Media Perception Of Excessive Police Force Based On Unemployment Rate: An Analysis Of Colorado Springs, Denver, And Pueblo

Excessive police force is reported in newspaper articles throughout the country on a regular basis. The purpose of this project was to determine whether the unemployment rate of a city had an effect on how the media perceives excessive police force in local newspapers. A content analysis of articles combined from Colorado Springs, Denver, and Pueblo examined the current perception of police in the media and how the unemployment rate effects how the media portrays excessive police force. The results of this study analyzed how the newspaper are analyzed the results determine whether a city with high a unemployment rate has a different perception of excessive police force in comparison to a city with a low unemployment rate as it is written and perceived through local media

The Key Variables Healthcare Executives Consider when Altering Services

Health care executives face a multitude of challenges and changes on a daily basis. Health care reform and the Accountable Care Act will require executives to increase the value of the services offered by hospitals to insurance companies and patients. The literature search identified 11 key variables executives consider when altering services. The research study conducted a quantitative survey of the entire population of top health care executives in Ohio non-profit short-term acute care hospitals. In addition, qualitative individual depth interviews of 48 top executives at 13 hospitals were conducted by the researcher. A mixed methods approach was utilized to analyze the data from the survey and interviews. The research study determined that there was a statistically significant difference in the level of importance of the key variables considered by executives when altering services between hospital classifications, specifically between rural designated critical access and rural non-critical access hospitals. The qualitative interviews were consistent with the quantitative results with the one exception being the level of importance placed on the key variables when altering services at urban hospitals as compared to rural designated critical access hospitals.https://fuse.franklin.edu/ss2014/1013/thumbnail.jp

Patterns Of Care And Outcomes Of Patients With Myelofibrosis: A Population-Based Study

Background: Current treatments for Myelofibrosis (MF) are largely palliative, with ruxolitinib being the breakthrough treatment approved for higher-risk patients by the Food and Drug Administration in November of 2011. Little is known about the “real-world” patterns of care and outcomes of MF patients since the introduction of ruxolitinib. Patients and Methods: The SEER-Medicare database was used to identify older patients diagnosed with MF from 2007 through 2015. Treatment patterns were assessed using Medicare part B and D claims, and multivariate cox proportional hazards regression models were used to assess the effect of ruxolitinib use on survival in MF patients. Results: A total of 773 patients were identified. The median age of our study population (N=773) was 76 years (IQR, 70, 80), and 88.9% of the population was non-Hispanic white. Of 342 patients who were diagnosed during 2012-2015 (i.e., the ruxolitinib era), 127 (37.1%) were ruxolitinib users. The median duration of ruxolitinib use was 16.21 months. Most ruxolitinib users started with doses of 5 (23.6%), 10 (27.0%), or 20 (23.6%) mg twice a day (BID). Among the patients who started treatment at 5 mg BID, 56.6% were never able to increase the dose above 5 BID. Only 3.1% were able to use the maximum dose of 25 mg BID. 54.3% of patients were taking hydroxyurea or prednisone during the same time period that they took ruxolitinib. Medications to manage anemia were used more commonly by MF patients diagnosed before 2012. Among patients diagnosed in 2012-2015, there was no difference in survival between ruxolitinib users and non-users. Conclusion: Older MF patients treated with ruxolitinib had similar survival when compared to patients who did not receive this medication but possibly belonged to the lower disease risk group. For many ruxolitinib users, the dose of ruxolitinib could not be escalated, additional medications were used concurrently, and the drug was discontinued quickly after initiation. Optimization of ruxolitinib use may be necessary to accomplish better outcomes. Furthermore, development of new drugs which may be used together with ruxolitinib or after its discontinuation is needed

The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Strategic Analysis

The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is a health system located in Columbus, Ohio that provides healthcare services to more than 2.3 Million residents of Central Ohio. OSUWMC is the third largest health system in the region behind OhioHealth and Mount Carmel. Mount Carmel operates four hospitals and two urgent care facilities and employs over 8,000 individuals, of which 1,500 are physicians. OhioHealth is a faith-based health system that contracts more than 2,000 physicians in 17 hospitals and 20 surgical centers. Competing against these two systems will prove to be a challenge that requires the use of strategic analysis. OSUWMC’s $1 Billion projectONE expansion will create an estimated 10,000 new jobs, and the primary initiatives of this project’s People Plan are to build a talent base, foster excellence, and develop leaders. There is a strong need for HR to recruit, hire, and develop individuals with different skills and talents to maximize the potential of this expansion project. These new facilities will bring more space and more processes that should have their potential maximized. In order to assist with this, managers can implement Six Sigma and LEAN thinking into designing layouts and workflows that minimize errors and increase efficiency. LEAN concepts result in the elimination of waste caused by defects, overproduction, waiting, non-utilized talent, transportation, inventory, motion, and extra-processing. Eliminating waste at this crucial stage in a hospital’s development can prevent potentially devastating financial errors. The medical center comprises approximately half of the university’s budget; a very significant part of the financial structure of the university. Given the economic challenges facing the State of Ohio and the need to moderate tuition increases, it is imperative that the university seek new and innovative ways to finance continued progress. Accomplishing OSUWMC’s mission will require the development of adaptive strategies. One of these strategies involves expanding the scope of the services being offered. The Ohio State University has an opportunity to be a leader in developing telemedicine. There are benefits to adopting telemedicine for both the supplier and the consumer. Telemedicine eliminates distance barriers and provides an opportunity to branch out into rural communities. Adapting an organization to withstand current and future markets may require eliminating services or products to cut financial losses or to make room for development in other areas. Consolidating services to a single location can increase efficiency and reduce overhead costs significantly. Both of the full service hospitals operate laboratories that conduct microbiology and hematology testing on patient samples. Reducing this overlap by transporting specimens from one hospital to the other will eliminate the need for excess equipment and the associated materials. Implementing strategies that improve efficiency and develop new markets will allow the OSUWMC to maintain its standing as the premier provider of healthcare services in Central Ohio.https://fuse.franklin.edu/ss2014/1083/thumbnail.jp

The Oral Health Self-Care Behavior and Dental Attitudes among Nursing Home Personnel

The need for nursing home care will increase for the next several decades.  Rural areas will be impacted in particular, as many older adults live in rural areas.  Daily oral infection control changes when a person moves from independent living to institutional living.  Oral care to dependent individuals is influenced by many factors. The purpose of this study is to determine the association of oral health self-care behavior with dental attitudes in nursing home personnel in a rural state.  A survey was provided to attendees at an oral health conference.  Questions were asked to determine dental knowledge, oral health self-care behavior, and dental care attitudes.  Of 128 long term care health care facilities' personnel invited, there were 31 attendees, and 21 of the attendees participated (67.7%).  Nursing home personnel had a high level of dental knowledge.  Oral health self-care behavior was independently influenced by dental knowledge (β=0.17; p=0.0444) and dental attitudes (β=0.55; p=.0081).  Further investigation is needed to determine if oral health self-care attitudes and oral self-care behavior of nursing home personnel are factors in the provision of quality daily oral infection control for dependent nursing home residents living in rural areas