Re-visiting the six-item Stanford presenteeism scale (SPS-6) and its psychometric properties.

Presenteeism has often been considered as the correlate of absenteeism and associated to productivity loss. This study sought to re-examine the psychometric properties of the 6-item Stanford Presenteeism Scale (SPS-6), a popular measure which has been translated in a number of languages. The study adopted a cross-sectional design with 268 participants aged 18 - 65 working in a multinational IT company with headquarters based in Poland.

Impact of School Air Quality on Children's Respiratory Health.

Background: Asthma is common in children with indoor pollutants influencing the development of the disease. Since children spend most of their time outside their homes within the school environment, school indoor air quality can directly influence their respiratory health.

Aims: This study aims to analyze the indoor and outdoor air quality of Maltese schools and if an association exists between indoor pollutants and respiratory health in children.

Post-surgery length of stay using multi-criteria decision-making tool.

Purpose Length of stay (LOS) in hospital after surgery varies for each patient depending on surgeon's decision that considers criticality of the surgery, patient's conditions before and after surgery, expected time to recovery and experience of the surgeon involved. Decision on patients' LOS at hospital post-surgery affects overall healthcare performance as it affects both cost and quality of care. The purpose of this paper is to develop a model for deriving the most appropriate LOS after surgical interventions.

Value Chains of Public and Private Health-care Services in a Small EU Island State: A SWOT Analysis.

The global financial and macroeconomic crisis of 2008/2009 and the ensuing recessions obliged policy makers to maximize use of resources and cut down on waste. Specifically, in health care, governments started to explore ways of establishing collaborations between the public and private health-care sectors. This is essential so as to ensure the best use of available resources, while securing quality of delivery of care as well as health systems sustainability and resilience.