Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “peer functioning”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 937 records · Page 52Linked to original sources
PubMed2000

Structured implicit review: a new method for monitoring nursing care quality.

BACKGROUND: Nurses' independent decisions about assessment, treatment, and nursing interventions for hospitalized patients are important determinants of quality of care. Physician peer implicit review of medical records has been central to Medicare quality management and is considered the gold standard for reviewing physician care, but peer implicit review of nursing processes of care has not received similar attention. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate nurse structured implicit review (SIR) methods. RESEARCH DESIGN: We developed SIR instruments for rating the quality of inpatient nursing care for congestive heart failure (CHF) and cerebrovascular accident (CVA). Nurse reviewers used the SIR form to rate a nationally representative sample of randomly selected medical records for each disease from 297 acute care hospitals in 5 states (collected by the RAND-HCFA Prospective Payment System study). SUBJECTS: The study subjects were elderly Medicare inpatients with CHF (n = 291) or CVA (n = 283). MEASURES: We developed and tested scales reflecting domains of nursing process, evaluated interrater and interitem reliability, and assessed the extent to which items and scales predicted overall ratings of the quality of nursing care. RESULTS: Interrater reliability for 14 of 16 scales (CHF) or 10 of 16 scales (CVA) was > or = 0.40. Interitem reliability was > 0.80 for all but 1 scale (both diseases). Functional Assessment, Physical Assessment, and Medication Tracking ratings were the strongest predictors of overall nursing quality ratings (P < 0.001 for each). CONCLUSIONS: Nurse peer review with SIR has adequate interrater and excellent scale reliabilities and can be a valuable tool for assessing nurse performance.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Practice effects on motor control in healthy seniors and patients with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease.

This research was designed to test the hypothesis that motor practice can enhance the capabilities of motor control in healthy controls (NC) and patients with a diagnosis of probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and consequently results in better motor performance. Approximately half of the subjects in the NC (n = 31), AD (n = 28), and MCI (n = 29) either received or did not receive practice on a task of fast and accurate arm movement with a digitizer. Changes in movement time (MT), movement smoothness (jerk), and percentage of primary submovement (PPS) were recorded and compared among the three groups across six blocks of trials (baseline and five training sessions). For all subjects, practice improved motor functions as reflected by faster and smoother motor execution, as well as a greater proportion of programming control. Compared to unaffected matched controls, AD and MCI subjects exhibited a greater reduction in movement jerk due to practice. Movement time and PPS data revealed that motor practice appeared to reduce the use of "on-line" correction adopted by the AD or MCI patients while performing the aiming movements. Evidently, their arm movements were quicker, smoother, and temporally more consistent than their untrained peers. The findings of this study shed light on how MCI and AD may affect motor control mechanisms, and suggest possible therapeutic interventions aimed at improving motor functioning in these impaired individuals.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Comparisons of achievement, effort, and self-perceptions among students with learning disabilities and their peers from different achievement groups.

This study compared the social-emotional implications of academic achievement for students with and without learning disabilities (LD) and identified predictors of effort investment. Students with LD showed lower levels of achievement, effort investment, academic self-efficacy, sense of coherence, positive mood, and hope, and higher levels of loneliness and negative mood. When compared to peers without LD (n = 447) at four different academic achievement levels, students with LD showed higher achievement than the low-average group, but their social-emotional profiles were similar to the low and low-average groups. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that achievement, academic self-efficacy, negative mood, and hope predicted effort investment for students with LD. These results demonstrated the importance of hope in understanding the functioning of students with LD.

Achievement↗
PubMed1999

Competence in the context of adversity: pathways to resilience and maladaptation from childhood to late adolescence.

Competent outcomes in late adolescence were examined in relation to adversity over time, antecedent competence and psychosocial resources, in order to investigate the phenomenon of resilience. An urban community sample of 205 (114 females, 90 males; 27% minority) children were recruited in elementary school and followed over 10 years. Multiple methods and informants were utilized to assess three major domains of competence from childhood through adolescence (academic achievement, conduct, and peer social competence), multiple aspects of adversity, and major psychosocial resources. Both variable-centered and person-centered analyses were conducted to test the hypothesized significance of resources for resilience. Better intellectual functioning and parenting resources were associated with good outcomes across competence domains, even in the context of severe, chronic adversity. IQ and parenting appeared to have a specific protective role with respect to antisocial behavior. Resilient adolescents (high adversity, adequate competence across three domains) had much in common with their low-adversity competent peers, including average or better IQ, parenting, and psychological well-being. Resilient individuals differed markedly from their high adversity, maladaptive peers who had few resources and high negative emotionality. Results suggest that IQ and parenting scores are markers of fundamental adaptational systems that protect child development in the context of severe adversity.

Achievement↗
PubMed1994

Changing physician prescribing patterns: evaluation of an educational strategy for acute diarrhea in Mexico City.

This paper presents the results of an intervention strategy designed to decrease drug prescription and increase the use of oral rehydration therapy (ORT) in the treatment of acute diarrhea aimed at family medicine practitioners in two primary health care units of the Mexican Social Security Institute. The intervention consisted of six successive stages: 1) Baseline study of prescribing practices by all 69 physicians in both clinics; 2) Training workshop attended by 36 physicians, including a critical analysis of relevant up-to-date literature, review of results of stage I, discussion of a previously designed treatment algorithm for acute diarrhea, and modification of it according to participant's experience; 3) Post-workshop evaluation; 4) Establishment of a peer review committee to discuss the treatment behavior of participating physicians; 5) Mid-term evaluation for 2 months after the committee stopped functioning; 6) Long-term evaluation at 6, 12 and 18 months, of 20 physicians who received the complete intervention (study group) and 20 physicians who received none (control group). The treatment behaviors of the study and control groups were similar on baseline, but differed significantly (P < 0.01) in the post-workshop evaluation. The study group showed a reduction in the use of antibiotics (from 78.8% to 39.3%) and restrictive diets (47.3% to 12.4%), and increased the use of ORT (31.4% to 58.4%) for children younger than 5 years old with acute diarrhea. In the mid-term evaluation, the use of antibiotics by the study group decreased to 27.6%, prescription of restrictive diets decreased to 6.4%, and use of ORT increased to 73.8% (P < 0.01, in all cases). In the long-term evaluation, persistent positive prescribing behavior was still present in the study group, with a significant difference (P < 0.05) compared to the control group, where no modification was found in the prescribing behavior throughout the study. The average proportion of cases treated according to the algorithm by the study group increased in 29.2% (31.3 to 60.5%) after the workshop, and 45.2% (31.3 to 76.5%) after peer review committee. This behavior was maintained during 18 months after the intervention (74%). The control group showed no significant modification in the average proportion of cases treated according to the algorithm during the study (2 years 7 months). The active participation of physicians in the workshop and in the peer review committee was identified as the key to the short and long-term success of the educational strategy.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed2004

Prevention of heavy drinking and associated negative consequences among mandated and voluntary college students.

The Lifestyle Management Class (LMC) was evaluated as a universal and targeted alcohol prevention program among voluntary and mandated college students. The relative efficacy of peer- and professional-led group interventions was also tested in this randomized, controlled design. LMC participants showed decreases in driving after drinking relative to control participants. Changes in heavy drinking varied as a function of treatment condition, readiness to change, and gender, with a trend toward larger decreases among voluntary LMC participants high in readiness to change and a comparable though nonsignificant advantage for male LMC participants in the mandated sample. The LMC was comparably effective for mandated and voluntary students, with no clear advantage for peer- or professional-led groups.

Achievement↗
PubMed1984

Studies of normal hearing.

Auditory function changes continually from birth to old age. A variety of methods to assess hearing have evolved since the invention of the audiometer. Types of measurement include: electrical response in the central nervous system, cochlear acuity and speech responses. While some of these tests correlate fairly well with each other, their ability to represent overall hearing function is questionable. Other attempts to improve the assessment of hearing have been made in the area of self-appraisal, but these, too, have significant limitations. Most self-report and peer appraisal questionnaires have been established by studies of hearing-impaired populations. Norms for these techniques in normal-hearing populations need to be established. There is still room for valid tests of everyday communication. What we have in measurement procedures does not achieve this goal. Research studies of today will hopefully produce better definition of normal auditory function.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Interactions of biomedical and environmental risk factors for cognitive development: a preliminary study of sickle cell disease.

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is associated with a number of biopsychosocial risk factors for cognitive development. Understanding how these risk factors may interact is important for developing interventions for cognitive functioning. The authors assessed the cognitive abilities of children with SCD (n = 50) and related their performance to anemia severity, socioeconomic status (SES), and their interaction. Demographically matched peers without SCD (n = 36) served as a comparison group. Four areas of cognitive weakness were identified among children with SCD: general cognitive ability, crystallized ability, short-term memory, and processing speed. Anemia severity predicted general cognitive ability, crystallized ability, and processing speed. Interactions between anemia severity and SES were found for general cognitive ability and short-term memory. Disease effects in SCD appear to vary depending on the child's level of socioenvironmental risk. Biomedical interventions to benefit cognitive functioning may have different effects depending on whether additional socioenvironmental risk factors are present.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

ADHD in preschool children: parent-rated psychosocial correlates.

Twenty-five children (21 males, 4 females; mean age 4.8 years) with attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) participated in this study in addition to 25 typically developing children (21 males, 4 females; mean age 4.9 years). Parental ratings of the preschool children and preschool child self-ratings were examined within the framework of three domains: behavioral disturbance, social competence, and familial environment. Compared to their typically developing peers, preschool children classified as having ADHD were rated by their parents as significantly more aggressive, more demanding of parental time, less socially skilled, less adaptable to change in routine, and as exhibiting more noncompliance. In contrast to these parental ratings, preschool children with ADHD perceived themselves as equally competent, and as socially accepted as their peers. Parents of preschool children with ADHD rated themselves as less competent parents, and as experiencing a restricted parenting role. Although parenting a preschool child with ADHD was viewed as stressful, the parents did not rate general family functioning to be adversely affected.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

School attainment, cognitive ability and motor function in a total Scottish very-low-birthweight population at eight years: a controlled study.

The prevalence of learning problems and of cognitive and motor impairment in a total geographically based very-low-birthweight population (N = 324) was compared at eight years of age with that in a population comprising two classroom peers, matched for gender and age (N = 590). 15 per cent of those with birthweights less than 1000g and 6 per cent of those weighing 1000 to 1499 g attended special schools. Index children in main-stream schools performed significantly less well in tests of neuromotor function than their comparison groups. Their mean IQs were 90.4 and 93.7 for those below and above 1000 g, respectively, while their comparison groups' IQs were 102.5 and 101.2. In all cognitive subscales apart from that testing short-term auditory sequential memory, both index groups were less competent. They were also less able in Word Reading and Basic Number Skills. These children placed heavy demands on mainstream schools, with 52 per cent and 37 per cent of the index groups, respectively, requiring learning support compared with 16 per cent in both comparison groups.

Achievement↗
PubMed1992

Women's yielding to social group pressure as a function of alcohol and type of pressure.

Thirty-six women participated in an experiment exploring whether alcohol intoxication facilitates yielding to social persuasive information. Subjects were randomly assigned to either an Alcohol, a Placebo, or a Control Group. The alcohol dose was 1.0 ml of 100% alcohol/kg body weight. Subjects first estimated the length of a line and were then given faked feedback from either a male or a female peer reference group. This procedure was repeated 60 times. Analyses indicated that the Placebo group yielded more often than the Alcohol group irrespective of type of feedback. A measure of locus of control indicated no significant mean differences as a function of alcohol group but correlations between externality and yielding were strong for placebo subjects, that is, externally oriented placebo subjects yielded more than internally oriented placebo subjects. This was discussed in terms of feelings uneasiness caused by the discrepancy between feelings of intoxication and information about drink content.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

The big five factors of personality and their relationship to personality disorders.

Articles examining the relationship between the Big Five factors of personality and personality disorders (PDs) are reviewed. A survey of these studies indicates that there is some agreement regarding the relationship between the Big Five and PDs. However, the level of agreement varies and may be a function of instrumentation, the method of report, or how data have been analyzed. Future research should consider the role of peer-ratings, examine the relationship between PDs and the first-order factors of the Big Five, consider dimensions over and above the Big Five as predictors of PDs.

Humans↗
PubMed1975

Childhood sarcomas and lymphomas. Characterization of new cell lines and search for type-C virus.

Four cell lines were derived from childhood malignancies: rhabdomyosarcoma, sarcoma, lymphosarcoma and an American Burkitt's lymphoma. Cells of the four lines formed tumors in immunosuppressed newborn hamsters. The tumors had a microscopic appearance like that of the tumors from which the cell lines were derived. No virus-like particles were detected by electron microscopy in the cell lines after treatment with bromodeoxyuridine; no hamster type-C virus expression was present in cell lines derived from the hamster tumors. Chromosome constitution and in vitro growth properties of the cell lines were studied as was the fibrinolytic function of the sarcoma lines.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2025

Active learning of enhancers and silencers in the developing neural retina.

Deep learning is a promising strategy for modeling cis-regulatory elements. However, models trained on genomic sequences often fail to explain why the same transcription factor can activate or repress transcription in different contexts. To address this limitation, we developed an active learning approach to train models that distinguish between enhancers and silencers composed of binding sites for the photoreceptor transcription factor cone-rod homeobox (CRX). After training the model on nearly all bound CRX sites from the genome, we coupled synthetic biology with uncertainty sampling to generate additional rounds of informative training data. This allowed us to iteratively train models on data from multiple rounds of massively parallel reporter assays. The ability of the resulting models to discriminate between CRX sites with identical sequence but opposite functions establishes active learning as an effective strategy to train models of regulatory DNA. A record of this paper's transparent peer review process is included in the supplemental information.

Retina↗
PubMed2005

Cognition in African children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

The aims of the study were: (1) to describe the performance of African children with symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder on selected neuropsychologic tests and compare it with performance among peers of the same age without symptoms; (2) to explore through a factor analysis if the selected tests cover the same functions as known from studies in Europe and North America. A nested case-control approach was used to select the two groups of children. The tests were selected to measure aspects of executive functions, attention and memory functions as well as motor skills. A total of 185 schoolchildren (28 cases and 157 control subjects) aged 85 to 119 months old were included. The findings indicate only minor difference between children with symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and control subjects in most of the tasks. However, children with symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder performed more poorly on tests of motor skills and had more violations of rules on the planning task. The factor analysis indicated a three-factor model, confirming that the selected tests could be used as measures of executive/motor functions, attention, and memory functions. Similar findings have been reported among children in Europe and North America.

Attention↗
PubMed2001

Contending with contradictory data in a risk assessment context: the case of methylmercury.

Two large sample, prospective longitudinal studies one in the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean, the other in the Faroes Islands in the North Sea were conducted during the 1990s to examine the effects of prenatal methylmercury exposure on intellectual function in childhood. The Faroes study found evidence linking this exposure to adverse outcome, but the Seychelles study did not. A peer review workshop held in Raleigh, NC, in 1998 concluded that the inconsistencies between the Faroes and Seychelles findings could be explained by differences in study design and sources of exposure. The US Environmental Protection Agency contracted with the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to convene an expert panel to provide guidance for a new risk assessment for methylmercury. The NAS panel reviewed the Faroes and Seychelles studies in light of data from a smaller New Zealand study and other data not available to the Raleigh reviewers. These additional data provided evidence of adverse effects in studies whose design and source of exposure were similar to that in the Seychelles, leading the NAS panel to conclude that the weight of the evidence supported the Faroes findings. A power analysis, conducted by computing standardized regression coefficients for the three studies, indicated that many of the Faroes findings were so subtle that the power to detect them in the Seychelles study, despite its large sample size, was only about 50%. Because prospective epidemiological studies are often hampered by limited control over confounding and other factors, including unmeasured between cohort differences in genetic vulnerability and nutritional adequacy, inferences about toxicity often depend heavily on a qualitative assessment of the weight of the evidence from multiple studies.

Animals↗