Objective To evaluate the current status of human resources in healthcare-associated infection prevention and control (infection control) in Jiangxi Province, and explore the impact of emergency public health events on the human resources of infection control professionals in various levels and types of medical institutions. Methods From October 1st to 31st, 2023, questionnaire and on-site interviews were conducted to investigate the human resources situation of infection control professionals in various levels and types of medical institutions in Jiangxi Province. Three stages were selected for the investigation: before the outbreak of COVID-19 (before the event, December 2019), during the event (June 2022), and after the transition of COVID-19 (after the event, June 2023), focusing on the characteristics of human resources between before the event and after the event by the comparative analysis. Results Finally, 289 medical institutions were included. There was a statistically significant difference in the number of infection control professionals in medical institutions among 2019, 2022, and 2023 (χ2=189.677, P<0.001). The number of infection control professionals in 2019 was lower than that in 2022 (P<0.001) and 2023 (P<0.001), but there was no statistically significant difference between 2022 and 2023 (P=0.242). The number of infection control professionals per thousand beds in 2019, 2022, and 2023 was 4.40, 6.16, and 5.76, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between 2019 and 2023 in terms of professional titles, gender, educational level, or professional background (P>0.05). Conclusion Emergency public health events have promoted the increase in the number of infection control professionals, but there is no statistical significance in the professional titles, educational level, or professional background of infection control professionals.
In response to the public health emergency and other urgent needs, World Health Organization (WHO) developed the concept and methodology of rapid advice guidelines (RAGs) in 2006. Compared with the standard guideline, striving to minimize the risk of bias, the RAG shortens the time to 1-3 months from more than 2 years. This study introduces the background, definition, application condition and performing methods of RAGs, and uses an example to clarify it, thus to provide a reference for the guideline development of public health emergency and other urgent need in China.
ObjectivePublic health information collection is critical in improving the capacity of basic public health services. Our study took the "Wei Jian E Tong" APP as an example to evaluate the willingness and influencing factors of rural public health service personnel to continue using such APPs.MethodsWe applied exploratory sequential design in mixed-method research and chose Renshou county in Sichuan province as the representative region. Firstly, we used the personal in-depth interview to initially explore the status quo, applicability, continued willingness to use APP and other issues. Secondly, we used unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) and expectation confirmation theory (ECT) to construct a hypothetical model of influencing factors of user satisfaction. We then designed a structured questionnaire covering 7 measurement dimensions to survey all users of the APP at the survey site. Finally, we used structural equation model to verify the research hypothesis.ResultsA total of 21 individuals were interviewed in this survey, including leaders of township health centers, public health doctors, and rural doctors. Qualitative results showed the major defects were insufficient funds and policy support in the promotion and application, additionally lack of software functionalities and system incompatibility. A total of 593 valid questionnaires were collected from the quantitative survey on the satisfaction of township doctors and village doctors. Structural equation model results showed that seven direct hypotheses were established, of which compatibility had the largest effect value user satisfaction with a total effect value of 0.617, followed by facilitating condition (r=0.211), performance expectancy (r=0.137), effort expectancy (r=0.091) and social influence (r=0.068).ConclusionsTo promote the application of information collection apps in primary public health services and improve user satisfaction, the focus should be on solving software incompatibility and create interconnection among all levels of medical systems. At the same time, it is necessary to solve funding problems as a whole, optimize software functions, improve the performance evaluation system, and improve software training and promotion.
In response to the need for health economics modelers to apply more appropriate complex systems models to address complex challenges in public health, an international team of more than 40 experts in the field of complex systems models and economic evaluation has developed and recently published a guideline on the application of complex systems models to the economic evaluation of public health interventions. This paper introduces the development process and main content of the guidelines, which can provide references to facilitate the application of the guidelines by domestic researchers, aiming to ultimately improve the overall quality of public health research and services and improve the health of the population in China.
The traditional Chinese medicine has played an important role in the prevention and control of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Based on the role of traditional Chinese medicine in dealing with the previous epidemics and COVID-19, this paper analyzes the problems and challenges of current situation, and focuses on improving traditional Chinese medicine scientific identification, strengthening the construction of traditional Chinese medicine system, and increasing the intensity of Chinese and Western medicine and so on. In order to improve the cooperation mechanism of Chinese and Western medicine for epidemic prevention and control, and give full play to the role of traditional Chinese medicine in the construction of national public health emergency system, this paper also gives ten corresponding suggestions.
The rapid development of medical informatization and continuous innovation of artificial intelligence have made it possible to analyze data and predict prognosis through making full use of data analysis or data mining methods in medical field, which can provide not only more accurate basis of diagnosis and treatment for patients but also important decision-making reference for the government and hospitals to allocate medical resources reasonably. As a classical model for processing time series data in machine learning, long short-term memory network can break through some limitations of statistics to process large and complex medical data. The current applications of long short-term memory networks in medical and biomedical fields can be mainly summarized as seven themes, including natural language processing, biomedical information, signals, motion, clinical medical records, hospital management, and public health and policy.
ObjectiveTo investigate the guidance centers for promoting equalization of basic public health services in Sichuan province, in order to provide evidence for construction and development. MethodsBy questionnaire survey, we collected relevant information and data about the guidance centers at all levels in Sichuan province. The EpiData 3.0 was used to establish a database and the SPSS 16.0 was used to analyze data. ResultsA total of 202 guidance centers had been set up in Sichuan province. All disciplines of the basic public health services were covered by these centers. There were 2 020 technicians, whose average age was 41.37, more had college degree, and intermediate professional title. 54.5% of the guidance centers didn't work together, and there were 92.7% part-time technicians. Only 40% city and 20% county guidance centers got working funds. The average working funds of province, city and county were 890 000 yuan per year, 101 000 yuan per year and 89 000 yuan per year, respectively. ConclusionThe guidance centers of Sichuan province at all levels have effectively promoted the basic public health services project, but we should improve and perfect the management mechanism and guarantee mechanism.