Health risks, present and future, from global climate change

There is now no serious scientific debate: human actions are changing the world’s climate, and are set to do so at an increasing rate in coming decades. Urgent action is now required to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide (the dominant long acting greenhouse gas), if global temperature rises are not to exceed 2°C—the International Energy Authority warns that “the door to 2°C is closing.” Indeed, emissions must be hugely curtailed within just two decades, and then zero net emissions achieved by later this century, assisted by increased biosequestration of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. However, emissions continue to rise, having increased by 49% since 1990 and by an accelerated annual rate of 5.9% in 2010

Racial Identity: Toward an Integrated Developmental Psychological Perspective

This article outlines current knowledge and lines of research regarding racial identity and, in particular, African American racial identity. A developmental psychological framework is proposed as a means of integrating and synthesizing 2 lines of racial identity research that have emerged within the existing literature: (a) the developmental line of research and (b) the adjustment outcome line of research. The proposed integration of the current racial identity research will emphasize the interdependency of developmental mechanisms, outcome processes, and identity trajectories among minority individuals, and highlight the significance of those identities for individuals across their life spans. Potential benefits of integrating these 2 lines of research within a developmental psychological framework are discussed regarding both scientific theory and practice-related applications

Quality of care and health professional burnout: narrative literature review.

PURPOSE: Quality of care and health professional burnout are important issues in their own right, however, relatively few studies have examined both. The purpose of this paper is to explore quality of care and health professional burnout in hospital settings. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: The paper is a narrative literature review of quality of care and health professional burnout in hospital settings published in peer-reviewed journals between January 2000 and March 2013. Papers were identified via a search of PsychInfo, PubMed, Embase and CINNAHL electronic databases. In total, 30 papers which measured and/or discussed both quality of care and health professional burnout were identified. FINDINGS: The paper provides insight into the key health workforce-planning issues, specifically staffing levels and workloads, which impact upon health professional burnout and quality of care. The evidence from the review literature suggests that health professionals face heavier and increasingly complex workloads, even when staffing levels and/or patient-staff ratios remain unchanged. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The narrative literature review suggests that weak retention rates, high turnover, heavy workloads, low staffing levels and/or staffing shortages conspire to create a difficult working environment for health professionals, one in which they may struggle to provide high-quality care and which may also contribute to health professional burnout. The review demonstrates that health workforce planning concerns, such as these, impact on health professional burnout and on the ability of health professionals to deliver quality care. The review also demonstrates that most of the published papers published between 2000 and 2013 addressing health professional burnout and quality of care were nursing focused