The effect of COVID-19 on oncology practice in Turkey.

PURPOSE: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was defined in China, leading an outbreak, impacted the organization, and maintained cancer care. Although the alterations of cancer treatment maintenance were evaluated, the difference in physicians' side was not determined. In this survey study, we tried to assess the alteration of Turkish oncologists' daily practice. METHODS: An online survey was prepared via Google forms and sent to oncologists registered to the Turkish Society of Medical Oncology. One hundred twenty-eight oncologists answered the online survey. RESULTS: Twenty-three percent of the oncologists moved their facilities to another place in the hospital after the pandemic, which was resulted in nearly 90% of worse patient services. Seventy percent of the oncologists did not receive any duties on COVID-19 services after Turkey's first case. Thirty-one percent of the oncologists stated their oncology practice was disturbed by working in the COVID-19 services. Three oncologists accepted they were responsible for cross-infection to oncology patients. Eighty-five percent of the oncologists declared oncology practice was disturbed by the other specialists' assignment in COVID-19 services. The leading areas were general surgery, pulmonary diseases, and ENT, according to oncologists. Twenty-two percent of the oncologists needed to send their patients to other oncology clinics due to the COVID-19 pandemic. CONCLUSION: Although oncologists tolerated oncological patient management alterations, the prolonged pandemic situation may harm oncology practice via the loss of oncologists' motivation and incomplete multi-disciplinary patient management. There is a need for follow-up studies to evaluate the situation for the alternation in the COVID-19 pandemic.​.

Billing, coding, and practice management: a primer for today's reproductive medicine professional.

Despite years of recognition that many physicians are woefully unprepared to face challenges regarding the business of medicine, marginal progress has been made. In this piece, we aim to provide the contemporary reproductive medicine physician with an understanding of billing, coding, and, most importantly, cost containment for a typical fertility practice. It is critical for modern practices to not forego hard-earned revenue to insurance companies or not be aware of critical rules and regulations. While running a successful fertility practice requires good medical care, a profitable practice is necessary for overall long-term success. This article provides a brief history of medical insurance and billing, explains the process of updating billing codes, and reviews the revenue cycle, cost containment, and contract negotiations with insurance companies.

Impact of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) on the Practice of Clinical Radiology.

The speed at which coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spread quickly fractured the radiology practice model in ways that were never considered. In March 2020, most practices saw an unprecedented drop in their volume of greater than 50%. The profound changes that have interrupted the arc of the radiology narrative may substantially dictate how health care and radiology services are delivered in the future. We examine the impact of COVID-19 on the future of radiology practice across the following domains: employment, compensation, and practice structure; location and hours of work; workplace environment and safety; activities beyond the "usual scope" of radiology practice; and CME, national meetings, and professional organizations. Our purpose is to share ideas that can help inform adaptive planning.

Prevention is better than the cure: Getting privacy compliance right is essential practice management.

BACKGROUND: Ensuring compliance with privacy law is not just a matter of respecting patient confidentiality. The past year has seen the introduction of new legal requirements including data breach notification, and higher penalties for breaches of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cwlth). Disturbingly, the first reporting period shows that the health sector has the highest number of data breaches of any sector. OBJECTIVE: This article outlines the key steps a health practice can take towards managing its privacy compliance. DISCUSSION: The absence of a privacy compliance program can itself be a breach of the Privacy Act, even if no personal information was lost or misused in any way. Health service providers need to place a fresh focus on their legal compliance.

Impact of the Four-Hour Rule/National Emergency Access Target policy implementation on emergency department staff: A qualitative perspective of emergency department management changes.

OBJECTIVE: It has been 10 years since the ACEM Access Block Solutions Summit and 5 years since the introduction of the Four-Hour Rule/National Emergency Access Target (4HR/NEAT) policy. The impact of this policy on ED management and on ED staff has been poorly understood. The aim of the present study was to identify changes in ED management resulting from the policy based on ED staff experiences. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted and transcribed, imported to NVivo 11 and analysed using a combination of content, thematic analysis and phenomenological focus within a theoretical framework known as the 'logic model'. RESULTS: One hundred and nineteen ED staff participated in 2015-2016 to assess the impact of the policy implementation. Participants were drawn from 16 EDs in New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and Australian Capital Territory. In relation to ED management, three themes were identified: changes in ED management; activities and changes driven by the hospital in relation to 4HR/NEAT; and participant experiences in relation to policy compliance by staff. CONCLUSIONS: Policy implementation is a complex process that had both positive and negative consequences on how ED staff managed the implementation of the 4HR/NEAT policy and how it changed their work environment. Understanding the perceptions of staff involved in policy implementation has significance for the design of future implementation strategies. The biggest insight from the present study is that ED management is very complex and the policy generated multiple positive and negative changes demonstrating the wide range of processes involved in this area of health services research.

Growing a Robust Academic Practice Partnership in an Academic Health System.

Schools of nursing located within academic health centers have embraced expanded opportunities to lead in this era of rapid change and considerable uncertainty in US health care. These schools bear a unique responsibility to work with their clinical nursing partners to advance the care of patients, improve the health of communities and populations, and help steward the nation's health care resources. This article describes how the Emory University Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing has formed and sustained academic-practice partnerships in response to these imperatives. The structures and processes that have supported the partnerships are shared, as are the keys to success in a true partnership. The authors describe the work required to achieve mutually agreed-upon goals, along with the challenges that faculty and health care leaders have faced in their journey to system partnerships.

Receptionists' role in new approaches to consultations in primary care: a focused ethnographic study.

BACKGROUND: The receptionist is pivotal to the smooth running of general practice in the UK, communicating with patients and booking appointments. AIM: The authors aimed to explore the role of the receptionist in the implementation of new approaches to consultations in primary care. DESIGN AND SETTING: The authors conducted a team-based focused ethnography. Three researchers observed eight general practices across England and Scotland between June 2015 and May 2016. METHOD: Interviews were conducted with 39 patients and 45 staff in the practices, all of which had adopted one or more methods (telephone, email, e-consultation, or internet video) for providing an alternative to face-to-face consultation. RESULTS: Receptionists have a key role in facilitating patient awareness regarding new approaches to consultations in primary care, while at the same time ensuring that patients receive a consultation appropriate to their needs. In this study, receptionists' involvement in implementation and planning for the introduction of alternative approaches to face-to-face consultations was minimal, despite the expectation that they would be involved in delivery. CONCLUSION: A shared understanding within practices of the potential difficulties and extra work that might ensue for reception staff was lacking. This might contribute to the low uptake by patients of potentially important innovations in service delivery. Involvement of the wider practice team in planning and piloting changes, supporting team members through service reconfiguration, and providing an opportunity to discuss and contribute to modifications of any new system would ensure that reception staff are suitably prepared to support the introduction of a new approach to consultations.

Competências gerenciais de gestores de um curso de graduação em enfermagem / Capacidad de gestión de los administradores de un curso de grado en enfermería / Professional competencies of managers of an integrated nursing curriculum

Objetivo: compreender as competências referentes ao gestor de um curso de graduação em enfermagem que desenvolve a metodologia do currículo integrado (CI). Método: Pesquisa qualitativa, descritivo-exploratória, realizada por meio de entrevista progetista com gestores do curso de enfermagem de uma universidade pública do Sul do país. Resultados e discussão: Duas categorias surgiram a: “entre os aspectos cognitivos e a prática operativa na gestão educacional” e “das habilidades interacionais à prática democrática”. Conclusão: Ao se desvelarem as competências inerentes ao papel do gestor de um CI em saúde, foi possível identificar que atualmente os gestores necessitam de habilidades que sejam de aspectos cognitivos e interacionais, para exercer uma gestão educacional qualificada e democrática, com a finalidade de promover uma ensino qualificado e futuros profissionais comprometidos com o exercício de uma profissão de excelência.

Objetivo: comprender las habilidades para el gerente de un título de grado en enfermería que se desarrolla la metodología del plan de estudios integrado. Método: La investigación cualitativa, descriptiva y exploratoria, realizada a través de entrevistas con los gestores de viajes progetista enfermería de una universidad pública en el Sur. Resultados y discusión: Dos categorías: “entre los aspectos cognitivos y práctica de operaciones en gestión de la educación” y “habilidades de interacción a la práctica democrática”. Conclusión: Cuando desvelar lós poderes inherentes a la función del administrador de un plan de estúdios integrado en la salud, se identificó que en la actualidad los gerentes necesitan habilidades que son los aspectos cognitivos y de interacción, para ejercer una gestión educativa cualificada y democrático. Con el fin de promover aún más profesional y calificado educación comprometida com el ejercicio de una profesión de excelencia.

Objective: to understand the skills for the manager of an undergraduate degree in nursing that develops the methodology of Integrated Curriculum. Method: Qualitative research, descriptive and exploratory, conducted through progetista interviews with travel managers nursing a public university in the South. Results: Two categories: “among the cognitive aspects and operations practice in educational management” and “interactional skills to the democratic practice”. Conclusion: When unveil the powers inherent in the role of the manager of an integrated curriculum in health, it was identified that currently managers need skills that are cognitive and interactional aspect to exercise a skilled and democratic educational management. In order to promote professional and qualified further education committed to the exercise of a profession of excellence.

Dynamics between doctors and managers in the Italian National Health Care System.

This article focuses on the changes in the Italian NHS by concentrating on patterns in the managerialisation of doctors. It addresses a series of shortcomings in studies on the response by doctors to managerialisation. The first is a shortcoming of theoretical and analytical nature. It is necessary to adopt a broader perspective whereby analysis considers not only the interaction between doctors and managers, but also the public control and regulation agencies that operate in that field. The second shortcoming is a methodological one. The literature on managerialisation is more theoretical than applied. It is necessary to adopt a strategy based on a plurality of methodologies and sources in order to focus attention on a national case (Italy in the present study), discussing the changes over time (from the beginning of managerialisation until today) and considering different groups within the medical profession. The outcome is a complex picture of the dynamics between doctors and managers which foregrounds the managerial co-optation processes of a small group of national health service doctors, the transition from strategic adaptation to forms of resistance against managerialisation by the majority of Italian NHS doctors, and the emergence of restratification processes among self-employed doctors working with the NHS.

New directions for veterinary technology.

Veterinary technology has generally established itself well in companion-animal and mixed-animal veterinary medical practice, but the career's growth trajectory is uncertain. Michigan State University (MSU) convened a national conference, "Creating the Future of Veterinary Technology-A National Dialogue," in November 2011 to explore ways to elevate the veterinary technician/technologist's role in the veterinary medical profession and to identify new directions in which the career could expand. Veterinary technicians/technologists might advance their place in private practice by not only improving their clinical skills, but by also focusing on areas such as practice management, leadership training, business training, conflict resolution, information technology, and marketing/communications. Some new employment settings for veterinary technicians/technologists include more participation within laboratory animal medicine and research, the rural farm industry, regulatory medicine, and shelter medicine. Achieving these ends would call for new training options beyond the current 2-year and 4-year degree programs. Participants suggested specialty training programs, hybrid programs of various types, online programs, veterinary technician residency programs of 12-18 months, and more integration of veterinary technician/technology students and veterinary medicine students at colleges of veterinary medicine.

Growing a medical practice with social media marketing.

Many medical practices are facing the lack of practice growth that their social media efforts are generating. This article provides concrete ideas that can be put in place by any medical practice to realize sustainable practice growth through social media marketing. In the article, the author demonstrates that social media marketing of the medical practice has become absolutely essential in today's evolving, competitive, and fast-paced environment. This demonstration is made through an exploration of the evolution of what "good" marketing has looked like for medical practices over time. In addition, attention is paid to the shift in the definition of good marketing that is required for the practice that is preparing a social media-marketing plan. Specifically, the article investigates the proven requirements for a balanced blend of unique and engaging promotional and nonpromotional community outreach, which is required on a daily basis to achieve the significant, lasting, and sustainable growth that the practice wishes to achieve.