A place for the heart: A journey in the post-asylum landscape. Metaphors and materiality

The downsizing of psychiatric hospitals has created a new institutional landscape in the local community to support people with severe mental problems in their daily living. This study explores meeting places in Norway from the users’ perspectives. The users used four metaphors to describe these meeting places: “like a home”, “like a family”, “like a landing ground” and “like a trampoline”. The users have decorated the interiors of the meeting places with hearts made from various materials, and these could be considered as symbols of the places. The metaphors used: the hearts and the rooms and interiors, reflect old ideas about calmness and dignity rather than new ideas based on New Public Management.     

Interacting institutional logics in general dental practice

We investigate the organisational field of general dental practice and how agents change or maintain the institution of values associated with the everyday work of health care provision. Our dataset comprise archival literature and policy documents, interview data from field level actors, as well as service delivery level interview data and secondary data gathered (2011–12) from 16 English dental practices. Our analysis provides a typology of institutional logics (prevailing systems of value) experienced in the field of dental practice. Confirming current literature, we find two logics dominate how care is assessed: business-like health care and medical professionalism. We advance the literature by finding the business-like health care logic further distinguished by values of commercialism on the one hand and those of accountability and procedural diligence on the other. The logic of professionalism we also find is further distinguished into a commitment to clinical expertise and independence in delivering patient care on the one hand, and concerns for the autonomy and sustainability of a business enterprise on the other.     

Birth preparedness and place of birth in rural Mysore,India: A prospective cohort study

BackgroundIndia accounts for almost a third of the global deaths among newborns on their first day of birth. In spite of making significant progress in increasing institutional births, large numbers of rural Indian women are still electing to give birth at home. The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with place of birth among women who had recently given birth in rural Mysore, India.MethodsBetween January 2009 and 2011, 1675 rural pregnant women enrolled in a prospective cohort study in Mysore District completed interviewer-administered questionnaires on maternity care services. Ethical approval of the original study was obtained from the Institutional Review Boards of Vikram Hospital and Florida International University. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify factors associated with place of birth among the 1654 (99%) women that were successfully followed up after childbirth.FindingsThe median age of the women was 20 years; the majority were educated (87%), low-income (52%), and multiparous (56%). The prevalence of home births was low (4%). Half of the women giving birth at home did not adequately plan for transportation (55%), finances (48%), or birthing with a skilled provider (55%). Multiparous women had greater odds of giving birth at home compared to public (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]=7.83, p<0.001) and private institutions (AOR=7.05, p<0.001). Women attending ≥4 antenatal consultations had greater odds of giving birth at public (AOR=2.53, p=0.036) and private institutions (AOR=3.58, p=0.010). Those with higher scores of birth preparedness also had greater odds of giving birth at public (AOR=2.53, p<0.001) and private institutions (AOR=3.00, p<0.001).Conclusions and implicationsAs a means to reduce newborn mortality, maternal health interventions in India and similar populations should focus on increasing birth preparedness and institutional births among rural women, particularly among those from lower socio-economic status.     

我国建立药品上市许可人制度的必要性与可行性分析——基于制度变迁均衡分析模型

目的:探讨我国是否有必要建立药品上市许可人(MAH)制度,及在我国实施该制度是否可行。方法:依托制度变迁理论中的均衡分析模型,分析MAH制度的潜在收益与需求及其建制过程中面临的成本与供给情况,并结合制度弹性进行分析。结果:国内强大的制度需求使建立MAH制度成为必要;政府供给MAH制度的阻力主要在于适应成本和脱序成本;若政府致力于降低这些制度成本,将同时催生更大的内部需求,由此强力推动我国有效实现由合并管理制度向MAH制度的变迁。结论:有必要在我国建立MAH制度,且现阶段允许在我国某些地区先行试点推行MAH制度。     

Professional paths of alumni from doctorate programs in health and biological sciences

OBJECTIVE

To analyze the career path and professional satisfaction of alumni from the doctorate degree programs in health sector.

METHODS

Exploratory study with 827 alumni of doctoral programs in public health, biological and health sciences at the Fundação Oswaldo Cruz , RJ, Southeastern Brazil, from1984 to 2007. The subjects were grouped in three cross-temporal cohorts according to year. The profiles of the alumni were analyzed, their career paths mapped and information on the perceptions of the education they received and the reasons that led them to choose the institute for their doctoral courses gathered, as well as their evaluations of the courses. The data were collected by means of an online questionnaire.

RESULTS

There are differences between cohorts of alumni related to the periods they followed the courses, their distinct educational backgrounds and labor processes between those from the biological and health sciences areas, and to the specificities of the different areas where the institution offers doctoral courses: public health, biological and health sciences.

CONCLUSIONS

The results allow the academic management of the educational processes to expend its knowledge, thus establishing a baseline for tracking the trajectory of alumni, and may contribute to upgrading the follow up process of Brazilian graduate programs.     

美国医改实施:政府间政治与制度设计困境

《可负担的医疗法案》是在美国两党政治对立的情况下颁布和实施的。本文认为,美国联邦和州政府角色权限的分配,加剧了该法案执行过程中的政治冲突。联邦和州层面的政治参与者(特别是州长和州立法机构)就该法案进行制度协调的不同途径,已经阻碍了医疗保险交易所的建立和医疗救助扩展计划。通过比较,本文认为制度设计时尽量减少政治冲突的医疗保险监管机制改革,在执行过程中大幅度减少了政治摩擦。此外,本文强调了多层次制度设计对实施一些重要改革所产生的政治影响。     

制度变迁视角下完善医师多点执业的思考

作为促进医师流动、优化卫生资源配置的重要举措,多点执业被寄予厚望,但实践中多点执业却遭受冷遇。从制度变迁视角来看,遇冷的根本原因在于既有制度和思维中存在的路径依赖：首先,政府管制体制具有强大的制度惯性将医师锁定在医院中,医师多点执业的合法性与合理性并不统一。其次,医院之间竞争的白热化,多点执业对于医院和医师责权利分配格局统一性的挑战使医院对多点执业冷淡。再次,思维观念中的求稳倾向与追求利益的欲求,使医师对多点执业采取观望态度。因此,多点执业的制度变迁需要加快政府制度创新,为多点执业解锁,实现合法性与合理性的统一;转变医院运行逻辑,扼制逐利动机,推行多点执业契约管理;转变医师思维模式,正视医师利益需求,构建多点执业激励机制。     

Safety evaluation of Lactobacillus pentosus strain b240

Lactobacillus pentosus has a long history of use in cooked and uncooked fermented foods. Viable and heat-killed nonviable preparations of L. pentosus strain b240 were evaluated for short term and subchronic toxicity and genotoxic potential. Dose levels were determined through acute oral toxicity tests with viable (LD₅₀ > 2500 mg/kg) and nonviable (LD₅₀ > 2000 mg/kg) b240. In the short term study, rats received 2500 mg/kg/day (∼1.7 × 10¹¹ cfu/kg/day) viable b240 for 28 days. In the subchronic study, rats received 500, 1000 or 2000 mg/kg/day (up to ∼3.0 × 10¹² cfu equivalents/kg/day) nonviable b240 for 91 days followed by a 28-day recovery. No mortalities occurred. No treatment-related effects were identified for general condition, body weight, food-water consumption, ophthalmology, urinalysis, hematology, blood chemistry, organ weights, histopathology and gross pathology. Although statistically significant effects were noted for several endpoints in the short term and subchronic studies, none were related to the test materials. The NOAEL for nonviable b240 was 2000 mg/kg/day, the highest dose tested. Additionally, nonviable b240 (?5000 μg/plate) was not mutagenic in Salmonella typhimurium or Escherichia coli tester strains nor did nonviable b240 orally administered to rats at levels ? 2000 mg/kg/day for two days, induce a clastogenic response.