Healthcare 2020, 8(1), 26; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare8010026
The current article is an integrative and analytical literature review on the concept and meaning of empathy in health and social care professionals. Empathy, i.e., the ability to understand the perso...nal experience of the patient without bonding with them, constitutes an important communication skill for a health professional, one that includes three dimensions: the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral. It has been proven that health professionals with high levels of empathy operate more efficiently as to the fulfillment of their role in eliciting therapeutic change.The empathetic professional comprehends the needs of the health care users, as the latter feel safe to express the thoughts and problems that concern them. Although the importance of empathy is undeniable, a significantly high percentage of health professionals seem to find it difficult to adopt a model of empathetic communication in their everyday practice. Some of the factors that negatively influence the development of empathy are the high number of patients that professionals have to manage, the lack of adequate time, the focus on therapy within the existing academic culture, but also the lack of education in empathy. Developing empathetic skills should not only be the underlying objective in the teaching process of health and social care undergraduate students, but also the subject of the lifelong and continuous education of professionals
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The goal of asthma treatment is to obtain clinical control and reduce future risks to the patient. To reach this goal in children with asthma, ongoing monitoring is essential. While all components of asthma, such as symptoms, lung function, bronchial hyperresponsiveness and inflammation, may exist i...n various combinations in different individuals, to date there is limited evidence on how to integrate these for optimal monitoring of children with asthma. The aims of this ERS Task Force were to describe the current practise and give an overview of the best available evidence on how to monitor children with asthma.
22 clinical and research experts reviewed the literature. A modified Delphi method and four Task Force meetings were used to reach a consensus.
This statement summarises the literature on monitoring children with asthma. Available tools for monitoring children with asthma, such as clinical tools, lung function, bronchial responsiveness and inflammatory markers, are described as are the ways in which they may be used in children with asthma. Management-related issues, comorbidities and environmental factors are summarised.
Despite considerable interest in monitoring asthma in children, for many aspects of monitoring asthma in children there is a substantial lack of evidence.
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3rd edition. Patient safety standards are critical for the establishment and assessment of patient safety programmes within hospitals. This third edition of the Patient safety assessment manual provides an updated set of standards and assessment criteria that reflect current best practice and WHO gu...idance. The manual will support the implementation of patient safety assessments and improvement programmes within hospitals as part of the Patient Safety Friendly Hospital Framework to ensure that patient safety is prioritized and facilities and staff implement best practices. The manual is a key tool for use by professional associations regulatory accrediting or oversight bodies and ministries of health to improve patient safety.
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This primer aims to guide health professionals on engaging with WASH-related issues. It gives an overview of WASH interventions and the status of WASH services globally and outlines key linkages with health. It provides examples of key actions that health actors can take to ensure WASH efforts effec...tively protect public health and highlights World Health Organization (WHO) activities to support those actions.
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This manual summarizes the methodology used to develop WHODAS 2.0 and the findings obtained when the schedule was applied to certain areas of general health, including mental and neurological disorders.
The manual will be useful to any researcher or clinician wishing to use WHODAS 2.0 in their prac...tice. It includes the seven versions of WHODAS 2.0, which differ in length and intended mode of administration. It also provides general population norms; these allow WHODAS 2.0 values for certain subpopulations to be compared with those for the general population.
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The key updates include: content update in various sections based on new evidence; design changes for enhanced usability; a streamlined and simplified clinical assessment that includes an algorithm for follow-up; inclusion of two new modules
- Essential Care and Practice that includes general guid...elines and Iminterventions and implementation module to support the proposed interventions by necessary infrastructure and resources; and, revised modules for Psychoses, Child and Adolescent Mental and Behavioural Disorders and Disorders due to Substance Use
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salud pública de méxico / vol. 50, suplemento 2 de 2008, pp.167-177.
In response to the emerging global concern regarding health and people with intellectual disabilities (ID), several developed countries have established national initiatives to address the unique health needs of this population ...segment. However, most people with ID reside in countries with developing economies, such as many Latin American countries, yet there is virtually no information on the health of people with ID in these regions. Countries with developing economies face distinct challenges in promoting health among this population segment that may preclude adoption or adaptation of policies and practices developed in regions with established economies. This paper will address the issue of health promotion among people with ID in Latin America, an area that is undergoing significant reforms in both health care and disability rights
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Spiritual care has formed an integral part of palliative care since its inception. People with advanced illnesses, however, frequently report that their spiritual needs are not attended to by their medical care team. The present study examines and describes the impact of a spiritual care training pr...ogram on practice and cultural change in our Canadian hospice.
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A practical and reflective guide for teachers .
This guide is packed with practical tools and advice for teachers wanting to embed global citizenship in their classrooms. Learn how to effectively bring a global lens into your teaching with our handy planning framework, participation methods, and to...ols to assess learning.
Develop your teaching practice with both innovative and tried-and-tested approaches. Help your learners ask questions, make connections, and take action as active global citizens
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This report documents different approaches to conservation of medicinal plants and traditional knowledge in Bolipara union of Thanchi upazila of Bandarban hill district. This initiative involved the collection of baseline data on medicinal plants and their uses, motivating people towards the uses an...d practices, identification and knowledge sharing with the traditional healers, establishment of an electronic database and carrying out specific conservation measures and awareness activities. This document also provides a number of recommendations to ensure sustainability of such initiatives for safeguarding medicinal plants and indigenous knowledge associated with them. We sincerely hope that this account will be useful to the people interested in medicinal plants, especially in developing countries.
Original file: 29 MB
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This fourth annual report monitors global progress towards the 2023 target for global elimination of industrially produced trans-fatty acids (TFA), highlighting achievements during the past year (October 2021 – September 2022). Countries are responding to the World Health Organization (WHO) call t...o action by putting into place best-practice TFA policies. Mandatory TFA policies are currently in effect for 3.4 billion people in 60 countries (43% of the world population); of these, 43 countries have best-practice policies in effect, covering 2.8 billion people (36% of the world population).
Over the past year, several additional countries took action to eliminate industrially produced TFA: best-practice policies came into effect in India in January 2022, Uruguay in May 2022 and Oman in July 2022. Best-practice policies were passed in Bangladesh in November 2021 (to come into effect in December 2022) and in Ukraine in September 2020 (to come into effect in October 2023), best-practice TFA policies are projected to pass soon in Mexico, Nigeria and Sri Lanka.
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Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a complex issue of global concern. AMR is not simply a problem of medical science being beaten by nature; human action and perverse incentives play a major role in its development. The misuse of antibiotics in the medical, veterinary and agricultural sectors, which ...include the inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics, their overuse in the livestock sector, and insufficient hygiene practices in hospital, all contribute to the rise of AMR.
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Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a complex issue of global concern. AMR is not simply a problem of medical science being beaten by nature; human action and perverse incentives play a major role in its development. The misuse of antibiotics in the medical, veterinary and agricultural sectors, which ...include the inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics, their overuse in the livestock sector, and insufficient hygiene practices in hospital, all contribute to the rise of AMR
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Ethiopia has seen high economic growth over the last decade, but remains a poor country with a high burden of disease. It has made considerable health gains in recent years, mainly by having health policies that focus on extending primary healthcare, using health extension workers. It... has made good use of existing resources,but has a low health expenditure (of around US$21 per capita, and totalling 4per centof GDP). It has a federal system with devolved healthcare financing, whereby block grants are allocated to sectors at regional and woreda(district) level. The challenge now,with the epidemiological transition (and a sense that the ‘low-hanging fruits’have already been gathered in relation to public health), is how Ethiopia, still poor, continuesto invest in health improvements?Human resources for health (HRH) are a critical pillar within any health system –the health staff combine inputs to provide the services, thus affecting how all other resources are used, and they make frontline (and back-office) decisions thatare importantdeterminants of servicequality,effectiveness and equity. HRH is usually the most resource-intensive element within the health system –commonly absorbing 50–70per centof public expenditure onhealth, although the proportions are very varied by individual countries and across regions. As they are commonly part of the public administration, reforms to HRH are also part of a complex political economy in most countries.Assessing value for money (VfM) in relation to HRH is correspondingly complex;across the value chain, manyfactors influence the conversion of inputs into outputs and outcomes (see Figure 1).A more detailed description of the HRH value chain can be found in Annex1.
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Policy Note #1: Myanmar Health Systems in Transition Policy Notes Series
The Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar is committed to achieving universal health coverage (UHC) by 2030. In practice, this means that over the next 15 years the aim is to progressively ensure that all peop...le in all parts of the country have access to the health-care services they need – both preventive and curative – without suffering financial hardship when paying for them.
This policy note is the first in a set of four. It provides an overview of the challenges to be overcome in making progress toward UHC and sets out recommendations for how they can be tackled. The other notes look in more detail at three specific issues: how UHC can improve equity, and how strengthening the township health system and expanding financial risk protection contribute to UHC.
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This publication makes the case for working with men and women, boys and girls, together in an intentional and mutually reinforcing way that challenges gender norms in the pursuit of improved health and gender equality. In addition to providing a definition for the new concept of gender synchronizat...ion, this document provides examples of synchronized approaches that have worked first with women and girls, or first with men and boys, and describes interventions that have worked with both sexes from the start. It also provides examples of new and emerging programs that should be watched in the coming years for the knowledge they may contribute to the implementation of gender synchronization.
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National emergency medical teams are the best option for providing immediate and appropriate surge response for emergencies directly affecting populations, while international teams may help relieve overwhelmed health systems. The efficiency and effectiveness of countries and local authorities in mo...bilizing existing resources is only as good as the quality of care they are able to provide. This publication serves as a practical guide for teams and aims to compliment emergency response systems, fostering seamless collaboration with all emergency response actors and networks
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2nd edition. The interagency field handbook on malaria control was developed to set out effective malaria control responses in humanitarian emergencies, particularly during the acute phase when reliance on international humanitarian assistance is greatest. This second edition represents a thorough u...pdating and revision of the first edition. The structure remains similar, but includes an additional chapter on humanitarian coordination. All chapters have been revised to reflect changes in best practices, improvements in technologies, availability of new tools, and changes in WHO recommendations.
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Despite the existence of criminal law, which is an important aspect of anti-FGM policies and programmes, there is not much research on the effects of cross-border practices that invalidate the law as a deterrent. Much remains unknown about the practice of cross-border FGM, specifically about gaps in... existing policy and legislation for managing cross-border FGM, as well as whether the existing interventions in the cross-border areas are sufficiently targeted to facilitate changes in social norms
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For centuries, indigenous peoples around the world have used their traditional knowledge to prepare for, cope with and survive disasters. Their methods and practices originated within their communities and have been maintained and passed down over generations. Until recently, policy makers have larg...ely ignored this vast body of knowledge, in favor of ‘Western’ science and technologybased methods of disaster risk reduction and response. Today, however, many of these traditional practices are considered important and necessary contributions to the conservation of biodiversity and environmental sustainability. Yet at the same time, this knowledge is under constant threat of being eroded or lost, making these communities more vulnerable...
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