Improving the no show rate in an internal medicine resident clinic through continuous quality improvement using lean methodology

"'No shows' or missed appointments impede optimal medical care and organizational functioning, particularly in primary care setting 1. They lead to expenses associated with loss of the continuity of care, inadequate control of chronic diseases, and increased rates of emergency visits and hospitalizations 2. Our aim was to implement a multidisciplinary continuous quality improvement methodology utilizing Lean to identify the gaps resulting in no shows and to apply specific interventions to lower their rate in our clinic."--Introduction.Anna Prishchepova (1), Thomas Levanos (1), Helen Kornblum (1), Paula Buchanan (2), Safa Farrag (1) ; 1. Department of Internal Medicine, SSM Health St. Mary's Hospital. 2. Saint Louis University Center for Health Outcomes Research, Saint Louis University.Includes bibliographical reference

Sleep: A Human Rights Issue

Recognition of sleep as a human rights issue by governmental and legal entities (as illustrated by recent legal cases in the United States and India) raises the profile of sleep health as a societal concern. Although this recognition may not lead to immediate public policy changes, it infuses the public discourse about the importance of sleep health with loftier ideals about what it means to be human. Such recognition also elevates the work of sleep researchers and practitioners from serving the altruistic purpose of improving human health at the individual and population levels to serving the higher altruistic purpose of promoting human rights for all people. These conditions create an environment in which policy change that values individual and population sleep health can occur gradually over time, particularly in societies with strong democratic traditions

Addressing the Nursing Shortage: Partnerships Among Governments, Schools, and Employers Are Getting Results

Provides an overview of the expected shortage in registered nurses. Highlights emerging partnership efforts to address the issue by expanding nursing school capacity, improving recruitment and retention of students, and transforming the work environment

New Research That Illuminates Policy Issues: Balancing Nursing Costs and Quality of Care for Patients

Outlines research on how nursing affects the quality of care and on how investment in nursing can enhance staff satisfaction and nurse recruitment and retention. Compares costs of lower patient-to-nurse ratios with those of other lifesaving interventions

Nursing's Prescription for a Reformed Health System: Use Exemplary Nursing Initiatives to Expand Access, Improve Quality, Reduce Costs, and Promote Prevention

Highlights innovative nursing initiatives designed, led, or implemented by nurses that expand access, improve quality, promote prevention, and reduce costs as guidance for health reform efforts. Considers the role of nurses and policy implications

Cancer Informatics for Cancer Centers (CI4CC): Building a Community Focused on Sharing Ideas and Best Practices to Improve Cancer Care and Patient Outcomes.

Cancer Informatics for Cancer Centers (CI4CC) is a grassroots, nonprofit 501c3 organization intended to provide a focused national forum for engagement of senior cancer informatics leaders, primarily aimed at academic cancer centers anywhere in the world but with a special emphasis on the 70 National Cancer Institute-funded cancer centers. Although each of the participating cancer centers is structured differently, and leaders' titles vary, we know firsthand there are similarities in both the issues we face and the solutions we achieve. As a consortium, we have initiated a dedicated listserv, an open-initiatives program, and targeted biannual face-to-face meetings. These meetings are a place to review our priorities and initiatives, providing a forum for discussion of the strategic and pragmatic issues we, as informatics leaders, individually face at our respective institutions and cancer centers. Here we provide a brief history of the CI4CC organization and meeting highlights from the latest CI4CC meeting that took place in Napa, California from October 14-16, 2019. The focus of this meeting was "intersections between informatics, data science, and population science." We conclude with a discussion on "hot topics" on the horizon for cancer informatics

Making Rasch decisions: The use of Rasch analysis in the construction of preference based health related quality of life instruments

Objective: To set out the methodological process for using Rasch analysis alongside traditional psychometric methods in the development of a health state classification that is amenable to valuation. Methods: The overactive bladder questionnaire is used to illustrate a four step process for deriving a reduced health state classification from an existing nonpreference based health related quality of life instrument. Step I excludes items that do not meet the initial validation process and step II uses criteria based on Rasch analysis and psychometric testing to select the final items for the health state classification. In step III, item levels are examined and Rasch analysis is used to explore the possibility of reducing the number of item levels. Step IV repeats steps I to III on alternative data sets in order to validate the selection of items for the health state classification. Conclusions: The techniques described enable the construction of a health state classification amenable for valuation exercises that will allow the derivation of preference weights. Thus, the health related quality of life of patients with conditions, like overactive bladder, can be valued and quality adjustment weights such as quality adjusted life years derived