Using Sports to “Build It Up” or “Wash It down”: How Sportswashing Give Sports a Bad Name.

As society evolves, sports have become a vital social function and interactive means in our modern society. This essay addresses a few recent sport news stories that ignites the discussion of “sportswashing.” The authors illustrated several news cases and examples of governments and organizations using sports to cover up inhumane acts, scandals, or controversies for political purposes and power control. The primary intent of this essay is to help readers be aware of this social trend and inspire all to make ethical and good judgement in decision-making. Key words: Sport-for-development, sportswashing, international sports, LIV golf, and Olympics Games

Equity and Justice for People with Traumatic Brain Injury in Minnesota\u27s Criminal Justice System: Achieving Effectiveness, Efficiency and Equity

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a silent epidemic in Minnesota’s correctional system. People with TBI in corrections have significant needs related to their TBI that are not being met. These unmet needs threaten their personal safety and the safety of others in correctional settings and society at large; and threaten their ability to maintain their status as productive members of their communities upon release, negatively affecting the well-being of entire communities

Caring : perceptions of students and a community college diploma nursing program

While caring has been a recent focus of nursing and curricula for nursing education, little research exists on student and faculty perspectives of caring. There is a particular lack of research on caring within diploma nursing programs which prepare the majority of Registered Nurses in Ontario. This researcher sought to investigate to what extent a diploma nursing program in an Ontario community college, enables caring among its' students and faculty. What behaviours/practices inhibit and foster caring from student and faculty perspectives? A phenomenological approach was used to gain the student and faculty views of caring and uncaring experiences within the nursing program. Three senior nursing students and three full-time nursing faculty described their experiences of caring and uncaring, and the effects of these experiences on them. The descriptions were analyzed using a modification of Giorgi's method of analysis. Based on the findings, behaviours which inhibit and foster caring were identified. The meaning of caring for each participant and for the whole was described and a visual description of the structure of the meaning of caring is proposed. The visual description illustrates vulnerability as pivotal to the caring experience and the effect of behaviours which inhibit and foster caring on the extent to which caring is enabled. The emergence of the role and importance of the one cared-for and their freedom to be cared-for is discussed. Two categories of caring emerged from this study, day to day caring and caring in a crisis. The two categories of caring are compared to Noddings* (1984) discussion of 'rule-bound* caring and caring without rules. A question is raised regarding a relationship between faculty caring and the nursing students' apparent conflict with their image of a nurse and their image of themselves. Implications of the research include development of strategies to foster caring in practice and in education and the development of nursing curricula to incorporate theories of caring and qualitative approaches to learning. There are implications for faculty in terms of collegial relationships and as role models for students and each other. Further research on the notion of vulnerability in caring and what influences one to care or not care is suggested. Research focusing on the one cared-for and on the possibility of faculty-student research teams is recommended

Encouraging translation and assessing impact of the Centre for Research Excellence in Integrated Quality Improvement: Rationale and protocol for a research impact assessment

Introduction: There is growing recognition among health researchers and funders that the wider benefits of research such as economic, social and health impacts ought to be assessed and valued alongside academic outputs such as peer-reviewed papers. Research translation needs to increase and the pathways to impact ought to be more transparent. These processes are particularly pertinent to the Indigenous health sector given continued concerns that Indigenous communities are over-researched with little corresponding improvement in health outcomes. This paper describes the research protocol of a mixed methods study to apply FAIT (Framework to Assess the Impact from Translational health research) to the Centre for Research Excellence in Integrated Quality Improvement (CRE-IQI). FAIT will be applied to five selected CRE-IQI Flagship projects to encourage research translation and assess the wider impact of that research. Methods and analysis: Phase I will develop a modified programme logic model for each Flagship project including identifying process, output and impact metrics so progress can be monitored. A scoping review will inform potential benefits. In phase II, programme logic models will be updated to account for changes in the research pathways over time. Audit and feedback will be used to encourage research translation and collect evidence of achievement of any process, output and interim impacts. In phase III, three proven methodologies for measuring research impact—Payback, economic assessment and narratives—will be applied. Data on the application of FAIT will be collected and analysed to inform and improve FAIT’s performance

Research on the Cultivation of Business English Talents and the Teaching Mode of Business English in Colleges for Nationalities

With the development of society, the strengthening of economic globalization and the deepening of reform and open-up, Business English teaching is attracting more and more attention. But Business English teaching in colleges for nationalities is still facing many problems, hinders the improvement of Business English teaching quality and the development of Business English. Starting from the connotation of Business English, this paper reveals the common problems existing in Business English teaching, analyzes the causes and puts forward some reform measures, in order to cultivate well-educated Business English talents for the ethnic areas

Surgery for rheumatic heart disease in the Northern Territory, Australia, 1997-2016: what have we gained?

Background: Between 1964 and 1996, the 10-year survival of patients having valve replacement surgery for rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in the Northern Territory, Australia, was 68%. As medical care has evolved since then, this study aimed to determine whether there has been a corresponding improvement in survival. Methods: A retrospective study of Aboriginal patients with RHD in the Northern Territory, Australia, having their first valve surgery between 1997 and 2016. Survival was examined using Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analysis. Findings: The cohort included 281 adults and 61 children. The median (IQR) age at first surgery was 31 (18-42) years; 173/342 (51%) had a valve replacement, 113/342 (33%) had a valve repair and 56/342 (16%) had a commissurotomy. There were 93/342 (27%) deaths during a median (IQR) follow-up of 8 (4-12) years. The overall 10-year survival was 70% (95% CI: 64% to 76%). It was 62% (95% CI: 53% to 70%) in those having valve replacement. There were 204/281 (73%) adults with at least 1 preoperative comorbidity. Preoperative comorbidity was associated with earlier death, the risk of death increasing with each comorbidity (HR: 1.3 (95% CI: 1.2 to 1.5), p50 mm Hg before surgery (HR 1.9 (95% CI: 1.2 to 3.1) p=0.007) were independently associated with death. Interpretation: Survival after valve replacement for RHD in this region of Australia has not improved. Although the patients were young, many had multiple comorbidities, which influenced long-term outcomes. The increasing prevalence of complex comorbidity in the region is a barrier to achieving optimal health outcomes

The association between primary care quality and healthcare utilisation, costs and outcomes for people with serious mental illness: retrospective observational study

Background Serious mental illness (SMI), including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other psychoses, is linked with high disease burden, poor outcomes, high treatment costs and lower life expectancy. In the UK, most people with SMI are treated in primary care by general practitioners (GPs), who are financially incentivised to meet quality targets for patients with chronic conditions, including SMI, under the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF). The QOF, however, omits important aspects of quality. Objective(s) We examined whether better quality of primary care for people with SMI improved a range of outcomes. Design and setting We used administrative data from English primary care practices that contribute to the Clinical Practice Research Datalink GOLD database, linked to Hospital Episode Statistics, Accident & Emergency (A&E) attendances, Office for National Statistics mortality data, and community mental health records in the Mental Health Minimum Dataset. We used survival analysis to estimate whether selected quality indicators affect the time until patients experience an outcome. Participants Four cohorts of people with SMI depending on the outcomes examined and inclusion criteria. Interventions Quality of care was measured with: i) QOF indicators: care plans and annual physical reviews ;and ii) non-QOF indicators identified through a systematic review (antipsychotic polypharmacy and continuity of care provided by GPs). Main outcome measures Several outcomes were examined: emergency admissions for i) SMI and ii) ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSCs); iii) all unplanned admissions; iv) A&E attendances; v) mortality; vi) re-entry into specialist mental health services; vii) costs attributed to primary, secondary and community mental healthcare. Results Care plans were associated with lower risk of A&E attendance (Hazard ratio (HR) 0.74, 95%CI 0.69-0.80), SMI admission (HR 0.67, 95%CI 0.59-0.75), ACSC admission (HR 0.73, 95%CI 0.64-0.83), and lower overall healthcare (£53), primary care (£9), hospital (£26), and mental healthcare costs (£12). Annual reviews were associated with reduced risk of A&E attendance (HR 0.80, 95%CI 0.76-0.85), SMI admission (HR 0.75, 95%CI 0.67-0.84), ACSC admission (HR 0.76, 95%CI 0.67-0.87), and lower overall healthcare (£34), primary care (£9), and mental healthcare costs (£30). Higher GP continuity was associated with lower risk of A&E presentation (HR 0.89, 95%CI 0.83-0.97), ACSC admission (HR 0.77, 95%CI 0.65-0.92), but not SMI admission. High continuity was associated with lower primary care costs (£3). Antipsychotic polypharmacy was not statistically significantly associated with the risk of unplanned admission, death or A&E presentation. None of the quality measures were statistically significantly associated with risk of re-entry into specialist mental healthcare. Limitations There is risk of bias from unobserved factors. To mitigate this, we controlled for observed patient characteristics at baseline and adjusted for the influence of time-invariant unobserved patient differences. Conclusions Better performance on QOF measures and continuity of care are associated with better outcomes and lower resource utilisation and could generate moderate cost savings. Future work Future research should examine the impact of primary care quality on measures that capture broader aspects of health and functioning

General practitioners and emergency departments (GPED) - Efficient models of care: A mixed-methods study protocol

© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2018. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ. Introduction Pressure continues to grow on emergency departments in the UK and throughout the world, with declining performance and adverse effects on patient outcome, safety and experience. One proposed solution is to locate general practitioners to work in or alongside the emergency department (GPED). Several GPED models have been introduced, however, evidence of effectiveness is weak. This study aims to evaluate the impact of GPED on patient care, the primary care and acute hospital team and the wider urgent care system. Methods and analysis The study will be divided into three work packages (WPs). WP-A; Mapping and Taxonomy: Mapping, description and classification of current models of GPED in all emergency departments in England and interviews with key informants to examine the hypotheses that underpin GPED. WP-B; Quantitative Analysis of National Data: Measurement of the effectiveness, costs and consequences of the GPED models identified in WP-A, compared with a no-GPED model, using retrospective analysis of Hospital Episode Statistics Data. WP-C; Case Studies: Detailed case studies of different GPED models using a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods including: non-participant observation of clinical care, semistructured interviews with staff, patients and carers; workforce surveys with emergency department staff and analysis of available local routinely collected hospital data. Prospective case study sites will be identified by completing telephone interviews with sites awarded capital funding by the UK government to implement GPED initiatives. The study has a strong patient and public involvement group that has contributed to study design and materials, and which will be closely involved in data interpretation and dissemination. Ethics and dissemination The study has been approved by the National Health Service East Midlands - Leicester South Research Ethics Committee: 17/EM/0312. The results of the study will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journals, conferences and a planned programme of knowledge mobilisation