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Biomedical subjects

J Cheah

Publications and source records attributed to J Cheah.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2002

Stroke disease management--a framework for comprehensive stroke care.

Disease management is an approach to patient care that coordinates medical resources for the patient across the entire healthcare delivery system throughout the lifetime of the patient with the disease. Stroke is suitable for disease management as it is a well-known disease with a high prevalence, high cost, variable practice pattern, poor clinical outcome, and managed by a non-integrated healthcare system. It has measurable and actionable outcomes, with available local expertise and support of the Ministry of Health. Developing the programme requires a multidisciplinary team, baseline data on target populations and healthcare services, identification of core components, collaboration with key stakeholders, development of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines and carepaths, institution of care coordinators, use of information technology and continuous quality improvement to produce an effective plan. Core components include public education, risk factor screening and management, primary care and specialist clinics, acute stroke units, inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation facilities, and supportive community services including medical, nursing, therapy, home help and support groups for patients and carers. The family physician plays a key role. Coordination of services is best done by a network of hospital and community-based care managers, and is enhanced by a coordinating call centre. Continuous quality improvement is required, with audit of processes and outcomes, facilitated by a disease registry. Pitfalls include inappropriate exclusion of deserving patients, misuse, loss of physician and patient independence, over-estimation of benefits, and care fragmentation. Collaboration and cooperative among all parties will help ensure a successful and sustainable programme.

Comprehensive Health Care↗
PubMed2001

Implementing chronic disease management in the public healthcare sector in Singapore: the role of hospitals.

The public health care delivery system in Singapore faces the challenges of a rapidly ageing population, an increasing chronic disease burden, increasing healthcare cost, rising expectations and demand for better health services, and shortage of resources. It is also fragmented, resulting in duplication and lack of coordination between institutions. A disease management approach has been adopted by the National Healthcare Group (NHG) as a critical strategy to provide holistic, cost-effective, seamless and well-coordinated care across the continuum. The framework in the development of the disease management plan included identifying the diseases and defining the target population, organizing a multi-disciplinary team lead by a clinician champion, defining the core components, treatment protocols and evaluation methods, defining the goals, and measuring and managing the outcomes. As disease management and case management for chronic diseases are new approaches adopted in the healthcare delivery system, there is a lack of understanding by healthcare professionals. The leadership and participation of hospital physicians was sought in the planning, design and outcomes monitoring to ensure their 'buy-in' and the successful implementation and effectiveness of the program. The episodic diagnosis related group (DRG)-based framework of funding and subvention for healthcare, and the shortage of step-care care facilities, have been recognized by the Ministry of Health as an impediments to the implementation, and these are currently being addressed.

Case Management↗
PubMed2000

The structure of L-amino acid oxidase reveals the substrate trajectory into an enantiomerically conserved active site.

The structure of L-amino acid oxidase (LAAO) from Calloselasma rhodostoma has been determined to 2.0 A resolution in the presence of two ligands: citrate and o-aminobenzoate (AB). The protomer consists of three domains: an FAD-binding domain, a substrate-binding domain and a helical domain. The interface between the substrate-binding and helical domains forms a 25 A long funnel, which provides access to the active site. Three AB molecules are visible within the funnel of the LAAO-AB complex; their orientations suggest the trajectory of the substrate to the active site. The innermost AB molecule makes hydrogen bond contacts with the active site residues, Arg90 and Gly464, and the aromatic portion of the ligand is situated in a hydrophobic pocket. These contacts are proposed to mimic those of the natural substrate. Comparison of LAAO with the structure of mammalian D-amino acid oxidase reveals significant differences in their modes of substrate entry. Furthermore, a mirror-symmetrical relationship between the two substrate-binding sites is observed which facilitates enantiomeric selectivity while preserving a common arrangement of the atoms involved in catalysis.

Amino Acid Oxidoreductases↗
PubMed2000

Clinical pathways: a direction forward in health care.

As in many developed nations, health care consumers in Singapore are demanding better (and more costly) services. At the operational level, one way to address consumers' demands while ensuring cost-effectiveness is through the implementation of a clinical pathway program. This paper provides an overview of the program at Changi General Hospital (CGH), a regional general acute care hospital in the Republic of Singapore. The paper highlights the problems encountered during the planning, developing and implementing phases. It concludes by predicting what the future might hold for clinical pathways in Singapore and the South East Asian Region.

Cholecystectomy, Laparoscopic↗
PubMed2000

Development and implementation of a clinical pathway programme in an acute care general hospital in Singapore.

A critical or clinical pathway defines the optimal care process, sequencing and timing of interventions by doctors, nurses and other health care professionals for a particular diagnosis or procedure. Clinical pathways are developed through collaborative efforts of clinicians, case managers, nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists and other allied health care professionals with the aim of improving the quality of patient care, while minimizing cost to the patient. The use of clinical pathways has increased over the past decade in the USA, the UK, Australia, and many other developed countries. However, its use in the developing nations and Asia has been sporadic. To the author's knowledge, there is to date, no published literature on the use and impact of clinical pathways on the quality and cost of patient care in the Asian health care setting. This paper provides a qualitative account of the development and implementation of a clinical pathway programme (using the example of patients with uncomplicated acute myocardial infarction) in an acute care general hospital in Singapore. The paper concludes that clinical pathways, when implemented in the context of an acute care hospital, can result in improvements in the care delivery process.

Cost-Benefit Analysis↗
PubMed2000

Clinical pathways--an evaluation of its impact on the quality of care in an acute care general hospital in Singapore.

A critical or clinical pathway defines the optimal care process, sequencing and timing of interventions by healthcare professionals for a particular diagnosis or procedure. It is a relatively new clinical process improvement tool that has been gaining popularity across hospitals and various healthcare organisations in many parts of the world. It is now slowly gaining momentum and popularity in Asia and Singapore. Clinical pathways are developed through collaborative efforts of clinicians, case managers, nurses, and other allied healthcare professionals with the aim of improving the quality of patient care, while minimising cost to the patient. Clinical pathways have been shown to reduce unnecessary variation in patient care, reduce delays in discharge through more efficient discharge planning, and improve the cost-effectiveness of clinical services. The approach and objectives of clinical pathways are consistent with those of total quality management (TQM) and continuous clinical quality improvement (CQI), and is essentially the application of these principles at the patient's bedside. However, despite the growing popularity of pathways, their impact on clinical outcomes and their clinical effectiveness remains largely untested and unproven through rigorous clinical trials. This paper begins with an overview of the nature of clinical pathways and the analysis of variances from the pathway, their benefits to the healthcare organisation, their application as a tool for CQI activities in direct relation to patient care, and their effectiveness in a variety of healthcare settings. The paper describes an evaluation of the impact of a clinical pathway on the quality of care for patients admitted for uncomplicated acute myocardial infarction (AMI) through an analysis of variances. The author carried out a one year evaluation of a clinical pathway on uncomplicated AMI in Changi General Hospital (CGH) to determine its effectiveness and impact on a defined set of outcomes. A before and after nonrandomized study of two groups of patients admitted to the Hospital for uncomplicated AMI was done. A total of 169 patients were managed on the clinical pathway compared to 100 patients in the control (historical comparison) group. Outcomes were compared between the two groups of patients. Restriction and matching of study subjects in both groups ensured that the patients selected were comparable in terms of severity of illness. The results showed that the patients on the clinical pathway and the comparison group were similar with respect to demographic variables, prevalence of risk factors and comorbidities. There was a statistically significant reduction in the average length of stay after implementation of the clinical pathway. This was achieved without any adverse effect on short term clinical outcomes such as in-hospital mortality, complication rate and morbidity. There were no significant difference in readmission rates at 6 months after discharge. The paper concludes that clinical pathways, implemented in the context of an acute care general hospital, is able to significantly improve care processes through better collaboration among healthcare professionals and improvements in work systems.

Analysis of Variance↗