (UBT) for the management of uncontrolled postpartum hemorrhage (PPH). METHODS In a qualitative descriptive study, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted between November 2014 and June 2015 among Kenyan healthcare providers who had previous experience with improvising a UBT device. I...

OBJECTIVES To examine the levels of geographic inequities in households' choice of providers, mode of diagnosis and drugs for the treatment of malaria. METHODS Interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect information from 2250 randomly selected respondents from six malaria-endemic communities in southeast Nigeria. A comparison of data between urban and rural areas was used to ex...

BACKGROUND The lack of knowledge and standardization of safety practices related to prescribing, dispensing, administering, and monitoring oral agents for cancer (OACs) has created significant safety challenges for patients and healthcare providers. Problems identified with the use of OACs include possible medication errors, increased potential for toxicity, unintentional exposure of hazardous ...

Results The study found that long-term care was defined as the care provided by formal professional health care staffs and informal staffs to people who were unable to live their lives on their own because of functional limiting health problems such as chronic illnesses in elderly people. The systems of care that affected the quality of life of clients consisted of biological, psychological and...