Medical Passport Research Articles

Wellness Opportunities for Migrant Beginnings, Kansas City, Missouri.

To create a collaboration among health care professionals and community organizers to advance health equity and increase access to high-quality perinatal health care for Afghan refugees. This project was developed to create relationships among the health care industry, community partners, and nonprofit organizations to improve the perinatal health status of the refugee population of Kansas City, Missouri. Meetings were held among leaders of three medical systems (Samuel U. Rodgers Clinic, Swope Health, and University Health) and the two major resettlement agencies (Della Lamb and Jewish Vocational Services) to discuss barriers to care. These included communication, coordination of care, time limitations, and misunderstandings of the system. The following focus areas were identified, and interventions then were implemented:1. Education a. Seminars for health care professionals regarding specific perinatal health care needs b. Tours and classes for refugees during which they were introduced to the facility, including labor and delivery, and prenatal, antenatal, and postpartum care2. Communication a. Medical passports for patients to better facilitate perinatal care among organizations, because all facilities provide care but deliveries occur only at University Health3. Research a. Performing surveillance activities and disseminating findings to aid other communities The project is now expanding to include all refugee populations in the Kansas City area. Regular meetings are held quarterly with community leaders for continued quality improvement. Primary outcomes focus on our refugee patients: increased patient autonomy, adherence to prenatal and postpartum visits, and developing trust in the system. Secondary outcomes include improved communication between clinics and resettlement agencies and improved cultural awareness among obstetric care professionals. Equity in perinatal care requires individualized services when serving a diverse population. Refugees in particular have a unique perspective and unique needs. Through collaboration, we were able to improve the health status of the most vulnerable members of our community.

Hypertension and its related factors among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus \u2013 a multi-hospital study in Bangladesh

BackgroundHypertension and type 2 diabetes are associated with each other, and their coexistence is linked to diabetes-related complications such as stroke, coronary artery disease, kidney disease, retinopathy and diabetic foot. This study aimed to determine the prevalence, awareness and control of hypertension and factors associated with hypertension among people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in Bangladesh.MethodsA cross-sectional and retrospective study was conducted in 2017, and data from 1252 adults with T2DM were collected from six hospitals that specialise in diabetes care. These hospitals provide primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare and cover the rural and urban populations of Bangladesh. Cross-sectional data were collected from patients via face-to-face interviews, and retrospective data were collected from patients’ past medical records (medical passport), locally known as the patients’ guidebook or record book. The associations between hypertension and its related factors were examined using the bootstrapping method with multiple logistic regression to adjust for potential confounders.ResultsThe mean age of participants was 55.14 (± 12.51) years. Hypertension was found to be present among 67.2% of participants, and 95.8% were aware that they had it. Of these, 79.5% attained the blood pressure control. The mean duration of diabetes was 10.86 (± 7.73) years. The variables that were found to be related to hypertension include an age of above 60 years, physical inactivity, being overweight or obese, a longer duration of diabetes and chronic kidney disease.ConclusionThe prevalence of hypertension as well as its awareness and control were very high among people with known type 2 diabetes. As there is a strong relationship between hypertension and diabetes, patients with diabetes should have their blood pressure regularly monitored to prevent major diabetes-related complications.

Development and evaluation of an electronic medical device training passport to identify nurses' training needs.

All nurses, particularly those working in critical care settings, are required to use medical devices when providing patient care. However, inconsistent practice and variations in documentation can make it challenging for nurses and nurse managers to identify what medical device training is required and when. To develop and evaluate the use of an electronic medical device training passport to identify the training needs of nurses in intensive care units (ICUs). A pilot study was conducted in a multi-unit critical care department in London, England, to determine if the passport could make it easier to identify ICU nurses' medical device training needs compared with existing practice. Nine participants were first asked to identify their needs using existing spreadsheets or paper records, then asked to identify them using the passport. The participants were also interviewed to identify their training requirements before and after using the passport. The data were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. The electronic passport significantly improved identification of medical device training needs compared with paperwork or spreadsheets for all device groups, except for medical devices used on high dependency units ( P ≤0.005). However, there may be issues related to nurses' behaviours and expectations, particularly that staff do not always recognise their need for training. The findings of this pilot study suggest that the use of an electronic medical device training passport has many benefits and could make it easier to identify ICU nurses' training needs in clinical practice.

Effectiveness of human resource records management strategies at a university in Ghana

PurposeHuman resource records are very important in the successful management of organisations. Despite their importance, they are ignored in records management studies. This study aims to bring to the limelight human resource records management issues that are overlooked despite the numerous studies on records management by examining the effectiveness of human resource records management strategies at a university in Ghana.Design/methodology/approachA descriptive survey was used in this study. A combination of census and simple random sampling was used to administer questionnaires to administrators who handle master or working personal files regularly. Data of 228 respondents was processed using SPSS and analysed in frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviation.FindingsThis study revealed that while most vital documents were found on staff personal files, some documents like medical reports, passport pictures and birth certificates were somewhat unavailable. It was also found that the University had no human resource records policy in its corporate strategic thrust, which is a barrier to effective human resource records management, but the records creation strategies were effective. However, regarding the maintenance, and retention and disposition of human resource records, the strategies were ineffective. Overall, the findings fell short of the ISO 15489 framework for managing records.Originality/valueThis study seeks to bring to the fore human resource records management issues that seem to be overlooked despite the numerous studies on records management.

Medications when travelling with underlying inflammatory rheumatic disease

Travelling poses particular challenges for patients with rheumatic diseases. This article provides specific guidance on how best to manage medication while away from home. Besides outlining advice on basic logistic issues, such as the transportation, importation and storage of drugs, the article concentrates on travelling while receiving immunosuppressive therapy and carrying narcotics. Especially when transporting narcotics, travel requires careful planning in advance in close collaboration with physicians on account of the strict and internationally diverse import restrictions on controlled substances. While travelling, all drugs should be kept in the original packaging, including the package insert and stored in carry-on luggage. Aspecific medical passport may be needed. Immunosuppressive and narcotic drugs require medical certificates issued by the prescribing physician, which may need to be certified by the responsible national agencies. Patients receiving glucocorticoid treatment who travel in or across multiple time zones should also be aware of how the medication impacts and interacts with circadian rhythms so as to optimize the anti-inflammatory effects of the drugs and to avoid unnecessary complications. Given the significant discrepancies in medical care and availability of medication worldwide, the article further stresses the importance of acomprehensive medical kit tailored to the patient's individual medicinal needs. Finally, as immunocompromised travellers are at increased risk of infections, advice is given on the use of anti-infective drugs and chemoprophylaxis for patients travelling to areas in which malaria is endemic as well as on their possible interactions with immunosuppressive treatment.

COVID-19 Contact Tracing Using Blockchain.

Contact tracing has widely been adopted to control the spread of Coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19). It enables to identify, assess, and manage people who have been exposed to COVID-19, thereby preventing from its further transmission. Today’s most of the contact tracing approaches, tools, and solutions fall short in providing decentralized, transparent, traceable, immutable, auditable, secure, and trustworthy features. In this paper, we propose a decentralized blockchain-based COVID-19 contact tracing solution. Contact tracing can greatly suffice the need for a speedy response to a pandemic. We leverage the immutable and tamper-proof features of blockchain to enforce trust, accountability, and transparency. Trusted and registered oracles are used to bridge the gap between on-chain and off-chain data. With no third parties involved or centralized servers, the users’ medical information is not prone to invasion, hacking, or abuse. Each user is registered using their digital medical passports. To respect the privacy of the users, their locations are updated with a time delay of 20 minutes. Using Ethereum smart contracts, transactions are executed on-chain with emitted events and immutable logs. We present details of the implemented algorithms and their testing analysis. We evaluate the proposed approach using security, cost, and privacy parameters to show its effectiveness. The smart contracts code is publicly made available on GitHub.

QUALITY OF LIFE, REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND SOCIAL SECURITY: MEDICAL AND SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT AT THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST

Medical and social environment is discussed for the southern part of the Russian Far East, in system “Quality of life and reproductive health” at different hierarchical levels; that are at the meso-level – Khabarovsk Krai and the Jewish Autonomous Region (JAR); at the micro-level – Smidovichsky District in JAR and Nanai District in Khabarovsk Krai; at the local level – municipal settlements in urban and rural areas. The aim of the research is to identify the features of the social and medical environment affecting the quality of life, with an emphasis on the health of indigenous and non-indigenous population of reproductive age as the main criterion of quality of life. For subjective estimation of their health, well-being and quality of life, sociological surveys of women of reproductive age and pregnant women was conducted using a special questionnaire “Medical and social passport of future parents”. The region is characterized by low indicators of health and reproduction of the population, weak social infrastructure. The analysis of the quality of life in the region requires the establishment of priority groups of risk factors to improve the efficiency of medical and social control to minimize their impact.

Blockchain-Based Solution for COVID-19 Digital Medical Passports and Immunity Certificates.

COVID-19 has emerged as a highly contagious disease which has caused a devastating impact across the world with a very large number of infections and deaths. Timely and accurate testing is paramount to an effective response to this pandemic as it helps identify infections and therefore mitigate (isolate/cure) them. In this paper, we investigate this challenge and contribute by presenting a blockchain-based solution that incorporates self-sovereign identity, re-encryption proxies, and decentralized storage, such as the interplanetary file systems (IPFS). Our solution implements digital medical passports (DMP) and immunity certificates for COVID-19 test-takers. We present smart contracts based on the Ethereum blockchain written and tested successfully to maintain a digital medical identity for test-takers that help in a prompt trusted response directly by the relevant medical authorities. We reduce the response time of the medical facilities, alleviate the spread of false information by using immutable trusted blockchain, and curb the spread of the disease through DMP. We present a detailed description of the system design, development, and evaluation (cost and security analysis) for the proposed solution. Since our code leverages the use of the on-chain events, the cost of our design is almost negligible. We have made our smart contract codes publicly available on Github.

The role of patients and carers in diffusing a health-care innovation: A case study of "My Medication Passport".

BackgroundPatients are increasingly recognized as playing important roles in improving health services. Little is known about the mechanisms by which patients develop and diffuse local innovations in a complex health‐care system.ObjectiveTo ascertain how diffusion of an innovation, My Medication Passport, occurred and roles played by patients in it.DesignCase study: quantitative mapping of innovation's diffusion and analysis of the routes and occupations of those through whom the innovation spread; documentary analysis; reflective assessment of patient's roles.Setting and participantsNHS Trusts, third sector organizations, patients and health‐care professionals.Interventions studiedCo‐produced action to raise awareness and influence use of the innovation; order database which enabled ease of access to the innovation.Main outcome measuresGeographical spread of innovation; occupations of individuals; types of organizations using the innovation.ResultsThe innovation spread from initial development and use in Northwest London across the UK and beyond. Key roles played by patients were as follows: co‐producer; advocate; relationship builder; relationship broker; planner; presenter; awareness raiser; trainer; networker. Patients identified and introduced potential audiences and users to MMP, using social, organizational, sectoral, lay and professional networks to do so. They organized a range of awareness‐raising and communication activities, monitored feedback, evaluated the impact and responded to new interest.Discussion and conclusionsThe roles of patients in diffusing innovations are under‐recognized. Collaborative working between patients, carers and health‐care professionals in planning and progressing the use and supporting diffusion of the innovation was important. Principles described in this study are relevant to progressing other patient‐led ideas for innovative changes relating to health service development.

Pharmacy staff views on the implementation of patient handheld medication tools to improve information transfer: a qualitative study

BackgroundThe risks of poor information transfer across healthcare settings are well documented, particularly for medication. Various patient-held tools have been designed to hold information about patients’ medicines to improve information transfer. Anecdotal evidence suggests some are more widely implemented than others, but there has been little research exploring the reasons why. Our objectives were to explore the facilitators and barriers to implementation of patient handheld medication information from the perspective of pharmacy staff, to understand why some tools are more widely implemented than others and to make recommendations as appropriate.MethodSemi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 pharmacists and pharmacy technicians working in wards and/or dispensary of a London hospital organisation. Participants were recruited using convenience sampling. We asked about six purposefully selected tools designed to be carried by patients to provide information about their medicines, including both national and local tools, and those that were new and established. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. We used framework analysis, based on a theory of behavioural change.ResultsThe majority of participants expressed the view that older tools, such as the steroid card and warfarin booklet, were used more often than newer tools such as a medication passport and a specific insulin passport. Interview data suggested that pharmacy staff did not have enough information and training about the proper use of the newer tools and therefore lacked confidence in providing them to their patients. In addition, they perceived that they were not integrated into policies and procedures with a lack of guidance regarding their use.ConclusionWe identified the main barriers to effective implementation of tools to increase patient safety across healthcare settings to be lack of guidance and training for newer tools. Making a tool available is not sufficient to ensure its use. Recommendations include clarifying guidance within the hospital organisation to standardise use of all tools and raising awareness and providing training to both healthcare professionals and patients about their use.

The After Treatment Completion Card (ATCC): Medical passport for pediatric cancer survivors

The After Treatment Completion Card (ATCC): Medical passport for pediatric cancer survivors

ТЕОРЕТИКО-МЕТОДИЧНІ ТА ПРАКТИЧНІ ЗАСАДИ ЩОДО РОЗРОБЛЕННЯ ТА ВПРОВАДЖЕННЯ СПЕЦІАЛІЗОВАНИХ СКЛАДОВИХ МЕДИЧНОГО ЕЛЕКТРОННОГО ПАСПОРТА ЛЮДИНИ

The expediency and the possibility of creation of specialized passports of a person are considered. It is proposed bioenergy component of the medical electronic passport, which can be widely used in preventive and medical institutions of various profiles, at enterprises, at sports and other institutions, with an automated assessment of the functional status of individuals, as well as in statistical studies and the identification of different social genotypic populations by their physical, intellectual and professional abilities. The nine most effective indicators of power supply of muscular activity of the person were revealed, a five-point system of estimation of their parameters was developed and five bioenergetic groups were identified, which include people with significantly different individual levels of energy supply of the organism.

A Representative Study of Deaths of North Indian Migrants and Its Medical Certification Across the World.

Many Indians is moving to other nations of the world in the search of employment, education or other reasons. The process of globalization along with the faster mode of traveling and communication has facilitated this movement in the hope of getting more opportunities and earning of easy money abroad, than in India. Unfortunately, sometimes they meet a tragic end and their families in India get only their dead bodies back from abroad. This study focuses on these kind of unfortunate tragic events faced by Indians in different countries and thereby raise a concern on their safety abroad and necessitate the need of relooking in to the quality of medical certification of death and medico legal investigations to find out the real reasons of deaths to avoid any kind of doubt in mind. Data was collected from medical death certificates and passports of the deceased Indians. There was a total of 711 dead bodies/human remains received in 2012 at IGI airport New Delhi. The Middle East countries together contributed a total of 398 (55.98 %) cases. The distribution as per manner of death shows that in maximum number of cases (269), the manner of death was ambiguous with unspecified aetiology. The study therefore recommends for upgradation of the level of medico legal investigations in form of 2nd autopsy in recipient country and proper medical death certification.

Do We Need (Medical Passport)?

Do We Need (Medical Passport)?

Evaluation of My Medication Passport: a patient-completed aide-memoire designed by patients, for patients, to help towards medicines optimisation

ObjectivesA passport-sized booklet, designed by patients for patients to record details about their medicines, has been developed as part of a wider project focusing on improving prescribing in the elderly...

My Medication Passport app

My Medication Passport app

Medication passport launched across north west London

Medication passport launched across north west London

THE USE OF USB-DRIVE FOR COLLECTION OF BIOMEDICAL DATA IN MEDICAL ELECTRONIC PASSPORT

This article reviews the storage media which are nowadays. The use of USB-drive with two-layer protection system has been proposed as a physical carrier of medical electronic passport.

TECHNICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL QUESTIONS OF CREATION OF MEDICAL ELECTRONIC PASSPORT OF CITIZEN OF UKRAINE

Basic principles of construction of medical electronic passport have been considered. It has been suggested for storage of medical information on portable transmitters to use multilevel access to data. Possibility of the use of optical transmitters and flash has been investigated - stores for storage of medical information. On basis of flash memory and corresponding microcontroller the transmitter of medical electronic passport has been built. Internal microcontroller software which realizes multilevel access to medical data and does impossible their editing or moving away has been worked out.

ЗАСАДИ СТВОРЕННЯ ЄДИНОЇ ДЕРЖАВНОЇ СИСТЕМИ ІНФОРМАЦІЙНОГО ЗАБЕЗПЕЧЕННЯ ЗАКЛАДІВ ОХОРОНИ ЗДОРОВ'Я

Principles of the new unified informative system of health care (UISHC) are considered. In the system unlike existent analogues the complex reflection of all factors influencing on the state of health, including environment, pharmaceutical factors etc are under discussion.Principles of formation of UISHC among which the most important is realization of duality (availability of stationary and mobile - medical electronic passport of a citizen) are also defined.