Guidelines for school playgrounds: playground safety management

Opportunities for play must be nurtured if children are to develop physically, emotionally and socially. While playground designs have recently become more complex, they do so against a background of increased community expectations of safer environments. Fortunately, research has shown that a substantial number of accidents can be prevented and the severity of injuries reduced if greater care is taken in the design, repair and maintenance of playgrounds. This can be achieved with little conflict between the goals of maximising constructive play and minimising injury. These Guidelines are primarily written for principals, teachers and school council members. It is generally the responsibility of the building and grounds subcommittee of the school council, in consultation with the principal, to develop a school policy on school playgrounds. It is generally the task of the delegated school playground coordinator to be responsible for ongoing implementation. While this information is written for all schools, the majority of students who actually play on play equipment are primary students. The aim of these Guidelines is to improve students’ safety, while reinforcing that the primary objective of play equipment lies in its value for play and adventure. Schools are encouraged to assess the safety, quality and diversity of the recreation environment available to students. These Guidelines are intended to help schools set up a comprehensive system for the installation, maintenance, management and audit of play equipment and associated areas. Processes are provided for identifying risks and minimising playground injuries.&nbsp

Revenue Estimates for Eliminating Sales Tax Exemptions and Adding Services to the Sales Tax Base

This report provides revenue estimates for alternative combinations of eliminating sales tax exemptions and adding services to the sales tax base. FRC Report 17

Stages of health behavior change and factors associated with physical activity in patients with intermittent claudication

OBJECTIVE: To analyze, in people with intermittent claudication, the frequency of individuals who are in each of stages of health behavior change to practice physical activity, and analyze the association of these stages with the walking capacity. METHODS: We recruited 150 patients with intermittent claudication treated at a tertiary center, being included those > 30-year-old-individuals and who had ankle-arm index < 0.90. We obtained socio-demographic information, presence of comorbidities and cardiovascular risk factors and stages of health behavior change to practice physical activity through a questionnaire, they being pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action and maintenance. Moreover, the walking capacity was measured in a treadmill test (Gardner protocol). RESULTS: Most individuals were in the maintenance stage (42.7%), however, when the stages of health behavior change were categorized into active (action and maintenance) and inactive (pre-contemplation, contemplation and preparation), 51.3% of the individuals were classified as inactive behavior. There was no association between stages of health behavior change, sociodemographic factors and cardiovascular risk factors. However, patients with intermittent claudication who had lower total walking distance were three times more likely to have inactive behavior. CONCLUSION: Most patients with intermittent claudication showed an inactive behavior and, in this population, lower walking capacity was associated with this behavior

A novel approach to collaborative product development in the medical-equipment industry

In this study, we summarise the requirements for collaborative product development based on our investigation of the differences in the resources and tools that are needed for the various stages of collaborative product development and the needs of system users during these various stages. We proposed a user-oriented approach of collaborative product development for medical equipment and designed a collaborative product development system with the required functionalities to satisfy different areas according to their roles and workflow. The system we developed can drastically simplify the original complex and dispersed process of product development for intelligent medical equipment, thereby allowing the project team to develop new medical-equipment products and promote interactions among the research and development staff, clinical specialists, and the test participants successfully, thereby resulting in a user-oriented collaborative product development process

Barnes Hospital Bulletin

https://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/bjc_barnes_bulletin/1064/thumbnail.jp

Scotland Chikwawa Health Initiative - improving health from community to hospital

The Scotland Chikwawa Health Initiative is a three year programme funded by the Scottish Executive International Development Fund which aims to achieve measurable reductions in major causes of disease and death in four villages within the Chikwawa District of Malawi alongside improving the hospital environment for the good of both staff and patients. The initiative has developed a holistic approach to health improvements through the provision of infrastructure at both health facilities and within communities, and training of government personnel and community volunteers. Specific areas targeted have included water and sanitation, maternal health, and communicable disease control with provision of training and materials to facilitate interventions and health education. At the end of the second year the programme has already seen reductions in diarrhoeal disease (30% overall in target communities), improved access to safe water, an increase in the uptake of growth monitoring and immunisations in children under the age of five years (15% increase since training volunteers), improved safe delivery of babies within the community (245 babies delivered safely in target communities with 25 referred due to complications) and increased community health activity (training and integration of village health committees, water point committees, traditional birthing attendants and health surveillance assistants). The programme hopes to act as a model for the District to follow in other communities to achieve it’s obligations under the Malawi Ministry of Health Essential Health Package