Israel Journal of Health Policy Research This is an RSS file. You can use it to subscribe to this data in your favourite RSS reader or to display this data on your own website or blog.

Medical student lifestyle counselling for non-communicable disease: impact on students ’ competence and patients’ health behaviors
ConclusionsThe course successfully enhanced students ’ counselling skills, with beneficial effects for patients. This model for teaching experience-based lifestyle medicine has potential policy implications in terms of promoting effective lifestyle counselling by future physicians. (Source: Israel Journal of Health Policy Research)
Source: Israel Journal of Health Policy Research - May 24, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research

The role of statisticians in the response to COVID-19 in Israel: a holistic point of view
AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic cast a dramatic spotlight on the use of data as a fundamental component of good decision-making. Evaluating and comparing alternative policies required information on concurrent infection rates and insightful analysis to project them into the future. Statisticians in Israel were involved in these processes early in the pandemic in some silos as an ad-hoc unorganized effort. Informal discussions within the statistical community culminated in a roundtable, organized by three past presidents of the Israel Statistical Association, and hosted by the Samuel Neaman Institute in April 2021. The meetin...
Source: Israel Journal of Health Policy Research - April 20, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research

Trust in COVID-19 policy among public health professionals in Israel during the first wave of the pandemic: a cross-sectional study
ConclusionsThis study shows that Israeli public health professionals exhibited moderate levels of trust in COVID-19 national public health policy and varied levels of trust in government agencies during the first wave of COVID-19. The level of trust in policy was lower among most of the participants who were not involved in decision making. The level of trust found is worrisome and should be monitored, because it may harm cooperation, professional response, and public trust. Professionals ’ trust in policy-making during early stages of emergencies is important, and preemptive measures should be considered, such as involv...
Source: Israel Journal of Health Policy Research - April 11, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research

Keeping our children safe: piloting a hospital-based home-visitation program in Israel
ConclusionThe program, which included recruitment in a hospital emergency setting and use of healthcare students as home visitors, was successfully implemented and accompanied by significant improvement in home safety with a non-significant trend of child injury decrease. (Source: Israel Journal of Health Policy Research)
Source: Israel Journal of Health Policy Research - April 11, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research

Addressing the important error of missing surgical items in an operated patient
ConclusionDespite the increase in the rate of MSIs, an implemented transparency and reporting system helped reduce the cases with serious consequences. To further prevent the occurrence of losing surgical elements in a surgery, we recommend educating OR staff members about responsibility and obligation to report all incidents that are caused during an operation, to develop an event reporting system as well as"rituals" within the OR setting to increase the team's awareness to MSIs.Trial registration Clinicaltrials.gov (NCT04293536). Date of registration: 08.01.2021.https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04293536. ...
Source: Israel Journal of Health Policy Research - April 5, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research

Results of the national biomonitoring program show persistent iodine deficiency in Israel
ConclusionsThere is an urgent need for mandatory salt fortification in Israel. Based on our international comparison, we conclude that the potential impact of desalination on iodine intake can be compensated for using the implementation of salt fortification policy. This study highlights the critical need for public health surveillance of nutritional and environmental exposures using human biomonitoring, with emphasis on vulnerable populations such as pregnant women and children. (Source: Israel Journal of Health Policy Research)
Source: Israel Journal of Health Policy Research - March 28, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research

The importance of having good quality indicators for care of patients with COPD: a look at hospital readmission rates
ConclusionsReadmitted COPD patients appear to be the sickest group of COPD patients with advanced disease and poor prognosis, and it may not be possible to prevent readmissions. This questions the utility of COPD readmissions as a healthcare quality indicator. (Source: Israel Journal of Health Policy Research)
Source: Israel Journal of Health Policy Research - March 25, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research

Understanding the phases of vaccine hesitancy during the COVID-19 pandemic
AbstractVaccine hesitancy is an important feature of every vaccination and COVID-19 vaccination is not an exception. During the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine hesitancy has exhibited different phases and has shown both temporal and spatial variation in these phases. This has likely arisen due to varied socio-behavioural characteristics of humans and their response towards COVID 19 pandemic and its vaccination strategies. This commentary highlights that there are multiple phases of vaccine hesitancy: Vaccine Eagerness, Vaccine Ignorance, Vaccine Resistance, Vaccine Confidence, Vaccine Complacency and Vaccine Apathy. Though the ...
Source: Israel Journal of Health Policy Research - March 22, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research

The efficacy of single pharmacist medication review among type II diabetic patients who take six chronic medications or more: a case –control study
ConclusionA single pharmacist consultation beneficially impacted specific clinical and patient safety outcomes. Pharmacist consultations may thus help resolve polypharmacy complexities in primary care. (Source: Israel Journal of Health Policy Research)
Source: Israel Journal of Health Policy Research - March 3, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research

Similarities and differences between two well-performing healthcare systems: a comparison between the Israeli and the Danish healthcare systems
ConclusionAttempting to correct for what we deemed to be the most important influencing factors, age and different inclusions of long-term care costs, the Israeli healthcare system still seems to be 25% less expensive, compared to the Danish one, and with better health outcomes. This is not necessarily a function of the Israeli healthcare system but may to a great extent be explained by cultural factors, mainly a much lower Israeli alcohol consumption. (Source: Israel Journal of Health Policy Research)
Source: Israel Journal of Health Policy Research - February 28, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research

Child food insecurity in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic: urgent need for policy evaluation and reform in Israel ’s school feeding programs
AbstractEven in high-income countries like Israel, children have been particularly vulnerable to the surge in food insecurity driven by quarantines, unemployment, and economic hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic. Under normal circumstances, School Feeding Programs (SFPs) can help to ensure child food security. In the wake of the pandemic, policy makers worldwide have been challenged to adapt national SFPs to provide nutritional support to children (and indirectly to their families) during extended school closures. Most national SFPs implemented contingency plans to ensure continued nutritional support for children. In Israe...
Source: Israel Journal of Health Policy Research - February 15, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research

It probably worked: a Bayesian approach to evaluating the introduction of activity-based hospital payment in Israel
ConclusionsThe decrease in LoS freed resources to treat other patients, which may have resulted in reduced waiting times. It may have been more feasible to reduce LoS for urological procedures since these had relatively long LoS. Policymakers should pay attention to the effects of decreases in LoS on quality of care. Stretched hospital resources, capped reimbursements, retrospective subsidies and underpriced procedures may have limited hospitals' ability to reduce LoS for other procedures where no decrease occurred (e.g., general surgery). (Source: Israel Journal of Health Policy Research)
Source: Israel Journal of Health Policy Research - February 15, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research

Transgender men's preferences when choosing obstetricians and gynecologists
ConclusionA small majority of the transgender men exhibited no gender preference when choosing an obstetrician/gynecologist, although 42.9% preferred females. The latter choice was associated with the assumption that female obstetricians/gynecologists are more tolerant towards their transgender men patients. Educating the medical staff about their special needs and establishing dedicated SGM centers staffed with high percentages of female healthcare providers are highly recommended. (Source: Israel Journal of Health Policy Research)
Source: Israel Journal of Health Policy Research - February 11, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research

Residents ’ perspective on duty hours at an Israeli tertiary hospital
ConclusionsThere is agreement among residents that shortening shift hours to 16  h would have a positive effect on the balance between personal life and work. In the eyes of residents, the change would not impair their training during residency. (Source: Israel Journal of Health Policy Research)
Source: Israel Journal of Health Policy Research - February 10, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research

Caring for the health and well-being of our learners in medicine as critical actions toward high-quality care
AbstractA recent paper has focused on residents' poor lifestyle habits and their potential negative impact on patients' lifestyles. This commentary argues that there are even greater reasons to be concerned about the health and well-being of residents and medical students and the resultant effects on patients throughout the careers of these learners. There is a “hidden curriculum”, i.e., customs, rituals and norms of behavior, in medical education and in the training at the healthcare setting, often contradicts the formal curriculum and include messages that neglect the basic needs of the learners as well as the patien...
Source: Israel Journal of Health Policy Research - February 8, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research