Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare-associated viral respiratory infections at a tertiary care pediatric hospital.

The incidence of healthcare-associated viral respiratory infections in a pediatric hospital decreased from 1.6 /1,000 patient-days in 2019 to 0.2 /1,000 patient-days in 2020 (P < .01), and this was maintained in 2021 despite an increase in community circulation of respiratory viruses. Universal masking, stricter infection control measures, and pandemic public health interventions likely accounted for this improvement.

Determinants of primary healthcare patients' dissatisfaction with the quality of provided medical services.

INTRODUCTION: The quality of medical services and health care are complex problems with a number of various definitions, conceptual approaches, measurement tools and techniques. The most important influence on quality in primary health care has the (immaterial) human factor, the relationship between patient and doctor, medical personnel and the primary health care institution, and the skill to use new technologies to improve quality in health care. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study is to discover the determinants of primary health care patients' dissatisfaction with the quality of medical services. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Patients with medical appointments on the day of the survey and gave their consent to participate were included in the study. A total of 901 patients of primary health care institutions [591 (65.59%) women and 310 (34.41%) men] in the Swietokrzyskie Province took part. The diagnostic poll method based on a questionnaire examining the patients' satisfaction with the quality of health services was used. Logistic regression identified the determinants of dissatisfaction of the patients. RESULTS: The determinants that mostly affected the patients' dissatisfaction with medical services were: rudeness of the doctor (p=0.0001), rudeness of the rest of medical staff (p=0.0001), non-comprehensibility of information about health by the patient (p=0.004), no clear identification of the patient in the health care system (p=0.01), and difficult access to information regarding the health condition (medical documentation) (p=0.018). CONCLUSIONS: Primary health care patients who participated in the study pointed to the attitude of the doctor towards a patient during a visit, and the attitude of the remaining medical personnel among the determinants of dissatisfaction with medical services.

The functions of securities law: An expert survey of legislative intent in Poland.

Under the conventional view, securities law is intended to protect ordinary (retail) investors. However, some scholars from the school of Law & Economics (L&E), guided by considerations of economic efficiency, claim instead that the principal function of securities law is to reduce transaction costs and risk to professionals. This paper examines those claims empirically. Our research design blends content analysis methods with expert survey techniques to arrive at numerical assessments of determinants of Polish securities law. We find that the L&E view is supported by our data very weakly, only insofar as consumer protection is not the main driver of securities law. The veracity of this claim appears to be time-dependent. We do not find sufficient support for the main components of the L&E view, i.e., that securities law is meant to reduce transaction costs and risk to professionals. However, our data does not refute the L&E hypotheses, and, therefore, we consider them to be an open question. We phrase our conclusions cautiously because of the relatively small number of experts surveyed and of statutory sources of securities law in Poland.

Using affinity analysis in diagnosing the needs of patients as regards e-Health.

INTRODUCTION: E-Health tools allow a medical facility to set a given patient's data in order using ICT techniques, and the patient to use those techniques when contacting a given organisation. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Secondary statistical data was used in the research. The study was carried out among primary health care patients. Mining for affinity rules was done in the R programme. The apriori and inspect functions from the arules package were used. Moreover, any redundant rules were removed from thoseobtained using the afero-mentioned method. Applying the general description of the affinity analysis method onto the survey described herein, it should be stressed that the aim of using affinity analysis was to discover the rules which contain the sub-transaction B={V_6=1} as a consequent. This was determined by the intention to discover associations regarding the knowledge about a uniform information system that the patients under study might have. RESULTS: In the discovered rules, the antecedent most often contained an indication of the need for introducing a uniform solution as regards telemedicine. Moreover, according to the opinions of 'conscious'patients, a uniform IT system should improve the work at primary health care institutions, introducing an on-line booking system for visits should improve the productivity and comfort of doctors, and an IT system should provide unambiguous identification of a patient. CONCLUSIONS: There is potential in using affinity analysis within e-Health. The example of affinity analysis described in his study led to the discovery of interesting and important (from the point of view of a medical facility) regularities regarding the knowledge and expectations of patients as regards e-Health.

Optimal Body Fat Percentage Cut-Off Values in Predicting the Obesity-Related Cardiovascular Risk Factors: A Cross-Sectional Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: Reliable obesity assessment is essential in evaluating the risk of cardiovascular risk factors (CRFs). Non-availability of clearly defined cut-offs for body fat percentage (BF%), as well as a widespread application of surrogate measures for obesity assessment, may result in incorrect prediction of cardio-metabolic risk. PURPOSE: The study aimed to determine optimal cut-off points for BF%, with a view of predicting the CRFs related to obesity. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study involved 4735 (33.6% of men) individuals, the Polish-Norwegian Study (PONS) participants, aged 45-64. BF% was measured with the aid of bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) method. The gender-specific cut-offs of BF% were found with respect to at least one CRF. A P-value approach, and receiver operating characteristic curve analyses were pursued for BF% cut-offs, which optimally differentiated normal from the risk groups. The associations between BF% and CRFs were determined by logistic regression models. RESULTS: The cut-offs for BF% were established as 25.8% for men and 37.1% for women. With the exception of dyslipidemia, in men and women whose BF% was above the cut-offs, the odds for developing CRFs ranged 2-4 times higher than those whose BF% was below the cut-offs. CONCLUSION: Controlling BF% below the thresholds indicating an increased health hazard may be instrumental in appreciably reducing overall exposure to developing cardio-metabolic risk.

Exploring Helpful Nursing Care in Pediatric Mental Health Settings: The Perceptions of Children with Suicide Risk Factors and Their Parents.

This qualitative descriptive study explored helpful nursing care from the perspective of children with suicide-associated risk factors, and their parents. Data were collected through participant observation followed by a debriefing session with children, and semi-structured interviews with parents. The inductive analysis revealed four themes of helpful interventions: (1) caring for the child as a special person; (2) caring for the parents; (3) managing the child's illness; and (4) creating a therapeutic environment. The study findings highlight the importance of the relational aspect of nursing care and provide important insights related to family-centered and strengths-based practice with children at increased risk for suicide later in life.

The organizational attraction of nursing graduates: using research to guide employer branding.

In the context of the global nursing shortage, only the most attractive employers are able to recruit a sufficient number of nurses to maintain high quality of care and ensure positive patient outcomes. It is important for health care organizations to align their practices and their employer marketing strategies with attraction factors important to nurses. This article presents the results of a survey of 666 nursing students graduating in the spring of 2009 in the Canadian province of Quebec. Hypotheses were tested using repeated-measures analysis of variance and post hoc tests. Consistent with hypotheses, the results showed that quality of care, type of work, compensation, and employer branding are organizational attraction factors that nursing graduates perceived as important, with quality of care being the most important one. These findings were later used by a Canadian university teaching hospital to optimize its employer branding and attraction strategy that resulted in an increase in the hiring of university-trained nurses. Further research is needed to examine organizational attractiveness for new nurses over time, across generations, and within various cultural contexts.