A Nurse-Driven Plan to Diminish First-Case Operating Room Delays.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the use of a nurse-driven plan to describe factors associated with delays in the 1st case on time start within the operating room.

Methods: A posttest-only quasi-experiment was conducted to examine the effect of designating specific time periods for steps in the preoperative process on 1st case operating delays. Rationale for delays was also examined.

Setting a goal to reduce teen births in Milwaukee by 2015.

Introduction: Although teen birth rates have declined significantly since 1991, teen pregnancy remains a significant public health problem in Milwaukee, Wis. Using historical teen birth data trends, this study sets a birth rate reduction goal by the year 2015 for Milwaukee teenagers between the ages of 15 and 17.

Methods: Birth counts and birth rates for teenagers between the ages of 15 and 17 were obtained from the Wisconsin Interactive Statistics on Health (WISH).

Second births to teenage mothers: risk factors for low birth weight and preterm birth.

Context: Teenagers are more likely than older women to have a low-birth-weight infant or a preterm birth, and the risks may be particularly high when they have a second birth. Identifying predictors of these outcomes in second teenage births is essential for developing preventive strategies.

Methods: Birth certificate data for 1993-2002 were linked to identify second births to Milwaukee teenagers.

An investigation of paternity status and other factors associated with racial and ethnic disparities in birth outcomes in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Objective: To examine factors associated with preterm birth and low birthweight and the role of paternity status in birth outcomes among racial/ethnic groups in Milwaukee.

Methods: Retrospective analysis of data on 151,869 singleton live births (1993-2006) from the City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to examine demographic and medical factors associated with racial/ethnic disparities in preterm birth and low birthweight.

Prevalence of children with special health care needs in Milwaukee, Wisconsin: data from the Milwaukee metropolitan statistical area.

Background: The Milwaukee Health Department and the Wisconsin Southeast Regional Center for Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN) were interested in understanding the level of need and prevalence of CSHCN in the city of Milwaukee. It was determined that a survey of the Milwaukee area was needed to obtain a prevalence estimate.

Methods: A survey to identify children with special health care needs in the Milwaukee metropolitan statistical area (MSA) was conducted using the CSHCN Screener.

Proximity of residence to trichloroethylene-emitting sites and increased risk of offspring congenital heart defects among older women.

Background: Previous studies suggest that trichloroethylene (TCE) is a selective cardiac teratogen. We tested the hypothesis that the odds of maternal residence close to TCE-emitting sites would be greater among infants with congenital heart defects (CHDs) than among infants without CHDs.

Methods: We conducted a case-control study of 4025 infants, identified from hospital and birth records, born from 1997 to 1999 to Milwaukee, Wisconsin mothers.

Cost of illness in the 1993 waterborne Cryptosporidium outbreak, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

To assess the total medical costs and productivity losses associated with the 1993 waterborne outbreak of cryptosporidiosis in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, including the average cost per person with mild, moderate, and severe illness, we conducted a retrospective cost-of-illness analysis using data from 11 hospitals in the greater Milwaukee area and epidemiologic data collected during the outbreak. The total cost of outbreak-associated illness was 96.2 million US dollars: 31.

Heat wave morbidity and mortality, Milwaukee, Wis, 1999 vs 1995: an improved response?

Objectives: This study examined whether differences in heat alone, as opposed to public health interventions or other factors, accounted for the reduction in heat-related deaths and paramedic emergency medical service (EMS) runs between 1995 and 1999 during 2 heat waves occurring in Milwaukee, Wis.

Methods: Two previously described prediction models were adapted to compare expected and observed heat-related morbidity and mortality in 1999 based on the city's 1995 experience.

Results: Both models showed that heat-related deaths and EMS runs in 1999 were at least 49% lower than levels predicted by the 1995 relation between heat and heat-related deaths or EMS runs.