Social-Professional Networks in Long-Term Care Settings With People With Dementia: An Approach to Better Care? A Systematic Review.

Background: Dementia is a syndrome associated with stigma and social isolation. Forty-two percent of people with dementia in the United States and almost 40% in the United Kingdom live in assisted living and residential care facilities. Up to 90% of residents with dementia experience behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD).

Development of a behavioural marker system for scrub practitioners' non-technical skills (SPLINTS system).

Rationale, Aims And Objectives: Adverse events still occur despite ongoing efforts to reduce harm to patients. Contributory factors to adverse events are often due to limitations in clinicians' non-technical skills (e.g.

Evaluation of the Scrub Practitioners' List of Intraoperative Non-Technical Skills system.

Background: The Scrub Practitioners' List of Intraoperative Non-Technical Skills (SPLINTS) system is a new tool for training and assessing scrub practitioner (nurse, technician) behaviours during surgical operations.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to test the psychometric properties including inter-rater reliability of the prototype SPLINTS behavioural rating system.

Methods: Experienced scrub practitioners (n=34) attended a one-day session where they received background training in human factors and non-technical skills and were also trained to use the SPLINTS system.

'Pass the buzzy thing, please.' Recognising and understanding information: an essential non-technical skill element for the efficient scrub practitioner.

Adverse events are unintended injuries or complications that are caused by the management of a patient's care rather than by their underlying medical condition. Research into adverse events in hospitals has demonstrated that the operating theatre is one area of healthcare where there is room for improvement, with 41% of all adverse events occurring in the operating theatre, according to one systematic review (deVries et al 2008). Despite technical guidelines, there are still instances of sponges and instruments being retained within patients (Gawande et al 2003) and the factors contributing to this may include assertiveness issues and communication between perioperative and medical staff, i.

Thinking ahead of the surgeon. An interview study to identify scrub nurses' non-technical skills.

Background: Efforts to reduce adverse event rates in healthcare have revealed the importance of identifying the essential non-technical (cognitive and social) skills for safe and effective performance. Previous research on non-technical skills for operating theatre staff has concentrated on doctors rather than nursing professionals.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to identify the critical non-technical skills that are essential for safe and effective performance as an operating theatre scrub nurse.

Diffuse myogenin expression by immunohistochemistry is an independent marker of poor survival in pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma: a tissue microarray study of 71 primary tumors including correlation with molecular phenotype.

The pathologic classification of rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) into embryonal or alveolar subtype is an important prognostic factor guiding the therapeutic protocol chosen for an individual patient. Unfortunately, this classification is not always straightforward, and the diagnostic criteria are controversial in a subset of cases. Ancillary studies are used to aid in the classification, but their potential use as independent prognostic factors is rarely studied.

What happens to children who lose public health insurance coverage?

Little is known about what happens to children who disenroll from public health-insurance programs. A telephone survey was conducted of children who recently had disenrolled from either Oregon's State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) or FHIAP (premium assistance) programs, both of which have identical eligibility requirements. Access for these disenrolled children was driven largely by health insurance coverage.

Premium subsidy programs: who enrolls, and how do they fare?

Little is known about who enrolls in state premium subsidy programs or enrollees' experiences. This study surveyed parents of children enrolled in two programs with identical income eligibility requirements: Oregon's State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and its premium subsidy program (FHIAP). Parents choosing FHIAP were more likely to be employed, to speak English, to have prior experience with premiums and private health insurance, and to perceive insurance as protection against future health care needs.

State payment limitations on Medicare cost-sharing: impact on dually eligible beneficiaries.

The Balanced Budget Act (BBA) of 1997 allowed states to limit how much their Medicaid programs contributed toward the Medicare cost-sharing liability of dually eligible beneficiaries. Policymakers have grown concerned that such limitations may affect access to care for these beneficiaries. We used a quasi-experimental design to analyze changes in access from 1996 to 1998, using Medicare and Medicaid data from nine states.

A parent-report gender identity questionnaire for children.

This paper reports on the psychometric properties of a 16-item parent-report Gender Identity Questionnaire, originally developed by P. H. Elizabeth and R.

Using Medicaid/SCHIP to insure working families: the Massachusetts experience.

Massachusetts was the first State to implement a premium subsidy program for employer-sponsored health insurance, using both Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) funding. The Insurance Partnership (IP) provides subsidies directly to small employers, and the Premium Assistance Program provides subsidies to their low-income employees. Approximately 3,500 small firms currently participate, most of them offering health insurance coverage for the first time.

Cognitive function and acute care utilization.

Objectives: Little is known about variation in cognitive function across the aged population, or how use and costs of health care vary with cognitive impairment. This study was designed to create a typology of cognitive function in a nationally representative sample, and evaluate acute care use in relation to cognitive function, holding constant confounding factors. By including proxy assessments of cognitive function, this is the first study to include individuals unable to respond themselves.

Children in the Oregon Health Plan: how have they fared?

This study examines the impact of the Oregon Health Plan (OHP) on children's access to care. A telephone survey was conducted in 1998 of two groups of children: OHP enrollees and food stamp recipients not enrolled in OHP. Much of OHP's impact has been realized by the simple extension of health insurance coverage to Oregon's low-income children.

Impact of the Oregon Health Plan on access and satisfaction of adults with low income.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of the Oregon Health Plan (OHP) on beneficiary access and satisfaction.

Data Sources: Telephone survey of nondisabled adults in 1998.

Study Design: Two groups of adults were surveyed: OHP enrollees and Food Stamp recipients not enrolled in OHP.

Covering Uninsured Adults Through Medicaid: Lessons from the Oregon Health Plan.

The Oregon Health Plan (OHP), Oregon's section 1115 Medicaid waiver program, expanded eligibility to all residents living below poverty. We use survey data, as well as OHP administrative data, to profile the expansion population and to provide lessons for other States considering such programs. OHP's eligibility expansion has proved a successful vehicle for covering large numbers of uninsured adults, although most beneficiaries enroll for only a brief period of time.