In Singapore, there appears to be a recent unprecedented flurry of interest in health services research (HSR), a fairly distinct and recognisable activity, within (i) the 2 public healthcare clusters – the National Healthcare Group and Singapore Health Services; (ii) academic settings in the National University of Singapore (NUS)...

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a potentially fatal disease which includes deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE). About 30% of patients with VTE die within 30 days while 20% suffer sudden death from pulmonary embolism.1 Risk factors commonly seen in hospitalised patients, include immobilization, acute medical illness and...

The prevalence of diabetes mellitus is reaching epidemic levels worldwide.1,2 The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that the number of people with diabetes mellitus is expected to rise from 171 million in 2000 to 366 million in 2030, as a result of population ageing and urbanisation.3 This will inevitably...

Surveys are tools originally built around the social sciences, and which have found their way to the health disciplines. Medical specialties have explored the value of surveys for evaluating diseases. Questionnaires have been developed as aids for managing conditions such as asthma, headache and other chronic respiratory diseases.1-3 Another...

Electronic prescribing has been proposed as an important strategy to reduce medication errors,1 improve the quality of patient care2 and create savings in healthcare costs.3 Electronic prescription systems allow the prescribing clinician to electronically send an accurate, error-free and understandable prescription directly to the pharmacy. The basic documentation functions...