4 Questions to Ask before Signing a Bad Credit Loan

Mending your credit score with bad credit loans is tricky. At one hand you have no surplus to fund the loan repayment, and on the other hand you are planning a debt relief plan based on this new loan. You not only need to secure a truly easy to repay loan but you would also need a lot of financial discipline to succeed on your plans. Let’s explore certain factors that you would need to pay attention to with bad credit loans. Make sure you ask yourself some questions before availing a loan.

Why I need the loan? Before you begin to search for private finance companies for a bad credit loan, ask yourself why you need the loan. It is very important to clearly define the purpose of loan. For example, when you seek loans for unemployed with bad credit the need for cash is mostly temporary. Simply because, as long as you take to find the new job, as would remain the cash crunch. With new job the situation would ease too. While if you need loan to ease the cash crunch owing to accumulate debts, your first concern would be to make the debts affordable. A long term debt consolidation loan could be on your mind in this case. Thus it is very important to define the purpose of the loan. With clarity in your mind you ought to find the right deal.
Do I have a repayment plan? Another significant point is repayment plan. Do you have one? A debt is a debt and should always be pre planned for repayment. You need to ask yourself how much you have surplus for loan repayment. There has to be a definitive answer to this. With a clear ball park number in your mind, you can avail a loan with instalment around this figure. This will add ease to repayment and you may just succeed in repaying the loan.

Is there a back up? What if I fail to repay the loan? With bad credit situation, a small financial emergency would appear as a gigantic billow of sea. You need to have a robust back up plan or you may fail to repay on time. With a loan guarantor by your side, you have at least some one to look upon if you fail to repay the loan. But when you seek loans for bad credit with no guarantor it is important to identify who would come to your rescue in case of emergency. You indeed need to resort to frugal living and save as much as possible to make surplus funds for loan prepayment. The backup fund would help you face the situation with more confidence.

Ask again. Double check the decision to avail the bad credit loan
Last but not the least; you need to re assure yourself of the decision. Weigh down all the pros and cons of such kind of borrowing. If required use the service of a loan broker and get educated about the bad credit loans for your situation. Brokers are professionals who can help search the tailor made loans for even the very poor credit situation. They would guide you and share advice on loan repayment too.

A clear mind takes you too clearer decisions. With answer all these questions you would certainly make the right decision to mend your credit situation.

Mold Symptoms in Humans

If you have a mold problem in your home you are probably suffering several of the symptoms of mold. In fact many people suffer symptoms from mold and don’t even realize it, instead assuming their symptoms are from hay fever or a cold.

This page identifies the symptoms of mold, ways you can be tested for mold symptoms and the treatments available for exposure to mold.

Types of Symptoms from Mold

There are three main types of symptoms mold can cause:

Allergic & irritant symptoms
Toxic symptoms
Infections

Allergic & Irritant Symptoms from Mold Exposure

Most mold symptoms are caused by mold allergies. When you breathe in mold spores your immune systems responds by creating allergic reactions. These reactions are the immune system’s defence against foreign particles entering the body.

The more a person is around mold the more sensitive to it they will become. This means that they can end up unable to tolerate being around even small amounts of mold. Their allergic reactions will also become more and more severe.

Symptoms that mold allergies cause include:

Cold or flu like symptoms
Coughing
Sneezing
Sore throat
Irritated, itchy throat
Blocked nose
Itchy nose
Runny nose
Sinus congestion
Sinus headaches
Difficulty breathing, shortness of breath
Wheezing
Irritated, itchy skin
Skin rash, hives
Watery eyes
Red, bloodshot eyes
Itchy eyes
Itchy ears
Hair loss, baldness
Hay fever symptoms

Toxic Symptoms from Exposure to Toxic Mold

There are about 16 mold species which are toxic to humans. These molds put out highly toxic chemicals called mycotoxins.

Mycotoxins cause toxic symptoms which are much worse than the allergic symptoms caused by ordinary molds. Some of the symptoms caused by toxic molds include bleeding, damage to internal organs, mental impairment, cancer and even death in some cases.

The symptoms caused by the most notorious toxic mold, Stachybotrys chartarum (often called toxic black mold or just black mold) are at the Toxic Black Mold Symptoms page.

Mold Infections in Humans

Sometimes mold spores that are breathed into a person’s lungs begin to grow inside them. Mold infections like this can also grow in the sinuses, skin or digestive system.

These mold infections usually don’t occur in healthy people. Elderly people or those who are sick with compromised or suppressed immune systems can suffer these infections though, since their immune systems might not be strong enough to fight off the mold. Sometimes these mold infections can even cause death.

Mold species that can opportunistically infect people include Trichoderma, Penicillium marneffei and Aspergillus fumigatus.

Testing for Mold Symptoms in Humans

Physical Examination for Mold Symptoms

There are a few different tests available to determine if you have mold allergies. These tests can be performed for you by a medical professional such as a doctor or allergist.

One way is for a doctor to conduct a simple physical examination to identify if you have mold allergies. By identifying the visible physical symptoms along with you describing all your symptoms, the doctor can identify if you have allergic reactions caused by a mold allergy.
Skin Tests for Mold Symptoms

Another way to detect mold allergies is through a skin test. This test can be done in the doctor or allergist’s office where they will insert tiny drops of purified mold allergens into the surface of your skin and observe the reaction.

Skin tests are actually more reliable than blood tests, although neither can detect allergies to every mold species as purified mold allergens from every type of mold are not available for allergy tests.

Blood Tests for Mold Symptoms

The next type of test you can have performed to detect mold allergies is blood tests. These involve a sample of your blood being taken and then examined for the presence of mold antibodies.

The MELISA (Memory Lymphocyte Immunostimulation Assay) test is one such test. The MELISA test can detect allergies to chemicals, toxins, and mold, including toxic molds such as Aspergillus and Penicillium.

Like the skin test the MELISA test detects allergies by applying allergens to the sample and identifying whether there is a heightened reaction. Also like the skin test the MELISA test does not measure the amount of a mold’s toxins or allergens in a person’s body, only whether the person has an allergic reaction to that mold.

Other similar blood tests are the ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay) and the RAST (radioallergosorbent) test.

Treatment for Mold Symptoms

Avoiding Mold

While there are medications and shots which you can take to treat mold allergies, the best response is to avoid exposure to mold and mold spores as much as possible.

If you have mold in your home your first priority should be to get rid of it. By removing mold and its spores from your environment you will no longer be breathing in mold allergens, the cause of your allergic reactions, and you will quickly get better.

To remove mold follow this complete step by step guide to killing and removing mold in your home: Mold Removal and Clean Up.

Even if there is no longer mold in your home a build up of mold spores can still cause allergic symptoms and can also lead to new mold growth. Vacuum and clean regularly to minimize allergy-causing spores.

View the Preventing Mold page for more information about preventing mold and spores in your home.

Avoiding Food Mold

If you have mold allergies you might also find that your reactions increase after eating certain foods which contain fungus such as mushrooms and yeast.

Be sure to avoid any foods which you notice have caused you allergies in the past and before eating check food for signs of mold, especially foods such as cheese, bread and fruit which mold can readily grow on if past the use by date.
Medications for Mold Symptoms

You can also take medications to reduce your allergic reaction to mold. There is medicine for allergies which you can buy directly from the pharmacy such as claratyne or zyrtec or there is medication which a doctor can prescribe for you. These usually come in the form of pills or nasal sprays.

Consult your doctor or an allergist to find out what medicine you can take for allergies and be sure to carefully follow the directions of any medications you use. It should also be remembered that these types of medications only lessen the symptoms of allergic reactions, they do not cure you of the allergy or make you any less allergic to mold in the future.

Shots for Mold Symptoms

As a final treatment option you can be given shots for allergies. However shots are usually only recommended if other medications haven’t worked as there are some disadvantages.

In order for you to receive shots the mold allergen that is affecting you needs to be identified. Also, you might need to take shots regularly for months or even years for them to remain effective. Like other medications, shots don’t cure allergies, they just increase your tolerance to allergens and therefore lessen the symptoms of an allergic reaction.

Top 6 Reasons Why to Measure Patient Satisfaction

Importance of Measuring Patient Satisfaction

In simple words, patient satisfaction is an indicator of how well the patient is being treated. The “how well” doesn’t refer to the quality of care but to which extent a patient is satisfied with the care they receive. Patient Satisfaction is one of the growth factors in the efficiency of hospital care. Nowadays, most of the hospitals are giving attention to the patient experience.

Enhanced Patient Satisfaction will not only lead to enhanced patient experience, but it is also associated with better treatment outcomes.

As per the research, “85% of patients expect their healthcare professionals to be the point of contact for providing services to supervise their condition.”

6 Reasons Why to Measure Patient Satisfaction

Patient Satisfaction is a vital measure of service high quality in healthcare systems. Determining Patient Satisfaction begins with paying attention to your patients and asking them their concerns. Considering that numerous health care companies do not conduct patient satisfaction surveys, however doing so with your patients will go a long way in developing trust in your services. Make sure to review and take action on the data gathered from the patient feedback tool that indicates overarching trends are in your control.

The need to boost Patient Satisfaction is an essential step; it can be a difficult job to understand what changes will result in the most effective outcomes. Health care providers make an assessment when a patient schedules an appointment with a physician. Be it small or big; modifications can enhance a patient’s overall experience. There are numerous reasons why measuring patient satisfaction is just one of the leading concerns for each physician.

Some of the essential steps of why to measure patient satisfaction are:

To know your patient feedback and eliminate the guesswork best way to know whether your customers are satisfied or dissatisfied is by collecting patient feedback. It will also help your customers get a clear picture of patient expectations. They might face issues with appointment scheduling, wait time concerns, etc. Patient Feedback Surveys are an incredible tool for enhancing your healthcare services.
“A customer is likely to spend 31% more on a business with ‘excellent’ reviews.”

To measure the performance and care provided by your staff
Patient Satisfaction Surveys don’t just improve communication with your patients, but also helps in enhancing the overall performance. Measurement is essential for improving the quality of healthcare services and how well a healthcare provider is performing. It also captures what hospitals do and compare it with the targeted goals to identify what are the primary services which require improvement. There are different parameters on which performance can be measured, like the length of stay, doctor appointment scheduling, patient wait time, cost of the treatment, etc.

Feedback surveys will help in measuring hospital performance against set explicit standards by the healthcare provider.

“65% of patients say transparency regarding the cost of healthcare services is very important for the overall satisfaction.”

To know miffed and angry patients and to reach out to them
If a healthcare provider fails to provide a positive experience, then patients would be dissatisfied with your services, and they will tend to raise their complaints. They will highlight their issues, whether the problem is with your services or treatment.

Interacting with their issues directly from them will help hospitals prevent further complaints in the near future and improve their performance.

“13% of unhappy customers will share their complaint with 15 or more people.”

To improve patient care
Improving patient care has become a top priority for all healthcare providers. Communication is one of the biggest challenges, and it can take an ample amount of time to implement the smallest challenge. Collecting feedback is one thing, and successfully implementing it will improve patient care.

Reaching out to your patients will help you improve and gather valuable insights about why your patients like or dislike your services. Both negative and positive feedback should be taken into account to improve overall patient care.

“68% of patients prefer to select medical providers which offer the option to book, modify or cancel appointments online.

To Boost Patient Engagement and Improve Patient Retention
Always remember one thing that happy patients will always come back and refer your services to others. Collecting patient feedback will help in enhanced patient engagement. Give importance to them as their positive/negative feedback can help you improve your services. We all know that the cost of patient acquisition is high; therefore, retaining the old ones will result in reduced turnover, increased loyalty, and extended lifetime value.

Failing to deliver services as per a patient’s expectations means losing them forever. Patient satisfaction is not just a bonus point, but it is a considerable investment that will play a significant role in the long-term.

“A 2% increase in patient retention has the same effect as decreasing costs by 10%.”

To Attract More Patients: It’s a universal truth that when it comes to health, we trust friends and family first as compared to any other social media marketing channel and third-party review websites.
Enhancing patient services will help medical practitioners to build up a positive image. It will help build trust amongst the existing patients and attract new ones. As a marketing strategy, word-of-mouth proves to be more reliable and less expensive than other marketing methods.

“If you satisfy 1 patient, then it reaches 4 more patients. If you alienate 1 patient, then it reaches 10 potential patients.”

To Reach Better Clinical Outcomes: There is another benefit of high patient satisfaction and excellent doctor-patient communication. In simple terms, the effectiveness of the treatment depends upon numerous factors; one among them is how much patients trust their doctor.
The probability is high that patients are more likely to trust their physician’s judgment, especially when they feel more content with the care they receive. Meeting your patient’s expectations not just raises their satisfaction level to a great extent but also makes your job easier.

“According to a study done in Academic Medicine, patients that trust their doctors have far better clinical outcomes.”

To Attract Patient Loyalty and Growth: By consistently providing patient satisfaction experience, medical practices or outpatient care can win patient loyalty and, therefore, can result in high demand as a provider.
With positive patient feedback, you can get new patients and is a key to the growth of your practice. A patient receiving healthcare services which no other hospital can provide is less likely to switch their preferred medical facility.

“Greater patient loyalty means more referrals and word-of-mouth business.”

Measuring patient satisfaction can help you improve the overall patient experience. It can help healthcare centers by strengthening patient loyalty, building credibility, and boosting the usage of hospital services with the help of increased referrals. If you want to collect patient feedback from numerous locations distributed across all healthcare centers, then making use of Patient Survey Software is the right choice. It will help physicians to identify gaps in healthcare, enhance the quality of care, and improve patient engagement and overall satisfaction.