The unexpected outcomes of the closure of 67 inpatient care facilities in 2011 in Romania

One of the main objectives of the National Strategy for Hospitals Rationalization approved by the Romanian Government in 2011 was to resize the hospital sector in order to improve efficiency. To this end, the government decided the closure of 67 inpatient care facilities with low efficiency scores, giving them the opportunity to become nursing homes for elderly under a national programme financed by the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Protection. The measure faced a tremendous public opposition that put pressure on politicians to re-open some hospitals, while other hospitals were re-opened by the governments that followed in order to consolidate their power. Since only 20 closed institutions have been reorganized as nursing homes for elderly and almost 40 are currently performing medical activities, this decision was generally perceived as a policy failure. Nevertheless, a thorough analysis, shows that the medical facilities that are still functioning - either merged with other hospitals, or re-organized as state or private medical institutions have improved efficiency by reshaping services provided to the population needs, mobilizing communities and local authorities investments and initiating public-private partnerships. Besides revealing the unexpected benefits resulted from the implementation of this policy, the Romanian experience provides some useful insights for other countries that are also facing the challenge of reducing the oversized hospital sector.     

Careers in paediatrics: Community paediatrics revisited

The concept of ‘community paediatrics’, as enunciated by Robert Haggerty in 1968, has informed and shaped many paediatric careers. The principle tenets of inclusiveness: attention to unmet needs; addressing common health problems of children and youth; using and applying preventive and harm-reduction strategies; and securing community input and control, were part of the Haggerty model. The present article revisits Haggerty’s model and describes how the concepts have shaped contemporary paediatrics in North America.     

Does selective migration bias the health impact assessment of urban regeneration programmes in cross-sectional studies? Findings from a Dutch case study

We examined if the assessment of the health impact of a national Dutch regeneration programme depends on using either a repeated cross-sectional or longitudinal study design. This is important as only the latter design can incorporate migration patterns. For both designs, we compared trends in medication use between target and control districts. We found differences in medication use trends to be modest under the longitudinal design, and not demonstrable under the repeated cross-sectional design. The observed differences were hardly influenced by migration patterns. We conclude that in the Netherlands migration patterns had little effect on the health impact assessment of this national urban regeneration programme, so either the cross-sectional or longitudinal evaluation study design will do.     

Integration of data from a safety net health care system into the Vaccine Safety Datalink

BackgroundIn 2013 the Institute of Medicine suggested that the Vaccine Safety DataLink (VSD) should broaden its population by including data of more patients from low income and racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds. In response, Kaiser Permanente Colorado (KPCO) partnered with Denver Health (DH), an integrated safety net health care system, to explore the integration of DH data.MethodsWe compared three different methods (reference date of September 1, 2013): “Empanelment” (any patient who has had a primary care visit in the past 18 months), “Proxy-enrollment” (two health care visits in 3 years separated by 90 days), and “Enrollment” in a managed care plan. For each of these methods, we compared cohort size, vaccination rates, socio-demographic characteristics, and health care utilization.ResultsThe empaneled population at DH provided the best comparison to KPCO. DH’s empaneled population was 111,330 (57,173 adults; 54,157 children), while KPCO had 436,290 empaneled patients (336,462 adults; 99,828 children). Vaccination rates in both health care systems for empaneled patients were comparable. Two year-old up-to-date coverage rates were 83.2% (KPCO) and 86.9% (DH); rates for adolescent Tdap and MCV4 were 85.5% (KPCO) and 90.6% (DH). There were significant differences in the two populations in age, gender, race, preferred language, and % Federal Poverty Level (FPL) (DH 70.7% < 100% FPL; KPCO 17.4%), as well as in healthcare utilization – for example pediatric emergency department utilization was twice as high at DH.ConclusionsUsing a cohort of “empaneled” patients, it is possible to integrate data from a safety net health care system that does not have a uniform managed care population into the VSD, and to compare vaccination rates, socio-demographic characteristics, and health care utilization across the two systems. The KPCO-DH collaboration may serve as a model for incorporating data from a safety net healthcare system into the VSD.     

Qualification of nursing potential in maternal mortality in Mexico

ObjectivesTo develop a method that measures nursing potential through the factor analysis of relevant nursing data and social context by taking maternal mortality as the study problem.MethodsA Cross-sectional and analytical study, a multivariate analysis was performed. The Nursing Coverage Index, the Human Development Index, population density and the proportion of nurses with a bachelor’s degree or upper degree, are studied by federative entity, only data from government sources are used. The Index of Nursing Qualification in Mexico (INQM) was constructed through principal component analysis.ResultsThe highest correlation was between the INQM and the Nursing Coverage Prioritization Index (NCPI), which was 0.849 (P < 0.01) and showed a strong positive linear relationship. The Population Density Prioritization Index (PDPI) shows a strong positive correlation with the INQM (0.716, P < 0.01). Three factors were extracted by principal component analysis and the INQM was generated with the three main components in a model. There is very low correlation between INQM and maternal mortality rate (MMR) and no statistical significance was found.ConclusionsThis study shows that nursing qualification must include economic, geographic and social variables. The INQM is an indicator that summarises the potential of each federative entity. Given these results, a contribution is provided for the application of these indices, which can help determine nursing potential in a specific geographical region.     

玻璃体和视网膜相关组织标本取材及应用研究现状

准确的玻璃体、视网膜相关组织标本取材及保存方法是保证临床诊断及开展严谨基础研究的基础。玻璃体标本取材的临床用途包括微生物培养、细胞学检测、变性性疾病检测、PCR分析、液基细胞学检测细胞形态等;实验研究用途包括DNA基因分析、蛋白定量分析、代谢物检查、RNA含量定量分析、细胞因子测定等。视网膜标本取材主要用于视网膜增生膜的PCR分析、免疫组织化学染色、免疫荧光检查、微血管密度评价以及细胞分离和培养等。了解玻璃体视网膜手术标本的取材和相关检测技术、材料的应用,可为玻璃体视网膜疾病的诊断提供更全面的思路及相关基础研究提供更广泛的参考。