Preparing a Health Literate Workforce: The Role of Area Health Education Centers.

Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) play a vital role in creating health literate organizations. In this report, we highlight the work of three AHECs. The Massachusetts AHEC trains oral language healthcare interpreters who can effectively convey complex medical information to patients with limited English proficiency (LEP).

Opioid Epidemic in the United States: Empirical Trends, and A Literature Review of Social Determinants and Epidemiological, Pain Management, and Treatment Patterns.

Objectives: Dramatic increases in opioid and drug overdose mortality have occurred in the United States (US) over the past two decades. To address this national public health crisis and identify gaps in the literature, we analyzed recent empirical trends in US drug overdose mortality by key social determinants and conducted a selective review of the recent literature on the magnitude of the opioid crisis facing different racial/ethnic, socioeconomic, and rural-urban segments of the US population.

Methods: We used the 1999-2017 mortality data from the US National Vital Statistics System to analyze trends in drug overdose mortality by race/ethnicity, age, and geographic area.

Racial/Ethnic, Nativity, and Sociodemographic Disparities in Maternal Hypertension in the United States, 2014-2015.

This study examines racial/ethnic, nativity, and sociodemographic variations in the prevalence of maternal hypertension in the United States. The 2014-2015 national birth cohort data ( = 7,966,573) were modeled by logistic regression to derive unadjusted and adjusted differentials in maternal hypertension consisting of both pregnancy-related hypertension and chronic hypertension. Substantial racial/ethnic differences existed, with prevalence of maternal hypertension ranging from 2.

Social Determinants of Health in the United States: Addressing Major Health Inequality Trends for the Nation, 1935-2016.

Objectives: This study describes key population health concepts and examines major empirical trends in US health and healthcare inequalities from 1935 to 2016 according to important social determinants such as race/ethnicity, education, income, poverty, area deprivation, unemployment, housing, rural-urban residence, and geographic location.

Methods: Long-term trend data from the National Vital Statistics System, National Health Interview Survey, National Survey of Children's Health, American Community Survey, and Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System were used to examine racial/ethnic, socioeconomic, rural-urban, and geographic inequalities in health and health care. Life tables, age-adjusted rates, prevalence, and risk ratios were used to examine health differentials, which were tested for statistical significance at the 0.

HIPAA compliance in the OR.

Many current information management practices in the OR will have to change to comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and meet Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations standards for managing health care information. Demands for accurate, timely, confidential, and secure data make an integrated automated system for information management imperative. Delivering health care in today's OR environment results in enormous amounts of data.