2016 AQ Summit: Innovation Update by Isabelle Gendron-Lemiuex

An overview of the innovations in seaweed culture in Quebec

Using relative distributions to investigate the body mass index in England and Canada

In this paper we use relative distributions to examine changes in the distribution of the body mass index (BMI) in England and Canada during the period 1994|5-2000|1. The use of relative distributions allows us to describe changes in the whole distribution of the BMI in a non-parametric fashion. While statistics analogous to the Gini index can be constructed based on the relative distribution, important characteristics of changes in the distribution of the BMI such as changes in the proportions overweight and obese are more naturally handled using measures of relative polarization. Our results show that while BMI has increased in both countries, BMI in England has increased at a much faster rate than in Canada. Both groups show polarization over time towards both tails of the weight distribution, with the English polarizing towards the upper tail at a faster rate than Canadians. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Intervenções para solucionar a superlotação nos serviços de emergência hospitalar: uma revisão sistemática Interventions to solve overcrowding in hospital emergency services: a systematic review

Esta revisão discute as intervenções voltadas para solucionar o problema da superlotação dos Serviços de Emergência Hospitalar (SEH), como evidência de baixa efetividade organizacional. Em bases de dados eletrônicas de livre acesso e acesso restrito, os descritores buscados foram "superlotação; emergência; medicina; pronto-socorro". O levantamento identificou 66 citações de intervenções, agrupadas em 47 intervenções afins. A maioria dos trabalhos teve como desenho os estudos observacionais que avaliaram os resultados das intervenções antes e depois. As mais citadas: implantação da unidade de observação dos pacientes graves; implantação do serviço de enfermagem dedicado à admissão, alta e transferência do paciente; instituição de protocolos de saturação operacional e implantação da unidade de pronto-atendimento. Na análise das 21 intervenções para solucionar a superlotação nos SEH, que tiveram resultados favoráveis no evento principal - tempo de permanência no SEH -, 15 tinham relação com a melhoria do fluxo no próprio SEH ou nos setores do hospital, interferindo ativa e positivamente no fluxo interno dos pacientes. As intervenções que aumentaram as barreiras de acesso aos SEH, ou que apenas melhoram a estrutura dos SEH não foram efetivas.<br>This review discusses interventions aimed at solving the problem of overcrowding in hospital emergency services (HES), characteristic of low organizational effectiveness. In free-access and restricted-access databases, the target descriptors were "overcrowding; emergency; medicine; first aid". The survey identified 66 citations of interventions, grouped in 47 related interventions. The majority of the studies used observational designs that evaluated the results before and after interventions. Of the 47 related interventions, 34 had results for organizational performance. Four were the most frequently cited: implementation of an observation unit for patients already hospitalized and awaiting diagnosis or clinical stabilization; designation of a dedicated nursing station for the patient's admission, discharge, or transfer; establishment of protocols with indicators of operational saturation and implementation of an emergency care unit. Analyzing 21 interventions that were intended to solve overcrowding in HES and with positive results for length-of-stay, 15 were related to patient stream improvement, interfering actively and positively in patient stream. Interventions that increased access barriers or that merely improved the HES structure were ineffective