Treatment of severe poison ivy: a randomized, controlled trial of long versus short course oral prednisone.

Background: Toxidendron (poison ivy, oak, and sumac) contact dermatitis is a common complaint in the outpatient primary care setting with little evidence-based guidance on best treatment duration.

Methods: This randomized, controlled trial examined the efficacy and side effects of a 5-day regimen of 40 mg oral prednisone daily (short course) compared to the same 5-day regimen followed by a prednisone taper of 30 mg daily for 2 days, 20 mg daily for 2 days, 10 mg daily for 2 days, and 5 mg daily for 4 days over a total of 15 days (long course) in patients with severe poison ivy dermatitis.

Results: In 49 patients with severe poison ivy, non-adherence rates, rash return, medication side effects, and time to improvement and complete healing of the rash were not significantly different between the two groups.

Perceived entitativity and the black-sheep effect: when will we denigrate negative ingroup members?

Although ingroup favoritism is a robust effect, there are notable exceptions. For example, the outgroup extremity effect indicates outgroup derogation, whereas the black-sheep effect indicates ingroup derogation. We propose that perceived entitativity, the degree to which a group is viewed as a unified social entity, may help explain ingroup derogation.

A model for reducing health care employee turnover.

Explaining the rationale as to why employees leave their jobs has led to many different strategies to retain employees. The model presented here seeks to explain why employees choose to stay or to leave their place of employment. The information from the analysis will provide managers with well-tested tools to reduce turnover and to ascertain what employees value from their work environment in order to help the organization to retain those employees.

Improving marketing strategies for wellness.

The authors address the following questions in a research study and propose six hypotheses: Does the desire for exuberant well-being, perceived threat to health, or a combination of both best explain wellness behavior? Threat is the stronger motivation for wellness behavior, followed closely by the desire for exuberant well-being. The authors present a thorough discussion of the implications of such findings for health care organization managers and marketers.