Return to work of major trauma survivors from a private level 1 trauma centre in South Africa.

Purpose: Trauma is known as a leading cause of mortality and injury related disability globally. In South Africa (SA) the socioeconomic burden of trauma is magnified as the working age is most affected. The aim of this study was to describe the proportion of major trauma survivors who returned to work (RTW) during a 6-month period post hospital discharge and to identify the factors associated with the RTW outcome.

Physical function measures in ICU survivors, where to now? A scoping review.

Background: Growing evidence is describing the long-term morbidity experienced by critical illness survivors, a major contributing factor being impaired physical function. Consensus is yet to be reached on which physical function measures should be included in this population. This review aimed to describe physical functioning measurement instruments used in longitudinal studies of critical illness survivors, based on the International Classification of Function (ICF).

Validation of the World Health Organization Rehabilitation Competency Framework: An illustration using physiotherapy.

Objective: The World Health Organization's Rehabilitation 2030 initiative represents a new strategic direction for the worldwide rehabilitation community and their Rehabilitation Competency Framework (RCF) was designed to describe the requirements of a rehabilitation workforce. This study aimed to identify and review global physiotherapy competencies and explore their congruence with the WHO-RCF.

Design: A document review and thematic analysis were conducted on competency documents sourced from World Physiotherapy member countries.

Rethinking Scale-Up of Rehabilitation for Chronic Disease in Low-Resource Settings: Embracing Complexity for Contextual Impact.

As the burden of chronic disease and multiple long-term conditions is increasing globally, disproportionally affecting those in low-resourced settings, there is an increasing call to action to scale effective models of care that can assist in mitigating the impact of chronic disease on functioning, activity, societal participation, and health-related quality of life. The aim of this paper is to unpack the contextual factors that have been implicitly and explicitly voiced by researchers reporting on rehabilitation interventions used to manage chronic disease in low-resourced settings. We systematically engaged the literature and applied a reflexive qualitative and systems thinking lens to unpack the contextual factors and their interplay.

Patient perceptions of ICU physiotherapy: 'Your body needs to go somewhere to be recharged … '.

Background: Patient satisfaction is an essential concept to consider for the improvement of quality care in healthcare centres and hospitals and has been linked to increased patient compliance with treatment plans, better patient safety and improved clinical outcomes.

Objectives: As part of a before-and-after clinical trial aimed to investigate the implementation of an evidence-based and -validated physiotherapy protocol within a surgical intensive care unit (ICU), we decided to include the patient perception of physiotherapy received in the intervention unit.

Methods: A nested, exploratory, descriptive, qualitative study design was adopted.

Functional outcomes of patients in ICU using the Chelsea Critical Care Physical Assessment tool: An integrative review.

Background: Outcome measures can assess the change in the health status of a patient in an intensive care unit (ICU). The Chelsea Critical Care Physical Assessment (CPAx) tool is used to assess the functional outcomes to monitor patient progression or regression in an ICU.

Objectives: Our study aimed to identify studies that assess the functional outcomes of patients nursed in ICUs that use the CPAx tool.

Practitioner's knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and practices towards urinary incontinence.

Background: One in three women in South Africa suffer from urinary incontinence. Effective management is influenced by patients help-seeking behaviour and services offered by healthcare professionals within the healthcare system. Current practice towards urinary incontinence management in South Africa is unknown.

Public sector physiotherapists' organisation and profile: Implications for intensive care service.

Background: Physiotherapists are essential in the management of hospitalised patients. The way in which a physiotherapy service is offered in intensive care units (ICUs) can affect ICU patient outcomes.

Objectives: To provide a clear picture of the organisation and structure of physiotherapy departments, the number and types of ICUs requiring physiotherapy services and the profile of physiotherapists working in South African public-sector central, regional and tertiary hospitals that house Level I-IV ICUs.

Chronic Disease in Low-Resource Settings: Prevention and Management Throughout the Continuum of Care-A Call for Papers.

Multimorbidity, defined as the presence of two or more chronic conditions in an individual, has become a global public health challenge [...

Patient-Reported Outcome Measures in Key Sub-Saharan African Languages to Promote Diversity: A Scoping Review.

Objectives: Sub-Saharan Africa is a world region rich and diverse in cultures and languages; yet, it is also challenged with regard to resources that may facilitate the cultural adaptation or development of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs). Systematic exclusion of patients' "voices," because of gaps in the availability of PROMs, may perpetuate health inequity. Hence, the objective is to describe the availability of PROMs in the non-English, sub-Saharan African languages.

Data on the clinical, functional, and patient-reported outcomes of patient-centred rehabilitation for patients with non-communicable disease living in low-resourced settings.

In this data article, we present data obtained from a randomized clinical trial aimed at determining the feasibility of patient-centred rehabilitation for people with non-communicable disease (NCD) living in a low-resource setting. Patients were identified at primary care level and considered eligible if having on or more of the NCDs central to the NCD burden of disease (Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Pulmonary Disease or Cancer). Using a "trial within cohort" design, a total 74 patients were included (36% of those identified as eligible) in a longitudinal cohort with repeated assessments at baseline, 8 and 16 weeks.

Persistent Symptoms among Frontline Health Workers Post-Acute COVID-19 Infection.

Growing evidence shows that a significant number of patients with COVID-19 experience persistent symptoms, also known as long COVID-19. We sought to identify persistent symptoms of COVID-19 in frontline workers at Right to Care South Africa, who are past the acute phase of illness, using a cross-sectional survey. We analysed data from 207 eligible COVID-19 positive frontline workers who participated in a two-month post-COVID-19 online self-administered survey.

The "trial within cohort design" was a pragmatic model for low-resourced settings.

Objectives: To determine the feasibility of using a trial within cohort (TWIC) design as a model to study pragmatic interventions in a low-resource setting to ensure that (i) ethical concerns raised with the conventional clinical trial design could be alleviated, (ii) key parameters could be obtained that may promote implementation of interventions in low-resource settings, although retaining the methodological rigor required to assess real-world efficacy.

Methods: A TWIC design was adopted to evaluate the feasibility of a community-based, patient-centered rehabilitation program, in an underprivileged South African community. Procedural aspects of the trial in relation to recruitment, retention, acceptance, and methodological rigor were evaluated.

Transformative learning through participation: experiences at a rural clinical training site in South Africa.

Background: Distributed training has been cited as an opportunity that offers transformative learning experiences in preparing a future workforce to address local needs. For this reason, rural and longitudinal placements are increasingly being adopted by medical schools across the world. Place, participation and person are considered integral in the process of transformation of medical students into responsive graduates on the distributed platform.

A modified six-minute walk test (6MWT) for low-resource settings-a cross-sectional study.

Background: The 6 min walk test (6MWT) is a validated tool used to assess functional capacity in a variety of patient populations. Space constraints often limit the practicality of the 6MWT according to the standard (2002) American Thoracic Society protocol, and therefore, adaptations to this protocol are common with potential implications for research and clinical practice. Furthermore, such implications for research and clinical practice may be augmented in low-resourced settings.

Six-minute walk test protocol variations in low-resource settings - A scoping review.

Background: The 6-min walk test (6MWT) is a validated tool, of submaximal intensity, used to objectively measure functional exercise capacity. In 2002, the American Thoracic Society (ATS) developed guidelines on standardising the implementation of the 6MWT. Despite the relative ease of conducting the 6MWT as per these guidelines, adaptations are implemented.

Patient-Reported OUtcome measures in key African languages to promote Diversity in research and clinical practice (PROUD)-protocol for a systematic review of measurement properties.

Introduction: Sub-Saharan Africa is a subcontinent with a proud cultural richness and diversity, yet inexplicably also a region with severe health care challenges and inequity. To challenge this health equity gap and reduce the burden of disease, the patient's voice in monitoring and evaluation of health and health care interventions is paramount. The aim of this two-phased review is to map the availability of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) in a selection of non-English, African Languages, and systematically evaluate the measurement properties of the PROMs that were identified.

Unravelling 'low-resource settings': a systematic scoping review with qualitative content analysis.

Introduction: The effects of healthcare-related inequalities are most evident in low-resource settings. Such settings are often not explicitly defined, and umbrella terms which are easier to operationalise, such as 'low-to-middle-income countries' or 'developing countries', are often used. Without a deeper understanding of context, such proxies are pregnant with assumptions, insinuate homogeneity that is unsupported and hamper knowledge translation between settings.

Training for Transformation: Opportunities and Challenges for Health Workforce Sustainability in Developing a Remote Clinical Training Platform.

In 2018, Stellenbosch University's Ukwanda Centre for Rural Health led a faculty initiative to expand undergraduate health professions training to a new site, 9 hours drive from the health sciences campus in the sparsely populated Northern Cape Province of South Africa in the town of Upington. This is part of a faculty strategy to extend undergraduate health sciences training into an under-resourced part of the country, where there is no medical school. During 2019, the first year of implementation, four final year medical students undertook a longitudinal integrated clerkship at this site, while final year students from other programmes undertook short 5-week rotations, with plans for extending rotations and including more disciplines in 2020.

Health education interventions to promote health literacy in adults with selected non-communicable diseases living in low-to-middle income countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Rationale, Aims And Objectives: Health illiteracy is an important contributor to the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs); in particular in settings where health illiteracy is part of a perpetuating system of risk factors. Interventions that promote health literacy may provide an important tool in the primary and secondary prevention of NCDs. The objective of this systematic review was to evaluate the effectiveness of health literacy interventions on health literacy in the management of patients with selected NCDs living in low-to-middle income countries (LMIC).

Nutrient density, but not cost of diet, is associated with anemia and iron deficiency in school-age children in South Africa.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the relationship of nutrient density and diet cost with anemia and iron deficiency (ID) in children.

Methods: Dietary intake data of 5- to 12-y-old children (n = 578) from three independent studies in low-income communities were pooled. Nutrient densities were calculated using the Nutrient Rich Foods index and Nutrient Rich Diet index, with higher scores indicating more nutrient-dense foods and diets.

Exploring literature on knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and practices towards urinary incontinence management: a scoping review.

Introduction And Hypothesis: Urinary incontinence affects women of all ages, influencing 8.5% of the world's population in 2018. Effective management of urinary incontinence is influenced by patients help-seeking behaviour and services offered by healthcare professionals within the healthcare system.

Associations of dietary diversity with anaemia and iron status among 5- to 12-year-old schoolchildren in South Africa.

Objective: To examine the associations of dietary diversity with anaemia and iron status among primary school-aged children in South Africa.

Design: An analysis was conducted with pooled individual data from the baseline surveys from three previously conducted independent intervention studies. Two different dietary diversity scores (DDS) were calculated based on data from 1-day (1-d) and 3-day (3-d) dietary recall periods, respectively.