Clinical and Demographic Profiles of Home Care Patients With Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias: Implications for Information Transfer Across Care Settings.

Home health care (HHC) clinicians serving individuals with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) do not always have information about the person's ADRD diagnosis, which may be used to improve the HHC plan of care. This retrospective cohort study examined characteristics of 56,652 HHC patients with varied documentation of ADRD diagnoses. Data included clinical assessments and Medicare claims for a 6-month look-back period and 4-year follow-up.

Advocating for HIT That Captures Nursing Process.

Nurses can influence choices about EHR systems and their design.

Factors Associated with Dissatisfaction in Medical Care Quality among Older Medicare Beneficiaries Suffering from Mental Illness.

Approximately 25% of US older adults live with a mental health disorder. The mental health needs of this population are chiefly met by primary care providers. Primary care practices may have inadequate strategies to provide satisfactory care to mentally ill older adults.

Using Feedback Intervention Theory to Guide Clinical Dashboard Design.

The provision of feedback to clinicians and organizations on the quality of care they provide is thought to influence clinician and organizational behavior leading to care improvements. Clinical Dashboards use data visualization techniques to provide feedback to individuals on their performance compared to quality metrics. In this paper we outline a theoretical approach to the design of a clinical dashboard; Feedback Intervention Theory (FIT).

Usability Evaluation of a Dashboard for Home Care Nurses.

The introduction of electronic health records has produced many challenges for clinicians. These include integrating technology into clinical workflow and fragmentation of relevant information across systems. Dashboards, which use visualized data to summarize key patient information, have the potential to address these issues.

A multi-level usability evaluation of mobile health applications: A case study.

Objective: To report a methodological approach for the development of a usable mHealth application (app).

Materials And Methods: This work was guided by a 3-level stratified view of health information technology (IT) usability evaluation framework. We first describe a number of methodologies for operationalizing each level of the framework.

The Development of Heuristics for Evaluation of Dashboard Visualizations.

Background: Heuristic evaluation is used in human-computer interaction studies to assess the usability of information systems. Nielsen's widely used heuristics, first developed in 1990, are appropriate for general usability but do not specifically address usability in systems that produce information visualizations.

Objective: This article develops a heuristic evaluation checklist that can be used to evaluate systems that produce information visualizations.

Relationships Among DNP and PhD Students After Implementing a Doctoral Student Organization.

Background: Early career contact, between clinically focused DNP and research-focused PhD nursing students, may encourage desirable intradisciplinary synergies.

Aim: The aim of the study was to assess relationships among DNP and PhD nursing students after initiating a doctoral student organization.

Method: An online survey assessed student interaction pre- and post-doctoral student organization implementation.

Converging and diverging needs between patients and providers who are collecting and using patient-generated health data: an integrative review.

Objective: This integrative review identifies convergent and divergent areas of need for collecting and using patient-generated health data (PGHD) identified by patients and providers (i.e., physicians, nurses, advanced practice nurses, physician assistants, and dietitians).

The Public Health Workforce Taxonomy: Revisions and Recommendations for Implementation.

Public health workforce size and composition have been difficult to accurately determine because of the wide variety of methods used to define job title terms, occupational categories, and worker characteristics. In 2014, a preliminary consensus-based public health workforce taxonomy was published to standardize the manner in which workforce data are collected and analyzed by outlining uniform categories and terms. We summarize development of the taxonomy's 2017 iteration and provide guidelines for its implementation in public health workforce development efforts.

Technology Solutions to Support Care Continuity in Home Care: A Focus Group Study.

Background: Elevated hospital readmission rates from home care are an indicator of poor care quality, and rates are particularly high for patients with heart failure. Readmissions may be avoided by optimizing continuity of care.

Purpose: To explore perceptions among home care clinicians of the barriers they face and the information they need to improve care continuity for patients with heart failure.

Mass-Fatality Incident Preparedness Among Faith-Based Organizations.

Unlabelled: Introduction Members of faith-based organizations (FBOs) are in a unique position to provide support and services to their local communities during disasters. Because of their close community ties and well-established trust, they can play an especially critical role in helping communities heal in the aftermath of a mass-fatality incident (MFI). Faith-based organizations are considered an important disaster resource and partner under the National Response Plan (NRP) and National Response Framework; however, their level of preparedness and response capabilities with respect to MFIs has never been evaluated.

The impact of home care nurses' numeracy and graph literacy on comprehension of visual display information: implications for dashboard design.

Objective: To explore home care nurses' numeracy and graph literacy and their relationship to comprehension of visualized data.

Materials And Methods: A multifactorial experimental design using online survey software. Nurses were recruited from 2 Medicare-certified home health agencies.

An Efficient Nurse Practitioner-Led Community-Based Service Model for Delivering Coordinated Care to Persons With Serious Mental Illness at Risk for Homelessness [Formula: see text].

Background: Access to mental health care is a struggle for those with serious mental illness (SMI). About 25% of homeless suffer from SMI, compared with 4.2% of the general population.

Self-reported Preparedness to Respond to Mass Fatality Incidents in 38 State Health Departments.

Context: Public health departments play an important role in the preparation and response to mass fatality incidents (MFIs).

Objective: To describe MFI response capabilities of US state health departments.

Design: The data are part of a multisector cross-sectional study aimed at 5 sectors that comprise the US mass fatality infrastructure.

Assuring a strong foundation for our nation's public health systems.

Background: A strong public health infrastructure is necessary to assure that every community is capable of carrying out core public health functions (assessment of population health, assurance of accessible and equitable health resources, and development of policies to address population health) to create healthy conditions. Yet, due to budget cuts and inconsistent approaches to base funding, communities are losing critical prevention and health promotion services and staff that deliver them.

Purpose: This article describes key components of and current threats to our public health infrastructure and suggests actions necessary to strengthen public health systems and improve population health.

Are We Ready for Mass Fatality Incidents? Preparedness of the US Mass Fatality Infrastructure.

Objective: To assess the preparedness of the US mass fatality infrastructure, we developed and tested metrics for 3 components of preparedness: organizational, operational, and resource sharing networks.

Methods: In 2014, data were collected from 5 response sectors: medical examiners and coroners, the death care industry, health departments, faith-based organizations, and offices of emergency management. Scores were calculated within and across sectors and a weighted score was developed for the infrastructure.

Innovative use of the integrative review to evaluate evidence of technology transformation in healthcare.

Healthcare is in a period significant transformational activity through the accelerated adoption of healthcare technologies, new reimbursement systems that emphasize shared savings and care coordination, and the common place use of mobile technologies by patients, providers, and others. The complexity of healthcare creates barriers to transformational activity and has the potential to inhibit the desired paths toward change envisioned by policymakers. Methods for understanding how change is occurring within this complex environment are important to the evaluation of delivery system reform and the role of technology in healthcare transformation.

Sometimes more is more: iterative participatory design of infographics for engagement of community members with varying levels of health literacy.

Objective: To collaborate with community members to develop tailored infographics that support comprehension of health information, engage the viewer, and may have the potential to motivate health-promoting behaviors.

Methods: The authors conducted participatory design sessions with community members, who were purposively sampled and grouped by preferred language (English, Spanish), age group (18-30, 31-60, >60 years), and level of health literacy (adequate, marginal, inadequate). Research staff elicited perceived meaning of each infographic, preferences between infographics, suggestions for improvement, and whether or not the infographics would motivate health-promoting behavior.

Impact of laws aimed at healthcare-associated infection reduction: a qualitative study.

Background: Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are preventable. Globally, laws aimed at reducing HAIs have been implemented. In the USA, these laws are at the federal and state levels.

Mass fatality preparedness among medical examiners/coroners in the United States: a cross-sectional study.

Background: In the United States (US), Medical Examiners and Coroners (ME/Cs) have the legal authority for the management of mass fatality incidents (MFI). Yet, preparedness and operational capabilities in this sector remain largely unknown. The purpose of this study was twofold; first, to identify appropriate measures of preparedness, and second, to assess preparedness levels and factors significantly associated with preparedness.

Understanding the local public health workforce: labels versus substance.

Background: The workforce is a key component of the nation's public health (PH) infrastructure, but little is known about the skills of local health department (LHD) workers to guide policy and planning.

Purpose: To profile a sample of LHD workers using classification schemes for PH work (the substance of what is done) and PH job titles (the labeling of what is done) to determine if work content is consistent with job classifications.

Methods: A secondary analysis was conducted on data collected from 2,734 employees from 19 LHDs using a taxonomy of 151 essential tasks performed, knowledge possessed, and resources available.