Integrated Planning in Hospitals: A Review

Efficient planning of scarce resources in hospitals is a challenging task for which a large variety of Operations Research and Management Science approaches have been developed since the 1950s. While efficient planning of single resources such as operating rooms, beds, or specific types of staff can already lead to enormous efficiency gains, integrated planning of several resources has been shown to hold even greater potential, and a large number of integrated planning approaches have been presented in the literature over the past decades. This paper provides the first literature review that focuses specifically on the Operations Research and Management Science literature related to integrated planning of different resources in hospitals. We collect the relevant literature and analyze it regarding different aspects such as uncertainty modeling and the use of real-life data. Several cross comparisons reveal interesting insights concerning, e.g., relations between the modeling and solution methods used and the practical implementation of the approaches developed. Moreover, we provide a high-level taxonomy for classifying different resource-focused integration approaches and point out gaps in the literature as well as promising directions for future research

Aging Well

This open access book outlines the challenges of supporting the health and wellbeing of older adults around the world and offers examples of solutions designed by stakeholders, healthcare providers, and public, private and nonprofit organizations in the United States. The solutions presented address challenges including: providing person-centered long-term care, making palliative care accessible in all healthcare settings and the home, enabling aging-in-place, financing long-term care, improving care coordination and access to care, delivering hospital-level and emergency care in the home and retirement community settings, merging health and social care, supporting people living with dementia and their caregivers, creating communities and employment opportunities that are accessible and welcoming to those of all ages and abilities, and combating the stigma of aging. The innovative programs of support and care in Aging Well serve as models of excellence that, when put into action, move health spending toward a sustainable path and greatly contribute to the well-being of older adults

Aging Well

This open access book outlines the challenges of supporting the health and wellbeing of older adults around the world and offers examples of solutions designed by stakeholders, healthcare providers, and public, private and nonprofit organizations in the United States. The solutions presented address challenges including: providing person-centered long-term care, making palliative care accessible in all healthcare settings and the home, enabling aging-in-place, financing long-term care, improving care coordination and access to care, delivering hospital-level and emergency care in the home and retirement community settings, merging health and social care, supporting people living with dementia and their caregivers, creating communities and employment opportunities that are accessible and welcoming to those of all ages and abilities, and combating the stigma of aging. The innovative programs of support and care in Aging Well serve as models of excellence that, when put into action, move health spending toward a sustainable path and greatly contribute to the well-being of older adults

Laboratory medicine : a national status report

Although the U.S. ranks highest in per capita health care spending, there is overwhelming evidence of gaps between well-founded standards of care and health care practice. The Institute of Medicine reports, To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System (1999) and Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century (2001), and other sentinel studies have focused national attention on improving the quality and safety of health care. Stakeholders agree that the quality of care delivered in the U.S. is inadequate and that the organization and delivery of health care must be improved.Given the shortfalls in quality and continued escalation in costs, health care must be assessed continually to inform decision-making, and redesign delivery and incentives as needed, to yield appropriate, high quality care. An integral component of care is laboratory medicine, which extends across research; screening, diagnosis, and treatment; and public health. Appropriate use of laboratory testing is essential for achieving safe, effective, and efficient care to patients.Health care must be informed by data derived from scientific assessment of efficacy and effectiveness of procedures, and must adapt to ongoing changes in science, technology, and practice. Laboratory medicine is not only responding to these changes, but is contributing to them in an environment of demographic, social, and economic change.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has commissioned this report to contribute to the groundwork for transforming laboratory medicine over the next decade. CDC charged The Lewin Group, under subcontract to Battelle Memorial Institute, with drafting this document, Laboratory Medicine: A National Status Report. The report examines in detail the key factors affecting the laboratory medicine sector, and is organized into chapters on the following main topics:Value of laboratory medicine\ue2\u20ac\ua2 Market profile of the laboratory medicine sector\ue2\u20ac\ua2 Laboratory medicine workforce\ue2\u20ac\ua2 Quality and the total testing process\ue2\u20ac\ua2 Quality systems and performance measurement\ue2\u20ac\ua2 Laboratory information systems\ue2\u20ac\ua2 Federal regulatory oversight of laboratory medicine\ue2\u20ac\ua2 Reimbursement for laboratory medicinePrepared for: Division of Laboratory Systems, National Center for Preparedness, Detection, and Control of Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; prepared by: The Lewin Group under subcontract to Battelle Memorial Institute.Acknowledgments -- Executive summary -- Introduction -- Methods and limitations -- I. The value of laboratory medicine to health care -- II. Market profile of the laboratory medicine sector -- III. Laboratory medicine workforce -- IV. Quality and the total testing process -- V. Quality systems and performance measurement -- VI. Laboratory information systems -- VII. Federal regulatory oversight of laboratory medicine -- VIII. Reimbursement for laboratory medicine -- Appendix A. Desirable characteristics for performance measures -- Appendix B. Summary of selected performance indicators used by stakeholders -- Appendix C. Development of the Medicare payment system

Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-Based Handbook for Nurses

Compiles peer-reviewed research and literature reviews on issues regarding patient safety and quality of care, ranging from evidence-based practice, patient-centered care, and nurses' working conditions to critical opportunities and tools for improvement

Diagnostic Significance of Exosomal miRNAs in the Plasma of Breast Cancer Patients

Poster Session AbstractsBackground and Aims: Emerging evidence that microRNAs (miRNAs) play an important role in cancer development has opened up new opportunities for cancer diagnosis. Recent studies demonstrated that released exosomes which contain a subset of both cellular mRNA and miRNA could be a useful source of biomarkers for cancer detection. Here, we aim to develop a novel biomarker for breast cancer diagnosis using exosomal miRNAs in plasma. Methods: We have developed a rapid and novel isolation protocol to enrich tumor-associated exosomes from plasma samples by capturing tumor specific surface markers containing exosomes. After enrichment, we performed miRNA profiling on four sample sets; (1) Ep-CAM marker enriched plasma exosomes of breast cancer patients; (2) breast tumors of the same patients; (3) adjacent non-cancerous tissues of the same patients; (4) Ep-CAM marker enriched plasma exosomes of normal control subjects. Profiling is performed using PCR-based array with human microRNA panels that contain more than 700 miRNAs. Results: Our profiling data showed that 15 miRNAs are concordantly up-regulated and 13 miRNAs are concordantly down-regulated in both plasma exosomes and corresponding tumors. These account for 25% (up-regulation) and 15% (down-regulation) of all miRNAs detectable in plasma exosomes. Our findings demonstrate that miRNA profile in EpCAM-enriched plasma exosomes from breast cancer patients exhibit certain similar pattern to that in the corresponding tumors. Based on our profiling results, plasma signatures that differentiated breast cancer from control are generated and some of the well-known breast cancer related miRNAs such as miR-10b, miR-21, miR-155 and miR-145 are included in our panel list. The putative miRNA biomarkers are validated on plasma samples from an independent cohort from more than 100 cancer patients. Further validation of the selected markers is likely to offer an accurate, noninvasive and specific diagnostic assay for breast cancer. Conclusions: These results suggest that exosomal miRNAs in plasma may be a novel biomarker for breast cancer diagnosis.link_to_OA_fulltex

Models and Analysis of Vocal Emissions for Biomedical Applications

The International Workshop on Models and Analysis of Vocal Emissions for Biomedical Applications (MAVEBA) came into being in 1999 from the particularly felt need of sharing know-how, objectives and results between areas that until then seemed quite distinct such as bioengineering, medicine and singing. MAVEBA deals with all aspects concerning the study of the human voice with applications ranging from the neonate to the adult and elderly. Over the years the initial issues have grown and spread also in other aspects of research such as occupational voice disorders, neurology, rehabilitation, image and video analysis. MAVEBA takes place every two years always in Firenze, Italy

Computer Controlled Urban Transportation: A Survey of Concepts, Methods, and International Experiences

This book is concerned with the present and future traffic problems in the developing and developed world. It examines possible solutions to those problems based on technological innovations and implementing large-scale computerized traffic and transportation control systems. It discusses the basic concepts and methods for control and automation that have been proposed, developed, and implemented, and experience from real applications of these in different cities and nations