10^th Asia Pacific Global Summit on Healthcare March 12-14, 2018 Singapore

Biography:

Prabhaker Mishra has completed PhD in Statistics entitled “Statistical study of human vulnerability and risk assessment of natural hazards in Orissa” and Senior Research Fellowship project on Natural Hazards and Disasters. He has published 31 research papers in various national/international journals. His expertise area is applied and medical statistics.

Abstract:

A good statistical study is one that is well designed and leads to valid conclusion. The two major factors affecting the power of a study are the sample size and the effect size. The power of a statistical test is the probability that a test will reject the null hypothesis when the null hypothesis is false. Similarly, confidence interval conveys the amount of uncertainty associated with an estimate. It is the chance that the confidence interval (margin of error around the estimate) will contain with estimated value. A narrower margin of error requires a larger sample size. Samples should not be either too big or too small since both have limitations that can compromise the conclusions drawn from the studies. Too small a sample may prevent the findings from being generalized, whereas too large a sample may increase the detection of differences, emphasizing statistical differences that are not clinically relevant. Thus, an appropriate determination of the sample size used in a study is a crucial step since the design of a study to the research outcomes. The aim of this paper is to discuss the major impacts of sample size on research outcomes with some interesting examples.

Biography:

Khadija Moamed Al Busafi holds Master of Nursing Specialized in Disaster and Emergency Management, currently working at Nursing Specialty Institute. Khadija Moamed Al Busafi has completed her BSN in Nursing Science, Post Basic Nursing Specialty Diploma and Diploma of General Nursing.

Abstract:

Background & Aim: Preparedness to face challenges associated with different types of disasters and setting strategies for risk reduction may lessen the stress associated with the response process. Evidence has shown that disaster-resilience education facilitates recovery efforts of health professionals. However, the aspects of ensuring disaster resilience remain unclear and there are questions raised in the peer-reviewed literature promoting disaster resilience of health care professionals. Readiness for disaster resilience may enable healthcare professionals to resist and respond to the shock of disasters, cope with unusual situations and accept innovations to adapt to the new environment after a disaster. This leads to a question of ‘What is the extent, range and nature of resilience education for healthcare professionals working in disaster response?’

Methodology: A scoping review was used to explore the literature on resilience education of healthcare professionals. The Joanna Briggs Institute methodology was used to guide the process.

Results: Four published papers were identified and selected for inclusion in this review. From these papers, data were extracted and common themes emerged. The themes related to the nature of the educational courses for healthcare professionals working in disaster response. The continuing education and degree courses focused mainly on psychological support for healthcare professionals during disaster. The courses included multiple professionals, with half of the studies focusing on all healthcare professionals. The extent of disaster-resilience education reflects the disaster responders’ characteristics of psychological preparedness. The training resulted in a significant increase in knowledge, confidence and self-efficacy.

Conclusion: The disaster-resilience education was geographically well dispersed and covered different fields of responders involved in disaster response. The range of disaster-resilience education included multiple fields of specialties; however, half of the studies focused on all healthcare professionals without separating health professional personnel from other professionals at the hospital, focusing on their behavior towards disaster resilience and self-confidence. The courses found in the included studies were either continuous education programs or degree courses and were mainly concerned with psychological support and preparing professionals to be emotionally ready for a disaster, to have confidence and self-efficacy during a disaster and to cope with the aftermath of a disaster. The findings were not surprising, but the number of studies was fewer than anticipated considering the steady upward trend in incidence of disasters and renewed focus on the disaster workforce. A future direction for research would be a review of the literature on the effectiveness of disaster resilience-training programs for healthcare professionals over a range of disaster types and settings.

Biography:

Jaklina Michael is a Diversity and Inclusion Specialist. Her work is to provide expert advice to the wider organization and its workforce on legislation and government policy that impacts on diversity across all business areas including HR, communications, learning and development, quality and risk in line with the strategic priorities of the business. She has developed, researched, operationalized and published scholarly articles on innovative concepts such as the diversity conceptual model, co-design methods, translation standards, national language line and talking books, accessed from across the world. She serves on federal ministerial, state and local advisory bodies and has received numerous industry awards

Abstract:

Purpose: To develop digital talking books on a range of health topics and in a range of languages, using the latest technology, in partnership with and to a wide range of internal and external stakeholders to ensure relevance, accuracy, acceptability and accessibility for the targeted population groups.

Methodology: The seven talking books were developed and implemented with contribution from 414 community participants who participated in 21 community focus groups. A range of strategies have been used to develop and promote the digital talking books including: Using 3D floppy books software to keep the technology up-to-date with the latest mobile devices and web browsers; ‘Key word’ google search approach for easy access and instruction guide to construct new books and update and maintain existing ones.

Findings: Preliminary qualitative studies reveal that the digital talking books improved health-related literacy amongst older people. Older people are less likely to benefits older people with reading and literacy difficulties or who have vision impairment. use online information and communication technology. However, this barrier can be overcome through the availability of hard copy PDF bi-lingual versions of the content of the talking books.

Conclusion: Analytical data reveals that the talking books are popular. There has been a big increase in visits to the talking books from within Australia and across the world. There is a need to conduct further studies to determine the best way to teach older people how to access the digital talking books. Further studies are also required on how the talking books and their PDF versions are contributing to the health outcomes of older people.

Biography:

Annali Botha has a teaching experience from three South African universities for more than 25 years in different subject areas, including intensive care nursing on master’s level public health and community health nursing and nursing pharmacology. She is currently teaching at UNISA, in the Department of Health Studies. Her work includes teaching an environmental health module and supervision of masters and doctoral students in South Africa and the African continent.

Abstract:

Background: In a distance teaching institution in South Africa, lecturers had to do away with prescribed textbooks to save money. OERs had to be used. The problem was that there was no information available that could guide the process of selecting appropriate OERs in the institution.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore a lecturer’s experience of using OERs in teaching a module that formed part of a nursing program. The lecturer aimed to understand the situation better so that future actions could be informed.

Methodology: The methodology that was used was based on Johns’ model of reflection. According to Horton-Deutsch and Sherwood: Reflection is a systematic way of thinking about our actions and responses that contribute to a transformed perspective or the reframing of a given situation or problem and it determines future actions and responses. The five cue questions that Johns’ model is based on, guided the steps in the research and findings are listed in that order as well (in diagram).

Description of the experience (what were significant factors?): Purchasing textbooks were no longer allowed. Student unrest increased because of the pressure of the cost of higher education.

Refection (what was I trying to achieve and what were the consequences?): The researcher adhered to the new policy but had concerns with implementation.

Influencing factors (what things affected my decision making): Factors included time-pressure, no available examples of similar selections, limited knowledge about OERs and factors influencing students.

Could I have dealt with it better: The researcher critically analyzed the situation and concluded that the situation could have been dealt with better.

Learning: The researcher gained knowledge prescribing OERs and it have value for future practice.

Biography:

Michael Geraghty was the first Emergency Nurse to become a Nurse Practitioner in New Zealand and works in the Adult Emergency Department in Auckland City. He holds a Master’s degree in Nursing, is an honorary professional Teaching Fellow at the University of Auckland and the Editor of the College of Emergency Nurses Journal. He acts on behalf of the Nursing Council of New Zealand assessing portfolios and as a Panel Assessor for nurses who have been mentored to become NP’s.

Abstract:

The Nurse Practitioner as an autonomous advanced nurse is a relatively new concept to the healthcare system of New Zealand. Despite the fact that the role was first developed at the beginning of this century there are still only approximately 300 NP’s throughout the country and in a variety of hospital based or community settings and covering a wide range of specialty areas. Many NP’s in their roles consistently meet government and local health targets managing complex cases, promoting health initiatives and disease prevention but are still a ‘niche’ group and the role poorly understood by employers, organizations and the general public. Whilst the role is slowly making in-roads into traditional healthcare delivery there are a number of legislative and professional barriers to overcome. This presentation will look at: The journey to become an NP from the individual’s perspective, some of the initial barriers that made this a difficult career pathway, some of the funding barriers that exist that often prevent the NP from being able to work at their full potential and the initiatives to addresses in order to have a credible and sustainable work force, workforce development in NZ - is the current model sustainable? How the role is positively impacting on the delivery of health care within this country, and creating a flexible workforce and away from the traditional medical model.

Biography:

Sudip Dasgupta is currently working as an Assistant Professor in Ceramic Engineering at National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, India. He has obtained his PhD degree in Materials Science from Washington State University, WA, USA in the field of nanostructured calcium phosphate based bone substitute materials and drug delivery system. He had also worked as a Research Associate at Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute, India in the field of synthesis of layered double based organic-inorganic composite nano-vector for delivery of anti-cancerous drug molecule to tumor cells. His research interest is mainly focused on synthesis of nanomaterials using different wet chemical and advanced synthesis routes, its processing, characterization and evaluation of its physical, surface, chemical, mechanical and biological property. He has more than 12 years of experience in mammalian cell culture and other molecular biology based research techniques.

Abstract:

Gelatin, chitosan and bioactive nanoceramic based composite scaffold with tailored architectures and properties has great potential for bone regeneration. Herein, we aimed to improve the physicochemical, mechanical and osteogenic properties of 3D porous scaffold by incorporation of bioactive ceramic phase into biopolymer matrix with variation in composition in the prepared scaffolds. Bioactive nanoceramics such as hydroxyapatite, β-tricalcium phosphate and 58 S bioactive glass were synthesized and used in different concentration varying between 10-30 wt.% to prepare GCH, GCB and GCT scaffolds. GCH scaffold having HA:Chi:Gel ratio of 28:42:30 with 78% average porosity showed a pore size distribution between 75-100 μm and exhibited a compressive strength of 3.45 MPa, which is within the range of that exhibited by cancellous bone. GCH 30 showed the highest average compressive strength of 3.46 MPa whereas the lowest average compressive strength of 2.2 MPa was registered by GCB 30 scaffold. Higher cellular activity was observed in GCB 30 scaffold as compared to GCB 0 scaffold suggesting the fact that 58S bioactive glass nanoparticles addition into the scaffold promoted better cell adhesion, proliferation and differentiation. A higher degree of lamelliopodia and filopodia extensions and better spreading behavior of MSCs were observed in FESEM micrographs of MSC cultured GCB 30 scaffold. Scaffolds prepared from 30 wt% 58S nano bioactive glass exhibited the highest bioactivity among all the scaffolds as evident from MTT assay, RUNX-2 and osteocalcin expression from mesenchymal stem cells cultured on the scaffold. Moreover, by reverse-transcriptase (RT-PCR) analysis, it was observed that the expression of osteogenic gene markers from cultured MSCs were relatively high in GCB30 as compared to GCH30 and GCT30 composite scaffolds. In coherence with the in vitro appearance, histological analysis and fluorochrome study in a rabbit tibia model showed a significantly greater amount of new bone formation in GCB30 compared to another composite scaffold.

Biography:

Syed Hammad Anwar Tirmizi is currently working as Consultant Family Medicine in Primary Healthcare Corporation (PHCC), Qatar. He is a Member of Guidelines Review Committee. He is involved in adaptation of guidelines for PHCC. He has Masters in Evidence Based Healthcare from University of Oxford. He conducts trainings and workshops on evidence based medicine, systematic reviews, translational research for primary care and guidelines adaptation in different countries. He believes use of ADPATE framework for guidelines adaptation not only saves time and energy but also increases the utilization of available evidence.

Abstract:

The aim of this presentation is to demonstrate the method of developing evidence based guidelines using the ADAPTE framework (developed by Guidelines International Network) from existing national and international guidelines. The participants will be introduced and given hands on experience to use the AGREE tool to assess guidelines quality and how to GRADE the recommendations using existing guideline recommendations’ GRADE. ADAPTE framework is a resource light, time efficient way to utilize existing evidence. ADAPTE framework allows the efficient production and use of high quality guidelines. The adaptation process ensures consistency and reliability of methods and allows all key stakeholders to participate, making it an ideal choice for organization that lack resources to develop de novo guidelines. This leads to rapid development of guidelines and enhances the utilization of the existing evidence, thus, reducing the gap between knowledge and practice. ADAPTE frameworks have three distinct phases: (1) Set-up phase: In the set-up phase required skill and resources are identified. (2) Adaptation phase: The second phase deals with main process that entails: Selecting the topic, forming the clinical questions, searching, evaluating and selecting the guidelines, decision making around the adaptation and preparing draft guideline report. (3) Finalization phase: In this final phase, the adapted guideline is sent for stakeholder feedback and external peer review. In this phase, the review and update process of the adapted guideline is also decided. The participant will be taken through an entire journey of guidelines adaptation in this workshop

Biography:

Kanittha Rattanakanlaya has her specialty in Surgical Nursing. She has modified hospital flood disaster preparedness instrument based on literature review to best match with Thai context and adopt this instrument to measure flood disaster preparedness among hospitals in the central region of Thailand.

Abstract:

Introduction & Aim: The Thai flood disaster of 2011 has provided impact to various aspects. Hospitals were also hit. The purpose of this study was to propose directions for the improvement and flood disaster preparedness among hospitals in the central region of Thailand.

Method: This study employed explanatory sequential mixed method designs, composed of two phases. In the first phase, survey study had been done among person who were responsible for disaster preparedness of severe, moderate and slight service disruptions in hospitals during the flood disaster in 2011 in the central region of Thailand. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics. In second phase, semi-structure interviews were conducted with fifteen key informants who were involved in disaster preparedness. The data were analyzed by content analysis.

Result: Twenty-four hospitals had participated in this study. Qualitative findings were used to further explain related issues. The researcher proposed directions for the improvement of hospitals flood disaster preparedness as related to the Ministry of Public Health regarding policy. Hospital experienced severe and moderate service disruption were also suggested to improve aspects of surge capacity, organizing staff/ equipping supply and equipment, exercise and evaluation/ improvement.

Conclusion: The results of this study bring about improvement on hospital flood disaster preparedness to be used to upgrade it in the future.

Biography:

Hissa Mohammed has completed BSc in Diagnostic Radiography from Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh. She is the Radiology Technical Supervisor in NCCR, a National Center for Cancer Care and Research in Qatar

Abstract:

Background: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) characterizes as a mental disorder. According to Johnson et al. ASD is a developmental disorder of the brain that associates with impairments in social interaction, communication, and repetitive patterns of behavior, controlling their behaviors is usually challenging especially in hospitals. Johnson et al. show that children may become anxious in health care setup because of new faces of HCPs making them uncontrollable. Attending to such children would, therefore, need an experienced staff with good communication skills. Radiographers have a responsibility of ensuring smooth and effective communication with their patients to obtain a successful imaging. Mettler et al. present a research done in 2007 indicating that the amount of patients exposed to radiation has increased to a similar level to that of background radiation. It means that radiographers have failed in their responsibility hence putting the ASD children at more risk.

Aim & Method: The objective of the research herein is to evaluate the efficiency of effective communication between radiographers and autism pediatric patient as a tool to reduction of radiation exposure. The study involves a qualitative research with two groups (n=10, 5 radiographers and 5 mothers to ASD children).

Results: The questionnaires were analyzed by 5 data analysis software, STRATA. In results, mothers disclosed how their children behaved in different environments and what makes the children calm while radiologists expressed the challenges they face especially during imaging and gained strategies from mothers’ experiences.

Conclusion: Good communication leads to easy and effective imaging procedure and thus, reduction in radiation dose in ASD patients.

Biography:

Julie Tay has joined Align Technology as Vice President and Managing Director for Asia Pacific in March 2013. She is responsible for Align Technology’s market development and operational execution of all Align Technology products and services in the Asia Pacific region. She has more than 20 years of experience in international management of various segments including consumer healthcare, medical devices and chemical businesses across Asia. Prior to Align Technology, she was Regional Head of Bayer Healthcare (Diabetes Care) overseeing operations across Asia where she grew the business into a sustainable and profitable operation in three years. Prior to Bayer, she spent 15 years with Johnson & Johnson Medical where she was instrumental in establishing the LifeScan franchise and in successfully launching the SmartScan, One Touch Ultra, and One Touch Horizon brands within Asia. She holds an MBA from Curtin University of Technology, Australia and BA degree from the National University of Singapore.

Abstract:

The innovations that distinguish Invisalign from traditional wires and brackets aren’t really about plastic aligners vs. metal braces – they’re about an analog vs. digital approach to treatment. As digital technologies have emerged, we’ve leveraged them. 3D design and 3D printing, digital scanning to digitize physical forms, data mining and complex algorithms, the internet, social media – over the last 20 years we’ve harnessed these and other technologies to create an end-to-end digital process.

Digital imaging: iTero scanner combined with Invisalign Outcome Simulator for best digital imaging and data capture plus chairside visualization of treatment outcome for patients;Ensuring you are moving exactly what you want and helping determine best treatment path

Broad treatment applicability: Treatment options for simple to complex (limited stage and comprehensive) and for patients of every age with features designed especially for teens and kids (mandibular advancement, palatal expander)

Better predictability: Patented Smart Track aligner material is designed for optimal control of tooth movements and on average enables faster treatment than braces.Smart Force attachments and features designed into the aligners deliver the precise forces when needed to achieve more predictable tooth movements. And Smart Stage technology, programming each tooth movement in a certain sequence, at the right time to achieve optimal outcome.

Progress tracking: During and after treatment with iTero scanner apps to compare tooth movement to plan or previous scans.We’ve invented a digital process for orthodontics that uses clear aligners – and we believe it will be the standard for moving teeth in the future. A digital process that delivers advantages in terms of better treatment planning and visualization and great outcomes, but also a better patient experience.

The Digital Advantage

• A better appliance
• Better tools for doctors
• A better experience for patients
• A Superior Material

Biography:

Joyce Sibanda is presently a PhD student in the University of South Africa. She has expertise in improving the wellbeing of populations in need as Nurse Practitioner. Her vast experience in clinical practice, training institutions and non-governmental organizations including humanitarian organizations has made her to focus on research which has seen her presenting and publishing scientific papers at multiple international conferences. Her interest in research has made her outstanding and open minded on public health issues and thrives to formulate a community-based model to enhance access and utilization of primary health care services by children living in child-headed households in the rural communities.

Abstract:

Background & Aim: Tuberculosis remains a major challenge exacerbated by the advert of drug resistant strains. Since the past decade, Swaziland experienced progressive decline of TB case notifications contrary to the World Health Organization estimates. Currently, HIV prevalence is 27% which is highest worldwide, co-infection of TB/HIV is at 70% and mortality rate for drug sensitive and drug resistance is at 14% and 18%, respectively. In 2015, case detection was 59% which denotes 41% missing TB cases. The Swaziland TB program envisaged introduction of active case finding strategy complimenting passive case finding. The principle aim was increasing TB case detection to reduce the infectious pool and negative outcomes.

Methodology: Consultative meetings with stakeholders were held to develop community-based strategic framework. In-depth interviews were conducted with region administrators and eight focus group discussions held with the chiefs eliciting their views. Subsequently, sensitization campaigns were conducted in communities. The chiefs identified an active case finder (ACF) for their respective chiefdoms. 369 ACFs visit households to educate, screen for TB, collect sputum samples for bacteriological confirmation and link TB cases for treatment. Presumptive cases failing to expectorate are referred to health facilities. The principle aim is to reduce the infectious pool and negative outcomes.

Results: Educating communities, screening and collecting sputum samples increased TB case detection from 59% in 2016 to 84% in 2017. Introducing community intervention was complex and cumbersome as different stakeholders are engaged. TB cases are identified, diagnosed and treated early. Traditional leaders as opinion leaders advocates for ACFs in their spheres of influence through positive dialogue resulting in meaningful participation of the community.

Conclusion: ACF increased TB case detection from 59% to 84% in a year. Community involvement cascading to grass-root promotes successful implementation of community-based programs. Engaging community leaders as advocates increases meaningful participation of the community. Planning community-led intervention is cumbersome as different stakeholders have to be engaged for acceptability and ownership. Programmatic decision making can be bureaucratic process and time consuming as processes have to be followed.

Biography:

Imran Aslan has completed his four years Healthcare Education as Emergency Medical Technician at Batman Health Vocational High School between 1996-2000 years. Furthermore, he studied at Marmara University as Industrial Engineer, FHOOW, Germany as Technical Manager Master and Atatürk University as PhD student. Moreover, he has published more than 25 international articles at famous SSCI, ISI etc. indexed journals and also a book named as “Healthcare Management: Optimization of Resources and Determining Success and Performance Factors” has been published in 2016.

Abstract:

Fuzzy logic can quantify and reason linguistic expression having ambiguous meaning. Fuzzy logic can handle this imprecision and uncertainty. This study aims to explain how fuzzy logic can handle that and improve decision making in healthcare. The past studies and current applications of fuzzy logic are chosen as the method of study, as a kind of review and creating future studies. Information about the patient, medical history of patients, physical examinations, results of laboratory tests and results of histological are critical information for accurate treatment of patients. Fuzzy logic has been applied in almost all fields of healthcare such as internal medicine, anesthesia, radiology, electrophysiology, pharmacokinetics etc. for modeling and control of data. Also, remote monitoring systems with a remote monitoring center to take action in the case of distress situation can be used to collect data of patients with insufficient cardiac heart, asthma, diabetes or Alzheimer’s disease etc. through defining walking, running, standing up, setting down, laying, sleeping, cleaning, bathing and exercising daily activities of patients. An eventual short delay, afterwards or pushed the call button in emergency cases can be known by wearable sensors connected to a remote computer as determining heart rate. Complex data acquired from the different sensors can be handled by fuzzy logic to determine human activities in order to provide support for safety, comfort, and convenience through sound classification labeled on a numerical scale. Improving care for elderly people and reducing the healthcare cost can be the main outputs of these fuzzy logic supported systems. Determining the type of disease, or diseased patients, the risk ratio of a disease by a data mining algorithm in constructing a decision support system is the fuzzy logic application in healthcare decision-making. Fuzzy IF-THEN rules are used to estimate the current situation of patient. “If the back pain is severe and the patient is old, then apply acupuncture to certain point for a long time” can be determined by a fuzzy logic application rather than going to a doctor and more than programming skills and true-false statements is required in that case. Bayesian Network (BN), Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Fuzzy Inference System, Genetic Algorithms (GAs), Swarm Intelligence, and Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCMs) methods can be used to make more precious choices. Furthermore, service activities are categorized by fuzzy extended AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) model that tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy are priority of service dimensions. Identification activities for building a model for measuring the home anxiety is expected to be measured by these holistic systems as future development scientifically and technologically. Identifying the cancer risk, heart attack risk, kidney disease, birth defects, diabetics’ potential, risk of living after a surgery etc. are future area of fuzzy logic combination of medicine and engineering experts based on current and past health status of a patient.

Biography:

Hanne Helleshoej has many years of experience within the health care field and has held numerous important senior positions including President at the School for Dental Assistants and Dental Care at Copenhagen University, President at University College South, President at the Froebelseminariet, President at the Nursing Professional Diploma Studies at the National Nursing School and President at the Nursing School in Silkeborg

Abstract:

In Denmark, we are facing challenges with meeting the expectations of the new generation in health care education related to variety in teaching methods and personal learning activities and the expectations of the employers regarding the learning outcomes of knowledge, skills and attitude. At my school - The Basic Health Care College of Fredericia, Vejle and Horsens, we therefore have implemented a mutual framework for implementation of effective pedagogy a model called: The Pedagogical Triangle Revisited. In the model the traditional areas that normally constitutes professional learning, namely content, student and teacher are supplemented with characteristics of the connection between contents and teacher, between contents and student and between teacher and student. These new described areas are named: Expertise, Relevance and Relation. In the presentation Expertise, Relevance and Relation will be further described and the connection to meaningful involvement will be established. Finally, the method simulation will be presented as well as different methods for engaging students in distance education.

Biography:

Balachander Govindarajan is on a mission to actively innovate in the melding future of healthcare and IT. Trained in America, as a Cardiologist and Heart Rhythm Specialist, he experienced, contributed and learnt from his roles as a Clinical Assistant Professor with the University of Illinois @ Urbana-Champaign and subsequently as a Specialist Clinician performing hybrid surgical procedures to correct heart rhythm abnormalities. Having always wanted to contribute to healthcare in India, he returned to his home country after a valuable 18 year stint in the USA. Propelled by his drive to attempt innovation in the Foundational Healthcare Infrastructure in India, he formed a start-up to provide a bottom up quality enhancement in the first stop clinical care for patients. He writes and speaks to educate patients through various platforms. Realizing the tremendous opportunity to add value, trust and quality to healthcare through the emerging IT paradigms, he jumped at the chance to collaborate with a pioneering IT company engaged in medical software and hardware innovations, aided by the strength of cloud computing

Abstract:

Digitalization is impacting every aspect of care delivery operations through smarter choices that better utilize time and resources, while allowing providers a greater degree of patient interaction at point of care. Regulatory pressures, emerging technologies and updated patient expectations are pushing providers to incorporate systems and models that can deliver enhanced patient care experience, at reduced cost. The next wave of productivity gains and quality assurance will come from the cross-linked matrix of a complete body of information, rather than from information delivery alone. While the transition requires an investment in new technology and business processes, the tools are rapidly maturing and costs are reducing. By applying relevant technology to every aspect of healthcare management, provider and payer organizations will be able to deliver high-quality care to patients in an efficient and sustainable manner. As a result, the transition from volume to value will be smoother, and organizations will have a much better chance of achieving the results they desire for their patients and their practice. It is time for health economies to evaluate ways to integrate their existing systems with newer digital technologies. This would enable data to merge and generate meaningful, actionable insights, which in turn would drive personalized clinical care and evolve new therapeutic options. Organizations that embrace change will emerge as winners in a world that demands cutting edge clinical care and better patient experience, at reduced cost.

Biography:

Stephen A MacGillivray is an experienced Health Services Researcher who leads the Evidence Synthesis Training and Research Group (eSTAR) within the School of Nursing and Health Sciences, University of Dundee, Scotland. He along with his group aims to advance understanding of the methods, currently used in evidence synthesis and to facilitate innovation in this area.

Abstract:

A key part of the evidence-based health care agenda is the emphasis on systematic reviews of research studies. The method of appraising the quality of different intervention, observational and qualitative study designs in such reviews remains an important challenge and is a skill that is needed by everyone such as those in practice, educators and researchers. This skill workshop will give a rapid and intensive overview of the skills needed and resources available, for critical appraisal of a wide variety of research designs. At the end of the workshop participants will be able to: Explain the importance of critical appraisal; Describe key characteristics of the critical appraisal process; Explain the crucial differences between reporting quality, study quality and risk of bias; Identify a range of tools for assisting in critical appraisal and explains why summary scales should be avoided and an individual question-based approach adopted. It also describes the basic steps involved in appraising: a cohort study, a randomized controlled trial, a systematic review and a qualitative study.

Biography:

Potent is currently a PhD candidate in Translational Research at Monash University, Australia. After completing undergraduate degrees in Mathematics and
Chemistry, Dr Potent completed his medical degree. He is a practising doctor in Queensland and a keen advocate of patient safety via appropriate clinical
communication and handover

Abstract:

Statement of the Problem: Electronic Discharge Summaries (EDSs) are a crucial process in facilitating a safe and effective clinical handover yet it is often the most junior doctors who author the EDSs. Australia’s National eHealth Transition Authority have defined the criteria for fields that constitute an EDS. The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) have created an evidence-based self-evaluation toolkit for hospitals to assess their EDSs performance. This audit assessed the quality and timeliness of EDSs.Methodology & Theoretical Orientation: EDSs were assessed using acombined standard based on the self-evaluation toolkit and XX Hospital policies. A retrospective series of 40 finalised EDSs were selected consecutively, as recorded in the iCM database, from each of the General medicine, General surgery, and Mental health departments of XX hospital from 1st April 2012 until the required limit was met. EDSs were excluded if information was suppressed, the discharge summary was of a deceased patient, if the discharge summary had not been finalised, or if the date of completion was not in the period of collection.Findings: Average time for EDSs completion from discharge: General Medicine (1 day), General Surgery (4 days), Mental Health (9 days). Of the 15 quality components, five components (page length, destination on discharge, alerts, education, and recommendations) were less than 70% compliant, seven components (GP details, problems/diagnoses, investigations, examination findings, medications, adverse reactions, and plans/services) 28-39 (70-97.5%) EDS were compliant, and for three components (medical officer, encounter summary, and medical history) 40 (100%) of the EDSs were compliant.Conclusion & Significance: Mismatch between value of timely and quality production of EDSs and education for junior doctors may cost hospitals and patients’ time andmoney.Significant areas of improvement were identified using ACSQHC’s self-evaluation toolkit. Department specific training will give clearer guidance to junior doctors

Biography:

Olatunji Mumini OMISORE obtained B.Tech and M.Tech degrees in Computer Science from Federal University of Technology Akure, Nigeria in 2009 and 2014 respectively. He worked as Software Engineer at HTRDG Computers Limited, Akure, Nigeria in 2010 through 2014 and as Assistant Lecturer in Oduduwa University, Ipetumodu, Nigeria. He has worked as System Analyst at Centre for Information Technology and Systems, University of Lagos, Nigeria. Currently, he is a doctoral student at Shenzhen Institute of Advanced, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China. He is a member of Nigerian Computer Society, Institute of Electrical Electronic Engineers (Computer Society), and Association for Computing Machinery. His research interests include Computational Intelligence, Surgical Robotics (Automation and Control), and Digital Libraries with specialty in Data and Knowledge Mining

Abstract:

Statement of the Problem: Diabetes is a major health problem that has been found inherent with people of all age groups. As estimated by the International Diabetes Federation in a published report1, 381.8 million of people in the world live with diabetes in 2013, and it has been projected to increase to around to 591.9 million, which is approximately 55% of populationby 2035. Moreover, as one of the top causes of high mortality and morbidity in developing countries, it has impeded the extant purpose of human race. Since medical themes have always advocate earlier detection of diabetes in human as a good medical control, this paper proposes an online procedural model for diagnosis and management of diabetes.

Methodology and Theoretical Orientation: The diagnosis model adopts the fuzzy logic technique to handle imprecise and uncertain information innate with records of diabetes patients. The model was implemented with HTML, Hypertext Preprocessor, JavaScript and XML languages with MySQL taken for backend management. Statistical and sensitivity inferences were drawn from a case study of a dataset from 30 patients, randomly chosen from the patients that were admitted at Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, between 1994 and 2013.

Findings: Medical data of different groups of people was considered for the experiment and focus was on patients that are overweight and obese. This was because they could be simply assumed pre-diabetic. On running the raw data through the fuzzy logic system, information of the diagnoses was carried out and result gets displayed on screen. For instance, result of Patient P030 confirms that the patient is normal with a severity level of 23.34%. Statistical analysis carried out on the patients’ records shows that nine of the patients were normal, while twenty one were diabetic. 38% of the diabetic patients had mild cases. The data show that others had either severe or very severe cases. Furthermore, 43.3% of the samples were severely diabetic of which 53.8% are male patients and 57.14% of who were above the age of 54 years. Hence, old people who are old are prone to diabetes. Moreover, sensitivity analysis, computed as (TP⁄_TP+FN)*100%, the proposed system was 73.3% accurate as the diagnosis recorded from the manual method.

Conclusion and Significance: The need for application of artificial intelligence has been perceived in different areas of medicine. This study presents a fuzzy-based online diagnostic model for detecting the level of diabetes in human. The model demonstrates higher values on statistical and sensitivity analysis. Hence, the model responds aptly to changes in the input values from dataset of the 30 patients considered for this study.

Biography:

Bonnie McRae has interest in orthopedics, trauma and sports medicine. She is passionate about the improvement of healthcare through the implementation of virtual clinic models, patient self-care pathways for minor injuries and the use of audits to observe peaks in trauma presentations to hospitals in order to enable adequate resource allocation. She is also involved in the education of junior medical staffs and holds Academic title at Griffith University, University of Queensland and is an Orthopedic Group Tutor for the University of Edinburgh

Abstract:

Introduction & Aim: The tradition model of care of the Orthopedic Fracture Clinic (OFC) is labor intensive, expensive, has poor satisfaction rates from patients and staff and often has minimal impact on management and outcomes of patients with minor injuries. Our aim was to implement a Virtual Fracture Clinic (VFC) in our hospital for the management of minor injuries that is safe, cost effective and improves satisfaction.

Method: All patients presenting to the Emergency Department (ED) with a minor bony injury was referred to the VFC instead of OFC. VFC patient radiographs were reviewed by an orthopedic registrar (patients did not need to attend the hospital for this appointment) and the referral was subsequently sent to allied health (occupational therapy or physiotherapy), discharged to the GP or sent to the traditional Orthopedic Fracture Clinic (OFC) if review of that patient was required.

Results: Over a period of three-month, 634 patients were referred to the VFC instead of OFC. 550 patients (those discharged to GP or allied health) did not need to return to the hospital for unnecessary OFC appointments, which not only reduced the strain on OFC workload, but also was cost effective and improved patient and staff satisfaction levels.

Conclusion: Whilst still in the preliminary stages, we anticipate this service will continue to improve and reduce the workload of both the OFC and the ED for the management of minor injuries. We are optimistic that VFC models will be the way of the future for Australian orthopedic departments.

Biography:

Mayumi Hashimoto has been actively involved as a Technical Advisor on Nursing and Midwifery Education System and legal framework for human resources for health in low-middle income countries

Abstract:

Background: The Ministry of Health of the Government of Laos established the Guidelines for the Scope of Nursing Practice in 2007, held national dissemination seminars frequently in 2008 and set up a committee to implement the guidelines in public central hospitals in 2013.

Objective: To explore the effectiveness of the guidelines for the scope of nursing practice for nursing leaders that has been implemented at hospitals in Laos. Method: A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive research design was used. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews conducted with 13 clinical nursing leaders (five nursing directors, five members of nursing departments and three chief nurses) in 2016. Inductive data analysis was performed using a modified grounded theory approach.

Findings: Five categories and 10 sub-categories were identified regarding the effectiveness of the guidelines for the scope of nursing practice. The analysis revealed that clinical nursing leaders faced difficulties in implementing the guidelines at hospitals because of a lack of nursing competency and inadequate understanding of the scope of nursing practice by medical doctors; however, they could cope with the situation flexibly. The implementation process cultivated the nurses’ awareness of the nursing profession as typified by their identity as a nurse, encouraged them to develop their professional way to work, such as by organizing training and meetings by themselves and helped them transform their relationships with medical doctors into professional partnerships. The nursing leaders also described their ideas of professional nursing in Laos. Conclusion: These findings suggest that the guidelines affected not only the scope of nursing practice at hospitals, but also the awareness of nursing leaders regarding the nursing profession and their relationships with medical doctors. Although some difficulties were seen among clinical nursing leaders in implementing the guidelines at hospitals, overall, the implementation process enhanced nursing practice in Laos.

Biography:

Hyunsung Ban is currently an MS candidate in the Department of Clothing and Textiles at Yonsei University. Her research interests include application of emerging technologies to design and product development, functional apparel design for active ageing population and functional, expressive and aesthetic attributes of wearable technology

Abstract:

Recently, there has been a rapid increase in the aging population due to the increase in lifespan of humans resulting from the improvements in living standards and health care technology. Especially, the baby boomers, which currently comprise 15% of the Korean population, will become part of the ageing population in about 10 years and will exert strong influences in many areas of society as the new mainstream. This generation is greatly concerned about health care, especially to prepare for elderly age and their demands of efficient health management are constantly increasing. Owing to this current trend, there is a consistent increase in demand for smart sportswear for health management and improving exercise efficiency, among middle-aged people. Recently, body signal measuring sensors have been implemented in sportswear to measure the body signals of the wearer (muscle activity and heart rate) during exercise and give feedback to the wearer so that the exercise quality can be improved. These requirements and technology have led to the development of smartphone application connected sportswear, which have received considerable attention from middle-aged people. This research analyzes consumers’ needs and explores solutions for the design and product planning of smart fitness wear for middle-aged people that improves the efficiency of walking exercise based on their needs. For this purpose, this study examines the existing researches in literature related to wearable technology and the current development of smart wear technology and conducts in-depth interviews of 6 and survey of 150 middle-aged consumers who exercise by walking. Based on these positive data analyses, we have sign-posted design and product planning for smart sportswear in order to improve the efficiency of walking exercise performed by middle-aged people

Biography:

Tang Phua Hwee is a Pediatric Radiologist with interest in neuroimaging. She has graduated from National University of Singapore and did her basic and advanced radiology training in various hospitals in Singapore. After obtaining her FRCR and Masters in Diagnostic Radiology, she spent 6 months in University of California, San Francisco learning the finer points of pediatric imaging, including pediatric neuroimaging and fetal imaging. She has also done a Mini-Fellowship in Neuroradiology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Centre and a Visiting Fellowship at Athinoula A Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging. She had also completed the Khoo Clinical Scholar’s Program and is currently conducting research on non-invasive methods of tissue assessment as well as optimizing MR imaging for children with her collaborators from ASTAR and Duke-NUS

Abstract:

MRI scan frequently exceeds half an hour and young children have difficulty keeping still for such long periods. Images are non-diagnostic and marred by motion artifact when children or adults move during the scan. Vendors have created ultrafast sequences which propose to be able to scan the brain in a very short imaging time of 5 minutes compared to our standard MRI brain protocol which has an imaging time of 14 mins. In this prospective study, children scheduled for MRI brain underwent both the ultrafast MRI as well as standard MRI protocol. The presence of artifacts on each set of scans for the children were compared across the T1, T2, FLAIR, DWI and SWI sequences in both protocols and statistical significant differences were calculated using chi square test. Out of 30 children, who had MRI brain scan, 13 (43%) of the ultrafast scans were non-diagnostic due to artefact. For the rest of the 17 scans, the diagnoses made on ultrafast scans were similar to the diagnosis made on the standard MRI scans. Artifacts seen on the ultrafast T2 and FLAIR images were statistically significantly more than those present on standard MRI. Time taken to carry out 30 standard MRI brains is 30×14 mins=420 minutes. Time to carry out 30 ultrafast MRI brains is 30×5=150 minutes. Even after factoring time required to carry out supplementary standard brain MRI to supplement the 43% of ultrafast imaging with non-diagnostic MRI=150 minutes + (13×14 minutes)=332 minutes, ultrafast MRI provides time saving compared to standard protocol for all (which is 420 minutes). Ultrafast MRI is effective and saves time even with some scans having artifacts and requiring supplementation with standard MRI brain.

Biography:

Pan Yen-Chu has graduated from Da-Yeh University, Taiwan in Master of Health Enterprise Management. Currently Pan Yen-Chu is working at St. Martin De Porres Hospital as a Chief Nursing Officer in Surgical Intensive Care Unit engaged in clinical management and teaching.

Abstract:

Background: Diabetes is a global, chronic disease that has been recognized as an important health issue in many countries. The prevalence rate of diabetes is very high in Taiwan that poses a serious threat to the health of people. Patients’ physical and psychosocial factors all have an impact on the treatment result. However, this issue has not been extensively discussed in previous research. Aim: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of socio-psychological factors on the care outcomes of type-2 diabetes.

Method: The study is a descriptive and correlation design; used structured questionnaires collected data from a large regional teaching hospital located in southern Taiwan. Instruments included a basic information form, Social Support Scale, Chinese version of Perceived Diabetes Self-Management Scale, Chinese version of Patient Health and Depression Questionnaire, Perceived Stress Scale, and Health-related Quality of Life Scale. Data were coded and analyzed using SPSS 22.0 software for Windows. The analysis methods included descriptive statistics, independent-sample t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson product-moment correlation, multiple linear regression, and binary logistic regression. The sample consisted of 133 patients. In this sample, women constituted the majority; most patients are married, aged between 60~69, having elementary education as highest level of education, and economically independent. Majority patients were diagnosed of the disease over the last 5~10 years. Results: Results showed that among the diabetes patients, depression was significantly negatively related to social support (r=-0.27, p<0.05), psychological distress was significantly negatively related to social support (r=-0.21, p<0.05), psychological distress was significantly positively related to depression (r=0.85, p<0.01), quality of life was significantly negatively related to depression (r=-0.64, p<0.01) and psychological distress (r=-0.59, p<0.01). Conclusion: Continuous outcome variables were analyzed using regression analysis. Results indicated that depression and economic independence jointly explained 32.1% of variance in the physical aspect of quality of life (27.9% by depression and 4.2% by economic independence). Depression and psychological distress jointly explained 61.3% of variance in the psychological aspect of quality of life (59% by depression and 2.3% by psychological distress). Economic dependence on others explained 3.1% of variance in the number of hospital stays. Depression explained 3.7% of variance in the number of emergency department visits. Education level explained 4.3% of variance in the number of complications. Categorical outcome variables were analyzed using binary logistic regression. Results showed that education had a significant effect on average glucose level over the last year (p>0.03). Depression had a significant effect on both the last HbA1c level (p<.05) and average glucose level over the last year (p>0.03). Results of this study suggest that when providing clinical care to diabetes, nurses should also consider the effects of socio-psychological factors on the care outcomes and provide necessary counseling and treatment of depression to enhance the effectiveness of care.

Biography:

Sung Ming Chi is currently working at St. Martin De Porres Hospital as a Chief Nursing Officer in Surgical Intensive Care Unit engaged in clinical management and teaching

Abstract:

In today's workplace, and individuals are required to meet or fulfill the responsibilities of work or family roles. However, the development and popularization of information technology, resulting in the work and family roles and time of the division of the increasingly blurred trend, although technology can create benefits, but also under pressure. Such as instant messaging and other technologies are all ubiquitous features, coupled with the network system, but also regardless of time and place to transmit messages. Purpose: This study examine the impact of work stress, job conflict and stress effects, and further explore the effect of communication with the instant messaging software using intelligent mobile devices to work with job stress and workplace conflicts. Method: This study is intended to pressure theory and work-family conflict model, coupled with the technical pressure to do the relevant factors. The data analysis method was used to model the structural equation modeling, and SPSS and Smart PLS were used as the main statistical analysis tools to verify the causal relationship between the variables in the research model. Results: (1)The work pressure will "positive correlation " affect the work-family conflict(r＝.609, p＜.001). (2)Technology invasion will "positive correlation" affect the work-family conflict(r＝.264, p＜.001). (3)Work-family conflict "negative correlation" affects job satisfaction(r＝ -.541, p＜.001). (4)Work-family conflict "negative correlation" affects family satisfaction(r＝-.440, p＜.001). (5)Work-family conflict will be "negative" affect the physical and mental health( p＜.001). Conclusion: With the development of information technology and network technologies, had to using instant messaging software such as mobile phones after get off work continued, which not change personal life, but also increases the load of work. Correct use of information technology to improve work efficiency, we should also plan after get of work standby mechanism and jobs. It is suggested that enterprises should review their information technology supportive policies to avoid overtime of work and affect the quality of life and the physical and mental health.

Biography:

Alvin Atlas is presently a PhD candidate at the University of South Australia, School of Health Sciences under a scholarship grant from the Capital Markets Cooperative Research Centre (CMCRC) and the Australian Health Service Alliance (AHSA). His PhD research is about understanding the impact of health literacy on the use of elective surgery in private hospitals. Currently, he is affiliated with the International Centre for Allied Health Evidence as a Research Associate/Biostatistician

Abstract:

Aim: Patients require skills and supports to make considered decisions about their health care choices, risks and benefits and possible outcomes. The aim of this scoping review is to describe the range and nature of available research regarding sources of information that patients’ access to inform their decisions about elective surgery. Methodology: The search and reporting were conducted using the adapted framework by Arksey and O’Malley. Six scientific literature databases were searched: Medline, PubMed, CINAHL, Academic Search Premier, EMBASE and SCOPUS; focusing solely on elective surgery information sources oriented to patients. Web searches for grey literature were also conducted in Google, South Australia Department of Health, Commonwealth Department of Health and My Aged Care. Included literature was described by National Health and Medical Research Council hierarchy of evidence and data was extracted on country and year of publication, type of literature, who provided it and any information on end-users. Result: A pool of 1010 articles was reduced to 13 after screening for duplicates and non-relevant studies. Information sources were categorized by type and how information was presented. Face-to-face exchanges were the most likely source of information prior to elective surgery (46% studies), followed by e-learning (23%), printed information (23%) and multimedia (8%). The face-to-face category included information provided by physician/general practitioners/specialists and family and friends. Printed information included brochures and pamphlets, e-learning consisted of internet sites or videos and the use of multimedia included different mixed media format. Conclusion: The information patients used to inform their decision to undergo orthopedic elective surgery is highly variable. Face to face interaction with the medical personnel as the most common source of health information raises some possible issues on information that could be biased and dependent on what healthcare providers choose to share.

Biography:

Chukwudebelu Victor is a Registered Nurse, obtained his Nursing Diploma and Practice License before he moved to Philippines for an academic advancement. He has published many books including research tittles

Abstract:

Immunization is a way of creating immunity to certain diseases by using small amount of a killed or weakened microorganism that causes the particular disease. Child immunization is designed to protect infants and children in the early life, when they are most vulnerable and before they are exposed to potentially life-threatening diseases. In order to improve immunization coverage, factors such as mothers’/caretakers’ practices are known to contribute to the success or failure of the immunization program. A qualitative phenomenological type of research design was employed in the study to determine mothers’ practices before, during and after immunization. The study was carried out in Carlatan, City of San Fernando, La Union. The researchers made use of an interview guide and a small group discussion as a method of accurate data collection tool on 15 participants. The participants were mothers who had children under 1 year old. The study showed that mothers engage in several practices before, during and after immunization such as observing daily routine, relaxation, massage and hot compresses. With regard to practices for their children, mothers’ practices include breast feeding, cooling, use of anti-pyretic and hot compresses. This helped the researchers to draw a conclusion that the participants have good immunization practices. The researchers recommend that mothers should continue to breastfeed their infants before, during and after immunization, mothers should use warm compress instead of hot or cold compress so as to avoid reducing the immunization potency and researchers should conduct further studies on the health benefits of these practices.

Biography:

Kang Meng Feng has graduated from Institute of Information Management in Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, Taiwan in 2017 and received Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from Chang Gung University of Science and Technology, Chiayi, Taiwan in 2008. Kang Meng Feng is currently working at St. Martin De Porres Hospital as a Chief Nursing Officer in Surgical Intensive Care Unit engaged in clinical management and teaching

Abstract:

The incidence of pressure ulcer is one of the essential indicators of clinical care. Even many scholars and experts have aimed to prevent the adverse event of pressure ulcer, but the high incidence of hospitalized pressure ulcer was unfortunately commonly found in clinical practices. Therefore, identifying the risk factors and implement preventive interventions of pressure ulcer to avoid wound, pain, surgical treatment, prolonged hospitalization, infection, mortality and health expenditure increasing become more critical. We found that the Braden scale, Norton scale, Gosnell scale and Waterlow scale were broadly used for risk evaluation of pressure ulcer. However, these scales were established by the criteria of various patients and applicability or usability of the caring system. In this study, we use three classifiers of data exploration technology includes decision tree, logistic regression, and random forest to create the prediction model for hospitalized patients with a pressure ulcer. A total of 11838 medical records of hospitalization were collected and analyzed in 30 sets of training samples, and following with a 10-fold cross-validation was conducted to verify the performance of these prediction models. The results revealed that the sensitivity of the decision tree, logistic regression, and random forest were 79.94%, 75.81% and 84.48%, respectively. It demonstrated that the random forest has better classification efficiency of constructing a predictive model. We also found that the predictive factors for impaired skin integrity, systolic pressure, poor expression. Basel scale and micro vascular filling time greater than 2 seconds are the most influential risk factors for pressure ulcers. This study provides the critical risk factors to caregivers for patient physical assessment to predict pressure ulcer incidence of hospitalized patients and to implement preventive actions in clinical practice. Overall, these findings enhance the improvement of the medical care quality and service

Biography:

Bonnie McRae has interest in orthopedics, trauma and sports medicine. She is passionate about the improvement of healthcare through the implementation of virtual clinic models, patient self-care pathways for minor injuries and the use of audits to observe peaks in trauma presentations to hospitals in order to enable adequate resource allocation. She is also involved in the education of junior medical staffs and holds Academic title at Griffith University, University of Queensland and is an Orthopedic Group Tutor for the University of Edinburgh

Abstract:

Introduction & Aim: Supracondylar humeral fractures are the most common elbow injury occurring in the pediatric population, accounting for 55-80% of all elbow fractures and 3-18% of all pediatric fractures. They occur most commonly due to a fall from play equipment or furniture. This study aims to determine if any relationship exists between supracondylar humeral fractures and any temporal or injury characteristics. It was hypothesized that an increased incidence of supracondylar fractures would be observed in summer months and on weekends. Method: All patients <18 years of age with an isolated distal humerus supracondylar fracture between 2004 and 2014 were included in this study. Patient demographics and fracture characteristic data were collected. Hypothesis testing was performed to assess for any statistically significant relationship between fracture incidence and temporal or injury characteristics. Patients were then divided based on their management (conservative vs. operative) and hypothesis testing was performed to determine whether any difference existed between the management groups with regards to temporal and injury characteristics. Results: No statistically significant association was noted between fracture incidence and gender, laterality, or day/month/season of injury. Time of injury and presentation to the Emergency Department demonstrated significant results, with highest incidence in the afternoon hours (12:00-17:59). Conclusion: Unlike previous international studies, no significant difference was noted between day/month/season of injury and incidence of supracondylar fracture. This is thought to be likely due to the difference in climate between Australia and other countries.

Biography:

Chridtian Adam L. Espiritu is fourth year medical student from the University of Northern Philippines College of Medicine coming from different undergraduate degrees but with a common interest in pursuing Public Health research. Chridtian Adam L. Espiritu by Dr. Leslie Asuncion a Cardiologist and mentored by Dr. Dalvie Casilang

Abstract:

International students are vulnerable group of students because of several factors including language and culture barriers. With their growing presence, local officials are getting more concerned if their basic needs are met in the community. This study aims to determine the health status of international medical students of the University of Northern Philippines (UNP) as a tool for authorities to develop programs that can provide support for their health needs. The study showed relatively poor physical health, with 57% of the students have Body Mass Index (BMI) which are under or above the normal values. The study shows a high incidence of hospitalization over the last year (13.7%). Thirty-one percent of the respondents reported to have at least 1 chronic, permanent or recurrent illness with eye problems such as impaired vision and myopia (4.8%), as the most reported. The depression level was measured using the Goldberg Depression Screening Test and showed that 52.9% may have depression; 17.8% possibly mild, 5.8% borderline, 12.9% mild to moderate, 10.1% moderate to severe, and 5.8% severe. Finally, the stress level measured using Cohen’s perceived stress test showed 31.7% have low stress level, 57.3% have moderate stress level and 10.4% have high perceived stress.