Background: Tuberculosis is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in Africa, especially Ghana. Despite the current treatments for tuberculosis, positive treatment outcomes are not attainable due to the differences in the socio-economic and bio-psychological status of the patients. The present study aimed to assess the influential factors in the treatment outcomes of tuberculosis. Methods: T...

The advent of wireless technology has enabled healthcare organizations to trial innovative solutions in order to save cost and address some of the existing problems. In Australia, many healthcare organizations have either implemented or in the process of trialing wireless technology based solutions to address critical issues. This paper reports the outcome of opinions expressed by nurses on acc...

When a healthcare professional commits an error that results in an adverse patient outcome, it is increasingly considered appropriate that an apology should be made to the harmed person. 2 Such an apology benefits both the health professional and the patient, and serves to address the considerable emotional burden that accompanies this wrenching aspect of practice (see page 249). The process of...

Refractory asthma represents a significant unmet clinical need. Data from a national online registry audited clinical outcome in 349 adults with refractory asthma from four UK specialist centres in the British Thoracic Society Difficult Asthma Network. At follow-up, lung function improved, with a reduction in important healthcare outcomes, specifically hospital admission, unscheduled healthcare...

BACKGROUND To assess the impact of a real-time random safety tool on structure, process and outcome indicators. METHODS Prospective study conducted over a period of 12 months in two adult patient intensive care units. Safety rounds were conducted three days a week ascertaining 37 safety measures (grouped into 10 blocks). In each round, 50% of the patients and 50% of the measures were randomiz...

While much research emphasizes design-before-use, we here study design-in-use. The notion of participatory continuing design is introduced to draw attention to the ongoing work of incorporating information and communication technology into work processes in healthcare institutions. Through an empirical case study of how telemedicine, in the form of videoconferencing, was taken up in a rehabilit...

BACKGROUND Although cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) and psychodynamic therapy (PDT) are both effective treatments for mental disorders, they show clear dissimilarities concerning their therapeutic models and treatment rationales. AIMS To determine the effectiveness of systematic treatment selection (STS) to CBT or PDT in a mental healthcare setting compared with a control procedure of ran...

OBJECTIVE Little is known about the practice of predicting community-based care effectiveness of patients affected by schizophrenic disorders. We assessed predictors of treatment failure in a large sample of young people affected by schizophrenia. METHODS A cohort of 556 patients aged 18-35 years who were originally diagnosed with schizophrenia during 2005-2009 in a Mental Health Service (MHS...