Improving Heart Failure Education Prior to Discharge: An Emmi Implementation Project

Background: Heart failure is one of the leading causes of hospitalizations and increased health care costs in the United States. Many patients are readmitted within 30 days of discharge, resulting in increased costs. Purpose of Capstone Project: The purpose of this capstone project was to improve heart failure education for patients admitted with heart failure to Mercy Medical Center by utilizing Emmi educational videos in order to decrease the risk of hospital readmissions, improve quality of life, and decrease costs. Methods: The project focused on educating nurses about the importance of utilizing the video. It was asked of the nurses that each patient admitted with a diagnosis of heart failure have the opportunity to watch the educational video prior to discharge. The number of patients with heart failure that were given the opportunity to watch the Emmi educational video was collected. The evaluation of this project was a comparison of the number of Emmi educational videos utilized before the implementation of the Capstone Project to the numbers of videos utilized after the implementation. Results: When comparing the ordering of the Emmi videos after implementation to before the implementation, there was a noticeable increase in Emmi usage. This included the ordering for all categories of the heart failure Emmi and the general heart failure Emmi. Unfortunately, ordering the Emmi did not mean that the video was utilized. Recommendations: It was recommend that the utilization of Emmi videos be continued. Nurses need continued encouragement to utilize the video and not just order it. It was also recommended that APRNs and PAs focus on ordering and implementing the Emmi videos. Lastly, making Emmi utilization a function of case managers, cardiac rehab nurses, and discharge nurses was recommended

Optical remote sensing of asteroid surfaces from spacecraft

Reflectance spectroscopy and multispectral mapping are the techniques likely to be most useful for determining asteroid surfaces. Several other techniques should be considered for providing complementary information

Asteroid surface mineralogy: Evidence from earth-based telescope observations

The interpretation of asteroid reflectance spectrophotometry in terms of mineralogical types gives inferred mineral assemblages for about 60 asteroids. Asteroid surface materials are compared with similar materials that make up many meteorites. The absence of asteroids with spectra that match identically the ordinary chondrites is noted

Reflectance spectroscopy in planetary science: Review and strategy for the future

Reflectance spectroscopy is a remote sensing technique used to study the surfaces and atmospheres of solar system bodies. It provides first-order information on the presence and amounts of certain ions, molecules, and minerals on a surface or in an atmosphere. Reflectance spectroscopy has become one of the most important investigations conducted on most current and planned NASA Solar System Exploration Program space missions. This book reviews the field of reflectance spectroscopy, including information on the scientific technique, contributions, present conditions, and future directions and needs

Research in planetary astronomy

The objective is the continuation of a long-term research program designed to study the composition, structure and processes operating on the surfaces of solar system objects using the Mauna Kea Observatory with techniques and modern instrumentation. Reflectance spectroscopy and multispectral imaging in the spectral region, 0.3 to 5.0 micrometer are the major techniques used, although thermal (10 micrometer and 20 micrometer) radiometry are used in some aspects of the research. Some specific projects include: (1) systematic spectral imaging observations of the Moon; (2) systematic spectral imaging and spectral monitoring of the Martian surface; (3) thermal radiometry of asteroids as part of the IRAS follow-up and other target specific programs; (4) searches for asteroid satellites and dust belts using a stellar coronagraph; and (5) studies of circumstellar disks using a stellar coronagraph. Progress for each of the programs included is discussed. minerals; (2) completed observations of lunar multi-ringed basins and crater deposits in search of high-Ca spectral anomalies; (3) completed data reduction of an additional 5 asteroids observed by the coronagraphic technique in the search for asteroids satellites and debris clouds; and (4) completed the reduction and calibration of 350 asteroids observed at 10 micron and 20 micron using the NASA IRTF

Assessing the Incidence of Public Works Programmes: Using Propensity Score Matching Techniques to Assess the Poverty Targeting of Employment in Two Public Works Programmes in South Africa

This paper explores the socio-economic identity of Public Works Programme (PWP) participants in two programmes in South Africa, in order to establish the incidence of PWP participation, a question which is central to assessing the social protection impact of PWPs, but which is frequently omitted from programme analysis, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. The paper focuses on an analysis of the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of PWP participants. As in many PWPs, no baseline data on participants in these programme were collected. Therefore, it is not possible to ascertain a priori who the beneficiaries of the programmes are, a situation which fundamentally challenges any attempt to or to assess incidence or the social protection impact of such an intervention. The research interrogates the assumption that the 'less eligibility criteria' central to the design of PWPs (the work requirement and low wages) will lead to participation of the poorest, thereby reducing the likelihood of inclusion errors, attempting first to ascertain who the participants in the programmes are. The question is explored using survey data gathered in 2003 on two case study PWPs implemented simultaneously in South Africa, which adopt different design and targeting approaches. Programme incidence is then considered in relationship to targeting and programme objectives, and the conclusion drawn that in order for PWPs to reach the poorest in a given community, reliance on self targeting through the work requirement and a low wage is not adequate, and explicit targeting measures are needed during participant selection.

A Malaria Ecology Index Predicted Spatial and Temporal Variation of Malaria Burden and Efficacy of Antimalarial Interventions Based on African Serological Data.

Reducing the global health burden of malaria is complicated by weak reporting systems for infectious diseases and a paucity of vital statistics registration. This limits our ability to predict changes in malaria health burden intensity, target antimalarial resources where needed, and identify malaria impacts in retrospective data. We refined and deployed a temporally and spatially varying Malaria Ecology Index (MEI) incorporating climatological and ecological data to estimate malaria transmission strength and validate it against cross-sectional serology data from 39,875 children from seven sub-Saharan African countries. The MEI is strongly associated with malaria burden; a 1 standard deviation higher MEI is associated with a 50-117% increase in malaria risk and a 3-5 g/dL lower level of Hg. Results show that the relationship between malaria ecology and disease burden is attenuated with sufficient coverage of insecticide treated nets (ITNs) or indoor residual spraying (IRS). Having both ITNs and IRS reduce the added risk from adverse malaria ecology conditions by half. Readily available climate and ecology data can be used to estimate the spatial and temporal variation in malaria disease burden, providing a feasible alternative to direct surveillance. This will help target resources for malaria programs in the absence of national coverage of active case detection systems, and facilitate malaria research using retrospective health data

Can Social Protection Reduce Environmental Damages?

Why do damages from changes in environmental quality differ across and within countries? Causal investigation of this question has been challenging because differences may stem from heterogeneity in cumulative exposure or differences in socioeconomic factors such as income. We revisit the temperature-violence relationship and show that cash transfers attenuate one-half to two-thirds of the effects of higher same-day temperatures on homicides. Our results not only demonstrate causally that income can explain much of the heterogeneity in the marginal effects of higher temperatures, but also imply that social protection programs can help the poor adapt to rising temperatures