Patient satisfaction on the utilization of traditional and complementary medicine services at public hospitals in Malaysia

Evaluation of the Use, Reasons, and Satisfaction with the Complementary Medicine among Patients Living with a Permanent Ostomy

Patients living with a permanent ostomy encounter many physical, psychological, and social challenges due to the loss of function of a part of their body. Today, as the use of alternative therapies increases, some of these patients are seeking complementary medicine to relieve the symptoms and complications of their disease. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the use of, reasons for, and satisfaction with the complementary medicine among patients living with a permanent ostomy. This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 100 patients living with a permanent ostomy who were referred to ostomy clinics in southeastern Iran. The census method was used for sampling. The research tool included a complementary medicine questionnaire. SPSS-25 was used for data analysis. The results showed that in physical methods, most of the participants used herbal medicines (83%), aromatherapy (79%), vitamin supplements (76%), and diet (66%). In mental methods, most of the participants used prayer/recourse/vow (91%) and music therapy (75%) (every day to several times a year). People with university education (p < 0.001), higher incomes (p = 0.002), and history of addiction (p = 0.048) used more methods of complementary medicine. Fifty-three point four of the participants used herbal medicines to reduce physical complications, 46.6% used them to improve anxiety and stress induced by ostomy, and between 66 and 80% was completely satisfied with the use of various types of complementary medicine. The study results showed that the frequency of complementary medicine use among patients living with a permanent ostomy varied from a few days to several years. Considering the use of complementary medicine by these patients, educational programs, and interventions are necessary to increase the general awareness of ostomy patients about the types of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and the effects of these methods.

Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic herb-drug interactions of common over-the-counter pain medications

Pain is one of the most common reasons for seeking medical intervention, and self-medication with over-the-counter medications and/or traditional herbal remedies has become increasingly popular. In this review, original articles on understanding possible herb-drug interactions between traditional herbs and four major pain medications-acetaminophen, aspirin, ibuprofen and naproxen-are compiled and analyzed. In terms of analytical methods, high-performance liquid chromatography using an isocratic eluent system coupled to biological sample clean-up is the most common, while a wide variety of detectors have been observed, including a photodiode array, variable wavelength detector, electrochemical detector and tandem mass spectrometer. Both synergistic and anti-synergistic effects were observed for acetaminophen and aspirin, while only synergistic effects have been found for naproxen. Currently, no interactions have been reported for ibuprofen.

The relationship between use of complementary and alternative medicine and health literacy in chronically ill outpatient cases: a cross-sectional study in southeastern Iran

Background

Chronically ill outpatient cases use a variety of complementary and alternative medicines due to their diseases and therapeutic complications. Chronic condition, quality of life, and health literacy all affect the use of complementary medicine among chronically ill outpatient cases. Health literacy helps patients make fully informed decisions about the use of complementary and alternative medicine. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between complementary and alternative medicine and health literacy in chronically ill outpatient cases.

Method

This cross-sectional analytical-descriptive study was conducted on 400 chronically ill outpatient cases referred to medical centers affiliated to Kerman University of Medical Sciences. Convenience sampling was used. Research tools included the complementary and alternative medicine questionnaire and the health literacy questionnaire. SPSS25 was used to analyze data.

Results

The mean use of complementary and alternative medicine in a recent year was 16.75 ± 7.89, which was lower than the mid-point of the questionnaire (84). Prayer, medicinal plants, vitamin supplements, music therapy, and art therapy were the mostly used complementary and alternative medicine methods. The most common reasons for using complementary medicine were to reduce physical complications and improve anxiety and stress. The mean satisfaction with the use of complementary and alternative medicine was 34.96 ± 6.69. The mean health literacy score was 67.13 ± 19.90. Decision-making and the use of health information had the highest mean score among the dimensions of health literacy, whereas reading skills received the lowest mean score. We found a significant and direct relationship between the use of complementary and alternative medicine, health literacy, and all its dimensions.

Conclusion

The study results showed that health literacy predicted the use of complementary and alternative medicine. Health education and promotion programs may be useful for improvement of health literacy in the community.

Satisfaction With Health Care Services at the Pediatric Specialist Clinic of the National Referral Center in Malaysia: Cross-sectional Study of Caregivers' Perspectives

BACKGROUND

The concept of customer satisfaction is gaining hold in all corporate sectors worldwide, and a satisfaction survey is used as a tool to discover service problems and as a chance for customers to rate their experience with health care services. A high degree of patient satisfaction with the services given has been found in numerous studies conducted in Malaysian public health care facilities. However, there is limited information available on caregiver satisfaction with pediatric clinics run by the Ministry of Health (MoH) of Malaysia.

OBJECTIVE

This was the first research performed at a public hospital's pediatric clinic, which was the first hospital to adopt the public-private-partnership model under the MoH, with the aim of discovering the prevalence and factors affecting the satisfaction of caregivers at the national referral center.

METHODS

Cross-sectional research using the standard self-administered SERVQUAL questionnaire was conducted among caregivers accompanying their children to the clinic. The questionnaire consists of 16 paired statements to evaluate their expectations and experiences with the clinic services.

RESULTS

A total of 459 caregivers were involved in this study with a majority aged between 30 and 39 years (n=254, 55.4%). Caregivers from the Indian community (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 2.91, 95% CI 1.37-6.18) and lower income groups (AOR 2.94, 95% CI 1.87-4.64), and those with lower educational backgrounds (AOR 3.58, 95% CI 1.19-10.72) were more likely to be satisfied with the quality of pediatric clinic services. Housewives/househusbands (AOR 0.48, 95% CI 0.25-0.90), on the other hand, appeared less likely to be satisfied with the services provided during their visit to the clinic. Looking at overall patient satisfaction, 50.5% (n=232) of caregivers demonstrated satisfaction with the quality of services, compared to 49.5% (n=227) of dissatisfied respondents.

CONCLUSIONS

This paper suggests that, although most caregivers are satisfied with the services, greater emphasis must be placed on delivering reliable service in response to the MoH's mission to provide quality and integrated people-centered health services in Malaysia.

Index Evaluation of Different Hospital Management Modes Based on Deep Learning Model

In order to effectively improve the efficiency of hospital public management, we designed a hospital management index system based on deep learning model and analysed the application effect of reverse broadcast neural network model in hospital. The results show that in the performance analysis of the model, compared with other classical algorithms, the constructed model has the highest accuracy and the shortest delay. The weight analysis of each index in the model shows that the weight of rational utilization rate of beds in tertiary public hospitals is the highest, and the weight of rational utilization rate of beds in secondary public hospitals is the highest. The further analysis of the model training effect shows that the actual value of most output indexes is consistent with the predicted value, and the residual error of the predicted value is close to 0.

The Association Between Work Status and the Use of Healthcare Services Among Women in the Republic of Korea

Introduction

Previous studies on occupational health focussed predominately on the occurrence of occupational diseases. Relatively few studies have measured how employment is associated with the use of healthcare services. This study investigates the association between employment and the extent and range of healthcare use, such as medical expenditures, of women in South Korea.

Methods

We analyze data of the Korean Health Panel, an ongoing longitudinal national representative survey, from 2008 to 2017, to identify the status of economic activity of women by year and age group. We estimate the association between female employment status and medical expenditures by using random effect panel Tobit models. Furthermore, we investigate the association between employment status and the range of healthcare services in biomedicine and traditional Korean medicine (KM) by conducting conditional fixed-effects logistic regression analyses.

Results

For women aged between 25 and 65 in 2017, the majority of them were employed or self-employed. (The proportion of employment of self-employment equals 64.80%). In addition, working women spent 11.6% less on healthcare than nonworking women, and self-employment lowered the healthcare expenditure by 13.1%. Neither work nor the type of work is related to the types and range of healthcare service use. Being employed or self-employed is negatively associated with women’s expenditure on healthcare.

Conclusions

The findings show that employment is associated with less spending on healthcare. They imply that employment has a positive impact on women’s health.

Who Is More Satisfied with Health Services? A Cross-Sectional Study in China

This cross-sectional study aims to assess the Chinese population’s satisfaction with health service and identify 2 types of variables, Andersen’s behavioral model related variables and social environment variables associated with high satisfaction. Data were derived from the 2013 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS). Using exploratory factor analysis, the original questionnaire’s 10 health services were grouped into 2 dimensions, including “health management service” and “public health service.” Then, the satisfaction was described. The associations between satisfaction and factors were assessed using a multivariable logistic regression model. As a result, a total of 5283 subjects were enrolled. The satisfaction was 56.74% for “health management service” and 54.48% for “public health service.” Those with older age, lower education level, positive social environment factors (ie, higher perceived social class, higher perceived social trust, and perceived social equity), and having pension were more likely to report high satisfaction. Moreover, compared to the east region (the most prosperous region), the individuals from the central region or the north-east region (both regional economic levels were medium) had lower odds of reporting high satisfaction. In comparison, those from the west region (the least developed region) had higher odds. In conclusion, actionable measures to increase satisfaction should be proposed by the Chinese government, including increasing pension insurance coverage, increasing investment in health services, creating an excellent social environment, etc.

Level of patient satisfaction at government Unani & Ayurvedic Medical College Hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Objectives

This study was aimed to assess the level of patient satisfaction at Government Unani & Ayurvedic Medical College Hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Study design

This was a cross-sectional study conducted among 165 patients attended at the out-patient department of Government Unani & Ayurvedic Medical College Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Patients who were equally or more than 18 years with a history of at least two referral visits were eligible to participate in the study.

Methods

Patients satisfaction was measured by the Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (PSQ-18), composed of 18 items translated in Bangla.

Results

Among 165 out-patients, 135 (81.8%) were satisfied and 30 (18.2%) were dissatisfied with medical services. The mean and standard deviation of total patient satisfaction was 69.1 (±16.9). Financial aspects were the major area of patient dissatisfaction 29 (17.6%) towards Unani and Ayurvedic treatment due to lack of free medicine supply and high cost of medicine.

Conclusion

The results would shed light on the present conditions of medical services at Government Unani & Ayurvedic Medical College Hospital which could be used to influence the outlook of the policymakers of our country.