Amid COVID-19 pandemic, are non-COVID patients left in the lurch?

Khan²,

et al. 2021

Pak J Med Sci

Self Cite

Objectives: To assess the satisfaction of trainees towards different attributes of their training programs. Methods: This cross-sectional survey was carried out by enrolling trainee doctors currently working in Medical, Surgical, Dental and Allied specialties of the country by sending a validated and piloted questionnaire through email. Data collection was done from 1st to 31st January 2021 after taking ethical approval from the concerned authorities. Data was analysed using SPSS v. 19.0. Results: A total of 516 completed responses were received from 15 major cities of the country. The overall perceived satisfaction towards clinical skills (42%), teaching skills (31.4%), personal growth and development (23.6%), research (21%) and supervisor’s role (44.2%) were considerably low with the most common causes for non-satisfaction being poor work-life balance (59%), financial instability (54.5%), poor research facilities (53%), poor career guidance (44%) and poor skill development (42.4%) in descending order. Senior years of residency, government and private set-ups, less than four and greater than 13 residents on average with less than three supervisors per department, excessive duty hours and financial instability in-lieu of not doing locums were statistically related to poor satisfaction across majority of the facets of residency as well the overall satisfaction towards training programs. Conclusion: There is a tremendous scope for improvement in the recognized and partially acknowledged attributes of our training programs. Yearly feedback surveys involving residents is essential for enlightening the authorities and mitigating the trainees’ grievances. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.37.7.4297 How to cite this:Alam L, Khan J, Alam M, Faraid V, Ajmal F, Bahadur L. Residents’ perspective on the quality of postgraduate training programs in Pakistan – the good, the bad and the ugly. Pak J Med Sci. 2021;37(7):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.37.7.4297 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A H E a D O F P R I N Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

Residents’ perspective on the quality of postgraduate training programs in Pakistan – the good, the bad and the ugly

Khan²,

et al. 2021

Pak J Med Sci

Self Cite

“…PE is one severe complication associated with COVID-19 [16] and a pre-existing PE in a patient may complicate the COVID-19 infection [17]. It has been reported that many patients suffering from various diseases have modified their health visits during global pandemic and experienced psychological distress and poor QoL [18][19][20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of Health-Related Quality of Life, Anxiety and Satisfaction in Patients with Pulmonary Embolism during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Malli,

Papamichali,

Vlaikoudi

et al. 2024

Preprint

Background: Features of post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety may be present in Pulmonary Embolism (PE) patients along with impaired Quality of Life (QoL). We aim to evaluate health related QoL, anxiety and satisfaction with life, during the pandemic, in patients with a PE. Methods: Patients with PE were enrolled during their follow-up. All participants completed the Short Form 36 (SF-36) questionnaire, the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) X1 and X2 form, and the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). Results: 92 PE patients were included (mean age±SD=62.50±15.33 years, 56.5% males). Most of the mean values of the SF36 subscales were above the normative value except for “physical role functioning”) (45.92±42.41). “Emotional role functioning” (51.26±43.31) and “general health perceptions” (GH) (54.02±18.79) were slightly above the normative value of 50. Mean STAIX1 levels were 37.05±11.17 and mean STAIX2 levels were 39.80±10.47. Mean SWLS levels were 23.31±6.58. According to multiple linear regression analysis, mental healthscore (MH) and GH were predictive of SWLS(F (10,76) = 10.576, p

“…The pandemic has exposed and worsened existing healthcare and other structural inequalities. 6 , 18 , 19 , 20 For example, an Australian study showed the impact of COVID‐19 on reducing the provision of dental services to children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who already experienced higher levels of dental disease and disadvantage in accessing dental care prior to the pandemic. 6 Given that U.S. school‐based dental screening programmes and preventive programmes (such as sealant and fluoride varnish programmes) were significantly impacted negatively during the 2020–2021 school year, 21 , 22 reductions in paediatric dental care utilization would also be expected in the U.S. As society gradually reopens and these school‐based preventive dental programs resume, policy makers and school administrators will need data on which subgroups experienced the largest unmet dental need during the pandemic in order to plan and deliver targeted interventions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The pandemic has exposed and worsened existing healthcare and other structural inequalities 6,18–20 . For example, an Australian study showed the impact of COVID‐19 on reducing the provision of dental services to children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who already experienced higher levels of dental disease and disadvantage in accessing dental care prior to the pandemic 6 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in dental and medical visits before and during the COVID‐19 pandemic among U.S. children aged 1–17 years

Karande

Chong

Megally

et al. 2022

Comm Dent Oral Epid

Objectives The COVID‐19 pandemic has tremendously impacted the U.S. healthcare system, but no study has examined the impact of the pandemic on utilization of dental care among U.S. children. Changes in past‐year dental versus medical visits and perceived unmet health needs between 2019 and 2020 among U.S. children aged 1–17 years were examined. Methods National and state representative, cross‐sectional data from the National Survey of Children's Health conducted during June 2019–January 2020 (i.e. pre‐pandemic, n = 28 500) and July 2020–January 2021 (i.e. intra‐pandemic, n = 41 380) were analysed. Any past‐year visit and perceived unmet needs (i.e. delay or inability to receive needed care) were reported by the parent proxy. Weighted prevalence estimates were compared using two‐tailed chi‐squared tests at p < .05. Poisson regression analyses were used to explore the relationship between having dental and/or medical unmet needs during the pandemic and indicators of poor health and social wellbeing. Results Between 2019 and 2020, a significantly reduced prevalence of past‐year medical (87.2%–81.3%) and dental visits (82.6%–78.2%) among U.S. children aged 1–17 years (all p < .05) were observed. Correspondingly, perceived unmet needs increased by half for dental care (from 2.9% in 2019 to 4.4% in 2020) and almost one‐third for medical care (from 3.2% to 4.2% in 2020). Subgroups with the highest prevalence of unmet dental need included those with low socio‐economic status, living with their grandparents, uninsured and living with a smoker. Conclusions Unmet health needs increased in general but increased more for dental than for medical care among U.S. children aged 1–17 years. Enhanced and sustained efforts will be needed to deliver targeted services towards disadvantaged segments of the population to narrow existing disparities.