245 research outputs found

    Managing and Cherishing Uniqueness: Yoga Therapy as a Holistic Approach for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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    Integrated health and care systems in England : can they help prevent disease?

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    Objectives: Over the past 12 months, there has been increasing policy rhetoric regarding the role of the NHS in preventing disease and improving population health. In particular, the NHS Long Term Plan sees integrated care systems (ICSs) and sustainability and transformation partnerships (STPs) as routes to improving disease prevention. Here, we place current NHS England integrated care plans in their historical context and review evidence on the relationship between integrated care and prevention. We ask how the NHS Long Term Plan may help prevent disease and explore the role of the 2019 ICS and STP plans in delivering this change. Methods: We reviewed the evidence underlying the relationship between integrated care and disease prevention, and analysed 2016 STP plans for content relating to disease prevention and population health. Results: The evidence of more integrated care leading to better disease prevention is weak. Although nearly all 2016 STP plans included a prevention or population health strategy, fewer than half specified how they will work with local government public health teams, and there was incomplete coverage across plans about how they would meet NHS England prevention priorities. Plans broadly focused on individual-level approaches to disease prevention, with few describing interventions addressing social determinants of health. Conclusions: For ICSs and STPs to meaningfully prevent disease and improve population health, they need to look beyond their 2016 plans and fill the gaps in the Long Term Plan on social determinants

    Audit of head injury management in Accident and Emergency at two hospitals: implications for NICE CT guidelines

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    BACKGROUND: The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) has produced guidelines on the early management of head injury. This study audits the process of the management of patients with head injury presenting at Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments and examines the impact upon resources of introducing NICE guidelines for eligibility of a CT scan. METHODS: A retrospective audit of consecutive patients of any age, presenting at A&E with a complaint of head injury during one month in two northern District General Hospitals forming part of a single NHS Trust. RESULTS: 419 patients presented with a median age of 15.5 years, and 61% were male. 58% had a Glasgow Coma Score (GCS) recorded and 33 (8%) were admitted. Only four of the ten indicators for a CT scan were routinely assessed, but data were complete for only one (age), and largely absent for another (vomiting). Using just three (incomplete) indicators showed a likely 4 fold increase in the need for a CT scan. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of patients who present with a head injury to Accident and Emergency departments are discharged home. Current assessment processes and associated data collection routines do not provide the information necessary to implement NICE guidelines for CT brain scans. The development of such clinical audit systems in a busy A&E department is likely to require considerable investment in technology and/or staff. The resource implications for radiology are likely to be substantial

    Increasing accuracy: a new design and algorithm for automatically measuring weights, travel direction and radio frequency identification (RFID) of penguins.

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    A fully automated weighbridge using a new algorithm and mechanics integrated with a Radio Frequency Identification System is described. It is currently in use collecting data on Macaroni penguins (Eudyptes chrysolophus) at Bird Island, South Georgia. The technology allows researchers to collect very large, highly accurate datasets of both penguin weight and direction of their travel into or out of a breeding colony, providing important contributory information to help understand penguin breeding success, reproductive output and availability of prey. Reliable discrimination between single and multiple penguin crossings is demonstrated. Passive radio frequency tags implanted into penguins allow researchers to match weight and trip direction to individual birds. Low unit and operation costs, low maintenance needs, simple operator requirements and accurate time stamping of every record are all important features of this type of weighbridge, as is its proven ability to operate 24 hours a day throughout a breeding season, regardless of temperature or weather conditions. Users are able to define required levels of accuracy by adjusting filters and raw data are automatically recorded and stored allowing for a range of processing options. This paper presents the underlying principles, design specification and system description, provides evidence of the weighbridge’s accurate performance and demonstrates how its design is a significant improvement on existing system

    Cost-effectiveness of left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) for patients with advanced heart failure : analysis of the British NHS Bridge to Transplant (BTT) program

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    Background: A previous cost-effectiveness analysis showed that bridge to transplant (BTT) with early design left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) for advanced heart failure was more expensive than medical management while appearing less beneficial. Older LVADs were pulsatile, but current second and third generation LVADs are continuous flow pumps. This study aimed to estimate comparative cost-effectiveness of BTT with durable implantable continuous flow LVADs compared to medical management in the British NHS. Methods and results: A semi-Markov multi-state economic model was built using NHS costs data and patient data in the British NHS Blood and Transplant Database (BTDB). Quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and incremental costs per QALY were calculated for patients receiving LVADs compared to those receiving inotrope supported medical management. LVADs cost £80,569 (127,887)at2011pricesanddeliveredgreaterbenefitthanmedicalmanagement.Theestimatedprobabilisticincrementalcost−effectivenessratio(ICER)was£53,527(127,887) at 2011 prices and delivered greater benefit than medical management. The estimated probabilistic incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was £53,527 (84,963)/QALY (95%CI: £31,802–£94,853; 50,479–50,479–150,560) (over a lifetime horizon). Estimates were sensitive to choice of comparator population, relative likelihood of receiving a heart transplant, time to transplant, and LVAD costs. Reducing the device cost by 15% decreased the ICER to £50,106 ($79,533)/QALY. Conclusions: Durable implantable continuous flow LVADs deliver greater benefits at higher costs than medical management in Britain. At the current UK threshold of £20,000 to £30,000/QALY LVADs are not cost effective but the ICER now begins to approach that of an intervention for end of life care recently recommended by the British NHS. Cost-effectiveness estimates are hampered by the lack of randomized trials

    Cost-effectiveness of left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) for patients with advanced heart failure : analysis of the British NHS Bridge to Transplant (BTT) program

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    Background: A previous cost-effectiveness analysis showed that bridge to transplant (BTT) with early design left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) for advanced heart failure was more expensive than medical management while appearing less beneficial. Older LVADs were pulsatile, but current second and third generation LVADs are continuous flow pumps. This study aimed to estimate comparative cost-effectiveness of BTT with durable implantable continuous flow LVADs compared to medical management in the British NHS. Methods and results: A semi-Markov multi-state economic model was built using NHS costs data and patient data in the British NHS Blood and Transplant Database (BTDB). Quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and incremental costs per QALY were calculated for patients receiving LVADs compared to those receiving inotrope supported medical management. LVADs cost £80,569 (127,887)at2011pricesanddeliveredgreaterbenefitthanmedicalmanagement.Theestimatedprobabilisticincrementalcost−effectivenessratio(ICER)was£53,527(127,887) at 2011 prices and delivered greater benefit than medical management. The estimated probabilistic incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was £53,527 (84,963)/QALY (95%CI: £31,802–£94,853; 50,479–50,479–150,560) (over a lifetime horizon). Estimates were sensitive to choice of comparator population, relative likelihood of receiving a heart transplant, time to transplant, and LVAD costs. Reducing the device cost by 15% decreased the ICER to £50,106 ($79,533)/QALY. Conclusions: Durable implantable continuous flow LVADs deliver greater benefits at higher costs than medical management in Britain. At the current UK threshold of £20,000 to £30,000/QALY LVADs are not cost effective but the ICER now begins to approach that of an intervention for end of life care recently recommended by the British NHS. Cost-effectiveness estimates are hampered by the lack of randomized trials

    The Iowa Homemaker vol.3, no.10

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    Table of Contents Activities of the Merrill Palmer School by Edna E. Walls, page 1 Specific Helps on Everyday Teaching Problems by Florence E. Busse, page 2 Winter Diets and the Elusive Meal by Lucile Barta, page 2 Modern Women and Floriculture by E. C. Volz, page 3 Historic Costume the Mother of Modern Vogue by Clara Jordan, page 4 Feeding the Multitude by Gertrude E. Murray, page 5 Our Travels in France by Josephine Arnquist, page 6 The Evolution of Home Economics at Iowa State by Ruth Elaine Wilson, page 8 The Power of Music by Oscar Hatch Hawley, page 9 To Judge of a Bargain by Mildred Briggs, page 9 Who is Responsible for the Child? by Louise Crawford, page 1

    Marketing Actions and the Value of Customer Assets: A Framework for Customer Asset Management

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    This article develops a framework for assessing how marketing actions affect customers’lifetime value to the firm. The framework is organized around four critical actions that firms must take to effectively manage the asset value of the customer base: database creation, market segmentation, forecasting customer purchase behavior, and resource allocation. In this framework, customer lifetime value is treated as a dynamic construct, that is, it influences the eventual allocation of marketing resources but is also influenced by that allocation. By viewing customers as assets and systematically managing these assets, a firm can identify the most appropriate marketing actions to acquire, maintain, and enhance customer assets and thereby maximize financial returns. The article discusses in detail how to assess customer lifetime value and manage customers as assets. Then, it identifies key research challenges in studying customer asset management and the managerial challenges associated with implementing effective customer asset management practices.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline
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