Objective To understand the current situation of medical service and management in Xintian Central Township Health Center (XtC) through on-the-spot investigation, and to provide references for development of key techniques and products for township health centers in medicine allocation and delivery. Methods The questionnaire and the focus interview were carried out, which included the general information, human resources, medical service and management, as well as the practice of essential medicine list. Results a) The hardware conditions of XtC were not good enough, and the income of Lintao county and Gansu provincial government fell short of their needs; b) The General Practitioner (GP)/nurse ratio was higher than that of the national level, the GP/pharmacist ratio was a little bit lower, and the GP/laboratorian ratio reached the national level. There was only one medical technician. There was about 27.5% staff members having no college degree, and about 81% having at most primary profession titles. There were 26 medical workers allocated to XtC in recent two years and only one GP left; c) In 2009, the bed utilization ratio was a little bit higher than the national level (109% vs. 60.7%), while the average length of stay was longer than the national level (6 vs. 4.8); d) The outpatient service in 2010 increased by 17.6% compared to 2009 and the inpatient service in 2010 decreased by 17%; e) The average medical expense per outpatient and per inpatient increased by 23.5% and 14.9%, respectively, in 2010 compared to 2009; f) The essential medicine list (EML) was put into practice in June, 2010. The current count of medicine in hospital was 767, far beyond the EML demand. Conclusion XtC, as a basic rural Township Health Center in Western China, overtakes the burden of healthcare service for local population. The policy of “selecting graduates to work in Township Health Center” made by Gansu government ensures sufficient personnel reserve for rural Township Health Center. XtC needs to cope with challenges of insufficient hardware conditions, unreasonable personnel structure, low educational background and profession title of the staff, and low technical level of medical service. XtC has a big ratio of medicine income and the expense of outpatient is lower than that of the national level. The management of XtC may be influenced by zero-profit price of the essential medicine, and appropriate subsidy and policy support are needed to maintain its service quality. And it is necessary to carry out evidence-based selection of the essential medicine account and develop staff training and essential medicine usage guidance, so as to support the medicine used safely and rationally.
Objective To investigate the inpatients’ disease constitution and cost in Xintian Central Township Health Center (XtC) in Lintao County of Gansu Province from 2008 to 2010, so as to provide baseline data for further research. Methods The questionnaire and the focus interview were carried out, the case records and the cost information of XtC inpatients in 2008, 2009 and 2010 were collected. The diseases were classified according to ICD-10 based on the first diagnosis and the cost was analyzed. Data including general information of the inpatients, discharge diagnosis, hospitalization expenses, and drug cost etc. were rearranged and analyzed by Excel software. Results a) The total number of inpatients was 1 212, 1 425 and 1 857, respectively, in 2008, 2009 and 2010. The female was more than the male in 2010 (57.68% vs. 42.32%), and their disease spectrum included 19 categories, which accounted for 90% of the disease classes of ICD-10; b) The constituent ratio of the top seven systematic diseases that inpatients suffered from in recent three years accounted for 89.18% to 92.21%, which included the digestive, respiratory, circulatory, urogenital, musculoskeletal and connective tissues disease, pregnancy, labor and puperium disease, and injury and toxicosis. Except for the injury and toxicosis, the female was more than the male in most of the rest main systematic diseases; c) The top 15 single diseases were acute upper respiratory infection, chronic tracheitis or bronchitis, gastritis or chronic gastritis, coronary heart disease, hypertension, pulmonary infection, urinary tract infection, lumbar vertebra disease, fracture, superficial injury, acute appendicitis, normal labor, cervical spondylosis, acute gastroenteritis, and cholecystolithiasis or cholecystitis; d) The main disease burden of inpatients focused on the age groups as above 65, 15 to 24 and 35 to 54 in 2010. Except for the fracture, acute tracheitis or bronchitis, and lumbar vertebra disease, the female was more than the male in most of the rest main single diseases; gastritis or chronic gastritis and lumbar vertebra disease focused on the age group above 35; acute upper respiratory infection covered all ages in 2010 and has ranked as the first during the past three years; e) In recent three years, the aggregate constitutional ratio of the top 15 single diseases accounted for 67.53% to 71.36%, including six to seven chronic diseases, and eight to nine acute diseases focusing on infection and trauma; and f) The inpatients’ average costs of chronic diseases were higher than those of acute diseases in 2010 (RMB 1 311.81 yuan vs. RMB 906.85 yuan), and were also higher than those of either Yong’an Central Township Health Center (RMB 1 150.59 yuan) or Gao Zha Central Township Health Center (RMB 1 002.99 yuan). Conclusion?a) In the recent three years, the main systematic diseases are in digestive, respiratory and circulatory system; the incidence of acute disease which mainly focuses on infection and injury is more than that of the chronic; and the acute upper respiratory infection has ranked as the first during the past three years; b) The inpatients in 2010 are mainly at the age of 15 to 24, 35 to 54, and over 65 years old as well. Except for injury and toxicosis, the female inpatients are more than the male in most of the other diseases; c) The inpatients’ average costs of chronic diseases in 2010 are higher than those of acute diseases, and also higher than those of either YaC or GzC. Consideration on rationality of hospitalization cost should be paid attention to; and d) It is urgent to strengthen the construction of infrastructure and informationization in XtC.
Objective To provide basic data for further application of national essential medicine list (EML) in Chengdu, through a survey of key-workers or persons, who attended the lecture of EML, in charge of village town hospitals or community medical service centers, and to find out their awareness of and attitudes to the essential medicine and requirements and suggestions for EML training. Methods Based on principles and methods of modern cognitive psychology, we designed the questionnaire and carried out the survey face to face. Two people input the data independently and verified them. Proportions were used to analyze the data through the Excel software. Results (1) The proportions ofcorrect answers to the questions of essential medicine conception, use range of EML and the relationship between EML and essential insurance medicines list were 89%, 91% and 87%, respectively. (2) 46% of the persons investigated (117 persons) chose “always consider preferentially using the essential medicine when prescribing”, 31% (81 persons) “consider using the essential medicine in most cases”. (3) 41% of the persons investigated (103 persons) chose “comparatively welcome” for the EML. (4) Problems of implementing EML in village town hospitals or community medical service centers, in the order of importance decreasing, were: “income and compensation”, “awareness of the essential medicine and prescribing habit of the doctor”, “patient’s cognition of essential medicine and preference to drug use”, “safety and effectiveness of the essential medicine”, “the applicability of essential medicine ” and “the purchase and delivery of essential medicine”, respectively. (5) The ways of getting information of essential medicine were 19.6% (187 person-time) through documents, 18.6% (177 persontime) through conferences and 15.3% (146 person-time) through lectures. (6) 60% of the persons investigated (154 persons) attended training of the essential medicine once or twice. (7) 77% of the persons investigated (196 persons) were trained for less than one week for essential medicine. (8) Requirements and suggestions on the training of essential medicine: 42% (71 person-time) enlarging the targeted people, 22% (38 person-time) increasing the training time,16% (27 person-time) improving practicability and specificity of training contents, 11% (18 person-time) diversifying training ways, 9% (15 persontime) requiring “training according to needs ” which addresses specific problems after investigation. Conclusion Training of essential medicine should be strengthened for medical workers in the village town hospitals or community medical service centers, and researches should be carried out on evaluation of EML applicability, performance of EML implementation, financial aiding, income of medical worker, procurement and reimburse, etc.