The aim of this study was to understand home healthcare nurses' current experiences in obtaining outside clinical information at the point of care and the type of clinical information they most desire in their patients' health information exchange profile. A Web-based survey was deployed to home health workers in New ...

Although the Affordable Care Act requires states to establish health insurance exchanges, states have considerable discretion in the exchanges' design and in the range of products offered. We argue for a more activist approach, based on the Massachusetts experience, which found that consumers want the exchange to act as a ...

In January 2012, polio eradication was declared a "programmatic emergency for global public health" by the Executive Board of the World Health Organization (WHO). Since the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) began in 1988, progress has been tracked by surveillance of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) cases and testing of linked ...

This final rule will implement the new Affordable Insurance Exchanges ("Exchanges"), consistent with title I of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, referred to collectively as the Affordable Care Act. The Exchanges will provide competitive ...

INTRODUCTION: On August 2006, a cargo ship illegally dumped 500 t of toxic waste containing high concentrations of hydrogen sulphide in numerous sites across Abidjan. Thousands of people became ill. Seventeen deaths were associated with toxic waste exposure. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study reports on environmental and health problems associated with ...

In enacting the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Congress set ambitious goals for the nation to integrate information technology into health care delivery. The provisions called for the electronic exchange of health information and the adoption and meaningful ...

Electronic health information exchange addresses a critical need in the US health care system to have information follow patients to support patient care. Today little information is shared electronically, leaving doctors without the information they need to provide the best care. With payment reforms providing a strong business driver, the ...

In June 2010 sixteen organizations representing California patients and consumers adopted nine principles for electronically exchanging health information among and within provider organizations. The principles were formulated with the goal of improving patient and population health care by increasing the availability and use of patient data while protecting patients' privacy. This ...

Federal and state agencies are investing substantial resources in the creation of community health information exchanges, which are consortia that enable independent health care organizations to exchange clinical data. However, under pressure to form accountable care organizations, medical groups may merge and support private health information exchanges. Such activity could ...

The health insurance exchange is the centerpiece of the insurance reforms created by the Affordable Care Act. The Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) is intended to create a marketplace for small, and perhaps eventually large, employers to purchase health insurance for their employees. This paper introduces a collection of ...

The success of the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP)-health insurance exchanges targeted at the small-group market and opening for business in January 2014-will depend in large part on persuading small employers and qualified health plans to participate. The most important objective will be offering employers lower-cost health plans than they ...

The Affordable Care Act calls on states to create health insurance exchanges serving small businesses by 2014. These exchanges will allow small-business owners to pool their buying power, have more choices of health plans, and buy affordable health insurance. However, creating an exchange that appeals to small-business owners poses several ...

Large employers are thinking about how they might use the health insurance exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act. In the short term, from 2014 to 2016, many of these employers are giving serious consideration to using the exchanges to help provide coverage for part-time workers and for retirees not ...

The Affordable Care Act changed the regulations governing small firms' health insurance premiums. However, small businesses can avoid many of the new regulations by self-insuring or maintaining grandfathered plans. If small firms with healthy and lower-cost enrollees avoid the regulations, premiums for coverage sold through insurance exchanges could be unaffordable. ...

A leading legal analyst says his Mennonite faith motivates him to support ways to extend coverage to more Americans-including through health insurance exchanges.

The healthcare industry will find out soon if ONC intends to include metadata requirements in stage 2 of the meaningful use program. Many feel it is too soon. But given metadata's potential to support health information exchange, the expanded and standardized use of metadata tagging in healthcare is ultimately a ...

A cornerstone of health care reform is the establishment of state-level insurance exchanges where individuals and small businesses can purchase health insurance in an online marketplace. States are required to develop an exchange by 2014, or participate in a federal one. The exchanges will help people without employer-sponsored insurance find ...

This study analyzed the evidence available in the literature concerning the effectiveness of different active cutaneous warming systems to prevent intraoperative hypothermia. This is a systematic review with primary studies found in the following databases: CINAHL, EMBASE, Cochrane Register of Controlled Trials and Medline. The sample comprised 23 randomized controlled ...

Background & objectives: The bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) is popularly known as lauki, ghia or dudhi in India. Its consumption is advocated by traditional healers for controlling diabetes mellitus, hypertension, liver diseases, weight loss and other associated benefits. However, in last few years there have been reports of suspected toxicity ...

This article critically analyses the prospects for introducing United States anti-fraud (or anti-false claims) laws in the Australian health care setting. Australian governments spend billions of dollars each year on medicines and health care. A recent report estimates that the money lost to corporate fraud in Australia is growing at ...

Objective: The aim of this paper is to explore important considerations when planning an acute mental health inpatient unit. Conclusions: Planning a mental health acute inpatient facility should be about more than just building a beautiful, fabulous facility. A novel architectural design, fancy gadgets, safe tapware, new lounge suites, good ...

OBJECTIVES: The Commission gives recommendations on how to provide health and safety for employees in different kinds of low oxygen atmospheres. So far, no recommendations exist that take into account the several factors we have outlined in this report. METHODS: The health and safety recommendations of several countries were analysed ...

This study assessed the cost-effectiveness of community-based management of acute malnutrition (CMAM) to prevent deaths due to severe acute malnutrition among children under-five. The analysis used a decision tree model to compare the costs and effects of two options to treat severe acute malnutrition: existing health services with CMAM vs ...

On the last night of disaster relief operations in Sumatra, Indonesia, a mass casualty event occurred that involved deployed Australian Defence Force personnel. Symptoms of acute urticaria, angioedema, wheeze and gastrointestinal upset were experienced to varying degrees by 16% of the deployed element. The present report describes a presumed scombroid ...

Flavonoids are a group of polyphenolic compounds, diverse in chemical structure and characteristics, found ubiquitously in plants. Until now, more than 9000 different flavonoid compounds were described in plants, where they play important biological roles by affecting several developmental processes. There has been increasing interest in the research of flavonoids ...

Surveys have provided evidence that tobacco use is widely prevalent amongst the youth in Pakistan. Several reviews have evaluated the effectiveness of various tobacco control programs, however, few have taken into account the perceptions of students themselves regarding these measures. The aim of this study was to determine the most ...

To estimate the positive predictive value (PPV) of claims for acute pancreatitis among initiators of antihyperglycemic drugs in commercial health insurance claims data. As part of a systematic study of the occurrence of acute pancreatitis among antihyperglycemic drug initiators (N = 260 255) within a large US health insurer's claims database, we identified ...

PURPOSE: To estimate the positive predictive value (PPV) of claims for acute pancreatitis among initiators of antihyperglycemic drugs in commercial health insurance claims data. METHODS: As part of a systematic study of the occurrence of acute pancreatitis among antihyperglycemic drug initiators (N = 260 255) within a large US health insurer's claims database, ...

To examine the extent and relative value of presenteeism and absenteeism and work-related factors affecting them among health care professionals. Physicians and nurses estimated their hours of absenteeism and presenteeism during the last 4 weeks due to health reasons, and how much their work capacity had been reduced during their presenteeism ...

Dynamic treatment regimes are an emerging and important methodological area in health research, particularly in the management of chronic health conditions. This paradigm encompasses the ideological shift in research from the acute care model to the chronic care model. It allows individualization of treatment (type, dosage, timing) at each stage ...

Exposure of children to pesticides and overt poisoning are an increasingly important problem in South Africa. This study describes the profile of acute paediatric pesticide exposures and poisonings presenting to Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital (RCWMCH) in Cape Town South Africa from 2003 to 2008, identifies those poisonings due ...

Postnatal depression is a public health problem requiring intervention. To provide effective care, information is needed on the experiences of those with high levels of depressive symptoms who are offered and accept, or decline, psychological intervention postnatally. To provide the first integrated in-depth exploration of postnatal women's experiences of the ...

A national survey questionnaire was conducted in 32 zoos throughout 17 U.S. states between February and May 2008. The questionnaire consisted of six questions that evaluated rabies prevalence on zoo grounds; captive mammalian bites among zoo visitors and personnel; and the outcome of each incident. The survey was completed by ...

While a familiar issue for seasoned estates and facilities managers, the problem of dirt and dust in ducting, and the potential consequences of insufficient cleaning of hospital ductwork, are in danger of being ignored due to a lack of available funds for proper maintenance within ever diminishing healthcare estate budgets. ...

The primary purpose of practice improvement is to improve clinical practice through changing the behaviour of healthcare professionals. Breastfeeding is a key public health issue, conferring benefits associated with both infant and maternal health, yet breastfeeding rates in the U.K. and Ireland are among the lowest in Western Europe. In ...

Health education in nontraditional settings can supplement messages received in more traditional venues, such as schools and health care facilities, and can reach new populations. In 2007, the US National Park Service awarded one-time seed grants of $10 000 or less to 16 parks in 16 states to fund the ...

OBJECTIVES: Emergency departments (EDs) are increasingly proposed as high-yield venues for providing preventive health education to a population at risk for unhealthy behaviors and unmet primary care needs. This study sought to determine the preferred health education topics and teaching modality among ED patients and visitors. METHODS: For two 24-hour ...

Health visiting was the public health profession in the UK, which arose during the Victorian period to support and supervise the mothers of the nation. The health visitor was expected to teach the new mothers hygiene, infant feeding and diet, help them in the home when necessary and then report ...

The quality of the parent-child relationship is a strong predictor of outcomes for children, and its assessment is a key element of the work of health visitors. The Glasgow Parenting Support Framework emphasises the importance of relationship assessment, and a feasibility study using a semi-structured approach is being carried out ...

This paper provides an outline of a return to practice health visiting scheme piloted by Leicestershire County and Rutland Community Health Services (LCRCHS).The scheme aimed to encourage and provide a route for health visitors whose NMC registration had lapsed back into the profession. Through partnership working between LCRCHS and the ...

While there are many projects successfully targeting the problems associated with the management of unwanted behaviour in children, this article suggests that all parents would benefit from a greater understanding of how to manage such behaviour. Health visitors and their teams are well placed to help parents to understand what ...

Human mobility has always been associated with the spread of infection, and mobility of nonimmigrant visitors and temporary residents to the United States is increasing, from approximately 12 million in 1987 to approximately 37 million in 2007. Lack of information about the health status of these populations upon arrival and ...

Endocrine system can be affected by various organic compounds. The review describes the effects of major industrial solvents on adrenal, thyroid and parathyroid glands in man and experimental animals. Further, their toxicity in pancreas, pituitary, testis and ovary has also been discussed. An attempt has been made to offer a ...

Post-industrial decline is frequently cited as one of the major underlying reasons behind the poor health profile of Scotland and, especially, West Central Scotland (WCS). This begs the question: to what extent is poor health a common outcome in other post-industrial regions and how does Scotland's experience compare to these ...

This paper outlines a small-scale research project that utilised a modified grounded theory approach in order to explore the role of risk assessment in health visitors' child protection work. A review of the literature investigated the role of risk assessment in current health and social care policy. Structured focus group ...

Health visiting services have been restructured from being universal for all children to targeting families in need. UK recommendations on infant feeding have also recently changed. With the many sources of information available on feeding babies, it is important to know where parents get feeding advice and which sources they ...

Health benefits associated with vacation activities are increasingly important factors in the North American leisure market. Health promotion is often a goal of holiday activity in general, but some people want specific health benefits from their vacation. The health spa segment of the leisure industry has a long history of ...

AIM: To define, characterize, and explain the main goals and tools used for the functioning of health care in the Polish maritime industry. BACKGROUND: The Polish merchant and fishing fleet grew significantly after 1945, and the number of the national seamen and deep-sea fishermen reached about 50,000 in the 1970s. ...

Ambulatory phlebectomy is a minor, office-based surgical procedure designed to remove varicose veins. It is a perfect complement to endovenous thermal ablation of the saphenous vein. With this combination, patients can expect all varicose veins to vanish following a 1-hour procedure that employs only local anesthesia in the comfort of ...

This paper draws on the ideas of Foucault to analyse the government's recent review of the role of health visitors in England, 'Facing the future'. It outlines the Foucauldian concepts of discourse, knowledge and power and examines the review document following an accepted six-step process for the analysis of discourse. ...