Lac Quan, Na Yujin, Tamashiro Kennedy Kainoa, Withy Kelley, Adelbai-Fraser Myra, Decherong Catherine, Dever Greg
John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawai'i, Honolulu, HI 96813, USA.
Hawaii/Pacific Basin Area Health Education Center, Honolulu, HI 96813, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2025 Mar 14;22(3):431. doi: 10.3390/ijerph22030431.
The Republic of Palau is a small island nation with limited healthcare resources and a lack of onsite subspecialty medical care services such as orthopedic surgery, cardiology, and oncology. Palauans receive sub-specialty healthcare during medical missions from other countries or when they are referred off-island to surrounding countries by the Palau Medical Referral Program. The goal of this study is to identify patterns in costs, locations, and types of cases to elucidate potential areas of improvement to the Palauan healthcare system. This study utilized the 2020-2022 referral data to analyze the frequency of medical conditions that result in off-island referrals and the associated economic burden. Data is presented in a descriptive analysis. : We found that oncology and cardiology are the two most common types of medical conditions requiring off-island medical referrals and that Palau is spending over 2 million dollars annually for referrals on subspecialty medical care. Cardiology and oncology are the most frequent cases and have the highest costs. The results of this study provide insight into the current state of medical care in Palau. : There is a need for a systematic, timely, and economically feasible approach to subspecialty medical sub-care for Palau, especially cardiology and oncology, to reduce the economic burden for Palau. This approach should be linked with appropriate prevention, risk reduction, and early intervention efforts for these non-communicable diseases.
帕劳共和国是一个小岛国，医疗资源有限，缺乏骨科手术、心脏病学和肿瘤学等现场专科医疗服务。帕劳人在其他国家的医疗任务期间，或通过帕劳医疗转诊计划被转诊到周边国家时，接受专科医疗服务。本研究的目的是确定成本、地点和病例类型的模式，以阐明帕劳医疗系统潜在的改进领域。 本研究利用2020 - 2022年的转诊数据，分析导致岛外转诊的医疗状况的频率以及相关的经济负担。数据以描述性分析呈现。我们发现，肿瘤学和心脏病学是需要岛外医疗转诊的两种最常见的医疗状况类型，帕劳每年在专科医疗转诊上花费超过200万美元。心脏病学和肿瘤学是最常见的病例，成本也最高。本研究的结果为帕劳当前的医疗状况提供了见解。 有必要为帕劳提供一种系统、及时且经济可行的专科医疗分护理方法，特别是心脏病学和肿瘤学，以减轻帕劳的经济负担。这种方法应与针对这些非传染性疾病的适当预防、风险降低和早期干预措施相结合。
