Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to C McGuire.
The more complicated a client's health needs are, the higher the risk for inappropriate utilization of services, fragmentation of care and delays in system access. The challenge is to ensure that patients move appropriately from one access point to another in the most efficient, effective manner. The Integrated Health Care Delivery System is designed to meet this challenge.
Two surveys were conducted among pregnant women throughout England, before (n = 625) and after (n = 607) a mass media campaign on smoking and pregnancy targeted at women aged 15-24 years, in the social grade C2DE. The majority of the post-campaign sample recalled having seen at least one of the campaign's series of press advertisements. There was a significant increase among this sample in those considering smoking to be very dangerous to the unborn child, in those understanding the term passive smoking and in those considering passive smoking to be very dangerous. During the campaign there was a 14% increase in the number of calls to a cessation helpline from pregnant women. Over the campaign there were no significant changes in smoking prevalence and consumption among pregnant women or partners or in the numbers of partners offering suggestions to pregnant women about their smoking behaviour.
Almost 20 million people are in paid employment in England today, spending up to 60 per cent of their waking hours in their places of work, many for 40 years or more. Workplaces are, therefore, a major influence on health and provide an invaluable setting for health promotion.
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OBJECTIVE: This study evaluates the effect of Maine's Medicaid nursing home prospective payment system on nursing home costs and access to care for public patients. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING: The implementation of a facility-specific prospective payment system for nursing homes provided the opportunity for longitudinal study of the effect of that system. Data sources included audited Medicaid nursing home cost reports, quality-of-care data from state facility survey and licensure files, and facility case-mix information from random, stratified samples of homes and residents. Data were obtained for six years (1979-1985) covering the three-year period before and after implementation of the prospective payment system. STUDY DESIGN: This study used a pre-post, longitudinal analytical design in which interrupted, time-series regression models were estimated to test the effects of prospective payment and other factors, e.g., facility characteristics, nursing home market factors, facility case mix, and quality of care, on nursing home costs. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Prospective payment contributed to an estimated $3.03 decrease in total variable costs in the third year from what would have been expected under the previous retrospective cost-based payment system. Responsiveness to payment system efficiency incentives declined over the study period, however, indicating a growing problem in achieving further cost reductions. Some evidence suggested that cost reductions might have reduced access for public patients. CONCLUSIONS: Study findings are consistent with the results of other studies that have demonstrated the effectiveness of prospective payment systems in restraining nursing home costs. Potential policy trade-offs among cost containment, access, and quality assurance deserve further consideration, particularly by researchers and policymakers designing the new generation of case mix-based and other nursing home payment systems.
Planning the launch of the new Haemophilus influenzae b vaccine in October of this year has challenged health educators involved with child immunisation, writes Christine McGuire of the Health Education Authority (HEA). Here she outlines the findings from initial research commissioned to explore parental and professional information needs.
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Emerging public health problems, alterations in the nature of the medical profession and changes in individual student and practitioner needs are identified. The implications of these developments for modification of the content, organization, setting and instructional strategy of the medical education programme are discussed. A model for systematic consideration of societal, professional and individual needs in curricular reform is proposed and a strategy for change is suggested.
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A patient with severe seropositive rheumatoid arthritis and hepatic cirrhosis developed septic arthritis of his knees. Plesiomonas shigelloides was isolated from joint fluid, blood, and also from the gut. The patient's joint symptoms responded to treatment with oral trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole, but he died of uncontrolled gastrointestinal bleeding five days later.
A three-year study was designed to assess general reading and writing skills of 231 entering medical students and to compare these scores with those of clinically oriented reading and writing skills in the same cohort of students three years later. Standardized reading and writing tests were administered to all entering freshmen in the class of 1982. Clinical reading and writing examinations were developed by the authors and members of the faculty. The reading test consisted of 16 multiple-choice questions in response to three short discussions in medical journals. Clinical writing was assessed through scoring each student's latter of referral to another physician after he read a "mock" chart of a patient's hospital care. The results showed that entry-level reading comprehension and clinical reading had a significant association as did entry-level English composition and clinical writing. Regression analysis showed that the entry-level reading and writing scores were better predictors of clinical reading and writing skills than any other prematriculation variables. The implications of these findings for medical education are discussed.
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