RFID of next generation network for enhancing customer relationship management in healthcare industries.

Science.gov (United States)

Alzahrani, Ahmed; Qureshi, Muhammad Shuaib; Thayananthan, Vijey

2017-10-23

This paper aims to analyze possible next generation of networked radio frequency identification (NGN-RFID) system for customer relationship management (CRM) in healthcare industries. Customer relationship and its management techniques in a specific healthcare industry are considered in this development. The key objective of using NGN-RFID scheme is to enhance the handling of patients' data to improve the CRM efficiency in healthcare industries. The proposed NGN-RFID system is one of the valid points to improve the ability of CRM by analyzing different prior and current traditional approaches. The legacy of customer relationship management will be improved by using this modern NGN-RFID technology without affecting the novelty.

Healthcare systems, the State, and innovation in the pharmaceutical industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ignacio José Godinho Delgado

Full Text Available Abstract: This article discusses the relations between healthcare systems and the pharmaceutical industry, focusing on state support for pharmaceutical innovation. The study highlights the experiences of the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany, developed countries and paradigms of modern health systems (liberal, universal, and corporatist, in addition to Japan, a case of successful catching up. The study also emphasizes the experiences of China, India, and Brazil, large developing countries that have tried different catching up strategies, with diverse histories and profiles in their healthcare systems and pharmaceutical industries. Finally, with a focus on state forms of support for health research, the article addresses the mechanisms for linkage between health systems and the pharmaceutical industry, evaluating the possibilities of Brazil strengthening a virtuous interaction, favoring the expansion and consolidation of the Brazilian health system - universal but segmented ‒ and the affirmation of the innovative national pharmaceutical industry.

Patient Relationship Management: What the U.S. Healthcare System Can Learn from Other Industries.

Science.gov (United States)

Poku, Michael K; Behkami, Nima A; Bates, David W

2017-01-01

As the U.S. healthcare system moves to value-based care, the importance of engaging patients and families continues to intensify. However, simply engaging patients and families to improve their subjective satisfaction will not be enough for providers who want to maximize value. True optimization entails developing deep and long-term relationships with patients. We suggest that healthcare organizations must build such a discipline of "patient relationship management" (PRM) just as companies in non-healthcare industries have done with the concept of customer relationship management (CRM). Some providers have already made strides in this area, but overall it has been underemphasized or ignored by most healthcare systems to date. As healthcare providers work to develop their dedicated PRM systems, tools, and processes, we suggest they may benefit from emulating companies in other industries who have been able to engage their customers in innovative ways while acknowledging the differences between healthcare and other industries.

THE CONCEPT OF REFORMING THE HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY USING A PROJECT-BASED APPROACH

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Владлен Володимирович ЛЕПСЬКИЙ

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The strategic goal of the state policy in the field of health Ukraine is to improve human health through providing the population with affordable and quality health care, and the development of a healthy lifestyle and expansion of preventive measures. The main problem with the current health system is called the low level of public health services. So, it is necessary to use modern innovation management technology to reform the healthcare industry. The author is invited to consider the applicability of strategic management to the management of the healthcare industry reforms through the application of innovative medical technologies and management, focusing on the development of innovations in the industry, as improving the existing health care system, and developing projects to reform and the creation of new approaches based on project management tools. The necessity of the organization of the healthcare industry focused on the development of innovations in the field of health and improvement of existing processes has been proved. A new look at the planning and implementation of Ukraine healthcare industry reforms through the integration strategic and project management has been proposed. It is shown how can be related vision, mission, goals and relevant reform programs. Further studies will be subject to the classification of projects that constitute the program, development structure programs and portfolios of projects, implementation of which will achieve the strategic goals of reforming the industry

Logistics research report : Framework in the healthcare industry

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Willems, A.; Hajdasinski, A.K.; Willems, J.

2009-01-01

The research report takes the perspective of Information Logistics and investigates relating concepts like Knowledge Management, Information Systems and Context Awareness in the context of the healthcare industry. The aim of Information Logistics is to deliver the right information product, in the

Real-Time Analytics for the Healthcare Industry: Arrhythmia Detection.

Science.gov (United States)

Agneeswaran, Vijay Srinivas; Mukherjee, Joydeb; Gupta, Ashutosh; Tonpay, Pranay; Tiwari, Jayati; Agarwal, Nitin

2013-09-01

It is time for the healthcare industry to move from the era of "analyzing our health history" to the age of "managing the future of our health." In this article, we illustrate the importance of real-time analytics across the healthcare industry by providing a generic mechanism to reengineer traditional analytics expressed in the R programming language into Storm-based real-time analytics code. This is a powerful abstraction, since most data scientists use R to write the analytics and are not clear on how to make the data work in real-time and on high-velocity data. Our paper focuses on the applications necessary to a healthcare analytics scenario, specifically focusing on the importance of electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring. A physician can use our framework to compare ECG reports by categorization and consequently detect Arrhythmia. The framework can read the ECG signals and uses a machine learning-based categorizer that runs within a Storm environment to compare different ECG signals. The paper also presents some performance studies of the framework to illustrate the throughput and accuracy trade-off in real-time analytics.

Determinants of RFID adoption in Malaysia's healthcare industry: occupational level as a moderator.

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Zailani, Suhaiza; Iranmanesh, Mohammad; Nikbin, Davoud; Beng, Jameson Khoo Cheong

2015-01-01

With today's highly competitive market in the healthcare industry, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a technology that can be applied by hospitals to improve operational efficiency and to gain a competitive advantage over their competitors. The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors that may effect RFID adoption in Malaysia's healthcare industry. In addition, the moderating role of occupational level was tested. Data was collected from 223 managers as well as healthcare and supporting staffs. This data was analyzed using the partial least squares technique. The results show that perceived ease of use and usefulness, government policy, top management support, and security and privacy concerns have an effect on the intent to adopt RFID in hospitals. There is a wide gap between managers and healthcare staff in terms of the factors that influence RFID adoption. The results of this study will help decision makers as well as managers in the healthcare industry to better understand the determinants of RFID adoption. Additionally, it will assist in the process of RFID adoption, and therefore, spread the usage of RFID technology in more hospitals.

Hard facings used in welded joints. Industrial applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Delair, J.

1998-01-01

In this article, two industrial application cases of special hard facings used in offshore and nuclear fabrications are described into details. These hard facings concern more particularly 1)the heterogeneous joints of a martensitic steel on an ordinary carbon steel 2)the homogeneous joints of a high resistive low alloy carbon steel. (O.M.)

The healthcare off-shoring industry in developing economies--institutional and economic foundations: an Indian case.

Science.gov (United States)

Kshetri, Nir

2011-01-01

Industrialized world-based healthcare providers are increasingly off-shoring low-end healthcare services such as medical transcription, billing and insurance claims. High-skill medical jobs such as tele-imaging and tele-pathology are also being sub-contracted to developing countries. Despite its importance, little theory or research exists to explain what factors affect industry growth. The article's goals, therefore, are to examine economic processes associated with developing economies' shift from low- to high-value information technology enabled healthcare services, and to investigate how these differ in terms of legitimacy from regulative, normative and cognitive institutions in the sending country and how healthcare services differ from other services. This research is conceptual and theory-building. Broadly, its approach can be described as a positivistic epistemology. Anti off-shoring regulative, normative and cognitive pressures in the sending country are likely to be stronger in healthcare than in most business process outsourcing. Moreover, such pressures are likely to be stronger in high-value rather than in low-value healthcare off-shoring. The findings also indicate that off-shoring low-value healthcare services and emergent healthcare industries in a developing economy help accumulate implicit and tacit knowledge required for off-shoring high-value healthcare services. The approach lacks primary data and empirical documentation. The article helps in understanding industry drivers and its possible future direction. The findings help in understanding the lens through which various institutional actors in a sending country view healthcare service off-shoring. The article's value stems from its analytical context, mechanisms and processes associated with developing economies' shift to high-value healthcare off-shoring services.

Applications of radioisotopes in industry and healthcare in Vietnam

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dien, N.N.; Quang, N.H.

1997-01-01

Nowadays, in Vietnam radioisotopes have been used very widely in various socio-economic branches, especially in industry and healthcare. Applications of radioisotopes have significant meaning in economic development, people health protection, as well as in scientific research. In this paper, the present status and main applications of radiation and radioactive isotopes in industry and healthcare in Vietnam are reported. In order to control and monitor industrial processes, nucleonic control systems and radioactive tracer techniques have been utilized. Actually, sealed source applications are popular in Vietnam industry. A number of nuclear control devices and gauges have been used in the various industrial factories, such as liquid level gauges in steel industry, cement and beverage factories; density and moisture gauges in paper industry, etc. Tracer technique and sealed source applications have also been utilized in industrial production plants and in trouble-shooting in the petroleum industry. For medicine purposes, two departments of nuclear medicine were primarily established at the beginning of the 1970s. At the present time, a number of nuclear medicine departments have been set up and they have been equipped with advanced equipment. Main activities are focused on thyroid function studies, nuclear cardiology, brain scans, gastrointestinal studies, bone scans, etc. Since march 1984 Dalat nuclear research reactor of nominal power of 500 kW has been reconstructed and put into operation. This reactor is unique in Vietnam and has become an important scientific tool for development of nuclear techniques and radioisotope applications for socio-economic progress. Thanks to this important scientific tool, a variety of radioisotopes for medicine and industry applications as well as for scientific research has been produced. Utilization of the Dalat research reactor for radioisotope production is also summarized in this paper

Applications of radioisotopes in industry and healthcare in Vietnam

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dien, N.N.; Quang, N.H. [Nucealr Research Institute, Dalat, (Viet Nam)

1997-10-01

Nowadays, in Vietnam radioisotopes have been used very widely in various socio-economic branches, especially in industry and healthcare. Applications of radioisotopes have significant meaning in economic development, people health protection, as well as in scientific research. In this paper, the present status and main applications of radiation and radioactive isotopes in industry and healthcare in Vietnam are reported. In order to control and monitor industrial processes, nucleonic control systems and radioactive tracer techniques have been utilized. Actually, sealed source applications are popular in Vietnam industry. A number of nuclear control devices and gauges have been used in the various industrial factories, such as liquid level gauges in steel industry, cement and beverage factories; density and moisture gauges in paper industry, etc. Tracer technique and sealed source applications have also been utilized in industrial production plants and in trouble-shooting in the petroleum industry. For medicine purposes, two departments of nuclear medicine were primarily established at the beginning of the 1970s. At the present time, a number of nuclear medicine departments have been set up and they have been equipped with advanced equipment. Main activities are focused on thyroid function studies, nuclear cardiology, brain scans, gastrointestinal studies, bone scans, etc. Since march 1984 Dalat nuclear research reactor of nominal power of 500 kW has been reconstructed and put into operation. This reactor is unique in Vietnam and has become an important scientific tool for development of nuclear techniques and radioisotope applications for socio-economic progress. Thanks to this important scientific tool, a variety of radioisotopes for medicine and industry applications as well as for scientific research has been produced. Utilization of the Dalat research reactor for radioisotope production is also summarized in this paper

Fiber quality challenges facing the cotton industry

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The cotton industry is in the midst of an exciting time with increased domestic consumption, but also facing pressure from other crops and the global marketplace. In order to ensure the US cotton crop remains the fiber of choice for the world it is important to keep an eye on the challenges to fibe...

Healthcare Data Analytics on the Cloud

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Indrajit Bhattacharya

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Meaningful analysis of voluminous health information has always been a challenge in most healthcare organizations. Accurate and timely information required by the management to lead a healthcare organization through the challenges found in the industry can be obtained using business intelligence (BI or business analytics tools. However, these require large capital investments to implement and support the large volumes of data that needs to be analyzed to identify trends. They also require enormous processing power which places pressure on the business resources in addition to the dynamic changes in the digital technology. This paper evaluates the various nuances of business analytics of healthcare hosted on the cloud computing environment. The paper explores BI being offered as Software as a Service (SaaS solution towards offering meaningful use of information for improving functions in healthcare enterprise. It also attempts to identify the challenges that healthcare enterprises face when making use of a BI SaaS solution.

Market structure and competition in the healthcare industry : Results from a transition economy.

Science.gov (United States)

Lábaj, Martin; Silanič, Peter; Weiss, Christoph; Yontcheva, Biliana

2018-02-14

The present paper provides first empirical evidence on the relationship between market size and the number of firms in the healthcare industry for a transition economy. We estimate market-size thresholds required to support different numbers of suppliers (firms) for three occupations in the healthcare industry in a large number of distinct geographic markets in Slovakia, taking into account the spatial interaction between local markets. The empirical analysis is carried out for three time periods (1995, 2001 and 2010) which characterise different stages of the transition process. Our results suggest that the relationship between market size and the number of firms differs both across industries and across periods. In particular, we find that pharmacies, as the only completely liberalised market in our dataset, experience the largest change in competitive behaviour during the transition process. Furthermore, we find evidence for correlation in entry decisions across administrative borders, suggesting that future market analysis should aim to capture these regional effects.

Redefining the Core Competencies of Future Healthcare Executives under Healthcare Reform

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Love, Dianne B.; Ayadi, M. Femi

2015-01-01

As the healthcare industry has evolved over the years, so too has the administration of healthcare organizations. The signing into law of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) has brought additional changes to the healthcare industry that will require changes to the healthcare administration curriculum. The movement toward a…

Agent-Oriented Privacy-Based Information Brokering Architecture for Healthcare Environments

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Abdulmutalib Masaud-Wahaishi

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Healthcare industry is facing a major reform at all levels—locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally. Healthcare services and systems become very complex and comprise of a vast number of components (software systems, doctors, patients, etc. that are characterized by shared, distributed and heterogeneous information sources with varieties of clinical and other settings. The challenge now faced with decision making, and management of care is to operate effectively in order to meet the information needs of healthcare personnel. Currently, researchers, developers, and systems engineers are working toward achieving better efficiency and quality of service in various sectors of healthcare, such as hospital management, patient care, and treatment. This paper presents a novel information brokering architecture that supports privacy-based information gathering in healthcare. Architecturally, the brokering is viewed as a layer of services where a brokering service is modeled as an agent with a specific architecture and interaction protocol that are appropriate to serve various requests. Within the context of brokering, we model privacy in terms of the entities ability to hide or reveal information related to its identities, requests, and/or capabilities. A prototype of the proposed architecture has been implemented to support information-gathering capabilities in healthcare environments using FIPA-complaint platform JADE.

Agent-oriented privacy-based information brokering architecture for healthcare environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Masaud-Wahaishi, Abdulmutalib; Ghenniwa, Hamada

2009-01-01

Healthcare industry is facing a major reform at all levels-locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally. Healthcare services and systems become very complex and comprise of a vast number of components (software systems, doctors, patients, etc.) that are characterized by shared, distributed and heterogeneous information sources with varieties of clinical and other settings. The challenge now faced with decision making, and management of care is to operate effectively in order to meet the information needs of healthcare personnel. Currently, researchers, developers, and systems engineers are working toward achieving better efficiency and quality of service in various sectors of healthcare, such as hospital management, patient care, and treatment. This paper presents a novel information brokering architecture that supports privacy-based information gathering in healthcare. Architecturally, the brokering is viewed as a layer of services where a brokering service is modeled as an agent with a specific architecture and interaction protocol that are appropriate to serve various requests. Within the context of brokering, we model privacy in terms of the entities ability to hide or reveal information related to its identities, requests, and/or capabilities. A prototype of the proposed architecture has been implemented to support information-gathering capabilities in healthcare environments using FIPA-complaint platform JADE.

How 'healthy' are healthcare organizations? Exploring employee healthcare utilization rates among Dutch healthcare organizations.

Science.gov (United States)

Bronkhorst, Babette

2017-08-01

Occupational health and safety research rarely makes use of data on employee healthcare utilization to gain insight into the physical and mental health of healthcare staff. This paper aims to fill this gap by examining the prevalence of two relevant types of healthcare utilization among staff working in healthcare organizations: physical therapy and mental healthcare utilization. The paper furthermore explores what role employee and organizational characteristics play in explaining differences in healthcare utilization between organizations. A Dutch healthcare insurance company provided healthcare utilization records for a sample of 417 organizations employing 136,804 healthcare workers in the Netherlands. The results showed that there are large differences between and within healthcare industries when it comes to employee healthcare utilization. Multivariate regression analyses revealed that employee characteristics such as age and gender distributions, and healthcare industry, explain some of the variance between healthcare organizations. Nevertheless, the results of the analyses showed that for all healthcare utilization indicators there is still a large amount of unexplained variance. Further research into the subject of organizational differences in employee healthcare utilization is needed, as finding possibilities to influence employee health and subsequent healthcare utilization is beneficial to employees, employers and society as a whole.

Understanding business intelligence in the context of healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Mettler, Tobias; Vimarlund, Vivian

2009-09-01

In today's fast changing healthcare sector, decision makers are facing a growing demand for both clinical and administrative information in order to comply with legal and customer-specific requirements. The use of business intelligence (BI) is seen as a possible solution to this actual challenge. As the existing research about BI is primarily focused on the industrial sector, it is the aim of this contribution to translate and adapt the current findings for the healthcare context. For this purpose, different definitions of BI are examined and condensed in a framework. Furthermore, the sector-specific preconditions for the effective use and future role of BI are discussed.

Benchmarking working conditions for health and safety in the frontline healthcare industry: Perspectives from Australia and Malaysia.

Science.gov (United States)

McLinton, Sarven S; Loh, May Young; Dollard, Maureen F; Tuckey, Michelle M R; Idris, Mohd Awang; Morton, Sharon

2018-04-06

To present benchmarks for working conditions in healthcare industries as an initial effort into international surveillance. The healthcare industry is fundamental to sustaining the health of Australians, yet it is under immense pressure. Budgets are limited, demands are increasing as are workplace injuries and all of these factors compromise patient care. Urgent attention is needed to reduce strains on workers and costs in health care, however, little work has been done to benchmark psychosocial factors in healthcare working conditions in the Asia-Pacific. Intercultural comparisons are important to provide an evidence base for public policy. A cross-sectional design was used (like other studies of prevalence), including a mixed-methods approach with qualitative interviews to better contextualize the results. Data on psychosocial factors and other work variables were collected from healthcare workers in three hospitals in Australia (N = 1,258) and Malaysia (N = 1,125). 2015 benchmarks were calculated for each variable and comparison was conducted via independent samples t tests. Healthcare samples were also compared with benchmarks for non-healthcare general working populations from their respective countries: Australia (N = 973) and Malaysia (N = 225). Our study benchmarks healthcare working conditions in Australia and Malaysia against the general working population, identifying trends that indicate the industry is in need of intervention strategies and job redesign initiatives that better support psychological health and safety. We move toward a better understanding of the precursors of psychosocial safety climate in a broader context, including similarities and differences between Australia and Malaysia in national culture, government occupational health and safety policies and top-level management practices. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Benchmarking healthcare logistics processes: a comparative case study of Danish and US hospitals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Feibert, Diana Cordes; Andersen, Bjørn; Jacobsen, Peter

2017-01-01

Logistics processes in hospitals are vital in the provision of patient care. Improving healthcare logistics processes provides an opportunity for reduced healthcare costs and better support of clinical processes. Hospitals are faced with increasing healthcare costs around the world and improvement...... initiatives prevalent in manufacturing industries such as lean, business process reengineering and benchmarking have seen an increase in use in healthcare. This study investigates how logistics processes in a hospital can be benchmarked to improve process performance. A comparative case study of the bed...... logistics process and the pharmaceutical distribution process was conducted at a Danish and a US hospital. The case study results identified decision criteria for designing efficient and effective healthcare logistics processes. The most important decision criteria were related to quality, security...

Knowledge translation in tri-sectoral collaborations: An exploration of perceptions of academia, industry and healthcare collaborations in innovation adoption.

Science.gov (United States)

Ii, Suzanne Sayuri; Fitzgerald, Louise; Morys-Carter, Megan M; Davie, Natasha L; Barker, Richard

2018-02-01

With the aging population and increase in chronic disease conditions, innovation to transform treatment pathways and service delivery will be necessary. The innovation adoption process however, can take 15 years before widespread adoption occurs in most healthcare systems. Current UK government policies to increase the facilitation of innovation adoption are under way. The aim of this study is to explore perceptions of tri-sectoral collaborations in the healthcare sector. The data in the study are drawn from a cross-sectional survey conducted in 2015 of professionals in academia, industry and the healthcare sectors in England, focusing on Diabetes care. Academia and healthcare respondents had the least work experience outside of their sectors compared to the industry respondents. Healthcare and academia respondents rated the industry sector less trustworthy, unethical, having different goals and less understanding of the other sectors. Industry respondents had a more positive perspective towards potential collaborators. The results from the study demonstrate greater potential challenges to tri-sectoral collaborations and the government's knowledge translation policy, due to pre-conceived notions and lack of understanding of other sectors. The purely structural approach of establishing government mandated translational networks may be insufficient without active attempts to improve collaborative relationships. Mechanisms to facilitate trust building and collaboration are proposed. Crown Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Decisions through data: analytics in healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Wills, Mary J

2014-01-01

The amount of data in healthcare is increasing at an astonishing rate. However, in general, the industry has not deployed the level of data management and analysis necessary to make use of those data. As a result, healthcare executives face the risk of being overwhelmed by a flood of unusable data. In this essay I argue that, in order to extract actionable information, leaders must take advantage of the promise of data analytics. Small data, predictive modeling expansion, and real-time analytics are three forms of data analytics. On the basis of my analysis for this study, I recommend all three for adoption. Recognizing the uniqueness of each organization's situation, I also suggest that practices, hospitals, and healthcare systems examine small data and conduct real-time analytics and that large-scale organizations managing populations of patients adopt predictive modeling. I found that all three solutions assist in the collection, management, and analysis of raw data to improve the quality of care and decrease costs.

HACCP and the management of healthcare associated infections: are there lessons to be learnt from other industries?

Science.gov (United States)

Griffith, Chris

2006-01-01

Hospital cleaning and healthcare associated infections (HCAIs) continue to attract adverse media attention and consumer concern. Parallels exist with similar publicity relating to cleaning and food safety in the food industry almost 13 years earlier. This paper examines some of the management solutions developed in the food industry, and discusses their application to healthcare delivery. The food industry is managing food safety by adopting a dual approach based on pre-requisite programmes and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP). How these differ is described and how the approaches and terminology can be adapted for use in healthcare is discussed. The food industry is moving towards external certification of safety using national and international standards. The HACCP approach, a management tool and a central requirement of these standards, is evolving and there is interest worldwide from the healthcare community. Its application to the decontamination of endoscopes, using conventional HACCP, is presented, as well as suggestions for a simplified format for managing patient-related procedures. Taking this type of approach to the management of HCAIs could provide greater transparency, reduce infection rates and increase consumer confidence. Potential problems in adopting HACCP, including cost and human resource, are discussed. The HACCP method/approach has previously been mentioned in the medical literature but this paper is one of the few to examine, from basic principles, its infection control application within a broader approach to quality assurance.

An Application of the Short-Term Forecasting with Limited Data in the Healthcare Traveling Industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hoang-Sa Dang

2016-10-01

Full Text Available In real practice, forecasting under the limited data has attracted more attention in business activities, especially in the healthcare traveling industry in its current stage. However, there are only a few research studies focusing on this issue. Thus, the purposes of this paper were to determine the forecasted performance of several current forecasting methods as well as to examine their applications. Taking advantage of the small data requirement for model construction, three models including the exponential smoothing model, the Grey model GM(1,1, and the modified Lotka-Volterra model (L.V., were used to conduct forecasting analyses based on the data of foreign patients from 2001 to 2013 in six destinations. The results indicated that the L.V. model had higher prediction power than the other two models, and it obtained the best forecasting performance with an 89.7% precision rate. In conclusion, the L.V. model is the best model for estimating the market size of the healthcare traveling industry, followed by the GM(1,1 model. The contribution of this study is to offer a useful statistical tool for short-term planning, which can be applied to the healthcare traveling industry in particular, and for other business forecasting under the conditions of limited data in general.

The eICU research institute - a collaboration between industry, health-care providers, and academia.

Science.gov (United States)

McShea, Michael; Holl, Randy; Badawi, Omar; Riker, Richard R; Silfen, Eric

2010-01-01

As the volume of data that is electronically available promliferates, the health-care industry is identifying better ways to use this data for patient care. Ideally, these data are collected in real time, can support point-of-care clinical decisions, and, by providing instantaneous quality metrics, can create the opportunities to improve clinical practice as the patient is being cared for. The business-world technology supporting these activities is referred to as business intelligence, which offers competitive advantage, increased quality, and operational efficiencies. The health-care industry is plagued by many challenges that have made it a latecomer to business intelligence and data-mining technology, including delayed adoption of electronic medical records, poor integration between information systems, a lack of uniform technical standards, poor interoperability between complex devices, and the mandate to rigorously protect patient privacy. Efforts at developing a health care equivalent of business intelligence (which we will refer to as clinical intelligence) remains in its infancy. Until basic technology infrastructure and mature clinical applications are developed and implemented throughout the health-care system, data aggregation and interpretation cannot effectively progress. The need for this approach in health care is undisputed. As regional and national health information networks emerge, we need to develop cost-effective systems that reduce time and effort spent documenting health-care data while increasing the application of knowledge derived from that data.

Demographic diversity, communication and learning behaviour in healthcare groups.

Science.gov (United States)

Curşeu, Petru Lucian

2013-01-01

An integrative model of group learning was tested in a sample of 40 healthcare groups (434 respondents), and the results show that age diversity reduces the frequency of face-to-face communication whereas educational diversity reduces the frequency of virtual communication in healthcare groups. Frequency of communication (both face-to-face and virtual), in turn, positively impacts on the emergence of trust and psychological safety, which are essential drivers of learning behaviours in healthcare groups. Additional results show that average educational achievement within groups is conducive for communication frequency (both face-to-face and virtual), whereas mean age within groups has a negative association with the use of virtual communication in healthcare groups. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Problems the chemical industry of Japan faces and future prospects

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ishida, Shin' ichi

1989-01-01

Industry proceeds for the fiscal 1988 are expected to increase remarkably as they did in the previous year with 4.9% increase in revenue and 18.8% increase in profit (ordinary profit) from the previous year. The conditions of material industry are especially favorable and chemical industry is also expected to prosper as it did in the previous year. Problems this prospering chemical industry is facing are introduced in this report. Firstly, it is necessary to improve productivity by adopting more information and promoting factory automation in order to strengthen competition. The future of chemical industry depends on the introduction of information. Secondly, as demands of users are becoming more diversified, and cycles of products shorter, shortening of development terms is essential. It is necessary, therefore, to predict the demands of users in advance and seek after custom products. Thirdly, selection of product bases is required; it might be necessary to consider producing some product items abroad. Moreover, it is desirable to increase investments in investigation and pursue creativity putting much stress on basic investigations. 2 figs., 11 tabs.

Challenges of information security incident learning: An industrial case study in a Chinese healthcare organization.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Ying; Johnson, Chris

2017-12-01

Security incidents can have negative impacts on healthcare organizations, and the security of medical records has become a primary concern of the public. However, previous studies showed that organizations had not effectively learned lessons from security incidents. Incident learning as an essential activity in the "follow-up" phase of security incident response lifecycle has long been addressed but not given enough attention. This paper conducted a case study in a healthcare organization in China to explore their current obstacles in the practice of incident learning. We interviewed both IT professionals and healthcare professionals. The results showed that the organization did not have a structured way to gather and redistribute incident knowledge. Incident response was ineffective in cycling incident knowledge back to inform security management. Incident reporting to multiple stakeholders faced a great challenge. In response to this case study, we suggest the security assurance modeling framework to address those obstacles.

'Shedding light' on the challenges faced by Palestinian maternal health-care providers.

Science.gov (United States)

Hassan-Bitar, Sahar; Narrainen, Sheila

2011-04-01

to explore the challenges and barriers faced by Palestinian maternal health-care providers (HCPs) to the provision of quality maternal health-care services through a case study of a Palestinian public referral hospital in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. descriptive qualitative study. The data are from a broader study, conducted in 2005 at the same hospital as part of a baseline assessment of maternal health services. 31 maternal HCPs; nine midwives and 14 nurses and eight doctors. the quality of care provided for women and infants at this Palestinian public hospital is substandard. The maternal HCPs work within a difficult and resource-constrained environment. ISSUES INCLUDE: high workload, poor compensation, humiliation in the workplace, suboptimal supervision and the absence of professional support and guidance. Midwives are perceived to be at the bottom of the health professional hierarchy. there is a need for managers and policy makers to enable maternal HCPs to provide better quality care for women and infants during childbirth, through facilitating the roles of midwives and nurses and creating a more positive and resourceful environment. Palestinian midwives need to increase their knowledge and use evidence-based practices during childbirth. They need to unite and create their own circle of professional support in the form of a Palestinian midwifery professional body. Copyright © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Radiation curing--new technology of green industries facing 21st century

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Jianguo; Teng Renrui

2000-01-01

The development of radiation curing was simply reviewed and the mechanism of UV curing and EB curing, the equipment and materials used in the radiation curing were also introduced. Compared with ordinary curing, the radiation curing has advantages of energy saving, high effectiveness and little pollution. It is a new technology of green industries facing the 21st century

Discovery of innovative therapeutics: today's realities and tomorrow's vision. 1. Criticisms faced by the pharmaceutical industry.

Science.gov (United States)

Abou-Gharbia, Magid; Childers, Wayne E

2013-07-25

The pharmaceutical industry is facing enormous challenges, including reduced efficiency, declining innovation, key patent expirations, fierce price competition from generics, high regulatory hurdles, and a tarnished image. There is a clear need for change in the paradigms designed to address these challenges. Pharma has responded by embarking on a range of initiatives. However, along the way the industry has accrued critics whose accusations have tainted its reputation. The first part of this two-part series will discuss the criticisms that have been leveled at the pharmaceutical industry and summarize the supporting data for and against these criticisms. The second installment will focus on the current challenges facing the pharmaceutical industry and Pharma's responses to address these challenges. It will describe the industry's changing perspective and new business models for coping with the recent loss of talent and declining clinical pipelines as well as present some examples of recent drug discovery successes.

Development of ODL in a Newly Industrialized Country according to Face-to-Face Contact, ICT, and E-Readiness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Marinda van Zyl

2013-03-01

Full Text Available A large number of unqualified and under-qualified in-service teachers are holding back socio-economical development in South Africa, a newly industrialized country. Open and distance learning (ODL provides an innovative strategy and praxis for developing and newly industrialized countries to reach their educational and socio-economical objectives through professional development and training. In order to examine factors which affect the success of ODL offered by the North-West University in South Africa, a qualitative and quantitative research approach is used. Factors examined include face-to-face classroom contact, the implementation and use of ICTs, and e-readiness. The relationships between these factors are also discussed. A questionnaire was administered to 87 teacher-students in four Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE programs to collect quantitative data regarding aspects of their classes and the e-readiness of students. This data was qualitatively elaborated upon by three semi-structured, open-ended focus-group interviews. Besides descriptive statistics, Spearman’s rank-order correlations (r were determined between variables pertaining to negative feelings towards face-to-face classroom contact, ODL as students’ choice of delivery mode, and students’ positive attitude towards information and communication technology (ICT. Combined quantitative and qualitative findings were used to evaluate the effectiveness of contact classes as well as the e-readiness of students towards the attainment of ODL development Phase D. This phase refers to UNESCO’s description of ICT implementation, integration, and use. Relationships (Spearman’s rank-order correlations between ODL, as teacher-students’ choice of educational delivery mode, and aspects of their e-readiness suggest that the e-readiness of teacher-students is implicit to their choice of ODL as educational delivery mode for professional development.

Arquitetura Industrial em Recife: uma face da modernidade

OpenAIRE

Maria Vieira Caldas, Renata

2010-01-01

Construções ligadas aos processos produtivos (produção, estocagem, distribuição e comercialização) são constituintes de um abrangente grupo denominado edifícios industriais. De um modo geral, estas construções se desenvolveram como parte de dois fenômenos cruciais da modernidade: a mecanização e a industrialização; o que fez delas uma de suas faces ou expressão. Num movimento de redução de suas formas ao estritamente necessário, o edifício industrial passou, ele próprio, a s...

Meeting the challenges of the new energy industry: The driving forces facing electric power generators and the natural gas industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1995-01-01

The proceedings of the IGT national conference on meeting the challenges of the New Energy Industry: The driving forces facing Electric Power Generators and the Natural Gas Industry are presented. The conference was held June 19-21, 1995 at the Ambassador West Hotel in Downtown Chicago, Illinois. A separate abstract and indexing for each of the 18 papers presented for inclusion in the Energy Science and Technology Database

Meeting the challenges of the new energy industry: The driving forces facing electric power generators and the natural gas industry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1995-12-31

The proceedings of the IGT national conference on meeting the challenges of the New Energy Industry: The driving forces facing Electric Power Generators and the Natural Gas Industry are presented. The conference was held June 19-21, 1995 at the Ambassador West Hotel in Downtown Chicago, Illinois. A separate abstract and indexing for each of the 18 papers presented for inclusion in the Energy Science and Technology Database.

Article Commentary: The interRAI Pediatric Home Care (PEDS HC Assessment: Evaluating the Long-term Community-Based Service and Support Needs of Children Facing Special Healthcare Challenges

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Charles D. Phillips

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The vast majority of assessment instruments developed to assess children facing special healthcare challenges were constructed to assess children within a limited age range or children who face specific conditions or impairments. In contrast, the interRAI Pediatric Home Care (PEDS HC Assessment Form was specifically designed to assess the long-term community-based service and support needs of children and youth aged from four to 20 years who face a wide range of chronic physical or behavioral health challenges. Initial research indicates that PEDS HC items exhibit good predictive validity–-explaining significant proportions of the variance in parents’ perceptions of needs, case managers’ service authorizations, and Medicaid program expenditures for long-term community-based services and supports. In addition, PEDS HC items have been used to construct scales that summarize the strengths and needs of children facing special healthcare challenges. Versions of the PEDS HC are now being used in Medicaid programs in three states in the United States.

Challenges Women with Disability Face in Accessing and Using Maternal Healthcare Services in Ghana: A Qualitative Study

Science.gov (United States)

Ganle, John Kuumuori; Otupiri, Easmon; Obeng, Bernard; Edusie, Anthony Kwaku; Ankomah, Augustine; Adanu, Richard

2016-01-01

Background While a number of studies have examined the factors affecting accessibility to and utilisation of healthcare services by persons with disability in general, there is little evidence about disabled women's access to maternal health services in low-income countries and few studies consult disabled women themselves to understand their experience of care and the challenges they face in accessing skilled maternal health services. The objective of this paper is to explore the challenges women with disabilities encounter in accessing and using institutional maternal healthcare services in Ghana. Methods and Findings A qualitative study was conducted in 27 rural and urban communities in the Bosomtwe and Central Gonja districts of Ghana with a total of 72 purposively sampled women with different physical, visual, and hearing impairments who were either lactating or pregnant at the time of this research. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were used to gather data. Attride-Stirling’s thematic network framework was used to analyse the data. Findings suggest that although women with disability do want to receive institutional maternal healthcare, their disability often made it difficult for such women to travel to access skilled care, as well as gain access to unfriendly physical health infrastructure. Other related access challenges include: healthcare providers’ insensitivity and lack of knowledge about the maternity care needs of women with disability, negative attitudes of service providers, the perception from able-bodied persons that women with disability should be asexual, and health information that lacks specificity in terms of addressing the special maternity care needs of women with disability. Conclusions Maternal healthcare services that are designed to address the needs of able-bodied women might lack the flexibility and responsiveness to meet the special maternity care needs of women with disability. More disability-related cultural competence and

Barriers faced by healthcare professionals when managing falls in older people in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: a qualitative study

OpenAIRE

Loganathan, Annaletchumy; Ng, Chirk Jenn; Tan, Maw Pin; Low, Wah Yun

2015-01-01

Objective To explore the barriers faced by healthcare professionals (HCPs) in managing falls among older people (aged above 60?years) who have a high risk of falling. Research design The study used a qualitative methodology, comprising 10 in-depth interviews and two focus group discussions. A semistructured topic guide was used to facilitate the interviews, which were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and checked for accuracy. Data were analysed thematically using WeftQDA software. Partici...

Russian as a Commodity: Medical Tourism and the Healthcare Industry in Post-Soviet Lithuania

Science.gov (United States)

Muth, Sebastian

2017-01-01

The focus of this paper is on Lithuania, where government policies continue to limit the use of Russian in education, the public space and the media, while the local economy has recognized proficiency in Russian as a commodity. This is particularly salient in the healthcare industry that grew significantly in the past years with patients from…

The intellectual property cookbook: a guide for the novice health-care telemedicine provider working with industry.

Science.gov (United States)

Beauregard, D; Beauregard, G

2000-01-01

Telemedicine is a new field and many health-care providers are developing their own products with the help of industry. Most practitioners are novices in the legal tools necessary to protect their own work with regard to any future commercialization. To summarize these issues for the telemedicine practitioner, a review of intellectual property protection has been performed. Intellectual property can be protected by tools such as copyrights, patents, non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements, integrated circuit topographies and industrial design. Knowledge of the intellectual property background should allow telemedicine providers to protect their own work when working with industry.

Globalization and healthcare: understanding health and medical tourism.

Science.gov (United States)

Carrera, Percivil M; Bridges, John Fp

2006-08-01

Faced with long waiting lists, the high cost of elective treatment and fewer barriers to travel, the idea of availing healthcare in another country is gaining greater appeal to many. The objective of this review is to perform a literature review of health and medical tourism, to define health and medical tourism based on the medical literature and to estimate the size of trade in healthcare. The Medline database was used for our literature review. In our initial search for 'health tourism' and 'medical tourism' we found a paucity of formal literature as well as conceptual ambiguity in the literature. Subsequently, we reviewed the literature on 'tourism' in general and in the context of healthcare. On the basis of 149 papers, we then sought to conceptualize health tourism and medical tourism. Based on our definitions, we likewise sought to estimate market capacity internationally. We defined health tourism as "the organized travel outside one's local environment for the maintenance, enhancement or restoration of an individual's wellbeing in mind and body". A subset of this is medical tourism, which is "the organized travel outside one's natural healthcare jurisdiction for the enhancement or restoration of the individual's health through medical intervention". At the international level, health tourism is an industry sustained by 617 million individuals with an annual growth of 3.9% annually and worth US$513 billion. In conclusion, this paper underscored the issue of a severely limited formal literature that is compounded by conceptual ambiguity facing health and medical tourism scholarship. In clarifying the concepts and standardizing definitions, and providing evidence with regard to the scale of trade in healthcare, we hope to assist in furthering fundamental research tasks, including the further development of reliable and comparable data, the push and pull factors for engaging in health and medical tourism, and the impact of health tourism but, more so, medical

Healthcare Robotics

OpenAIRE

Riek, Laurel D.

2017-01-01

Robots have the potential to be a game changer in healthcare: improving health and well-being, filling care gaps, supporting care givers, and aiding health care workers. However, before robots are able to be widely deployed, it is crucial that both the research and industrial communities work together to establish a strong evidence-base for healthcare robotics, and surmount likely adoption barriers. This article presents a broad contextualization of robots in healthcare by identifying key sta...

Accounting practice diversity in the healthcare industry.

Science.gov (United States)

Robbins, W A; Turpin, R

1993-05-01

A recent study examining accounting practices currently being used to prepare annual hospital financial statements indicates relatively little diversity, regardless of organizational type or size. The study's findings should interest those concerned with healthcare accounting and financial reporting issues, especially healthcare administrators and members of standards setting boards who participate in accounting policy deliberations.

Demographic diversity, communication and learning behaviour in healthcare groups

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Curseu, P.L.

2013-01-01

An integrative model of group learning was tested in a sample of 40 healthcare groups (434 respondents), and the results show that age diversity reduces the frequency of face-to-face communication whereas educational diversity reduces the frequency of virtual communication in healthcare groups.

Big Data: Challenge and Opportunity for Translational and Industrial Research in Healthcare

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Riccardo L. Rossi

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Research and innovation are constant imperatives for the healthcare sector: medicine, biology and biotechnology support it, and more recently computational and data-driven disciplines gained relevance to handle the massive amount of data this sector is and will be generating. To be effective in translational and healthcare industrial research, big data in the life science domain need to be organized, well annotated, catalogued, correlated and integrated: the biggest the data silos at hand, the stronger the need for organization and tidiness. The degree of such organization marks the transition from data to knowledge for strategic decision making. Medicine is supported by observations and data and for certain aspects medicine is becoming a data science supported by clinicians. While medicine defines itself as personalized, quantified (precision med or in high-definition, clinicians should be prepared to deal with a world in which Internet of People paraphrases the Internet of Things paradigm. Integrated use of electronic health records (EHRs and quantitative data (both clinical and molecular is a key process to develop precision medicine. Health records collection was originally designed for patient care and billing and/or insurance purposes. The digitization of health records facilitates and opens up new possibilities for science and research and they should be now collected and managed with this aim in mind. More data and the ability to efficiently handle them is a significant advantage not only for clinicians and life science researchers, but for drugs producers too. In an industrial sector spending increasing efforts on drug repurposing, attention to efficient methods to unwind the intricacies of the hugely complex reality of human physiology, such as network based methods and physical chemistry computational methods, became of paramount importance. Finally, the main pillars of industrial R&D processes for vaccines, include initial discovery

Toward 2000 - potential changes facing the North American gas industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baron, R.L.; Godec, M.L.

1997-01-01

Rapid changes in U.S. gas market developments and key factors that are likely to change future market outlook were reviewed. Currently, the biggest challenges facing the North American gas industry are deregulation in the electric power industry, technological advances, Canadian exports, environmental considerations, and new sources of natural gas from Mexico and Sable Island. Forces driving the natural gas demand include technological advances, growth in gas demand by electric utilities, and expansion of pipeline capacity. Uncertainties and threats to natural gas use include the rising cost of environmental compliance, the continued use of coal for power generation, and the Alliance Pipeline development. Technological advances such as 3-D seismic, horizontal drilling, improved completion techniques, longer-life bits, improved control systems, and reduced project cycle time, have been credited for producers now finding more gas reserves per well drilled than a decade ago. Present estimates of technically recoverable gas resources in North America run to about 2,500 trillion cubic feet

Healthcare professionals experience with motivational interviewing in their encounter with obese pregnant women

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lindhardt, Christina L; Rubak, Sune Leisgaard Mørck; Hansen, Helle Puggård

2014-01-01

healthcare professionals. Sample(size?): Eleven healthcare professionals. Methods: A qualitative descriptive method was applied to semi-structured interviews. The healthcare professional’s experiences were recorded during individual semi-structured qualitative interviews, transcribed verbatim and analysed......Aim: To explore how healthcare professionals experience motivational interviewing as a useful? technique when working with pregnant women with obesity. Design: A qualitative, descriptive study based on interviews with eleven healthcare professionals. Setting: Face to face interviews with obstetric...

Why healthcare providers merge.

Science.gov (United States)

Postma, Jeroen; Roos, Anne-Fleur

2016-04-01

In many OECD countries, healthcare sectors have become increasingly concentrated as a result of mergers. However, detailed empirical insight into why healthcare providers merge is lacking. Also, we know little about the influence of national healthcare policies on mergers. We fill this gap in the literature by conducting a survey study on mergers among 848 Dutch healthcare executives, of which 35% responded (resulting in a study sample of 239 executives). A total of 65% of the respondents was involved in at least one merger between 2005 and 2012. During this period, Dutch healthcare providers faced a number of policy changes, including increasing competition, more pressure from purchasers, growing financial risks, de-institutionalisation of long-term care and decentralisation of healthcare services to municipalities. Our empirical study shows that healthcare providers predominantly merge to improve the provision of healthcare services and to strengthen their market position. Also efficiency and financial reasons are important drivers of merger activity in healthcare. We find that motives for merger are related to changes in health policies, in particular to the increasing pressure from competitors, insurers and municipalities.

Medical informatics: A boon to the healthcare industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dinesh Bhatia

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Newer healthcare technologies and treatment procedures are being developed rapidly, and clinicians are incorporating them into their daily practice. They are integrating the past and the present knowledge for better patient healthcare. Previously, it had been difficult to organize, store and retrieve medical and patient information. But, today, with the advent of computers and, moreover, information technology has led to the development of medical informatics that is helping physicians to overcome these challenges. Medical informatics deals with all aspects of understanding and promoting the effective organization analysis, management and use of information in healthcare, which are being highlighted in this review paper.

I care, even after the first impression: Facial appearance-based evaluations in healthcare context.

Science.gov (United States)

Mattarozzi, Katia; Colonnello, Valentina; De Gioia, Francesco; Todorov, Alexander

2017-06-01

Prior research has demonstrated that healthcare providers' implicit biases may contribute to healthcare disparities. Independent research in social psychology indicates that facial appearance-based evaluations affect social behavior in a variety of domains, influencing political, legal, and economic decisions. Whether and to what extent these evaluations influence approach behavior in healthcare contexts warrants research attention. Here we investigate the impact of facial appearance-based evaluations of trustworthiness on healthcare providers' caring inclination, and the moderating role of experience and information about the social identity of the faces. Novice and expert nurses rated their inclination to provide care when viewing photos of trustworthy-, neutral-, and untrustworthy-looking faces. To explore whether information about the target of care influences caring inclination, some participants were told that they would view patients' faces while others received no information about the faces. Both novice and expert nurses had higher caring inclination scores for trustworthy-than for untrustworthy-looking faces; however, experts had higher scores than novices for untrustworthy-looking faces. Regardless of a face's trustworthiness level, experts had higher caring inclination scores for patients than for unidentified individuals, while novices showed no differences. Facial appearance-based inferences can bias caring inclination in healthcare contexts. However, expert healthcare providers are less biased by these inferences and more sensitive to information about the target of care. These findings highlight the importance of promoting novice healthcare professionals' awareness of first impression biases. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Healthcare Policy Statement on the Utility of Coronary Computed Tomography for Evaluation of Cardiovascular Conditions and Preventive Healthcare: From the Health Policy Working Group of the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography.

Science.gov (United States)

Slim, Ahmad M; Jerome, Scott; Blankstein, Ron; Weigold, Wm Guy; Patel, Amit R; Kalra, Dinesh K; Miller, Ryan; Branch, Kelley; Rabbat, Mark G; Hecht, Harvey; Nicol, Edward D; Villines, Todd C; Shaw, Leslee J

The rising cost of healthcare is prompting numerous policy and advocacy discussions regarding strategies for constraining growth and creating a more efficient and effective healthcare system. Cardiovascular imaging is central to the care of patients at risk of, and living with, heart disease. Estimates are that utilization of cardiovascular imaging exceeds 20 million studies per year. The Society of Cardiovascular CT (SCCT), alongside Rush University Medical Center, and in collaboration with government agencies, regional payers, and industry healthcare experts met in November 2016 in Chicago, IL to evaluate obstacles and hurdles facing the cardiovascular imaging community and how they can contribute to efficacy while maintaining or even improving outcomes and quality. The summit incorporated inputs from payers, providers, and patients' perspectives, providing a platform for all voices to be heard, allowing for a constructive dialogue with potential solutions moving forward. This article outlines the proceedings from the summit, with a detailed review of past hurdles, current status, and potential solutions as we move forward in an ever-changing healthcare landscape. Copyright © 2017 Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography. All rights reserved.

Human factors in healthcare level two

CERN Document Server

Rosenorn-Lanng, Debbie

2015-01-01

This book builds on Human Factors in Healthcare Level One by delving deeper into the challenges of leadership, conflict resolution, and decision making that healthcare professionals currently face. It is written in an easy to understand style and includes a wealth of real-life examples of errors and patient safety issues.

Career patterns of healthcare executives.

Science.gov (United States)

Fahey, D F; Myrtle, R C

2001-02-01

This research examines the job and career changes of healthcare executives and managers working in different segments of the healthcare industry in the western United States. The results suggest that the job and career patterns in the healthcare delivery sector are undergoing significant transformation. One third of the respondents reports that at least one of their last four job changes was involuntary or unplanned. One half of those attempted to make a career change. This study identifies four different executive and management career patterns. The most common was one of multiple career changes. The second pattern was that of a single career change, followed by a 'traditional' career in which one did not seek a career change. The final pattern was characterized as a movement back and forth between two different segments of the healthcare industry. Age, gender, marital status and education were not associated with any specific career pattern. The need to achieve results early in the respondent's career had a strong influence on career patterns. This study confirms the fluidity of career movement and the changing permeability between the various segments of the healthcare industry. It also suggests that career success increasingly will require broad management experience in those different segments.

Post-industrial landscape - its identification and classification as contemporary challenges faced by geographic research

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Kolejka, Jaromír

2010-01-01

Roč. 14, č. 2 (2010), s. 67-78 ISSN 1842-5135 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z30860518 Keywords : classification * geographical research * identification method * landscape structure Subject RIV: DE - Earth Magnetism, Geodesy, Geography http://studiacrescent.com/images/02_2010/09_jaromir_kolejka_post_industrial_landscape_its_identification_and_classification_as_contemporary_challenges_faced_by_geographic_.pdf

Social media disruptive change in healthcare : Responses of healthcare providers?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smailhodzic, E.; Boonstra, A.; Langley, D.J.

2016-01-01

Social media represent specific types of technologies that are end-user driven and end-users are able to drive disruptive change giving little time to organizations to react. With rapid and powerful emergence of social media communities in healthcare, this sector is faced with new and alternative

Social media disruptive change in healthcare : responses of healthcare providers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smailhodzic, Edin; Boonstra, Albert; Langley, David

Social media represent specific types of technologies that are end-user driven and end-users are able to drive disruptive change giving little time to organizations to react. With rapid and powerful emergence of social media communities in healthcare, this sector is faced with new and alternative

Leveraging Digital Innovation in Healthcare

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brown, Carol V.; Jensen, Tina Blegind; Aanestad, Margun

2014-01-01

Harnessing digital innovations for healthcare delivery has raised high expectations as well as major concerns. Several countries across the globe have made progress in achieving three common goals of lower costs, higher quality, and increased patient access to healthcare services through...... investments in digital infrastructures. New technologies are leveraged to achieve widespread 24x7 disease management, patients’ wellbeing, home-based healthcare and other patient-centric service innovations. Yet, digital innovations in healthcare face barriers in terms of standardization, data privacy...... landscapes in selected countries. Then panelists with expertise in digital data streams, cloud, and mobile computing will present concrete examples of healthcare service innovations that have the potential to address one or more of the global goals. ECIS attendees are invited to join a debate about...

A qualitative exploration of the major challenges facing pharmacovigilance in Saudi Arabia.

Science.gov (United States)

Aljadhey, Hisham; Mahmoud, Mansour A; Alshammari, Thamir M; Al-Dhaeefi, Mohammed; Le Louet, Herve; Perez-Gutthann, Susana; Pitts, Peter J

2015-09-01

To explore the challenges facing pharmacovigilance in Saudi Arabia and formulate recommendations to improve it from the perspective of healthcare professionals in Saudi Arabia. This was a qualitative study of 4 focus group discussions with pharmacists, physicians, and academicians held under the auspices of the King Saud University School of Pharmacy and the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A total of 29 eligible healthcare professionals were invited to participate in the discussion. The predefined themes of the study were the current practice and major challenges facing pharmacovigilance in regulatory bodies, hospitals, the community, and academia, as well as recommendations to improve pharmacovigilance practice.  Of the 29 participants invited, 27 attended the discussion. Challenges facing regulatory bodies included complicated adverse drug reactions (ADR) reporting forms, lack of feedback on ADRs submitted to the Saudi Food and Drug Authority, lack of decisions from the local authority to withdraw medications, and lack of data on pharmacovigilance. The challenges to pharmacovigilance in hospitals included the lack of knowledge of the significance of ADR reporting, workload, blaming culture, and lack of collaboration between regulatory bodies and hospitals. However, challenges facing pharmaceutical industries included the lack of drug manufacturers in Saudi Arabia and lack of interest in pharmacovigilance. Recommendations to improve pharmacovigilance included the need for communication, stronger regulatory requirements, the need for research, the need for unified ADRs reporting, and continuous education and training.  The study has identified the challenges facing pharmacovigilance in Saudi Arabia and made certain recommendations to overcome them. These recommendations might be helpful for regulatory bodies to enhance spontaneous reporting and promote pharmacovigilance.

Fatal falls and PFAS use in the construction industry: Findings from the NIOSH FACE reports.

Science.gov (United States)

Dong, Xiuwen Sue; Largay, Julie A; Choi, Sang D; Wang, Xuanwen; Cain, Chris Trahan; Romano, Nancy

2017-05-01

This study analyzed the Construction FACE Database (CFD), a quantitative database developed from reports of the Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) program conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The CFD contains detailed data on 768 fatalities in the construction industry reported by NIOSH and individual states from 1982 through June 30, 2015. The results show that falls accounted for 42% (325) of the 768 fatalities included in the CFD. Personal fall arrest systems (PFAS) were not available to more than half of the fall decedents (54%); nearly one in four fall decedents (23%) had access to PFAS, but were not using it at the time of the fall. Lack of access to PFAS was particularly high among residential building contractors as well as roofing, siding, and sheet metal industry sectors (∼70%). Although the findings may not represent the entire construction industry today, they do provide strong evidence in favor of fall protection requirements by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). In addition to stronger enforcement, educating employers and workers about the importance and effectiveness of fall protection is crucial for compliance and fall prevention. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Big Data, Big Problems: A Healthcare Perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Househ, Mowafa S; Aldosari, Bakheet; Alanazi, Abdullah; Kushniruk, Andre W; Borycki, Elizabeth M

2017-01-01

Much has been written on the benefits of big data for healthcare such as improving patient outcomes, public health surveillance, and healthcare policy decisions. Over the past five years, Big Data, and the data sciences field in general, has been hyped as the "Holy Grail" for the healthcare industry promising a more efficient healthcare system with the promise of improved healthcare outcomes. However, more recently, healthcare researchers are exposing the potential and harmful effects Big Data can have on patient care associating it with increased medical costs, patient mortality, and misguided decision making by clinicians and healthcare policy makers. In this paper, we review the current Big Data trends with a specific focus on the inadvertent negative impacts that Big Data could have on healthcare, in general, and specifically, as it relates to patient and clinical care. Our study results show that although Big Data is built up to be as a the "Holy Grail" for healthcare, small data techniques using traditional statistical methods are, in many cases, more accurate and can lead to more improved healthcare outcomes than Big Data methods. In sum, Big Data for healthcare may cause more problems for the healthcare industry than solutions, and in short, when it comes to the use of data in healthcare, "size isn't everything."

Innovation in medicine and healthcare 2015

CERN Document Server

Torro, Carlos; Tanaka, Satoshi; Howlett, Robert; Jain, Lakhmi

2016-01-01

Innovation in medicine and healthcare is an interdisciplinary research area, which combines the advanced technologies and problem solving skills with medical and biological science. A central theme of this proceedings is Smart Medical and Healthcare Systems (modern intelligent systems for medicine and healthcare), which can provide efficient and accurate solution to problems faced by healthcare and medical practitioners today by using advanced information communication techniques, computational intelligence, mathematics, robotics and other advanced technologies. The techniques developed in this area will have a significant effect on future medicine and healthcare.    The volume includes 53 papers, which present the recent trend and innovations in medicine and healthcare including Medical Informatics; Biomedical Engineering; Management for Healthcare; Advanced ICT for Medical and Healthcare; Simulation and Visualization/VR for Medicine; Statistical Signal Processing and Artificial Intelligence; Smart Medic...

Financing public healthcare institutions in Ghana.

Science.gov (United States)

Akortsu, Mercy Akosua; Abor, Patience Aseweh

2011-01-01

The financing of healthcare services has been of a major concern to all governments in the face of increasing healthcare costs. For developing countries, where good health is considered a poverty reduction strategy, it is imperative that the hospitals used in the delivery of healthcare services are well financed to accomplish their tasks. The purpose of this paper is to examine how public hospitals in Ghana are financed, and the challenges facing the financing modes adopted. To achieve the objectives of the study, one major public healthcare institution in Ghana became the main focus. The findings of the study revealed that the main sources of financing the public healthcare institution are government subvention, internally-generated funds and donor-pooled funds. Of these sources, the internally generated fund was regarded as the most reliable, and the least reliable was the donor-pooled funds. Several challenges associated with the various financing sources were identified. These include delay in receipt of government subvention, delay in the reimbursement of services provided to subscribers of health insurance schemes, influence of government in setting user fees, and the specifications to which donor funds are put. The findings of this study have important implications for improving the financing of public healthcare institutions in Ghana. A number of recommendations are provided in this regard.

Incentives for vertical integration in healthcare: the effect of reimbursement systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Byrne, M M; Ashton, C M

1999-01-01

In the United States, many healthcare organizations are being transformed into large integrated delivery systems, even though currently available empirical evidence does not provide strong or unequivocal support for or against vertical integration. Unfortunately, the manager cannot delay organizational changes until further research has been completed, especially when further research is not likely to reveal a single, correct solution for the diverse healthcare systems in existence. Managers must therefore carefully evaluate the expected effects of integration on their individual organizations. Vertical integration may be appropriate if conditions facing the healthcare organization provide opportunities for efficiency gains through reorganization strategies. Managers must consider (1) how changes in the healthcare market have affected the dynamics of production efficiency and transaction costs; (2) the likelihood that integration strategies will achieve increases in efficiency or reductions in transaction costs; and (3) how vertical integration will affect other costs, and whether the benefits gained will outweigh additional costs and efficiency losses. This article presents reimbursement systems as an example of how recent changes in the industry may have changed the dynamics and efficiency of production. Evaluation of the effects of vertical integration should allow for reasonable adjustment time, but obviously unsuccessful strategies should not be followed or maintained.

Occupational exposures among healthcare workers: A teaching hospital sample

OpenAIRE

Derya Öztürk Engin; Asuman İnan; Nurgül Ceran; Zeynel Abiddin Demir; Özgür Dağli; Emin Karagül; Seyfi Özyürek

2014-01-01

Objective: Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at risk for occupational injury associated with contaminated blood and body fluids. This study aims to examine the frequency and type of occupational injuries and to determine best practices after exposure. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Haydarpaşa Teaching Hospital in December 2010. The questionnaires were completed by healthcare workers with face-to-face interviews. The questionnaire was evaluated occupational injuries in the ho...

Integrated decision making in healthcare: an operations research and management science perspective

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hulshof, P.J.H.

2013-01-01

The pressure on healthcare systems rises as both demand for healthcare and expenditures are increasing steadily. As a result, healthcare professionals face the challenging task to design and organize the healthcare delivery process more effectively and efficiently. Designing and organizing processes

Healthcare Providers' Responses to Narrative Communication About Racial Healthcare Disparities.

Science.gov (United States)

Burgess, Diana J; Bokhour, Barbara G; Cunningham, Brooke A; Do, Tam; Gordon, Howard S; Jones, Dina M; Pope, Charlene; Saha, Somnath; Gollust, Sarah E

2017-10-25

We used qualitative methods (semi-structured interviews with healthcare providers) to explore: 1) the role of narratives as a vehicle for raising awareness and engaging providers about the issue of healthcare disparities and 2) the extent to which different ways of framing issues of race within narratives might lead to message acceptance for providers' whose preexisting beliefs about causal attributions might predispose them to resist communication about racial healthcare disparities. Individual interviews were conducted with 53 providers who had completed a prior survey assessing beliefs about disparities. Participants were stratified by the degree to which they believed providers contributed to healthcare inequality: low provider attribution (LPA) versus high provider attribution (HPA). Each participant read and discussed two differently framed narratives about race in healthcare. All participants accepted the "Provider Success" narratives, in which interpersonal barriers involving a patient of color were successfully resolved by the provider narrator, through patient-centered communication. By contrast, "Persistent Racism" narratives, in which problems faced by the patient of color were more explicitly linked to racism and remained unresolved, were very polarizing, eliciting acceptance from HPA participants and resistance from LPA participants. This study provides a foundation for and raises questions about how to develop effective narrative communication strategies to engage providers in efforts to reduce healthcare disparities.

U.S. healthcare fix: leveraging the lessons from the food supply chain.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Sameer; Blair, John T

2013-01-01

U.S. healthcare costs consistently outpace inflation, causing growing problems of affordability. This trend cannot be sustained indefinitely. The purpose of this study is to use supply-chain tools for macro-level examination of the U.S. healthcare as a business system and identify options and best use practices. We compare the important and successful U.S. food industry to the essential but problematic U.S. healthcare industry. Supply chain strategies leading to food business operations success are examined and healthcare applications suggested. We emphasize "total cost of ownership" which includes all costs incurred by all stakeholders of U.S. healthcare, including maintenance and cleanup, not just the initial purchase price. U.S. hospitals and clinics can use supply chain strategies in a total cost of ownership framework to reduce healthcare costs while maintaining patient care quality. Supply chain strategies of resource pooling, mass customization, centralized logistics, specialization, postponement and continuous improvement that have been successfully used in the U.S. food industry should be more widely applied to the U.S. healthcare industry. New and growing areas of telemedicine and medical tourism should be included in the supply chain analysis of U.S. healthcare. Valid statistical analysis of results in all areas of U.S. healthcare is an important part of the process. U.S. healthcare industry problems are systematic operational and supply chain problems rather than problems with workforce or technology. Examination of the U.S. healthcare industry through a supply chain framework should lead to significant operational improvement in both prevention and treatment of acute and chronic ailments. A rational and unemotional reorganization of the U.S. healthcare system operations, using supply chain strategies, should help reduce healthcare costs while maintaining quality and increasing accessibility.

From denial to awareness: a conceptual model for obtaining equity in healthcare

OpenAIRE

Höglund, Anna T.; Carlsson, Marianne; Holmström, Inger K.; Lännerström, Linda; Kaminsky, Elenor

2018-01-01

Background Although Swedish legislation prescribes equity in healthcare, studies have reported inequalities, both in face-to-face encounters and in telephone nursing. Research has suggested that telephone nursing has the capability to increase equity in healthcare, as it is open to all and not limited by long distances. However, this requires an increased awareness of equity in healthcare among telephone nurses. The aim of this study was to explore and describe perceptions of equity in health...

Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP)

Science.gov (United States)

The Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project is a family of health care databases and related software tools and products developed through a Federal-State-Industry partnership and sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Healthcare Engineering Defined: A White Paper.

Science.gov (United States)

Chyu, Ming-Chien; Austin, Tony; Calisir, Fethi; Chanjaplammootil, Samuel; Davis, Mark J; Favela, Jesus; Gan, Heng; Gefen, Amit; Haddas, Ram; Hahn-Goldberg, Shoshana; Hornero, Roberto; Huang, Yu-Li; Jensen, Øystein; Jiang, Zhongwei; Katsanis, J S; Lee, Jeong-A; Lewis, Gladius; Lovell, Nigel H; Luebbers, Heinz-Theo; Morales, George G; Matis, Timothy; Matthews, Judith T; Mazur, Lukasz; Ng, Eddie Yin-Kwee; Oommen, K J; Ormand, Kevin; Rohde, Tarald; Sánchez-Morillo, Daniel; Sanz-Calcedo, Justo García; Sawan, Mohamad; Shen, Chwan-Li; Shieh, Jiann-Shing; Su, Chao-Ton; Sun, Lilly; Sun, Mingui; Sun, Yi; Tewolde, Senay N; Williams, Eric A; Yan, Chongjun; Zhang, Jiajie; Zhang, Yuan-Ting

2015-01-01

Engineering has been playing an important role in serving and advancing healthcare. The term "Healthcare Engineering" has been used by professional societies, universities, scientific authors, and the healthcare industry for decades. However, the definition of "Healthcare Engineering" remains ambiguous. The purpose of this position paper is to present a definition of Healthcare Engineering as an academic discipline, an area of research, a field of specialty, and a profession. Healthcare Engineering is defined in terms of what it is, who performs it, where it is performed, and how it is performed, including its purpose, scope, topics, synergy, education/training, contributions, and prospects.

Lean management-the journey from toyota to healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Teich, Sorin T; Faddoul, Fady F

2013-04-01

The evolution of production systems is tightly linked to the story of Toyota Motor Company (TMC) that has its roots around 1918. The term "lean" was coined in 1990 following the exploration of the Toyota model that led to the "transference" thesis sustaining the concept that manufacturing problems and technologies are universal problems faced by management and that these concepts can be emulated in non-Japanese enterprises. Lean is a multi-faceted concept and requires organizations to exert effort along several dimensions simultaneously; some consider a successful implementation either achieving major strategic components of lean, implementing practices to support operational aspects, or providing evidence that the improvements are sustainable in the long term. The article explores challenges and opportunities faced by organizations that intend incorporating lean management principles and presents the specific context of the healthcare industry. Finally, the concepts of "essential few" and customer value are illustrated through a simple example of process change following lean principles, which was implemented in a dental school in the United States.

Lean Management—The Journey from Toyota to Healthcare

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sorin T. Teich

2013-04-01

Full Text Available The evolution of production systems is tightly linked to the story of Toyota Motor Company (TMC that has its roots around 1918. The term “lean” was coined in 1990 following the exploration of the Toyota model that led to the “transference” thesis sustaining the concept that manufacturing problems and technologies are universal problems faced by management and that these concepts can be emulated in non-Japanese enterprises. Lean is a multi-faceted concept and requires organizations to exert effort along several dimensions simultaneously; some consider a successful implementation either achieving major strategic components of lean, implementing practices to support operational aspects, or providing evidence that the improvements are sustainable in the long term. The article explores challenges and opportunities faced by organizations that intend incorporating lean management principles and presents the specific context of the healthcare industry. Finally, the concepts of “essential few” and customer value are illustrated through a simple example of process change following lean principles, which was implemented in a dental school in the United States.

Lean Management—The Journey from Toyota to Healthcare

Science.gov (United States)

Teich, Sorin T.; Faddoul, Fady F.

2013-01-01

The evolution of production systems is tightly linked to the story of Toyota Motor Company (TMC) that has its roots around 1918. The term “lean” was coined in 1990 following the exploration of the Toyota model that led to the “transference” thesis sustaining the concept that manufacturing problems and technologies are universal problems faced by management and that these concepts can be emulated in non-Japanese enterprises. Lean is a multi-faceted concept and requires organizations to exert effort along several dimensions simultaneously; some consider a successful implementation either achieving major strategic components of lean, implementing practices to support operational aspects, or providing evidence that the improvements are sustainable in the long term. The article explores challenges and opportunities faced by organizations that intend incorporating lean management principles and presents the specific context of the healthcare industry. Finally, the concepts of “essential few” and customer value are illustrated through a simple example of process change following lean principles, which was implemented in a dental school in the United States. PMID:23908857

Industrialization and Global Value Chain Participation: An Examination of Constraints Faced by the Private Sector in Nepal

OpenAIRE

Basnett, Yurendra; Pandey, Posh Raj

2014-01-01

The world’s trade landscape is being shaped by global value chains, which present new opportunities as well as challenges to developing countries. While large developing countries are leveraging the benefits of global value chains, smaller economies have been less successful. In this paper we examine the constraints faced by Nepal, a land-locked least developed country, in participating in global value chains. We find that weak and ineffective industrial policy has led to de-industrialization...

Using Smart City Technology to Make Healthcare Smarter.

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, Diane J; Duncan, Glen; Sprint, Gina; Fritz, Roschelle

2018-04-01

Smart cities use information and communication technologies (ICT) to scale services include utilities and transportation to a growing population. In this article we discuss how smart city ICT can also improve healthcare effectiveness and lower healthcare cost for smart city residents. We survey current literature and introduce original research to offer an overview of how smart city infrastructure supports strategic healthcare using both mobile and ambient sensors combined with machine learning. Finally, we consider challenges that will be faced as healthcare providers make use of these opportunities.

Walking the history of healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Black, Nick

2007-12-01

The history of healthcare is complex, confusing and contested. In Walking London's medical history the story of how health services developed from medieval times to the present day is told through seven walks. The book also aims to help preserve our legacy, as increasingly former healthcare buildings are converted to other uses, and to enhance understanding of the current challenges we face in trying to improve healthcare in the 21st century. Each walk has a theme, ranging from the way hospitals merge or move and the development of primary care to how key healthcare trades became professions and the competition between the church, Crown and City for control of healthcare. While recognising the contributions of the 'great men of medicine', the book takes as much interest in the six ambulance stations built by the London County Council (1915) as the grandest teaching hospitals.

Japan's shift to a proactive defense architecture: Challenges faced by industry, government, and society

OpenAIRE

Chung, Hoyoon

2017-01-01

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited As a result of the changing security environment in the Asia-Pacific, Japan is shifting to a more proactive defense policy, as outlined in the National Defense Program Guidelines (NDPG). This thesis investigates the challenges faced by Japan's industry, government, and society in meeting the NDPG objectives. To do this, this thesis probes the following problem areas: difficulties with indigenous production of weapons systems, inability...

LEAN THINKING IN HEALTHCARE: REVIEW OF IMPLEMENTATION RESULTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marija Kovacevic

2016-03-01

Full Text Available For over decade, automotive industry originated lean concept has been successfully implemented in healthcare systems as a management method and philosophy with main focus on elimination of all types of wastes and looses in all tasks and processes so that time, materials, resources and medical procedures could be realized as effectively as it is possible. As main result lean concept implementation ensured to healthcare organizations to focus on their main core function and dedicate more time and efforts to patients without additional costs for them or healthcare system. However, lean implementation in healthcare could be much more difficult than in standard industrial environment and there are significant number of examples of lean in healthcare projects that failed to gain any measurable results and sustainable benefits from it. This paper presents review of some of the most successful implementations of lean tools and principles in healthcare organizations.

Healthcare Engineering Defined: A White Paper

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ming-Chien Chyu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Engineering has been playing an important role in serving and advancing healthcare. The term “Healthcare Engineering” has been used by professional societies, universities, scientific authors, and the healthcare industry for decades. However, the definition of “Healthcare Engineering” remains ambiguous. The purpose of this position paper is to present a definition of Healthcare Engineering as an academic discipline, an area of research, a field of specialty, and a profession. Healthcare Engineering is defined in terms of what it is, who performs it, where it is performed, and how it is performed, including its purpose, scope, topics, synergy, education/training, contributions, and prospects.

Mixing online and face-to-face therapy: how to benefit from blended care in mental healthcare

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wentzel, M.J.; van der Vaart, R.; Bohlmeijer, Ernst Thomas; van Gemert-Pijnen, Julia E.W.C.

2016-01-01

Blended care, a combination of online and face-to-face therapy, is increasingly being applied in mental health care to obtain optimal benefit from the advantages these two treatment modalities have. Promising results have been reported, but a variety in descriptions and ways of operationalizing

The truth about patient experience: what we can learn from other industries, and how three ps can improve health outcomes, strengthen brands, and delight customers.

Science.gov (United States)

Needham, Brian R

2012-01-01

Improving the patient experience is an issue many healthcare organizations face. However, it is the opinion of this author that the focus on patient satisfaction scores alone is short-sighted and that the most successful organizations will adopt best practices from other industries to deliver a more complete patient experience. This article presents an extensive review of best practices in customer experience from numerous customer-centric industries and postulates as to how the healthcare field might apply them. A new framework for improving patient experience is proposed--one that moves beyond the traditional focus on satisfaction scores to embrace the core differentiating characteristics of the organization.

Big Data and Analytics in Healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, S S-L; Gao, G; Koch, S

2015-01-01

This editorial is part of the Focus Theme of Methods of Information in Medicine on "Big Data and Analytics in Healthcare". The amount of data being generated in the healthcare industry is growing at a rapid rate. This has generated immense interest in leveraging the availability of healthcare data (and "big data") to improve health outcomes and reduce costs. However, the nature of healthcare data, and especially big data, presents unique challenges in processing and analyzing big data in healthcare. This Focus Theme aims to disseminate some novel approaches to address these challenges. More specifically, approaches ranging from efficient methods of processing large clinical data to predictive models that could generate better predictions from healthcare data are presented.

Peering beyond the walls of healthcare institutions: a catalyst for innovation.

Science.gov (United States)

Elrod, James K; Fortenberry, John L

2017-07-11

Healthcare providers operate in a unique industry characterized by pursuit of perhaps the most noble of missions: the delivery of vital health and medical services to those in need. Distinguishing features abound, differentiating the healthcare industry from others, with such facets having the potential to compel those serving in health and medical establishments to focus exclusively on their selected industry. But directing attention solely within can result in missed opportunities, especially regarding innovation. Many innovations which are well suited for healthcare establishments emerge externally, making at least some exposure beyond the healthcare industry essential for institutions desirous of operating on the innovation frontier. True innovation emerges from broad worldviews, allowing healthcare providers to comprehensively understand the current state of the art. With such an understanding, novel tools, techniques, and approaches, regardless of industry of origin, can be examined for their potential to elevate the status and stature of efforts within health and medical establishments. It is this very open, inquisitive mindset that permitted Willis-Knighton Health System to identify and incorporate a range of innovations which originated outside of the healthcare industry. Its embracement of and associated successes with the repurposing approach known as adaptive reuse, the delivery of complex medical services via centers of excellence, and the structuring of operations using the hub-and-spoke organization design, for example, would never have occurred had executives not directed attention externally in search of innovations that could be used within. Innovations offer key pathways for healthcare providers to enhance the depth and breadth of health and medical services offered in their establishments and communities. By peering beyond the walls of healthcare institutions, providers amplify opportunities to discover novel methods and approaches that

Growth of the Asian health-care market: global implications for the pharmaceutical industry.

Science.gov (United States)

Epstein, Richard J

2007-10-01

The global economy is being transformed by an explosion of information unleashed by the internet, the digital revolution, communications and increased international mobility. This transformation is manifesting in many ways, including rapid development of countries such as China, commoditization of public services, mobilization of workforces, shifting of market control from suppliers to consumers, interlinked rises in product demand and customer expectations, and problems regulating international business competition. As Asia is home to half of the world's population, and offers both a large relatively low-cost workforce in some countries and a potentially huge retail market, this region could be central to the future of the global economy. Like other industries, the pharmaceutical industry faces a new array of Asia-specific opportunities and challenges. Success in meeting these challenges will go to those pharmaceutical companies that best understand the unique strengths and constraints of Asia's diverse cultures, talents and markets.

Cybersecurity in healthcare: A systematic review of modern threats and trends.

Science.gov (United States)

Kruse, Clemens Scott; Frederick, Benjamin; Jacobson, Taylor; Monticone, D Kyle

2017-01-01

The adoption of healthcare technology is arduous, and it requires planning and implementation time. Healthcare organizations are vulnerable to modern trends and threats because it has not kept up with threats. The objective of this systematic review is to identify cybersecurity trends, including ransomware, and identify possible solutions by querying academic literature. The reviewers conducted three separate searches through the CINAHL and PubMed (MEDLINE) and the Nursing and Allied Health Source via ProQuest databases. Using key words with Boolean operators, database filters, and hand screening, we identified 31 articles that met the objective of the review. The analysis of 31 articles showed the healthcare industry lags behind in security. Like other industries, healthcare should clearly define cybersecurity duties, establish clear procedures for upgrading software and handling a data breach, use VLANs and deauthentication and cloud-based computing, and to train their users not to open suspicious code. The healthcare industry is a prime target for medical information theft as it lags behind other leading industries in securing vital data. It is imperative that time and funding is invested in maintaining and ensuring the protection of healthcare technology and the confidentially of patient information from unauthorized access.

Entrepreneurship in agriculture and healthcare

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hassink, Jan; Hulsink, Willem; Grin, John

2016-01-01

Care farming provides an interesting context of multifunctional agriculture where farmers face the challenge of having to bridge the gap between agriculture and healthcare and acquire new customers, partners and financial resources from the care sector. We compared different entry strategies of

Barriers faced by healthcare professionals when managing falls in older people in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: a qualitative study.

Science.gov (United States)

Loganathan, Annaletchumy; Ng, Chirk Jenn; Tan, Maw Pin; Low, Wah Yun

2015-11-05

To explore the barriers faced by healthcare professionals (HCPs) in managing falls among older people (aged above 60 years) who have a high risk of falling. The study used a qualitative methodology, comprising 10 in-depth interviews and two focus group discussions. A semistructured topic guide was used to facilitate the interviews, which were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and checked for accuracy. Data were analysed thematically using WeftQDA software. 20 HCPs who managed falls in older people. This study was conducted at the Primary Care Clinic in the University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC), Malaysia. Four categories of barriers emerged-these were related to perceived barriers for older people, HCPs' barriers, lack of caregiver support and healthcare system barriers. HCPs perceived that older people normalised falls, felt stigmatised, were fatalistic, as well as in denial regarding falls-related advice. HCPs themselves trivialised falls and lacked the skills to manage falls. Rehabilitation was impeded by premature decisions to admit older people to nursing homes. Lastly, there was a lack of healthcare providers as well as a dearth of fall education and training on fall prevention for HCPs. This study identified barriers that explain poor fall management in older people with a high risk of falls. The lack of structured fall prevention guidelines and insufficient training in fall management made HCPs unable to advise patients on how to prevent falls. The findings of this study warrant evidence-based structured fall prevention intervention targeted to patients as well as to HCPs. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Cybercare: Combining Healthcare and Cyberspace in the 21st Century

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Rosen, J

2001-01-01

... physician and a cybercare vision of a new healthcare system We will then predict what type of large-scale medical disaster would prompt the creation of a cybercare healthcare system Finally, we discuss the challenges to be faced in the 21st century.

Saving lives: A meta-analysis of team training in healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Hughes, Ashley M; Gregory, Megan E; Joseph, Dana L; Sonesh, Shirley C; Marlow, Shannon L; Lacerenza, Christina N; Benishek, Lauren E; King, Heidi B; Salas, Eduardo

2016-09-01

As the nature of work becomes more complex, teams have become necessary to ensure effective functioning within organizations. The healthcare industry is no exception. As such, the prevalence of training interventions designed to optimize teamwork in this industry has increased substantially over the last 10 years (Weaver, Dy, & Rosen, 2014). Using Kirkpatrick's (1956, 1996) training evaluation framework, we conducted a meta-analytic examination of healthcare team training to quantify its effectiveness and understand the conditions under which it is most successful. Results demonstrate that healthcare team training improves each of Kirkpatrick's criteria (reactions, learning, transfer, results; d = .37 to .89). Second, findings indicate that healthcare team training is largely robust to trainee composition, training strategy, and characteristics of the work environment, with the only exception being the reduced effectiveness of team training programs that involve feedback. As a tertiary goal, we proposed and found empirical support for a sequential model of healthcare team training where team training affects results via learning, which leads to transfer, which increases results. We find support for this sequential model in the healthcare industry (i.e., the current meta-analysis) and in training across all industries (i.e., using meta-analytic estimates from Arthur, Bennett, Edens, & Bell, 2003), suggesting the sequential benefits of training are not unique to medical teams. Ultimately, this meta-analysis supports the expanded use of team training and points toward recommendations for optimizing its effectiveness within healthcare settings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Learning from high risk industries may not be straightforward: a qualitative study of the hierarchy of risk controls approach in healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Liberati, Elisa G; Peerally, Mohammad Farhad; Dixon-Woods, Mary

2018-02-01

Though healthcare is often exhorted to learn from 'high-reliability' industries, adopting tools and techniques from those sectors may not be straightforward. We sought to examine the hierarchies of risk controls approach, used in high-risk industries to rank interventions according to supposed effectiveness in reducing risk, and widely advocated as appropriate for healthcare. Classification of risk controls proposed by clinical teams following proactive detection of hazards in their clinical systems. Classification was based on a widely used hierarchy of controls developed by the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). A range of clinical settings in four English NHS hospitals. The four clinical teams in our study planned a total of 42 risk controls aimed at addressing safety hazards. Most (n = 35) could be classed as administrative controls, thus qualifying among the weakest type of interventions according to the HoC approach. Six risk controls qualified as 'engineering' controls, i.e. the intermediate level of the hierarchy. Only risk control qualified as 'substitution', classified as the strongest type of intervention by the HoC. Many risk controls introduced by clinical teams may cluster towards the apparently weaker end of an established hierarchy of controls. Less clear is whether the HoC approach as currently formulated is useful for the specifics of healthcare. Valuable opportunities for safety improvement may be lost if inappropriate hierarchical models are used to guide the selection of patient safety improvement interventions. Though learning from other industries may be useful, caution is needed. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press in association with the International Society for Quality in Health Care.

Reparatory and Manufacturing Hard-Facing of Working Parts Made of Stainless Steels in Confectionary Industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Rakic

2012-09-01

Full Text Available In this paper, for the sake of improving the reparatory hard-facing technology is especially analyzed reparatory hard-facing of tools for manufacturing compressed products in confectionary industry. Those products are being made of a mixture consisting of several powdery components, which is compressed under high pressure. In that way the connection between particles is realized, thus achieving certain hardness and strength of the confectionary product. The considered tool is made of high-alloyed stainless steel. The tool contains 30 identical working places. Besides the production process wear, on those tools, from time to time, appear mechanical damage on some of the products' shape punches, as cracks at the edges, where the products' final shapes are formed. Those damages are small, size wise, but they cause strong effect on the products' final shape. The aggravating circumstance is that the shape punch is extremely loaded in pressure, thus after the reparatory hard-facing, the additional heat treatment is necessary. Mechanical properties in the heat affected zone (HAZ are being leveled by annealing and what also partially reduces the residual internal stresses.

Romanian healthcare system at a glance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christiana Balan

2013-04-01

Full Text Available The Romanian healthcare system is facing constant challenges to produce high quality care with low costs. Objectives The paper aims to analyze the efficiency of the Romanian healthcare system in terms of resources allocation. The evaluation and the dimension of healthcare system efficiency are important for identifying a balance between the resources required and the health outcomes. Prior Work Previous studies describe the Romanian healthcare system as a system in transition. This study focuses on the relationship between the inputs and outputs of the system. Approach In order to assess the efficiency of the Romanian healthcare system we use Data Envelopment Analysis approach. Both input and output healthcare indicators are observed for the period 1999-2010 and the years when healthcare inputs have been used efficiently are identified. Results The results show that human, financial, and technological resources have been used at maximum capacity in 1999, 2003, 2004, 2007 and 2010. Implications Though efficiency is defined differently by diverse stakeholders, healthcare policies should focus on rising the responsibility of communities and individuals for better treatments and services and better access to information on healthcare providers. Value The paper is an empirically based study of the healthcare resources allocation in Romania.

Editing faces in videos

OpenAIRE

Amberg, Brian

2011-01-01

Editing faces in movies is of interest in the special effects industry. We aim at producing effects such as the addition of accessories interacting correctly with the face or replacing the face of a stuntman with the face of the main actor. The system introduced in this thesis is based on a 3D generative face model. Using a 3D model makes it possible to edit the face in the semantic space of pose, expression, and identity instead of pixel space, and due to its 3D nature allows...

Data mining applications in healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Koh, Hian Chye; Tan, Gerald

2005-01-01

Data mining has been used intensively and extensively by many organizations. In healthcare, data mining is becoming increasingly popular, if not increasingly essential. Data mining applications can greatly benefit all parties involved in the healthcare industry. For example, data mining can help healthcare insurers detect fraud and abuse, healthcare organizations make customer relationship management decisions, physicians identify effective treatments and best practices, and patients receive better and more affordable healthcare services. The huge amounts of data generated by healthcare transactions are too complex and voluminous to be processed and analyzed by traditional methods. Data mining provides the methodology and technology to transform these mounds of data into useful information for decision making. This article explores data mining applications in healthcare. In particular, it discusses data mining and its applications within healthcare in major areas such as the evaluation of treatment effectiveness, management of healthcare, customer relationship management, and the detection of fraud and abuse. It also gives an illustrative example of a healthcare data mining application involving the identification of risk factors associated with the onset of diabetes. Finally, the article highlights the limitations of data mining and discusses some future directions.

Strategic alliances in healthcare: opportunities for the Veterans Affairs healthcare system.

Science.gov (United States)

Halverson, P K; Kaluzny, A D; Young, G J

1997-01-01

Strategic alliances are proving to be effective strategies for responding and adapting to changing environments, and as such they offer the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare system valuable opportunities for accomplishing the goals of its major reorganization effort. This article begins with an examination of basic strategic-alliance structures that are employed across many different types of industries. Next, consideration is given to the ways in which these basic alliance structures may be adapted to the unique organizations and individuals that serve as providers, purchasers, and consumers of health services. Finally, this article explores how models of strategic alliance in healthcare can be tailored to the specific needs and constraints of the VA healthcare system through an examination of existing and potential alliance opportunities.

Healthcare beyond reform: doing it right for half the cost

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Flower, Joe

2012-01-01

.... In Healthcare Beyond Reform: Doing It Right for Half the Cost, Joe Flower, a well respected healthcare futurist and industry thought leader, lays out his compelling practical vision of how healthcare can work better, and how we...

Effectiveness of blended depression treatment for adults in specialised mental healthcare

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kemmeren, L. L.; van Schaik, D. J F; Riper, H.

2016-01-01

is defined as the routine care that subjects receive when they are diagnosed with depression in specialised mental healthcare. Adult patients ≥ 18years old meeting DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for major depressive disorder will be recruited within participating outpatient specialised mental healthcare clinics......, but scientific evidence for the application in routine specialised mental healthcare settings is limited. Also, little is known about the clinical and health-economic benefits of blended treatment, where online interventions are integrated with face-to-face treatment of depression in one treatment protocol....... The primary aim of this study is to investigate the clinical and cost-effectiveness of blended Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (bCBT) for depression, as compared to treatment as usual (TAU) in specialised routine mental healthcare in the Netherlands. This trial is part of the E-COMPARED project which has...

Environmental issues facing the oil industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Skea, Jim

1992-01-01

Environmental policies and regulations are having profound effects on the oil industry. The industry is affected by controls on both its production and processing activities and on the use of its own products. The environmental impacts of upstream activities, epitomized by the Exxon Valdez accident, are leading to more expensive tanker designs. Oil markets can be changed by sulphur controls driven by concern about acid rain and new requirements in the USA to change gasoline specifications in order to reduce urban smog. The problem of climate change and CO 2 emissions poses even more fundamental challenges to the oil industry, with the prospect of reduced markets in the longer term. (author)

Engineering Value-Effective Healthcare Solutions: A Systems Design Perspective

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Patou, François; Maier, Anja

2017-01-01

Our modern healthcare systems commonly face an important dilemma. While they depend on innovation to provide continuously greater healthcare value, they also struggle financially with the burden of adopting a continuous flow of new products and services. Although several disruptive healthcare...... of Design for Evolvability and by elaborating on two examples: MRI systems and Point-of-Care in-vitro diagnostics solutions. We specifically argue that Design for Evolvability can realign the agendas of various healthcare stakeholders, serving both individual and national interests. We finally acknowledge...... the limitations of current engineering design practices and call for new theoretical and empirical research initiatives taking a systems perspective on healthcare product and service design....

Overview of alternative dispute resolution in healthcare disputes.

Science.gov (United States)

Saravia, A

1999-01-01

Various methods of alternative dispute resolution have gained wide acceptance in general commercial disputes. With the ever-increasing commercialization of the healthcare industry, many participants are examining ADR as a means of resolving disputes in this area as well. This Commentary provides an overview of the two most prevalent forms of ADR (arbitration and mediation), and discusses ongoing legislative, judicial, and industry activities that will guide the application of ADR in the healthcare arena.

Can pervasive sensing address current challenges in global healthcare?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Louis Atallah

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Important challenges facing global healthcare include the increase in the number of people affected by escalating healthcare costs, chronic and infectious diseases, the need for better and more affordable elderly care and expanding urbanisation combined with air and water pollution. Recent advances in pervasive sensing technologies have led to miniaturised sensor networks that can be worn or integrated within the living environment without affecting a person’s daily patterns. These sensors promise to change healthcare from snapshot measurements of physiological parameters to continuous monitoring enabling clinicians to provide guidance on a daily basis. This article surveys several of the solutions provided by these sensor platforms from elderly care to neonatal monitoring and environmental mapping. Some of the opportunities available and the challenges facing the adoption of such technologies in large-scale epidemiological studies are also discussed.

Healthcare beyond reform: doing it right for half the cost

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Flower, Joe

2012-01-01

.... In Healthcare Beyond Reform: Doing It Right for Half the Cost, Joe Flower, a well respected healthcare futurist and industry thought leader, lays out his compelling practical vision of how healthcare can work better, and how we can get...

An investigation into the challenges facing the future provision of continuing professional development for allied health professionals in a changing healthcare environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gibbs, Vivien

2011-01-01

This paper outlines current challenges facing healthcare providers and education providers in trying to ensure Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) are fit for practice, in a climate driven by financial constraints and service improvement directives from the Department of Health (DH). Research was undertaken in 2009 to investigate the current provision of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in the southwest region of England. The purpose was to define exactly what problems existed with this provision, and to propose changes which could be implemented in order to ensure that the provision meets the needs of stakeholders in future years.

How inverse solver technologies can support die face development and process planning in the automotive industry

Science.gov (United States)

Huhn, Stefan; Peeling, Derek; Burkart, Maximilian

2017-10-01

With the availability of die face design tools and incremental solver technologies to provide detailed forming feasibility results in a timely fashion, the use of inverse solver technologies and resulting process improvements during the product development process of stamped parts often is underestimated. This paper presents some applications of inverse technologies that are currently used in the automotive industry to streamline the product development process and greatly increase the quality of a developed process and the resulting product. The first focus is on the so-called target strain technology. Application examples will show how inverse forming analysis can be applied to support the process engineer during the development of a die face geometry for Class `A' panels. The drawing process is greatly affected by the die face design and the process designer has to ensure that the resulting drawn panel will meet specific requirements regarding surface quality and a minimum strain distribution to ensure dent resistance. The target strain technology provides almost immediate feedback to the process engineer during the die face design process if a specific change of the die face design will help to achieve these specific requirements or will be counterproductive. The paper will further show how an optimization of the material flow can be achieved through the use of a newly developed technology called Sculptured Die Face (SDF). The die face generation in SDF is more suited to be used in optimization loops than any other conventional die face design technology based on cross section design. A second focus in this paper is on the use of inverse solver technologies for secondary forming operations. The paper will show how the application of inverse technology can be used to accurately and quickly develop trim lines on simple as well as on complex support geometries.

Healthcare mergers and acquisitions: strategies for consolidation.

Science.gov (United States)

Zuckerman, Alan M

2011-01-01

The passage of federal healthcare reform legislation, in combination with other factors, makes it likely that the next few years will be a major period of consolidation for healthcare organizations. This article examines the seven key forces reshaping healthcare delivery--from insurance industry consolidation to cost inflation to the increasing gap between financially strong and struggling providers--and provides advice for organizations on both sides of an acquisition.

Opinions of UK rescue shelter and rehoming center workers on the problems facing their industry

OpenAIRE

Stavisky, Jenny; Brennan, Marnie L.; Downes, Martin J.; Dean, Rachel S.

2017-01-01

Animal shelters exist worldwide to care for and rehome unwanted or straying pets. Previous studies have examined why owners breed unwanted animals, or relinquish their pets to shelters. However, the views of shelter workers, who receive and care for these animals, have previously been largely unexplored. The aim of this study was to investigate the perceptions of animal shelter workers on the problems facing their industry. A sampling frame was constructed, consisting of every identified shel...

Security practices and regulatory compliance in the healthcare industry.

Science.gov (United States)

Kwon, Juhee; Johnson, M Eric

2013-01-01

Securing protected health information is a critical responsibility of every healthcare organization. We explore information security practices and identify practice patterns that are associated with improved regulatory compliance. We employed Ward's cluster analysis using minimum variance based on the adoption of security practices. Variance between organizations was measured using dichotomous data indicating the presence or absence of each security practice. Using t tests, we identified the relationships between the clusters of security practices and their regulatory compliance. We utilized the results from the Kroll/Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society telephone-based survey of 250 US healthcare organizations including adoption status of security practices, breach incidents, and perceived compliance levels on Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, Red Flags rules, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and state laws governing patient information security. Our analysis identified three clusters (which we call leaders, followers, and laggers) based on the variance of security practice patterns. The clusters have significant differences among non-technical practices rather than technical practices, and the highest level of compliance was associated with hospitals that employed a balanced approach between technical and non-technical practices (or between one-off and cultural practices). Hospitals in the highest level of compliance were significantly managing third parties' breaches and training. Audit practices were important to those who scored in the middle of the pack on compliance. Our results provide security practice benchmarks for healthcare administrators and can help policy makers in developing strategic and practical guidelines for practice adoption.

Trans-disciplinary community groups: an initiative for improving healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Sideras, James Demetri

2016-01-01

In the context of budget constraints and the current quality crisis facing UK healthcare, the purpose of this paper is to examine the use of trans-disciplinary community groups (TCG)--an innovative and inexpensive initiative for improving patient care. Using an action research study, TCG was implemented within a private healthcare firm for vulnerable adults. Qualitative data were gathered over 12 months from 33 participants using depth interviews and focus groups. TCG led to improved patient activities and increased patient decision-making and confidence in self-advocacy. Key prerequisites were top management commitment, democratic leadership and employee empowerment. However, staff nurses resisted TCG because they were inclined to using managerial control and their own independent clinical judgements. Whilst the findings from this study should not be generalized across all healthcare sectors, its results could be replicated in contexts where there is wide commitment to TCG and where managers adopt a democratic style of leadership. Researchers could take this study further by exploring the applicability of TCG in public healthcare organizations or other multi-disciplinary service contexts. The findings of this research paper provide policy makers and healthcare managers with practical insights on TCG and the factors that are likely to obstruct and facilitate its implementation. Adopting TCG could enable healthcare managers to ameliorate their services with little or no extra cost, which is especially important in a budget constraint context and the current quality crisis facing UK healthcare.

The A to Z of healthcare data breaches.

Science.gov (United States)

Kobus, Theodore J

2012-01-01

There currently exists a myriad of privacy laws that impact a healthcare entity, including more than 47 notification laws that require notification when a data breach occurs, as well as the breach notification requirements of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act. Given the plethora of issues a healthcare entity faces, there are certain principles that can be built into an organization's philosophy that will comply with the law and help protect it from reputational harm. © 2012 American Society for Healthcare Risk Management of the American Hospital Association.

Organisational, technological and economic innovations: the nuclear industry reinvents itself to face 2030 challenges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Faudon, Valerie; Jouette, Isabelle; Le Ngoc, Boris

2016-06-01

As the French nuclear industry is facing a major challenge (financial weakness, an electric power market in crisis, 15 years without building any reactor, delayed works), this report first outlines why innovation is necessary to guarantee a low carbon and competitive electricity, to comfort the leadership position of this sector in the world, and to respond to expectations of civil society. Then, it describes how the French nuclear industry is already implementing organisational, technological and social innovations, notably through the development of digital technologies. The third part identifies priorities of new public policies: to imagine a new business model for nuclear (a better visibility for investors, taking all induced costs in the power system into account in a diversified mix, reform of the carbon market, taking avoided atmospheric pollution into account), to rethink regulation in order to free innovation spirit, and to prepare the future by investing in research

Business process redesign in healthcare : towards an evidence-based holistic approach

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vanwersch, R.J.B.; Mans, R.S.; Reijers, H.A.; Shiharzi, A.

2012-01-01

The redesign of business processes has become the key challenge for many healthcare organizations. This paper argues that current main research streams fail to assist healthcare practitioners in facing this challenge. More specifically, the main research streams fail to support practitioners in

Filling the healthcare IT gap by 2015.

Science.gov (United States)

Bigalke, John T

2009-06-01

Healthcare organizations have been slow to adopt health IT. However, the government stimulus package and impending fines for hospitals that have not implemented HIT by 2015 will motivate adoption. Issues confronting healthcare executives include selection of vendors, command of privacy and security issues, and implementation of industry standards.

4th KES International Conference on Innovation in Medicine and Healthcare

CERN Document Server

Tanaka, Satoshi; Howlett, Robert; Jain, Lakhmi; InMed-16; Innovation in Medicine and Healthcare 2016

2016-01-01

This proceedings volume includes 32 papers, which present recent trends and innovations in medicine and healthcare including Innovative Technology in Mental Healthcare; Intelligent Decision Support Technologies and Systems in Healthcare; Biomedical Engineering, Trends, Research and Technologies; Advances in Data & Knowledge Management for Healthcare; Advanced ICT for Medical and Healthcare; Healthcare Support System; and Smart Medical and Healthcare System. Innovation in medicine and healthcare is an interdisciplinary research area, which combines the advanced technologies and problem solving skills with medical and biological science. A central theme of this proceedings is Smart Medical and Healthcare Systems (modern intelligent systems for medicine and healthcare), which can provide efficient and accurate solution to problems faced by healthcare and medical practitioners today by using advanced information communication techniques, computational intelligence, mathematics, robotics and other advanced tec...

Corporate social responsibility in the healthcare insurance industry: a cause-branding approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Alan D

2009-01-01

As citizens find healthcare issues to be the most important for companies to address, cause-branding as a suitable analysis for competitive comparison of any healthcare insurance firm's CSR would be in order. When these healthcare issues are properly addressed through CSR programmes of appropriate service providers, society benefits from better health, and the company benefits from decreased claims. Possible backlash of negative publicity may occur when stakeholders envision the company as merely contributing to community welfare as a means of advertising its compassion in exchange for a greater portion of the healthcare insurance marketplace. Several healthcare insurance providers were inspected, one in greater detail, on a series of principles grounded in cause-branding strategies were included in the case study of CSR initiatives, followed by the practical applications of lessons learned from the case studies.

Do reviews of healthcare interventions teach us how to improve healthcare systems?

Science.gov (United States)

Pawson, Ray; Greenhalgh, Joanne; Brennan, Cathy; Glidewell, Elizabeth

2014-08-01

Planners, managers and policy makers in modern health services are not without ingenuity - they will always try, try and try again. They face deep-seated or 'wicked' problems, which have complex roots in the labyrinthine structures though which healthcare is delivered. Accordingly, the interventions devised to deal with such stubborn problems usually come in the plural. Many different reforms are devised to deal with a particular stumbling block, which may be implemented sequentially, simultaneously or whenever policy fashion or funding dictates. This paper examines this predicament from the perspective of evidence based policy. How might researchers go about reviewing the evidence when they are faced with multiple or indeed competing interventions addressing the same problem? In the face of this plight a rather unheralded form of research synthesis has emerged, namely the 'typological review'. We critically review the fortunes of this strategy. Separating the putative reforms into series of subtypes and producing a scorecard of their outcomes has the unintended effect of divorcing them all from an understanding of how organisations change. A more fruitful approach may lie in a 'theory-driven review' underpinned by an understanding of dynamics of social change in complex organisations. We test this thesis by examining the primary and secondary research on the many interventions designed to tackle a particularly wicked problem, namely the inexorable rise in demand for healthcare. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Oxygen: the two-faced elixir of life.

Science.gov (United States)

Biddle, Chuck

2008-02-01

Take a moment and consider our planet without oxygen. Imagine the earth some 2.5 billion years ago when oxygen first appeared as a waste product of early anaerobes. Oxygen, as we know it today, is essential for life. Abundant and relatively inexpensive to manufacture, oxygen has widespread use in industry and healthcare. Anesthesia providers routinely administer oxygen in concentrations exceeding that in ambient air to ensure clinical safety and to offset the predictable sequelae associated with patient, drug-related, and procedural factors. Understanding the history of this unique element is critical in evaluating the often contentious body of contemporary research that has illuminated its efficacy (as elixir) and its attendant complications (its "two-faced" nature). Of particular interest is its role in free radical formation as etiogenic in developing complications. Oxygen is a mainstay in the perioperative management of patients, but its administration should be guided by thoughtful and rational goal-directed outcomes to maximize efficacy and minimize complications associated with its use.

Difficulties facing healthcare workers in the era of AIDS treatment in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2016-04-29

Apr 29, 2016 ... number of people seeking care, high patients' healthcare costs and demand ... nursing posts are vacant and there are fewer than 100 (0.5 phys- icians per ..... is no cure for AIDS even though treatment is available. They indi-.

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE BARRIERS FACING BLACK AND MINORITY ETHNICS WITHIN THE UK CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vian Ahmed

2008-12-01

Full Text Available The UK construction industry is one of the largest employers, positioned as the country’s top employer with over two million employees and projected to continue growth as far as 2011. However, it is facing ongoing skills shortages in a number of professional areas and tends to lack an ethnic diversity of workers compared to the White community of workers across the whole economy. The government’s Ethnic Minority Employment Task Force shows that for any given level of qualification, a Black or ethnic minority person is less likely to be employed, than a similarly qualified White person. Current research into issues surrounding ethnicity, from academia to employment is scarce, particularly in entry and process development within the construction industry. The aim of this paper is to outline the findings from perceptional and experiential barriers of Black and Minority Ethnics (BMEs students and employees, in order to identify perceptional and actual barriers that lead to the under-representation of BMEs within the construction industry; and also to suggest how better knowledge flow mechanisms could lead to a more balanced development, particularly in terms of ethnic diversification in the UK construction industry. The aim was achieved by adopting qualitative and quantitative methods including questionnaire surveys of undergraduate students in a construction related program, employees working within the construction industry and interviews with company directors and human resource managers. The image of the construction industry is found to be one of the major barriers for entry into the industry. Language and cultures form additional barriers for a range of ethnic groupings. Support, in the form of recruitment events, training, mentoring, professional networking, as well as work placement and experience schemes, can smooth entry, retention and progression within the construction industry.

Decision making and coping in healthcare: The Coping in Deliberation (CODE) framework.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Witt, J.; Elwyn, G.; Wood, F.; Brain, K.

2012-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To develop a framework of decision making and coping in healthcare that describes the twin processes of appraisal and coping faced by patients making preference-sensitive healthcare decisions. METHODS: We briefly review the literature for decision making theories and coping theories

The development of intelligent healthcare in China.

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Xiaochen; Rodríguez-Monroy, Carlos

2015-05-01

Intelligent healthcare (IH) is proposed with the fast application of Internet of Things technology in the healthcare area in recent years. It is considered as an expansion of e-health and telemedicine. As the largest developing country, China is investing large amounts of resources to push forward the development of IH. It is one of the centerpieces of the country's New Healthcare Reform, and great expectation is placed on it to help solve the conflict between limited healthcare resources and the large patient population. Essential policies, milestones, standards, and specifications from the Chinese government since the 1990s were reviewed to show the brief development history of IH in China. Some typical cases and products have been analyzed to present the current situation. The main problems and future development directions have been summarized. The IH industry in China has great potential and is growing very fast, but a lot of challenges also exist. In the future both government support and the active participation of nongovernmental capital are needed to push forward the whole industry.

Let's talk conflict: using mediation in healthcare security disputes.

Science.gov (United States)

Armstrong, Brad

2013-01-01

Healthcare security administrators face weekly, if not daily challenges and conflict. This article considers that security leaders must anticipate disputes in highly complex healthcare systems. When disputes cannot be resolved by organizational efforts, security administrators may be in a position to recommend or participate in mediation. Here the concept of mediation is introduced to healthcare security leaders as a viable means to resolve disputes with patients, visitors, and the community. This includes a description of the facilitative versus evaluative mediation processes, as well as pragmatic guidance when preparing for mediation.

E-commerce in healthcare: changing the traditional landscape.

Science.gov (United States)

Aggarwal, A K; Travers, S

2001-01-01

The healthcare industry, with more than one trillion dollars in revenue, accounts for about one-seventh of the U.S. economy. A significant portion of this revenue is lost to escalating healthcare system costs. This article examines the shortcomings of the traditional healthcare delivery system in terms of information flow, communication standards, case collections, and IT spending. It makes the case that e-commerce has the ability to transact some healthcare business more efficiently and cost-effectively. With the Internet as a delivery platform, several models offer improvement over the status quo.

Healthcare professionals experience with motivational interviewing in their encounter with obese pregnant women

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lindhardt, Christina Louise; Rubak, Sune; Mogensen, Ole

2015-01-01

OBJECTIVE: to explore and describe how healthcare professionals in the Southern Region of Denmark experienced motivational interviewing as a communication method when working with pregnant women with obesity. DESIGN: a qualitative, descriptive study based on face-to-face interviews with 11...... a descriptive analysis methodology. FINDINGS: motivational interviewing was found to be a useful method when communicating with obese pregnant women. The method made the healthcare professionals more aware of their own communication style both when encountering pregnant women and in their interaction...... awareness of the healthcare professionals communication method with the patients and increased their ability to handle a difficult workload. Overall, lack of time restricted the use of the motivational interviewing method on a daily basis....

Finnish perspectives of wireless in healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Alasaarela, Esko

2009-01-01

Wireless solutions are a good choice for healthcare development in Finland. A survey of 135 experts in Finland show that (1) the competences needed for developing wireless solutions exist (2) the Finnish healthcare system is integrated enough and (3) the technology industry in this area is too weak for global marketing. The following recommendations can be concluded: (1) Cooperate internationally (2) Develop integrated solutions and health managing concepts for the important health problems (such as diabetes), (3) Harness the healthcare system to act as a test bed for new solutions and (4) Help companies to grow and take global roles.

A Framework for Designing a Healthcare Outcome Data Warehouse

Science.gov (United States)

Parmanto, Bambang; Scotch, Matthew; Ahmad, Sjarif

2005-01-01

Many healthcare processes involve a series of patient visits or a series of outcomes. The modeling of outcomes associated with these types of healthcare processes is different from and not as well understood as the modeling of standard industry environments. For this reason, the typical multidimensional data warehouse designs that are frequently seen in other industries are often not a good match for data obtained from healthcare processes. Dimensional modeling is a data warehouse design technique that uses a data structure similar to the easily understood entity-relationship (ER) model but is sophisticated in that it supports high-performance data access. In the context of rehabilitation services, we implemented a slight variation of the dimensional modeling technique to make a data warehouse more appropriate for healthcare. One of the key aspects of designing a healthcare data warehouse is finding the right grain (scope) for different levels of analysis. We propose three levels of grain that enable the analysis of healthcare outcomes from highly summarized reports on episodes of care to fine-grained studies of progress from one treatment visit to the next. These grains allow the database to support multiple levels of analysis, which is imperative for healthcare decision making. PMID:18066371

A framework for designing a healthcare outcome data warehouse.

Science.gov (United States)

Parmanto, Bambang; Scotch, Matthew; Ahmad, Sjarif

2005-09-06

Many healthcare processes involve a series of patient visits or a series of outcomes. The modeling of outcomes associated with these types of healthcare processes is different from and not as well understood as the modeling of standard industry environments. For this reason, the typical multidimensional data warehouse designs that are frequently seen in other industries are often not a good match for data obtained from healthcare processes. Dimensional modeling is a data warehouse design technique that uses a data structure similar to the easily understood entity-relationship (ER) model but is sophisticated in that it supports high-performance data access. In the context of rehabilitation services, we implemented a slight variation of the dimensional modeling technique to make a data warehouse more appropriate for healthcare. One of the key aspects of designing a healthcare data warehouse is finding the right grain (scope) for different levels of analysis. We propose three levels of grain that enable the analysis of healthcare outcomes from highly summarized reports on episodes of care to fine-grained studies of progress from one treatment visit to the next. These grains allow the database to support multiple levels of analysis, which is imperative for healthcare decision making.

Leading ladies: women in healthcare leadership.

Science.gov (United States)

Fontenot, Teri

2012-01-01

Women represent an overwhelming majority of the healthcare workforce, yet they are significantly underrepresented in leadership positions, particularly at the executive and board levels. However, women are uniquely positioned to leverage traits such as compassion, transparency, and the ability to foster teamwork to lead organizations into the next phase of contemporary healthcare delivery. In the future, the pace with which women gain access to the C-suite will accelerate as organizations embrace diversity and select the best qualified leaders in terms of both experience and leadership style that supports organizational culture. While the future for women in healthcare leadership looks bright, many women are currently struggling to reach the executive office, facing glass ceilings, competing priorities, and lack of access to support and guidance. In this article I discuss the role of women in healthcare leadership and offer practical suggestions on how women can reach the top echelon and achieve their goals and aspirations.

Priming the Pump for Big Data at Sentara Healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Kern, Howard P; Reagin, Michael J; Reese, Bertram S

2016-01-01

Today's healthcare organizations are facing significant demands with respect to managing population health, demonstrating value, and accepting risk for clinical outcomes across the continuum of care. The patient's environment outside the walls of the hospital and physician's office-and outside the electronic health record (EHR)-has a substantial impact on clinical care outcomes. The use of big data is key to understanding factors that affect the patient's health status and enhancing clinicians' ability to anticipate how the patient will respond to various therapies. Big data is essential to delivering sustainable, highquality, value-based healthcare, as well as to the success of new models of care such as clinically integrated networks (CINs) and accountable care organizations.Sentara Healthcare, based in Norfolk, Virginia, has been an early adopter of the technologies that have readied us for our big data journey: EHRs, telehealth-supported electronic intensive care units, and telehealth primary care support through MDLIVE. Although we would not say Sentara is at the cutting edge of the big data trend, it certainly is among the fast followers. Use of big data in healthcare is still at an early stage compared with other industries. Tools for data analytics are maturing, but traditional challenges such as heightened data security and limited human resources remain the primary focus for regional health systems to improve care and reduce costs. Sentara primarily makes actionable use of big data in our CIN, Sentara Quality Care Network, and at our health plan, Optima Health. Big data projects can be expensive, and justifying the expense organizationally has often been easier in times of crisis. We have developed an analytics strategic plan separate from but aligned with corporate system goals to ensure optimal investment and management of this essential asset.

Leading Lean: a Canadian healthcare leader's guide.

Science.gov (United States)

Fine, Benjamin A; Golden, Brian; Hannam, Rosemary; Morra, Dante

2009-01-01

Canadian healthcare organizations are increasingly asked to do more with less, and too often this has resulted in demands on staff to simply work harder and longer. Lean methodologies, originating from Japanese industrial organizations and most notably Toyota, offer an alternative - tried and tested approaches to working smarter. Lean, with its systematic approaches to reducing waste, has found its way to Canadian healthcare organizations with promising results. This article reports on a study of five Canadian healthcare providers that have recently implemented Lean. We offer stories of success but also identify potential obstacles and ways by which they may be surmounted to provide better value for our healthcare investments.

Strategies for navigating the healthcare credit market.

Science.gov (United States)

Wareham, T L

2001-04-01

Not-for-profit healthcare organizations are experiencing a tightened credit market due to financial stresses on the healthcare industry such as declining payments, effects of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, and the shift to outpatient care. In the future, healthcare organizations wanting to access the capital market will be expected to preserve cash as an "insurance policy," offer greater security and stricter covenants, and report financial information on a quarterly basis. To meet these requirements and navigate today's tighter credit market, healthcare financial managers will need to focus on the organization's most reliably profitable areas of business, link strategic and financial issues, and carefully monitor the balance sheet.

To serve or to leave: a question faced by public sector healthcare providers in Pakistan.

Science.gov (United States)

Mir, Ali Mohammad; Shaikh, Muhammad Saleem; Rashida, Gul; Mankani, Neha

2015-11-25

The availability of properly trained and motivated providers is a prerequisite for provision of easily accessible healthcare. Pakistan has been listed by the World Health Organization in its World Health Report 2006 as one of 57 countries with a critical health workforce deficiency. This study examines the factors associated with the willingness of public sector healthcare providers to leave government service and recommends measures that can be adopted to attract and retain staff in the country's public healthcare system. A stratified, random sampling methodology was adopted to recruit a nationally representative sample of 1,296 public sector healthcare providers, including paramedics, medical doctors, and specialists. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to interview these providers. Logistic regressions measured the association with determinants of their willingness to leave the public health sector for better prospects elsewhere. A third of all healthcare providers who were interviewed were of the view that, provided the opportunity, they would leave government service. The odds of willingness to leave service were highest among providers from the region of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 4.33; 95% CI, 2.49-7.54) followed by the province of Balochistan (AOR = 4.21; 95% CI, 2.41-7.33), and the region of Gilgit Baltistan (AOR = 3.34; 95% CI, 1.67-6.67). Providers who expressed dissatisfaction in the manner their performance was evaluated and those who were dissatisfied with the current salary, each had higher odds of considering leaving government service (AOR = 1.67; 95% CI, 1.18-2.40 and AOR = 2.03; 95% CI, 1.47-2.81, respectively). Providers who reported experiencing interference in their work by influential politicians of the area were more inclined to leave (AOR = 1.44; 95% CI, 1.05-1.98). This study clearly highlights the need to implement more focused strategies in the public healthcare system in Pakistan in

Some environmental challenges which the uranium production industry faces in the 21st century

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Lisheng

2004-01-01

Some of the environmental challenges which the uranium production industry faces in the 21st century have been discussed in the paper. They are: the use of the linear non-threshold (LNT) model for radiation protection, the concept of 'controllable dose' as an alternative to the current International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) system of dose limitation, the future of collective dose and the ALARA (As low As Reasonably Achievable) principle and the application of a risk-based framework for managing hazards. The author proposes that, the risk assessment/risk management framework could be used for managing the environmental, safety and decommissioning issues associated with the uranium fuel cycle. (author)

The future of e-learning in healthcare professional education: some possible directions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kieran Walsh

2014-12-01

Full Text Available E-learning in healthcare professional education still seems like it is a new innovation but the reality is that e-learning has been around for as long as the internet has been around. This is approximately twenty years and so it is probably appropriate to now take stock and consider what the future of e-learning in healthcare professional education might be. One likely occurrence is that there will be more formats, more interactive technology, and sometimes game-based learning. Another future of healthcare professional education will likely be in simulation. Like other forms of technology outside of medicine, the cost of e-learning in healthcare professional education will fall rapidly. E-learning will also become more adaptive in the future and so will deliver educational content based on learners' exact needs. The future of e-learning will also be mobile. Increasingly in the future e-learning will be blended with face to face education.

Mapping educational opportunities for healthcare workers on antimicrobial resistance and stewardship around the world.

Science.gov (United States)

Rogers Van Katwyk, Susan; Jones, Sara L; Hoffman, Steven J

2018-02-05

Antimicrobial resistance is an important global issue facing society. Healthcare workers need to be engaged in solving this problem, as advocates for rational antimicrobial use, stewards of sustainable effectiveness, and educators of their patients. To fulfill this role, healthcare workers need access to training and educational resources on antimicrobial resistance. To better understand the resources available to healthcare workers, we undertook a global environmental scan of educational programs and resources targeting healthcare workers on the topic of antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial stewardship. Programs were identified through contact with key experts, web searching, and academic literature searching. We summarized programs in tabular form, including participating organizations, region, and intended audience. We developed a coding system to classify programs by program type and participating organization type, assigning multiple codes as necessary and creating summary charts for program types, organization types, and intended audience to illustrate the breadth of available resources. We identified 94 educational initiatives related to antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial stewardship, which represent a diverse array of programs including courses, workshops, conferences, guidelines, public outreach materials, and online-resource websites. These resources were developed by a combination of government bodies, professional societies, universities, non-profit and community organizations, hospitals and healthcare centers, and insurance companies and industry. Most programs either targeted healthcare workers collectively or specifically targeted physicians. A smaller number of programs were aimed at other healthcare worker groups including pharmacists, nurses, midwives, and healthcare students. Our environmental scan shows that there are many organizations working to develop and share educational resources for healthcare workers on antimicrobial

Is sustainable development attainable? Challenges facing forestry and the forest products industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wrist, P.E.

1991-01-01

The challenges that face the forest industry in achieving sustainable development are reviewed. Sustainable development is not the same as sustained yield forest management. While sustained yield limits harvesting to an estimate of a forest's incremental annual growth, it is a policy which neither takes into account how improved forest management practices can increase future growth rates nor gives guidance on how multiple uses for the forest resource can be made compatible with periodic harvesting of that resource. Forests, in addition to meeting demands for timber production, must also meet demands for watershed management, recreation, preservation of wildlife and genetic diversity, moderation of climates, carbon sequestration, and land reclamation. Information is lacking from which to develop improved forest management programs that take these demands into account. Questions remain about such matters as the role of plantations in sustainable forestry and the maintenance of natural diversity. Some recent research being undertaken to generate better information for future forestry decision making is outlined, including work on gene pool maintenance, the interdependence of forest ecology and climate, the symbiotic role of mycorrhiza, forest fertilization, and the interdependence of sustainable forestry and sustainable fisheries. In the forest products industry, engineered wood products have been developed that meet tight specifications and require less raw material, and process changes have been introduced that greatly reduce pollutants from pulp manufacture

Managing healthcare services in the global marketplace.

Science.gov (United States)

Fried, Bruce J; Harris, Dean M

2007-01-01

The world is getting "flatter"; people, information, technology, and ideas are increasingly crossing national borders. U.S. healthcare is not immune from the forces of globalization. Competition from medical tourism and the rapid growth in the number of undocumented aliens requiring care represent just two challenges healthcare organizations face. An international workforce requires leaders to confront the legal, financial, and ethical implications of using foreign-trained personnel. Cross-border institutional arrangements are emerging, drawing players motivated by social responsibility, globalization of competitors, growth opportunities, or an awareness of vulnerability to the forces of globalization. Forward-thinking healthcare leaders will begin to identify global strategies that address global pressures, explore the opportunities, and take practical steps to prepare for a flatter world.

Healthcare economics for the emergency physician.

Science.gov (United States)

Propp, Douglas A; Krubert, Christopher; Sasson, Andres

2003-01-01

Although the principles of healthcare economics are not usually part of the fundamental education of emergency physicians, an understanding of these elements will enhance our ability to contribute to improved health-care value. This article introduces the practical aspects of microeconomics, insurance, the supply-and-demand relationship, competition, and costs as they affect the practice of medicine on a daily basis. Being cognizant of how these elements create a dynamic interplay in the health-care industry will allow physicians to better understand the expanded role they need to assume in the ongoing cost and quality debate. Copyright 2003, Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.)

Bill Gates eyes healthcare market.

Science.gov (United States)

Dunbar, C

1995-02-01

The entrepreneurial spirit is still top in Bill Gates' mind as he look toward healthcare and other growth industries. Microsoft's CEO has not intention of going the way of other large technology companies that became obsolete before they could compete today.

Using the socio-ecological framework to determine breastfeeding obstacles in a low-income population in Tijuana, Mexico: healthcare services.

Science.gov (United States)

Bueno-Gutierrez, Diana; Chantry, Caroline

2015-03-01

In Mexico, breastfeeding rates are one of the lowest of Latin America, with 14.4% of infants under 6 months being exclusively breastfed. Previous studies indicate that lack of support from healthcare services is a serious obstacle to breastfeeding mothers in Mexico. Our objective was to identify the main obstacles to breastfeeding presented by the healthcare services in a low-income population in Tijuana, Mexico. We used a socio-ecological framework to determine factors affecting breastfeeding practices. In four low-income communities in Tijuana we conducted focus groups and interviews with mothers, fathers, grandparents, and key informants. Interview notes and focus group transcripts were then studied in-depth independently by three researchers. The primary analytic technique was constant comparison. One hundred twenty-nine subjects participated in this study: six focus groups (n=53) and 51 interviews among mothers, fathers, and grandparents, as well as 25 interviews among key informants. Main healthcare service obstacles to breastfeeding were erroneous information, lack of training and supervision, negative attitudes, miscommunication between healthcare providers (HCPs) and patients, detrimental medical practices such as giving free formula at hospitals, and the conflict of interest between the infant food industry and the HCPs. This study showed that women in low-income communities in Tijuana face multiple obstacles to breastfeeding presented by healthcare services. In order to increase breastfeeding rates, institutional and structural changes are required.

The need for control, safety and trust in healthcare: A qualitative study among adolescents and young adults exposed to family violence

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rosmalen-Nooijens, K.A.W.L. van; Lo Fo Wong, S.H.; Prins, J.B.; Lagro-Janssen, A.L.M.

2017-01-01

OBJECTIVE: Adolescents and young adults (AYA) exposed to family violence are in need of professional healthcare. However, only one-third of them seek professional help. METHODS: This study investigates healthcare needs of twelve AYA exposed to family violence. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews

The future of e-learning in healthcare professional education: some possible directions. Commentary.

Science.gov (United States)

Walsh, Kieran

2014-01-01

E-learning in healthcare professional education still seems like it is a new innovation but the reality is that e-learning has been around for as long as the internet has been around. This is approximately twenty years and so it is probably appropriate to now take stock and consider what the future of e-learning in healthcare professional education might be. One likely occurrence is that there will be more formats, more interactive technology, and sometimes game-based learning. Another future of healthcare professional education will likely be in simulation. Like other forms of technology outside of medicine, the cost of e-learning in healthcare professional education will fall rapidly. E-learning will also become more adaptive in the future and so will deliver educational content based on learners' exact needs. The future of e-learning will also be mobile. Increasingly in the future e-learning will be blended with face to face education.

Healthcare scandals in the NHS: crime and punishment.

Science.gov (United States)

Alghrani, Amel; Brazier, Margaret; Farrell, Anne-Maree; Griffiths, Danielle; Allen, Neil

2011-04-01

The Francis Report into failures of care at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Hospital documented a series of 'shocking' systematic failings in healthcare that left patients routinely neglected, humiliated and in pain as the Trust focused on cutting costs and hitting government targets. At present, the criminal law in England plays a limited role in calling healthcare professionals to account for failures in care. Normally, only if a gross error leads to death will a doctor or nurse face the prospect of prosecution. Doctors and nurses caring for patients under the Mental Health Act 1983 and the Mental Capacity Act 2005 may however be prosecuted for wilful neglect of a patient. In the light of the Francis Report, this article considers whether the criminal offence of wilful neglect should be extended to a broader healthcare setting and not confined to mental healthcare.

Development of a framework for identification of political environmental issues faced by multinational hotel chains in newly industrialized countries in Asia

OpenAIRE

Kim, Chol Yong

1992-01-01

The primary/objective of this study was to develop a framework for identification of political environmental issues faced by multinational hotel chains in newly industrialized countries in Asia. To accomplish the objective, key factors having an impact upon these hotel chains were identified using the Delphi Technique.

Industry. The french electric power and gas industries face the debate on their capital opening

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bernard, C.; Trentesaux, J.

2002-01-01

In the framework of the market opening, the public utilities EdF and GdF have to face their personnel anxiety. The human problems of the situation are presented facing the advantages of the market deregulation. (A.L.B.)

Ethics in health care: healthcare fraud

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Ethics CPD Supplement: Ethics in health care: Healthcare Fraud. S10. Vol 56 No 1 Supplement 1. S Afr Fam Pract 2014. Introduction. Vintage images are easily found depicting a virtuous doctor with a look of honesty and compassion on his or her face bending over a patient, stethoscope in hand, ready to perform a clinical ...

Case Study: Developing, Implementing, and Evaluating a One-Day Leadership Conference to Foster Women's Leadership in Healthcare

OpenAIRE

Kerry K. Fierke; Margarette L. Kading

2014-01-01

Despite women increasingly entering the healthcare field, they still face barriers to advancing in leadership ranks within healthcare. To address the need for leadership development among women in healthcare, the Center for Leading Healthcare Change (CLHC) at the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy piloted a one-day conference in November 2012 entitled "Women Impacting Healthcare: Decide to Make a Difference." This conference utilized an interactive agenda: each speaker's presentation...

Applying analytic hierarchy process to assess healthcare-oriented cloud computing service systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Liao, Wen-Hwa; Qiu, Wan-Li

2016-01-01

Numerous differences exist between the healthcare industry and other industries. Difficulties in the business operation of the healthcare industry have continually increased because of the volatility and importance of health care, changes to and requirements of health insurance policies, and the statuses of healthcare providers, which are typically considered not-for-profit organizations. Moreover, because of the financial risks associated with constant changes in healthcare payment methods and constantly evolving information technology, healthcare organizations must continually adjust their business operation objectives; therefore, cloud computing presents both a challenge and an opportunity. As a response to aging populations and the prevalence of the Internet in fast-paced contemporary societies, cloud computing can be used to facilitate the task of balancing the quality and costs of health care. To evaluate cloud computing service systems for use in health care, providing decision makers with a comprehensive assessment method for prioritizing decision-making factors is highly beneficial. Hence, this study applied the analytic hierarchy process, compared items related to cloud computing and health care, executed a questionnaire survey, and then classified the critical factors influencing healthcare cloud computing service systems on the basis of statistical analyses of the questionnaire results. The results indicate that the primary factor affecting the design or implementation of optimal cloud computing healthcare service systems is cost effectiveness, with the secondary factors being practical considerations such as software design and system architecture.

Healthcare professionals experience with motivational interviewing in their encounter with obese pregnant women.

Science.gov (United States)

Lindhardt, Christina Louise; Rubak, Sune; Mogensen, Ole; Hansen, Helle Ploug; Goldstein, Henri; Lamont, Ronald F; Joergensen, Jan Stener

2015-07-01

to explore and describe how healthcare professionals in the Southern Region of Denmark experienced motivational interviewing as a communication method when working with pregnant women with obesity. a qualitative, descriptive study based on face-to-face interviews with 11 obstetric healthcare professionals working in a perinatal setting. a thematic descriptive method was applied to semi-structured interviews. The healthcare professional's experiences were recorded verbatim during individual semi-structured qualitative interviews, transcribed, and analysed using a descriptive analysis methodology. motivational interviewing was found to be a useful method when communicating with obese pregnant women. The method made the healthcare professionals more aware of their own communication style both when encountering pregnant women and in their interaction with colleagues. However, most of the healthcare professionals emphasised that time was crucial and they had to be dedicated to the motivational interviewing method. The healthcare professionals further stated that it enabled them to become more professional in their daily work and made some of them feel less 'burned out', 'powerless' and 'stressed' as they felt they had a communication method in handling difficult workloads. healthcare professionals experienced motivational interviewing to be a useful method when working perinatally. The motivational interviewing method permitted heightened awareness of the healthcare professionals communication method with the patients and increased their ability to handle a difficult workload. Overall, lack of time restricted the use of the motivational interviewing method on a daily basis. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

New Face of China's Telecom Industry

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Zheng Ping

2008-01-01

@@ On October 15 2008, China Unicorn merged with China Netcom, the latter declaring withdrawal from the market. Both agreed, to rename "China Unicorn Limited" as 'China Unicorn (HongKong) Limited ', which happened just after China Mobile had announced that would become its wholly-owned subsidiary and China Telecom had proclaimed that it would take over the CDMA business from China Unicorn since October 1 2008. It means that the "six to three" reorganization has finally become a reality and marks the beginning of an era of All-Service Operation for the telecom industry. The three new telecom operators will surely undergo profound changes in corporate strategy and operation areas, it is foreseeable that the merging of China Netcom with China Unicorn will rewrite the history of the development of China's telecom industry.

Architecture for Business Intelligence in the Healthcare Sector

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Sang Young

2018-03-01

Healthcare environment is growing to include not only the traditional information systems, but also a business intelligence platform. For executive leaders, consultants, and analysts, there is no longer a need to spend hours in design and develop of typical reports or charts, the entire solution can be completed through using Business Intelligence software. The current paper highlights the advantages of big data analytics and business intelligence in the healthcare industry. In this paper, In this paper we focus our discussion around intelligent techniques and methodologies which are recently used for business intelligence in healthcare.

THE MARKETING MIX FOR LOW COST HEALTHCARE

OpenAIRE

Julie George; Dr. Manita D. Shah

2017-01-01

The Indian health care industry has a history of dealing with poor doctor-patient ratio, shortage of medical professionals, poor health infrastructure, and low expenditure on healthcare information technology; steep out of pocket spending (OOP), low health insurance coverage, inadequate government spending, poor access to health care facilities and social stigma related to diseases. The unique mindset and ability for frugality has successfully been applied in offering low cost healthcare of u...

Crew resource management: applications in healthcare organizations.

Science.gov (United States)

Oriol, Mary David

2006-09-01

Healthcare organizations continue their struggle to establish a culture of open communication and collaboration. Lessons are learned from the aviation industry, which long ago acknowledged that most errors were the result of poor communication and coordination rather than individual mistakes. The author presents a review of how some healthcare organizations have successfully adopted aviation's curriculum called Crew Resource Management, which promotes and reinforces the conscious, learned team behaviors of cooperation, coordination, and sharing.

Remote versus face-to-face check-ups for asthma.

Science.gov (United States)

Kew, Kayleigh M; Cates, Christopher J

2016-04-18

Asthma remains a significant cause of avoidable morbidity and mortality. Regular check-ups with a healthcare professional are essential to monitor symptoms and adjust medication.Health services worldwide are considering telephone and internet technologies as a way to manage the rising number of people with asthma and other long-term health conditions. This may serve to improve health and reduce the burden on emergency and inpatient services. Remote check-ups may represent an unobtrusive and efficient way of maintaining contact with patients, but it is uncertain whether conducting check-ups in this way is effective or whether it may have unexpected negative consequences. To assess the safety and efficacy of conducting asthma check-ups remotely versus usual face-to-face consultations. We identified trials from the Cochrane Airways Review Group Specialised Register (CAGR) up to 24 November 2015. We also searched www.clinicaltrials.gov, the World Health Organization (WHO) trials portal, reference lists of other reviews and contacted trial authors for additional information. We included parallel randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of adults or children with asthma that compared remote check-ups conducted using any form of technology versus standard face-to-face consultations. We excluded studies that used automated telehealth interventions that did not include personalised contact with a health professional. We included studies reported as full-text articles, as abstracts only and unpublished data. Two review authors screened the literature search results and independently extracted risk of bias and numerical data. We resolved any disagreements by consensus, and we contacted study authors for missing information.We analysed dichotomous data as odds ratios (ORs) using study participants as the unit of analysis, and continuous data as mean differences using the random-effects models. We rated all outcomes using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and

Return Migrants’ Experience of Access to Care in Corrupt Healthcare Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Handlos, Line Neerup; Olwig, Karen Fog; Bygbjerg, Ib Christian

2016-01-01

unstudied, even though return migrants may be particularly vulnerable to problems related to corruption due to their period of absence from their country of origin. This article investigates how corruption in the healthcare sector affects access to healthcare for refugees who repatriated to Bosnia......Equal and universal access to healthcare services is a core priority for a just health system. A key societal determinant seen to create inequality in access to healthcare is corruption in the healthcare system. How return migrants’ access to healthcare is affected by corruption is largely......, a country with a high level of corruption, from Denmark, a country with a low level of corruption. The study is based on 18 semi-structured interviews with 33 refugees who returned after long-term residence in Denmark. We found that the returned refugees faced greater problems with corruption than...

mHealth transforming healthcare

CERN Document Server

Malvey, Donna

2014-01-01

Examines regulatory trends and their impact on mHealth innovations and applications Offers solutions for those in the health care industry that are attempting to engage consumers in reducing healthcare costs and in improving their health care encounters and personal health Explains what is necessary for long-term viability of mHealth as a health care delivery medium.

Healthcare system simulation using Witness

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khakdaman, Masoud; Zeinahvazi, Milad; Zohoori, Bahareh; Nasiri, Fardokht; Wong, Kuan Yew

2013-01-01

Simulation techniques have a proven track record in manufacturing industry as well as other areas such as healthcare system improvement. In this study, simulation model of a health center in Malaysia is developed through the application of WITNESS simulation software which has shown its flexibility and capability in manufacturing industry. Modelling procedure is started through process mapping and data collection and continued with model development, verification, validation and experimentation. At the end, final results and possible future improvements are demonstrated.

The Imminent Healthcare and Emergency Care Crisis in Japan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suzuki, Tetsuji

2008-05-01

Full Text Available Objectives: Japan has a universal healthcare system, and this paper describes the reality of the healthcare services provided, as well as current issues with the system.Methods: Academic, government, and press reports on Japanese healthcare systems and healthcare guidelines were reviewed.Results: The universal healthcare system of Japan is considered internationally to be both low-cost and effective because the Japanese population enjoys good health status with a long life expectancy, while healthcare spending in Japan is below the average given by the Organization for Economic Corporation and Development (OECD. However, in many regions of Japan the existing healthcare resources are seriously inadequate, especially with regard to the number of physicians and other health professionals. Because healthcare is traditionally viewed as “sacred” work in Japan, healthcare professionals are expected to make large personal sacrifices. Also, public attitudes toward medical malpractice have changed in recent decades, and medical professionals are facing legal issues without experienced support of the government or legal professionals. Administrative response to the lack of resources and collaboration among communities are beginning, and more efficient control and management of the healthcare system is under consideration.Conclusion: The Japanese healthcare system needs to adopt an efficient medical control organization to ease the strain on existing healthcare professionals and to increase the number of physicians and other healthcare resources. Rather than continuing to depend on healthcare professionals being able and willing to make personal sacrifices, the government, the public and medical societies must cooperate and support changes in the healthcare system.

Healthcare decision-tools a growing Web trend: three-pronged public relations campaign heightens presence, recognition for online healthcare information provider.

Science.gov (United States)

2006-01-01

Schwartz Communications, LLC, executes a successful PR campaign to position Subimo, a provider of online healthcare decision tools, as a leader in the industry that touts names such as WebMD.com and HealthGrades.com. Through a three-pronged media relations strategy, Schwartz and Subimo together branded the company as an industry thought-leader.

Minor mental disorders in Taiwanese healthcare workers and the associations with psychosocial work conditions

OpenAIRE

Cheng, Wan-Ju; Cheng, Yawen

2017-01-01

Healthcare workers face multiple psychosocial work hazards intrinsic to their work, including heavy workloads and shift work. However, how contemporary adverse psychosocial work conditions, such as workplace justice and insecurity, may contribute to increased mental health risks has rarely been studied. This study aimed to search for modifiable psychosocial work factors associated with mental health disorders in Taiwanese healthcare workers. Methods: A total of 349 healthcare workers were ...

Yards face up to future

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bru, Jan Gunnar

1997-01-01

The article puts the attention to market relations in connection with the Norwegian petroleum industry. The paradox facing Norwegian yards involved in the offshore industry is that while the sector is now experiencing a market boom, within two years contractors could find themselves scrambling for work in a reduced market. 1 tab

A wireless trust model for healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Wickramasinghe, Nilmini; Misra, Santosh K

2004-01-01

In today's context of escalating costs, managed care, regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and a technology savvy patient, the healthcare industry can no longer be complacent regarding embracing technologies to enable better, more effective and efficient practice management. In such an environment, many healthcare organisations are turning to m-commerce or wireless solutions. These solutions, in particular the mobile electronic patient record, have many advantages over their wired counterparts, including significant cost advantages, higher levels of physician acceptance, more functionalities as well as enabling easy accessibility to healthcare in remote geographic regions, however, they also bring with them challenges of their own. One such major challenge is security. To date, few models exist that help establish an appropriate framework, in the context of wireless in healthcare, in which to understand and evaluate all the security issues let alone facilitate the development of systematic and robust solutions. Our paper addresses this need by outlining an appropriate mobile trust model for such a scenario in healthcare organisations.

Waste management in primary healthcare centres of Iran.

Science.gov (United States)

Mesdaghinia, Alireza; Naddafi, Kazem; Mahvi, Amir Hossein; Saeedi, Reza

2009-06-01

The waste management practices in primary healthcare centres of Iran were investigated in the present study. A total of 120 primary healthcare centres located across the country were selected using the cluster sampling method and the current situation of healthcare waste management was determined through field investigation. The quantities of solid waste and wastewater generation per outpatient were found to be 60 g outpatient(-1) day(-1) and 26 L outpatient(-1) day(-1), respectively. In all of the facilities, sharp objects were separated almost completely, but separation of other types of hazardous healthcare solid waste was only done in 25% of the centres. The separated hazardous solid waste materials were treated by incineration, temporary incineration and open burning methods in 32.5, 8.3 and 42.5% of the healthcare centres, respectively. In 16.7% of the centres the hazardous solid wastes were disposed of without any treatment. These results indicate that the management of waste materials in primary healthcare centres in Iran faced some problems. Staff training and awareness, separation of healthcare solid waste, establishment of the autoclave method for healthcare solid waste treatment and construction of septic tanks and disinfection units in the centres that were without access to a sewer system are the major measures that are suggested for improvement of the waste management practices.

Sexuality in older age: essential considerations for healthcare professionals.

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Abi; Gosney, Margot A

2011-09-01

This review describes the fact that many elderly people enjoy an active sex life and examines the evidence against the general perception of an 'asexual' old age. It offers an overview of the evidence for healthcare professionals who had not previously considered the sexuality of their older patients. It also describes some of the sexual problems faced by older people, especially the difficulties experienced in disclosing such problems to healthcare professionals. It examines why healthcare professionals routinely avoid discussing sexual problems with older patients, and how this can be improved. It also offers some recommendations for future research in the area, as well as a word of caution regarding the temptation of over-sexualising the ageing process.

Sensors for everyday life healthcare settings

CERN Document Server

Mukhopadhyay, Subhas; Jayasundera, Krishanthi; Swain, Akshya

2017-01-01

Sensors were developed to detect and quantify structures and functions of human body as well as to gather information from the environment in order to optimize the efficiency, cost-effectiveness and quality of healthcare services as well as to improve health and quality of life. This book offers an up-to-date overview of the concepts, modeling, technical and technological details and practical applications of different types of sensors. It also discusses the trends for the next generation of sensors and systems for healthcare settings. It is aimed at researchers and graduate students in the field of healthcare technologies, as well as academics and industry professionals involved in developing sensing systems for human body structures and functions, and for monitoring activities and health.

Assisted or Hastened Death: The Healthcare Practitioner’s Dilemma

Science.gov (United States)

MacLeod, Rod D; Wilson, Donna M; Malpas, Phillipa

2012-01-01

Assisting or hastening death is a dilemma with many ethical as well as practical issues facing healthcare practitioners in most countries worldwide now. Various arguments for and against assisted dying have been made over time but the call from the public for the legalisation of euthanasia and assisted suicide has never been stronger. While some studies have documented the reluctance of medical and other healthcare professionals to be involved in the practice of assisted dying or euthanasia, there is still much open debate in the public domain. Those who have the most experience of palliative care are strongest in their opposition to hastening death. This paper explores salient practical and ethical considerations for healthcare practitioners associated with assisting death, including a focus on examining the concepts of autonomy for patients and healthcare practitioners. The role of the healthcare practitioner has clearly and undoubtedly changed over time with advances in healthcare practices but the duty of care has not changed. The dilemmas for healthcare practitioners thus who have competent patients requesting hastened death extends far beyond acting within a country’s laws as they go to the very heart of the relationship between the practitioner and patient. PMID:23121745

Factors associated with Taiwanese lesbians' breast health-care behavior and intentions: Qualitative interview findings.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Ya-Ching; Griffiths, Jane; Grande, Gunn

2017-09-01

This article presents the qualitative findings of a mixed-methods study that explored factors influencing lesbians' breast health-care behavior and intentions. A total of 37 semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted among women who self-identified as lesbians or women who partnered with the same gender who were aged 20 years or above in four areas of Taiwan (North, Central, South, and East Taiwan) between August 2012 and October 2012. Interviews were audio recorded with participants' consent. The interviews were analyzed using constant comparative analysis with Nvivo audio-coding support. Four themes were identified to be strongly associated with the lesbians' breast health-care behavior and their intentions, namely, gender identity, gender role expression, partners' support, and concerns about health-care providers' reactions. Important barriers to the women's breast health-care behavior and intentions were masculine identity ("T-identity" in Taiwan), masculine appearance, concerns about health-care providers' lack of knowledge of multiple gender diversity, and their attitudes toward lesbians. Conversely, their partners' support was a factor facilitating the women's breast health-care behavior and intentions, particularly for the T-identity lesbians. These findings suggest the significance of and need for culturally competent care and are important for improving Taiwanese lesbians' breast health.

Healthcare public key infrastructure (HPKI) and non-profit organization (NPO): essentials for healthcare data exchange.

Science.gov (United States)

Takeda, Hiroshi; Matsumura, Yasushi; Nakagawa, Katsuhiko; Teratani, Tadamasa; Qiyan, Zhang; Kusuoka, Hideo; Matsuoka, Masami

2004-01-01

To share healthcare information and to promote cooperation among healthcare providers and customers (patients) under computerized network environment, a non-profit organization (NPO), named as OCHIS, was established at Osaka, Japan in 2003. Since security and confidentiality issues on the Internet have been major concerns in the OCHIS, the system has been based on healthcare public key infrastructure (HPKI), and found that there remained problems to be solved technically and operationally. An experimental study was conducted to elucidate the central and the local function in terms of a registration authority and a time stamp authority by contracting with the Ministry of Economics and Trading Industries in 2003. This paper describes the experimental design with NPO and the results of the study concerning message security and HPKI. The developed system has been operated practically in Osaka urban area.

Accessibility and availability of the Female Condom2: Healthcare provider’s perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seepaneng S. Phiri

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Background: Despite the acceptability of the Female Condom2 (FC2 as a contraceptive method by some women, it remains inaccessible and unavailable to the majority of women because of affordability, training, distribution and marketing strategies. The FC2 affords women dual protection and the option to negotiate safe sex. Objective: This paper explores and describes the perspective of the healthcare providers regarding accessibility and availability of the FC2 as a contraceptive method in the Tshwane district. Method: The study used an explorative, descriptive, and qualitative design. Data were collected from 26 healthcare providers who were purposively selected. In-depth face-to-face interviews were conducted with these healthcare providers in the Tshwane district. Tesch’s method of open coding was used for data analysis. Results: Two main themes emerged, namely, the availability of the FC2 and the knowledge o fthe healthcare providers. The findings of this study indicated that the availability of the FC2 remains a challenge because of factors such as lack of affordability, inefficient procurement and lack of distribution measures. The condoms are also not available at strategic points so as to ensure accessibility. Insufficient knowledge amongst healthcare providers was described as a barrier which affects the quality of training of the service users. Conclusions: It is evident that the FC2 is not yet available in all healthcare settings, therefore strategies to safeguard accessibility and availability of the FC2 as a contraceptive method are recommended.

Agile development as a change management approach in Healthcare Innovation Projects

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Velthuijsen, Hugo; Balje, Jan; Carter, Anke

2015-01-01

Although many pilots with new eHealth products have been developed, only very few of these products reach widespread adoption within healthcare organisations. The literature mentions a wide range of bottlenecks for the acceptance of new technology in the healthcare industry, among which insufficient

Wearable and Implantable Wireless Sensor Network Solutions for Healthcare Monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Darwish, Ashraf; Hassanien, Aboul Ella

2011-01-01

Wireless sensor network (WSN) technologies are considered one of the key research areas in computer science and the healthcare application industries for improving the quality of life. The purpose of this paper is to provide a snapshot of current developments and future direction of research on wearable and implantable body area network systems for continuous monitoring of patients. This paper explains the important role of body sensor networks in medicine to minimize the need for caregivers and help the chronically ill and elderly people live an independent life, besides providing people with quality care. The paper provides several examples of state of the art technology together with the design considerations like unobtrusiveness, scalability, energy efficiency, security and also provides a comprehensive analysis of the various benefits and drawbacks of these systems. Although offering significant benefits, the field of wearable and implantable body sensor networks still faces major challenges and open research problems which are investigated and covered, along with some proposed solutions, in this paper. PMID:22163914

Wearable and implantable wireless sensor network solutions for healthcare monitoring.

Science.gov (United States)

Darwish, Ashraf; Hassanien, Aboul Ella

2011-01-01

Wireless sensor network (WSN) technologies are considered one of the key research areas in computer science and the healthcare application industries for improving the quality of life. The purpose of this paper is to provide a snapshot of current developments and future direction of research on wearable and implantable body area network systems for continuous monitoring of patients. This paper explains the important role of body sensor networks in medicine to minimize the need for caregivers and help the chronically ill and elderly people live an independent life, besides providing people with quality care. The paper provides several examples of state of the art technology together with the design considerations like unobtrusiveness, scalability, energy efficiency, security and also provides a comprehensive analysis of the various benefits and drawbacks of these systems. Although offering significant benefits, the field of wearable and implantable body sensor networks still faces major challenges and open research problems which are investigated and covered, along with some proposed solutions, in this paper.

[Continuous access to healthcare, a bond of trust with the patient].

Science.gov (United States)

Mechali, Denis; Dehaudt, Sylvie; Pintir, Marie-Laure

2015-10-01

Working with vulnerable patients who are in precarious situations or sometimes do not speak French raises questions about the caregiver's role. A "Permanence d'Accès aux Soins de Santé" (Pass--Continuous Access to Healthcare) requires patient involvement in their healthcare, communicating honestly and taking into account the various difficulties they are faced with every day, using a holistic approach. A physician and two nurses share their points of view and their way of doing things to ensure that their patients find their unique place as the subject of their healthcare. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Community College Nursing and Allied Health Education Programs, and Iowa's Healthcare Workforce

Science.gov (United States)

McLaughlin, Michael P.

2009-01-01

As the nation's population ages and the Baby Boom generation nears retirement, the need for skilled healthcare workers in Iowa and across the nation grows. Healthcare is one of the fastest growing sectors of the U.S. economy, and one of the top industries for job growth and job creation in Iowa. The increase in the number of healthcare positions…

The root causes of ineffective and inefficient healthcare technology management in Benin public health sector

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Houngbo, T.; Zweekhorst, M.B.M.; Bunders- Aelen, J.G.F.; Coleman, H.L.S.; Medenou, D.; Dakpanon, L.Y.; de Cock Buning, Tjard

2017-01-01

This study aims to identify the root causes and solutions of main problems facing Healthcare Technology Management in Benin׳s public health sector. Conducted in Benin from 2008 to 2010, two surveys were used with key actors in Healthcare Technology Management. The first survey was based on 377

The Influence of Organizational Subculture on Information Technology Project Success in the Healthcare Sector: A Qualitative, Multi-Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Mallet, Richard Kofi

2014-01-01

Healthcare providers face high demands for technology based healthcare services due to global population increases and adapting information technology (IT) to achieve quality patient care. IT has become center stage in the operations and management of healthcare organizations. IT requirements emerge from the visions, values, and beliefs of…

Innovations in healthcare finance lessons from the 401(k) model.

Science.gov (United States)

Myers, Chris; Lineen, Jason

2008-10-01

*Escalating health benefit expenses are leading employers to shift more of the costs to their employees. *Global financial services companies and startup entrepreneurs are competing to develop private-sector solutions to capitalize on the ailing and mis-aligned healthcare financing system. *Emerging innovations are targeting insured individuals who are facing increasing responsibility for first-dollar coverage. *Healthcare providers should view patients as individual "price-sensitive payers" as new tools enable them to shop around for services based on cost and quality.

Hazardous healthcare waste management in the Kingdom of Bahrain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mohamed, L.F.; Ebrahim, S.A.; Al-Thukair, A.A.

2009-01-01

Hazardous healthcare waste has become an environmental concern for many developing countries including the Kingdom of Bahrain. There have been several significant obstacles facing the Kingdom in dealing with this issue including; limited documentation regarding generation, handling, management, and disposal of waste. This in turn hinders efforts to plan better healthcare waste management. In this paper, hazardous waste management status in the Kingdom has been investigated through an extensive survey carried out on selected public and private healthcare premises. Hazardous waste management practices including: waste generation, segregation, storage, collection, transportation, treatment, and disposal were determined. The results of this study along with key findings are discussed and summarized. In addition; several effective recommendations and improvements of hazardous waste management are suggested.

Problems faced by newly diagnosed diabetes mellitus patients at ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Diabetes mellitus can be a frightening experience for newly diagnosed patients. The aim of this study was to determine and describe the problems faced by newly diagnosed diabetes mellitus patients at primary healthcare facilities at Mopani district, Limpopo Province. A qualitative, descriptive and contextual research ...

Healthcare leadership's diversity paradox.

Science.gov (United States)

Silver, Reginald

2017-02-06

color in leadership roles that guide healthcare policy and access. This study connects contemporary literature to perspectives of executives in the field and offers practical solutions to improving the representation of people of color in executive healthcare leadership roles. Social implications The recommendations offered as a result of this research effort serve to create awareness of the challenges that people of color face in career attainment. Although the process of increasing the representation of people of color in executive healthcare leadership will be a complex task that will involve a number of players over the course of several years, this study serves to provide a practical roadmap with actionable tactics that can be deployed. Originality/value This paper is an extension of the work that was done by the author during the course of completing the program requirements for the author's doctoral program. The findings were previously discussed in the author's dissertation. The value of these findings is significant because they validate some of the topics in contemporary literature with the perspectives of practicing healthcare executives. This study is also unique from other studies in that it offers a long-term plan to increase the representation of people of color in executive roles by creating an early disposition toward executive level roles and identifies a number of practical steps toward that end.

The effectiveness of assertiveness communication training programs for healthcare professionals and students: A systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Omura, Mieko; Maguire, Jane; Levett-Jones, Tracy; Stone, Teresa Elizabeth

2017-11-01

papers from the USA, Australia, Ireland, and Taiwan were included in the review. Interventions to improve assertive communication were reported to be effective to some degree with all targeted groups except experienced anaesthesiologists. Face-to-face and multimethod programs, support from leaders, teamwork skills training and communication techniques adapted from the aviation industry were identified as appropriate approaches for optimising the effectiveness of assertiveness communication training programs. Behavioural change as the result of assertiveness interventions was evaluated by observer-based rating scales during simulation, whilst self-perceived knowledge and attitudes were evaluated using validated scales. Future research should consider evaluation of sustained effect on behaviour change and patient safety. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Antecedents to the adoption of ASPS in healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Randeree, Ebrahim; Judd, Susan P; Kishore, Rajiv; Rao, H Raghav

2003-01-01

The objective of this exploratory study was to identify drivers of adoption for a new form of information technology outsourcing--the ASP model--in the healthcare industry. Primary data were collected in January 2002 from a nationwide survey of senior-level healthcare information technology executives. Cost management (supplier presence, asset specificity, production costs, transaction costs, resource availability) and relative advantage (reliability, customizability, strategic alignment, and magnitude of potential loss) were found to have the largest influences on adoption behavior.

RFID in the healthcare supply chain: usage and application.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Sameer; Swanson, Eric; Tran, Thuy

2009-01-01

The purposes of this study are to first, determine the most efficient and cost effective portions of the healthcare supply chain in which radio frequency identification devices (RFID) can be implemented. Second, provide specific examples of RFID implementation and show how these business applications will add to the effectiveness of the healthcare supply chain. And third, to describe the current state of RFID technology and to give practical information for managers in the healthcare sector to make sound decisions about the possible implementation of RFID technology within their organizations. Healthcare industry literature was reviewed and examples of specific instances of RFID implementation were examined using an integrated simulation model developed with Excel, @Risk and Visio software tools. Analysis showed that the cost of implementing current RFID technology is too expensive for broad and sweeping implementation within the healthcare sector at this time. However, several example applications have been identified in which this technology can be effectively leveraged in a cost-effective way. This study shows that RFID technology has come a long way in the recent past and has potential to improve healthcare sector productivity and efficiency. Implementation by large companies such as Wal-mart has helped to make the technology become much more economical in its per unit cost as well as its supporting equipment and training costs. The originality of this study lies in the idea that few practical and pragmatic approaches have been taken within the academic field of study for the implementation of RFID into the healthcare supply chain. Much of the research has focused on specific companies or portions of the supply chain and not the entire supply chain. Also, many of the papers have discussed the future of the supply chain that is heavily dependent on advances in RFID technology. A few viable applications of how RFID technology can be implemented in the healthcare

Problems facing Korean hospitals and possible countermeasures.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Kwang-Tae

2004-07-01

Korea has a unique health care system, of which the private sector comprises most of the country's health resources: 88% of the beds and 91% of specialists in Korea, but are funded by public financing, such as national health insurance and the national aid program. However, the public financing pays only 50% of actual costs and the patient's co-payment is still high. Healthcare organizations in Korea are categorized into four types; tertiary care hospitals, general hospitals, hospitals and clinics by scale of operator: number of beds. General hospitals must have 100 beds and over, and compulsorily specialties in internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics-gynecology, pediatrics, dental service, other ancillary service units and an emergency care unit. General hospitals with 300 beds and more must operate an intensive care unit. There are many challenges facing the Korean healthcare system, such as reformation of primary healthcare system, enhancing hospitals' competitiveness, and permission of for-profit hospital, introduction of private health insurance, enhancement of geriatric care. These challenges can be resolved with long-term vision, willingness and strategies of the Korean government to ensure equitable financing and access to healthcare, combined with the active participation and utilization of the private sector.

Digital health is a cultural transformation of traditional healthcare

OpenAIRE

Meskó, Bertalan; Drobni, Zsófia; Bényei, Éva; Gergely, Bence; Győrffy, Zsuzsanna

2017-01-01

Under the term “digital health”, advanced medical technologies, disruptive innovations and digital communication have gradually become inseparable from providing best practice healthcare. While the cost of treating chronic conditions is increasing and doctor shortages are imminent worldwide, the needed transformation in the structure of healthcare and medicine fails to catch up with the rapid progress of the medical technology industry. This transition is slowed down by strict regulations; th...

From denial to awareness: a conceptual model for obtaining equity in healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Höglund, Anna T; Carlsson, Marianne; Holmström, Inger K; Lännerström, Linda; Kaminsky, Elenor

2018-01-22

Although Swedish legislation prescribes equity in healthcare, studies have reported inequalities, both in face-to-face encounters and in telephone nursing. Research has suggested that telephone nursing has the capability to increase equity in healthcare, as it is open to all and not limited by long distances. However, this requires an increased awareness of equity in healthcare among telephone nurses. The aim of this study was to explore and describe perceptions of equity in healthcare among Swedish telephone nurses who had participated in an educational intervention on equity in health, including which of the power constructs gender, ethnicity and age they commented upon most frequently. Further, the aim was to develop a conceptual model for obtaining equity in healthcare, based on the results of the empirical investigation. A qualitative method was used. Free text comments from questionnaires filled out by 133 telephone nurses before and after an educational intervention on equity in health, as well as individual interviews with five participants, were analyzed qualitatively. The number of comments related to inequity based on gender, ethnicity or age in the free text comments was counted descriptively. Gender was the factor commented upon the least and ethnicity the most. Four concepts were found through the qualitative analysis: Denial, Defense, Openness, and Awareness. Some informants denied inequity in healthcare in general, and in telephone nursing in particular. Others acknowledged it, but argued that they had workplace routines that protected against it. There were also examples of an openness to the fact that inequity existed and a willingness to learn and prevent it, as well as an already high awareness of inequity in healthcare. A conceptual model was developed in which the four concepts were divided into two qualitatively different blocks, with Denial and Defense on one side of a continuum and Openness and Awareness on the other. In order to reach

Challenges facing the North American iron ore industry

Science.gov (United States)

Jorgenson, J.D.

2005-01-01

During the 20th century, the iron ore mining industries of Canada and the United States passed through several periods of transformation. The beginning of the 21st century has seen yet another period of transformation, with the economic failure of a number of steel companies, the acquisition of their facilities by more viable steelmakers, and the consolidation of control within the North American iron ore industry. Changes in Canadian and United States iron ore production and the market control structure involved are analysed. The consolidation of ownership, formation of foreign joint ventures within Nordi America, planned divestitures of upstream activities by steelmakers, and industry changes made to ensure availability of feedstocks will be reviewed. The ttaditional isolation of the Canadian and United States iron ore operations and their strong linkage to downstream steel production will be discussed in the context of a changing global economy. Management-labour conflicts that have taken place and agreements made during 2000 through 2004 will be discussed in the context of the economic environment leading up to these agreements. Cooperative agreements between competing Canadian and United States companies to resolve client needs in processing and blending will be examined. A joint industry-government project designed to use new technology to produce direct reduced iron nuggets of 96 - 98 per cent iron content using non-coking coals will also be assessed. Changes in iron ore transportation methods, ownership and infrastructure will be reviewed for both rail and inland waterway transport between Canadian and United States companies. A brief analysis of social and environmental issues relating to sustainable development of the Canadian-United States iron ore industry will be included.

Overcoming Constraints in Healthcare with Cloud Technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Hucíková, Anežka; Babic, Ankica

2016-01-01

Transitioning enterprise operations to the cloud brings a variety of opportunities and challenges. Such step requires a deep and complex understanding of all elements related to the technology as well as defining the manner in which specific cloud challenges can be dealt with. To provide a better understanding of these opportunities and challenges within healthcare, systematic literature overview and industrial cases review is used. Results of the two methods show interconnection between cloud deployment advantages and constrains. However, healthcare case studies provide interesting insights emphasizing cloud complexity and superposition which seems to balance organizational limitations.

Barriers in health care access faced by children with intellectual disabilities living in rural Uttar Pradesh

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jubin Varghese

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Purpose: People with disability in rural India face multiple barriers accessing healthcare; our hypothesis is that children with intellectual disability suffer the same but little is known about the barriers faced by them. The objectives of the study were to identify the health seeking behaviours of families with children with intellectual disabilities and the barriers they faced accessing healthcare. Methods: This qualitative study involved interviewing caregivers of children with intellectual disability from a pre-existing community development project in the Sahadoli Kadim block of rural Uttar Pradesh. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with the local practitioners frequented by these caregivers. Results: Barriers identified were grouped under cognitive, structural and financial barriers which were found to be consistent with the Health Care Access Barrier Model (Carrillo, et al., 2011; WHO, 2011. Cognitive barriers included caregivers being unable to identify the complex health needs of their children. Caregivers lacked appropriate knowledge of intellectual disability, with doctors failing to educate them. Structural and financial barriers encompassed poor availability of healthcare providers and contributed to poor access to specialists. Caregivers had no information about government financial aid and healthcare providers did not refer them to these. Conclusion: Children with intellectual disabilities are forced to live with a poor quality of life because of cognitive, structural and financial barriers they face in accessing health care. Results are specific to children with intellectual disability in rural Sahadoli Kadim and could be used to inform policies and strategies to reduce disparities in health care access for these children.

Customer privacy on UK healthcare websites.

Science.gov (United States)

Mundy, Darren P

2006-09-01

Privacy has been and continues to be one of the key challenges of an age devoted to the accumulation, processing, and mining of electronic information. In particular, privacy of healthcare-related information is seen as a key issue as health organizations move towards the electronic provision of services. The aim of the research detailed in this paper has been to analyse privacy policies on popular UK healthcare-related websites to determine the extent to which consumer privacy is protected. The author has combined approaches (such as approaches focused on usability, policy content, and policy quality) used in studies by other researchers on e-commerce and US healthcare websites to provide a comprehensive analysis of UK healthcare privacy policies. The author identifies a wide range of issues related to the protection of consumer privacy through his research analysis using quantitative results. The main outcomes from the author's research are that only 61% of healthcare-related websites in their sample group posted privacy policies. In addition, most of the posted privacy policies had poor readability standards and included a variety of privacy vulnerability statements. Overall, the author's findings represent significant current issues in relation to healthcare information protection on the Internet. The hope is that raising awareness of these results will drive forward changes in the industry, similar to those experienced with information quality.

Healthcare administration education in the 21st century: the case for entrepreneurship.

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, David R; Duncan, W Jack; Ginter, Peter M

2005-01-01

This paper recommends the broadening of the course content in several of the current required courses within the core curriculum of healthcare management education to include entrepreneurship topics and the inclusion of a separate entrepreneurship course. The current state of entrepreneurship within healthcare is described through the discussion of a healthcare entrepreneurship continuum. Because of the evolution of the healthcare industry in the past ten years, healthcare administration programs must also evolve to make our curriculum more relevant and increase student placement options. The current healthcare administration education shortcomings are discussed and recommendations for curriculum change are presented. Finally, a readings and resources list is provided as a basis for further curriculum development.

Facing competitive pressures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weinrich, H.

1994-01-01

This article discusses the problems facing the electric power industry and professional personnel as a result of economic downturn and the resulting down sizing of individual companies and utilities. The author proposes that the most efficient use of technology will have greater impact in making a utility more competitive than reducing the head count

Biocompatible antimicrobial cotton fibres for healthcare industries: a biogenic approach for synthesis of bio-organic-coated silver nanoparticles.

Science.gov (United States)

Kashid, Sahebrao B; Lakkakula, Jaya R; Chauhan, Deepak S; Srivastava, Rohit; Raut, Rajesh W

2017-12-01

Cotton fibres coated with biogenically fabricated silver nanoparticles (SNPs) are most sought material because of their enhanced activity and biocompatibility. After successful synthesis of SNPs on cotton fibres using leaf extract of Vitex negundo Linn, the fibres were studied using diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, nanoparticle tracking analysis, energy dispersive X-ray, and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry. The characterisation revealed uniformly distributed spherical agglomerates of SNPs having individual particle size around 50 nm with the deposition load of 423 μg of silver per gram of cotton. Antimicrobial assay of cotton-SNPs fibres showed effective performance against pathogenic bacteria and fungi. The method is biogenic, environmentally benign, rapid, and cost-effective, producing highly biocompatible antimicrobial coating required for the healthcare industry.

The role of information technology as a complementary resource in healthcare integrated delivery systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Thrasher, Evelyn H; Revels, Mark A

2012-01-01

As in many industries, it is recognized that there is a need to increase the use of information technology (IT) in the healthcare industry. However, until now, this has not occurred. In fact, some say that IT in healthcare has consistently fallen far short of expectations. The purpose of this study was to illuminate the need for a more holistic view of healthcare network integration and demonstrate that simply applying the latest technology to the network is not adequate for improving overall effectiveness. The study results showed that the more holistic view has to include management commitment, of complementarity between IT integration and organizational integration, and continued investments.

The new medical-industrial complex.

Science.gov (United States)

Relman, A S

1980-10-23

The most important health-care development of the day is the recent, relatively unheralded rise of a huge new industry that supplies health-care services for profit. Proprietary hospitals and nursing homes, diagnostic laboratories, home-care and emergency-room services, hemodialysis, and a wide variety of other services produced a gross income to this industry last year of about $35 billion to +40 billion. This new "medical-industrial complex" may be more efficient than its nonprofit competition, but it creates the problems of overuse and fragmentation of services, overemphasis on technology, and "cream-skimming," and it may also exercise undue influence on national health policy. In this medical market, physicians must act as discerning purchasing agents for their patients and therefore should have no conflicting financial interests. Closer attention from the public and the profession, and careful study, are necessary to ensure that the "medical-industrial complex" puts the interest of the public before those of its stockholders.

Understanding healthcare innovation systems: the Stockholm region case.

Science.gov (United States)

Larisch, Lisa-Marie; Amer-Wåhlin, Isis; Hidefjäll, Patrik

2016-11-21

Purpose There is an increasing interest in understanding how innovation processes can address current challenges in healthcare. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the wider socio-economic context and conditions for such innovation processes in the Stockholm region, using the functional dynamics approach to innovation systems (ISs). Design/methodology/approach The analysis is based on triangulation using data from 16 in-depth interviews, two workshops, and additional documents. Using the functional dynamics approach, critical structural and functional components of the healthcare IS were analyzed. Findings The analysis revealed several mechanisms blocking innovation processes such as fragmentation, lack of clear leadership, as well as insufficient involvement of patients and healthcare professionals. Furthermore, innovation is expected to occur linearly as a result of research. Restrictive rules for collaboration with industry, reimbursement, and procurement mechanisms limit entrepreneurial experimentation, commercialization, and spread of innovations. Research limitations/implications In this study, the authors analyzed how certain functions of the functional dynamics approach to ISs related to each other. The authors grouped knowledge creation, resource mobilization, and legitimacy as they jointly constitute conditions for needs articulation and entrepreneurial experimentation. The economic effects of entrepreneurial experimentation and needs articulation are mainly determined by the stage of market formation and existence of positive externalities. Social implications Stronger user involvement; a joint innovation strategy for healthcare, academia, and industry; and institutional reform are necessary to remove blocking mechanisms that today prevent innovation from occurring. Originality/value This study is the first to provide an analysis of the system of innovation in healthcare using a functional dynamics approach, which has evolved as a tool for public

Challenges in healthcare delivery in an economic downturn, in the Republic of Ireland.

Science.gov (United States)

Carney, Marie

2010-07-01

The purpose of the present study was to discuss some of effects of the downturn in the Irish economy and to demonstrate that in the face of economic difficulties innovation in health care is still occurring. Staff that are managing and delivering healthcare need to know the challenges facing them and have an awareness of the importance of maintaining interest in innovative practice in turbulent times. Information obtained from several sources including government papers, the nursing regulatory board and quality authority documents and current best practice articles. Information was evaluated based on the study's aim. Issues emerging were that current challenges facing Irish health care delivery relate mainly to economic, clinical management, education and information technology factors and further reductions in the cost base of health care delivery remains focused on value for money. In the face of the economic downturn Ireland is achieving health targets and is now sitting in 13th place on the European health index, down from number 28 in 2008. This improvement in position has resulted from several new innovative work practices. As a result of cost reduction measures in place nurse managers will face greater challenges than ever before in meeting the objectives of the healthcare transformation programme.

The metaphor of nurse as guest with ethical implications for nursing and healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Milton, Constance L

2005-10-01

Current healthcare advertising and customer relations terminology acknowledge that healthcare providers, including nurses, are to act as hosts for persons who enter into healthcare agencies and institutions. Indeed, much has been written aligning nursing and other healthcare services with consumer-oriented roles of the hospitality service industry commonly associated with hotels and restaurants. From a human becoming perspective, this article discusses possible ethical, administrative, and practice implications of nurses acting as guests entering into the lives of those we serve.

Black carbon emission reduction strategies in healthcare industry for effective global climate change management.

Science.gov (United States)

Raila, Emilia Mmbando; Anderson, David O

2017-04-01

Climate change remains one of the biggest threats to life on earth to date with black carbon (BC) emissions or smoke being the strongest cause after carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). Surprisingly, scientific evidence about black carbon emissions reduction in healthcare settings is sparse. This paper presents new research findings on the reduction of black carbon emissions from an observational study conducted at the UN Peacekeeping Operations (MINUSTAH) in Haiti in 2014. Researchers observed 20 incineration cycles, 30 minutes for each cycle of plastic and cardboard sharps healthcare waste (HCW) containers ranged from 3 to 14.6 kg. The primary aim was to determine if black carbon emissions from healthcare waste incineration can be lowered by mainstreaming the use of cardboard sharps healthcare waste containers instead of plastic sharps healthcare waste containers. Similarly, the study looks into whether burning temperature was associated with the smoke levels for each case or not. Independent samples t-tests demonstrated significantly lower black carbon emissions during the incineration of cardboard sharps containers (6.81 ± 4.79% smoke) than in plastic containers (17.77 ± 8.38% smoke); a statistically significant increase of 10.96% smoke (95% Confidence Interval ( CI) [4.4 to 17.5% smoke], p = 0.003). Correspondingly, lower bottom burner temperatures occurred during the incineration of cardboard sharps containers than in plastic (95% Cl [16 to 126°C], p = 0.014). Finally, we expect the application of the new quantitative evidence to form the basis for policy formulation, mainstream the use of cardboard sharps containers and opt for non-incineration disposal technologies as urgent steps for going green in healthcare waste management.

Breaking Bad News in Healthcare Organizations: Application of the Spikes Protocol

Science.gov (United States)

VonBergen, C. W.; Stevens, Robert E.; Loudon, David

2011-01-01

Organizational downsizing has increased exponentially worldwide and is also affecting the healthcare industry. It is one thing to speak abstractly of the need to reduce costs and quite another to actually tell a worker the bad news that he or she has been laid off. This paper offers practical advice to healthcare managers on conducting unpleasant…

The evolving role of supply chain management technology in healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Langabeer, Jim

2005-01-01

The healthcare supply chain is a vast, disintegrated network of products and players, loosely held together by manual and people-intensive processes. Managing the flow of information, supplies, equipment, and services from manufacturers to distributors to providers of care is especially difficult in clinical supply chains, compared with more technology-intense industries like consumer goods or industrial manufacturing. As supplies move downstream towards hospitals and clinics, the quality and robustness of accompanying management and information systems used to manage these products deteriorates significantly. Technology that provides advanced planning, synchronization, and collaboration upstream at the large supply manufacturers and distributors rarely is used at even the world's larger and more sophisticated hospitals. This article outlines the current state of healthcare supply chain management technologies, addresses potential reasons for the lack of adoption of technologies and provides a roadmap for the evolution of technology for the future. This piece is based on both quantitative and qualitative research assessments of the healthcare supply chain conducted during the last two years.

The industrial policy experience of the electronics industry in Malaysia

OpenAIRE

Rasiah, Rajah

2015-01-01

Despite the use of industrial policies to stimulate economic growth by several successful developers, latecomers have faced mixed experiences. Hence, this paper analyses the industrial policy experience of the electronics industry in Malaysia. A blend of institutions have guided technological upgrading in the industry, especially in the state of Penang. Smooth co-ordination between the state government, multinational corporations, national firms, and the federal government helped stimulate te...

Patient satisfaction in outpatient healthcare services at secondary level vs. tertiary level

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Velikj-Stefanovska Vesna

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction. Patients satisfaction is a very important part of any clinical practice both for evaluation and improvement of healthcare services. Objective. The aim of this study was to determine patient satisfaction with public outpatient healthcare services at secondary and tertiary level and to assess possible differences between the two levels. Methods. In a quantitative cross-sectional study, a convenient sample of 646 patients who experienced public outpatient healthcare services at the secondary and tertiary level during the last two months were interviewed. Patient satisfaction questionnaires, with statements regarding various aspects of satisfaction, were completed during face-to-face interviews (response rate 84.6%. The research instrument was tested for internal consistency using the Cronbach’s coefficient alpha estimate. Results. The patients were significantly more satisfied in tertiary than in secondary outpatient healthcare facilities in almost all aspects of assessment related to general settings, nurse/administrative staff performance and physician performance (p<0.001. The patients in the secondary healthcare services (SHCS were more satisfied than in the tertiary healthcare services (THCS but only regarding the information on location (83.9% vs.78.3% and possibilities to enter and move inside the department (88.8% vs. 83.3%. Analysis of data for SHCS and THCS showed that there was no significant difference between the mean overall satisfaction scores with regard to patients’ gender, age, marital status, educational level, employment and number of visits. Conclusion. There is a need to improve the current level of patient-provider relationship and communication, as well as that of hospital environment, while special efforts should be made to address the problem of patient waiting time and hospital bureaucracy.

Seven Guiding Commitments: Making the U.S. Healthcare System More Compassionate

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Beth A. Lown MD

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Despite the current focus on patient centeredness, healthcare professionals face numerous challenges that impede their ability to provide compassionate care that ameliorates concerns, distress, or suffering. These include fragmentation and discontinuity of care, technologies that both help and hinder communication and relationship-building, burgeoning operational and administrative requirements, inadequate communication skills training, alarming rates of burnout, and increased cost and market pressures. A compassionate healthcare system begins with compassionate people, but the organizations in which they train and work must reliably enable them to express and act on their compassion rather than impede it. We present a set of guiding commitments and recommendations to foster a more compassionate healthcare system. We urge healthcare organizations to adopt these commitments and take action to embed compassionate care in all aspects of training, research, patient care and organizational life.

M-health: the union of technology and healthcare regulations.

Science.gov (United States)

Silberman, Mark J; Clark, Lisa

2012-01-01

As healthcare continues to become technology-based, so too does the potential for increased governmental regulation of mobile health (m-health). "M-health" is a broad term that applies to hardware or software that is mobile and delivers healthcare wirelessly. M-health includes consumer- and provider-oriented medical applications (apps), such as weight monitoring apps, and medical devices, such as glucose meters, that send health information back to the provider. It is important for anyone entering the field of mobile healthcare, whether developing apps, providing remote medical care, or simply investing in the future of healthcare technology, to understand the impact governmental oversight can have on this industry. Understanding the different roles to be played by the federal and state governments can be the difference between success and frustration.

[Reactions and feelings of nursing professionals facing their patients' death].

Science.gov (United States)

Mota, Marina Soares; Gomes, Giovana Calcagno; Coelho, Monique Farias; Lunardi Filho, Wilson Danilo; de Sousa, Lenice Dutra

2011-03-01

This study aims to know the reactions and feelings of nursing professionals facing their patients' death. This qualitative research was developed at the Medical Clinic Unit of a university hospital in Southern Brazil. The population of the study was composed of four nurses and five nursing technicians that work at this unit. Data were collected in the second semester of 2006 through semi-structured interviews and analyzed with the use of thematic analysis. The analysisproduced three categories reactions of nursing professionals facing death in daily work, feelings towards facing death in daily work; and nursing team members facing the care of the body after death. Results indicate that there is a need for discussing this issue in the workplace in order to prepare these healthcare workers to deal with their patients' death.

Mobile Device Security: Perspectives of Future Healthcare Workers.

Science.gov (United States)

Hewitt, Barbara; Dolezel, Diane; McLeod, Alexander

2017-01-01

Healthcare data breaches on mobile devices continue to increase, yet the healthcare industry has not adopted mobile device security standards. This increase is disturbing because individuals are often accessing patients' protected health information on personal mobile devices, which could lead to a data breach. This deficiency led the researchers to explore the perceptions of future healthcare workers regarding mobile device security. To determine healthcare students' perspectives on mobile device security, the investigators designed and distributed a survey based on the Technology Threat Avoidance Theory. Three hundred thirty-five students participated in the survey. The data were analyzed to determine participants' perceptions about security threats, effectiveness and costs of safeguards, self-efficacy, susceptibility, severity, and their motivation and actions to secure their mobile devices. Awareness of interventions to protect mobile devices was also examined. Results indicate that while future healthcare professionals perceive the severity of threats to their mobile data, they do not feel personally susceptible. Additionally, participants were knowledgeable about security safeguards, but their knowledge of costs and problems related to the adoption of these measures was mixed. These findings indicate that increasing security awareness of healthcare professionals should be a priority.

Using the dual-level modeling approach to developing applications in the pervasive healthcare environment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cardoso de Moraes, J.L.; Lopes de Souza, Wanderley; Ferreira Pires, Luis; Cavalini, Luciana Tricai; do Prado, Antonio Francisco

2013-01-01

Health information technology is the area of IT involving the design, development, creation, use and maintenance of information systems for the healthcare industry. Automated and interoperable healthcare information systems are expected to lower costs, improve efficiency and reduce error, while also

The orthopaedist's role in healthcare system governance.

Science.gov (United States)

Probe, Robert A

2013-06-01

Historically, physicians as participants in healthcare governance were shunned because of perceived potential for conflict of interest. This maxim is being revisited as health systems begin to appreciate the value presented by physician leaders. This overview of the orthopaedist's role in healthcare governance will be addressed in three sections: first to identify the need for change in American healthcare, second to examine the role that physicians should play in governing over this inevitable change, and third to outline strategies for effective participation for those physicians wishing to play a role in healthcare governance. The PubMed data set was queried applying the search commands "governance AND (healthcare OR hospital) AND (doctor OR physician OR surgeon)" for the time period 1969 to 2012. In addition, the bibliographies of relevant articles were reviewed. This search strategy returned 404 titles. Abstract and article review identified 19 relevant to the topic. Bibliographic review identified five more articles of relevance forming the foundation for this review. The delivery of American health care will require change to face current economic realities. Organizations that embrace this change guided by the insight of physician governors are well positioned to recognize the simultaneous improvement in value and quality. Although few physicians are formally trained for these roles, multiple paths to becoming effective governors are available. In this environment of rapid change in healthcare delivery, the medical insight of physician leadership will prove invaluable. Governing bodies should reach out to talented physicians and administratively talented physicians should rise to this challenge.

Attitudes of women and men living with HIV and their healthcare ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Therefore, pronatalist attitudes remain in place in the face of HIV infection. Keywords: attitudes towards childbearing and abortion, stigma scales against HIV-positive women's pregnancies, stigma scales against HIV-positive women having abortions, healthcare providers' attitudes about HIV-positive women's reproduction, ...

Entrepreneurship in agriculture and healthcare: Different entry strategies of care farmers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hassink, J.; Hulsink, W.; Grin, J.

2016-01-01

Care farming provides an interesting context of multifunctional agriculture where farmers face the challenge of having to bridge the gap between agriculture and healthcare and acquire new customers, partners and financial resources from the care sector. We compared different entry strategies of

An unlikely suitor: Industrial Engineering in health promotion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hattingh, T. S.

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Primary healthcare forms the foundation for transforming healthcare in South Africa. The primary healthcare system is based on five pillars, one of them being health promotion. The principles of health promotion advocate that promoting health and wellness within communities will reduce the burden of disease at both primary and higher levels of the healthcare system. The challenge in South Africa, is that the factors affecting communities often inhibit their ability to control their health. In addition, the health promotion function within clinics is underresourced: each health promoter serves impoverished communities of up to 50,000 people. This study aims to identify how industrial engineering principles can be applied to assess and improve the impact of health promotion on communities, and ultimately on the health care system as a whole. An industrial engineering approach has analysed five clinics within the Ekurhuleni Municipality in Gauteng. The results show a distinct lack of consistency between clinics. Common issues include a lack of standard processes, structures, measures, resources, and training to support health promotion. The problems identified are commonly analysed and addressed by industrial engineering in organisations, and industrial engineering could be a useful method for evaluating and improving the impact of health promotion on communities. Recommendations for improvement and further work were made based on the findings.

Wearable and Implantable Wireless Sensor Network Solutions for Healthcare Monitoring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ashraf Darwish

2011-05-01

Full Text Available Wireless sensor network (WSN technologies are considered one of the key research areas in computer science and the healthcare application industries for improving the quality of life. The purpose of this paper is to provide a snapshot of current developments and future direction of research on wearable and implantable body area network systems for continuous monitoring of patients. This paper explains the important role of body sensor networks in medicine to minimize the need for caregivers and help the chronically ill and elderly people live an independent life, besides providing people with quality care. The paper provides several examples of state of the art technology together with the design considerations like unobtrusiveness, scalability, energy efficiency, security and also provides a comprehensive analysis of the various benefits and drawbacks of these systems. Although offering significant benefits, the field of wearable and implantable body sensor networks still faces major challenges and open research problems which are investigated and covered, along with some proposed solutions, in this paper.

Self-employed nurses as change agents in healthcare: strategies, consequences, and possibilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Wall, Sarah

2014-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to report on ethnographic research that investigated how self-employed nurses perceive the contemporary healthcare field, what attributes they possess that facilitate their roles as change agents, what strategies they use to influence change, and what consequences they face for their actions, thus contributing to what is known about organizational change in institutionalized settings such as healthcare. Focussed ethnography was used to explore self-employed nurses' work experiences and elucidate the cultural elements of their social contexts, including customs, ideologies, beliefs, and knowledge and the ways that these impact upon the possibilities for change in the system. These self-employed nurses reflected on the shortcomings in the healthcare system and took entrepreneurial risks that would allow them to practice nursing according to their professional values. They used a number of strategies to influence change such as capitalizing on opportunities, preparing themselves for innovative work, managing and expanding the scope of nursing practice, and building new ideas on foundational nursing knowledge and experience. They had high job satisfaction and a strong sense of contribution but they faced significant resistance because of their non-traditional approach to nursing practice. Despite dramatic restructuring in the Canadian healthcare system, the system remains physician-centered and hospital-based. Nursing's professional potential has been largely untapped in any change efforts. Self-employed nurses have positioned themselves to deliver care based on nursing values and to promote alternative conceptions of health and healthcare. This study offers a rare exploration of this unique form of nursing practice and its potential to influence health system reform.

Challenges faced by health-care providers offering infant-feeding counseling to HIV-positive women in sub-Saharan Africa: a review of current research.

Science.gov (United States)

Tuthill, Emily L; Chan, Jessica; Butler, Lisa M

2015-01-01

Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) has been identified as the optimal nutrition and critical behavior in attaining human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-free infant survival in resource-limited settings. Health-care providers (HCPs) in clinic- and community-settings throughout sub-Saharan Africa (sSA) provide infant-feeding counseling. However, rates of EBF at 6 months of age are suboptimal. HCPs are uniquely positioned to educate HIV-positive mothers and provide support by addressing known barriers to EBF. However, limited evidence exists on the experiences faced by HCPs in providing counseling on infant feeding to HIV-positive women. Our objective is to describe experiences faced by HCPs when delivering infant-feeding counseling in the context of HIV in program settings in sSA. We searched a range of electronic databases, including PubMed, CINAHL, and PsycINFO from January 1990 to February 2013, in addition to hand-searching, cross-reference searching, and personal communications. The search was limited to publications in English. Empirical studies of HCP experiences providing infant-feeding counseling in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV programs in sSA were selected. We identified 10 peer-reviewed articles reporting HCP challenges in infant-feeding counseling that met inclusion criteria. Articles included qualitative, cross-sectional and mixed-method studies, and cumulatively reported 31 challenges faced by HCPs. Among the challenges identified, the most commonly reported were personal beliefs held by the HCPs toward infant feeding in the context of HIV, contradictory messages, staff workload, directive counseling styles, and a lack of practical strategies to offer mothers, often leading to improvised counseling approaches. Counseling strategies need to be developed that are relevant, meaningful, and responsive to the needs of both HCPs and mothers.

Lean healthcare in developing countries: evidence from Brazilian hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Costa, Luana Bonome Message; Filho, Moacir Godinho; Rentes, Antonio Freitas; Bertani, Thiago Moreno; Mardegan, Ronaldo

2017-01-01

The present study evaluates how five sectors of two Brazilian hospitals have implemented lean healthcare concepts in their operations. The main characteristics of the implementation process are analyzed in the present study: the motivational factor for implementation, implementation time, form (consultancy or internal), team (hospital and consultants), lean implementation continuity/sustainability, lean healthcare tools and methods implemented, problems/improvement opportunities, lean healthcare barriers faced during the implementation process, and critical factors that affected the implementation and the results obtained in each case. The case studies indicate that reducing patient lead times and costs and making financial improvements were the primary factors that motivated lean healthcare implementation in the hospitals studied. Several tools and methods were used in the cases studied, especially value stream mapping and DMAIC. The barriers found in both hospitals are primarily associated with the human factor. Additionally, the results obtained after implementation were analyzed and improvements in financial aspects, productivity and capacity, and lead time reduction of the analyzed sectors were observed. Further, this study also exhibited four propositions elaborated from the results obtained from the cases that highlighted barriers and challenges to lean healthcare implementation in developing countries. Two of these barriers are hospital organizational structure (and, consequently, how the senior management works with medical staff), and outsourcing hospital activities. This study also concluded that the initialization and maintenance of lean healthcare implementation rely heavily on external support because lean healthcare subject knowledge is not yet available in the healthcare organization, which represents a challenge. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Improve processes on healthcare: current issues and future trends.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Jason C H; Dolan, Matt; Lin, Binshan

2004-01-01

Information Technology (IT) is a critical resource for improving today's business competitiveness. However, many healthcare providers do not proactively manage or improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their services with IT. Survival in a competitive business environment demands continuous improvements in quality and service, while rigorously maintaining core values. Electronic commerce continues its development, gaining ground as the preferred means of business transactions. Embracing e-healthcare and treating IT as a strategic tool to improve patient safety and the quality of care enables healthcare professionals to benefit from technology formerly used only for management purposes. Numerous improvement initiatives, introduced by both the federal government and the private sector, seek to better the status quo in IT. This paper examines the current IT climate using an enhanced "Built to Last" model, and comments on future IT strategies within the healthcare industry.

Healthcare Finance in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: A Qualitative Study of Householders' Attitudes.

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Hanawi, Mohammed Khaled; Alsharqi, Omar; Almazrou, Saja; Vaidya, Kirit

2018-02-01

The public sector healthcare system in Saudi Arabia, essentially financed by oil revenues and 'free at the point of delivery', is coming under increasing strain due to escalating expenditure and an increasingly volatile oil market and is likely to be unsustainable in the medium to long term. This study examines how satisfied the Saudi people are with their public sector healthcare services and assesses their willingness to contribute to financing the system through a national health insurance scheme. The study also examines public preferences and expectations of a future national health insurance system. A total of 36 heads of households participated in face-to-face audio-recorded semi-structured interviews. The participants were purposefully selected based on different socio-economic and socio-demographic factors from urban and rural areas to represent the geographical diversity that would presumably influence individual views, expectations, preferences and healthcare experiences. The evidence showed some dissatisfaction with the provision and quality of current public sector healthcare services, including the availability of appointments, waiting times and the availability of drugs. The households indicated a willingness to contribute to a national insurance scheme, conditional upon improvements in the quality of public sector healthcare services. The results also revealed a variety of preferences and expectations regarding the proposed national health insurance scheme. Quality improvement is a key factor that could motivate the Saudi people to contribute to financing the healthcare system. A new authority, consisting of a partnership between the public and private sectors under government supervision, could represent an acceptable option for addressing the variation in public preferences.

Innovation in healthcare services – creating a Combined Contingency Theory and Ecosystems Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Engelseth, Per; Kritchanchai, Duangpun

2018-04-01

The purpose of this conceptual paper is to develop an analytical framework used for process development in healthcare services. Healthcare services imply a form of operations management demanding an adapted research approach. This study therefore highlights first in the introduction challenges of healthcare services as a reasoning of this study. It is a type of service that has high societal and therefore ethical concern, but at the same time needs to be carried out efficiently to economise service production resource use. Combined business and ethics concerns need to be balanced in this service supply system. In the literature review that is the bulk of this paper, first, particularities of the service industry processes are considered. This is followed by considering literature on contingency theory to consider the nature of the supply chain context of the healthcare service processes highlighting interdependencies and appropriate technology use. This developed view is then expanded to consider an ecosystems approach to encompass the environment expanding analyses to considering in balanced manner features of business, society and nature. A research model for directing both further researches on the healthcare service industry an innovation of such services in practice is introduced.

Female healthcare managers and the glass ceiling. The obstacles and opportunities for women in management.

Science.gov (United States)

Wiggins, C

1991-01-01

Despite the large number of women in the healthcare field, healthcare management resembles other industries in its severe lack of women in upper-management positions and in the "glass ceiling" that contributes to this dearth. Although not enough has been specifically written on women healthcare managers, the author reviews what is available, along with some of the general management literature.

Hitching Healthcare to the Chain: An Introduction to Blockchain Technology in the Healthcare Sector

OpenAIRE

Mark A. Engelhardt

2017-01-01

Health services must balance patient care with information privacy, access, and completeness. The massive scale of the healthcare industry also amplifies the importance of cost control. The promise of blockchain technology in health services, combined with application layers built atop it, is to be a mechanism that provides utmost privacy while ensuring that appropriate users can easily add to and access a permanent record of information. Blockchains, also called distributed ledgers, enable a...

Access to and utilisation of healthcare services by sex workers at truck-stop clinics in South Africa: A case study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Fobosi, S. C.; Lalla-Edward, S. T.; Ncube, S.; Buthelezi, F.; Matthew, P.; Kadyakapita, A.; Slabbert, M.; Hankins, C. A.; Venter, W. D. F.; Gomez, G. B.

2017-01-01

Background. Sex worker-specific health services aim to respond to the challenges that this key population faces in accessing healthcare. These services aim to integrate primary healthcare (PHC) interventions, yet most services tend to focus on prevention of HIV and sexually transmitted infections

Applications of electron beam technology for healthcare and environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Varshney, Lalit

2013-01-01

Radiation technology has matured from lab scale to industrial scale in many areas of interests to industry, healthcare, agriculture and environment. Some of the well established applications include radiation sterilization, wires and cable, composites for automobiles, radiation surface curing, nanomaterials, hydrogels and special materials for nuclear and aerospace industry, radiation treatment of effluents, sewage sludge etc. These applications are as a result of characteristics of high energy radiation like gamma and electron beams which are able to deliver energy directly at molecular level. Unlike nuclear based radiations, electron beam accelerator technology is amenable to easy acceptance by public as well has capability to manipulate processes and product treatment to produce varieties of advanced/smart materials for healthcare and environment. Faster dose rates and depth profiling are the important characteristics of electron beam technology which gives it an edge over gamma radiation processing. Department of Atomic Energy has an ambitious program to indigenously develop accelerator technology and utilize them for national progress. In the presentation some important applications of radiation technology will be discussed. (author)

Characteristics of healthcare wastes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Diaz, L.F.; Eggerth, L.L.; Enkhtsetseg, Sh.; Savage, G.M.

2008-01-01

A comprehensive understanding of the quantities and characteristics of the material that needs to be managed is one of the most basic steps in the development of a plan for solid waste management. In this case, the material under consideration is the solid waste generated in healthcare facilities, also known as healthcare waste. Unfortunately, limited reliable information is available in the open literature on the quantities and characteristics of the various types of wastes that are generated in healthcare facilities. Thus, sound management of these wastes, particularly in developing countries, often is problematic. This article provides information on the quantities and properties of healthcare wastes in various types of facilities located in developing countries, as well as in some industrialized countries. Most of the information has been obtained from the open literature, although some information has been collected by the authors and from reports available to the authors. Only data collected within approximately the last 15 years and using prescribed methodologies are presented. The range of hospital waste generation (both infectious and mixed solid waste fractions) varies from 0.016 to 3.23 kg/bed-day. The relatively wide variation is due to the fact that some of the facilities surveyed in Ulaanbaatar include out-patient services and district health clinics; these facilities essentially provide very basic services and thus the quantities of waste generated are relatively small. On the other hand, the reported amount of infectious (clinical, yellow bag) waste varied from 0.01 to 0.65 kg/bed-day. The characteristics of the components of healthcare wastes, such as the bulk density and the calorific value, have substantial variability. This literature review and the associated attempt at a comparative analysis point to the need for worldwide consensus on the terms and characteristics that describe wastes from healthcare facilities. Such a consensus would greatly

An Integrated Conceptual Framework for RFID Enabled Healthcare

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gaurav Gupta

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Radio frequency identification (RFID technology is a wireless communication technology that facilitates automatic identification and data capture without human intervention. Since 2000s, RFID applications in the health care industry are increasing.  RFID has brought many improvements in areas like patient care, patient safety, equipment tracking, resource utilization, processing time reduction and so on. On the other hand, often deployment of RFID is questioned on the issues like high capital investment, technological complexity, and privacy concerns. Exploration of existing literature indicates the presence of works on the topics like asset management, patient management, staff management, institutional advantages, and organizational issues. However, most of the works are focused on a particular issue. Still now, scholarly attempts to integrate all the facades of RFID-enabled healthcare are limited. In this paper, we propose a conceptual framework that represents the scope for implementation of this technology and the various dimensions of RFID-enabled healthcare and demonstrate them in detail. Also, we have discussed the critical issues that can prove to be potential barriers to its successful implementation and current approaches to resolving these. We also discuss some of the regulatory initiatives encouraging its adoption in the healthcare industry. Also, we have highlighted the future research opportunities in this domain.

New technologies in the prevention and control of healthcare-associated infection.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Humphreys, H

2010-06-01

The increased interest in healthcare-associated infection (HCAI) among the public, patients and politicians has led to the development of potential new approaches to its prevention by industrial concerns and others. Such developments include better methods of assessing hospital hygiene, enhanced decontamination of the healthcare environment, biosynthetic tissue alternatives, antibiotic-impregnated medical devices and information technology that can help improve professional practice. Although promising, many of these have not been adequately evaluated in the clinical setting, highlighting the need for greater collaboration between industry and infection prevention and control practitioners to maximise the benefit of new products and to complement conventional approaches to HCAI prevention such as education, professional practice and the provision of better facilities.

Key tasks in healthcare marketing: assessing importance and current level of knowledge.

Science.gov (United States)

Kennett, Pamela A; Henson, Steve W; Crow, Stephen M; Hartman, Sandra J

2005-01-01

When examining the healthcare industry, the need for continuing education in internal functions (i.e., HR management) has been documented. However, equally important to success in the healthcare industry are external functions such as marketing. In an expansion of research on internally focused functions, we report findings from an exploratory study designed to examine the perceptions of executives about managerial skill needs in the externally focused area of marketing. Specifically, we examine eight key tasks in marketing and ask executives to rate the level of knowledge required for each and then to assess current, or actual, levels of knowledge in the field. Findings suggest that pricing strategy, product strategy, and segmentation and targeting were the tasks that require the most knowledge for healthcare marketers, and that they do, in fact, perceive various gaps in all of the areas examined. Implications and suggestions for future research are provided.

A qualitative study into the perceived barriers of accessing healthcare among a vulnerable population involved with a community centre in Romania.

Science.gov (United States)

George, Siân; Daniels, Katy; Fioratou, Evridiki

2018-04-03

Minority vulnerable communities, such as the European Roma, often face numerous barriers to accessing healthcare services, resulting in negative health outcomes. Both these barriers and outcomes have been reported extensively in the literature. However, reports on barriers faced by European non-Roma native communities are limited. The "Health Care Access Barriers" (HCAB) model identifies pertinent financial, structural and cognitive barriers that can be measured and potentially modified. The present study thus aims to explore the barriers to accessing healthcare for a vulnerable population of mixed ethnicity from a charity community centre in Romania, as perceived by the centre's family users and staff members, and assess whether these reflect the barriers identified from the HCAB model. Eleven community members whose children attend the centre and seven staff members working at the centre participated in face-to-face semi-structured interviews, exploring personal experiences and views on accessing healthcare. The interviews were transcribed and analysed using an initial deductive and secondary inductive approach to identify HCAB themes and other emerging themes and subthemes. Identified themes from both groups aligned with HCAB's themes of financial, structural and cognitive barriers and emergent subthemes important to the specific population were identified. Specifically, financial barriers related mostly to health insurance and bribery issues, structural barriers related mostly to service availability and accessibility, and cognitive barriers related mostly to healthcare professionals' attitudes and discrimination and the vulnerable population's lack of education and health literacy. A unique theme of psychological barriers emerged from both groups with associated subthemes of mistrust, hopelessness, fear and anxiety of this vulnerable population. The current study highlights healthcare access barriers to a vulnerable non-Roma native population involved with a

Labor markets and employment insecurity: impacts of globalization on service and healthcare-sector workforces.

Science.gov (United States)

Ostry, Aleck S; Spiegel, Jerry M

2004-01-01

Global changes in the economies of most developed nations have impacted the way healthcare is organized, even within largely public systems, and the working conditions of healthcare workers. Since the acceleration of globalization in the 1970s, service-sector workers in developed nations have faced high unemployment, increased skill requirements for most jobs, and a rise in non-traditional work arrangements. These secular shifts in service-sector labor markets have occurred against the background of an erosion of the welfare state and growing income inequality. As well, many healthcare systems, including Canada's, were severely downsized and restructured in the 1990s, exacerbating the underlying negative secular trends in the service sector, and worsening the working conditions for many healthcare workers. Globalization has altered the labor market and shifted working conditions in ways that have been unfavorable to many healthcare workers.

Desiccation: An environmental and food industry stress that bacteria commonly face.

Science.gov (United States)

Esbelin, Julia; Santos, Tiago; Hébraud, Michel

2018-02-01

Water is essential for all living organisms, for animals as well as for plants and micro-organisms. For these latter, the presence of water or a humid environment with a high air relative humidity (RH) is necessary for their survival and growth. Thus, variations in the availability of water or in the air relative humidity constitute widespread environmental stresses which challenge microorganisms, and especially bacteria. Indeed, in their direct environment, bacteria are often faced with conditions that remove cell-bound water through air-drying of the atmosphere. Bacterial cells are subject to daily or seasonal environmental variations, sometimes going through periods of severe desiccation. This is also the case in the food industry, where air dehumidification treatments are applied after the daily cleaning-disinfection procedures. In plants producing low-water activity products, it is also usual to significantly reduce or eliminate water usage. Periodic desiccation exposure affects bacteria viability and so they require strategies to persist. Negative effects of desiccation are wide ranging and include direct cellular damage but also changes in the biochemical and biophysical properties of cells for which planktonic cells are more exposed than cells in biofilm. Understanding the mechanisms of desiccation adaptation and tolerance has a biological and biotechnological interest. This review gives an overview of the factors influencing desiccation tolerance and the biological mechanisms involved in this stress response. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Extension of the behavioral model of healthcare utilization with ethnically diverse, low-income women.

Science.gov (United States)

Keenan, Lisa A; Marshall, Linda L; Eve, Susan

2002-01-01

Psychosocial vulnerabilities were added to a model of healthcare utilization. This extension was tested among low-income women with ethnicity addressed as a moderator. Structured interviews were conducted at 2 points in time, approximately 1 year apart. The constructs of psychosocial vulnerability, demographic predisposing, barriers, and illness were measured by multiple indicators to allow use of Structural Equation Modeling to analyze results. The models were tested separately for each ethnic group. Community office. African-American (N = 266), Euro-American (N = 200), and Mexican-American (N = 210) women were recruited from the Dallas Metropolitan area to participate in Project Health Outcomes of Women, a multi-year, multi-wave study. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with this sample. Participants had been in heterosexual relationships for at least 1 year, were between 20 and 49 years of age, and had incomes less than 200% of the national poverty level. Healthcare utilization, defined as physician visits and general healthcare visits. Illness mediated the effect of psychosocial vulnerability on healthcare utilization for African Americans and Euro-Americans. The model for Mexican Americans was the most complex. Psychosocial vulnerability on illness was partially mediated by barriers, which also directly affected utilization. Psychosocial vulnerabilities were significant utilization predictors for healthcare use for all low-income women in this study. The final models for the 2 minority groups, African Americans and Mexican Americans, were quite different. Hence, women of color should not be considered a homogeneous group in comparison to Euro-Americans.

Designing Patient-facing Health Information Technologies for the Outpatient Settings: A Literature Review

OpenAIRE

Yushi Yang; Onur Asan

2016-01-01

Introduction: The implementation of health information technologies (HITs) has changed the dynamics of doctor–patient communication in outpatient settings. Designing patient-facing HITs provides patients with easy access to healthcare information during the visit and has the potential to enhance the patient-centred care.   Objectives: The objectives of this study are to systematically review how the designs of patient-facing HITs have been suggested and evaluated, and how they may pot...

Specific factors influencing information system/information and communication technology sourcing strategies in healthcare facilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Potančok, Martin; Voříšek, Jiří

2016-09-01

Healthcare facilities use a number of information system/information and communication technologies. Each healthcare facility faces a need to choose sourcing strategies most suitable to ensure provision of information system/information and communication technology services, processes and resources. Currently, it is possible to observe an expansion of sourcing possibilities in healthcare informatics, which creates new requirements for sourcing strategies. Thus, the aim of this article is to identify factors influencing information system/information and communication technology sourcing strategies in healthcare facilities. The identification was based on qualitative research, namely, a case study. This study provides a set of internal and external factors with their impact levels. The findings also show that not enough attention is paid to these factors during decision-making. © The Author(s) 2015.

Healthcare professionals' self-reported experiences and preferences related to direct healthcare professional communications: a survey conducted in the Netherlands.

Science.gov (United States)

Piening, Sigrid; Haaijer-Ruskamp, Flora M; de Graeff, Pieter A; Straus, Sabine M J M; Mol, Peter G M

2012-11-01

In Europe, Direct Healthcare Professional Communications (DHPCs) are important tools to inform healthcare professionals of serious, new drug safety issues. However, this tool has not always been successful in effectively communicating the desired actions to healthcare professionals. The aim of this study was to explore healthcare providers' experiences and their preferences for improvement of risk communication, comparing views of general practitioners (GPs), internists, community pharmacists and hospital pharmacists. A questionnaire was developed and pilot tested to assess experiences and preferences of Dutch healthcare professionals with DHPCs. The questionnaire and two reminders were sent to a random sample of 3488 GPs, internists and community and hospital pharmacists in the Netherlands. Descriptive statistics were used to describe demographic characteristics of the respondents. Chi squares, ANOVAs and the Wilcoxon signed rank test were used, when appropriate, to compare healthcare professional groups. The overall response rate was 34% (N = 1141, ranging from 24% for internists to 46% for community pharmacists). Healthcare providers trusted safety information more when provided by the Dutch Medicines Evaluation Board (MEB) than by the pharmaceutical industry. This was more the case for GPs than for the other healthcare professionals. Respondents preferred safety information to be issued by the MEB, the Dutch Pharmacovigilance Center or their own professional associations. The preferred alternative channels of drug safety information were e-mail, medical journals and electronic prescribing systems. Safety information of drugs does not always reach healthcare professionals through DHPCs. To improve current risk communication of drug safety issues, alternative and/or additional methods of risk communication should be developed using electronic methods and medical journals. Moreover, (additional) risk communication coming from an independent source such as the

Consumer-driven healthcare marketing: using the web to get up close and personal.

Science.gov (United States)

Rooney, Keila

2009-01-01

This essay examines the emergence of consumer-driven healthcare marketing, including its operational definition, how it has been used in the past, and how it has evolved. Specifically, marketing practices in other industries are inspected to understand the factors that have contributed to their successes and to determine the relevance of these efforts to healthcare marketing. The advantages of new, technology-enabled marketing opportunities are considered as well, such as stealth ads, blogs, podcasts, and corporate participation in social networks. The implications of the regulation on healthcare websites, along with the work-around strategies used, are analyzed. Lastly, the essay submits recommendations for the healthcare executive when implementing a consumer-driven healthcare marketing plan.

Development of Intelligent Auxiliary System for Customized Physical Fitness and Healthcare

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Huang Chung-Chi

2016-01-01

Full Text Available With the advent of global high-tech industry and commerce era, the sedentary reduces opportunities of physical activity. And physical fitness and health of people is getting worse and worse. At present, the shortage of physical fitness instructors greatly affected the effectiveness of health promotion. Therefore, it is necessary to develop an auxiliary system which can reduce the workload of instructors and enhance physical fitness and health for people. But current general physical fitness and healthcare system is hard to meet individualized needs. The main purpose of this research is to develop an intelligent auxiliary system for customized physical fitness and healthcare. It records all processes of physical fitness and healthcare system by wireless sensors network. The results of intelligent auxiliary systems for customized physical fitness and healthcare will be generated by fuzzy logic Inference. It will improve individualized physical fitness and healthcare. Finally, we will demonstrate the advantages of the intelligent auxiliary system for customized physical fitness and healthcare.

Quality function deployment in healthcare: a literature review and case study.

Science.gov (United States)

Gremyr, Ida; Raharjo, Hendry

2013-01-01

This article aims to provide a literature review on the use of quality function deployment (QFD) in healthcare and a case study in order to provide contextual knowledge as a means of improving applications of QFD in healthcare. The literature search was done via Google Scholar, PubMed/MEDLINE, and Web of Science using the keywords "quality function deployment" and "healthcare"; focusing on journal publications and their related citations. The case study was done within a design for Six Sigma project (DFSS) in a Swedish hospital. Empirical data were collected through face-to-face interviews and project documentation. Four potentials (better understanding of customers' needs and wants, identification of opportunities for process improvement, effective system thinking approach, and better communication and more transparent process) and three antecedents (understanding the customer, understanding the customer's needs, and finding ways to prioritize and translate those needs) of QFD application in healthcare were identified from the literature review. From the case study, the application of QFD leads to an increased awareness of a complex multiple-customer concept, traceability of the improvement strategies in a more structured way, and the formation of a new process organization. A time study at one clinic (cardiology) before and after the project within which the QFD was used showed that the time spent on prescription of medication has decreased by more than 20 percent. This has increased the time that doctors can spend with their patients. This paper highlights the potentials and antecedents of applying QFD in healthcare from previous research. Furthermore, the practical findings obtained from applying QFD in the project can also provide some useful insights for practitioners. The novel contribution is two-fold. First, it is the identification of the potentials and antecedents of using QFD in healthcare context. Second, it is the findings and learning from a

Internet of Things and big data technologies for next generation healthcare

CERN Document Server

Dey, Nilanjan; Ashour, Amira

2017-01-01

This comprehensive book focuses on better big-data security for healthcare organizations. Following an extensive introduction to the Internet of Things (IoT) in healthcare including challenging topics and scenarios, it offers an in-depth analysis of medical body area networks with the 5th generation of IoT communication technology along with its nanotechnology. It also describes a novel strategic framework and computationally intelligent model to measure possible security vulnerabilities in the context of e-health. Moreover, the book addresses healthcare systems that handle large volumes of data driven by patients’ records and health/personal information, including big-data-based knowledge management systems to support clinical decisions. Several of the issues faced in storing/processing big data are presented along with the available tools, technologies and algorithms to deal with those problems as well as a case study in healthcare analytics. Addressing trust, privacy, and security issues as well as the I...

Milk and Cheese in an Andean Country: What Place for the Peruvian Traditional Subsector Faced with Dairy Industries?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Aubron

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Since the beginning of the 1990s, Peruvian milk production has increased greatly. The development of dairy supply chains is linked to the growth of a market protected from importations, and which is expanding because of urban population growth and improvements of the road network. It concerns both small dairy producers and the industrial dairy subsector, which are connected by interdependent and balance of power relations all along the chain. Dairy farmers were surveyed from a technical and economic angle in various regions. Results show that this dairy development brings about major income inequalities among producer types, reflecting an unequal access to resources. Statistical data in the literature and interviews of actors of the Peruvian dairy chains allow to assess the stakes and limits of quality approaches in the small producers’ chain faced with industries. Finally, the article questions the impact of free-trade agreements in which Peru is involved with regard to the domestic dairy subsector, and concludes with political proposals to accompany dairy development.

THE TOURISM INDUSTRY OF ETHICS AND TOURISM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Constanţa ENEA

2007-01-01

Full Text Available The tourism industry is one of the largest industries in the world, and despite recent events that have made its operating environment more complex, the industry continues to grow [Theobald, 2005, Global Tourism, 3rdedn., Butterworth-Heinemann/Elsevier]. Commensurate to the size of the industry is a growth in the number of students pursuing degree courses in tourism around the world. Despite an increasingly sophisticated literature, the relative recency of the industry and its study has meant little attention has been paid in the ethics literature to the dilemmas facing tourism managers and its students. Based on interviews with senior members of the tourism industry six scenarios are developed with pertinence to the challenges faced by industry practitioners today.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare Market: Market Trend with Boom Opportunities in Upcoming Years

OpenAIRE

Rahul Gautam

2018-01-01

The global artificial intelligence in healthcare market is expected to observe an extensive growth in the coming years, led by growing need for precision medicine, increasing application of big data in healthcare industry, and rising need for coordination between healthcare workforce and patients. The products in the global market are categorized as hardware, software and services, with software being the largest contributor in 2016 and the category is also projected to witness significant gr...

Innovation Concepts in Healthcare

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva

2010-01-01

AbstractDemographic change and advances in medical science pose increased challenges to healthcare systems globally: The economic basis is aging and thus health is becoming more and more a productivity factor. At the same time, with today’s new communication possibilities the demand and expectations of effective medical treatment have been increased. This presentation will illustrate the need for the “industrialization” of healthcare in order to achieve highest results at limited budgets. Thereby, industrialization is not meaning the medical treatment based on the assembly line approach. Rather it is to recognize the cost of medical care as an investment with respective expectations on the return of the investment. Innovations in imaging and pharmaceutical products as well as in processes - that lead to similar medical results, but with lower efforts - are keys in such scenarios.BiographyProf. Dr. Hermann Requardt, 54, is a member of the Managing Board of Siemens AG and Chief Executive Officer of the He...

Parallels in safety between aviation and healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Gerstle, Claudia R

2018-05-01

Aviation and healthcare are complex industries and share many similarities: the cockpit and the operating theater, the captain and the surgeon. While North American commercial aviation currently enjoys a tremendous safety record, it was not always this way. A spike of accidents in 1973 caused 3214 aviation-related fatalities. Over the past 20years, the rate of fatal accidents per million flights fell by a factor of five, while air traffic increased by more than 86%. There have been no fatalities on a U.S. carrier for over 12years. Last year, there were 251,454 deaths in the United States owing to medical error. Pilots pioneered ways to address risks through crew resource management (CRM), and threat and error management (TEM). Both strategies, which are aimed at minimizing risk and optimizing safety, are applicable to surgery and the healthcare industry. These strategies as well as the Swiss Cheese Model, Checklists and the Normalization of Deviance will be reviewed in this article. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Challenges facing the insurance industry since the modernisation of the international nuclear third party liability regime

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Quere, Alain

2014-01-01

events illustrate some of the challenges facing the world of insurance following the modernisation of the international nuclear third party liability regime: - Will the insurance industry be able to find funds corresponding to the new amounts that have been set? - Do the additional damages covered by the revised conventions provide adequate cover for existing risks and will private insurance be able and willing to cover such risks? Nevertheless, the insurance world has changed a great deal since 2004 and there are many additional issues that have arisen since that time. For example, the economic crisis and the introduction of the European Solvency II Directive require insurers to take a more stringent line with their commitments. Moreover, after the Fukushima Daiichi accident, a number of questions have resurfaced: are the new insurance amounts sufficient? The age of 'nuclear renaissance' has long gone and some countries are distancing themselves from nuclear power in light of its questionable costs; are operators paying a fair price in light of the risks incurred? Finally, Europe is keen to play its part and impose its own rules; what will be the consequences of this development? This article reconsiders these challenges in light of the 2004 Protocol (which has not entered into force), by focusing in particular on the situation in Europe. Section I looks back at the history behind the conventions and the key principles they set down. Section II highlights the changes made to the Paris Convention as amended by the 2004 Protocol and the problems facing the insurance industry. Section III provides an overview of the various actors involved in the insurance industry and redefines the necessary insurance foundations to cover the challenges described in Section IV. Finally, Section IV covers all the challenges facing the insurance industry since the modernisation of the international nuclear third party liability regime. (author)

Ownership, control, and contention: challenges for the future of healthcare in Malaysia.

Science.gov (United States)

Chee, Heng Leng

2008-05-01

The recent history of healthcare privatisation and corporatisation in Malaysia, an upper middle-income developing country, highlights the complicit role of the state in the rise of corporate healthcare. Following upon the country's privatisation policy in the 1980s, private capital made significant inroads into the healthcare provider sector. This paper explores the various ownership interests in healthcare provision: statist capital, rentier capital, and transnational capital, as well as the contending social and political forces that lie behind state interests in the privatisation of healthcare, the growing prominence of transnational activities in healthcare, and the regional integration of capital in the healthcare provider industry. Civil society organizations provide a small but important countervailing force in the contention over the future of healthcare in the country. It is envisaged that the healthcare financing system will move towards a social insurance model, in which the state has an important regulating role. The important question, therefore, is whether the Malaysian government, with its vested interests, will have the capacity and the will to play this role in a social insurance system. The issues of ownership and control have important implications for governance more generally in a future healthcare system.

The UK oil industry in 1992-93

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Collins, John

1993-01-01

A review is presented of the fortunes of the United Kingdom oil industry for the year 1992-1993. Recent achievements in dealing with competition and growing costs are noted. Relationships between the oil industry and policy makers, both at national and European Community level will need to be based on realistic understanding of the industry and the complex issues it faces. Although the offshore oil and gas industry has enjoyed considerable success since the mid-1960s, recent structural change and market liberalization means that it now faces challenges which require even closer cooperation between government and the industry itself to be achieved. (UK)

[The pharmaceutical industry and the sustainability of healthcare systems in developed countries and in Latin America].

Science.gov (United States)

Iñesta, Antonio; Oteo, Luis Angel

2011-06-01

The global economic crisis and its impact on public finances in most developed countries are giving rise to cost-containment policies in healthcare systems. Prevailing legislation on medication requires the safety, quality, and efficacy of these products. A few countries include efficiency criteria, primarily for new medication that they wish to include in public financing. The appropriate use of generic and "biosimilar medication" is very important for maintaining the financial equilibrium of the Health Services. The problem in Latin America is that not all multisource products are bioequivalent and not all countries have the resources to conduct bioequivalence studies in vivo. The European Medicines Agency in 2005 adopted guidelines on "biosimilar medicines" and thirteen of them were subsequently approved for general release. Benchmarking of this model by other countries would be important. The influence of the pharmaceutical industry on political and administrative areas is enormous and control is necessary. The pharmaceutical companies claim that they act with corporate social responsibility, therefore, they must ensure this responsibility toward society.

Attitudes of stakeholders and policymakers in the healthcare system towards the provision of spiritual care in Israel.

Science.gov (United States)

Bentur, Netta; Resnitzky, Shirli; Sterne, Abram

2010-06-01

Spiritual-care services and chaplaincy in the medical system are provided to people with serious illnesses, aiming to help them achieve moments of peace and acceptance while contending with illness or facing death. Chaplaincy has been available in Europe and in the U.S. for many decades, but such programs started to develop in Israel only few years ago. This paper examines the attitudes of stakeholders, directors and policymakers in the healthcare system towards the provision of spiritual care and the development of such programs. We conducted in-depth face-to-face interviews with 16 individuals in the healthcare system. All the interviews were transcribed in full and analyzed using qualitative study methods. Most of the interviewees had little knowledge of spiritual care and many mentioned barriers and challenges to its implementation in the healthcare system. These issues include: lack of knowledge and understanding about spiritual care precluding impeded their ability to evaluate its suitability for the healthcare services; confusion between spiritual care and religion; concerns about potential conflict with other professionals, especially social workers; barriers to funding of the new services; barriers to the successful integration of new ideas; and concerns about formal training and accreditation of the new profession. Spiritual care has begun to take root in Israel's health system, but it is still at an early stage of development. Implementation must continue apace and careful consideration must be given to optimizing its acceptance by the establishment. Copyright (c) 2010. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

Global health: the ethical responsibility of the pharmaceutical industry.

Science.gov (United States)

Lassen, Lars Christian; Thomsen, Mads Krogsgaard

2007-02-01

Health as a global issue concerns all and clearly manifests global inequality. All stakeholders of the healthcare systems and disease treatment--including the pharmaceutical industry--have an ethical obligation to contribute to promoting global health. At Novo Nordisk we primarily focus on providing our contribution to global health through defeating diabetes. At the same time we stand by being a private company required to deliver a financial profit, which is why we must create positive results on the financial, the environmental and the social bottom lines. In this article we attempt to provide a brief overview of some of the initiatives that we think business companies can take--and therefore are also obliged to in promoting global health. Further, we have pointed out a number of dilemmas within research and development as well as business ethics that all companies face when they convert the ethical principles to daily practice globally.

Industrial waste utilization in the panels production for high buildings facade and socle facing

Science.gov (United States)

Vitkalova, Irina; Torlova, Anastasiya; Pikalov, Evgeniy; Selivanov, Oleg

2018-03-01

The research presents comprehensive utilization of such industrial waste as galvanic sludge, broken window glass as functional additives for producing ceramics for facade and socle paneling in high-rise construction. The basic charge component is low-plasticity clay, which does not allow producing high-quality products if used without any functional additives. The application of the mentioned above components broadens the resource base, reduces production cost and the mass of the products in comparison with the currently used facing ceramics. The decrease of product mass helps to reduce the load on the basement and to use ceramic material in high-rise construction more effectively. Additional advantage of the developed composition is the reducing of production energy intensity due to comparatively low pressing pressure and firing temperature thus reducing the overall production cost. The research demonstrates the experimental results of determining density, compressive strength, water absorption, porosity and frost resistance of the produced ceramic material. These characteristics prove that the material can be applied for high buildings outdoor paneling. Additional research results prove ecologic safety of the produced ceramic material.

Patients find success haggling as health-care costs climb.

Science.gov (United States)

Costello, Daniel

2002-01-01

In small but growing numbers, Americans are taking an innovative approach to controlling health-care costs: They're haggling with their doctors. Fed up with mounting health bills, consumers ae getting as much as 30% off everything from eye exams to fertility procedures just by agreeing to pay upfront. Others are holding their doctors over a barrel by waiting a few months to pay the bill. Already, a new cottage industry of middlemen who negotiate healthcare bills for patients report their haggling business is up as much as 25% in the last two years.

The changing face of the Canadian gas industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Doucet, G.

1997-01-01

As in all industrialized countries, in order to keep abreast of the increasing demand for energy and environmental protection requirements, the Canadian gas industry must take up the challenge of the next century and ensure a sustainable economic development in which gas will play an important role. What share of the energy mix for the years to come should be allocated to gas? How should demand be met? What changes should take place in order to be able to offer consumers an energy which is plentiful, safe and cost-effective? How should gas companies organize themselves in market which is becoming more and more de-regulated? Such the themes tackled by Mr Gerard Doucet, President of the Canadian Gas Association, during a presentation which took place at the French Gas Association's executive committee meeting. (author)

Care relationships at stake? Home healthcare professionals' experiences with digital medicine dispensers - a qualitative study.

Science.gov (United States)

Nakrem, Sigrid; Solbjør, Marit; Pettersen, Ida Nilstad; Kleiven, Hanne Hestvik

2018-01-15

Although digital technologies can mitigate the burdens of home healthcare services caused by an ageing population that lives at home longer with complex health problems, research on the impacts and consequences of digitalised remote communication between patients and caregivers is lacking. The present study explores how home healthcare professionals had experienced the introduction of digital medicine dispensers and their influence on patient-caregiver relationships. The multi-case study comprised semi-structured interviews with 21 healthcare professionals whose home healthcare service involved using the digital medicine dispensers. The constant comparative method was used for data analyses. Altogether, interviewed healthcare professionals reported three main technology-related impacts upon their patient-caregiver relationships. First, national and local pressure to increase efficiency had troubled their relationships with patients who suspected that municipalities have sought to lower costs by reducing and digitalising services. Participants reported having to consider such worries when introducing technologies into their services. Second, participants reported a shift towards empowering patients. Digital technology can empower patients who value their independence, whereas safety is more important for other patients. Healthcare professionals needed to ensure that replacing care tasks with technology implies safe and improved care. Third, the safety and quality of digital healthcare services continues to depend upon surveillance and control mechanisms that compensate for less face-to-face monitoring. Participants did not consider the possibility that surveillance exposes information about patients' everyday lives to be problematic, but to constitute opportunities for adjusting services to meet patients' needs. Technologies such as digital medicine dispensers can improve the efficiency of healthcare services and enhance patients' independence when introduced in a

Exploring the self-compassion of health-care social workers: How do they fare?

Science.gov (United States)

Lianekhammy, Joann; Miller, J Jay; Lee, Jacquelyn; Pope, Natalie; Barnhart, Sheila; Grise-Owens, Erlene

2018-05-03

Indubitably, the challenges facing health-care social workers are becoming increasingly complex. Whilst these problematic professional circumstances compound the need for self-compassion among health-care social workers, few studies, if any, have explicitly examined self-compassion among this practitioner group. This cross-sectional study explored self-compassion among a sample of practitioners (N = 138) in one southeastern state. Results indicate that health-care social workers in this sample engage in self-compassion only moderately. Further, occupational and demographic/life characteristics (e.g., age, years practicing social work, average hours worked per week, health status, and relationship status, among others) are able to predict self-compassion scores. After a terse review of relevant literature, this paper will explicate findings from this study, discuss relevant points derived from said findings, and identify salient implication for health-care social work praxis.

Catastrophic healthcare expenditure and poverty related to out-of-pocket payments for healthcare in Bangladesh-an estimation of financial risk protection of universal health coverage.

Science.gov (United States)

Khan, Jahangir A M; Ahmed, Sayem; Evans, Timothy G

2017-10-01

The Sustainable Development Goals target to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC), including financial risk protection (FRP) among other dimensions. There are four indicators of FRP, namely incidence of catastrophic health expenditure (CHE), mean positive catastrophic overshoot, incidence of impoverishment and increase in the depth of poverty occur for high out-of-pocket (OOP) healthcare spending. OOP spending is the major payment strategy for healthcare in most low-and-middle-income countries, such as Bangladesh. Large and unpredictable health payments can expose households to substantial financial risk and, at their most extreme, can result in poverty. The aim of this study was to estimate the impact of OOP spending on CHE and poverty, i.e. status of FRP for UHC in Bangladesh. A nationally representative Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2010 was used to determine household consumption expenditure and health-related spending in the last 30 days. Mean CHE headcount and its concentration indices (CI) were calculated. The propensity of facing CHE for households was predicted by demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. The poverty headcount was estimated using 'total household consumption expenditure' and such expenditure without OOP payments for health in comparison with the poverty-line measured by cost of basic need. In absolute values, a pro-rich distribution of OOP payment for healthcare was found in urban and rural Bangladesh. At the 10%-threshold level, in total 14.2% of households faced CHE with 1.9% overshoot. 16.5% of the poorest and 9.2% of the richest households faced CHE. An overall pro-poor distribution was found for CHE (CI = -0.064) in both urban and rural households, while the former had higher CHE incidences. The poverty headcount increased by 3.5% (5.1 million individuals) due to OOP payments. Reliance on OOP payments for healthcare in Bangladesh should be reduced for poverty alleviation in urban and rural Bangladesh in order to

Physician leadership: a health-care system's investment in the future of quality care.

Science.gov (United States)

Orlando, Rocco; Haytaian, Marcia

2012-08-01

The current state of health care and its reform will require physician leaders to take on greater management responsibilities, which will require a set of organizational and leadership competencies that traditional medical education does not provide. Physician leaders can form a bridge between the clinical and administrative sides of a health-care organization, serving to further the organization's strategy for growth and success. Recognizing that the health-care industry is rapidly changing and physician leaders will play a key role in that transformation, Hartford HealthCare has established a Physician Leadership Development Institute that provides advanced leadership skills and management education to select physicians practicing within the health-care system.

The Effects of Health Education through Face To Face Teaching and Educational Movies, on Suburban Women in Childbearing Age.

Science.gov (United States)

Vameghi, R; Mohammad, K; Karimloo, M; Soleimani, F; Sajedi, F

2010-01-01

The aim of the study was to compare the effects of 'face-to-face education' and 'educational movies' on 'knowledge' and 'practice' of women of child-bearing-age, in terms of health-care during pregnancy and during infancy in a suburban region near Tehran City, Iran. In this quasi-experimental study, the sample included 873 married women. Questionnaires for knowledge and practice assessment were designed. The women were assigned to three groups: control (group I), face-to-face education (group II), and educational movie (group III). Knowledge questionnaires were completed before and immediately after intervention. Practice questionnaires were completed before and three months after intervention. Both questionnaires consisted of two types of questions: type A (concerning infant care issues) and type B (concerning prenatal health care). There was a significant difference in post-test knowledge between groups I and II and between groups I and III, but not between groups II and III. In terms of post-test practice, the changes were determined for every individual question, and significantly, better results were seen in group II, especially concerning type B questions. Face to face education lead to better practice than educational movies. In addition, significantly better practice occurred regarding child health care issues rather than prenatal issues in both groups. Realistic and tangible issues, those easy to practice, and with little or no economical burden imposed on the family, progressed from the knowledge state to the practice state more successfully in both groups.

Job Prospects for Industrial Engineers.

Science.gov (United States)

Basta, Nicholas

1988-01-01

Discusses 1987 statistics from the College Placement Council regarding new job offers to graduating industrial engineers. Identifies trends in hiring in the field. Describes several issues that will face industrial engineers. States that the industrial engineers most likely to win jobs are those with good basic mathematics and communications…

Competences in Social Media Use in the Area of Health and Healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Kouri, Pirkko; Rissanen, Marja-Liisa; Weber, Patrick; Park, Hyeoun-Ae

2017-01-01

In today's life, social media offer new working ways. People are increasingly expanding interactions from face-to-face meetings to online ways of communication, networking, searching, creating and sharing information, and furthermore taking care of patients/citizens via tweeting care, Facebook care, blogging care, vlogging care, infotainment care, gamification-care, infographic care, for instance. This chapter discusses the utilisation of social media in the healthcare domain including nursing education, practice and research. When in the current healthcare era, social media is used effectively and purposefully, it can give all of us a greater choice in how we live, how we take care of our health and how we learn and build both our professional competences and produce evidence-based, qualified data. Nurses need continuous education and proper tools to take the most of the benefits of social media, not forgetting privacy and ethical issues. This use of social media in professional nursing generates the need for new competences.

Structuring agency: examining healthcare management in the USA and Australia using organizational theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Payne, Julianne; Leiter, Jeffrey

2013-01-01

Since the 1970s, the healthcare industry has undergone significant changes. Using neo-institutional and resource dependency theories, the purpose of this paper is to explore how managers perceive constraint and enact agency amidst these historic challenges--perhaps most significantly, declining funding and increasing regulation. The data come from ten interviews with healthcare managers, spanning for-profit, non-profit, and government legal forms and hospital and nursing home sub-industries in both Queensland, Australia and North Carolina, USA. The authors look for patterns across the interviews. The paper shows that governments and umbrella "parent" organizations force managers to adhere to institutional expectations in exchange for resource investment. Managers navigate these environmental obstacles using a shared business-minded approach and competitive differentiation. Yet various interest groups--including front-line workers, physicians, and patients--challenge this paradigm, as they demand a focus on quality of care. Managers' efforts are likewise curbed by the very resource and institutional pressures they resist. The authors understand changes in the healthcare industry as resulting from an increasingly powerful managerial logic, at odds with traditional professional and societal values. Interest groups are best positioned to challenge this logic.

Healthcare and healthcare systems: inspiring progress and future prospects.

Science.gov (United States)

Durrani, Hammad

2016-01-01

Healthcare systems globally have experienced intensive changes, reforms, developments, and improvement over the past 30 years. Multiple actors (governmental and non-governmental) and countries have played their part in the reformation of the global healthcare system. New opportunities are presenting themselves while multiple challenges still remain especially in developing countries. Better way to proceed would be to learn from historical patterns while we plan for the future in a technology-driven society with dynamic demographic, epidemiological and economic uncertainties. A structured review of both peer-reviewed and gray literature on the topic was carried out. On the whole, people are healthier, doing better financially and live longer today than 30 years ago. The number of under-5 mortality worldwide has declined from 12.7 million in 1990 to 6.3 million in 2013. Infant and maternal mortality rates have also been reduced. However, both rates are still considered high in Africa and some Asian countries. The world's population nearly doubled in these 30 years, from 4.8 billion in 1985 to 7.2 billion in 2015. The majority of the increasing population was coming from the least developed countries, i.e., 3.66 to 5.33 billion. The world will be short of 12.9 million health-care workers by 2035; today, that figure stands at 7.2 million. Health care expenditures among countries also show sharp differences. In high income countries, per person health expenditure is over USD 3,000 on average, while in poor countries, it is as low as USD 12, WHO estimate of minimum spending per person per year needed to provide basic, life-saving services is USD 44. The challenges faced by the global health system over the past 30 years have been increased in population and urbanization, behavioral changes, rise in chronic diseases, traumatic injuries, infectious diseases, specific regional conflicts and healthcare delivery security. Over the next 30 years, most of the world population

On the need for revising healthcare failure mode and effect analysis for assessing potential for patient harm in healthcare processes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abrahamsen, Håkon Bjorheim; Abrahamsen, Eirik Bjorheim; Høyland, Sindre

2016-01-01

Healthcare Failure Mode and Effect Analysis is a proactive, systematic method adapted from safety-critical industries increasingly used to assess the potential for patient harm in high-risk healthcare processes. In this paper we review and discuss this method. We point to some weaknesses and finally argue for two adjustments. One adjustment is regarding the way in which risk is evaluated, and the other is to adopt a broader evaluation of barrier performance. Examples are given from prehospital critical care and from the operating room environment within hospitals to illustrate these ideas. - Highlights: • This article discusses the appropriateness of using HFMEA in healthcare processes. • We conclude that HFMEA has an important role to play in such contexts. • We argue for two adjustments in the traditional HFMEA. • One is regarding the way risk is evaluated. • The other is to adopt a broader evaluation of barrier performance.

Implications of nuclear industry globalization for chinese nuclear industry: opportunities and challenges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guo Zhifeng; Ding Qihua; Wang Zheng

2014-01-01

In recent years, globalization of the world nuclear industry has developed into a new phase. Chinese nuclear industry will be inevitably integrated into this trend. Globalization will bring both positive and adverse effects on Chinese nuclear industry. Facing the fierce competition, Chinese companies must rise to many challenges to enter the global nuclear market. And China need to make scientific decisions and take effective measures in various fields of nuclear industry to realized the goal of global development. (authors)

Harnessing the privatisation of China's fragmented health-care delivery.

Science.gov (United States)

Yip, Winnie; Hsiao, William

2014-08-30

Although China's 2009 health-care reform has made impressive progress in expansion of insurance coverage, much work remains to improve its wasteful health-care delivery. Particularly, the Chinese health-care system faces substantial challenges in its transformation from a profit-driven public hospital-centred system to an integrated primary care-based delivery system that is cost effective and of better quality to respond to the changing population needs. An additional challenge is the government's latest strategy to promote private investment for hospitals. In this Review, we discuss how China's health-care system would perform if hospital privatisation combined with hospital-centred fragmented delivery were to prevail--population health outcomes would suffer; health-care expenditures would escalate, with patients bearing increasing costs; and a two-tiered system would emerge in which access and quality of care are decided by ability to pay. We then propose an alternative pathway that includes the reform of public hospitals to pursue the public interest and be more accountable, with public hospitals as the benchmarks against which private hospitals would have to compete, with performance-based purchasing, and with population-based capitation payment to catalyse coordinated care. Any decision to further expand the for-profit private hospital market should not be made without objective assessment of its effect on China's health-policy goals. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Private Healthcare Sector in Johor: Trends and Prospects

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ormond, M.E.; Lim, C.H.

2018-01-01

The Iskandar Malaysia (IM) special economic zone (SEZ) was established in Malaysia’s southernmost state, Johor, in 2006. Despite its relative insignificance in the SEZ’s broader investment portfolio, healthcare – a driver for other health-related industries (e.g., biotechnology, medical devices and

An analysis of the functioning of mental healthcare in northwestern Poland.

Science.gov (United States)

Bażydło, Marta; Karakiewicz, Beata

Modern psychiatry faces numerous challenges related with the change of the epidemiology of mental disorders and the development of knowledge in this area of science. An answer to this situation is to be the introduction of community psychiatry. The implementation of this model in Poland was the aim of the National Mental Health Protection Programme. The aim of the study was to analyse the functioning of mental healthcare using the example of the West Pomeranian Province in Poland. The analysis relied on a qualitative method. Three group interviews in an interdisciplinary advisory panel were conducted. People representing various areas acting for people with mental disorders participated in each meeting. Based on the conclusions that were drawn, PEST and SWOT analyses of functioning of mental healthcare were performed. Within the analysis of the macro-environment of mental healthcare, the influence of the following factors was evaluated through PEST analysis: political and legal, economic, socio-cultural, and technological. All of these factors were assessed as negative for the functioning of mental healthcare. Then, a SWOT analysis was performed to indicate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in the functioning of mental healthcare. 1. Mental healthcare is more influenced by external factors than by internal factors. 2. Macro-environmental factors influence the functioning of mental healthcare in a significantly negative manner. 3. The basic problem in the functioning of mental healthcare is insufficient funding. 4. In order to improve the functioning of mental healthcare, it is necessary to change the funding methods, regulations, the way society perceives mental disorders, and the system of monitoring mental healthcare services.

Medical Students' Opinions About the Commercialization of Healthcare: A Cross-Sectional Survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Civaner, M Murat; Balcioglu, Harun; Vatansever, Kevser

2016-06-01

There are serious concerns about the commercialization of healthcare and adoption of the business approach in medicine. As market dynamics endanger established professional values, healthcare workers face more complicated ethical dilemmas in their daily practice. The aim of this study was to investigate the willingness of medical students to accept the assertions of commercialized healthcare and the factors affecting their level of agreement, factors which could influence their moral stance when market demands conflict with professional values. A cross-sectional study was conducted in three medical schools in Turkey. The study population consisted of first-, third-, and sixth-year students, and 1,781 students participated in total. Students were asked to state if they agreed with the assertions of commercialized healthcare. Of all students, 87.2 per cent agreed with at least one of the assertions, and one-fifth (20.8 per cent) of them agreed with more than half of the assertions. First-year students significantly agreed more with some assertions than third- and sixth-year students. Being female, having mid-level family income, choosing medicine due to idealistic reasons, and being in the third or sixth years of medical study increased the probability of disagreement. Also, studying in a medical school that included integrated lectures on health policies, rights related to health, and health inequities, along with early field visits, increased the probability of disagreement. This study suggests that agreement with the assertions of commercialized healthcare might be prevalent among students at a considerable level. We argue that this level of agreement is not compatible with best practice in professional ethics and indicates the need for an educational intervention in order to have physicians who give priority to patients' best interests in the face of market demands.

Spatial localization of knowledge-transfer channels and face-to-face contacts: A survey of the Jena university-industry linkages

OpenAIRE

Sauer, Thomas; Stoetzer, Matthias-Wolfgang; Gerlach, Andrea

2007-01-01

In this paper we examine the knowledge-Transfer Channels of the universities and public research institutes in Jena. The empirical study is based on a survey of 297 personal interviews with researchers of both types of organisations. Our study focuses on three questions: (a) The importance and multitude of existing transfer channels, (b) their geographic distribution and (c) the importance of face-to-face contacts. With regard to the first question the analysis reveals some shortcomings of th...

A Survey on Sentiment Classification in Face Recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Qian, Jingyu

2018-01-01

Face recognition has been an important topic for both industry and academia for a long time. K-means clustering, autoencoder, and convolutional neural network, each representing a design idea for face recognition method, are three popular algorithms to deal with face recognition problems. It is worthwhile to summarize and compare these three different algorithms. This paper will focus on one specific face recognition problem-sentiment classification from images. Three different algorithms for sentiment classification problems will be summarized, including k-means clustering, autoencoder, and convolutional neural network. An experiment with the application of these algorithms on a specific dataset of human faces will be conducted to illustrate how these algorithms are applied and their accuracy. Finally, the three algorithms are compared based on the accuracy result.

Design and usability of heuristic-based deliberation tools for women facing amniocentesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Durand, Marie-Anne; Wegwarth, Odette; Boivin, Jacky; Elwyn, Glyn

2012-03-01

Evidence suggests that in decision contexts characterized by uncertainty and time constraints (e.g. health-care decisions), fast and frugal decision-making strategies (heuristics) may perform better than complex rules of reasoning. To examine whether it is possible to design deliberation components in decision support interventions using simple models (fast and frugal heuristics). The 'Take The Best' heuristic (i.e. selection of a 'most important reason') and 'The Tallying' integration algorithm (i.e. unitary weighing of pros and cons) were used to develop two deliberation components embedded in a Web-based decision support intervention for women facing amniocentesis testing. Ten researchers (recruited from 15), nine health-care providers (recruited from 28) and ten pregnant women (recruited from 14) who had recently been offered amniocentesis testing appraised evolving versions of 'your most important reason' (Take The Best) and 'weighing it up' (Tallying). Most researchers found the tools useful in facilitating decision making although emphasized the need for simple instructions and clear layouts. Health-care providers however expressed concerns regarding the usability and clarity of the tools. By contrast, 7 out of 10 pregnant women found the tools useful in weighing up the pros and cons of each option, helpful in structuring and clarifying their thoughts and visualizing their decision efforts. Several pregnant women felt that 'weighing it up' and 'your most important reason' were not appropriate when facing such a difficult and emotional decision. Theoretical approaches based on fast and frugal heuristics can be used to develop deliberation tools that provide helpful support to patients facing real-world decisions about amniocentesis. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

HIV health-care providers' burnout: can organizational culture make a difference?

Science.gov (United States)

Ginossar, Tamar; Oetzel, John; Hill, Ricky; Avila, Magdalena; Archiopoli, Ashley; Wilcox, Bryan

2014-01-01

One of the major challenges facing those working with people living with HIV (PLWH) is the increased potential for burnout, which results in increased turnover and reduces quality of care provided for PLWH. The goal of this study was to examine the relationship among HIV health-care providers' burnout (emotional exhaustion and depersonalization) and organizational culture including teamwork, involvement in decision-making, and critical appraisal. Health-care providers for PLWH (N = 47) in federally funded clinics in a southwestern state completed a cross-sectional survey questionnaire about their perceptions of organizational culture and burnout. The results of multiple regression analysis indicated that positive organizational culture (i.e., teamwork) was negatively related to emotional burnout (p organizational culture (i.e., critical appraisal) was positively related to depersonalization (p organizational communication interventions might protect HIV health-care providers from burnout.

Ineffective healthcare technology management in Benin’s public health sector: the perceptions of key actors and their ability to address the main problems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Houngbo, P.T.; de Cock Buning, J.T.; Bunders- Aelen, J.G.F.; Medenou, D.; Dakpanon, L.Y.; Zweekhorst, M.B.M.; Coleman, H.L.S.

2017-01-01

Background: Low-income countries face many contextual challenges to manage healthcare technologies effectively, as the majority are imported and resources are constrained to a greater extent. Previous healthcare technology management (HTM) policies in Benin have failed to produce better quality of

Control chart applications in healthcare: a literature review

Science.gov (United States)

Suman, Gaurav; Prajapati, DeoRaj

2018-05-01

The concept of Statistical process control (SPC) was given by the physicist Walter Shewhart in order to improve the industrial manufacturing. The SPC was firstly applied in laboratory and after then shifted to patient level in hospitals. As there is more involvement of human in healthcare, the chances of errors are also more. SPC i.e., control chart can help in determining the source of errors by identifying the special and common causes of variations. This paper presents the review of literature on the application of SPC and control chart in healthcare sector. Forty articles are selected out of 142 potentially relevant searched studies. Selected studies are categorised into eight departments. Literature survey shows that most of work on control chart applications in healthcare is carried out in Surgery, Emergency and Epidemiology departments. US, UK and Australia are the main customers where maximum amount of work was done. The US is the country where control chart in healthcare sector have been used at regular interval. This shows the gap of deploying control chart in different departments and different countries as well. The CUSUM and EWMA chart came into picture in healthcare sector after 2008 and are used at regular interval.

Financial Risk in the Biotechnology Industry

OpenAIRE

Joseph H. Golec; John A. Vernon

2007-01-01

The biotechnology industry has been an engine of innovation for the U.S. healthcare system and, more generally, the U.S. economy. It is by far the most research intensive industry in the U.S. In our analyses in the current paper, for example, we find that, over the past 25 years, average R&D intensity (R&D spending to total firm assets) for this industry was 38 percent. Consider that over this same period average R&D intensity for all industries was only about 3 percent. In the current paper ...

Balancing influence between actors in healthcare decision making

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Babad Yair M

2011-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Healthcare costs in most developed countries are not clearly linked to better patient and public health outcomes, but are rather associated with service delivery orientation. In the U.S. this has resulted in large variation in healthcare availability and use, increased cost, reduced employer participation in health insurance programs, and reduced overall population health outcomes. Recent U.S. healthcare reform legislation addresses only some of these issues. Other countries face similar healthcare issues. Discussion A major goal of healthcare is to enhance patient health outcomes. This objective is not realized in many countries because incentives and structures are currently not aligned for maximizing population health. The misalignment occurs because of the competing interests between "actors" in healthcare. In a simplified model these are individuals motivated to enhance their own health; enterprises (including a mix of nonprofit, for profit and government providers, payers, and suppliers, etc. motivated by profit, political, organizational and other forces; and government which often acts in the conflicting roles of a healthcare payer and provider in addition to its role as the representative and protector of the people. An imbalance exists between the actors, due to the resources and information control of the enterprise and government actors relative to the individual and the public. Failure to use effective preventive interventions is perhaps the best example of the misalignment of incentives. We consider the current Pareto efficient balance between the actors in relation to the Pareto frontier, and show that a significant change in the healthcare market requires major changes in the utilities of the enterprise and government actors. Summary A variety of actions are necessary for maximizing population health within the constraints of available resources and the current balance between the actors. These actions include

Balancing influence between actors in healthcare decision making.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaplan, Robert M; Babad, Yair M

2011-04-19

Healthcare costs in most developed countries are not clearly linked to better patient and public health outcomes, but are rather associated with service delivery orientation. In the U.S. this has resulted in large variation in healthcare availability and use, increased cost, reduced employer participation in health insurance programs, and reduced overall population health outcomes. Recent U.S. healthcare reform legislation addresses only some of these issues. Other countries face similar healthcare issues. A major goal of healthcare is to enhance patient health outcomes. This objective is not realized in many countries because incentives and structures are currently not aligned for maximizing population health. The misalignment occurs because of the competing interests between "actors" in healthcare. In a simplified model these are individuals motivated to enhance their own health; enterprises (including a mix of nonprofit, for profit and government providers, payers, and suppliers, etc.) motivated by profit, political, organizational and other forces; and government which often acts in the conflicting roles of a healthcare payer and provider in addition to its role as the representative and protector of the people. An imbalance exists between the actors, due to the resources and information control of the enterprise and government actors relative to the individual and the public. Failure to use effective preventive interventions is perhaps the best example of the misalignment of incentives. We consider the current Pareto efficient balance between the actors in relation to the Pareto frontier, and show that a significant change in the healthcare market requires major changes in the utilities of the enterprise and government actors. A variety of actions are necessary for maximizing population health within the constraints of available resources and the current balance between the actors. These actions include improved transparency of all aspects of medical decision

Instructional Materials: The Changing Industry

Science.gov (United States)

Brodinsky, Ben

1975-01-01

The beleaguered educational publishing industry is making a valiant stand against a storm of challenges. From eradicating bias in textbooks to verifying textbook effectiveness, many problems must be faced. The industry responds by cooperating with educators. (Editor)

Haunted by Enron's ghost. National Century Financial Enterprises files for Chapter 11, leaving a string of broken healthcare chains and hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Mark

2002-11-25

Some are calling it the Enron of the healthcare industry. Ryder trucks hauled possible evidence from embattled financier National Century Financial Enterprises during an FBI raid. NCFE filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week, sending ripples through the industry and contributing to the bankruptcies of a string of national healthcare chains and at least six hospitals.

Offshoring of healthcare services: the case of US-India trade in medical transcription services.

Science.gov (United States)

Kshetri, Nir; Dholakia, Nikhilesh

2011-01-01

- The issue of offshore outsourcing of healthcare services is a critical but little-examined problem in healthcare research. The purpose of this study is to contribute to filling this void. A library-based study was carried out of the development of the Indian medical transcription offshoring industry. Findings- Cost-saving potential and the degree of outsourceability are higher for medical transcription compared with most services. Offshoring experience, typically in a low-value BPO, helps to enhance productivity and international linkages required for the success of medical transcription. Research limitations/implications - An important area of future research concerns comparing India's factor endowments in medical transcription outsourcing with other services. Further research is also needed to examine how India differs from its regional competitors in terms of factors endowments associated with these services. Another extension would be to investigate the drivers of offshoring of higher value services such as radiological readings. Practical implications - ICT infrastructures needed for outsourcing require much less investment compared with leading capital-intensive industries. The development patterns of the Indian medical and offshoring industries indicate that India may attract higher skilled medical functions in the future. The Indian offshoring industry is shifting its focus from BPO to knowledge process outsourcing (KPO). Developing countries need to shift to greater automation and greater levels of skill training to retain and reinforce their comparative advantages. This paper's greatest value stems from the fact that it examines the drivers of a new but rapidly growing healthcare industry.

Use of evidence-based management in healthcare administration decision-making.

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Ruiling; Berkshire, Steven D; Fulton, Lawrence V; Hermanson, Patrick M

2017-07-03

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine whether healthcare leaders use evidence-based management (EBMgt) when facing major decisions and what types of evidence healthcare administrators consult during their decision-making. This study also intends to identify any relationship that might exist among adoption of EBMgt in healthcare management, attitudes towards EBMgt, demographic characteristics and organizational characteristics. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional study was conducted among US healthcare leaders. Spearman's correlation and logistic regression were performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 23.0. Findings One hundred and fifty-four healthcare leaders completed the survey. The study results indicated that 90 per cent of the participants self-reported having used an EBMgt approach for decision-making. Professional experiences (87 per cent), organizational data (84 per cent) and stakeholders' values (63 per cent) were the top three types of evidence consulted daily and weekly for decision-making. Case study (75 per cent) and scientific research findings (75 per cent) were the top two types of evidence consulted monthly or less than once a month. An exploratory, stepwise logistic regression model correctly classified 75.3 per cent of all observations for a dichotomous "use of EBMgt" response variable using three independent variables: attitude towards EBMgt, number of employees in the organization and the job position. Spearman's correlation indicated statistically significant relationships between healthcare leaders' use of EBMgt and healthcare organization bed size ( r s = 0.217, n = 152, p employees ( r s = 0.195, n = 152, p = 0.016). Originality/value This study generated new research findings on the practice of EBMgt in US healthcare administration decision-making.

Patients as story-tellers of healthcare journeys.

Science.gov (United States)

Lamprell, Klay; Braithwaite, Jeffrey

2016-09-01

There are gaps in our comprehension of patients' subjective experiences as they engage with and transit through the healthcare environments implicated in their treatment trajectories. Patients' stories, unlike patient experience data gathered in questionnaires and surveys, express the deeply personal, narrative nature of the journeys that patients take, creating opportunities for qualitative healthcare research. Yet narrative capabilities and propensities vary with individuals, and are affected by the stresses of illness and treatment. This article extends the growing interest in narrative competence training for both practitioners and patients with the investigation of a story-telling model that could facilitate patients to narrate their experiences of healthcare systems. This model is derived from the literary arts. In fiction and autobiography, the journey arc of the central character is often one in which he or she is compelled to leave the comfort of everyday life and face a series of extraordinary events involving challenge and change which forces the character towards practical, intellectual, psychological and philosophical adjustments that define, by the end of the story, the character's 'new normal'. This pattern is known as the 'hero journey'. Its parallels with patients' experiences of healthcare and the way people narrate their stories of illness have long been recognised. We present here a new idea for applying this model as a narrative structure by which patients may construct their stories about being in and moving through the healthcare system. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Virtual reality training for health-care professionals.

Science.gov (United States)

Mantovani, Fabrizia; Castelnuovo, Gianluca; Gaggioli, Andrea; Riva, Giuseppe

2003-08-01

Emerging changes in health-care delivery are having a significant impact on the structure of health-care professionals' education. Today it is recognized that medical knowledge doubles every 6-8 years, with new medical procedures emerging everyday. While the half-life of medical information is so short, the average physician practices 30 years and the average nurse 40 years. Continuing education thus represents an important challenge to face. Recent advances in educational technology are offering an increasing number of innovative learning tools. Among these, Virtual Reality represents a promising area with high potential of enhancing the training of health-care professionals. Virtual Reality Training can provide a rich, interactive, engaging educational context, thus supporting experiential learning-by-doing; it can, in fact, contribute to raise interest and motivation in trainees and to effectively support skills acquisition and transfer, since the learning process can be settled within an experiential framework. Current virtual training applications for health-care differ a lot as to both their technological/multimedia sophistication and to the types of skills trained, varying for example from telesurgical applications to interactive simulations of human body and brain, to virtual worlds for emergency training. Other interesting applications include the development of immersive 3D environments for training psychiatrists and psychologists in the treatment of mental disorders. This paper has the main aim of discussing the rationale and main benefits for the use of virtual reality in health-care education and training. Significant research and projects carried out in this field will also be presented, followed by discussion on key issues concerning current limitations and future development directions.

Building a Healthcare System's Innovation Program.

Science.gov (United States)

Conger, Michelle D

2016-01-01

OSF HealthCare, based in Peoria, Illinois, has developed an innovative strategy to adapt to the changes and forces disrupting the healthcare environment. This strategy evolved organically from the performance improvement efforts we began more than 15 years ago, as well as from the lessons we learned from years of research into the innovative practices and platforms of other healthcare institutions and of companies in other industries. More important, the strategy reflects our mission "to serve persons with the greatest care and love."The OSF innovation model has three components: internal innovations, partnering with external entities, and validating innovations through simulation. OSF has an ongoing and comprehensive commitment to innovation. Examples include our initiative to transform our model of care in primary care clinics by expanding access, reducing costs, and increasing efficiency; our partnerships with outside entities to find revolutionary solutions and products in which we can invest; and our establishment of a world-class simulation and education center.OSF HealthCare could not do any of this if it lacked the support of its people. To that end, we continue to work on embedding a culture of innovation across all of our facilities. Ours is a culture in which everyone is encouraged to voice creative ideas and no one is afraid to fail-all for the betterment of our organization and the patients we serve.

What nuclear industry can learn from the digital transformation of high-tech industries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Confais, E.

2017-01-01

The aircraft industry, the oil industry and the shipbuilding industry share with nuclear industry common issues like the importance of security and safety, long investment cycles and a fierce worldwide competition. All these industries can inspire one another to face these challenges with their own use of digital technologies. A common use of digital technologies is to favor innovation and accelerate its implementation in the industrial cycle through the shortening of both the certification step and the upgrading-time of the production line. Innovation requires creativity and creativity needs freedom, digital technologies can favor initiatives by shadowing the traditional hierarchy at opening the company to a new world of ideas. It also appears that digital technologies allows the quick processing of massive volumes of data that could be used for preventive maintenance and the optimization of the equipment. The broad digitalization of the economy has a dark side: the rising of cyber risks and enterprises have to face them which generally implies to rethink security inside the enterprise. Some companies have overhauled their IT department and have segregated and monitored the access to data. (A.C.)

The influence of teams, supervisors and organizations on healthcare practitioners' abilities to practise ethically.

Science.gov (United States)

Wall, Sarah; Austin, Wendy

2008-01-01

Healthcare practitioners make many important ethical decisions in their day-to-day practices. Questions arising in daily practice require practitioners to make prudent, balanced and good decisions, which are most effectively made interpersonally and reflectively. It is commonly assumed that the team-based structure of healthcare delivery can provide practitioners with the support needed to address ethical questions in their practice, especially if the team involves multidisciplinary collaboration. A phenomenological study was conducted in which the impact of the team and the larger organization on practitioners' experiences of dealing with moral challenges was uncovered. Various mental healthcare professionals shared their experiences of ethically challenging situations in their practices and described the ways in which their teammates and supervisors affected how they faced these troubling situations. These findings allow us to see that there is considerable room for healthcare managers, many of whom are nurses, to facilitate supportive, ethical environments for healthcare professionals. An understanding of the essential experience of practising ethically allows for an appreciation of the significance of the team's role in supporting it and enables healthcare managers to target support for ethical healthcare work.

A scalable healthcare information system based on a service-oriented architecture.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Tzu-Hsiang; Sun, Yeali S; Lai, Feipei

2011-06-01

Many existing healthcare information systems are composed of a number of heterogeneous systems and face the important issue of system scalability. This paper first describes the comprehensive healthcare information systems used in National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) and then presents a service-oriented architecture (SOA)-based healthcare information system (HIS) based on the service standard HL7. The proposed architecture focuses on system scalability, in terms of both hardware and software. Moreover, we describe how scalability is implemented in rightsizing, service groups, databases, and hardware scalability. Although SOA-based systems sometimes display poor performance, through a performance evaluation of our HIS based on SOA, the average response time for outpatient, inpatient, and emergency HL7Central systems are 0.035, 0.04, and 0.036 s, respectively. The outpatient, inpatient, and emergency WebUI average response times are 0.79, 1.25, and 0.82 s. The scalability of the rightsizing project and our evaluation results show that the SOA HIS we propose provides evidence that SOA can provide system scalability and sustainability in a highly demanding healthcare information system.

Together Achieving More: Primary Care Team Communication and Alcohol-Related Healthcare Utilization and Costs.

Science.gov (United States)

Mundt, Marlon P; Zakletskaia, Larissa I; Shoham, David A; Tuan, Wen-Jan; Carayon, Pascale

2015-10-01

Identifying and engaging excessive alcohol users in primary care may be an effective way to improve patient health outcomes, reduce alcohol-related acute care events, and lower costs. Little is known about what structures of primary care team communication are associated with alcohol-related patient outcomes. Using a sociometric survey of primary care clinic communication, this study evaluated the relation between team communication networks and alcohol-related utilization of care and costs. Between May 2013 and December 2013, a total of 155 healthcare employees at 6 primary care clinics participated in a survey on team communication. Three-level hierarchical modeling evaluated the link between connectedness within the care team and the number of alcohol-related emergency department visits, hospital days, and associated medical care costs in the past 12 months for each team's primary care patient panel. Teams (n = 31) whose registered nurses displayed more strong (at least daily) face-to-face ties and strong (at least daily) electronic communication ties had 10% fewer alcohol-related hospital days (rate ratio [RR] = 0.90; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.84, 0.97). Furthermore, in an average team size of 19, each additional team member with strong interaction ties across the whole team was associated with $1,030 (95% CI: -$1,819, -$241) lower alcohol-related patient healthcare costs per 1,000 team patients in the past 12 months. Conversely, teams whose primary care practitioner (PCP) had more strong face-to-face communication ties and more weak (weekly or several times a week) electronic communication ties had 12% more alcohol-related hospital days (RR = 1.12; 95% CI: 1.03, 1.23) and $1,428 (95% CI: $378, $2,478) higher alcohol-related healthcare costs per 1,000 patients in the past 12 months. The analyses controlled for patient age, gender, insurance, and comorbidity diagnoses. Excessive alcohol-using patients may fair better if cared for by teams whose

Data-Driven Healthcare: Challenges and Opportunities for Interactive Visualization.

Science.gov (United States)

Gotz, David; Borland, David

2016-01-01

The healthcare industry's widespread digitization efforts are reshaping one of the largest sectors of the world's economy. This transformation is enabling systems that promise to use ever-improving data-driven evidence to help doctors make more precise diagnoses, institutions identify at risk patients for intervention, clinicians develop more personalized treatment plans, and researchers better understand medical outcomes within complex patient populations. Given the scale and complexity of the data required to achieve these goals, advanced data visualization tools have the potential to play a critical role. This article reviews a number of visualization challenges unique to the healthcare discipline.

ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems can streamline healthcare business functions.

Science.gov (United States)

Jenkins, E K; Christenson, E

2001-05-01

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software applications are designed to facilitate the systemwide integration of complex processes and functions across a large enterprise consisting of many internal and external constituents. Although most currently available ERP applications generally are tailored to the needs of the manufacturing industry, many large healthcare systems are investigating these applications. Due to the significant differences between manufacturing and patient care, ERP-based systems do not easily translate to the healthcare setting. In particular, the lack of clinical standardization impedes the use of ERP systems for clinical integration. Nonetheless, an ERP-based system can help a healthcare organization integrate many functions, including patient scheduling, human resources management, workload forecasting, and management of workflow, that are not directly dependent on clinical decision making.

The need for control, safety and trust in healthcare: A qualitative study among adolescents and young adults exposed to family violence.

Science.gov (United States)

van Rosmalen-Nooijens, Karin A W L; Lo Fo Wong, Sylvie H; Prins, Judith B; Lagro-Janssen, Antoine L M

2017-06-01

Adolescents and young adults (AYA) exposed to family violence are in need of professional healthcare. However, only one-third of them seek professional help. This study investigates healthcare needs of twelve AYA exposed to family violence. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews using purposive sampling to reach diversity. Open thematic coding was used to identify the most important themes. Participants experienced emotional problems, distrusted others and felt unsafe as an important consequence of their exposure to family violence. All participants expressed a need for help, but as help involved informing others, they considered it unsafe. Trust, safety and control regarding healthcare interventions emerged as vital needs. The anonymity of the Internet was considered as offering safeguards in seeking and receiving help. Trust, safety and control regarding healthcare interventions emerged as vital needs for AYA exposed to family violence. The great importance of being in control of healthcare interventions has not been reported earlier. A personal bond can lower the need for control. To comply with the three basic needs, healthcare providers should grant AYA as much control as possible while still monitoring patient safety. The Internet can be an important resource for offering low-threshold professional and peer support. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Developing Technological Capabilities in Agro-Industry

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Whitfield, Lindsay

2012-01-01

This article examines the emergence and trajectory of a new agro-industry in Ghana, the pineapple export industry, using the technological capabilities approach. It explains the limited expansion of the industry and its declining competitiveness in the face of new competition by looking at how...

The Finnish healthcare services lean management.

Science.gov (United States)

Hihnala, Susanna; Kettunen, Lilja; Suhonen, Marjo; Tiirinki, Hanna

2018-02-05

in the training of health services managers in the health-care industry worldwide and to help them survive the pressure to change repeatedly.

Using ESB and BPEL for Evolving Healthcare Systems Towards Pervasive, Grid-Enabled SOA

Science.gov (United States)

Koufi, V.; Malamateniou, F.; Papakonstantinou, D.; Vassilacopoulos, G.

Healthcare organizations often face the challenge of integrating diverse and geographically disparate information technology systems to respond to changing requirements and to exploit the capabilities of modern technologies. Hence, systems evolution, through modification and extension of the existing information technology infrastructure, becomes a necessity. Moreover, the availability of these systems at the point of care when needed is a vital issue for the quality of healthcare provided to patients. This chapter takes a process perspective of healthcare delivery within and across organizational boundaries and presents a disciplined approach for evolving healthcare systems towards a pervasive, grid-enabled service-oriented architecture using the enterprise system bus middleware technology for resolving integration issues, the business process execution language for supporting collaboration requirements and grid middleware technology for both addressing common SOA scalability requirements and complementing existing system functionality. In such an environment, appropriate security mechanisms must ensure authorized access to integrated healthcare services and data. To this end, a security framework addressing security aspects such as authorization and access control is also presented.

When health systems are barriers to health care: challenges faced by uninsured Mexican kidney patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Kierans, Ciara; Padilla-Altamira, Cesar; Garcia-Garcia, Guillermo; Ibarra-Hernandez, Margarita; Mercado, Francisco J

2013-01-01

Chronic Kidney Disease disproportionately affects the poor in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs). Mexico exemplifies the difficulties faced in supporting Renal Replacement Therapy (RRT) and providing equitable patient care, despite recent attempts at health reform. The objective of this study is to document the challenges faced by uninsured, poor Mexican families when attempting to access RRT. The article takes an ethnographic approach, using interviewing and observation to generate detailed accounts of the problems that accompany attempts to secure care. The study, based in the state of Jalisco, comprised interviews with patients, their caregivers, health and social care professionals, among others. Observations were carried out in both clinical and social settings. In the absence of organised health information and stable pathways to renal care, patients and their families work extraordinarily hard and at great expense to secure care in a mixed public-private healthcare system. As part of this work, they must navigate challenging health and social care environments, negotiate treatments and costs, resource and finance healthcare and manage a wide range of formal and informal health information. Examining commonalities across pathways to adequate healthcare reveals major failings in the Mexican system. These systemic problems serve to reproduce and deepen health inequalities. A system, in which the costs of renal care are disproportionately borne by those who can least afford them, faces major difficulties around the sustainability and resourcing of RRTs. Attempts to increase access to renal therapies, therefore, need to take into account the complex social and economic demands this places on those who need access most. This paper further shows that ethnographic studies of the concrete ways in which healthcare is accessed in practice provide important insights into the plight of CKD patients and so constitute an important source of evidence in that effort.

A Fuzzy Decision Making Approach for Supplier Selection in Healthcare Industry

OpenAIRE

Zeynep Sener; Mehtap Dursun

2014-01-01

Supplier evaluation and selection is one of the most important components of an effective supply chain management system. Due to the expanding competition in healthcare, selecting the right medical device suppliers offers great potential for increasing quality while decreasing costs. This paper proposes a fuzzy decision making approach for medical supplier selection. A real-world medical device supplier selection problem is presented to illustrate the application of the proposed decision meth...

Assessing the Value of Educational Competencies of Healthcare Leaders and Organizational Factors: A Case Study Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Munz, James A.

2017-01-01

This qualitative research study addressed the problem that the healthcare industry has no clear evidence of the academic competencies that influence the attainment of organizational success. The study was based on one case study at a Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME) accredited Masters of Health Administration…

Trends in worker hearing loss by industry sector, 1981-2010.

Science.gov (United States)

Masterson, Elizabeth A; Deddens, James A; Themann, Christa L; Bertke, Stephen; Calvert, Geoffrey M

2015-04-01

The purpose of this study was to estimate the incidence and prevalence of hearing loss for noise-exposed U.S. workers by industry sector and 5-year time period, covering 30 years. Audiograms for 1.8 million workers from 1981-2010 were examined. Incidence and prevalence were estimated by industry sector and time period. The adjusted risk of incident hearing loss within each time period and industry sector as compared with a reference time period was also estimated. The adjusted risk for incident hearing loss decreased over time when all industry sectors were combined. However, the risk remained high for workers in Healthcare and Social Assistance, and the prevalence was consistently high for Mining and Construction workers. While progress has been made in reducing the risk of incident hearing loss within most industry sectors, additional efforts are needed within Mining, Construction and Healthcare and Social Assistance. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The maternal and child healthcare needs of new immigrants in Taipei.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Mei-Ju; Tang, Chao-Hsiun; Jeng, Huey-Mei; Chiu, Allen Wen-Hsiang

2008-12-01

The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the maternal and child healthcare needs of new immigrants in Taiwan. Results will be used to reflect upon the services which the government is currently providing, and to determine if further investigation may be required to establish whether or not the health care quality currently provided by public health nurses succeeds in meeting the needs of new immigrants. Face-to-face interviews were undertaken by public health nurses on 1,068 women from Mainland China, and a further 1,068 women from other Southeast Asian countries, all of whom were randomly selected from the 12 administrative districts of Taipei. Information on the healthcare information needs of mothers and children (10 items), psychological distress variables, health status and socio-demographic variables of both the new immigrants and their Taiwanese spouses were collected via a structured questionnaire, of which a total of 1,829 completed copies were returned. Chi-square tests were performed to examine differences in both healthcare needs and psychological distress levels amongst different new immigrant ethnic groups. Logistic regressions were subsequently performed with the adjusted odds ratios (ORs) then being calculated to examine the differential effects of the healthcare needs of the different ethnic groups of new immigrants. The needs of the Vietnamese immigrants were found to be significantly different from those of the Mainland Chinese immigrants in all items, with the former needing Chinese communication assistance particularly at those times when they received medical treatment (p Cultural competence in public health nursing education should not be deemphasized in Taiwan. Within the public sector, there is a clear need to create and implement partnerships between the public and private sectors on the overall issue of new immigrants within the community. Results strongly suggest that public health nurses should be aware of how to meet the

Leading healthcare in complexity.

Science.gov (United States)

Cohn, Jeffrey

2014-12-01

Healthcare institutions and providers are in complexity. Networks of interconnections from relationships and technology create conditions in which interdependencies and non-linear dynamics lead to surprising, unpredictable outcomes. Previous effective approaches to leadership, focusing on top-down bureaucratic methods, are no longer effective. Leading in complexity requires leaders to accept the complexity, create an adaptive space in which innovation and creativity can flourish and then integrate the successful practices that emerge into the formal organizational structure. Several methods for doing adaptive space work will be discussed. Readers will be able to contrast traditional leadership approaches with leading in complexity. They will learn new behaviours that are required of complexity leaders, along with challenges they will face, often from other leaders within the organization.

Petroleum industry of Korea seen from industry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, H.P. [SK Co, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

1998-05-01

The domestic petroleum industry faced with outward opening and exchange crisis is put under the most difficult period so far, and costs reduction and securing international competitive power in software field are emerging as important assignments on which the life and death of national key industries depends not only as a restructuring issue of each petroleum company. Required strategy of petroleum industry to solve this effectively this year must be the thorough revamping through restructuring and reform of management standards not the survival exercise through price competition. For this, each petroleum company and distributor should open a new petroleum industry in which fair rules of the game are developed as well as costs reduction through joint efforts and value creation in overall industry. For this, government should support the domestic petroleum industry to stand up straight as a keeper of domestic energy industry by helping it to arm with international competitive power within a short period of time through overall needed system and legal scheme. It is because nobody can deny that energy industry is the key industry on which national existence is at stake.

Evaluation of Knowledge Development in a Healthcare Setting

Science.gov (United States)

Schaffer, Scott P.

Healthcare organizations worldwide have recently increased efforts to improve performance, quality, and knowledge transfer using information and communication technologies. Evaluation of the effectiveness and quality of such efforts is challenging. A macro and micro-level system evaluation conducted with a 14000 member US hospital administrative services organization examined the appropriateness of a blended face-to-face and technology-enabled performance improvement and knowledge development system. Furthermore, a successful team or microsystem in a high performing hospital was studied in-depth. Several types of data methods including interview, observation, and questionnaire were used to address evaluation questions within a knowledge development framework created for the study. Results of this preliminary study focus on how this organization attempted to organize clinical improvement efforts around quality and performance improvement processes supported by networked technologies.

Decision making and coping in healthcare: the Coping in Deliberation (CODE) framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Witt, Jana; Elwyn, Glyn; Wood, Fiona; Brain, Kate

2012-08-01

To develop a framework of decision making and coping in healthcare that describes the twin processes of appraisal and coping faced by patients making preference-sensitive healthcare decisions. We briefly review the literature for decision making theories and coping theories applicable to preference-sensitive decisions in healthcare settings. We describe first decision making, then coping and finally attempt to integrate these processes by building on current theory. Deliberation in healthcare may be described as a six step process, comprised of the presentation of a health threat, choice, options, preference construction, the decision itself and consolidation post-decision. Coping can be depicted in three stages, beginning with a threat, followed by primary and secondary appraisal and ultimately resulting in a coping effort. Drawing together concepts from prominent decision making theories and coping theories, we propose a multidimensional, interactive framework which integrates both processes and describes coping in deliberation. The proposed framework offers an insight into the complexity of decision making in preference-sensitive healthcare contexts from a patient perspective and may act as theoretical basis for decision support. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comparing interprofessional and interorganizational collaboration in healthcare: A systematic review of the qualitative research.

Science.gov (United States)

Karam, Marlène; Brault, Isabelle; Van Durme, Thérèse; Macq, Jean

2018-03-01

Interprofessional and interorganizational collaboration have become important components of a well-functioning healthcare system, all the more so given limited financial resources, aging populations, and comorbid chronic diseases. The nursing role in working alongside other healthcare professionals is critical. By their leadership, nurses can create a culture that encourages values and role models that favour collaborative work within a team context. To clarify the specific features of conceptual frameworks of interprofessional and interorganizational collaboration in the healthcare field. This review, accordingly, offers insights into the key challenges facing policymakers, managers, healthcare professionals, and nurse leaders in planning, implementing, or evaluating interprofessional collaboration. This systematic review of qualitative research is based on the Joanna Briggs Institute's methodology for conducting synthesis. Cochrane, JBI, CINAHL, Embase, Medline, Scopus, Academic Search Premier, Sociological Abstract, PsycInfo, and ProQuest were searched, using terms such as professionals, organizations, collaboration, and frameworks. Qualitative studies of all research design types describing a conceptual framework of interprofessional or interorganizational collaboration in the healthcare field were included. They had to be written in French or English and published in the ten years between 2004 and 2014. Sixteen qualitative articles were included in the synthesis. Several concepts were found to be common to interprofessional and interorganizational collaboration, such as communication, trust, respect, mutual acquaintanceship, power, patient-centredness, task characteristics, and environment. Other concepts are of particular importance either to interorganizational collaboration, such as the need for formalization and the need for professional role clarification, or to interprofessional collaboration, such as the role of individuals and team identity. Promoting

Location Planning Problem of Service Centers for Sustainable Home Healthcare: Evidence from the Empirical Analysis of Shanghai

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gang Du

2015-11-01

Full Text Available It is of theoretical and practical significance to understand what factors influence the sustainable development of home healthcare services in China. Based on a face-to-face survey, we find that the location planning, which is decisive for the improvement of patient satisfaction, can effectively reduce the risks, as well as the costs of redundant construction and re-construction of service centers for home healthcare and, thus, helps ensure the sustainability of health and the environment. The purposes of this paper are to investigate the existing problem of home healthcare in Shanghai and to find the optimum location planning scheme under several realistic constraints. By considering differentiated services provided by the medical staff at different levels and the degrees of patient satisfaction, a mixed integer programming model is built to minimize the total medical cost. The IBM ILOGCPLEX is used to solve the above model. Finally, a case study of Putuo district in Shanghai is conducted to validate the proposed model and methodology. Results indicate that the model used in this paper can effectively reduce the total medical cost and enhance the medical sustainability, and therefore, the results of the model can be used as a reference for decision makers on the location planning problem of home healthcare services in China.

LNG in the next decade the changing face of the industry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Houston, M. [BG International (United Kingdom); Morin, P.; Laupretre, J.M. [Elf Aquitaine, Dir. du Gaz Naturel, 92 - Courbevoie (France)

2000-07-01

This paper considers the changes in the LNG industry over the past five years, and looks at how the industry might evolve by 2010.The current shape of the industry is a product of recent changes in cost structures, contracting issues, shipping and the emergence of new suppliers and new markets. In describing the possible evolution of the industry over the coming decade, two contrasting scenarios have been considered, for each of two regions of the world. The first scenario is entitled 'Continuity', and envisages that buyers and sellers will not materially change their approach towards LNG projects, in spite of the new business environment. The second scenario, entitled 'New Approach', foresees innovative solutions to technical, commercial and financial questions, in all parts of the value chain. The two world regions covered are the Atlantic - Mediterranean Basin and the Pacific-India Rim. The paper concludes that the industry is at a crossroads and that much will depend upon buyers and sellers dividing up risk in an acceptable way to meet the market and competitive challenges. (authors)

Social workers' role in tempering inequality in healthcare in hospitals and clinics: a study in Israel.

Science.gov (United States)

Baum, Nehami; Shalit, Hani; Kum, Yishay; Tal, Malka

2016-09-01

The paper presents an empirical examination of the role social workers play in tempering inequality in medical care. Data were collected in 2011 through face-to-face, semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 60 social workers employed in hospitals and clinics in Israel and selected through purposive sampling. The interviews probed the social workers' perceptions of the scope, causes and manifestations of inequality in health and healthcare and the actions they took to ameliorate it. The interviews were analysed using grounded theory. The findings show that all the social workers were acutely aware of the inequalities in their places of work, regarded reducing the inequalities as a major part of their role and made efforts to do so. They facilitated communication between doctors and patients of low socioeconomic status and advocated for such patients with medical staff and administration, as well as with the country's medical and social welfare bureaucracies. The paper details the means they used and the challenges they faced. The study highlights the important role that social workers play in reducing inequality in healthcare. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Industrial Wasteland as Faced with Contemporary Landscape Architects’ Challenges

Science.gov (United States)

Tubielewicz-Michalczuk, Malwina

2017-10-01

The following article describes the problem of regeneration of industrial wasteland. It is illustrated with examples selected form various design projects created by outstanding contemporary landscape architects. It also shows how a correctly planned and performed project concerning regeneration of derelict industrial sites serves multiple functions, i. e. it serves as recreational zone as well as activates people. Moreover, it significantly enhances environmental value of a given area as well as stimulates emergence of innovative landscape investments. The paper presents innovative compositional arrangements used in creating projects concerning brownfields; balanced proportions of spatial elements, the possibility of approaching the area from different levels and perspectives and, also, the possibility of engaging fully with nature by physical contact with it.

Face Detection for Augmented Reality Application Using Boosting-based Techniques

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Youssef Hbali

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Augmented reality has gained an increasing research interest over the few last years. Customers requirements have become more intense and more demanding, the need of the different industries to re-adapt their products and enhance them by recent advances in the computer vision and more intelligence has become a necessary. In this work we present a marker-less augmented reality application that can be used and expanded in the e-commerce industry. We take benefit of the well known boosting techniques to train and evaluate different face detectors using the multi-block local binary features. The work purpose is to select the more relevant training parameters in order to maximize the classification accuracy. Using the resulted face detector, the position of the face will serve as a marker in the proposed augmented reality.

Exploring research priorities for the North American hardwood industry

Science.gov (United States)

David Brinberg; Earl Kline; Delton Alderman; Philip Araman; Ed Cesa; Steve Milauskas; Tom Walthousen; Jan Wiedenbeck

2008-01-01

With the increase of globalization, the North American hardwood industry is facing many challenges to remain competitive and sustainable, facing drastic changes in the areas of labor, land, manufacturing, markets and marketing, and supply chain. The hardwood industry is especially vulnerable, with the influx of foreign manufacturers and suppliers with greater natural...

From efficacy to equity: Literature review of decision criteria for resource allocation and healthcare decisionmaking

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Guindo, L.A.; Wagner, M.; Baltussen, R.; Rindress, D.; van Til, Janine Astrid; Kind, P.; Goetghebeur, M.

2012-01-01

Objectives Resource allocation is a challenging issue faced by health policy decisionmakers requiring careful consideration of many factors. Objectives of this study were to identify decision criteria and their frequency reported in the literature on healthcare decisionmaking. Method An extensive

The Challenges and Issues Regarding E-Health and Health Information Technology Trends in the Healthcare Sector

Science.gov (United States)

Esmaeilzadeh, Pouyan; Sambasivan, Murali; Kumar, Naresh

Like other industries, the utilization of the internet and Information Technology (IT) has increased in the health sector. Different applications attributed to the internet and IT in healthcare practice. It includes a range of services that intersect the edge of medicine, computer and information science. The presence of the internet helps healthcare practice with the use of electronic processes and communication. Also, health IT (HIT) deals with the devices, clinical guidelines and methods required to improve the management of information in healthcare. Although the internet and HIT has been considered as an influential means to enhance health care delivery, it is completely naive to imagine all new tools and mechanisms supported by the internet and HIT systems are simply adopted and used by all organizational members. As healthcare professionals play an important role in the healthcare sector, there is no doubt that mechanism of newly introduced HIT and new application of the internet in medical practice should be coupled with healthcare professionals' acceptance. Therefore, with great resistance by healthcare professionals new mechanism and tools supported by IT and the internet cannot be used properly and subsequently may not improve the quality of medical care services. However, factors affecting the healthcare professionals' adoption behavior concerning new e-health and HIT mechanism are still not conclusively identified. This research (as a theoretical study) tries to propose the source of resistance in order to handle the challenges over new e-technology in the health industry. This study uses the involved concepts and develops a conceptual framework to improve overall acceptance of e-health and HIT by healthcare professionals.

Exploring resistance to implementation of welfare technology in municipal healthcare services - a longitudinal case study.

Science.gov (United States)

Nilsen, Etty R; Dugstad, Janne; Eide, Hilde; Gullslett, Monika Knudsen; Eide, Tom

2016-11-15

Industrialized and welfare societies are faced with vast challenges in the field of healthcare in the years to come. New technological opportunities and implementation of welfare technology through co-creation are considered part of the solution to this challenge. Resistance to new technology and resistance to change is, however, assumed to rise from employees, care receivers and next of kin. The purpose of this article is to identify and describe forms of resistance that emerged in five municipalities during a technology implementation project as part of the care for older people. This is a longitudinal, single-embedded case study with elements of action research, following an implementation of welfare technology in the municipal healthcare services. Participants included staff from the municipalities, a network of technology developers and a group of researchers. Data from interviews, focus groups and participatory observation were analysed. Resistance to co-creation and implementation was found in all groups of stakeholders, mirroring the complexity of the municipal context. Four main forms of resistance were identified: 1) organizational resistance, 2) cultural resistance, 3) technological resistance and 4) ethical resistance, each including several subforms. The resistance emerges from a variety of perceived threats, partly parallel to, partly across the four main forms of resistance, such as a) threats to stability and predictability (fear of change), b) threats to role and group identity (fear of losing power or control) and c) threats to basic healthcare values (fear of losing moral or professional integrity). The study refines the categorization of resistance to the implementation of welfare technology in healthcare settings. It identifies resistance categories, how resistance changes over time and suggests that resistance may play a productive role when the implementation is organized as a co-creation process. This indicates that the importance of

Fit for the Future? A New Approach in the Debate about What Makes Healthcare Systems Really Sustainable

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthias Fischer

2014-12-01

Full Text Available As healthcare systems face enormous challenges, sustainability is seen as a crucial requirement for making them fit for the future. However, there is no consensus with regard to either the definition of the term or the factors that characterize a “sustainable healthcare system”. Therefore, the aim of this article is twofold. First, it gives examples of the existing literature about sustainable healthcare systems and analyzes this literature with regard to its understanding of sustainability and the strengths and weaknesses of the different approaches. The article then identifies crucial factors for sustainable healthcare systems, and the result, a conceptual framework consisting of five distinct and interacting factors, can be seen as a starting point for further research.

Are healthcare professionals working in Australia's immigration detention centres condoning torture?

Science.gov (United States)

Isaacs, David

2016-07-01

Australian immigration detention centres are in secluded locations, some on offshore islands, and are subject to extreme secrecy, comparable with 'black sites' elsewhere. There are parallels between healthcare professionals working in immigration detention centres and healthcare professionals involved with or complicit in torture. In both cases, healthcare professionals are conflicted between a duty of care to improve the health of patients and the interests of the government. While this duality of interests has been recognised previously, the full implications for healthcare professionals working in immigration detention have not been addressed. The Australian Government maintains that immigration detention is needed for security checks, but the average duration of immigration detention has increased from 10 weeks to 14 months, and detainees are not informed of the progress of their application for refugee status. Long-term immigration detention causes major mental health problems, is illegal in international law and arguably fulfils the recognised definition of torture. It is generally accepted that healthcare professionals should not participate in or condone torture. Australian healthcare professionals thus face a major ethical dilemma: patients in immigration detention have pressing mental and physical health needs, but providing healthcare might support or represent complicity in a practice that is unethical. Individual healthcare professionals need to decide whether or not to work in immigration detention centres. If they do so, they need to decide for how long and to what extent restrictive contracts and gagging laws will constrain them from advocating for closing detention centres. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Evaluating Business Value of IT in Healthcare: Three Clinical Practices from Australia and the US.

Science.gov (United States)

Haddad, Peter; Schaffer, Jonathan L; Wickramasinghe, Nilmini

2015-01-01

Exponentially increasing costs in healthcare coupled with poor quality and limited access have motivated the healthcare industry to turn to IS/IT solutions to overcome these issues and facilitate superior healthcare delivery. In an environment of rapid development of new clinical informatics solutions claiming to provide better healthcare delivery, there is a paucity of systematic frameworks to robustly measure the actual value of these systems. The promised business value of these solutions has been elusive; hence, this study offers an approach for the evaluation of the business value of health IS/IT solutions based on a conceptual model, which has been validated using three clinical case studies.

Applications of 3D printing in healthcare

OpenAIRE

Dodziuk, Helena

2016-01-01

3D printing is a relatively new, rapidly expanding method of manufacturing that found numerous applications in healthcare, automotive, aerospace and defense industries and in many other areas. In this review, applications in medicine that are revolutionizing the way surgeries are carried out, disrupting prosthesis and implant markets as well as dentistry will be presented. The relatively new field of bioprinting, that is printing with cells, will also be briefly discussed.

Applications of 3D printing in healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Dodziuk, Helena

2016-09-01

3D printing is a relatively new, rapidly expanding method of manufacturing that found numerous applications in healthcare, automotive, aerospace and defense industries and in many other areas. In this review, applications in medicine that are revolutionizing the way surgeries are carried out, disrupting prosthesis and implant markets as well as dentistry will be presented. The relatively new field of bioprinting, that is printing with cells, will also be briefly discussed.

Bangladesh apparel industry and its workers in a changing world economy

OpenAIRE

Ahmed, N.

2006-01-01

This thesis explores and analyses recent changes and challenges faced by the apparel industry of Bangladesh and the consequences of those for the Bangladesh economy. More specifically, it explores and analyses the importance of the apparel industry in the Bangladesh economy, the challenges faced by this industry, impacts of implementation of various international trade rules on the apparel industry, consequences of Bangladesh's attempts to enter in bilateral and regional free trade agreements...

Beyond survival: Challenges facing South African automotive component exporters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. J. Naude

2006-12-01

Full Text Available Purpose and Objective: The South African automotive component industry faces huge challenges in a very competitive global market. The primary focus of this research article is to determine the challenges facing exporters within this industry with special reference to selected sub-sectors. The challenges are approached from a supply chain perspective only. Problem Investigated: The research problem of this study was to identify these unique challenges and ascertain whether the implementation of a 'philosophy of continuous improvement' could be used as a strategic tool to address the challenges they face in the market. Methodology: This study included a combination of literature review, interviews with managers in the selected sub-groups and questionnaires sent out to determine the challenges facing automotive component exporters. In order to test the content validity and the reliability of the questionnaire, a pilot study was conducted at two organisations that are the main suppliers of automotive filters for passenger vehicles. The non-probability convenience sample technique was used to select the sample and consisted of selected sub-sectors that contribute 64,1% of the total value of automotive component exports in South Africa. Out of twenty-seven questionnaires sent out, twenty (74% response rate were duly completed by the respondents and returned to the researcher. Findings: South Africa faces unique challenges and these are listed and ranked according to priority from most to least important as follows: 1. The reduction of production costs; 2. R/US$ exchange rate effect on the respondent's export sales and profit margin; 3. Exchange rate fluctuations; 4. Threats to the local automotive component market; and 5. Increased competition by way of manufactured imports being sold in the South African market. Value of Research: The study provides recommendations that can be used within the automotive component industry.

An Attribute Based Access Control Framework for Healthcare System

Science.gov (United States)

Afshar, Majid; Samet, Saeed; Hu, Ting

2018-01-01

Nowadays, access control is an indispensable part of the Personal Health Record and supplies for its confidentiality by enforcing policies and rules to ensure that only authorized users gain access to requested resources in the system. In other words, the access control means protecting patient privacy in healthcare systems. Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC) is a new access control model that can be used instead of other traditional types of access control such as Discretionary Access Control, Mandatory Access Control, and Role-Based Access Control. During last five years ABAC has shown some applications in both recent academic fields and industry purposes. ABAC by using user’s attributes and resources, makes a decision according to an access request. In this paper, we propose an ABAC framework for healthcare system. We use the engine of ABAC for rendering and enforcing healthcare policies. Moreover, we handle emergency situations in this framework.

PREFACE: Mini EURO Conference on Improving Healthcare: new challenges, new approaches

Science.gov (United States)

2015-05-01

The XXXI Euro Mini Conference on Improving Healthcare: new challenges, new approaches took place in Coimbra, Portugal, from the 30th March to the 1st April 2015. This volume contains 17 contributed papers, presented during the Conference. Recent advances in medicine allow us to live longer and healthier lives. These advances have been made possible through the joint contribution of very different scientific fields. Healthcare is nowadays better understood as a multidisciplinary field, with increasing number of challenges that can be better tackled by joint collaboration of researchers with different scientific backgrounds. The challenges that Healthcare is facing have not only to do with the ability of providing better services to all (treatments, preventive medicine, better diagnosis tools), with an increased focus on improved personalized treatment options, but also with the need to tackle an increased pressure felt by Healthcare systems: increased number of patients, some of them requiring expensive treatments, with a consequent increase in the workload for health institutions that most of the times have to deal with important budget restrictions. The Conference provided a forum in which researchers coming from different scientific disciplines discussed and shared their experience regarding methodological approaches to tackle different healthcare challenges. The Conference welcomed contributions from operational research, industrial engineering, medicine, medical physics, management, computational biology, bioinformatics and health economics, among others. The Conference had 93 enrolled participants, from 22 different nationalities: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and United States of America. These participants had very different academic backgrounds: operations research

Healthcare payments under the budget deal: mostly good news for physicians

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robbins RA

2018-02-01

Full Text Available No abstract available. Article truncated after 150 words. In the early morning hours last Friday (2/9/18 Congress passed and President Trump signed a massive budget agreement (1. The spending package will cost about $320 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Payments for healthcare substantially increase under the deal. Most praised the agreement. "Congress made the right choice this morning for patients and communities by voting to halt damaging cuts to hospitals that care for low-income working families and others who face financial challenges," said Dr. Bruce Siegel, CEO of America's Essential Hospitals, which represents the nation's safety-net facilities. Marc Goldwein of the Center for a Responsible Federal Budget called the healthcare provisions the one "beacon of light" in what otherwise is an exorbitantly costly budget bill. Goldwein praised its mix of structural reforms with "reasonable policy” and liked that the bill pays for the increased healthcare spending. The bill extends Medicare physician fee cuts ….

Industrial Waste

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Thomas Højlund

2011-01-01

generation rates and material composition as well as determining factors are discussed in this chapter. Characterizing industrial waste is faced with the problem that often only a part of the waste is handled in the municipal waste system, where information is easily accessible. In addition part...... of the industrial waste may in periods, depending on market opportunities and prices, be traded as secondary rawmaterials. Production-specificwaste from primary production, for example steel slag, is not included in the current presentation. In some countries industries must be approved or licensed and as part...... of the system industry has to inform at the planning stage and afterwards in yearly reports on their waste arising and how the waste is managed. If available such information is very helpful in obtaining information about that specific industry. However, in many countries there is very little information...

Interactive Visualization of Healthcare Data Using Tableau.

Science.gov (United States)

Ko, Inseok; Chang, Hyejung

2017-10-01

Big data analysis is receiving increasing attention in many industries, including healthcare. Visualization plays an important role not only in intuitively showing the results of data analysis but also in the whole process of collecting, cleaning, analyzing, and sharing data. This paper presents a procedure for the interactive visualization and analysis of healthcare data using Tableau as a business intelligence tool. Starting with installation of the Tableau Desktop Personal version 10.3, this paper describes the process of understanding and visualizing healthcare data using an example. The example data of colon cancer patients were obtained from health insurance claims in years 2012 and 2013, provided by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. To explore the visualization of healthcare data using Tableau for beginners, this paper describes the creation of a simple view for the average length of stay of colon cancer patients. Since Tableau provides various visualizations and customizations, the level of analysis can be increased with small multiples, view filtering, mark cards, and Tableau charts. Tableau is a software that can help users explore and understand their data by creating interactive visualizations. The software has the advantages that it can be used in conjunction with almost any database, and it is easy to use by dragging and dropping to create an interactive visualization expressing the desired format.

Population ageing and healthcare demand: The case of Slovenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Vrhovec, Jure; Tajnikar, Maks

2016-11-01

The aim of this paper is to explore the consequences of demographic ageing on healthcare demand in Slovenia for primary care, secondary care, hospital day-care treatments, and hospitalisations. In the paper, we develop a model for making projections of the total number of treatments using the age-group projection method with the scenario approach. The model allows the number of treatments to be observed with respect to medical services, age groups and main disease groups. The results are presented for the cross-section years 2015, 2025 and 2035. The smallest increase in the number of treatments occurs in primary care, a larger one for secondary care, and the largest for hospital day-care services and hospitalisations (up to 29.9%). The structure of demand will also change. Demand for healthcare services for children and infants will decrease while demand for diseases associated with older age groups will increase, particularly for diseases of the circulatory system, eye and adnexa, and diseases of the blood and blood-forming organs. The results presented in this paper can help improve understanding of similar processes in other countries for total healthcare demand and for changes in the structure of demand. The results show that the healthcare system in Slovenia will face a major additional burden in the next 20 years. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Deaf New Zealand Sign Language users' access to healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Witko, Joanne; Boyles, Pauline; Smiler, Kirsten; McKee, Rachel

2017-12-01

The research described was undertaken as part of a Sub-Regional Disability Strategy 2017-2022 across the Wairarapa, Hutt Valley and Capital and Coast District Health Boards (DHBs). The aim was to investigate deaf New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) users' quality of access to health services. Findings have formed the basis for developing a 'NZSL plan' for DHBs in the Wellington sub-region. Qualitative data was collected from 56 deaf participants and family members about their experiences of healthcare services via focus group, individual interviews and online survey, which were thematically analysed. Contextual perspective was gained from 57 healthcare professionals at five meetings. Two professionals were interviewed, and 65 staff responded to an online survey. A deaf steering group co-designed the framework and methods, and validated findings. Key issues reported across the health system include: inconsistent interpreter provision; lack of informed consent for treatment via communication in NZSL; limited access to general health information in NZSL and the reduced ability of deaf patients to understand and comply with treatment options. This problematic communication with NZSL users echoes international evidence and other documented local evidence for patients with limited English proficiency. Deaf NZSL users face multiple barriers to equitable healthcare, stemming from linguistic and educational factors and inaccessible service delivery. These need to be addressed through policy and training for healthcare personnel that enable effective systemic responses to NZSL users. Deaf participants emphasise that recognition of their identity as members of a language community is central to improving their healthcare experiences.

Enhanced security in the nuclear industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Frappier, G.

2007-01-01

This article describes the security in the nuclear industry. After 9/11, Canada's nuclear regulator - the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) - determined that the entire industry (including its own organization) faced a need for significant enhancements in their approach to security.

Smoking and Depression among Healthcare Workers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Madhusudhan Ghimire

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Healthcare workers are a special public icon for the community because people would like to adopt and implement their knowledge, skill, attitude and behaviour for improving quality of health. People respect them for their knowledge and health behavior. It is believed that the level of health status of health workers as well as community should go ahead parallel but many researchers have noted that high risk behaviours (smoking, tobacco use, alcoholism, irregular diet intake, lack of exercise etc. are prevalent among health workers. The result of this will be physical, psychological, familial and social disturbance, which might have an impact on health care delivery system of the country. The study was concerned to assess health status (body mass index, smoking and depression of healthcare workers and its impact on social adjustment in Banke district of Nepal. Methods: A cross sectional study design was applied to conduct the research. One hundred and eight respondents were selected through random sampling from the purposive group. Data wa collected through interview by using interview schedule. SPSS-16 windows process was used to analyze data. Results: Most of the respondent (81.40% were under the age group less than 30 years (M = 27.35, SD = 9.24 years. More than 57.40% of respondents were female. Most of them (68.50% were unmarried. Maximum (82.20% responders had normal Body Mass Index (18.5-24.99. Near about forty percent (38.9% healthcare worker had faced social problems in their working area. Conclusion: Age (above 20 years and male healthcare workers were more likely to smoke cigarettes. Depressed health workers were more likely to smoke cigarette. Depression could be observed as a determinant for social adjustment.

Bangladesh apparel industry and its workers in a changing world economy

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ahmed, N.

2006-01-01

This thesis explores and analyses recent changes and challenges faced by the apparel industry of Bangladesh and the consequences of those for the Bangladesh economy. More specifically, it explores and analyses the importance of the apparel industry in the Bangladesh economy, the challenges faced by

A theoretical framework for holistic hospital management in the Japanese healthcare context.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Hu-Chen

2013-11-01

This paper develops a conceptual framework for performance measurement as a pilot study on holistic hospital management in the Japanese healthcare context. We primarily used two data sources as well as expert statements obtained through interviews: a systematic review of literature and a questionnaire survey to healthcare experts. The systematic survey searched PubMed and PubMed Central, and 24 relevant papers were elicited. The expert questionnaire asked respondents to rate the degree of "usefulness" for each of 66 indicators on a three-point scale. Applying the theoretical framework, a minimum set of performance indicators was selected for holistic hospital management, which well fit the healthcare context in Japan. This indicator set comprised 35 individual indicators and several factors measured through questionnaire surveys. The indicators were confirmed by expert judgments from viewpoints of face, content and construct validities as well as their usefulness. A theoretical framework of performance measurement was established from primary healthcare stakeholders' perspectives. Performance indicators were largely divided into healthcare outcomes and performance shaping factors. Indicators in the former category may be applied for the detection of operational problems, while their latent causes can be effectively addressed by the latter category in terms of process, structure and culture/climate within the organization. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Telemedicine and its transformation of emergency care: a case study of one of the largest US integrated healthcare delivery systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Sharma, Rahul; Fleischut, Peter; Barchi, Daniel

2017-12-01

Innovative methods for delivering healthcare via the use of technology are rapidly growing. Despite the passage of the Affordable Care Act, emergency department visits have continued to rise nationally. Healthcare systems must devise solutions to face these increasing volumes and also deliver high quality care. In response to the changing healthcare landscape, New York Presbyterian Hospital has implemented a comprehensive enterprise wide digital health portfolio which includes the first mobile stroke treatment unit on the east coast and the first emergency department-based digital emergency care program in New York City.

Injustice to transsexual women in a hetero-normative healthcare system.

Science.gov (United States)

Newman-Valentine, Douglas; Duma, Sinegugu

2014-11-21

Transsexual women who are on the journey of sexual re-alignment will experience various health problems. These problems are related directly to the treatment regime that they are following in order to attain and maintain their physical embodiment as a woman. They are forced to negotiate a hetero-normative healthcare system in order to receive assistance and care for their health problems related to their sexual re-alignment process. The questions posed were: What are the unique health problems that transsexual women experience whilst on the journey of sexual re-alignment? What is the current context of the South African healthcare system in which transsexual women should negotiate healthcare? These questions were asked in order to explore the health problems with which transsexual women are faced and to describe the hetero-normative healthcare system in South Africa. An electronic literature search was executed via the EBSCO host with specific inclusion and exclusion criteria. The search words that were used were: Transsexual/s and Health/Healthcare. All studies had to be peer reviewed and published in the English language, from January 1972 up until February 2013. Literature on transsexual children was excluded. Transsexual women have the potential to suffer significant side-effects from their sexual re-alignment treatment, including cardio-vascular problems, endocrine problems and mental ill-health. They are also vulnerable to HIV infection. They have poor access to quality holistic healthcare and this may lead an increase in the mortality and morbidity figures of women. A hetero-normative healthcare system has a negative impact on the health of transsexual women and will cause them to be marginalised. This could contribute to both homo- and trans-phobia that will in turn strengthen the belief that transsexual women are un-African.

Applying e-procurement system in the healthcare: the EPOS paradigm

Science.gov (United States)

Ketikidis, Panayiotis H.; Kontogeorgis, Apostolos; Stalidis, George; Kaggelides, Kostis

2010-03-01

One of the goals of procurement is to establish a competitive price, while e-procurement utilises electronic commerce to identify potential sources of supply, to purchase goods and services, to exchange contractual information and to interact with suppliers. Extensive academic work has been extensively devoted to e-procurement in diverse industries. However, applying e-procurement in the healthcare sector remains unexplored. It lacks an efficient e-procurement mechanism that will enable hospitals and healthcare suppliers to electronically exchange contractual information, aided by the technologies of optimisation and business rules. The development and deployment of e-procurement requires a major effort in the coordination of complex interorganisational business process. This article presents an e-procurement optimised system (EPOS) for the healthcare marketplace, a complete methodological approach for deploying and operating such system, as piloted in public and private hospitals in three European countries (Greece, Spain and Belgium) and suppliers of healthcare items in the fourth country (Italy). The efficient e-procurement mechanism that EPOS suggests enables hospitals and pharmaceutical and medical equipment suppliers to electronically exchange contractual information.

Healthcare waste management: current practices in selected healthcare facilities, Botswana.

Science.gov (United States)

Mbongwe, Bontle; Mmereki, Baagi T; Magashula, Andrew

2008-01-01

Healthcare waste management continues to present an array of challenges for developing countries, and Botswana is no exception. The possible impact of healthcare waste on public health and the environment has received a lot of attention such that Waste Management dedicated a special issue to the management of healthcare waste (Healthcare Wastes Management, 2005. Waste Management 25(6) 567-665). As the demand for more healthcare facilities increases, there is also an increase on waste generation from these facilities. This situation requires an organised system of healthcare waste management to curb public health risks as well as occupational hazards among healthcare workers as a result of poor waste management. This paper reviews current waste management practices at the healthcare facility level and proposes possible options for improvement in Botswana.

The Cuban National Healthcare System: Characterization of primary healthcare services.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Keli Regina DAL PRÁ

2015-10-01

Full Text Available This article presents a report on the experience of healthcare professionals in Florianópolis, who took the course La Atención Primaria de Salud y la Medicina Familiar en Cuba [Primary Healthcare and Family Medicine in Cuba], in 2014. The purpose of the study is to characterize the healthcare units and services provided by the Cuban National Healthcare System (SNS and to reflect on this experience/immersion, particularly on Cuba’s Primary Healthcare Service. The results found that in comparison with Brazil’s Single Healthcare System (SUS Cuba’s SNS Family Healthcare (SF service is the central organizing element of the Primary Healthcare Service. The number of SF teams per inhabitant is different than in Brazil; the programs given priority in the APS are similar to those in Brazil and the intersectorial nature and scope of the services prove to be effective in the resolution of healthcare problems.

Involving patients in setting priorities for healthcare improvement: a cluster randomized trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Boivin, Antoine; Lehoux, Pascale; Lacombe, Réal; Burgers, Jako; Grol, Richard

2014-02-20

Patients are increasingly seen as active partners in healthcare. While patient involvement in individual clinical decisions has been extensively studied, no trial has assessed how patients can effectively be involved in collective healthcare decisions affecting the population. The goal of this study was to test the impact of involving patients in setting healthcare improvement priorities for chronic care at the community level. Cluster randomized controlled trial. Local communities were randomized in intervention (priority setting with patient involvement) and control sites (no patient involvement). Communities in a canadian region were required to set priorities for improving chronic disease management in primary care, from a list of 37 validated quality indicators. Patients were consulted in writing, before participating in face-to-face deliberation with professionals. Professionals established priorities among themselves, without patient involvement. A total of 172 individuals from six communities participated in the study, including 83 chronic disease patients, and 89 health professionals. The primary outcome was the level of agreement between patients' and professionals' priorities. Secondary outcomes included professionals' intention to use the selected quality indicators, and the costs of patient involvement. Priorities established with patients were more aligned with core generic components of the Medical Home and Chronic Care Model, including: access to primary care, self-care support, patient participation in clinical decisions, and partnership with community organizations (p Priorities established by professionals alone placed more emphasis on the technical quality of single disease management. The involvement intervention fostered mutual influence between patients and professionals, which resulted in a 41% increase in agreement on common priorities (95%CI: +12% to +58%, p priorities. Patient involvement can change priorities driving healthcare

Exploring resistance to implementation of welfare technology in municipal healthcare services – a longitudinal case study

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Etty R. Nilsen

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Industrialized and welfare societies are faced with vast challenges in the field of healthcare in the years to come. New technological opportunities and implementation of welfare technology through co-creation are considered part of the solution to this challenge. Resistance to new technology and resistance to change is, however, assumed to rise from employees, care receivers and next of kin. The purpose of this article is to identify and describe forms of resistance that emerged in five municipalities during a technology implementation project as part of the care for older people. Methods This is a longitudinal, single-embedded case study with elements of action research, following an implementation of welfare technology in the municipal healthcare services. Participants included staff from the municipalities, a network of technology developers and a group of researchers. Data from interviews, focus groups and participatory observation were analysed. Results Resistance to co-creation and implementation was found in all groups of stakeholders, mirroring the complexity of the municipal context. Four main forms of resistance were identified: 1 organizational resistance, 2 cultural resistance, 3 technological resistance and 4 ethical resistance, each including several subforms. The resistance emerges from a variety of perceived threats, partly parallel to, partly across the four main forms of resistance, such as a threats to stability and predictability (fear of change, b threats to role and group identity (fear of losing power or control and c threats to basic healthcare values (fear of losing moral or professional integrity. Conclusion The study refines the categorization of resistance to the implementation of welfare technology in healthcare settings. It identifies resistance categories, how resistance changes over time and suggests that resistance may play a productive role when the implementation is organized as a co

Study rates U.S. hospitals vs. other nations, industries.

Science.gov (United States)

Burda, D

1991-10-07

American hospitals generally are further along with their total quality management programs than their Canadian counterparts but lag behind companies in other U.S. industries, according to a comprehensive international study that examined four industries--healthcare, automotive, banking and computer--in four countries--the United States, Canada, Germany and Japan.

Applying predictive analytics to develop an intelligent risk detection application for healthcare contexts.

Science.gov (United States)

Moghimi, Fatemeh Hoda; Cheung, Michael; Wickramasinghe, Nilmini

2013-01-01

Healthcare is an information rich industry where successful outcomes require the processing of multi-spectral data and sound decision making. The exponential growth of data and big data issues coupled with a rapid increase of service demands in healthcare contexts today, requires a robust framework enabled by IT (information technology) solutions as well as real-time service handling in order to ensure superior decision making and successful healthcare outcomes. Such a context is appropriate for the application of real time intelligent risk detection decision support systems using predictive analytic techniques such as data mining. To illustrate the power and potential of data science technologies in healthcare decision making scenarios, the use of an intelligent risk detection (IRD) model is proffered for the context of Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) in children, an area which requires complex high risk decisions that need to be made expeditiously and accurately in order to ensure successful healthcare outcomes.

Design and development of a tele-healthcare information system based on web services and HL7 standards.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Ean-Wen; Hung, Rui-Suan; Chiou, Shwu-Fen; Liu, Fei-Ying; Liou, Der-Ming

2011-01-01

Information and communication technologies progress rapidly and many novel applications have been developed in many domains of human life. In recent years, the demand for healthcare services has been growing because of the increase in the elderly population. Consequently, a number of healthcare institutions have focused on creating technologies to reduce extraneous work and improve the quality of service. In this study, an information platform for tele- healthcare services was implemented. The architecture of the platform included a web-based application server and client system. The client system was able to retrieve the blood pressure and glucose levels of a patient stored in measurement instruments through Bluetooth wireless transmission. The web application server assisted the staffs and clients in analyzing the health conditions of patients. In addition, the server provided face-to-face communications and instructions through remote video devices. The platform deployed a service-oriented architecture, which consisted of HL7 standard messages and web service components. The platform could transfer health records into HL7 standard clinical document architecture for data exchange with other organizations. The prototyping system was pretested and evaluated in a homecare department of hospital and a community management center for chronic disease monitoring. Based on the results of this study, this system is expected to improve the quality of healthcare services.

Nutritional and medicinal characteristics of Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus for applications in healthcare industry by artificial cultivation: A review

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Dong He

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Andrias davidianus, i. e. Chinese giant salamander (CGS, is one of the largest and oldest amphibians existing in the world and is also one of the valuable biological resources of China. Wild CGS has been threatened with extinction in the past decades due to over capturing, deterioration of natural environment, the slow breeding and growth of the wild species in nature. However, in the past twenty years, with the breakthrough and progress of artificial breeding technology by artificial insemination, the number of artificially cultivated CGS has increased rapidly. Artificially cultivated CGS can either be released to the CGS living environment to increase the population in nature or legally applied in food and medicinal industry as a feedstock due to the unique nutritional and medicinal values of CGS as recorded historically. In this review, the nutritional components, bioactive components and medicinal activities of the artificially cultivated CGS will be summarized. The mucus, skin, meat and bone of CGS contain many different bioactive substances thereby having various medicinal activities including anti-aging, anti-fatigue, anti-tumor, therapy of burn and anti-infection and other physiological functions. This paper will further discuss the potential applications of the artificially cultivated CGS in healthcare industry and prospects of future technological development. Keywords: Andrias davidianus, Artificial breeding, Chinese giant salamander, Functional foods, Medicinal activity, Natural resource protection, Nutrition

Face piercing (body art: choosing pleasure vs. possible pain and posture instability

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Eric eMatheron

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Piercings (body art, i.e. with jewelry are more and more widespread. They can induce various complications such as infections, allergies, headaches, and various skin, cartilage, or dental problems which will lead to economic effects on health-care systems. We draw attention to other possible side effects resulting from face piercing complications such as eye misalignment, decreased postural control efficiency, and nonspecific chronic back pain. We found that the origin was pierced jewelry on the face. Removing the jewelry restored eye alignment, improved postural control, and alleviated back pain in a lasting way. This observation is important for health; further investigations would be of interest.

How smartphones are changing the face of mobile and participatory healthcare: an overview, with example from eCAALYX.

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Boulos, Maged N Kamel; Wheeler, Steve; Tavares, Carlos; Jones, Ray

2011-04-05

The latest generation of smartphones are increasingly viewed as handheld computers rather than as phones, due to their powerful on-board computing capability, capacious memories, large screens and open operating systems that encourage application development. This paper provides a brief state-of-the-art overview of health and healthcare smartphone apps (applications) on the market today, including emerging trends and market uptake. Platforms available today include Android, Apple iOS, RIM BlackBerry, Symbian, and Windows (Windows Mobile 6.x and the emerging Windows Phone 7 platform). The paper covers apps targeting both laypersons/patients and healthcare professionals in various scenarios, e.g., health, fitness and lifestyle education and management apps; ambient assisted living apps; continuing professional education tools; and apps for public health surveillance. Among the surveyed apps are those assisting in chronic disease management, whether as standalone apps or part of a BAN (Body Area Network) and remote server configuration. We describe in detail the development of a smartphone app within eCAALYX (Enhanced Complete Ambient Assisted Living Experiment, 2009-2012), an EU-funded project for older people with multiple chronic conditions. The eCAALYX Android smartphone app receives input from a BAN (a patient-wearable smart garment with wireless health sensors) and the GPS (Global Positioning System) location sensor in the smartphone, and communicates over the Internet with a remote server accessible by healthcare professionals who are in charge of the remote monitoring and management of the older patient with multiple chronic conditions. Finally, we briefly discuss barriers to adoption of health and healthcare smartphone apps (e.g., cost, network bandwidth and battery power efficiency, usability, privacy issues, etc.), as well as some workarounds to mitigate those barriers.

How smartphones are changing the face of mobile and participatory healthcare: an overview, with example from eCAALYX

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tavares Carlos

2011-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract The latest generation of smartphones are increasingly viewed as handheld computers rather than as phones, due to their powerful on-board computing capability, capacious memories, large screens and open operating systems that encourage application development. This paper provides a brief state-of-the-art overview of health and healthcare smartphone apps (applications on the market today, including emerging trends and market uptake. Platforms available today include Android, Apple iOS, RIM BlackBerry, Symbian, and Windows (Windows Mobile 6.x and the emerging Windows Phone 7 platform. The paper covers apps targeting both laypersons/patients and healthcare professionals in various scenarios, e.g., health, fitness and lifestyle education and management apps; ambient assisted living apps; continuing professional education tools; and apps for public health surveillance. Among the surveyed apps are those assisting in chronic disease management, whether as standalone apps or part of a BAN (Body Area Network and remote server configuration. We describe in detail the development of a smartphone app within eCAALYX (Enhanced Complete Ambient Assisted Living Experiment, 2009-2012, an EU-funded project for older people with multiple chronic conditions. The eCAALYX Android smartphone app receives input from a BAN (a patient-wearable smart garment with wireless health sensors and the GPS (Global Positioning System location sensor in the smartphone, and communicates over the Internet with a remote server accessible by healthcare professionals who are in charge of the remote monitoring and management of the older patient with multiple chronic conditions. Finally, we briefly discuss barriers to adoption of health and healthcare smartphone apps (e.g., cost, network bandwidth and battery power efficiency, usability, privacy issues, etc., as well as some workarounds to mitigate those barriers.

Strategies of enterprises facing european natural gas market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chevalier, J.M.

1992-01-01

The growing demand for natural gas in Europe is taking place within a gradual process of deregulation aiming to achieve a single energy market. Gas industry's traditional structure and behaviour are facing new forms of competition. Gas producers might be willing to capture a greater share of downstream profits while large users are interested in securing their supply at the cheapest cost. In addition, new comers could appear at all stages of the industry, that are becoming contestable markets. Challengers and defenders will probably induce important changes in industry's present structure. 11 refs., 1 fig., 3 tabs

The Potential of Internet of Things to Improve the Quality of Healthcare Delivery

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Cornel TURCU,

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Radio Frequency Identification (RFID technology is gaining significant momentum for tracking and tracing patients. The existing solutions for patient traceability are mostly centralized and closed-loop (effective only in small-scale RFID tracking applications. Lately, there has been a tendency to tag surrounding physical objects and to adopt various solutions that enable them to communicate with one another and with Information and Communications Technology (ICT systems. This leads to a new concept named the Internet of Things (IoT, in which objects are associated with useful digital information. IoT can bring multiple benefits to healthcare through the use of information from distributed resources such as dedicated devices, RFID tags, sensors/detectors, intelligent equipment, etc. IoT is likely to have impact on many applications in healthcare subfields such as, elderly and patient care, medical supply chain, logistic, asset management, drug counterfeit detection, etc. This paper deals with aspects related to technologies used in healthcare, and with the various challenges healthcare faces during transition from RFID to IoT.

Preparedness and the importance of meeting the needs of healthcare workers : A qualitative study on Ebola

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Belfroid, E.; van Steenbergen, J.; Timen, A.; Ellerbroek, P.; van Huis, A.M.; Hulscher, M.

Background: Healthcare workers (HCWs) face specific challenges in infectious disease outbreaks, which provide unusual, new events with exposure risk. The fear of infection or new, unknown tasks in an unfamiliar setting, for example, may complicate outbreak management. Aim: To gain insight into how

Women in healthcare: barriers and enablers from a developing country perspective.

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Tlaiss, Hayfaa A

2013-06-01

As the under-representation of women in management positions continues to persist globally, little is known about the experiences of women in the healthcare sector in the context of the developing Middle Eastern nations. In an attempt to address this knowledge gap, the current study explores some of the barriers that hinder and the enablers that foster women's career advancement in the healthcare sector. To meet its objectives, the current study uses a relational approach that integrates the macro socio-cultural, meso-organisational, and micro-individual levels of analysis. Guided by institutional theory as a theoretical framework and social constructionism as a philosophical stance, the current study adopts a qualitative research methodology. It capitalizes on in-depth, semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with women managers in different occupational fields, across the managerial hierarchy in the healthcare sector in Lebanon. Snowballing and purposeful sampling procedures were used, and the interviews were analysed using thematic analysis, focusing on identifying new, emerging themes. The results of the study confirm the salience of discriminatory cultural values, gendered social roles and expectations in Middle Eastern societies, and illustrate their role as barriers hindering women's career advancement. The results also portray the spillover effect of societal expectations and cultural gender stereotypes into the organisational realm, resulting in widely experienced attitudinal and structural organisational barriers. This study also illustrates how the enablers that facilitate and promote women's career progression unfold amidst the interplay between the macro and meso factors, lending credence to the role of women's agency at the individual micro level. Amongst the toll of barriers, Middle Eastern women navigate the patriarchy of their cultures and the discrimination inherent in their organisations by using their agency and persistence as they construct

Addressing the Complexities of Big Data Analytics in Healthcare: The Diabetes Screening Case

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Daswin De Silva

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The healthcare industry generates a high throughput of medical, clinical and omics data of varying complexity and features. Clinical decision-support is gaining widespread attention as medical institutions and governing bodies turn towards better management of this data for effective and efficient healthcare delivery and quality assured outcomes. Amass of data across all stages, from disease diagnosis to palliative care, is further indication of the opportunities and challenges to effective data management, analysis, prediction and optimization techniques as parts of knowledge management in clinical environments. Big Data analytics (BDA presents the potential to advance this industry with reforms in clinical decision-support and translational research. However, adoption of big data analytics has been slow due to complexities posed by the nature of healthcare data. The success of these systems is hard to predict, so further research is needed to provide a robust framework to ensure investment in BDA is justified. In this paper we investigate these complexities from the perspective of updated Information Systems (IS participation theory. We present a case study on a large diabetes screening project to integrate, converge and derive expedient insights from such an accumulation of data and make recommendations for a successful BDA implementation grounded in a participatory framework and the specificities of big data in healthcare context.

The political economy of healthcare reform in China: negotiating public and private.

Science.gov (United States)

Daemmrich, Arthur

2013-01-01

China's healthcare system is experiencing significant growth from expanded government-backed insurance, greater public-sector spending on hospitals, and the introduction of private insurance and for-profit clinics. An incremental reform process has sought to develop market incentives for medical innovation and liberalize physician compensation and hospital finance while continuing to keep basic care affordable to a large population that pays for many components of care out-of-pocket. Additional changes presently under consideration by policymakers are likely to further restructure insurance and the delivery of care and will alter competitive dynamics in major healthcare industries, notably pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and diagnostic testing. This article describes the institutional history of China's healthcare system and identifies dilemmas emerging as the country negotiates divisions between public and private in healthcare. Building on this analysis, the article considers opportunities for public-private partnerships and greater systems integration to reconcile otherwise incommensurable approaches to rewarding innovation and improving access. The article concludes with observations on the public function of health insurance and its significance to further development of China's healthcare system.

Updating OSHA Standards Based on National Consensus Standards; Eye and Face Protection. Final rule.

Science.gov (United States)

2016-03-25

On March 13, 2015, OSHA published in the Federal Register a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to revise its eye and face protection standards for general industry, shipyard employment, marine terminals, longshoring, and construction by updating the references to national consensus standards approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). OSHA received no significant objections from commenters and therefore is adopting the amendments as proposed. This final rule updates the references in OSHA's eye and face standards to reflect the most recent edition of the ANSI/International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA) eye and face protection standard. It removes the oldest-referenced edition of the same ANSI standard. It also amends other provisions of the construction eye and face protection standard to bring them into alignment with OSHA's general industry and maritime standards.

Clinical Ethics Support for Healthcare Personnel: An Integrative Literature Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Rasoal, Dara; Skovdahl, Kirsti; Gifford, Mervyn; Kihlgren, Annica

2017-12-01

This study describes which clinical ethics approaches are available to support healthcare personnel in clinical practice in terms of their construction, functions and goals. Healthcare personnel frequently face ethically difficult situations in the course of their work and these issues cover a wide range of areas from prenatal care to end-of-life care. Although various forms of clinical ethics support have been developed, to our knowledge there is a lack of review studies describing which ethics support approaches are available, how they are constructed and their goals in supporting healthcare personnel in clinical practice. This study engages in an integrative literature review. We searched for peer-reviewed academic articles written in English between 2000 and 2016 using specific Mesh terms and manual keywords in CINAHL, MEDLINE and Psych INFO databases. In total, 54 articles worldwide described clinical ethics support approaches that include clinical ethics consultation, clinical ethics committees, moral case deliberation, ethics rounds, ethics discussion groups, and ethics reflection groups. Clinical ethics consultation and clinical ethics committees have various roles and functions in different countries. They can provide healthcare personnel with advice and recommendations regarding the best course of action. Moral case deliberation, ethics rounds, ethics discussion groups and ethics reflection groups support the idea that group reflection increases insight into ethical issues. Clinical ethics support in the form of a "bottom-up" perspective might give healthcare personnel opportunities to think and reflect more than a "top-down" perspective. A "bottom-up" approach leaves the healthcare personnel with the moral responsibility for their choice of action in clinical practice, while a "top-down" approach risks removing such moral responsibility.

Return Migrants’ Experience of Access to Care in Corrupt Healthcare Systems: The Bosnian Example

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Line Neerup Handlos

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Equal and universal access to healthcare services is a core priority for a just health system. A key societal determinant seen to create inequality in access to healthcare is corruption in the healthcare system. How return migrants’ access to healthcare is affected by corruption is largely unstudied, even though return migrants may be particularly vulnerable to problems related to corruption due to their period of absence from their country of origin. This article investigates how corruption in the healthcare sector affects access to healthcare for refugees who repatriated to Bosnia, a country with a high level of corruption, from Denmark, a country with a low level of corruption. The study is based on 18 semi-structured interviews with 33 refugees who returned after long-term residence in Denmark. We found that the returned refugees faced greater problems with corruption than was the case for those who had not left the country, as doctors considered them to be better endowed financially and therefore demanded larger bribes from them than they did from those who had remained in Bosnia. Moreover, during their stay abroad the returnees had lost the connections that could have helped them sidestep the corruption. Returned refugees are thus particularly vulnerable to the effects of corruption.

Return Migrants’ Experience of Access to Care in Corrupt Healthcare Systems: The Bosnian Example

Science.gov (United States)

Neerup Handlos, Line; Fog Olwig, Karen; Bygbjerg, Ib Christian; Norredam, Marie

2016-01-01

Equal and universal access to healthcare services is a core priority for a just health system. A key societal determinant seen to create inequality in access to healthcare is corruption in the healthcare system. How return migrants’ access to healthcare is affected by corruption is largely unstudied, even though return migrants may be particularly vulnerable to problems related to corruption due to their period of absence from their country of origin. This article investigates how corruption in the healthcare sector affects access to healthcare for refugees who repatriated to Bosnia, a country with a high level of corruption, from Denmark, a country with a low level of corruption. The study is based on 18 semi-structured interviews with 33 refugees who returned after long-term residence in Denmark. We found that the returned refugees faced greater problems with corruption than was the case for those who had not left the country, as doctors considered them to be better endowed financially and therefore demanded larger bribes from them than they did from those who had remained in Bosnia. Moreover, during their stay abroad the returnees had lost the connections that could have helped them sidestep the corruption. Returned refugees are thus particularly vulnerable to the effects of corruption. PMID:27657096

Return Migrants' Experience of Access to Care in Corrupt Healthcare Systems: The Bosnian Example.

Science.gov (United States)

Neerup Handlos, Line; Fog Olwig, Karen; Bygbjerg, Ib Christian; Norredam, Marie

2016-09-19

Equal and universal access to healthcare services is a core priority for a just health system. A key societal determinant seen to create inequality in access to healthcare is corruption in the healthcare system. How return migrants' access to healthcare is affected by corruption is largely unstudied, even though return migrants may be particularly vulnerable to problems related to corruption due to their period of absence from their country of origin. This article investigates how corruption in the healthcare sector affects access to healthcare for refugees who repatriated to Bosnia, a country with a high level of corruption, from Denmark, a country with a low level of corruption. The study is based on 18 semi-structured interviews with 33 refugees who returned after long-term residence in Denmark. We found that the returned refugees faced greater problems with corruption than was the case for those who had not left the country, as doctors considered them to be better endowed financially and therefore demanded larger bribes from them than they did from those who had remained in Bosnia. Moreover, during their stay abroad the returnees had lost the connections that could have helped them sidestep the corruption. Returned refugees are thus particularly vulnerable to the effects of corruption.

Perfect match? Generation Y as change agents for information communication technology implementation in healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Yee, Kwang Chien; Miils, Erin; Airey, Caroline

2008-01-01

The current healthcare delivery model will not meet future healthcare demands. The only sustainable healthcare future is one that best leverages advances in technology to improve productivity and efficiency. Information communication technology (ICT) has, therefore, been touted as the panacea of future healthcare challenges. Many ICT projects in healthcare, however, fail to deliver on their promises to transform the healthcare system. From a technologist's perspective, this is often due to the lack of socio-technical consideration. From a socio-cultural perspective, however, there is often strong inertia to change. While the utilisation of user-centred design principles will generate a new wave of enthusiasm among technologists, this has to be matched with socio-cultural changes within the healthcare system. Generation Y healthcare workers might be the socio-cultural factor required, in combination with new technology, to transform the healthcare system. Generation Y has generated significant technology-driven changes in many other industries. The socio-cultural understanding of generation Y healthcare workers is essential to guide the design and implementation of ICT solutions for a sustainable healthcare future. This paper presents the initial analysis of our qualitative study which aims to generate in-depth conceptual insights of generation Y healthcare workers and their view of ICT in healthcare. Our results show that generation Y healthcare workers might assist future ICT implementation in healthcare. This paper, however, argues that significant changes to the current healthcare organisation will be required in order to unleash the full potential of generation Y workers and ICT implementation. Finally, this paper presents some strategies to empower generation Y workers as change agents for a sustainable future healthcare system.

Age synthesis and estimation via faces: a survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Fu, Yun; Guo, Guodong; Huang, Thomas S

2010-11-01

Human age, as an important personal trait, can be directly inferred by distinct patterns emerging from the facial appearance. Derived from rapid advances in computer graphics and machine vision, computer-based age synthesis and estimation via faces have become particularly prevalent topics recently because of their explosively emerging real-world applications, such as forensic art, electronic customer relationship management, security control and surveillance monitoring, biometrics, entertainment, and cosmetology. Age synthesis is defined to rerender a face image aesthetically with natural aging and rejuvenating effects on the individual face. Age estimation is defined to label a face image automatically with the exact age (year) or the age group (year range) of the individual face. Because of their particularity and complexity, both problems are attractive yet challenging to computer-based application system designers. Large efforts from both academia and industry have been devoted in the last a few decades. In this paper, we survey the complete state-of-the-art techniques in the face image-based age synthesis and estimation topics. Existing models, popular algorithms, system performances, technical difficulties, popular face aging databases, evaluation protocols, and promising future directions are also provided with systematic discussions.

The health of healthcare, Part II: patient healthcare has cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Waldman, Deane

2013-01-01

In this article, we make the etiologic diagnosis for a sick patient named Healthcare: the cancer of greed. When we explore the two forms of this cancer--corporate and bureaucratic--we find the latter is the greater danger to We the Patients. The "treatments" applied to patient Healthcare by the Congressional "doctors" have consistently made the patient worse, not better. At the core of healthcare's woes is the government's diversion of money from healthcare services to healthcare bureaucracy. As this is the root cause, it is what we must address in order to cure, not sedate or palliate, patient Healthcare.

Familiar face + novel face = familiar face? Representational bias in the perception of morphed faces in chimpanzees

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Yoshi-Taka Matsuda

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Highly social animals possess a well-developed ability to distinguish the faces of familiar from novel conspecifics to induce distinct behaviors for maintaining society. However, the behaviors of animals when they encounter ambiguous faces of familiar yet novel conspecifics, e.g., strangers with faces resembling known individuals, have not been well characterised. Using a morphing technique and preferential-looking paradigm, we address this question via the chimpanzee’s facial–recognition abilities. We presented eight subjects with three types of stimuli: (1 familiar faces, (2 novel faces and (3 intermediate morphed faces that were 50% familiar and 50% novel faces of conspecifics. We found that chimpanzees spent more time looking at novel faces and scanned novel faces more extensively than familiar or intermediate faces. Interestingly, chimpanzees looked at intermediate faces in a manner similar to familiar faces with regards to the fixation duration, fixation count, and saccade length for facial scanning, even though the participant was encountering the intermediate faces for the first time. We excluded the possibility that subjects merely detected and avoided traces of morphing in the intermediate faces. These findings suggest a bias for a feeling-of-familiarity that chimpanzees perceive familiarity with an intermediate face by detecting traces of a known individual, as 50% alternation is sufficient to perceive familiarity.

Smart Industry : How ICT Will Change the Game!

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Haverkort, Boudewijn R.; Zimmermann, Armin

2017-01-01

Companies in all fields are facing a new worldwide revolution: integrating Internet-based information and communication technology (ICT) into their complete value chains. This development is often referred to as the industrial Internet of things (IIoT), smart industry (SI), or Industry 4.0. Beyond

Examining Health Information Technology Implementation Success Factors in Critical Access Hospitals

Science.gov (United States)

Monkman, Blake D.

2016-01-01

As the role of information technology increases throughout the world, healthcare providers in the United States face industry and governmental pressures to implement health information technology (HIT) as a tool to improve healthcare costs, quality, and safety. The problem addressed in this study was the relatively low HIT implementation success…

Beyond Sensitivity. LGBT Healthcare Training in U.S. Medical Schools: A Review of the Literature

Science.gov (United States)

Utamsingh, Pooja Dushyant; Kenya, Sonjia; Lebron, Cynthia N.; Carrasquillo, Olveen

2017-01-01

Purpose: Training future physicians to address the health needs of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) population can potentially decrease health disparities faced by such individuals. In this literature review, we examine the characteristics and impact of current LGBT healthcare training at U.S. medical schools. Methods: We…

Soft-leadership competencies for today's healthcare finance executives.

Science.gov (United States)

Madden, Mark

2015-05-01

With the healthcare industry changing rapidly, organizations seek finance leaders who have skills that go beyond traditional expertise in revenue and expenses. These additional competencies fall under the heading of soft-leadership skills and include the ability to be strategy-oriented, agile, passionate, inspirational, influential, communicative, dependable, driven, integrative, and engaged. Networking, participation in a mentoring program, and continuing education provide avenues for finance leaders to develop these sorts of skills.

Case Study: Developing, Implementing, and Evaluating a One-Day Leadership Conference to Foster Women's Leadership in Healthcare

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Kerry K. Fierke

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Despite women increasingly entering the healthcare field, they still face barriers to advancing in leadership ranks within healthcare. To address the need for leadership development among women in healthcare, the Center for Leading Healthcare Change (CLHC at the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy piloted a one-day conference in November 2012 entitled "Women Impacting Healthcare: Decide to Make a Difference." This conference utilized an interactive agenda: each speaker's presentation was followed by hands-on leadership activities during which attendees developed their own personal leadership visions. Specific leadership activities were designed to build upon one another and help design a leadership pathway. All activities were consistent as they included personal reflection and interaction with others. Attendees were asked to complete two evaluations, one immediately at the conclusion of the conference, and another two-weeks post. The conference committee achieved the goal of delivering the conference objectives. As the Women Impacting Healthcare committee continues to look for ways to develop leaders in healthcare, the focus of future conferences will also evolve to include the needs of women currently in leadership roles, as well as ways women can grow into leadership roles.   Type: Case Study

Factors driving the development of healthcare waste management in the United Kingdom over the past 60 years.

Science.gov (United States)

Townend, William K; Cheeseman, Christopher; Edgar, Jen; Tudor, Terry

2009-06-01

Since the creation of the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom in 1948 there have been significant changes in the way waste materials produced by healthcare facilities have been managed due to a number of environmental, legal and social drivers. This paper reviews the key changes in legislation and healthcare waste management that have occurred in the UK between 1948 and the present time. It investigates reasons for the changes and how the problems associated with healthcare wastes have been addressed. The reaction of the public to offensive disposal practices taking place locally required political action by the UK government and subsequently by the European legislature. The relatively new UK industry of hazardous healthcare waste management has developed rapidly over the past 25 years in response to significant changes in healthcare practices. The growth in knowledge and appreciation of environmental issues has also been fundamental to the development of this industry. Legislation emanating from Europe is now responsible for driving change to UK healthcare waste management. This paper examines the drivers that have caused the healthcare waste management to move forward in the 60 years since the NHS was formed. It demonstrates that the situation has moved from a position where there was no overall strategy to the current situation where there is a strong regulatory framework but still no national strategy. The reasons for this situation are examined and based upon the experience gained; suggestions are made for the benefit of countries with systems for healthcare waste management still in the early stages of development or without any provisions at all.

Performance of Automotive Industry under Financial Crisis

OpenAIRE

Cheng, Xiaomeng

2012-01-01

Since the financial crisis, automobile industry faces severe problems such as sale decline and cash shortage. Some corporations such as General Motors also went to bankrupt. The whole industry was under financial distress and this also affected other related industries such as part manufacturers and suppliers. Most literatures investigated the industry performance by measures such as sale and production volume, export record or GDP contribution. Few of them examine the industrial performance ...

Organizational culture in the primary healthcare setting of Cyprus.

Science.gov (United States)

Zachariadou, Theodora; Zannetos, Savvas; Pavlakis, Andreas

2013-03-24

, healthcare professionals will face challenges both at organizational level and professional status. Results of the study can serve as background knowledge for leaders and policy makers who seek interventions to improve performance before the implementation of a new national healthcare scheme.

[Role of Visiting Nursing Care in Japanese Home Healthcare].

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Sang-Ju

2018-02-01

Taiwan's rapidly aging society is expected to make it a super-aged society in 2026. By 2060, people aged 65 or older will account for 40% of the population, a ratio that will approximate that in Japan. In Japan, the elderly population was 27.3% in 2016. By 2025, when the baby-boomers become 75 years old in Japan, issues of long-term care and end-of-life care will be more important and challenging. Since 1976, more Japanese have died in hospital settings than in home settings. Although the percentage of people dying at home increased slightly to 12.7% in 2016, after the recent introduction and promotion of home healthcare, Japan will face a significant challenge to deal with the healthcare 'tsunami' of high natural death rates, which is expected to impose a heavy death burdened on society by 2040, when the death rate is expected to reach 1,670,000/year. Therefore, the Japanese authorities have begun to promote the Community-based Integrated Care System, in which home healthcare and visiting nursing play crucial roles. This article summarizes the historical trend and current situation of visiting nursing in Japan. Japan uses a hybrid payment system for visiting nursing that is financially supported both through private medical insurance policies and Kaigo insurance (Japanese long-term care insurance). The total of 8613 visiting nursing stations that were active in community settings in 2016 cooperated with 14,000 support clinics for home healthcare and cared for 570,000 patients in home settings. We believe that visiting nursing will play an important role in home healthcare in Taiwan in the future.

The "We Card" program: tobacco industry "youth smoking prevention" as industry self-preservation.

Science.gov (United States)

Apollonio, Dorie E; Malone, Ruth E

2010-07-01

The "We Card" program is the most ubiquitous tobacco industry "youth smoking prevention" program in the United States, and its retailer materials have been copied in other countries. The program's effectiveness has been questioned, but no previous studies have examined its development, goals, and uses from the tobacco industry's perspective. On the basis of our analysis of tobacco industry documents released under the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement, we concluded that the We Card program was undertaken for 2 primary purposes: to improve the tobacco industry's image and to reduce regulation and the enforcement of existing laws. Policymakers should be cautious about accepting industry self-regulation at face value, both because it redounds to the industry's benefit and because it is ineffective.

Public Authorities and users facing the volatile organic compounds mastership; Pouvoirs publics et utilisateurs face a la maitrise des composes organiques volatils

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Daubresse, V. [Federation des Industries Mecaniques (France); Dessagne, J.M. [Institut National de Recherche et de Securite INRS, 54 - Nancy (France); Choquel, B. [ITW Surfaces et Finitions/SITS, Ransburg (United States); Joly, M. [FIPEC, Federation des Industries des Peintures, Encres, Couleurs, Colles et Adhesifs, 75 - Paris (France); Malosse, R. [CETIM, Centre Technique des Insdustries Mecaniques, 93 - Saint Ouen (France); Costes, B. [Aerospatiale Matra Airbus (France); Languetot, H. [CMB Packaging (France); Maire, A. [SITS - Uniclima, 92 - Paris la Defense (France)

2000-07-01

This conference presents the regulation concerning the VOC and the consequences on the activities of the mechanical industries. Eight papers are presented: regulation and VOC; health and safety for workshops using VOC; the different application methods; the paints evolution facing the regulation; clean technologies in the degreasing; degreasing and solvents management; an example, in the Aerospace industry, of solvents plan management to reduce the emission of VOC; regeneration and destruction of VOC. (A.L.B.)

[Healthcare value chain: a model for the Brazilian healthcare system].

Science.gov (United States)

Pedroso, Marcelo Caldeira; Malik, Ana Maria

2012-10-01

This article presents a model of the healthcare value chain which consists of a schematic representation of the Brazilian healthcare system. The proposed model is adapted for the Brazilian reality and has the scope and flexibility for use in academic activities and analysis of the healthcare sector in Brazil. It places emphasis on three components: the main activities of the value chain, grouped in vertical and horizontal links; the mission of each link and the main value chain flows. The proposed model consists of six vertical and three horizontal links, amounting to nine. These are: knowledge development; supply of products and technologies; healthcare services; financial intermediation; healthcare financing; healthcare consumption; regulation; distribution of healthcare products; and complementary and support services. Four flows can be used to analyze the value chain: knowledge and innovation; products and services; financial; and information.

A multi-state, multi-site, multi-sector healthcare improvement model: implementing evidence for practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Edward, Karen-Leigh; Walker, Kim; Duff, Jed

2017-10-01

Healthcare is complex and we know that evidence takes nearly 20 years to find its way into clinical practice. The slow process of translating research points to the need for effective translational research models to ensure patient care quality and safety are not compromised by such an epistemic failure. Our model to achieve reasonably rapid and enduring improvements to clinical care draws on that developed and promulgated by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in the United States of America model as well as that developed by the Johns Hopkins Quality and Safety Group known as the Translating Research into Practice implementation model. The core principle of our hybrid model was to engage those most likely to be affected by the changes being introduced through a series of face-to-face and web-enabled meetings that act both as drivers of information but also as a means of engaging all stakeholders across the healthcare system involved in the change towards their pre-established goals. The model was piloted on the focused topic of the management of inadvertent perioperative hypothermia across nine hospitals within Australia (four sites in Victoria, three sites in New South Wales and two sites in Queensland). Improvement in management of hypothermia in these patients was achieved and sustained over time. Our model aims to engage the hearts and minds of healthcare clinicians, and others in order to empower them to make the necessary improvements to enhance patient care quality and safety. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press in association with the International Society for Quality in Health Care. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

Information booklet on personal protective equipment: eye and face protection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1992-01-01

In all work places where hazards of various kinds are present and the same cannot be totally controlled by engineering methods, suitable personal protective equipment (PPE) shall be used. There are several types of eye and face protection devices available in the market and it is important that employees use the proper type for the particular job. The main classes of eye and face protection devices required for the industrial operations are as follows: (a) eye protection devices which includes: (i) safety goggles (ii) safety spectacles (iii) safety clipons and eye and face protection devices which are (i) eye shield, (ii) face shield, (iii) wire mesh screen guard. Guide lines for selecting appropriate ear and face protection equipment for nuclear installations are given. (M.K.V.). 4 annexures, 1 appendix

Strategic learning in healthcare organizations.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Sullivan, M J

1999-01-01

There is no definitive blueprint for the healthcare organization involved in strategic learning. However, what distinguishes strategic learning institutions is their acknowledgment that they must discover their own paths and solutions rather than blindly follow a detailed strategic mandate from administration. Answers to their most critical implementation and adaptive questions will not flow down ready-made from above, but will be tailored to meet the requirements of their own particular situation. Strategic learning organizations have certain attributes in common in developing their own answers: They continuously experiment rather than seek final solutions. They favor improvisation over forecasts. They formulate new actions rather than defend past ones. They nurture change rather than permanence. They encourage creative conflict rather than tranquillity. They encourage questioning rather than compliance. They expose contradictions rather than hide them (Weick 1977). Most importantly, strategic learning organizations realize that successful strategic change is best undertaken as a process of learning (O'Sullivan 1999). Healthcare organizations can no longer afford the illusion of traditional strategic planning, with its emphasis on bureaucratic controls from the top to the bottom. They must embrace the fundamental truth that most change occurs through processes of learning that occur in many locations simultaneously throughout the organization. The initial step in discovering ways to improve the capability of healthcare organizations is to adapt continuously while fulfilling their mission. Healthcare leaders must create a shared vision of where an institution is heading rather than what the final destination will be, nurture a spirit of experimentation and discovery rather than close supervision and unbending control, and recognize that plans have to be continuously changed and adjusted. To learn means to face the unknown: to recognize that we do not possess all

Challenges of the New Zealand healthcare disaster preparedness prior to the Canterbury earthquakes: a qualitative analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Shaqsi, Sultan; Gauld, Robin; Lovell, Sarah; McBride, David; Al-Kashmiri, Ammar; Al-Harthy, Abdullah

2013-03-15

Disasters are a growing global phenomenon. New Zealand has suffered several major disasters in recent times. The state of healthcare disaster preparedness in New Zealand prior to the Canterbury earthquakes is not well documented. To investigate the challenges of the New Zealand healthcare disaster preparedness prior to the Canterbury earthquakes. Semi-structured interviews with emergency planners in all the District Health Boards (DHBs) in New Zealand in the period between January and March 2010. The interview protocol revolved around the domains of emergency planning adopted by the World Health Organization. Seventeen interviews were conducted. The main themes included disinterest of clinical personnel in emergency planning, the need for communication backup, the integration of private services in disaster preparedness, the value of volunteers, the requirement for regular disaster training, and the need to enhance surge capability of the New Zealand healthcare system to respond to disasters. Prior to the Canterbury earthquakes, healthcare disaster preparedness faced multiple challenges. Despite these challenges, New Zealand's healthcare response was adequate. Future preparedness has to consider the lessons learnt from the 2011 earthquakes to improve healthcare disaster planning in New Zealand.

Medical Tourism: Globalization of the Healthcare Marketplace

Science.gov (United States)

Horowitz, Michael D.; Rosensweig, Jeffrey A.; Jones, Christopher A.

2007-01-01

The citizens of many countries have long traveled to the United States and to the developed countries of Europe to seek the expertise and advanced technology available in leading medical centers. In the recent past, a trend known as medical tourism has emerged wherein citizens of highly developed countries choose to bypass care offered in their own communities and travel to less developed areas of the world to receive a wide variety of medical services. Medical tourism is becoming increasingly popular, and it is projected that as many as 750,000 Americans will seek offshore medical care in 2007. This phenomenon is driven by marketplace forces and occurs outside of the view and control of the organized healthcare system. Medical tourism presents important concerns and challenges as well as potential opportunities. This trend will have increasing impact on the healthcare landscape in industrialized and developing countries around the world. PMID:18311383

Medical tourism: globalization of the healthcare marketplace.

Science.gov (United States)

Horowitz, Michael D; Rosensweig, Jeffrey A; Jones, Christopher A

2007-11-13

The citizens of many countries have long traveled to the United States and to the developed countries of Europe to seek the expertise and advanced technology available in leading medical centers. In the recent past, a trend known as medical tourism has emerged wherein citizens of highly developed countries choose to bypass care offered in their own communities and travel to less developed areas of the world to receive a wide variety of medical services. Medical tourism is becoming increasingly popular, and it is projected that as many as 750,000 Americans will seek offshore medical care in 2007. This phenomenon is driven by marketplace forces and occurs outside of the view and control of the organized healthcare system. Medical tourism presents important concerns and challenges as well as potential opportunities. This trend will have increasing impact on the healthcare landscape in industrialized and developing countries around the world.

The two (quality) faces of HCHP (Harvard Community Health Plan).

Science.gov (United States)

Burda, D

1991-03-18

When it comes to total quality management, Harvard Community Health Plan has two personalities. It's using the principles espoused by such TQM gurus as Joseph Juran to reduce costs and improve quality in its clinics and offices. But HCHP also is enhancing its image in the healthcare industry by teaching TQM principles to others for big bucks.

Welfarism versus 'free enterprise': considerations of power and justice in the Philippine healthcare system.

Science.gov (United States)

Sy, Peter A

2003-10-01

The just distribution of benefits and burdens of healthcare, at least in the contemporary Philippine context, is an issue that gravitates towards two opposing doctrines of welfarism and 'free enterprise.' Supported largely by popular opinion, welfarism maintains that social welfare and healthcare are primarily the responsibility of the government. Free enterprise (FE) doctrine, on the other hand, maintains that social welfare is basically a market function and that healthcare should be a private industry that operates under competitive conditions with minimal government control. I will examine the ethical implications of these two doctrines as they inform healthcare programmes by business and government, namely: (a) the Devolution of Health Services and (b) the Philippine Health Maintenance Organization (HMO). I will argue that these doctrines and the health programmes they inform are deficient in following respects: (1) equitable access to healthcare, (2) individual needs for premium healthcare, (3) optimal utilisation of health resources, and (4) the equitable assignment of burdens that healthcare entails. These respects, as considerations of justice, are consistent with an operational definition of 'power' proposed here as 'access to and control of resources.'

What do hotels and hospitals have in common? How we can learn from the hotel industry to take better care of patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Zygourakis, Corinna C; Rolston, John D; Treadway, James; Chang, Susan; Kliot, Michel

2014-01-01

Despite widely divergent public perceptions and goals, hotels and hospitals share many core characteristics. Both serve demanding and increasingly well-informed clienteles, both employ a large hierarchy of workers with varying levels of responsibility, and both have payments that are increasingly tied to customer/patient evaluations. In the hotel industry, decades of management experience and market research have led to widespread improvements and innovations that improve customer satisfaction. But there has been incredibly little cross-fertilization between the hotel and hospital industries. In this paper, we first consider the changes in the healthcare system that are forcing hospitals to become more concerned with patient satisfaction. We discuss the similarities and differences between the hotel and hospital industries, and then outline several of the unique challenges that neurosurgeons face in taking care of patients and increasing their comfort. We cite specific lessons from the hotel industry that can be applied to patients' preadmission, check-in, hospital stay, discharge planning, and poststay experiences. We believe that hospitals can and should leverage the successful advances within the hotel industry to improve patient satisfaction, without having to repeat identical research or market experimentation. We hope this will lead to rapid improvements in patient experiences and overall wellbeing.

What do hotels and hospitals have in common? How we can learn from the hotel industry to take better care of patients

Science.gov (United States)

Zygourakis, Corinna C.; Rolston, John D.; Treadway, James; Chang, Susan; Kliot, Michel

2014-01-01

Despite widely divergent public perceptions and goals, hotels and hospitals share many core characteristics. Both serve demanding and increasingly well-informed clienteles, both employ a large hierarchy of workers with varying levels of responsibility, and both have payments that are increasingly tied to customer/patient evaluations. In the hotel industry, decades of management experience and market research have led to widespread improvements and innovations that improve customer satisfaction. But there has been incredibly little cross-fertilization between the hotel and hospital industries. In this paper, we first consider the changes in the healthcare system that are forcing hospitals to become more concerned with patient satisfaction. We discuss the similarities and differences between the hotel and hospital industries, and then outline several of the unique challenges that neurosurgeons face in taking care of patients and increasing their comfort. We cite specific lessons from the hotel industry that can be applied to patients’ preadmission, check-in, hospital stay, discharge planning, and poststay experiences. We believe that hospitals can and should leverage the successful advances within the hotel industry to improve patient satisfaction, without having to repeat identical research or market experimentation. We hope this will lead to rapid improvements in patient experiences and overall wellbeing. PMID:24818061

Intra-industry adjustment to import competition: theory and application to the German clothing industry

OpenAIRE

Raff, Horst; Wagner, Joachim

2009-01-01

This paper uses an oligopoly model with heterogeneous firms to examine how an industry adjusts to rising import competition. The model predicts that in the short run the least efficient firms in the industry become inactive, surviving firms face a fall in output, mark-ups and profits, and the average productivity of survivors increases. These pro-competitive effects of import penetration on the domestic industry disappear in the long run. The predictions for the short run are confirmed in an ...

New challenges of public health: bringing the future of personalised healthcare into focus.

Science.gov (United States)

Ricciardi, Walter; Boccia, Stefania

2017-10-01

The greater personalization of healthcare represents a driver of innovation for research, and for the healthcare systems and industries as a whole. Still policy-makers, healthcare professionals, citizens and private companies need to take some steps to realize the potential for such a radical shift. In this paper, we illustrate the challenges, the benefits and consequences that might accompany the implementation of personalized healthcare, and the steps that policy-makers and practitioners would need to take to realise its potential. Six main prerequisites for radical change in healthcare are presented, that include achieving better genetic literacy for professionals and for the public; engaging citizen in the discourse; improved governance, consent and trust in healthcare; feeding and harnessing the data-knowledge cycle for better health; adopting and adapting the Health Technology Assessment framework for the evaluation of the new technologies; and retaining humanity and community in health and care. Some of these concepts originate from a discussion on the future of health and healthcare, looking at least 15-20 years into the future, that we had at the end of 2016 at Ickworth with an international group of experts, under the aegis of the PHG Foundation. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.

kernenergie.de changes face

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Geisler, Maja

2009-01-01

The portals of the Deutsches Atomforum e.V. (DAtF) and of the Informationskreis KernEnergie (IK) changed face effective June 24, 2009. On-line appearance was in need of modernization after the last relaunches and the additional new industry dialog portal, ''Zeit fuer Energieverantwortung.'' The starting page of the industry portal, which receives a high level of attention as indicated by 130,000 monthly hits, was streamlined in its structure. The design was modernized and made clearer. Depending on the depth of information wanted, users are guided by the new structure to the required level of detailed technical information. Up to 200,000 monthly hits are confirming the popularity and importance of this information portal. The main pages can be found under these Web addresses: www.kernenergie.de, www.kernfragen.de, www.kernenergie.de/energieverantwortung. (orig.)

Lean healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Weinstock, Donna

2008-01-01

As healthcare organizations look for new and improved ways to reduce costs and still offer quality healthcare, many are turning to the Toyota Production System of doing business. Rather than focusing on cutting personnel and assets, "lean healthcare" looks to improve patient satisfaction through improved actions and processes.

Study of industry safety management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Pil Su

1987-06-01

This book deals with general remarks, industrial accidents, statistics of industrial accidents, unsafe actions, making machinery and facilities safe, safe activities, having working environment safe, survey of industrial accidents and analysis of causes, system of safety management and operations, safety management planning, safety education, human engineering such as human-machines system, system safety, and costs of disaster losses. It lastly adds individual protective equipment and working clothes including protect equipment for eyes, face, hands, arms and feet.

How can insulin initiation delivery in a dual-sector health system be optimised? A qualitative study on healthcare professionals' views.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Ping Yein; Lee, Yew Kong; Ng, Chirk Jenn

2012-04-30

The prevalence of type 2 diabetes is increasing at an alarming rate in developing countries. However, glycaemia control remains suboptimal and insulin use is low. One important barrier is the lack of an efficient and effective insulin initiation delivery approach. This study aimed to document the strategies used and proposed by healthcare professionals to improve insulin initiation in the Malaysian dual-sector (public-private) health system. In depth interviews and focus group discussions were conducted in Klang Valley and Seremban, Malaysia in 2010-11. Healthcare professionals consisting of general practitioners (n = 11), medical officers (n = 8), diabetes educators (n = 3), government policy makers (n = 4), family medicine specialists (n = 10) and endocrinologists (n = 2) were interviewed. We used a topic guide to facilitate the interviews, which were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using a thematic approach. Three main themes emerged from the interviews. Firstly, there was a lack of collaboration between the private and public sectors in diabetes care. The general practitioners in the private sector proposed an integrated system for them to refer patients to the public health services for insulin initiation programmes. There could be shared care between the two sectors and this would reduce the disproportionately heavy workload at the public sector. Secondly, besides the support from the government health authority, the healthcare professionals wanted greater involvement of non-government organisations, media and pharmaceutical industry in facilitating insulin initiation in both the public and private sectors. The support included: training of healthcare professionals; developing and disseminating patient education materials; service provision by diabetes education teams; organising programmes for patients' peer group sessions; increasing awareness and demystifying insulin via public campaigns; and subsidising glucose

How can insulin initiation delivery in a dual-sector health system be optimised? A qualitative study on healthcare professionals’ views

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lee Ping Yein

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The prevalence of type 2 diabetes is increasing at an alarming rate in developing countries. However, glycaemia control remains suboptimal and insulin use is low. One important barrier is the lack of an efficient and effective insulin initiation delivery approach. This study aimed to document the strategies used and proposed by healthcare professionals to improve insulin initiation in the Malaysian dual-sector (public–private health system. Methods In depth interviews and focus group discussions were conducted in Klang Valley and Seremban, Malaysia in 2010–11. Healthcare professionals consisting of general practitioners (n = 11, medical officers (n = 8, diabetes educators (n = 3, government policy makers (n = 4, family medicine specialists (n = 10 and endocrinologists (n = 2 were interviewed. We used a topic guide to facilitate the interviews, which were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using a thematic approach. Results Three main themes emerged from the interviews. Firstly, there was a lack of collaboration between the private and public sectors in diabetes care. The general practitioners in the private sector proposed an integrated system for them to refer patients to the public health services for insulin initiation programmes. There could be shared care between the two sectors and this would reduce the disproportionately heavy workload at the public sector. Secondly, besides the support from the government health authority, the healthcare professionals wanted greater involvement of non-government organisations, media and pharmaceutical industry in facilitating insulin initiation in both the public and private sectors. The support included: training of healthcare professionals; developing and disseminating patient education materials; service provision by diabetes education teams; organising programmes for patients’ peer group sessions; increasing awareness and demystifying

Addressing Disease-Related Malnutrition in Healthcare

Science.gov (United States)

Correia, Maria Isabel; Hegazi, Refaat A.; Diaz-Pizarro Graf, José Ignacio; Gomez-Morales, Gabriel; Fuentes Gutiérrez, Catalina; Goldin, Maria Fernanda; Navas, Angela; Pinzón Espitia, Olga Lucia; Tavares, Gilmária Millere

2015-01-01

Alarmingly high rates of disease-related malnutrition have persisted in hospitals of both emerging and industrialized nations over the past 2 decades, despite marked advances in medical care over this same interval. In Latin American hospitals, the numbers are particularly striking; disease-related malnutrition has been reported in nearly 50% of adult patients in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and Uruguay. The tolls of disease-related malnutrition are high in both human and financial terms—increased infectious complications, higher incidence of pressure ulcers, longer hospital stays, more frequent readmissions, greater costs of care, and increased risk of death. In an effort to draw attention to malnutrition in Latin American healthcare, a feedM.E. Latin American Study Group was formed to extend the reach and support the educational efforts of the feedM.E. Global Study Group. In this article, the feedM.E. Latin American Study Group shows that malnutrition incurs excessive costs to the healthcare systems, and the study group also presents evidence of how appropriate nutrition care can improve patients’ clinical outcomes and lower healthcare costs. To achieve the benefits of nutrition for health throughout Latin America, the article presents feedM.E.’s simple and effective Nutrition Care Pathway in English and Spanish as a way to facilitate its use. PMID:25883116

Sustainable diversity. This year's Top 25 minority Executives in Healthcare highlights leadership diversity, but some question the true level of inclusion.

Science.gov (United States)

Kirchheimer, Barbara

2008-04-07

While more minority candidates are moving into top healthcare positions, many challenges remain. One is to address true inclusion, an expert says. And Andrea Price, left, selected as one of Modem Healthcare's Top 25 Minority Executives in Healthcare, says minorities can have a hard time rising to top positions. "The industry needs to understand that everyone doesn't start off on the same playing field," she says.

Architecture of personal healthcare information system in ubiquitous healthcare

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bhardwaj, S.; Sain, M.; Lee, H.-J.; Chung, W.Y.; Slezak, D.; et al., xx

2009-01-01

Due to recent development in Ubiquitous Healthcare now it’s time to build such application which can work independently and with less interference of Physician. In this paper we are try to build the whole architecture of personal Healthcare information system for ubiquitous healthcare which also

Threats and opportunities facing the power utility industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Read, W.S.

1996-01-01

This address describes how, throughout the world, technological, ideological, and economic forces are reshaping the way one works and does business. The electric power industry, one of the last bastions of conservatism, has awakened to the fact that it, too, is not immune to the pressure for change. It realizes that it cannot afford to bury its head in the sand when confronted with this challenge. This awakening will provide utilities with the stimulus needed to be innovative and cooperative, in partnership with their customers, in their response to this new business opportunity

Manufacturers-Retailers: The New Actor in the U.S. Furniture Industry. Characteristics and Implications for the Chinese Industry

OpenAIRE

Lidia Martínez Murillo

2007-01-01

Since the 1990s the American furniture industry faces a transition period. Manufacturers, one of its most important actors made its entrance into the retail industry. This shift has had deep consequences not only for the American furniture industry as a whole, but also for other international furniture industries, especially the Chinese. The present work aims to analyze this actor based on the distinction provided by the Global Commodity Chain Theory. It stresses its char...

The Impact of Infrastructural Development on Nigeria's Industrial ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Nneka Umera-Okeke

Department of Private Law,. University of ... The importance of infrastructure to the industrial sector of any economy cannot be overlooked ... with healthcare, governance, education, and accountability, as well as property rights, which are the ...

Exploring the Barriers: A Qualitative Study about the Experiences of Mid-SES Roma Navigating the Spanish Healthcare System.

Science.gov (United States)

Aiello, Emilia; Flecha, Ainhoa; Serradell, Olga

2018-02-22

Whereas the topic of the 'cultural sensitivity' of healthcare systems has been addressed extensively in the US and the UK, literature on the subject in most European countries, specifically looking at the situation of Roma, is still scarce. Drawing on qualitative research conducted mainly in the city of Barcelona under the communicative approach with Roma subjects who have stable socioeconomic positions and higher cultural capitals (end-users, professionals of the healthcare system, and key informants of a regional policy oriented to the improvement of Roma living conditions), the present study aims to fill this gap. We explore the barriers that the Roma face in accessing the healthcare system, reflecting on how these barriers are accentuated by the existing anti-Roma prejudices and institutional arrangements that do not account for minority cultures. Our results point out a series of obstacles at two levels, in the interaction with healthcare professionals, and in relation to existing institutional arrangements, which prevent Roma families from having equal access to the healthcare system. Education stands up as a mechanism to contest anti-Roma sentiments among healthcare professionals.

Minor mental disorders in Taiwanese healthcare workers and the associations with psychosocial work conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Wan-Ju; Cheng, Yawen

2017-04-01

Healthcare workers face multiple psychosocial work hazards intrinsic to their work, including heavy workloads and shift work. However, how contemporary adverse psychosocial work conditions, such as workplace justice and insecurity, may contribute to increased mental health risks has rarely been studied. This study aimed to search for modifiable psychosocial work factors associated with mental health disorders in Taiwanese healthcare workers. A total of 349 healthcare workers were identified from 19,641 employees who participated in a national survey of Taiwan. Minor mental disorder was assessed using the five-item brief symptom rating scale. We compared psychosocial work characteristics and the prevalence of minor mental disorder in healthcare workers with that in a sociodemographically matched sample, and examined the associations of psychosocial work conditions with mental health status. Healthcare workers were found to have a higher prevalence of minor mental disorder than general workers, and they were more likely to have longer working hours, heavier psychological job demands, higher job control, more workplace violence, and a higher prevalence of shift work. Among healthcare workers, experiences of workplace violence, lower workplace justice, heavier psychological job demands, and job insecurity were associated with a higher risk for minor mental disorder, even after controlling for working hours and shift work. Despite the fact that healthcare workers work longer hours and shift work, there were several modifiable psychosocial work conditions that should be targeted to improve their mental health. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

A research model of health-care competition and customer satisfaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Asoh, Derek A; Rivers, Patrick A

2007-11-01

In all industries, competition among businesses has long been encouraged as a mechanism to increase value for customers. In other words, competition ensures the provision of better products and services to satisfy the needs of customers. Various perspectives of competition, the nature of service quality, health-care system costs and customer satisfaction in health care are examined. A model of the relationship among these variables is developed. The model depicts customer satisfaction as an outcome measure directly dependent on competition. Quality of care and health-care system costs, while also directly dependent on competition, are considered as determinants of customer satisfaction as well. The model is discussed in the light of propositions for empirical research.

Risks affecting the biofuels industry: A US and Canadian company perspective

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pries, Fred; Talebi, Alireza; Schillo, R. Sandra; Lemay, Margaret A.

2016-01-01

Policymakers face the challenge of finding a mix of policies that are effective in growing the biofuels industry. We argue that a missing component of biofuel policy is consideration of the risks faced by companies in the biofuels industry. The purpose of this paper is to address the research question: What are the most important risks facing companies in the biofuels industry? We identify 22 risks in our analysis of 652 narrative risk factor descriptions disclosed by 26 publicly traded biofuel companies in the US and Canada. The results show that the most important risks are related to management and management processes, and to market conditions and profitability. Biofuel companies view technological risks, including those related to intellectual property protection, as less significant. These results suggest that, in order to be responsive to the risks companies face, biofuel policy needs to support the development of managers and management processes; to support market conditions and industry profitability; and to strike an appropriate balance between policy support for technology development and for business development. Further, we suggest a risk informed approach to setting government policy for the biofuels industry may support the industry's development. - Highlights: • Risk factors disclosed by 26 publicly traded biofuel companies were analyzed. • 22 risks were identified and assessed. • Key risks involved management, market conditions and profitability. • A risk focused approach to biofuel policy may support the industry's development.

Neural synchronization during face-to-face communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Jing; Dai, Bohan; Peng, Danling; Zhu, Chaozhe; Liu, Li; Lu, Chunming

2012-11-07

Although the human brain may have evolutionarily adapted to face-to-face communication, other modes of communication, e.g., telephone and e-mail, increasingly dominate our modern daily life. This study examined the neural difference between face-to-face communication and other types of communication by simultaneously measuring two brains using a hyperscanning approach. The results showed a significant increase in the neural synchronization in the left inferior frontal cortex during a face-to-face dialog between partners but none during a back-to-back dialog, a face-to-face monologue, or a back-to-back monologue. Moreover, the neural synchronization between partners during the face-to-face dialog resulted primarily from the direct interactions between the partners, including multimodal sensory information integration and turn-taking behavior. The communicating behavior during the face-to-face dialog could be predicted accurately based on the neural synchronization level. These results suggest that face-to-face communication, particularly dialog, has special neural features that other types of communication do not have and that the neural synchronization between partners may underlie successful face-to-face communication.

Network security vulnerabilities and personal privacy issues in Healthcare Information Systems: a case study in a private hospital in Turkey.

Science.gov (United States)

Namoğlu, Nihan; Ulgen, Yekta

2013-01-01

Healthcare industry has become widely dependent on information technology and internet as it moves from paper to electronic records. Healthcare Information System has to provide a high quality service to patients and a productive knowledge share between healthcare staff by means of patient data. With the internet being commonly used across hospitals, healthcare industry got its own share from cyber threats like other industries in the world. The challenge is allowing knowledge transfer to hospital staff while still ensuring compliance with security mandates. Working in collaboration with a private hospital in Turkey; this study aims to reveal the essential elements of a 21st century business continuity plan for hospitals while presenting the security vulnerabilities in the current hospital information systems and personal privacy auditing standards proposed by regulations and laws. We will survey the accreditation criteria in Turkey and counterparts in US and EU. We will also interview with medical staff in the hospital to understand the needs for personal privacy and the technical staff to perceive the technical requirements in terms of network security configuration and deployment. As hospitals are adopting electronic transactions, it should be considered a must to protect these electronic health records in terms of personal privacy aspects.

Facing the challenges of a competitive market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hollins, P.

2001-01-01

British Energy is one of the world's largest nuclear generating companies. This paper describes the business environment in which the company competes, its strategic responses to the challenges it faces, and gives some conclusions regarding the priorities for the nuclear generation industry if it is to thrive as a mainstream source of energy. (author)

Constraints faced by urban poor in managing diabetes care: patients’ perspectives from South India

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Upendra Bhojani

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Background: Four out of five adults with diabetes live in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC. India has the second highest number of diabetes patients in the world. Despite a huge burden, diabetes care remains suboptimal. While patients (and families play an important role in managing chronic conditions, there is a dearth of studies in LMIC and virtually none in India capturing perspectives and experiences of patients in regard to diabetes care. Objective: The objective of this study was to better understand constraints faced by patients from urban slums in managing care for type 2 diabetes in India. Design: We conducted in-depth interviews, using a phenomenological approach, with 16 type 2- diabetes patients from a poor urban neighbourhood in South India. These patients were selected with the help of four community health workers (CHWs and were interviewed by two trained researchers exploring patients’ experiences of living with and seeking care for diabetes. The sampling followed the principle of saturation. Data were initially coded using the NVivo software. Emerging themes were periodically discussed among the researchers and were refined over time through an iterative process using a mind-mapping tool. Results: Despite an abundance of healthcare facilities in the vicinity, diabetes patients faced several constraints in accessing healthcare such as financial hardship, negative attitudes and inadequate communication by healthcare providers and a fragmented healthcare service system offering inadequate care. Strongly defined gender-based family roles disadvantaged women by restricting their mobility and autonomy to access healthcare. The prevailing nuclear family structure and inter-generational conflicts limited support and care for elderly adults. Conclusions: There is a need to strengthen primary care services with a special focus on improving the availability and integration of health services for diabetes at the community level

Impressions management: lessons from the oil industry

NARCIS (Netherlands)

M.D. van Halderen (Mignon); G.A.J.M. Berens (Guido); M. Bhatt (Mamta); T.J. Brown (Tom); C.B.M. van Riel (Cees)

2016-01-01

markdownabstractIn the late 1990s, after over a century of extracting hydrocarbons, the petroleum industry faced a growing scientific consensus that pollution from fossil fuels is a major cause of global warming. Operationally and in terms of their global image, oil and gas companies faced a serious

Industrial Area Redevelopment In The Netherlands: Search For New Approaches

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Blokhuis, E.G.J.; Schaefer, W.F.; Albrechts, L.

2007-01-01

Industrial areas in the Netherlands are important for a sustainable economic growth. However, the market for industrial areas faces several problems. A main problem is the obsolescence of largely 30% of the current stock of industrial areas. The redevelopment of these obsolete industrial areas

Information Technology Industry 2004

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Altieri, Richard; Buccheit, Nathan; Burke, Kyle; Dillard, Norvel; Dolan, Patrick; Edwards, Gregory; Elins, Daniel; Gaines, Leonard; Goodwin, Steven; Lawrence, Michael

2004-01-01

.... This study will define the Information Technology Industry, give an overview of current domestic and international conditions, and then analyze the state of national network security and challenges faced by the U.S. government and U.S...

TeleMed: Wide-area, secure, collaborative object computing with Java and CORBA for healthcare

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Forslund, D.W.; George, J.E.; Gavrilov, E.M.

1998-12-31

Distributed computing is becoming commonplace in a variety of industries with healthcare being a particularly important one for society. The authors describe the development and deployment of TeleMed in a few healthcare domains. TeleMed is a 100% Java distributed application build on CORBA and OMG standards enabling the collaboration on the treatment of chronically ill patients in a secure manner over the Internet. These standards enable other systems to work interoperably with TeleMed and provide transparent access to high performance distributed computing to the healthcare domain. The goal of wide scale integration of electronic medical records is a grand-challenge scale problem of global proportions with far-reaching social benefits.

Socio-Technical Considerations for the Use of Blockchain Technology in Healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Wong, Ming Chao; Yee, Kwang Chien; Nøhr, Christian

2018-01-01

Blockchain technology is often considered as the fourth industrial revolution that will change the world. The enthusiasm of the transformative nature of blockchain technology has infiltrated healthcare. Blockchain is often seen as the much needed and perfect technology for healthcare, addressing the difficult and complex issues of security and inter-operability. More importantly, the "value" and trust-based system can deliver automated action and response via its smart contract mechanism. Healthcare, however, is a complex system. Health information technology (HIT) so far, has not delivered its promise of transforming healthcare due to its complex socio-technical and context sensitive interaction. The introduction of blockchain technology will need to consider a whole range of socio-technical issues in order to improve the quality and safety of patient care. This paper presents a discussion on these socio-technical issues. More importantly, this paper argues that in order to achieve the best outcome from blockchain technology, there is a need to consider a clinical transformation from "information" to "value " and trust. This paper argues that urgent research is needed to address these socio-technical issues in order to facilitate best outcomes for blockchain in healthcare. These socio-technical issues must then be further evaluated by means of working prototypes in the medical domain in coming years.

A re-conceptualization of access for 21st century healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Fortney, John C; Burgess, James F; Bosworth, Hayden B; Booth, Brenda M; Kaboli, Peter J

2011-11-01

Many e-health technologies are available to promote virtual patient-provider communication outside the context of face-to-face clinical encounters. Current digital communication modalities include cell phones, smartphones, interactive voice response, text messages, e-mails, clinic-based interactive video, home-based web-cams, mobile smartphone two-way cameras, personal monitoring devices, kiosks, dashboards, personal health records, web-based portals, social networking sites, secure chat rooms, and on-line forums. Improvements in digital access could drastically diminish the geographical, temporal, and cultural access problems faced by many patients. Conversely, a growing digital divide could create greater access disparities for some populations. As the paradigm of healthcare delivery evolves towards greater reliance on non-encounter-based digital communications between patients and their care teams, it is critical that our theoretical conceptualization of access undergoes a concurrent paradigm shift to make it more relevant for the digital age. The traditional conceptualizations and indicators of access are not well adapted to measure access to health services that are delivered digitally outside the context of face-to-face encounters with providers. This paper provides an overview of digital "encounterless" utilization, discusses the weaknesses of traditional conceptual frameworks of access, presents a new access framework, provides recommendations for how to measure access in the new framework, and discusses future directions for research on access.

Preliminary risk analysis applied to the handling of health-care waste

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carvalho S.M.L.

2002-01-01

Full Text Available Between 75% and 90% of the waste produced by health-care providers no risk or is "general" health-care waste, comparable to domestic waste. The remaining 10-25% of health-care waste is regarded as hazardous due to one or more of the following characteristics: it may contain infectious agents, sharps, toxic or hazardous chemicals or it may be radioactive. Infectious health-care waste, particularly sharps, has been responsible for most of the accidents reported in the literature. In this work the preliminary risks analysis (PRA technique was used to evaluate practices in the handling of infectious health-care waste. Currently the PRA technique is being used to identify and to evaluate the potential for hazard of the activities, products, and services from facilities and industries. The system studied was a health-care establishment which has handling practices for infectious waste. Thirty-six procedures related to segregation, containment, internal collection, and storage operation were analyzed. The severity of the consequences of the failure (risk that can occur from careless management of infectious health-care waste was classified into four categories: negligible, marginal, critical, and catastrophic. The results obtained in this study showed that events with critics consequences, about 80%, may occur during the implementation of the containment operation, suggesting the need to prioritize this operation. As a result of the methodology applied in this work, a flowchart the risk series was also obtained. In the flowchart the events that can occur as a consequence of a improper handling of infectious health-care waste, which can cause critical risks such as injuries from sharps and contamination (infection from pathogenic microorganisms, are shown.

Developmental Impact Analysis of an ICT-Enabled Scalable Healthcare Model in BRICS Economies

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Dhrubes Biswas

2012-06-01

Full Text Available This article highlights the need for initiating a healthcare business model in a grassroots, emerging-nation context. This article’s backdrop is a history of chronic anomalies afflicting the healthcare sector in India and similarly placed BRICS nations. In these countries, a significant percentage of populations remain deprived of basic healthcare facilities and emergency services. Community (primary care services are being offered by public and private stakeholders as a panacea to the problem. Yet, there is an urgent need for specialized (tertiary care services at all levels. As a response to this challenge, an all-inclusive health-exchange system (HES model, which utilizes information communication technology (ICT to provide solutions in rural India, has been developed. The uniqueness of the model lies in its innovative hub-and-spoke architecture and its emphasis on affordability, accessibility, and availability to the masses. This article describes a developmental impact analysis (DIA that was used to assess the impact of this model. The article contributes to the knowledge base of readers by making them aware of the healthcare challenges emerging nations are facing and ways to mitigate those challenges using entrepreneurial solutions.

Healthcare technology innovation adoption electronic health records and other emerging health information technology innovations

CERN Document Server

Daim, Tugrul U; Basoglu, Nuri; Kök, Orhun M; Hogaboam, Liliya

2016-01-01

This book aims to study the factors affecting the adoption and diffusion of Health Information Technology (HIT) innovation. It analyzes the adoption processes of various tools and applications, particularly Electronic Health Records (EHR), highlighting the impact on various sectors of the healthcare system, such as physicians, administration,  and patient care, while also identifying the various pitfalls and gaps in the literature. With the various challenges currently facing the United States healthcare system, the study, adoption and diffusion of healthcare technology innovation, particularly HIT, is imperative to achieving national goals. This book is organized into three sections. Section one reviews theories and applications for the diffusion of Health Care Technologies. Section two evaluates EHR technology, including the barriers and enables in adoption and alternative technologies. Finally, section three examines the factors impacting the adoption of EHR systems. This book will be a key source for stu...

Challenges facing the food industry: Examples from the baked goods sector

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Zaza Nadja Lee; Jacobsen, Peter

2013-01-01

This paper investigates the challenges in the food industry, illustrated by a case study from the baked goods sector in Denmark. The paper proposes key elements this sector needs to address in order to limit waste, improve productivity and increase profitability.......This paper investigates the challenges in the food industry, illustrated by a case study from the baked goods sector in Denmark. The paper proposes key elements this sector needs to address in order to limit waste, improve productivity and increase profitability....

Empirical analysis of industrial operations in Montenegro

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Galić Jelena

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Since the starting process of transition, industrial production in Montenegro has been faced with serious problems and its share in GDP is constantly decreasing. Global financial crises had in large extent negatively influenced industry. Analysis of financial indicators showed that industry had significant losses, problem of undercapitalisation and liquidity problems. If we look by industry sectors, than situation is more favourable in the production of electricity, gas and water compared to extracting industry and mining. In paper is proposed measures of economic policy in order to improve situation in industry.

Evaluating priority setting success in healthcare: a pilot study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Upshur Ross

2010-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background In healthcare today, decisions are made in the face of serious resource constraints. Healthcare managers are struggling to provide high quality care, manage resources effectively, and meet changing patient needs. Healthcare managers who are constantly making difficult resource decisions desire a way to improve their priority setting processes. Despite the wealth of existing priority setting literature (for example, program budgeting and marginal analysis, accountability for reasonableness, the 'describe-evaluate-improve' strategy there are still no tools to evaluate how healthcare resources are prioritised. This paper describes the development and piloting of a process to evaluate priority setting in health institutions. The evaluation process was designed to examine the procedural and substantive dimensions of priority setting using a multi-methods approach, including a staff survey, decision-maker interviews, and document analysis. Methods The evaluation process was piloted in a mid-size community hospital in Ontario, Canada while its leaders worked through their annual budgeting process. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to analyze the data. Results The evaluation process was both applicable to the context and it captured the budgeting process. In general, the pilot test provided support for our evaluation process and our definition of success, (i.e., our conceptual framework. Conclusions The purpose of the evaluation process is to provide a simple, practical way for an organization to better understand what it means to achieve success in its priority setting activities and identify areas for improvement. In order for the process to be used by healthcare managers today, modification and contextualization of the process are anticipated. As the evaluation process is applied in more health care organizations or applied repeatedly in an organization, it may become more streamlined.

Consumer demands: Major problems facing industry in a consumer-driven society.

Science.gov (United States)

Harrington, G

1994-01-01

Demand is driven by conventional market forces over much of the world among consumers with strong positive attitudes to meat as a nutritious, tasty and premium food; price in relation to income, availability, quality (including leanness) and relevance to life-style remain the dominant forces operating. But in the developed world, there are emerging concerns about how meat is produced, which are likely to have negative effects on demand, particularly that of the current younger generation, and which may well begin to affect Government policies towards the meat industry. The industry needs to establish strong information and education programmes, but also to examine its procedures to provide greater consumer assurance about practises and controls. Also the scientists and technologists serving the industry need to help it move towards sustainable lower input, less environmentally damaging systems, less reliance on drugs, stimulants and additives, sensitive exploitation of the new genetics and with more consideration for the animals involved. Copyright © 1993. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Head-and-face anthropometric survey of Chinese workers.

Science.gov (United States)

Du, Lili; Zhuang, Ziqing; Guan, Hongyu; Xing, Jingcai; Tang, Xianzhi; Wang, Limin; Wang, Zhenglun; Wang, Haijiao; Liu, Yuewei; Su, Wenjin; Benson, Stacey; Gallagher, Sean; Viscusi, Dennis; Chen, Weihong

2008-11-01

Millions of workers in China rely on respirators and other personal protective equipment to reduce the risk of injury and occupational diseases. However, it has been >25 years since the first survey of facial dimensions for Chinese adults was published, and it has never been completely updated. Thus, an anthropometric survey of Chinese civilian workers was conducted in 2006. A total of 3000 subjects (2026 males and 974 females) between the ages of 18 and 66 years old was measured using traditional techniques. Nineteen facial dimensions, height, weight, neck circumference, waist circumference and hip circumference were measured. A stratified sampling plan of three age strata and two gender strata was implemented. Linear regression analysis was used to evaluate the possible effects of gender, age, occupation and body size on facial dimensions. The regression coefficients for gender indicated that for all anthropometric dimensions, males had significantly larger measurements than females. As body mass index increased, dimensions measured increased significantly. Construction workers and miners had significantly smaller measurements than individuals employed in healthcare or manufacturing for a majority of dimensions. Five representative indexes of facial dimension (face length, face width, nose protrusion, bigonial breadth and nasal root breadth) were selected based on correlation and cluster analysis of all dimensions. Through comparison with the facial dimensions of American subjects, this study indicated that Chinese civilian workers have shorter face length, smaller nose protrusion, larger face width and longer lip length.

Decoding of faces and face components in face-sensitive human visual cortex

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David F Nichols

2010-07-01

Full Text Available A great challenge to the field of visual neuroscience is to understand how faces are encoded and represented within the human brain. Here we show evidence from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI for spatially distributed processing of the whole face and its components in face-sensitive human visual cortex. We used multi-class linear pattern classifiers constructed with a leave-one-scan-out verification procedure to discriminate brain activation patterns elicited by whole faces, the internal features alone, and the external head outline alone. Furthermore, our results suggest that whole faces are represented disproportionately in the fusiform cortex (FFA whereas the building blocks of faces are represented disproportionately in occipitotemporal cortex (OFA. Faces and face components may therefore be organized with functional clustering within both the FFA and OFA, but with specialization for face components in the OFA and the whole face in the FFA.

Integrating socially assistive robotics into mental healthcare interventions: applications and recommendations for expanded use.

Science.gov (United States)

Rabbitt, Sarah M; Kazdin, Alan E; Scassellati, Brian

2015-02-01

As a field, mental healthcare is faced with major challenges as it attempts to close the huge gap between those who need services and those who receive services. In recent decades, technological advances have provided exciting new resources in this battle. Socially assistive robotics (SAR) is a particularly promising area that has expanded into several exciting mental healthcare applications. Indeed, a growing literature highlights the variety of clinically relevant functions that these robots can serve, from companion to therapeutic play partner. This paper reviews the ways that SAR have already been used in mental health service and research and discusses ways that these applications can be expanded. We also outline the challenges and limitations associated with further integrating SAR into mental healthcare. SAR is not proposed as a replacement for specially trained and knowledgeable professionals nor is it seen as a panacea for all mental healthcare needs. Instead, robots can serve as clinical tools and assistants in a wide range of settings. Given the dramatic growth in this area, now is a critical moment for individuals in the mental healthcare community to become engaged in this research and steer it toward our field's most pressing clinical needs. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Do randomized controlled trials discuss healthcare costs?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G Michael Allan

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Healthcare costs, particularly pharmaceutical costs, are a dominant issue for most healthcare organizations, but it is unclear if randomized controlled trials (RCTs routinely discuss costs. Our objective was to assess the frequency and factors associated with the inclusion of costs in RCTs. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We randomly sampled 188 RCTs spanning three years (2003-2005 from six high impact journals. The sample size for RCTs was based on a calculation to estimate the inclusion of actual drug costs with a precision of +/-3%. Two reviewers independently extracted cost data and study characteristics. Frequencies were calculated and potential characteristics associated with the inclusion of costs were explored. Actual drug costs were included in 4.7% (9/188 of RCTs; any actual costs were included in 7.4% (14/188 of RCTs; and any mention of costs was included in 27.7% (52/188 of RCTs. As the amount of industry funding increased across RCTs, from non-profit to mixed to fully industry funded RCTs, there was a statistically significant reduction in the number of RCTs with any actual costs (Cochran-Armitage test, p = 0.005 and any mention of costs (Cochran-Armitage test, p = 0.02. Logistic regression analysis also indicated funding was associated with the inclusion of any actual cost (OR = 0.34, p = 0.009 or any mention of costs (OR = 0.63, p = 0.02. Journal, study conclusions, study location, primary author's country and product age were not associated with inclusion of cost information. CONCLUSION: While physicians are encouraged to consider costs when prescribing drugs for their patients, actual drug costs were provided in only 5% of RCTs and were not mentioned at all in 72% of RCTs. Industry funded trials were less likely to include cost information. No other factors were associated with the inclusion of cost information.

Do randomized controlled trials discuss healthcare costs?

Science.gov (United States)

Allan, G Michael; Korownyk, Christina; LaSalle, Kate; Vandermeer, Ben; Ma, Victoria; Klein, Douglas; Manca, Donna

2010-08-23

Healthcare costs, particularly pharmaceutical costs, are a dominant issue for most healthcare organizations, but it is unclear if randomized controlled trials (RCTs) routinely discuss costs. Our objective was to assess the frequency and factors associated with the inclusion of costs in RCTs. We randomly sampled 188 RCTs spanning three years (2003-2005) from six high impact journals. The sample size for RCTs was based on a calculation to estimate the inclusion of actual drug costs with a precision of +/-3%. Two reviewers independently extracted cost data and study characteristics. Frequencies were calculated and potential characteristics associated with the inclusion of costs were explored. Actual drug costs were included in 4.7% (9/188) of RCTs; any actual costs were included in 7.4% (14/188) of RCTs; and any mention of costs was included in 27.7% (52/188) of RCTs. As the amount of industry funding increased across RCTs, from non-profit to mixed to fully industry funded RCTs, there was a statistically significant reduction in the number of RCTs with any actual costs (Cochran-Armitage test, p = 0.005) and any mention of costs (Cochran-Armitage test, p = 0.02). Logistic regression analysis also indicated funding was associated with the inclusion of any actual cost (OR = 0.34, p = 0.009) or any mention of costs (OR = 0.63, p = 0.02). Journal, study conclusions, study location, primary author's country and product age were not associated with inclusion of cost information. While physicians are encouraged to consider costs when prescribing drugs for their patients, actual drug costs were provided in only 5% of RCTs and were not mentioned at all in 72% of RCTs. Industry funded trials were less likely to include cost information. No other factors were associated with the inclusion of cost information.

Gender identity, healthcare access, and risk reduction among Malaysia's mak nyah community.

Science.gov (United States)

Gibson, Britton A; Brown, Shan-Estelle; Rutledge, Ronnye; Wickersham, Jeffrey A; Kamarulzaman, Adeeba; Altice, Frederick L

2016-01-01

Transgender women (TGW) face compounded levels of stigma and discrimination, resulting in multiple health risks and poor health outcomes. TGW identities are erased by forcing them into binary sex categories in society or treating them as men who have sex with men (MSM). In Malaysia, where both civil and religious law criminalise them for their identities, many TGW turn to sex work with inconsistent prevention methods, which increases their health risks. This qualitative study aims to understand how the identities of TGW sex workers shapes their healthcare utilisation patterns and harm reduction behaviours. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 male-to-female transgender (mak nyah) sex workers in Malaysia. Interviews were transcribed, translated into English, and analysed using thematic coding. Results suggest that TGW identity is shaped at an early age followed by incorporation into the mak nyah community where TGW were assisted in gender transition and introduced to sex work. While healthcare was accessible, it failed to address the multiple healthcare needs of TGW. Pressure for gender-affirming health procedures and fear of HIV and sexually transmitted infection screening led to potentially hazardous health behaviours. These findings have implications for developing holistic, culturally sensitive prevention and healthcare services for TGW.

Women in Healthcare: Barriers and Enablers from a Developing Country Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Tlaiss, Hayfaa A.

2013-01-01

Background: As the under-representation of women in management positions continues to persist globally, little is known about the experiences of women in the healthcare sector in the context of the developing Middle Eastern nations. In an attempt to address this knowledge gap, the current study explores some of the barriers that hinder and the enablers that foster women’s career advancement in the healthcare sector. To meet its objectives, the current study uses a relational approach that integrates the macro socio-cultural, meso-organisational, and micro-individual levels of analysis. Methods: Guided by institutional theory as a theoretical framework and social constructionism as a philosophical stance, the current study adopts a qualitative research methodology. It capitalizes on in-depth, semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with women managers in different occupational fields, across the managerial hierarchy in the healthcare sector in Lebanon. Snowballing and purposeful sampling procedures were used, and the interviews were analysed using thematic analysis, focusing on identifying new, emerging themes. Results: The results of the study confirm the salience of discriminatory cultural values, gendered social roles and expectations in Middle Eastern societies, and illustrate their role as barriers hindering women’s career advancement. The results also portray the spillover effect of societal expectations and cultural gender stereotypes into the organisational realm, resulting in widely experienced attitudinal and structural organisational barriers. This study also illustrates how the enablers that facilitate and promote women’s career progression unfold amidst the interplay between the macro and meso factors, lending credence to the role of women’s agency at the individual micro level. Amongst the toll of barriers, Middle Eastern women navigate the patriarchy of their cultures and the discrimination inherent in their organisations by using their

Women in Healthcare: Barriers and Enablers from a Developing Country Perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hayfaa A. Tlaiss

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Background: As the under-representation of women in management positions continues to persist globally, little is known about the experiences of women in the healthcare sector in the context of the developing Middle Eastern nations. In an attempt to address this knowledge gap, the current study explores some of the barriers that hinder and the enablers that foster women’s career advancement in the healthcare sector. To meet its objectives, the current study uses a relational approach that integrates the macro socio-cultural, meso-organisational, and micro-individual levels of analysis.Methods: Guided by institutional theory as a theoretical framework and social constructionism as a philosophical stance, the current study adopts a qualitative research methodology. It capitalizes on in-depth, semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with women managers in different occupational fields, across the managerial hierarchy in the healthcare sector in Lebanon. Snowballing and purposeful sampling procedures were used, and the interviews were analysed using thematic analysis, focusing on identifying new, emerging themes.Results: The results of the study confirm the salience of discriminatory cultural values, gendered social roles and expectations in Middle Eastern societies, and illustrate their role as barriers hindering women’s career advancement. The results also portray the spillover effect of societal expectations and cultural gender stereotypes into the organisational realm, resulting in widely experienced attitudinal and structural organisational barriers. This study also illustrates how the enablers that facilitate and promote women’s career progression unfold amidst the interplay between the macro and meso factors, lending credence to the role of women’s agency at the individual micro level. Amongst the toll of barriers, Middle Eastern women navigate the patriarchy of their cultures and the discrimination inherent in their organisations by

Using evidence-based medicine to protect healthcare workers from pandemic influenza: Is it possible?

Science.gov (United States)

Gralton, Jan; McLaws, Mary-Louise

2011-01-01

To use evidence-based principles to develop infection control algorithms to ensure the protection of healthcare workers and the continuity of health service provision during a pandemic. : Evidence-based algorithms were developed from published research as well as "needs and values" assessments. Research evidence was obtained from 97 studies reporting the protectiveness of antiviral prophylaxis, seasonal vaccination, and mask use. Needs and values assessments were undertaken by international experts in pandemic infection control and local healthcare workers. Opportunity and resources costs were not determined. The Australian government commissioned the development of an evidence-based algorithm for inclusion in the 2008 revision of the Australian Health and Management Plan for Pandemic Influenza. Two international infection control teams responsible for healthcare worker safety during the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome outbreak reviewed the evidence-based algorithms. The algorithms were then reviewed for needs and values by eight local clinicians who were considered key frontline clinicians during the contain and sustain phases. The international teams reviewed for practicability of implementation, whereas local clinicians reviewed for clinician compliance. Despite strong evidence for vaccination and antiviral prophylaxis providing significant protection, clinicians believed they required the additional combinations of both masks and face shields. Despite the equivocal evidence for the efficacy of surgical and N95 masks and the provision of algorithms appropriate for the level of risk according to clinical care during a pandemic, clinicians still demanded N95 masks plus face shields in combination with prophylaxis and novel vaccination. Conventional evidence-based principles could not be applied to formulate recommendations due to the lack of pandemic-specific efficacy data of protection tools and the inherent unpredictability of pandemics. As an alternative

Smart Pharma: Towards Efficient Healthcare Ecosystem

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Anwar, Sadia; Prasad, Ramjee; Chowdhry, Bhawani.S

New innovative health related technologies will help people to empower them by making more aware of their health-related problems, early prevention and precaution of diseases. The technologies will be providing a platform for various disciplines of science to collaborate and solve problems people...... are facing. This paper proposes a smart pharma approach to empower the physician-patient relationship by utilizing new technological tools. Furthermore, a generic framework for efficient healthcare ecosystem is proposed to realize the smart pharma approach.......New innovative health related technologies will help people to empower them by making more aware of their health-related problems, early prevention and precaution of diseases. The technologies will be providing a platform for various disciplines of science to collaborate and solve problems people...

Spanish industry and competitiveness. The overview from the Industrial Observatories; Industria espanola y competitividad. La vision desde los observatorios industriales

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ortigosa Goni, J. A.; Fuente Garcia, T. de la

2012-07-01

This article analyzes the competitiveness of the Spanish industry. It explains the interdependencies and relations that link globalization, internationalization and international trade with competitiveness. The main features of the Spanish industry are also studied in depth, its strengths and weaknesses. Finally, the challenges that the Spanish industry will face in the future are considered, as well as the role that the industrial observatories will play in that context. (Author)

Applied simulation and optimization in logistics, industrial and aeronautical practice

CERN Document Server

Mota, Idalia; Serrano, Daniel

2015-01-01

Presenting techniques, case-studies and methodologies that combine the use of simulation approaches with optimization techniques for facing problems in manufacturing, logistics, or aeronautical problems, this book provides solutions to common industrial problems in several fields, which range from manufacturing to aviation problems, where the common denominator is the combination of simulation’s flexibility with optimization techniques’ robustness. Providing readers with a comprehensive guide to tackle similar issues in industrial environments, this text explores novel ways to face industrial problems through hybrid approaches (simulation-optimization) that benefit from the advantages of both paradigms, in order to give solutions to important problems in service industry, production processes, or supply chains, such as scheduling, routing problems and resource allocations, among others.

Healthcare

Science.gov (United States)

Carnevale, Anthony P.; Smith, Nicole; Gulish, Artem; Beach, Bennett H.

2012-01-01

This report, provides detailed analyses and projections of occupations in healthcare fields, and wages earned. In addition, the important skills and work values associated with workers in those fields of healthcare are discussed. Finally, the authors analyze the implications of research findings for the racial, ethnic, and class diversity of the…

Evaluation of Face Detection Algorithms for the Bank Client Identity Verification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Szczodrak Maciej

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Results of investigation of face detection algorithms efficiency in the banking client visual verification system are presented. The video recordings were made in real conditions met in three bank operating outlets employing a miniature industrial USB camera. The aim of the experiments was to check the practical usability of the face detection method in the biometric bank client verification system. The main assumption was to provide a simplified as much as possible user interaction with the application. Applied algorithms for face detection are described and achieved results of face detection in the real bank environment conditions are presented. Practical limitations of the application based on encountered problems are discussed.

Famous face recognition, face matching, and extraversion.

Science.gov (United States)

Lander, Karen; Poyarekar, Siddhi

2015-01-01

It has been previously established that extraverts who are skilled at interpersonal interaction perform significantly better than introverts on a face-specific recognition memory task. In our experiment we further investigate the relationship between extraversion and face recognition, focusing on famous face recognition and face matching. Results indicate that more extraverted individuals perform significantly better on an upright famous face recognition task and show significantly larger face inversion effects. However, our results did not find an effect of extraversion on face matching or inverted famous face recognition.

Improving Healthcare through Lean Management: Experiences from the Danish healthcare system

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Edwards, Kasper; Nielsen, Anders Paarup

still is in its infancy and it is just a matter of letting sufficient time pass in order have a successful implementation of lean in all areas of healthcare. The second hypothesis states that a major barrier to lean management in healthcare simply is lacking understanding of the lean concepts leading......The ideas and principles from lean management are now widely being adopted within the healthcare sector. The analysis in this paper shows that organizations within healthcare most often only implement a limited set of tools and methods from the lean tool-box. Departing from a theoretical analysis...... of the well-known and universal lean management principles in the context of the healthcare this paper will attempt to formulate and test four hypotheses about possible barriers to the successful implementation of lean management in healthcare. The first hypothesis states that lean management in healthcare...

Integrated Framework for Patient Safety and Energy Efficiency in Healthcare Facilities Retrofit Projects.

Science.gov (United States)

Mohammadpour, Atefeh; Anumba, Chimay J; Messner, John I

2016-07-01

There is a growing focus on enhancing energy efficiency in healthcare facilities, many of which are decades old. Since replacement of all aging healthcare facilities is not economically feasible, the retrofitting of these facilities is an appropriate path, which also provides an opportunity to incorporate energy efficiency measures. In undertaking energy efficiency retrofits, it is vital that the safety of the patients in these facilities is maintained or enhanced. However, the interactions between patient safety and energy efficiency have not been adequately addressed to realize the full benefits of retrofitting healthcare facilities. To address this, an innovative integrated framework, the Patient Safety and Energy Efficiency (PATSiE) framework, was developed to simultaneously enhance patient safety and energy efficiency. The framework includes a step -: by -: step procedure for enhancing both patient safety and energy efficiency. It provides a structured overview of the different stages involved in retrofitting healthcare facilities and improves understanding of the intricacies associated with integrating patient safety improvements with energy efficiency enhancements. Evaluation of the PATSiE framework was conducted through focus groups with the key stakeholders in two case study healthcare facilities. The feedback from these stakeholders was generally positive, as they considered the framework useful and applicable to retrofit projects in the healthcare industry. © The Author(s) 2016.

Quality improvement in healthcare delivery utilizing the patient-centered medical home model.