The influence of a ban on outpatient intravenous antibiotic therapy among the secondary and tertiary hospitals in China.

BACKGROUND: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a serious global public health challenge. Physicians' over-prescription of antibiotics is a major contributor, and intravenous (IV) antibiotic use has been a particular concern in China. To address the rapid fallout of antibiotic overuse, the Chinese government has piloted a ban of IV antibiotics in the outpatient department (OD) with the exemption of paediatrics, emergency department (ED), and inpatient ward of secondary and tertiary hospitals in several provinces. METHODS: To assess the potential impact of the policy, we conducted a mixed-methods study including 1) interviews about the ban of IV antibiotic use with 68 stakeholders, covering patients, health workers, and policy-makers, from two cities and 2) a hospital case study which collected routine hospital data and survey data with 207 doctors. RESULTS: Our analyses revealed that the ban of IV antibiotics in the OD led to a reduction in the total and IV antibiotic prescriptions and improved the rational antibiotic prescribing practice in the OD. Nevertheless, the policy has diverted patient flow from OD to ED, inpatient ward, and primary care for IV antibiotic prescriptions. We also found that irrational antibiotic use in paediatrics was neglected. Radical policy implementation, doctors circumvented the regulations, and lack of doctor-patient communication during patient encounters were barriers to the implementation of the ban. CONCLUSIONS: Future efforts may include 1) to de-escalate both oral and IV antibiotic therapy in paediatric and reduce oral antibiotic therapy among adults in outpatient clinics, 2) to reduce unnecessary referrals by OD doctors to ED, primary care, or inpatient services and better coordinate for patients who clinically need IV antibiotics, 3) to incorporate demand-side tailored measures, such as public education campaigns, and 4) to improve doctor-patient communication. Future research is needed to understand how primary care and other community clinics implement the ban.

Experience from a Singapore tertiary hospital with restructuring of a vascular surgery practice in response to national and institutional policies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Singapore was one of the first countries to be affected by COVID-19, with the index patient diagnosed on January 23, 2020. For 2 weeks in February, we had the highest number of COVID-19 cases behind China. In this article, we summarize the key national and institutional policies that were implemented in response to COVID-19. We also describe in detail, with relevant data, how our vascular surgery practice has changed because of these policies and COVID-19. We show that with a segregated team model, the vascular surgery unit can still function while reducing risk of cross-contamination. We explain the various strategies adopted to reduce outpatient and inpatient volume. We provide a detailed breakdown of the type of vascular surgical cases that were performed during the COVID-19 pandemic and compare it with preceding months. We discuss our operating room and personal protective equipment protocols in managing a COVID-19 patient and share how we continue surgical training amid the pandemic. We also discuss the challenges we might face in the future as COVID-19 regresses.

Challenges and Perspectives for Tertiary Level Hospitals in Bolivia: The case of Santa Cruz de La Sierra Department.

Current legislation transferred public tertiary hospitals in Bolivia from the Municipalities to the Regional Level. However, the Regional Governments are experiencing technical and financial constraints to reform infrastructure, modernize equipment and introduce reforms to allow better governance, management and sustainability of these hospitals. This articles summarizes the recent experience of the Government of Santa Cruz de la Sierra in Bolivia where five tertiary hospitals and blood bank (most of them in precarious working conditions) has been transferred in 2012 from the Municipal Government of Santa Cruz (the capital) to the Regional Government of Santa Cruz. To face the challenges, the Regional Government of Santa Cruz implement several improvements, such as contract new clinical and administrative personal, increases hospital budgetary autonomy, outsource hospitals' auxiliary services, take measures to eliminate waiting lists and make several new investments to modernize and equip the hospitals. The World Bank was contracted to evaluated the future financial sustainability of these investments and to advice the Government to propose changes to increase the hospitals' management performance. The article describes the remaining challenges in these hospitals and the proposals from the World Bank Study. In the area of quality of care, the main challenge is to improve client satisfaction and continuous outcomes monitoring and evaluation according quality standards. In the area of financing, the challenge is how to assure the sustainability of these hospitals with the current level of health financing and the insufficient financial transfers from the National Government. In the area of Governance, reforms to streamline and simplify internal processes need to be introduced in order to establish mechanisms to increase transparency and accountability, allowing the hospital to have a good administration and adequate participation of the main actors in the guidance of the institution.