Health Management Papers & Publications

Background and Objectives: The outpatient department (OPD) pharmacy is a section of the hospital pharmacy that helps patients obtain their prescribed medications. However, on-time delivery of medications and patients’ convenient access to the pharmacy are the hallmarks of a well-designed health-care system. Therefore, he aim of this study was to develop a pharmacy triage tool to improve patient flow and reduce waiting time in the fourth-floor pharmacy at Hamad General Hospital (HGH). Methods: This prospective and observational study was conducted on 14,740 patients who attended the OPD pharmacy (HGH, Qatar) between January 15, 2022 and March 15, 2022. This prospective and observational study consisted of three periods: A root cause analysis, a pre-intervention period of 1 month (January 15, 2021–February 14, 2021) and an intervention period of 1 month (15 February–15 March). We developed a pharmacy triage tool to improve patient flow and reduce waiting time by identifying patients who need their medications to be dispensed, as well as classifying patients to get the right patient to the right place and implementing a patient flow system to improve efficiency spends in pharmacy queues. Results: The results of this study showed that the use of the triage system in the pharmacy reduced the average waiting time of patients from 50 min to 15 min. The results were statistically significant at p<0.0001. Conclusion: We concluded that applying the pharmacy triage tool improved quality of services in health-care systems and decreased waiting time in the OPD pharmacy. The pharmacy triage tool is a new approach to enhancing the quality of healthcare and leads to an increase in the efficiency of OPD pharmacies.

Karishma

Introduction: In Bangladesh, diabetes mellitus (DM) is a significant health concern contributing to numerous complications that enhance the mortality risk. This study aims to examine the impact of lifestyle patterns, socioeconomic conditions, and comorbidities among diabetic patients to establish valid associations between variables. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among 450 patients with diabetes mellitus at the outpatient department of different hospitals in Bangladesh. Data collection was done through face-to-face interviews using a structured questionnaire. Results: The study analyzed sociodemographic and lifestyle traits among diabetic patients, categorized by gender and results were based on unadjusted analysis. Men had a higher prevalence of being married (99.4%) compared to women (97.9%). Women were more common in rural areas (67.5%) and less likely to own smartphones (12.3%, vs 24.7% for men). More women were overweight (31.2%) and owned house (92.1%). Clinical symptoms showed no significant gender associations except for headaches, more prevalent in women (OR=0.65; p=0.034). Women had a higher prevalence of cardiovascular disease (48.3%, vs 35.4% for men, OR=0.59; p=0.009), while kidney dysfunction was more prevalent in men (16.5%, vs 9.6% for women, OR=1.86; p=0.032). Allergic problems (20.5%, OR=0.40; p=0.014) and asthma (5.5%, OR=0.22; p=0.029) were more common in women. No association was observed in the occurrence of ulcer with the respondents’ gender. Regarding lifestyle, 50.7% of respondents consumed rice more than once daily, 71.8% did not smoke, and most (59.1%) had a normal BMI. Conclusions: Based on our study findings, men should focus on renal health by refraining from high-glycemic meals, while women should concentrate on managing their weight and cardiovascular health by utilizing modern healthcare facilities.

Arafat Hassan Razon

Background/Objectives: Healthcare discrimination poses significant challenges to the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of people living with type 2 diabetes (T2D). However, the role of social support in alleviating these effects has not been fully explored. Drawing on Cohen and Wills’ social support buffering model, this study examined whether social support moderates the association between healthcare discrimination and HRQoL among individuals with T2D. Methods: We analyzed data from 5180 adults with T2D enrolled in the All of Us Research Program. Healthcare discrimination was assessed using the modified Everyday Discrimination Scale (mEDS), social support with the Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey (MOS-SSS), and HRQoL (physical and mental domains) with the PROMIS Global Health Scale. Moderation analyses were conducted through linear regression models. Results: Greater exposure to healthcare discrimination was associated with poorer physical and mental HRQoL. Social support demonstrated a significant moderating effect on mental HRQoL: as social support increased, the negative association between healthcare discrimination and mental well-being weakened. However, this buffering effect was not observed for physical HRQoL. Conclusions: Findings suggest that social support can mitigate the adverse mental health consequences of healthcare discrimination among individuals with T2D. Interventions aimed at strengthening social support networks warrant investigation as potential strategies to improve the mental HRQoL of people with T2D who encounter discrimination in healthcare environments.

Emmanuel Ekpor

Kidney mass lesions are common and are often discovered accidentally. Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) represents approximately 5% of all cancers. Men have a two-fold higher likelihood of developing the disease and experience a higher mortality rate than females. The differences between the genders are attributed to individual variations, including hereditary factors, underlying medical conditions, genetics, lifestyle, hormonal factors, and others, such as hypertension and obesity. Renal tumors are usually asymptomatic; however, hematuria, dull aching flank pain, and lower abdomen pain can present symptoms. A tissue biopsy is typically unnecessary but may be required in certain cases. Men tend to exhibit larger and more severe tumors. Radiology tools application is helpful for early diagnosis and follow-up. Partial or radial nephrectomy is an effective curative therapy in localized renal masses. Nevertheless, immunotherapy, cryotherapy, and sometimes chemotherapy are used, especially in high-income nations. In this review, epidemiology, pathophysiology, risk factors, presentation, diagnosis, and kidney mass management will be reviewed and updated. Different keywords and phrases, such as kidney malignancy, renal cancer, epidemiology of kidney cancer, nephrectomy in kidney masses, and management of renal cell tumors, were used to search PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, Google, and Google Scholar for new reviews and original articles and new comments with updates that were published between January 2019 and May 2025.

Karishma