OBJECTIVES The promotion of health and safety (H&S) awareness among hospital staff can be applied through various methods. The aim of this study was to assess the risk level of physical hazards in the hospital sector by combining workers' perception, experts' evaluation and objective measurements. METHODS A cross-sectional study was designed using multiple triangulation. Hospital staff (n = 4...

There has been a growing awareness in recent years of the need for health administrators to consider the objectives and welfare of both patients and staff when formulating working policy, and, in particular, the widespread introduction of appointment schemes in a wide range of clinics and general practice surgeries has been an important instrument in balancing the time wasted by doctors (in wai...

AIMS To survey methods for cost control of out-of-hours laboratory services in district general hospitals in England and Wales. METHODS A questionnaire was distributed to 66 district general hospital laboratories in England and Wales. RESULTS The response rate was 61%. Most laboratories for which budgetary information was provided had on-call costs ranging between 10-21% of staff costs. Nin...

The metamorphosis from an extensive mental hospital system of care, rooted in a culture and tradition of self-sufficiency and isolation, to the concept and practise of delivery of psychiatric care in general hospitals is described. The obstacles, psychological and practical, to be overcome in this change process are outlined. The place of the general hospital psychiatric unit in psychiatric and...

PURPOSE To compare the diagnostic accuracy of diseases predicted from patient responses to a simple questionnaire completed prior to examination by doctors with different levels of ambulatory training in general medicine. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS Before patient examination, five trained physicians, four short-term-trained residents, and four untrained residents examined patient responses to a...

The Susan Britton Wills Unit at the Bristol General Hospital is a small and busy multidisciplinary psychiatric unit, providing a wide range of in-patient, out-patient and day-patient services for the residents of Bristol Health District.

BACKGROUND Promoting breastfeeding is a central aim of child health care. It is critical to develop approaches that are inexpensive, effective, and suitable across cultural and socioeconomic groups. OBJECTIVE To study the effect of training perinatal-neonatal nursing and medical staff in breastfeeding guidance on the duration of breastfeeding in a middle-income urban population. METHODS Thi...

The first 18 months' experience in a self-contained, 9-bedded cardiac monitoring unit in a regional general hospital is reported. Of 667 admissions, 373 (56%) had acute myocardial infarction. Of these, 61 (16%) patients suffered cardiac arrest(s), and 11 were successfully resuscitated. The overall mortality was 13.4%, which compares favourably with other series reported.

As specialist services are insufficient to meet the needs of the people, especially in rural areas, the training of medical and paramedical health staff through short courses in psychiatry has been recommended in the National Mental Health Program. A two week orientation course in mental health has been recommended for general physicians, including those working at the dispensary level. This pa...

[Purpose] This study was performed to evaluate the occupational performance of stroke patients and their environment by occupational self-assessment and to investigate the relationship between occupational performance and well-being. [Subjects and Methods] This study enrolled ninety-two stroke patients who were receiving occupational therapy at a general hospital, a rehabilitation hospital, or ...