Introduction. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the workload of healthcare workers managing the disease, increased significantly. The objective of this review is to determine the anxiety and depression prevalence among healthcare workers during the pandemic period. Methods. We searched systematically the literature in five electronic databases such as PubMed, CINAHL, ScienceDirect, MEDLINE, and Cochrane COVID-19 study register. The last online research was performed in May 2022. We included only cross-sectional studies and performed a meta-analysis of pooled prevalence. Publication bias was assessed with a funnel plot and Egger’s and Begg’s tests. A random effect was applied and heterogenicity I2 was calculated. Quality assessment of included studies was performed using the Joanna Briggs Institute tool. Results. In this review, we included 14 cross-sectional studies comprising 7780 healthcare workers. Participants were from the whole spectrum of healthcare workers. The pooled prevalence of depression was 33.8% (95% CI: 24.6 – 43.6), heterogenicity I2: 98.69% . The pooled prevalence of anxiety was 41.3% (95% CI: 30.2 – 52.9), heterogenicity I2: 99.01%. Conclusion. One-third of healthcare workers suffered from depression, and more than one-third suffered from anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic. Increased measures of surveillance of mental health should have been taken, as well as the support of healthcare workers running a high risk of psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Introduction: Health services are that part of the health system, which focuses specifically on the provision of health care services in the society. A health system includes a complex set of structural relationships between populations and institutions that have an impact on health. Purpose: This review aims to investigate the relationship between the quality of health services and health in general. Methodology: The study material consisted of recent articles on the subject found mainly in the Medline electronic database and the Hellenic Academic Libraries Association (HEAL- Link). Results: Certain dimensions of health service quality, such as consistency, completeness, and effectiveness, are also difficult to be measured, apart from the subjective evaluation by the client. But even subjective evaluation by the client can be difficult and the results will be different from the evaluation of services done by other parties, such as health professionals. While the latter evaluate the design and delivery of the service, the customers evaluate the service based on their overall perception of its provision. Conclusions: The continuous monitoring of health services for quality evaluation is very important, in such extent that the evaluation of patients' perceptions of the quality of health care, has received significant attention in recent years.

Idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSHL) is a common condition characterized by hearing threshold reduction, most often of unknown causes. The patient experiences a sudden reduction of the hearing threshold in one or both ears. Steroids are the mainstream of the treatment. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of intratympanic steroid administration compared with systemic administration and the combination of the two steroid treatments in the hearing recovery of patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss. We searched electronic databases such as PubMed,

Background: The treatment of allergic rhinitis is important due to the burden that the disease causes globally. The objective of this review is to explore the efficiency of house dust mite and grass pollen extracts in allergic rhinitis treatment.Methods: We performed research in electronic databases and searched relevant articles on PubMed, CINAHL, OVID, ScienceDirect, Cochrane CENTRAL, and MEDLINE. We used keywords such as 'allergic rhinitis', 'sublingual immunotherapy', 'randomized controlled trials', 'grass pollen', 'allergen immunotherapy', and 'house dust mite'. We included nine randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Quality assessment of included studies was performed independently by two authors.Results: We included nine eligible RCTs in this review. Five RCTs were about grass pollen extracts and four RCTs were about house dust mite extracts. Most of the studies reported positive results and suggested further evaluation of sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) treatment. Grass pollen extracts mostly used were Dactylis glomerata, Poa pratensis, Lolium perenne, Anthoxanthum odoratum, Phleum pratense, and Parietaria. House dust mite extracts used were from Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus and Dermatophagoides farina. According to the quality assessment, no bias was observed in the included studies.Conclusions: Although sublingual allergen immunotherapy shows a benefit compared to placebo in the treatment of allergic rhinitis and rhino-conjunctivitis in adults, the results are interpreted with caution due to the high heterogenicity among studies in treatment protocols and dosing. More standardization among studies is needed.

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