Establishing the Cost-Effectiveness of New Pharmaceuticals under Conditions of Uncertainty—When Is There Sufficient Evidence?

Decisions about which health-care interventions represent adequate value to collectively funded health-care systems are as widespread as they are unavoidable. In the case of new pharmaceuticals, many countries now require formal cost-effectiveness analysis to inform this decision-making process. This requires evidence on parameters associated with health-related utilities, treatment effects, resource use, and costs, for which data from available regulatory trials are invariably absent or highly uncertain. This uncertainty results from a number of factors including the predominance of intermediate end points in the clinical evidence-base and the limited period of follow-up of patients in clinical studies. Despite these imperfections in the evidence base, decisions about whether new pharmaceuticals are sufficiently cost-effective for reimbursement cannot be side-stepped. Data limitations do, however, require the use of rigorous analytical methods to support decision making. Probabilistic decision models and value of information analysis offer a means of structuring decision problems, synthesizing all available data, characterizing the uncertainty in the decision, quantifying the cost of uncertainty, and establishing the expected value of perfect information. This analytical framework is important because it addresses two fundamental questions about new pharmaceuticals. First, is the product expected to be cost-effective on the basis of existing evidence? Second, is additional research concerning the product itself cost-effective? In addressing these questions, the analytical framework can establish when sufficient evidence exists to sustain a claim for a new pharmaceutical to be cost-effective.     

Development of a new Adolescent Patient-Provider Interaction Scale (APPIS) for youth at risk for STDs/HIV

PurposeAlthough an adult model of patient-provider mutual exchange of information has been proposed, there is no guiding model for adolescents or measurement methodology. Our purpose was to develop a new scale of patient-provider interaction for adolescents accessing reproductive health care and at risk for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and assess the reliability and validity of the scale.MethodsThe Adolescent Patient-Provider Interaction Scale (APPIS) was developed from the Roter and Hall theory of doctor-patient relationships, previously validated adolescent satisfaction and communication scales, and focus group and individual elicitation interviews. To assess construct validity, the new nine-item APPIS was compared with the satisfaction scale used by the Young Adult Health Care Survey (YAHCS), and Kahn’s Provider Communication Scale. Pearson correlation coefficients were used to examine convergence across scales, and factor analysis of the APPIS was performed.ResultsThe study recruited 192 African American girls aged 17.9 ± 1.7 years (range 15–21 years) from three sites: a county STD clinic (n = 51), urban adolescent clinic (n = 99), and a family planning clinic (n = 42). Most participants (85%) rated their overall health care highly (≥ 7 on a 10-point scale); 49% felt that both the provider and patient were “in charge” of the visit, and 88% “strongly agreed” or “agreed” that there was an equal “exchange of information” during the visit. The APPIS showed good internal consistency (Cronbach alpha = .75), and moderate convergence with the six-item YAHCS scale (r = .57, p < .001) and seven-item Kahn scale (r = .48, p < .001). Three factors emerged from exploratory factor analyses, supporting our conceptualization of patient-provider interaction as being multi-dimensional.ConclusionsA new theory-based scale of adolescent patient-provider interaction compares favorably with previous scales of health care satisfaction and communication. The new APPIS may be useful for evaluating approaches to improve health care outcomes for adolescents at-risk for STDs and HIV.     

县级医院医疗仪器管理对策

医疗仪器在疾病诊断和医疗中的作用越来越大,完善的管理不仅可提高仪器的使用寿命和安全性,关系到医院的经济效益和社会效益,更关系到患者的利益.文章结合实际,提出县级医院医疗仪器管理对策.     

中国部分地区妇幼卫生信息系统的现状分析

本文通过研究卫生 项目地区报表资料和现场调查 ,对项目地区妇幼卫生信息系统的建设及运作情况进行了分析 ,并对报表数据质量进行了评价。分析显示 :卫 项目推动了贫困地区信息系统建设 ,项目地区已建立起系统的妇幼卫生信息管理体系 ,但分析也反映出项目地区妇幼卫生常规报表的数据质量仍存在一定问题。分析结果提示 ,应进一步加强妇幼卫生信息系统建设 ,提高妇幼卫生统计信息专业队伍的业务水平。     

人力资源管理信息系统的设计与分析

人力资源管理是企业管理的重要基础工作,提高人力资源管理工作的科学性、有效性和效率,是当前人力资源管理工作的客观要求。结合企业人力资源管理的现状,本文讨论了人力资源管理信息系统的设计与开发。本系统能够完成企业员工信息的存储、备份、恢复、添加、删除、查询以及各类相关报表的打印。     

A treadmill test of sprint running

Anaerobic power is characterized by a high degree of specificity regarding both the recruited muscles as well as the recruitment pattern. The popular Wingate Anaerobic Test (WAnT) is a cycling test that does not satisfy the need for a running-specific anaerobic test. We describe such a test, using a novel type of a commercially available treadmill (BRL 1800, Gymrol, France). The ergometer is equipped with a torque motor to neutralize the frictional resistance of the treadmill belt, and a hip-belt harness connected to a horizontal rod. Force applied to the harness is monitored by a strain gauge mounted on the rod, while vertical movement is monitored by a potentiometer at the posterior fixed end of the rod. These, in conjunction with the treadmill belt speed, enable the computation of horizontal and vertical power as well as the combined total output. Power is calculated both as 'peak' power (highest 2.5 s segment) and 'mean' power (20 s duration). Preliminary results of young athletes were generally consistent with the expected age-related changes in anaerobic power. Values obtained on the anaerobic treadmill were always higher than the corresponding WAnT values previously obtained in comparable age groups. The higher values were probably due to the larger muscle mass involved and the shorter peak and mean power durations (2.5 and 20 s versus 5 and 30 s in the WAnT, respectively). This test should enable not only running-specific anaerobic power monitoring but also the characterization of the relationship between the horizontal and vertical components of that power.     

Doctors on the medical profession

Over the past two to three decades there has been vigorous debate in the sociological literature as well as in popular forums concerning the changing social position and status of the medical profession and the extent to which consumerism has entered the doctor-patient relationship. Few qualitative sociological inquiries, however, have directly sought the views of medical practitioners themselves on these issues. To address this hiatus, this article discusses the findings from an empirical study using semi-structured indepth interviews with 20 doctors living and working in Sydney about their views on the contemporary status of the medical profession and their experiences of medical practice. Three major aspects are discussed: the extent to which the social position of doctors has changed, the impact of consumerism on medical practice and the qualities of a ‘good’ doctor. The implications of these data for theorising the nature of contemporary medical practice, power and professional status is explored, with particular reference to the insights offered by Foucauldian theory.     

新Vierordt法测定鲁南贝特片中两组分的含量

目的测定鲁南贝特片中氯唑沙宗和对乙酰氨基酚的含量。方法采用新Vierordt法不经提取分离直接测定两组分的含量 ,测定波长λ1=2 4 3.9nm ,λ2 =2 5 7.6nm。结果氯唑沙宗线性范围为 (8.4 7～ 4 2 .36 ) μg/ml,r=0 .9990 ,对乙酰氨基酚线性范围为 (8.83～ 4 4 .16 ) μg/ml,r =0 .9994 ,氯唑沙宗和对乙酰氨基酚的平均回收率和相对标准偏差分别为 10 0 .1%、0 .89%和 10 0 .6 %、0 .4 4 %。结论该方法简便、快速、重现性好 ,可消除两组分的相互干扰 ,结果满意。