Improving post-acute stroke follow-up care by adopting telecare consultations in a nurse-led clinic: Study protocol of a hybrid implementation-effectiveness trial.

Aim: To evaluate the clinical effectiveness and implementation strategies of telecare consultations in post-stroke nurse-led clinics.

Background: Telecare consultations could be an alternative to conventional in-person consultations and improve continuity of care for stroke survivors following their discharge from hospital. Previous studies utilizing telecare consultations only focused on testing their clinical effectiveness on stroke survivors; the appropriateness and feasibility of adopting this new delivery modality in a real-world setting were not examined.

Sustaining telecare consultations in nurse-led clinics: Perceptions of stroke patients and advanced practice nurses: A qualitative study.

Objective: The ongoing pandemic has accentuated the use of telecare services; however, only limited progress has been made in understanding the barriers and facilitators to using these services. In order to move towards sustaining such essential services, the present study aimed to ascertain the experiences of stroke survivors and healthcare providers regarding the utilization of a post-stroke telecare service in Hong Kong.

Methods: Interpretive description was employed for this study.

The effects of involvement in training and volunteering with families of people with dementia on the knowledge and attitudes of volunteers towards dementia.

Background: Volunteers have been a valuable resource in supporting people with dementia and their caregivers in the community. However, factors such as misconceptions, negative attitudes towards dementia, and a lack of motivation might impact the quality of volunteer care. The present paper aims to examine the effect of training and service provision on the knowledge and attitudes of volunteers towards dementia and the association between knowledge and attitudes with the levels of motivation to volunteer.

3D dissimilar-siamese-u-net for hyperdense Middle cerebral artery sign segmentation.

The hyperdense middle cerebral artery sign (HMCAS) representing a thromboembolus has been declared as a vital CT finding for intravascular thrombus in the diagnosis of acute ischemia stroke. Early recognition of HMCAS can assist in patient triage and subsequent thrombolysis or thrombectomy treatment. A total of 624 annotated head non-contrast-enhanced CT (NCCT) image scans were retrospectively collected from multiple public hospitals in Hong Kong.

Development of a data-driven COVID-19 prognostication tool to inform triage and step-down care for hospitalised patients in Hong Kong: a population-based cohort study.

Background: This is the first study on prognostication in an entire cohort of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients in the city of Hong Kong. Prognostic tool is essential in the contingency response for the next wave of outbreak. This study aims to develop prognostic models to predict COVID-19 patients' clinical outcome on day 1 and day 5 of hospital admission.

Family medicine vocational training and career satisfaction in Hong Kong.

Background: Postgraduate vocational training in family medicine (FM) is essential for physicians to build capacity and develop quality primary care. Inadequate standards in training and curriculum development can contribute to poor recruitment and retention of doctors in primary care. This study aimed to investigate: 1) the satisfaction level of doctors regarding vocational training in family medicine and associated demographics; and 2) the satisfaction level of doctors regarding their family medicine career and associated factors.

Cost-effectiveness of a primary care multidisciplinary Risk Assessment and Management Program for patients with diabetes mellitus (RAMP-DM) over lifetime.

Purpose: The multidisciplinary Risk Assessment and Management Program for patients with diabetes mellitus (RAMP-DM) was found to be cost-saving in comparison with usual primary care over 5 years' follow-up. This study aimed to estimate the cost-effectiveness of RAMP-DM over lifetime.

Methods: We built a Discrete Event Simulation model to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of RAMP-DM over lifespan from public health service provider's perspective.

Effectiveness of the multidisciplinary Risk Assessment and Management Program for Patients with Diabetes Mellitus (RAMP-DM) for diabetic microvascular complications: A population-based cohort study.

Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of the multidisciplinary Risk Assessment and Management Program for Patients with Diabetes Mellitus (RAMP-DM) in reducing the risks of microvascular complications.

Methods: This prospective cohort study was conducted with 29,670 propensity-score-matched RAMP-DM participants and diabetes patients under the usual primary care (14,835 in each group). Study endpoints were the first occurrence of any diabetic microvascular complications, non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy/preproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR/prePDR), sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy (STDR) or blindness, nephropathy, end-stage renal disease (ESRD), neuropathy and lower-limb ulcers or amputation.

Long-term effects of the multidisciplinary risk assessment and management program for patients with diabetes mellitus (RAMP-DM): a population-based cohort study.

Background: Studies on the long-term effectiveness of multidisciplinary risk-stratification based management in Chinese population were rare. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a multidisciplinary risk assessment and management program for patients with diabetes mellitus (RAMP-DM) in reducing the risks of cardiovascular complications and all-cause mortality.

Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted in 18,188 propensity score matched RAMP-DM participants and subjects with diabetes under usual primary care (9,094 subjects in each group).

Markers for the identification of tendon-derived stem cells in vitro and tendon stem cells in situ - update and future development.

The efficacy of tendon-derived stem cells (TDSCs) for the promotion of tendon and tendon-bone junction repair has been reported in animal studies. Modulation of the tendon stem cell niche in vivo has also been reported to influence tendon structure. There is a need to have specific and reliable markers that can define TDSCs in vitro and tendon stem cells in situ for several reasons: to understand the basic biology of TDSCs and their subpopulations in vitro; to understand the identity, niches and functions of tendon/progenitor stem cells in vivo; to meet the governmental regulatory requirements for quality of TDSCs when translating the exciting preclinical findings into clinical trial/practice; and to develop new treatment strategies for mobilizing endogenous stem/progenitor cells in tendon.

A nurse-delivered brief health education intervention to improve pneumococcal vaccination rate among older patients with chronic diseases: a cluster randomized controlled trial.

Background: The 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine is recommended for elders, especially those with chronic conditions.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine if an additional multi-component health education intervention increases the uptake rate of the pneumococcal vaccination among older patients with chronic diseases.

Methods: A cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted from 3 December 2007 to 7 March 2008.

Laparoscopic surgery for common surgical emergencies: a population-based study.

Background: Despite being controversial in the past, many reports on the safe use of laparoscopic surgery in emergency settings have been published. The aim of this study was to investigate the diffusion of laparoscopic surgery in three common surgical emergency operations, namely, appendectomy, cholecystectomy, and simple repair of perforated peptic ulcer (PPU), in a stable population.

Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of the central database of the Hospital Authority (HA) in Hong Kong.

Gallbladder cancer presenting with acute cholecystitis: a population-based study.

Background: The role of laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) in acute cholecystitis remains controversial. The aim of the present study was to determine the incidence, clinicopathological characteristics, and outcome of patients with gallbladder cancer presenting with acute cholecystitis.

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of patients with gallbladder cancer who presented with acute cholecystitis and were treated at the public hospitals in Hong Kong between 1998 and 2002.

Ensuring the quality of health care.

The importance of high standards and striving for excellence in the Hong Kong health care system have been affirmed in the debate following release of the Harvard Report. This paper reviews the issue of quality in health care and recommends a triad quality framework to achieve this, consisting of enhancing professional practice, empowering patients, and providing a facilitative environment in which quality of care is encouraged.