Alexis Benos

• Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Background: Storm Daniel, characterized as the most severe 21st century flood event in Greece, struck the Regions of Thessaly and Central Greece in early September 2023, resulting in 17 reported direct fatalities. Methods:This study evaluated all-cause excess mortality in the prefectures of Fthiotida, Karditsa/Trikala and Magnesia affected by Stor...

Κατά τη χρονική περίοδο 2020-23 τα χαμένα χειρουργεία στα νοσοκομεία του ΕΣΥ, υπολογίζονται σε 360.000 έως 540.000 χαμένες χειρουργικές επεμβάσεις ανάλογα με το μέτρο σύγκρισης, ανάλογα δηλαδή με το αν συγκρίνει κανείς με τα επίπεδα των χειρουργικών επεμβάσεων του 2019 προ πανδημίας ή τα επίπεδα χειρουργικών επεμβάσεων της πενταετίας 2014-19 επίσης...

Introduction: During the Covid-19 pandemic, most countries globally introduced emergency health policies to reinforce Healthcare Workforce (HCWF) capacity, as pressures were exerted on public healthcare systems. The common basis of these policies was the increase of the surge capacity and flexibility of existing HCWF, instead of focusing on sustain...

Objectives: Refugees and migrants (R&Ms) exhibited higher risk of COVID-19 infection, and higher mortality rates during the pandemic. Acknowledging these risks, R&Ms early in the pandemic were identified by WHO as a priority vaccination group in need of protection. The aim of this study was to assess the vaccination roll-out and uptake among R&Ms r...

Τα στοιχεία που παρουσιάζονται στο παρόν Συνοπτικό Στατιστικό Δελτίο (Data Brief) του ΚΕΠΥ περιγράφουν την πορεία υποβάθμισης των υλικών όρων που εξασφαλίζουν την καλή λειτουργία και αναπαραγωγή της δημόσιας Ανώτατης Εκπαίδευσης, ώστε να διευκολυνθεί η ιδιωτικοποίησή της, αναδεικνύοντας τη χρόνια υποστελέχωση των δημόσιων πανεπιστημίων, την πολυετή...

Η επιδημική ετοιμότητα, η ικανότητα δηλαδή πρόληψης, ελέγχου και αντιμετώ-πισης των επιδημικών απειλών, για πολλά έτη παρέμενε έννοια λησμονημένη και μη συνδεδεμένη με τον στρατηγικό σχεδιασμό και την άσκηση πολιτικής στον χώρο της υγείας. Ακρογωνιαίος λίθος της επιδημικής ετοιμότητας είναι η ετοιμότητα των υπηρεσιών δημόσιας υγείας, η οποία με τη...

The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the mobilization of all available health care resources, including private, for-profit ones. The aim of this multiple methods study (combination of document and secondary data analysis) was to assess government regulations facilitating the private health sector's participation in the COVID-19 response in Greece. D...

Όπως αποδεικνύει η εν λόγω έκθεση, οι πολιτικές λιτότητας που επιβλήθηκαν την περίοδο της οικονομικής κρίσης είχαν μια καταστροφική επίδραση στη στελέχωση των νοσοκομειακών υπηρεσιών του ΕΣΥ με συνολική απώλεια της τάξης των 19.000 εργαζομένων. Είναι εξίσου εντυπωσιακό ότι παρά τη δημοσιονομική χαλάρωση και κυρίως την έλευση της πανδημίας το μεγα...

Η παρακολούθηση της επιδημίας COVID-19 στα Ανώτατα Εκπαιδευτικά Ιδρύματα, ιδίως τους τελευταίους τρεις μήνες της επαναλειτουργίας τους με φυσική παρουσία διδασκόντων και διδασκομένων σε συνθήκες μάλιστα εκτεταμένης διασποράς του SARS-CoV2 στην κοινότητα, προσφέρει μία ευκαιρία για άντληση χρήσιμων διδαγμάτων σχετικά με τη διαχείριση της επιδημίας σ...

Η επαναφορά στη δια ζώσης λειτουργία των πανεπιστημίων σε συνθήκες αυξημένου συγχρωτισμού φοιτητών και εργαζόμενων, ανεπαρκούς φυσικού αερισμού της συντριπτικής πλειοψηφίας των αιθουσών διδασκαλίας και απουσίας επιδημιολογικής επιτήρησης είχε έγκαιρα επισημανθεί ότι θα οδηγήσει σε έξαρση της επιδημίας στο campus του ΑΠΘ και αυξημένο κίνδυνο νόσησης...

Η συζήτηση περί υποχρεωτικότητας των εμβολιασμών ξεκίνησε και εκτυλίσσεται στο έδαφος της αδυναμίας συγκράτησης της πανδημίας σε παγκόσμιο επίπεδο. Η άρνηση των κυβερνήσεων και των διεθνών οργανισμών να καταργήσουν τα Ιδιοκτησιακά Πνευματικά Δικαιώματα (IPRs – πατέντες) των εμβολίων ακόμη και την ύστατη στιγμή της ανάγκης προστασίας της δημόσιας υγ...

Objectives Ensuring access to care for all patients - especially those with life threatening and chronic conditions - during a pandemic is a challenge for all healthcare systems. During the COVID-19 pandemic many countries faced excess mortality partly attributed to disruptions in essential healthcare services provision. This study aimed to estimat...

Στόχος της έκδοσης είναι, έναν χρόνο μετά την εμφάνιση της πανδημίας, να αποτελέσει μια πρώτη προσπάθεια αποτίμησης αυτής της σύγχρονης παγκόσμιας περιπέτειας. Η κριτική ανάλυση των αιτίων της πανδημίας, η επιδημιολογική αποτίμηση της εξέλιξής της, η περιγραφή της αντιμετώπισής της ως πρωταρχικού κινδύνου της δημόσιας υγείας, η πολιτική ελέγχου της...

OBJECTIVE To present the insights and opinions of medical students on the use of web-based seminars (webinars). METHOD During their four-week placement in general practice (GP), 118 final-year Greek medical students were asked to voluntarily attend webinars on the topics of “multimorbidity” and “motivational interviewing”. They were subsequently...

Η παρούσα έκθεση υπενθυμίζει ότι η Διακήρυξη της Doha του Παγκόσμιου Οργανισμού Εμπορίου (μέλη του οποίου αποτελούν το σύνολο των χωρών της Ευρώπης, συμπεριλαμβανομένης και της Ελλάδας) από το 2001 και μετά επιτρέπει στα κράτη μέλη του Π.Ο.Ε. σε συνθήκες απειλής της δημόσιας υγείας να άρουν τους όποιους προστατευτισμούς στα πνευματικά ιδιοκτησιακά...

Background: The effectiveness and utility of webinars in higher education is proven, but there is no data about their role in undergraduate medical education in GP/FM. Sixth-year medical students invited to attend two webinars about “multimorbidity” and “motivation interview” from the host-academic department, during their 4-week clinical attachmen...

Objectives: This study aimed to assess satisfaction and report on perceptions of General Practice (GP) residents during residency in Greece, through an online questionnaire at a national level. Material and methods: A mixed type method study was shaped. Both quantitative analysis and a quasiqualitative approach were used, while information from an...

The perceived Indoor Air Quality (IAQ), the prevalence of Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) symptoms and its contributing risk factors were assessed in a university during the period of the economic crisis in Greece. Data was collected from 613 employees via questionnaires. Hierarchical linear regression analysis was performed. The most prevalent percei...

Η επιδημία της νόσου του νέου κορωναϊού (Covid-19) αποκαλύπτει με τον πλέον οδυνηρό τρόπο την έλλειψη επιδημικής ετοιμότητας στις υπηρεσίες δημόσιας υγείας και τις χρόνιες ευαλωτότητες του εθνικού συστήματος υγείας στην Ελλάδα, προϊόντα αμφότερα της χρόνιας υποχρηματοδότησης και αποδιάρθωσής τους. Η επιτυχής επιβράδυνση του 1ου επιδημικού κύματος...

Επιδημική ετοιμότητα μίας χώρας είναι η ικανότητα των οργανισμών δημόσιας υγείας, των υγειονομικών υπηρεσιών και των μηχανισμών πολιτικής προστασίας να ανιχνεύουν, αναφέρουν, ελέγχουν και αντιμετωπίζουν τις συνέπειες μίας επιδημίας. Η επιδημική ετοιμότητα (epidemic preparedness) είναι εξ’ ορισμού έννοια πολυδιάστατη και συμπεριλαμβάνει πολλαπλές δ...

Η υγεία των πληθυσμών είναι ιδιαίτερα σημαντική και ευάλωτη για να την εμπιστευτεί κανείς, ιδιαίτερα σε συνθήκες παγκόσμιας απειλής δημόσιας υγείας, στις διαθέσεις φιλανθρωκαπιταλιστών, στις αποδόσεις πανδημικών ομολόγων ή στα υποτιθέμενα προσδοκόμενα οφέλη των ΣΔΙΤ. Η συνέχιση και επέκταση των αναγκαίων μέτρων για τον έλεγχο και καθυστέρηση της ε...

Purpose: Our study aimed to compare the views of healthy eligible unscreened adults, to those of primary care providers in Greece, about colorectal cancer (CRC) screening perceived barriers. Methods: A sample of 791 unscreened adults (50-75 years) from a recent nationwide health survey in Greece were interviewed about CRC screening barriers, and...

Patient safety is a major challenge for contemporary health care systems. Hospitals of the 21st century constitute a unique combination of sophisticated life-saving technology and potential life-threatening error. Researchers across the world have reached the conclusion that health care systems are not as safe as they should be, nor as they could b...

Background: Main causes of death in Greece are cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), malignant neoplasms, respiratory diseases, and road traffic crashes. To assess the population health status, monitor health systems, and adjust policies, national population-based health surveys are recommended. The previous health surveys that were conducted in Greece...

Το κρίσιμο πρόβλημα της ανάλυσης των χρονολογικών σειρών της θνησιμότητας έχει απασχολήσει σε μεγάλο βαθμό την επιστημονική κοινότητα κατά τη διάρκεια των τελευταίων δεκαετιών, λόγω της κλιματικής αλλαγής. Ο στόχος των αντίστοιχων στατιστικών μοντέλων είναι η εκτίμηση της μακροχρόνιας τάσης, της εποχικότητας, των ακραίων τιμών και των στοχαστικών σ...

Background Research on Roma health is fragmentary as major methodological obstacles often exist. Reliable estimates on vaccination coverage of Roma children at a national level and identification of risk factors for low coverage could play an instrumental role in developing evidence-based policies to promote vaccination in this marginalized populat...

Contemporary medical education waivers between providing integrated education and ensuring quality in health- care services. Patient safety has become the main priority in medicine, causing serious problems and limitations in the training of undergraduate students in clinical skills with real patients. As a result, Clinical Skills Laboratories have...

The aim of this study was to estimate the short term consequences of job insecurity associated with a newly introduced mobility framework in Greece. In specific, the study examined the impact of job insecurity on anxiety, depression, and psychosomatic and musculoskeletal symptoms, two months after the announcement of the mobility framework. In addi...

L'Europe était, jusqu'il y a peu, un continent attractif grâce à sa combinaison réussie d'économies solides et de fortes protections sociales. Mais les temps changent, aujourd'hui tous les Etats sont en difficulté. Les auteurs de cet article montrent que le malheur des uns fait le bonheur des autres, que certains pompiers sont des pyromanes, que la...

The actual European answers to the world-wide crisis are premised on the strengthening of market, mechanisms, combined with competition between countries to lower production costs, fiscal policies aimed at bailing out banks and corporations and ‘social dumping’. The inevitable consequences have been decreasing purchasing power of the population, d...

The Tuning-Medicine Project produced a set of ‘level one’ and ‘level two’ learning outcomes/ competences to be met by European medical graduates. In the learner-centered era self-assessment becomes more and more important. Our aim was to develop a self-completion questionnaire (‘iCAN!’) evaluating graduates’ learning outcomes. The Tuning ‘level two...

During summer 2010, 262 human cases including 35 deaths from West Nile virus (WNV) infection were reported from Central Macedonia, Greece. Evidence from mosquitoes, birds and blood donors demonstrated that the epidemic was caused by WNV lineage 2, which until recently was considered of low virulence. We conducted a household seroprevalence study to...

The global economic crisis has affected the Greek economy with unprecedented severity, making Greece an important test of the relationship between socioeconomic determinants and a population’s well-being. Suicide and homicide mortality rates among men increased by 22.7% and 27.6%, respectively, between 2007 and 2009, and mental disorders, substance...

Background: To analyze the pattern of clinical expression and the 5-year disease course in Caucasian patients with late onset of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and to compare the findings with an early onset SLE group. Methods: Medical records of 551 patients who presented with SLE at hospitals of the region of Thessaloniki between 1989 and...

Context: Exposure of undergraduate medical students to general practice and community healthcare services is common practice in the international medical curricula. Nevertheless, proponents of the hospital and biotechnology based paradigm, which is still dominant within the medical academic environment, question both the scope and the setting of t...

OBJECTIVE A considerable proportion of new HIV infections in Greece present in people aged up to 29 years, probably due to infection during adolescence. Condom use is relatively low in this age group and the attitudes of adolescents affect their intentions to use condoms. The aim of this study was to record the attitudes of adolescents concerning H...

Λόγω της κλιματικής αλλαγής, προβλέπεται να αυξηθεί (σε παγκόσμια κλίμακα) η συχνότητα και η ένταση των επεισοδίων καύσωνα. Τα ακραία καιρικά φαινόμενα που σχετίζονται με την εμφάνιση μέγιστων θερμοκρασιών επιδρούν στις συνθήκες δυσφορίας, με σημαντικές επιπτώσεις στη δημόσια υγεία. Επιπλέον, η σχετική υγρασία επηρεάζει τη φυσική κατάσταση του ανθρ...

Το αν η οικονομική κρίση, το εγγενές και κυκλικό αυτό φαινόμενο του καπιταλιστικού τρόπου ανάπτυξης, επηρεάζει την υγεία των πληθυσμών και τα συστήματα υγείας των χωρών που πλήττονται από αυτή, είναι ένα ερώτημα το οποίο τίθεται με τον πλέον δραματικό τρόπο τα τελευταία χρόνια διεθνώς. Τα εμπειρικά δεδομένα από προηγούμενες υφεσιακές περιόδους δεν...

The economic crisis in Greece1 may offer an opportunity for the reorganisation of the health system,2 and although primary healthcare reform is high on the political agenda, questions remain about the direction of restructuring. Weaknesses in the Greek health system include poor continuity of care, excessive use of curative services, lack of preve...

Background and aim: Cervical cancer is one of the most common causes of cancer mortality among women worldwide but it is one of the most preventable cancers due to the Pap smear test. The aim of this study was to estimate the participation rate of females in screening of cervical cancer with Pap smear test. Methods: The study took place in a hos...

Empirical evidence on how ownership type affects the quality and cost of medical care is growing, and debate on these topics is ongoing. Despite the fact that the private sector is a major provider of hospital services in Greece, little comparative information on private versus public sector hospitals is available. The aim of the present study was...

OBJECTIVE Although valid instruments are available for measuring the educational environment during the 6-year period of undergraduate medical study, there was no tool for measuring the end-product of the medical curriculum, i.e. the abilities of the “medical graduate”. The I CAN! questionnaire, based on the tuning-medicine project, is an instrumen...

Purpose Prophylactic vaccination programs in conjunction with cervical screening can significantly reduce the incidence of cervical cancer worldwide. This study tested the hypothesis that human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination can adversely affect adherence to cervical screening if the public develops the misconception that the HPV vaccination has...

Maternal exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is a major health hazard as it contains lower doses of the toxins that smokers' inhale. Prenatal exposure to wood fuel smoke has been linked to delivering low birth weight (LBW) infants. The study aims to assess the association between prenatal exposure to ETS and wood fuel smoke and LBW. A cas...

The aim of this study was to analyse the prevalence of the most relevant clinical features of the diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in a sample of male patients with lupus as well as the incidence of the main causes of morbidity in a 5-year period after the diagnosis. A further aim of this study was to investigate the impact of gender...

Our analysis indicates that health care system in Greece shows many crisis symptoms, such as: (a) poor satisfaction rates with the overall performance of health care services in the country, due mainly to access and accommodation problems of public services (b) rising health care inequalities due to high rates of indirect taxes, out of pocket payme...

Despite the considerable financial and organizational resources of health promotion campaigns, their effectiveness in tackling current health problems is limited. In the following commentary, we argue that health promotion is best understood as a behavioural challenge. Behaviour can be understood in terms of three aspects: knowledge, skills and att...

OBJECTIVE The I CAN! questionnaire is an instrument for measuring the outcomes of medical curricula, based mainly on the Tuning project. The questionnaire is under construction and validation. It consists of 105 closed questions and the open question "if you could change one thing in your school, what would this be?". This paper presents the respon...

469 προτάσεις 429 πτυχιούχων Ιατρικής ΣΚΟΠΟΣ Το ερωτηματολόγιο ΜΠΟΡΩ! είναι ένα εργαλείο μέτρησης των εκβά-σεων του προγράμματος σπουδών (ΠΣ) μιας ιατρικής σχολής, που βασίζεται κυρίως στο πρόγραμμα «Συντονισμός» (the tuning project) και βρίσκεται υπό κατασκευή και επικύρωση. Απαρτίζεται από 105 κλειστές ερωτήσεις, καθώς και την ανοικτή ερώτηση «αν...

Background: The objective of this study was to assess the factors associated with the traffic mortality in the region of Central Macedonia in order to produce evidence in building up preventive policies. Material and methods: This study is a descriptive survey covering a three-year period (from 01-01-2006 to 31-12- 2008). The data used were supp...

Changes in female breast cancer mortality trends have been observed in recent years in western countries. The aim of the present study was to analyse breast cancer mortality in Greece, between 1980 and 2005. Time trends of breast cancer mortality were calculated per 100,000 women in the whole female population of Greece, in different age groups, an...

Background: Shift work disrupts the normal circadian rhythms, affecting shift workers both physically and mentally, leading to increased risk of occupational and personal accidents. Nursing personnel are exposed regularly and for prolonged periods to shift work and are therefore considered to be a high-risk group. Aim: The aim of this study was to...

The promised revitalisation of primary healthcare (PHC) is happening at a time when the contradictions and unfairness of the global economic system have become clear, suggesting that the current system is unsustainable. In the past two decades, one of the most significant impediments to the implementation of comprehensive PHC has been neoliberal ec...

The aim of this study was to explore the process of dyadic benefit finding after myocardial infarction. For the purposes of the study, a qualitative methodology using intepretative phenomenologic analysis was used. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 11 couples. Patients were predominantly male, aged between 50 and 70 years, and partners...

Thyroid nodules are a common diagnostic challenge mainly because of the need to exclude thyroid malignancy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of demographic, ultrasonographic and scintigraphic findings in differentiating benign from malignant thyroid lesions in patients presenting with thyroid nodules. 941 patients, who presented...

Traumatic stress symptoms have only recently been studied in association with medical treatment procedures. The study examined associations of physical and psychological functioning during hospitalization to symptoms of traumatic stress after cardiac surgery. One hundred thirteen patients admitted for coronary artery bypass grafting participated in...

Fine Needle Aspiration Biopsy (FNA) is a method widely used in the assessment of thyroid nodules. The main aim of this 18-year retrospective study was the investigation of the diagnostic value of FNA cytology in thyroid malignancy. We retrospectively reviewed 1376 patients who underwent 1938 FNAs from 1987 to 2004 in the Department of Endocrinology...

The use of public-private hospital partnerships (PPPs) shows a tendency to become an international phenomenon. Recently, PPPs have been adopted in Greece also, where they are already in the stage of design. In this study, the British experience of Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and an efficiency evaluation, through a literature review of Britain’...

The traditional evaluation of the clinical examination performed by medical students has some strengths but significant limitations, in terms of validity and reliability. The advent of the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) has enabled some of the limitations to be overcome. Its basic structure consists of a circuit of assessment stat...

From the Lab of Hygiene; Lab of Physi-ology, Medical School, Aristotle Univer-sity, Thessaloniki, Greece.Submitted May 31, 2007; acceptedJune 21, 2007.The first and second author haveconducted the same amount of workand share first authorship.Authors’ disclosures of potential con-flicts of interest and author contribu-tions are found at the end of thi...

Aim: The main objective of the present study was to investigate the nursing staff's identity in relation to demographic characteristics. Additional aims were: 1) to investigate the nursing staff's relation to religion and to trade unionism, and 2) to determine the frequency of negative experiences that are related to the practice of nursing. Method...

A I M S : To explore the perceptions of nursing staff, medical doctors, health care students and patients on whethernurses are expected to play an educational role in health issues, as well as to explore the factors that affect theseperceptions. An additional aim is to evaluate the patient education offered by nurses.M E T H O D O L O G Y : The sam...

B A C K G R O U N D : There is great evidence in nursing literature about the nurses’ perceptions on their role. Moststudies are focused on nursing practice and the actual role in hospitals, and other skills on basic-, intermediate- andadvanced- level patient care. In Greece, there are no studies examining the social role of nurses and nurses’ perc...

A prospective study was conducted to determine risk factors for fungal colonization, drug susceptibility, and association with invasive fungal infections (IFIs) in a neonatal unit. On admission and weekly thereafter, surveillance fungal cultures were taken from mouth, rectum, and trachea of neonates with expected stays of > 1 week. Fungal colonizat...

Pilot projects are important components of the process of introducing change in medical educational curricula. This has high-lighted the importance of evaluating their effectiveness. An important aspect of the process of evaluation, which has often been neglected in educational settings, is the influence of selection bias. This paper illustrates ho...

To investigate the risk factors associated with nosocomial acquisition of imipenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (IRAB) among pediatric intensive care patients. A retrospective case control study was conducted in a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Cases were children in whom IRAB was isolated from any clinical specimen obtained at least 48...

There is an increasing realization that the connections between work and family life are of critical importance in contemporary society. The present study examined the relationship between job demands and burnout, and the mediational role of work–family interference (WFI) in a sample of Greek doctors (N = 162). The main findings are: (1) emotional...

The aim of this study was to determine the influence of preoperative physical and psychosocial functioning on quality of life 1 and 6 months after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). The study used a prospective design. A total of 157 patients admitted for elective CABG in a Greek city hospital participated in the study. Results showed signific...

Burnout poses a substantial problem for physicians' well-being and for the quality of health care. The role of workload in comparison to subjective work characteristics has been rarely studied. The purpose of this study was to explore the associations of burnout with workload and subjective work characteristics in internal medicine specialists and...

Negative affectivity has been defined as a predisposition to experience intense states of negative emotions. As a trait concept it is a dimension that reflects stable and pervasive differences in negative mood and self-concept. There has been systematic evidence linking negative affectivity to anxiety, depression, psychosomatic complaints, pain sym...

The role of private for profit health sector as a means of achieving high quality health care at competitive prices is, nowadays, a central issue in international health policy. The aim of this literature review of empirical evidence from US’ short term general hospitals, psychiatric in patient care, dialysis centers and nursing homes is to examine...