The Development of an e-Traceability System for Cattle Delivery Chains

Transparency of livestock supply chain management is still a significant problem in Indonesia due to the unavailability of data and information accessible by the stakeholders of cattle supply chains. It is difficult to obtain information for queries, monitoring, and control purposes at any node along cattle supply chains, and thus introducing some risks of insecurity and uncertainty of cattle conditions along the supply chains. Nowadays, consumers are getting smarter and more curious about selecting healthy and high-quality beef. This requires the provision of an easily and securely accessible traceability and transparency system. The aim of this research is to develop an e-traceability system for cattle supply chains. The proposed e-traceability system was developed on the basis of a web-platform that provides wide access and easy links to all actors within a cattle supply chain and stakeholders. All actors in the cattle supply chain need to be registered and the data related to cattles need to be recorded in the traceability system database for analytic and decision-making. The potential applicability of the developed e-traceability system are examined and demonstrated to highlight the benefits of the system in improving transparency and traceability cattle deliveries from land to table for better managerial tasks

Blood use between 2009-2013 in a North Eastern Italian Academic Hospital: reason for a decrease.

Blood management needs continuous efforts in order to maintain a balance between supply and demand. In the last decade many countries have introduced programs for a better use of blood and its consumption has been greatly reduced. In Italy a first reduction had been registered in 2013 with a percentage decrease of 2%. The study aims to analyze the phenomenon in a large North Eastern Italian Academic Hospital. The study consisted in comparing red cell concentrates (RCC) consumption trends between 2009 and 2013 years and in analyzing other variables (hospitalizations, surgery interventions, hospital guidelines) to reach some hypothesis on causes of RCC reduction/increasing use in a large Academic Hospital. Between 2009 and 2013 RCC transfusions decreased from 19513 to 16882 units (13,4%) with the cardiothoracic department showing the higher reduction (29,6%), hospitalizations decreased of 10,2% and surgical interventions of 6,7%. A statistical significant difference between 2009 and 2013 RCC transfusions units means for each patient was found in heart surgery (5,0 + 5,6 vs 3,6+3,1; p <0,01) and in hematology (11,6+12,2 vs 8,9+9,7; p < 0,01). Furthermore, during 2009\u20132013 period, 10 new blood management hospital guidelines had been produced and implemented. First, these data become of critical importance since they confirm and explore the trend of RCC transfusions decrease present also at international level in countries such as United States, Australia (respectively 3% and 7% between 2009 and 2010) and UK (20% between 2000 and 2009). Second, the study allows to identify some reasons of the phenomenon: reduction of hospitalization and surgery interventions along with a continuous education and information activity on blood management throughout guidelines. However, it is necessary to conduct further analysis to better understand transfusions decrease (i.e. patient case-mix, introduction of new surgery technologies)

Peer education for medical students on health promotion and clinical risk management

CONTEXT: Health promotion (HP) and clinical risk management (CRM) topics are seldom discussed during medical school lessons. Peer\u2010assisted learning (PAL) has long occurred informally in medical education, and interest in this method has recently grown, as it is considered a valuable technique for both tutors and tutees. AIMS: The aim was to evaluate the impact of HP and CRM PAL intervention on medical students\u2019 (tutees) knowledge level. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A PAL intervention has been implemented at Udine University medical school during 2017. It was composed of lectures and practical activities conducted by ten near\u2010peer tutors. METHODS: The effectiveness has been evaluated by giving tutees: (1) a knowledge multiple\u2010choice questionnaire, before and after the intervention; (2) a satisfaction questionnaire; and evaluating (3) tutees\u2019 group assignments. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: We performed descriptive analysis; then McNemar, Wilcoxon signed rank, Wilcoxon Mann\u2013Whitney, and t\u2010tests were applied. RESULTS: The number of students addressed by PAL intervention was 62. Difference in total correct answers among pre\u2010 and post\u2010intervention questionnaires showed a statistically significant improvement (P < 0.0001), both when analyzing it globally and by area (HP/CRM). Students\u2019 satisfaction for CRM was greater than for HP area (P = 0.0041). CONCLUSIONS: This educational intervention based on PAL showed its effectiveness producing a statistically significant improvement in students\u2019 knowledge. Our findings confirm that PAL could be a feasible method for HP and CRM topics

Validazione della versione italiana del questionario di alfabetizzazione sanitaria digitale (IT-eHEALS)

The eHealth Literacy Scale is an 8-item self-assessment tool to evaluate eHealth literacy. The aim of our study is to provide an Italian validation of the scale (IT-eHEALS), in a population of Italian adults. A web-based survey was conducted among Italian adults. We collected variables regarding to sociodemographic characteristics and Internet use for health-related purposes. Internal consistency and dimensionality of the 8-item scale were evaluated using Cronbach alpha and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). In total, a sample of 1135 respondents was collected, of which 868 (76%) completed the IT-eHEALS and were included for further analysis. The internal consistency of the IT-eHEALS was good (Cronbach\u2019s alpha = 0.90), while the PCA confirmed the scale unidimensionality (eigenvalue = 4.9 with 61% of variance explained). Our results show that the IT-eHEALS is a valid scale that can be used to measure eHealth literacy in Italian adult. Nevertheless, the study presents some limitations, limiting the generalizability of our results. Further studies are needed to evaluate the relationship between digital health literacy and its impact on population health