104 papers
Improving health systems means finding smarter ways to deliver care, reduce errors, and ensure patients receive the best possible treatment. This field explores how hospitals and clinics can function more effectively, focusing on the practical changes that lead to better outcomes for everyone involved. It is less about discovering new drugs and more about refining the everyday processes that keep our healthcare networks running smoothly.
At Gist.Science, we track every new preprint in this category from medRxiv to bring you the latest research immediately. Our team processes these papers to provide both detailed technical summaries for experts and clear, plain-language explanations for anyone interested in how healthcare can improve. We believe that understanding these systemic changes is vital for building a more resilient future.
Below are the latest studies and insights from the health systems and quality improvement community, sorted by their recent submission dates.
This cross-sectional study of 50 emergency nurses in Mafraq, Jordan, reveals that while most possess sufficient triage knowledge, their skills and practices are often moderate to poor, highlighting a critical need for enhanced training, simulation programs, and clear protocols to improve triage competency, particularly in rural settings.
This study of over 540,000 German patients reveals that while STEMI and NSTEMI differ significantly in comorbidities, treatment intensity, and survival patterns, the consistent use of guideline-directed medical therapy substantially improves long-term survival for both groups despite a concerning decline in prescription rates over time.
This study analyzes interviews with 40 NHS staff to reveal that clinical decision-making for patients with multiple long-term conditions is hindered by systemic misalignment and resource limitations, necessitating a shift toward relational, multidisciplinary approaches and adapted care structures.
This paper outlines the protocol for developing INSPECT-IPD, a new tool designed to identify problematic randomised controlled trials by evaluating and implementing forensic checks on individual participant data through a combination of empirical testing and international expert consensus.
This international collaborative study analyzed samples from 100 CIN2+ cases and 200 controls across 10 countries to establish optimal analytical detection thresholds for various HPV types (specifically 3 IU/µl for HPV16/18, 25 IU/µl for HPV31/33/35/45/52/58, and 100 genome equivalents/µl for HPV39/51/56/59) that maximize both the sensitivity and specificity of cervical screening.
This mixed-methods study of 50 public health centres in Addis Ababa reveals that while referral systems are largely functional, high obstetric referral rates—particularly in facilities lacking caesarean section services—are driven by limitations in labour monitoring tools, variable clinical skills, and risk-averse practices, suggesting a need for targeted interventions to reduce unnecessary referrals.
This controlled interrupted time series study in Kenya found that while a pharmacist-led audit and feedback intervention did not significantly reduce gentamicin prescribing errors in isolation, it was associated with a positive trend in reducing error rates relative to control hospitals that lacked pharmacist involvement.
The C-QIP trial demonstrated that a multicomponent quality improvement strategy in India was feasible, acceptable, and significantly improved guideline-directed medical therapy, patient adherence, and care processes for chronic cardiovascular diseases, despite not showing significant differences in clinical risk factors.
This secondary analysis of the CanTreatCOVID trial demonstrates that abbreviated and extended symptom diaries yield comparable adherence, symptom trajectories, and predictive performance for recovery outcomes in outpatient SARS-CoV-2 patients, suggesting that shorter formats may effectively reduce participant burden without compromising data quality.
This retrospective study at JDWNRH's outpatient department reveals that prescribing errors constitute the majority of medication errors (2.27% of prescriptions), with dosing mistakes being the most common type and pharmacist-led interventions successfully preventing over 90% of potential harm, highlighting the need for enhanced prescriber training and integrated pharmacist support.