SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “Service Statistics”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

PubMed2001

Identifying young people's guidance needs through telephone counseling.

This study examined the needs that young people in Guadalajara, in the state of Jalisco, Mexico, expressed in phone calls to a research unit of the Mexican Social Security Institute. Three hundred forty-five calls, from individuals 11 to 24 years old who phoned from June 1995 to November 1998, were analyzed. Two hundred ninety-four of the callers were female and 51 were male. Greater percentages of females than males called to ask about sexuality and family problems. Males more than females asked about reproductive health (particularly pregnancy) and mental health. There were significant differences by gender and age, differences that were not detected in health service statistics. The findings have implications for decision makers and health and education service providers. They point to the need for programs that will reinforce young people's good health practices and help them avoid risky behaviors.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Factors associated with the recent decline in suicide rates in the elderly in England and Wales, 1985-1998.

Elderly suicide rates have declined in recent years in several countries including England and Wales. This study examined the association between a trend of decline in age-specific suicide rates in the elderly in England and Wales and changes in various health and social factors for the period 1985 to 1998. Data on age-specific suicide rates was ascertained from the annual mortality statistics for the years 1985 to 1998. Data on the various health and social variables was ascertained from both the Statistics Division at the Department of Health and the Health and Personal Social Services Statistics, the yearly publications of the Department of Health from 1985 to 1998. The main findings of this study were (i) a significant negative correlation between the number of general practitioners and all categories of whole-time-equivalent (WTE) hospital medical staff and suicide rates for each of the four five-year age bands for males and females after the age of 65; (ii) a significant negative correlation between the number of new outpatient appointments for mental illness and suicide rates in males and females for each of the four five-year age bands between the ages 65-85 years; (iii) a significant positive correlation between the average daily number of available beds for mental illness and elderly suicide rates, for all five-year age bands between the ages 65-85 years; (iv) a significant negative correlation between the number of field social work staff and day centre staff and elderly suicide rates for each of the four five-year age bands after the age of 65 for males and females; and, (v) a significant positive correlation between the total number of elderly in all residential homes and the number of elderly in local authority residential homes and elderly suicide rates for each of the four five-year age bands between the ages 65-85 years for males and females. A trend of decline in age-specific suicide rates in the elderly in England and Wales from 1985 to 1998 was significantly associated with changes in various health and social variables. These included the number of general practitioners and hospital medical staff, the hospital psychiatric services, the number of local authority staff and the number of elderly residents in accommodation supported by a local authority. The results of this study suggest that changes in these variables may be important factors contributing to the recent decline in suicide rates but this effect should be viewed in the context of other health and social factors.

Age Factors↗

PubMed2003

A case/comparison study in the Eastern Region of Ghana on the effects of incorporating selected reproductive health services on family planning services.

OBJECTIVE: to assess the impact on the provision of family planning (FP) services when FP providers were also trained to provide additional, selected, reproductive health services. DESIGN: case/comparison study. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTINGS: twenty-four FP service delivery points in which training in sexually transmitted infection prevention and control services or post-abortion care services had been initiated (case facilities), were compared to 19 control facilities in which similar provider training had not yet been targeted. All settings were located in the Eastern Region of Ghana. MEASUREMENTS: service statistics for three study years (1996-1998) were reviewed. Structured interviews with providers, managers and clients provided qualitative data concerning impact and satisfaction. FINDINGS: case facilities which had integrated these additional reproductive health (RH) services experienced consistently higher numbers of clients and the total number of clients receiving FP services increased over time. There was also a statistically significant increase in continuing FP clients within case facilities. In contrast, the number of FP clients serviced in the comparison area remained basically unchanged over time. KEY CONCLUSIONS: interviews conducted with providers and managers in both types of settings indicated strong support for receipt of training to provide these integrated services and a request for additional training in an even broader array of RH and adult/child services. Clients also perceived the benefit of additional RH services and perceived these services to be of high quality. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: expanding the repertoire of clinical skills of FP providers, enabling these practitioners to render RH services that augment basic FP services, has the potential to increase the number of new and continuing FP clients, and increases the satisfaction of both providers and consumers with respect to these services.

Abortion, Induced↗

PubMed1994

Health cards, maternal reports and the measurement of immunization coverage: the example of Guatemala.

Immunization against major childhood diseases has been an essential component of health policies in developing countries. However, despite its importance and the efforts invested by many organizations in promoting immunization programs, consistent and accurate measurement of immunization coverage has not yet been achieved. In this paper, we explore the implications of alternative methods of measuring immunization coverage rates in Guatemala, using data from the 1987 Encuesta Nacional de Salud Materno Infantil, and we consider the dangers of making inferences about levels and trends in coverage from cross-sectional data. The results indicate that (1) service statistics may well lead to overestimates of coverage; (2) survey estimates derived from health cards can also produce severely biased estimates; and (3) in spite of problems associated with maternal recall, mothers' reports of their children's vaccination status probably result in substantially improved estimates of immunization coverage.

Bias↗

PubMed2003

Does making clinic-based reproductive health services more youth-friendly increase service use by adolescents? Evidence from Lusaka, Zambia.

PURPOSE: To report the findings of a study that evaluated the impact of three youth-friendly service (YFS) projects in Lusaka, Zambia. In 1994, the Lusaka District Health Management Team (LDHMT) identified adolescents as a priority underserved population with regard to reproductive health information and services. As part of its long-term goal to improve the health and well-being of Lusaka youth, the LDHMT, in collaboration with CARE, UNICEF/Zambia Family Life Movement, and John Snow International, implemented three separate YFS projects to increase service use among adolescents. METHODS: Service statistics from 10 clinics (8 "treatment clinics" and 2 "non-YFS clinics") were used to measure adolescent service use. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected to measure the degree of "youth-friendliness" at the clinics and the level of community acceptance of providing reproductive health services to youth. Specific indicators of youth-friendliness were developed that measured the attitudes of the clinic staff toward giving services to youth, whether clinic staff honored privacy and confidentiality, whether boys and young men were welcomed, whether the clinic policies supported providing services for youth, whether clinic staff promoted its services to youth in surrounding community, and whether youth, themselves, perceived that they would be welcomed and have their needs met at the clinics. Similarly, indicators of community acceptance were developed that measured whether parents and other adults supported the provision of reproductive health services to youth. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Although the projects appear to have improved the clinic experience for adolescent clients and to have increased service use levels at some clinics, the findings suggest that community acceptance of reproductive health services for youth may have a larger impact on the health-seeking behaviors of adolescents.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Service configuration and quality of Irish public health nursing.

This paper presents findings from a national study of the Irish public health nursing service and focuses, in particular, on issues relating to service configuration. The findings are drawn mainly from a national questionnaire of public health nurses (PHNs) working with families with infants (n=613; response rate 54 per cent) and the data were gathered in 1999/2000. The average ratio of public health nurse (PHN) to population size was found to be 1:3997 with a range between 500 and 16,500. The vast majority of respondents (85 per cent) had responsibility for five or more client groups including the elderly, those requiring clinical nursing care, terminal nursing care, psychiatric care, school nursing and the organisation of the home help service. Statistically significant differences between and within health board areas in the extent to which other nurses were available to the service led to a conclusion that in these circumstances a standardised service across individual PHN areas is not possible. The findings highlight the importance of the principle of vertical equity where service configuration is determined by population composition and need.

Child Health Services↗

PubMed1998

What is the infant mortality rate in South Africa? The need for improved data.

OBJECTIVE: To review recent infant mortality and birth registration data in South Africa and to investigate geographical differences. OUTCOME MEASURES: Estimates of infant mortality rates, proportion of births not registered, and proportion of births recorded in health services. METHODS: 1. Published infant mortality data for South Africa were collated. Demographic data from national household surveys (1993 and 1994 October Household Surveys and the 1993 Poverty Survey by the Southern African Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU) at UCT) were analysed using the indirect method developed by Brass. 2. Birth registration data were analysed and compared with the estimated number of births to identify regions with greater under-registration. The number of births recorded in the health services was analysed by province in order to assess and explore alternatives within health authorities that could complement the existing system. RESULTS: 1. Published estimates of infant mortality for the period from 1990 range from 40 to 71/1,000 births and estimates based on national household surveys conducted in this period from 11 to 81/1,000 births. 2. Completeness of birth registration in the nine provinces ranges from less than 10% in the Eastern Cape, North West and Northern Province to 60% in the Western Cape. An overall improvement from 19% to 60% could be achieved if births recorded through the health services were included in the vital registration system. CONCLUSIONS: The infant mortality rate in South Africa is not known with any certainty. The extent of completeness of the birth registration system was 19%, which indicates a need for urgent improvement in order to provide key health status indicators. This study indicates that there is some potential for improving the extent of birth registration if it could be facilitated through the health service. However, this alone would not achieve complete registration. RECOMMENDATIONS: Surveys will have to be relied upon until such time as routinely available statistics are accurate. The October Household Survey conducted annually by the Central Statistical Service as potentially an important source of health status information. It is imperative that either the design of the birth history questionnaire be improved or that it be replaced by a less frequent but more specialised demographic and health survey.

Female↗

PubMed2004

Cancer statistics: everything you wanted to know about the cancer registry data but were too afraid to ask.

Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) have had complete population cancer incidence registration for decades and are beginning to develop clinical data systems to collect details of staging and treatment. Sadly, this bounty of statistical data is often under utilized and occasionally abused. Many are unaware of the data and statistical services available from their local cancer registry. To promote the use of ANZ population cancer data, the following paper describes the principal statistics that are available and identifies common problems with their use.

Australia↗

PubMed2006

Frequency of calls to "on-call" house officer pagers at Auckland City Hospital, New Zealand.

AIMS: To quantify the number of calls made to specified on-call house officer pagers and to comment on possible implications for practice. METHODS: Seven on-call pagers, covering a range of surgical and medical specialties at Auckland City Hospital, were identified. Data for a 4-month period from April to August 2004 was recorded and analysed in two groups: surgical services and medical services. Statistical software was used to calculate mean times between calls in specified time periods, and to compare differences between surgical and medical services. RESULTS: 25,389 pages were recorded. These data are presented as mean frequency of calls to each pager, divided into four time periods. The highest recorded rate was 6.9 minutes (mean) between calls in general surgery (1600-2200 shift), with the lowest recorded rate a mean of one call per 5 hours (2200-0800 shift) in geriatric and general medicine. CONCLUSIONS: Pager frequency is a potentially useful marker of job acuity and consequent junior doctor stress levels. This study demonstrated a high degree of variability in paging frequency both between services and between time periods. We recommend ongoing monitoring of paging frequencies and more even distribution of after-hours workload.

Hospital Communication Systems↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Impact of the integrated Radio Communication Project in Nepal, 1994-1997.

The Radio Communication Project (RCP) in Nepal is an ongoing, theory-based, multimedia reproductive health campaign which began in 1995. It consists of two entertainment-education radio serials (a soap opera for the general public and a dramatized distance education serial for health workers), additional radio spot advertisements and promotions, and complementary print materials. This paper examines impact data from a variety of sources, including a pre- and postpanel survey of currently married women (N = 1905), three waves of clinic-based observations of client-provider interactions (N = 240 per wave) and client exit interviews (N = 240 per wave), and 2 years of clinic service statistics, in order to draw inferences about the separate and combined effects of the RCP components. The study found increased health worker interpersonal interaction skills, improved quality of client-provider interactions, increased client self-efficacy in dealing with health workers, improved client attitudes toward health services and toward the practice of family planning, increased adoption of family planning, and increased family planning service utilization, all attributable to the RCP. The panel data allowed statistical control of the influence of predisposing factors before the campaign on postcampaign ideation and behavior. The effect of the RCP on contraceptive behavior was largely indirect through its influence on ideation. Implications for the design of integrated, multimedia, entertainment-education campaigns and integrated evaluation designs are discussed.

Female↗

PubMed1997

[Suicide, self-mutilation and poisoning in adolescents: an epidemiological study].

This is an epidemiological study on Self-Inflicted Suicide and Lesions (E950 to E959) that we do not know if they are accidentally or intentionally inflicted (E980 to E989) among adolescents attended in a Psychiatric Ward at an Emergency Service in Ribeirão Preto, S.P., Brazil, from 1988 to 1991. The diagnoses were grouped according to CID-9. Data were obtained from the Hospital Statistics Service. The feminine sex predominated in the 4 years and in both diagnoses. It was observed that the occurrence of E950 to E959 increased during the period, while the occurrence of E980 to E989 decreased among the adolescents.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1998

Fitting the distributions of length of stay by parametric models.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to assess the adequacy of three widely used models--Lognormal, Weibull, and Gamma--for describing the distribution of length of stay. This is a fundamental step in the development of outliers resistant (robust) methods for the statistical analysis of this kind of data, where the main objective is to determine measures of average and total resource consumption of groups of patients. Current practice uses several types of trimming rules, many of which are based on the Lognormal model, although theoretical and experimental bases are still insufficient. METHODS: The three models were adjusted using robust procedures based on M-estimators to approximately 5 million stays grouped by Diagnosis-Related Groups (DRGs). The resulting 3,279 samples were collected in five European countries during 3 years. RESULTS: Most of the distributions observed could be fitted with one of these models. The descriptions provided by the Gamma and the Weibull models were similar, and the Gamma model could be omitted. The casemix description provided by the Log-normal-Weibull family was, for certain countries, significantly better than the one provided by the single Lognormal model. Often, for a given DRG and a given country, length of stay distributions could be described with the same model during several years. A given DRG, however, usually had to be described by means of different models for different countries. CONCLUSIONS: Practical and conceptual consequences of the results are discussed. They can be extended to the analyses of other consumption variables used in health services. Statistical procedures for casemix description, including current rules of trimming, should be improved by means of more flexible families of models.

Belgium↗

PubMed1982

Patterns of contraceptive use among female adolescents: method consistency in a clinic setting.

Major changes in contraceptive use among adolescents in the United States have been documented through surveys and analysis of family planning program service statistics. While we know of the changes in the adolescent population as a whole and those served by organized family planning programs, little is known about the patterns of contraceptive use by individuals. This study examines patterns of contraceptive use among 547 clients of a new contraceptive and counseling service for adolescents in New York City. The principal concern is consistency of contraceptive method use as determined from clinic statistics. Findings show generally high degrees of method consistency, with new and current users displaying more consistency than prior users. Among clients who switch methods, two major patterns emerged: switching among the more effective methods and from less effective to more effective methods. Younger new users were the most consistent subgroup suggesting that a service designed for adolescents may have a positive influence on teenagers without prior contraceptive experience. Prior users were the least consistent subgroup suggesting that programs incorporate screening procedures to identify prior users and to develop new approaches to understanding their past contraceptive use patterns to improve their future use.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1980

Pediatric care for exceptional children: an inferential procedure utilizing consumer satisfaction information.

Medical services provided to 402 children with exceptional health and educational needs between 1975 and 1978 were systematically studied to determine consumer satisfaction. Legislation (PL 94-142) has made it mandatory for complete services to be provided to exceptional children from birth to age 21. Although the major responsibility to provide these services lies with local public schools, physicians often are involved and can help to provide optimum care to these children. This report describes a medical-educational system that delivers multispecialty pediatric services. An inferential evaluation procedure has been applied to this system that shows how consumer input can lead to improved medical services. Statistical procedures used to examined the data include analysis of variance, utilized in comparing the satisfaction ratings over time, and multiple linear regression analysis, to predict medical service activities of importance to consumers.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed1978

The four wall syndrome: an analysis of the elderly in relation to Seniors' Day Care.

A description of a pilot project in daytime care for the elderly and its results will provide the background for the presentation of the theory named "The Four Wall Syndrome". This phrase was coined by the author to assist in the evaluation of the Day Care candidates and in the projection of the number of interviews as well as the type of interview techniques used when assessing the candidates for admission to a Seniors' Day Care program. The project began in May 1976, under the auspices of the New Brunswick Provincial Department of Social Services. Statistical proof of the project's success ensured its continuance for a second year. When the grant funds for the second year had been used, the Social Service Department decided to perpetuate Seniors' Day Care in the new package deal of community based services for the elderly in three key areas of New Brunswick. The ability of the program co-ordinator to apply "The Four Wall Syndrome" theory to interviews of candidates would assist in the screening process for admission to the program. It is believed that such a theory could be applicable to other programs for the elderly.

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The role of information, education, and communication in family planning service delivery in Tunisia.

In an effort to measure the value of outreach, a prospective study using an experimental comparison group design was implemented in a rural region of Tunisia, where an outreach program had been implemented in 1981 to increase contraceptive prevalence. The main components of the program included the improvement and expansion of rural health care services through mobile clinics, and the implementation of an information, education, and communication (IEC) outreach program. While the program tended to focus on the implementation of the mobile clinics, service statistics suggested that the IEC outreach component in fact accounted for much of the success of the program. The study shows that the addition of outreach to existing services more than doubles the number of new family planning acceptors, and that outreach has a more positive impact on service output than does the creation of new services.

Communication↗

PubMed1977

Records based on clinical examination as an indicator of alcohol involvement in injuries at emergency stations.

Clinical detection of alcohol involvement (AI) and its recording (ethyl sign) in accident patients was evaluated by comparing the ethyl signs with blood alcohol concentrations (BAC) in 1012 injury victims. Of the 337 BAC-positive cases 50% had a positive ethyl sign, while an additional 13% had some reference to alcohol in their patient notes. Thus, the overall recording rate was 63%. Computer analysis of the statistics from the same emergency station revealed positive ethyl signs in 13.5% of all the 44 372 patients in 1973. The drunken victims of falls (44%) and fights & assaults (26%) formed the main bulk (70%) of all drunken injury patients. Ethyl sign was found to be a specific, though not a sensitive, indicator of AI and a useful device for studying the strain alcohol places upon the emergency services, statistically.

Accidents↗

PubMedDate not supplied

California's use of health statistics in child health planning.

The California Health Plan for Children, 1979, compiled by the Committee on Health Planning of California, District IX of the American Academy of Pediatrics, is an extensive report on health problems unique to the children of California. Since its publication, many local and state health agencies have been using it as a guide and source of data in their planning efforts for child and youth health. The creation of the plan demonstrated a successful working relationship between health care practitioners and biostatisticians, the acceptance by health professionals of the use of health statistics in planning, the different uses of health statistics in formulating recommendations, and an approach to organizing and summarizing large bodies of data. Nevertheless, our experience indicates that although collection systems for data on population, mortality, natality, morbidity, and health services statistics abound, their use in community health planning for subpopulations is still limited by problems in the definition, validity, and completeness of the data elements. The establishment of an individualized data system for the entire population, to be developed, coordinated, and controlled by one central agency, could be a significant step toward solving these long-standing problems in our data systems.

Adolescent↗