Operating rooms are considered a significant revenue source, as well as the main source of waste and cost, among the hospital's departments. Any cost savings in operating rooms will have a broad financial impact. Over the last decades, many researchers and practitioners have conducted studies to deal with the issue of managing surgical supplies and instruments, which are highly affected by surgeons' preferences. The purpose of this article is to present an up-to-date review of research in the field of inventory management of surgical supplies and instruments. We have analysed the literature in a systematic manner and organised the identified papers into two groups: the papers that were published by scientific researchers and developed optimisation techniques and the papers that were published by practitioners and reported their observations of the current issues in the operating room. We also identify the future research directions leading to operating room inventory cost reduction.

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Understanding the characteristics related to the rates of childhood influenza immunization can help policy makers develop and tailor programs to improve immunization education and delivery, especially to the groups that are least likely to participate.

Context: Several advantages of telemedicine have been reported, such as improved patient satisfaction, reduced costs, and broader access to specialists. However, most studies have focused on patient satisfaction with telemedicine services. A literature gap exists in evaluating health care professionals' (both referring and performing professionals) satisfaction in delivering telemedicine services. A clear picture of professionals' telemedicine satisfaction has the potential to improve care quality, care accessibility, and telemedicine adoption and to reduce overall health care costs. Objectives: To develop a framework to evaluate health care professionals' satisfaction in delivering telemedicine services and to articulate the factors that can contribute to their satisfaction. Methods: We developed an initial conceptual framework based on existing literature and the research team's expertise. The initial framework was validated by a convenience group of 12 osteopathic and allopathic physicians, and the framework was further revised and refined according to their input. Results: The refined framework includes 5 main components (professionals' demographics, care settings, motivations, experiences, and overall satisfaction) that can contribute to health care professionals' satisfaction or dissatisfaction in delivering telemedicine services. Detailed itemization is provided under each component, including hierarchical organizations of the items, definitions, and potential value sets. Conclusions: The refined conceptual framework may provide a comprehensive evaluation reference for measuring professionals' satisfaction in delivering telemedicine. Further customization according to the specific setting of telemedicine services is needed. This refined conceptual framework can also be used to identify areas that can be improved and to ultimately improve telemedicine services and care quality.

The elderly who suffer from chronic conditions have an increasingly difficult time accessing health care in rural areas compared with their healthy counterparts who seek and utilize less specialty care. Parkinson disease affects approximately 0.3% to 5% of the elderly population. However, a large portion of that population has difficulty accessing health care. The purpose of this study was to obtain an understanding of the access to care issues for patients with Parkinson disease and review solutions to aid their provision of care. A review of the literature found several models of care available to improve access to care issues for patients with Parkinson disease.