Evaluating the effect of COVID-19 incidence on Emergency Departments admissions. Results from a retrospective study in Central Italy during the first year of pandemic.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on the Healthcare System, changing the patterns of Emergency Department access. In fact, accesses for trauma and less severe cases decreased significantly. This decline has generally been attributed to both the effects of the lockdown, imposed by the government, and the fear of being infected by SARS-CoV-2 in the hospital.

Reducing waiting times of elective surgical procedures: effectiveness evaluation of a multi-interventions approach.

Background: Increasing waiting times for elective surgery is a major concern for policymakers and healthcare staff in many countries, due to its effect on health, patient satisfaction and the perceived quality of health-care. Many organizational models to reduce surgical waiting times have been studied, but the international literature indicates that multidimensional interventions on different aspects of the surgical pathway can be more effective in reducing waiting times than interventions focused on optimizing a single aspect.

Aim: The aim of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a multidimensional intervention in reducing waiting times for elective surgery.

Strengthening Routine Immunization Services in an Angolan : The Fight against the Burden of Unvaccinated Children in the Sustainable Development Goals Era.

In May 2018, the non-governmental organization (NGO) began to implement an intervention to strengthen Chiulo Hospital's public health section to deliver immunization services in Mucope , Ombadja District. We aimed to evaluate the effect of this intervention. During the intervention period, actions such as staff training, improvement in the monitoring of vaccine stockpile, and the involvement of Community Health Workers were performed.

Night work and quality of life. A study on the health of nurses.

Background: Job quality and evaluation of workers' health have both medical and social important implications. We studied health-related quality of life (HRQL) in nurses who perform their activity in night shifts.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between October and November 2014.

Developing a new predictor of health expenditure: preliminary results from a primary healthcare setting.

Objectives: Risk adjustment is a widely used tool for health expenditure prediction and control. Early approaches for estimating health expenditure were based on patient demographic variables alone, whereas more recent models incorporate patient information, such as chronic medical conditions, clinical diagnoses, and self-reported health status. Many studies have investigated the health expenditure predictive capacity of single demographic, morbidity, or health-related quality of life measures, but the best models prove to be those that include them all.

Reported experience of patients with single or multiple chronic diseases: empirical evidence from Italy.

Background: More and more countries have been implementing chronic care programs, such as the Chronic Care Model (CCM) to manage non-acute conditions of diseases in a more effective and less expensive way. Often, these programs aim to provide care for single conditions instead of the sum of diseases. This paper analyzes the satisfaction and better management of single and multiple chronic patients with the core elements of chronic care programs in Siena, Italy.

Gender differences in health expenditure determinants: A follow-up study.

Researchers' aim was to investigate if patients/physicians characteristics could differently affect males/females health care expenditure. In 2009/2010, a health-related-quality-of-life (HRQL) measure was distributed to 887 general practitioners' (GP) patients in Siena's province-Italy. Severity of diseases was calculated through Cumulative Illness Rating Scale Severity Index (CIRS-SI).

Italian medical students quality of life: years 2005-2015.

Background: Quality of Life (QoL) is a concept used to indicate the general wellness of persons or societies. University students report a low quality of life and a worse perception of their health status, because of a situation of greater discomfort in which they live during the course of the study, especially in faculties with an important emotional burden, such as medical schools. The aim of the study was to evaluate the perceived health status of first year medical students.

Is it possible to sanitize athletes' shoes?

Context: Footwear should be designed to avoid trauma and injury to the skin of the feet that can favor bacterial and fungal infections. Procedures and substances for sanitizing the interior of shoes are uncommon but are important aspects of primary prevention against foot infections and unpleasant odor.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of a sanitizing technique for reducing bacterial and fungal contamination of footwear.

Which factors influence functional patients improvements during rehabilitation?

Background: Rehabilitation in patients with disabilities is an important aspect of tertiary prevention. Severity of disability, evaluated by global measures of autonomy, are essential for functional outcome evaluation.

Aim: To determine the effectiveness of a rehabilitation programme in terms of percentage functional improvement (PFI); to verify the role of gender, age and length of stay (LOS), by motor and cognitive domains, on PFI.

Nonfatal road traffic injuries: can road safety campaigns prevent hazardous behavior? An Italian experience.

Objectives: Road traffic injuries are a widespread problem and are very difficult to prevent. The purpose of this study was to verify whether intensive versus basic road safety education programs are associated with different incidence and severity of nonfatal road injuries.

Method: The study had an ecological design and involved Local Health Authority One (LHA1) in Salerno, Italy, which includes 20 municipalities.

Patient mobility for cardiac problems: a risk-adjusted analysis in Italy.

Background: The Italian National Health System was revised in the last 20 years, introducing new elements such as efficacy, efficiency and competitiveness. Devolution to regional authorities has created a quasi-market system where patients can choose the hospital in which to be treated. Patient mobility therefore becomes an indicator of perceived hospital quality and of financial flows between the regions of Italy.

The effect of healthcare delivery privatisation on avoidable mortality: longitudinal cross-regional results from Italy, 1993-2003.

Background: During the 1990s, Italy privatised a significant portion of its healthcare delivery. The authors compared the effectiveness of private and public sector healthcare delivery in reducing avoidable mortality (deaths that should not occur in the presence of effective medical care).

Methods: The authors calculated the average rate of change in age-standardised avoidable mortality rates in 19 of Italy's regions from 1993 to 2003.

Patients' evaluation of hospital foodservice quality in Italy: what do patients really value?

Objective: Patients often do not eat/drink enough during hospitalization. To enable patients to meet their energy and nutritional requirements, food and catering service quality and staff support are therefore important. We assessed patients' satisfaction with hospital food and investigated aspects influencing it.

Is it possible to evaluate addiction from clinical records? Testing a retrospective addiction severity evaluation measure.

Aim: To compare an addiction severity score estimated from clinical records to addiction severity index (ASI) scores.

Methods: During April-May 2004, 31 patients treated in a therapeutic community in the Piedmont region (Italy) were interviewed using the ASI questionnaire and their clinical records were used to obtain severity scores in seven areas: physical health, occupational functioning, alcohol use, drug use, legal problems, family/social relationships, psychological health. Correlation, agreement, and discriminatory capacity of the clinical records score in correctly classifying persons with low or high severity were investigated using Spearman, Kappa coefficient, and receiver operating characteristics curves.

Importance of sociodemographic and morbidity aspects in measuring health-related quality of life: performances of three tools: comparison of three questionnaire scores.

Background: Since health-related quality of life (HRQL) measures are numerous, comparisons have been suggested.

Aim: To compare three HRQL measures: SF6D, HUI3 and EQ5D.

Methods: Three questionnaires (SF36, HUI3, EQ5D) were administered to 1,011 patients attending 16 general practices in two Italian cities.