The infant health effects of starting universal child benefits in pregnancy: Evidence from England and Wales

Child benefits are typically paid from birth. This paper asks whether starting universal child benefits in pregnancy leads to improvements in infant health. Leveraging administrative birth registry and hospital microdata from England and Wales, I study the effects of the Health in Pregnancy Grant, a universal conditional cash transfer equivalent to three months of child benefit (190 GBP) as a lump sum to pregnant mothers from 2009 to 2011. I exploit quasi-experimental variation in eligibility with a regression discontinuity design in the date of birth of the baby. I find that the policy increased birth weight by 8–12 grams on average, reduced low birth weight ($<$2500 g) by 3-6 percent and decreased prematurity by 9–11 percent. Younger mothers, particularly those living in deprived areas, benefit the most. I present evidence that the mechanisms are unlikely to be antenatal care, nutrition or smoking, with reductions in stress remaining a possible explanation.     

A process evaluation of implementing a vocational enablement protocol for employees with hearing difficulties in clinical practice

Objective: A multidisciplinary vocational rehabilitation programme, the Vocational Enablement Protocol (VEP) was developed to address the specific needs of employees with hearing difficulties. In the current study we evaluated the process of implementing the VEP in audiologic care among employees with hearing impairment. Design: In conjunction with a randomized controlled trial, we collected and analysed data on seven process parameters: recruitment, reach, fidelity, dose delivered, dose received and implemented, satisfaction, and perceived benefit. Study sample: Sixty-six employees with hearing impairment participated in the VEP. The multidisciplinary team providing the VEP comprised six professionals. Results: The professionals performed the VEP according to the protocol. Of the recommendations delivered by the professionals, 31% were perceived as implemented by the employees. Compliance rate was highest for hearing-aid uptake (51%). Both employees and professionals were highly satisfied with the VEP. Participants rated good perceived benefit from it. Conclusions: Our results indicate that the VEP could be a useful treatment for employees with hearing difficulties from a process evaluation perspective. Implementation research in the audiological setting should be encouraged in order to further provide insight into parameters facilitating or hindering successful implementation of an intervention and to improve its quality and efficacy.     

加强医疗仪器设备管理提高医疗仪器设备使用效益

加强医疗设备管理,提高设备使用效益,制定合理的计划,正确选购设备,为医院提供品种、性能、精度适当的技术装备。     

Development of the New Lung Allocation System in the United States

This article reviews the development of the new U.S. lung allocation system that took effect in spring 2005. In 1998, the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) Final Rule. Under the rule, which became effective in 2000, the OPTN had to demonstrate that existing allocation policies met certain conditions or change the policies to meet a range of criteria, including broader geographic sharing of organs, reducing the use of waiting time as an allocation criterion and creating equitable organ allocation systems using objective medical criteria and medical urgency to allocate donor organs for transplant. This mandate resulted in reviews of all organ allocation policies, and led to the creation of the Lung Allocation Subcommittee of the OPTN Thoracic Organ Transplantation Committee. This paper reviews the deliberations of the Subcommittee in identifying priorities for a new lung allocation system, the analyses undertaken by the OPTN and the Scientific Registry for Transplant Recipients and the evolution of a new lung allocation system that ranks candidates for lungs based on a Lung Allocation Score, incorporating waiting list and posttransplant survival probabilities.     

哈尔滨市社区卫生服务需求、利用及影响因素分析

目的：为了了解哈尔滨市居民对社区卫生服务的需求、利用情况以及影响因素。方法：采用分层整群抽样，对哈尔滨市2000名居民进行了入户调查。结果：被调查居民的两周患病率为34．3％，两周就诊率为27．7％，其未就诊率为30．0％。影响人们对卫生服务利用的因素有收入、患病次数、健康状况等因素。结论：社区卫生服务应不断加强和完善，从而真正成为实现卫生目标的有效途径。     

上海城市社区老年人生殖保健需求分析

目的:了解上海城市社区老年人生殖保健需求的特点。方法:对20个居民区35例老年人、20例服务人员进行访谈;对116例老年人进行结构式问卷调查。结果:31.9％的老年人自诉患有生殖系统疾病,23.3％担心患有生殖系统疾病,53.4％对性生活无兴趣,46.6％没有性生活,48.4％性生活中遇到困难。83.2％的老年人在遇到生殖系统问题时首选到医院就诊。表示会参加专门为老年人提供的生殖系统健康检查、有兴趣与异性老人结伴活动,以及希望社区提供有关老年人生殖保健方面的宣传、咨询服务的老年男性比例明显高于女性,分别为68.2％:32％、40.9％:24％、48.5％:38％。结论;老年人当中存在着大量潜在的生殖保健需求,而目前的老年生殖保健需求层次还较低,重点仍是生殖系统疾病的治疗;老年男性希望获得生殖保健服务的愿望比老年女性更为强烈。     

医院综合效益评价中的权数（三）——估计权数

在医院综合效益评价中，估计权数由评价专家根据经验对评价指标的重要程度的一种评估，这类数据通常用的ＡＨＰ法进行处理。本文用ＡＨＰ的递推算法计算估计权数，这种算法不仅计算简单，而且易达到一致性的要求，其估计的剩余误差小于ＡＨＰ法。     

医德重建:传统医德危机及其解决途径探析

目前,我国面临的医德危机是非常严重的。如何解决这一危机就成了一个不容回避的重大课题,不少学者提出要用传统医德来规范医务人员,并以此作为解决该危机的良方。然而,这种以人格伦理为特质的传统医德尽管有其一定的合理性,但其在实践中的有效性却受到了人们的质疑。为此,试图从传统医德自身的局限性、医务人员利益意识的觉醒以及因社会失范而导致的越轨三个方面来分析我国医德危机产生的根源,并为此提出了三条对策。