Evaluation of Quality Indicators in Home Health Services Delivery.

Background: We aimed to evaluate the quality indicators monitored within the scope of quality standards health. Methods: In this descriptive study, patients who visited the home health services unit in 2021, were included. Patient age and diagnostic data were obtained from the Basic Health Statistics Module. Other information such as the number of patient visits and nutritional status were obtained from the indicator data collection form followed by the quality management unit of our hospital and from the home health services unit. We included the data of Antalya Training and Research Hospital. Microsoft Excel and SPSS 25.0 program were used in the analysis of the data, and the data obtained were shown as numbers and ratios (%). Results: When the quality indicators of home health services delivery were examined, the timely response rate of the application was 100%, the nutritional status of all patients was evaluated using the Nutritional Risk Score (NRS-2002) evaluation form at the first patient visit; the patients receiving health care from the home health unit of our hospital visited an average of three times in a year, and the health service from the home health unit was determined: the annual average rate of medical appointments kept with patients who receive medical care at the scheduled time is 83%. Conclusion: Quality indicators are being met well, and good-quality care services are being delivered in the home health service of the training and research hospitals.

The results of a close follow-up of trainees to gain a good blood collection practice.

BACKGROUND: Phlebotomy is one of the most important steps in the preanalytical phase of a clinical laboratory process. In order to decrease phlebotomy errors, this specific procedure should be taught in detail by laboratory organizations. Our study aims to practice the training program on venous blood sampling and observe the close follow-up results. METHODS: In this observational study, 127 students who started their summer internship in Antalya Education and Research Hospital were given a one-day theoretical phlebotomy training in accordance with the Venous Blood Sampling Guidelines. After the theoretical training, phlebotomy applications of 10 students who were working in the field of out-patient blood sampling were observed both with and without their knowledge. A comprehensive checklist related to phlebotomy was created by the trainers in Antalya Education and Research Hospital and the observers answered each question as yes or no. For the statistical analysis, IBM SPSS Statistics 21.0 was used. RESULTS: After the theoretical education, the trainees were observed but no significant difference was found between the first and the second informed observations (p = 0.125). The students were observed three times more in the following week without their knowledge. There was a statistically significant difference between the first and the third unannounced observations (p=0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In order to perform phlebotomy correctly, apart from theoretical education, a close follow-up is necessary too.

Expert system application for prioritizing preventive actions for shift work: shift expert.

INTRODUCTION: Shift patterns, work hours, work arrangements and worker motivations have increasingly become key factors for job performance. The main objective of this article is to design an expert system that identifies the negative effects of shift work and prioritizes mitigation efforts according to their importance in preventing these negative effects. The proposed expert system will be referred to as the shift expert. METHODS: A thorough literature review is conducted to determine the effects of shift work on workers. Our work indicates that shift work is linked to demographic variables, sleepiness and fatigue, health and well-being, and social and domestic conditions. These parameters constitute the sections of a questionnaire designed to focus on 26 important issues related to shift work. The shift expert is then constructed to provide prevention advice at the individual and organizational levels, and it prioritizes this advice using a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process model, which considers comparison matrices provided by users during the prioritization process. An empirical study of 61 workers working on three rotating shifts is performed. After administering the questionnaires, the collected data are analyzed statistically, and then the shift expert produces individual and organizational recommendations for these workers.

Pre-Test and Post-Test Applications to Shape the Education of Phlebotomists in A Quality Management Program: An Experience in a Training Hospital.

BACKGROUND: After the introduction of modern laboratory instruments and information systems, preanalytic phase is the new field of battle. Errors in preanalytical phase account for approximately half of total errors in clinical laboratory. The objective of this study was to share an experience of an education program that was believed to be successful in decreasing the number of rejected samples received from the Emergency Department (ED). METHODS: An education program about laboratory procedures, quality requirements in the laboratory, patient and health-care worker safety was planned by the quality team to be performed on 36 people who were responsible for sample collection in the ED. A questionary which included 11 questions about the preanalytic phase was applied to all the attendees before and after training. The number of rejected samples per million was discovered with right proportion account over the number of accepted and rejected samples to laboratory after and before the training period. RESULTS: Most of the attendees were nurses (n: 22/55%), with over 12 years of experience in general and 2-4 years experience in the ED. Knowledge level of the attendees was calculated before training as 58.9% and after training as 91.8%. While the total rate of sample rejection before training was 2.35% (sigma value 3.37-3.50), the rate after training was 1.56% (sigma value 3.62-3.75). CONCLUSIONS: Increasing the knowledge of staff has a direct positive impact on the preanalytic phase. The application of a pre-test was observed to be a feasible tool to shape group specific education programs.