Comparison of a Self-Audit Tool to Accrediting Health Care Agencies’ Standards of Care in a Corrections Setting

Millions of individuals enter correctional facilities each year and require health services. Inmates are bound to a set of rules, wherein they are thought of as objects of surveillance, punishment, or rehabilitation, rather than as patients. In addition to standards of care defined by national accrediting bodies and state boards of practice, correctional facilities also have state laws that define expected health services for incarcerated persons. All health care providers have a responsibility to provide the highest quality care, but in prisons, patients are still inmates bound to correctional rules. Policies and procedures guide health care practices in correctional facilities, but unlike hospitals or other community settings, the state Department of Corrections is not currently affiliated with a single accrediting health care body that sets the benchmarks of quality. Rather, they are expected to meet distinct department of corrections (DOC) regulations in addition to health care accreditation requirements found in primary care, rehabilitation, and hospital level of care. The DOC uses an internal, self-audit process in place of a formal affiliation with external accrediting bodies. The goal of this project was to evaluate the state Department of Corrections’ (DOC) self-audit process in four facilities, create a cross-map to compare the self-audit tool to accreditation standards of governing healthcare bodies, analyze historic data, and make recommendations for change in the existing tool or realignment with external accrediting bodies. The aim of this project was to conduct a gap analysis of accrediting body standards and the self-audit process to make data-driven, evidence-based recommendations to key stakeholders. The outcome of this evaluation was to recommend that the DOC to re-establish an affiliation with an external accrediting agency

Stimulant Prescriptions for ADHD Treatment in Children

ADHD has become a much more common neurobehavioral disorder in the US, but access to both psychotherapy and medication remains limited, exacerbating socioeconomic disparities in multiple life domains, including education, employment, and substance use disorder. Equity in access to care is an opportunity to substantially improve care

Exploración y comparación de métodos de inteligencia artificial para la clasificación taxonómica en análisis metagenómicos

55 páginasLa mayor diversidad genética está presente en las comunidades de microorganismos, el conocer estas especies, sus funciones y diferencias constituye un papel importante para solucionar problemas diversas áreas, como la salud, la alimentación y el medio ambiente. El método tradicional para realizar este tipo de investigaciones consiste en aislar el microorganismo de una muestra del entorno y así estudiar su constitución genética, sin embargo menos del 1% de los microorganismos pueden ser aislados y cultivados en los laboratorios. Gracias a las técnicas de secuenciación modernas cada vez más accesibles surge la metagenómica proponiendo una alternativa para poder estudiar el otro 99%. La metagenómica se encarga de estudiar la secuenciación de una muestra del entorno para descubrir a qué organismos pertenecen los fragmentos secuenciados. Sin embargo el problema radica en que los procesos necesarios para identificar el tipo de organismos en la muestra demandan mucho tiempo y recursos computacionales. En este trabajo se utilizan diferentes algoritmos de inteligencia artificial para agrupar los fragmentos de secuencias según su similitud en conjuntos puros, es decir, conjuntos cuyos fragmentos pertenezcan a un solo organismo o a un mismo grupo taxonómico de organismos. Además se propone un nuevo algoritmo que se basa en la aplicación del k-means de manera iterativa perfeccionando los grupos según la distancia entre ello. Se compararon los resultados con métodos de agrupamientos clásicos y se comprobó que con este último método se obtienen grupos más puros. Este resultado ayuda a que los procesos de ensamblado o de comparación serán más eficientes y rápidos, debido a que se tiene como entrada inicial una muestra más condensada y uniforme, disminuyendo el tiempo y los recursos consumidos durante los proyectos metagenómicos, al mismo tiempo que pueden realizarse de una forma más enfocada.PregradoIngeniero(a) de Sistemas y Computació

ROSTOVTZEFF, Mikhail Ivanovich. História de Roma. São Paulo: Zahar Editora S.A., 1983.

Resenha da Obra: ROSTOVTZEFF, Mikhail Ivanovich. História de Roma. São Paulo: Zahar Editora S.A., 1983

Life on a slippery slope: perceptions of health in adults with cystic fibrosis

This paper focuses on how adults with cystic fibrosis (CF) attending a specialist CF centre in the UK perceive their health. In common with many other genetic diseases, CF is traditionally conceptualised as a fatal childhood disease, yet the average survival age for those with CF has been steadily rising over the past half century. Thus it is now predicted that those born in 1990 will live on average for 40 years. To date, however, most sociological work has focused on children or adolescents affected by CF rather than on adults between the ages of 18 and 40, the focus of the study reported here. The paper shows that these adults' varying perceptions of health are related to the effects of CF, its treatment, and the context in which adults are placed. Four concepts of health are identified (health as 'normal', controllable, distressing and a release) along with certain styles, ways of coping and related strategies. Through these analytic distinctions the paper aims to make a contribution to the sociological understanding of lay concepts of health in adults with childhood or genetic disease

European Cystic Fibrosis Society standards of care: best practice guidelines

Specialised CF care has led to a dramatic improvement in survival in CF: in the last four decades, well above what was seen in the general population over the same period. With the implementation of newborn screening in many European countries, centres are increasingly caring for a cohort of patients who have minimal lung disease at diagnosis and therefore have the potential to enjoy an excellent quality of life and an even greater life expectancy than was seen previously. To allow high quality care to be delivered throughout Europe, a landmark document was published in 2005 that sets standards of care. Our current document builds on this work, setting standards for best practice in key aspects of CF care. The objective of our document is to give a broad overview of the standards expected for screening, diagnosis, pre-emptive treatment of lung disease, nutrition, complications, transplant/end of life care and psychological support. For comprehensive details of clinical care of CF, references to the most up to date European Consensus Statements, Guidelines or Position Papers are provided in Table 1. We hope that this best practice document will be useful to clinical teams both in countries where CF care is developing and those with established CF centres

ECFS best practice guidelines: the 2018 revision

Developments in managing CF continue to drive dramatic improvements in survival. As newborn screening rolls-out across Europe, CF centres are increasingly caring for cohorts of patients who have minimal lung disease on diagnosis. With the introduction of mutation-specific therapies and the prospect of truly personalised medicine, patients have the potential to enjoy good quality of life in adulthood with ever-increasing life expectancy. The landmark Standards of Care published in 2005 set out what high quality CF care is and how it can be delivered throughout Europe. This underwent a fundamental re-write in 2014, resulting in three documents; center framework, quality management and best practice guidelines. This document is a revision of the latter, updating standards for best practice in key aspects of CF care, in the context of a fast-moving and dynamic field. In continuing to give a broad overview of the standards expected for newborn screening, diagnosis, preventative treatment of lung disease, nutrition, complications, transplant/end of life care and psychological support, this consensus on best practice is expected to prove useful to clinical teams both in countries where CF care is developing and those with established CF centres. The document is an ECFS product and endorsed by the CF Network in ERN LUNG and CF Europe