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Indicators Used (indicator + used)
Selected AbstractsIndicators Nurses Employ in Deciding to Test for HyperbilirubinemiaJOURNAL OF OBSTETRIC, GYNECOLOGIC & NEONATAL NURSING, Issue 6 2001Anita J. Gagnon RN Objective: To identify the indicators nurses employ in deciding to test healthy full-term newborns for total serum bilirubin in the absence of a written protocol. Design: Secondary analysis of data available on 130 mother-newborn pairs and informal interviews of 30 postpartum unit nurses. Setting: Two university teaching hospitals. Participants: All tested newborns and a 33% random sample of remaining newborns from a control group data set created during a previous study and a convenience sample of postpartum nurses from all shifts. Measurement: Outcome data were obtained from a review of records. Background data were obtained from a review of records and questionnaires. Nurse data were obtained through a modified form of participant observation. Results: Ninety-one percent of newborns tested for bilirubin were tested unnecessarily. In logistic regression analyses, variables predictive of nurse-driven total serum bilirubin testing were presence of jaundice, odds ratio (OR) = 31.95 (95% confidence interval, 6.71, 152.03), and feeding frequency, OR = 0.28 (0.11, 0.72). Identifying both presence and location of jaundice simultaneously did not significantly predict testing, OR = 1.82 (0.66, 5.04). Fifty-three percent of nurses who were interviewed identified both the presence of jaundice and feeding as indicators to consider for testing. Conclusion: Newborns are overtested for bilirubin. Indicators used by nurses in deciding to test a healthy newborn for total serum bilirubin are the presence of jaundice and feeding frequency. Nurses who assess feeding frequency are less likely to order bilirubin testing. [source] FEDERAL RESERVE TRANSCRIPT PUBLICATION AND REGIONAL REPRESENTATIONCONTEMPORARY ECONOMIC POLICY, Issue 2 2010ELLEN E. MEADE This article looks at disagreement within the Federal Reserve's monetary policy committee, the Federal Open Market Committee or FOMC, following a change in transparency practices taken in 1993 to publish verbatim transcripts of FOMC meetings. Other literature has examined the effects of opening the FOMC's deliberations to public view and provided empirical evidence that the publication of transcripts made policymakers less willing to voice disagreement with the chairman's policy proposal. This article adds to that work by examining whether regional variables are important to the analysis and whether the transcription effects are robust to the inclusion of regional variables. The results indicate that transcription effects are indeed robust, regardless of the regional indicator used, and that larger Federal Reserve districts may be more likely to voice agreement with a given policy proposal. (JEL E42, E58, E65, F33) [source] Pore properties as indicators of breakdown mechanisms in experimentally weathered limestonesEARTH SURFACE PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS, Issue 8 2001Dawn T. Nicholson Abstract The results are reported of four experimental weathering tests , freeze , thaw, wetting and drying, slake durability and salt weathering , on five different types of limestone. Effective porosity, mercury intrusion porosimetry and scanning electron microscopy were used to evaluate changes in pore properties, while weight loss and fracture density were used to assess deterioration severity. A primary aim was to observe modifications in porosity due to weathering and to draw inferences about the internal rock deterioration mechanisms taking place. It is concluded that the five limestones not only show a wide range of resistance to weathering in general but considerable difference in resistance to particular weathering processes. Consequently, when assessing durability it is essential to consider rock properties in the context of the weathering process to which the rock is subject. The type of deterioration indicator used is also important in interpretation of durability. A variety of pore modification mechanisms operate, including changes in pore connectivity, pore infilling, and the introduction of additional void space. There are indications that changes to the internal pore structure of rocks due to weathering may be a precursor to more substantial macrodeterioration. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Changes in aspects of children's oral-health-related quality of life following dental treatment under general anaesthesiaINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PAEDIATRIC DENTISTRY, Issue 5 2004H. K. ANDERSON Summary. Objectives. This study was intended to examine the treatment-associated change in aspects of oral-health-related quality of life (QoL) among children (and their families) undergoing dental rehabilitation under general anaesthesia (GA). Methods. The parents or caregivers of a consecutive clinical sample of children receiving comprehensive dental treatment under GA at the University of Otago School of Dentistry, Dunedin, and the Christchurch Oral Health Centre, Christchurch, New Zealand, were interviewed by telephone before and after the treatment. Questions were asked relating to the impact of the condition on the child and the family. The post-treatment questionnaire also sought information related to parental satisfaction with the care provided under GA. Results. The parents or caregivers of 95 children participated in the study: 49 had treatment completed at the University of Otago School of Dentistry; and 46 were treated at the Christchurch Oral Health Centre. The child sample comprised 55·8% males and 44·2% females with a mean age of 5·1 years. Their mean dmft was 8·2. A consistent pattern of improvement was found with each indicator used. Complaints of pain, problems with eating and sleeping, and behaviour concerns showed significant improvements, with 100% improvement for children for whom frequent pre-GA problems associated with eating, sleeping and behaviour were reported. Sixty-six parents had to arrange time away from employment on the day of the GA and almost half of those incurred a loss of income. The majority of parents reported a high degree of satisfaction with the care received. Conclusions. Treating young children with high disease experience in a single session under GA results in immediate improvement in oral health and aspects of their QoL for both the children and their families. [source] Ist Deutschland Hoch- oder Niedrigsteuerland?PERSPEKTIVEN DER WIRTSCHAFTSPOLITIK, Issue 1 2006Der Versuch einer Synthese Depending on the indicator used, the tax burden of firms is high or low in international comparison. We discuss the reasons for differences in results and propose an indicator which combines competing measurement concepts and can thus be understood as a synthesis of both. [source] Performance measurement in mental health care: present situation and future possibilitiesINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HEALTH PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2010Irma J. Baars Abstract This paper describes performance measurement and its indicators for mental health care services. Performance measurement can serve several goals such as accountability, quality improvement and performance management. For all three purposes structure, process and outcome indicators should be measured. Literature was retrieved from Medline and PsychInfo in order to see which performance indicators were used for the three purposes of performance measurement in mental health care. The indicators were classified in structure, process and outcome indicators. The results show no big differences in the indicators used among studies. Performance management is the performance measurement purpose most referred to, followed by accountability, and quality improvement. Outcome and process indicators are used most, structure indicators are in the minority. Several levels of measurement, that is national or service level, came forward in the literature review. To overcome misinterpretation of data and to be able to improve quality and manage performances, performance indicator sets should refer to structure, process and outcome. Indicators should be chosen carefully with the aim of the measurement taken into mind. Based on this review, a conceptual framework is presented to support managers in their decisions about which indictors can best be used for performance measurement. Additionally, a model that provides an understanding of the use of information gained by performance measurement is given. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Validity of single-item parental ratings of child oral healthINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PAEDIATRIC DENTISTRY, Issue 6 2008DAVID LOCKER Objective. The aim of this study was to assess the validity of single-item parental ratings of child oral heath. Methods. Data were collected during a study to assess the impacts of dental injury. Clinical examinations of children aged 11,14 years were undertaken that included measures of trauma, decay, treatment needs, and fluorosis. Children with trauma and a group of trauma-free children were followed-up. Parents were mailed a questionnaire along with a questionnaire for the child that contained a short form of the Child Perceptions Questionnaire 11,14 (CPQ11,14). Bivariate analyses examined associations between parents' ratings of their child's oral health, measures of dental disease, clinically defined treatment needs, and scores on the CPQ11,14. Logistic regression was used to see if the associations observed remained after controlling for access to dental care variables. Results. Complete data were collected from 370 children and their parents. Parental ratings showed significant associations with most of the clinical indicators used and CPQ11,14 scores. Similar results were obtained when the data were analysed for subgroups defined by household income and mother's education. These associations remained after controlling for access to dental services. Conclusion. The data suggest that single-item parental ratings of child oral health have adequate construct validity. [source] Learning conditions at work: a framework to understand and assess informal learning in the workplaceINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 1 2004Sveinung Skule The purpose of this article is to develop a framework to understand and assess the quality of learning environments in the workplace. It is argued that indicators used to measure and assess informal learning at work, at both the national and the enterprise level, are underdeveloped. Consequently, current frameworks to measure and benchmark learning are heavily biased towards education and formal training. A new framework is developed, based on a quantitative survey representative of the private sector in Norway. The framework consists of seven learning conditions, which have significant effects on informal learning at work. Implications for further research, policy and practice are discussed. [source] An evaluation of community and corporate bias in assessment toolsINTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SCIENCE JOURNAL, Issue 189 2006Irmgard Bauer This is a comprehensive review and evaluation of the main international and national tools utilised to assess the impact of developments on communities to determine their validity of their capacity to detect and measure impacts across a wide spectrum of community resources. Manuals from environmental, health and social impact assessment were reviewed. The criteria for evaluation were the type of indicators used in the tool; the stage at which communities were involved in the assessment process and whether assessments were completed from an insider (local) or outsider (expert) perspective. The findings were that few guidelines include detail in measuring, monitoring, and including community-validated indicators. It is still rare to find impact assessments that include criteria that are meaningful to the community rather than to the developer or outside expert. While the need to include the target community in the assessment process has been acknowledged over the last 10 to 20 years the rigorous work required for the development of criteria to validate community-driven assessment still needs to be completed. [source] Teeth and blood lead levels in egyptian schoolchildren: relationship to health effectsJOURNAL OF APPLIED TOXICOLOGY, Issue 4 2001Magdy Omar Abstract The objective of this work was to study teeth and blood lead levels in Egyptian schoolchildren and to relate lead levels to sociodemographic and environmental factors, the degree of urbanization and suspected manifestations of possible lead exposure. The study was conducted on 60 children aged 6,12 years: 30 children living in an urban area at Alexandria City and 30 children living in a rural area at Kafr El-Sheikh Province. Both groups are matched for age and gender. Every child was subjected to history taking, clinical examination and IQ measurements. Laboratory investigations included measuring teeth and blood lead levels, haemoglobin, serum iron and total iron binding capacity. The results showed that the mean blood lead level of children in Alexandria was significantly higher than that of the children in Kafr El-Sheikh; also 56.7% and 6.7% of children from Alexandria and Kafr El-Sheikh had a blood lead level of >20 µg dl,1, with the most frequent symptoms of headache, arthralgia and lack of school interest. The children in Alexandria had significantly lower mean teeth lead and haemoglobin levels than those of the Kafr El-Sheikh group. A history of wrapping sandwiches in newspapers, age and distance between the home and school were significant predictors of lead exposure. These findings support the concept that teeth lead concentration may be a valid addition to the indicators used for assessment of the body burden of environmental lead. In addition, children living in urban areas such as Alexandria need special consideration regarding protection from lead exposure, as well as teeth and blood lead evaluation. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Assessment of weight changes during and after pregnancy: practical approachesMATERNAL & CHILD NUTRITION, Issue 1 2008Amanda R. Amorim Abstract The usefulness of routine prenatal weight measurements in predicting pregnancy outcomes is still a controversial issue. Comparisons among studies and the interpretation of research findings are complicated due to the variety of indicators applied to express maternal weight changes during and after pregnancy. A review of literature was conducted to clarify the definitions and examine the strengths and limitations of methods for measuring gestational weight gain (WG) and postpartum weight changes. The reasons for weak correlations or non-significant associations between gestational WG and maternal and neonatal outcomes were probably owing to poor quality of obstetrics records and selection of wrong indicators to compute gestational WG. The choice of an indicator depends on clinical and research purpose, availability and reliability of data and cost. Considering the health implication of gestational WG, it is necessary to take into account the measurements used as initial and final weight, accuracy of gestational age estimation and the inclusion of fetal weight as part of maternal WG. Regardless of the indicators used to compute the weight changes after delivery, attention is drawn to the approach for designating prepregnancy weight, the time frame of postpartum weight measurements and the use of overlapping variables, which results in bias (part,whole correlation). It is necessary to address criticisms on the accuracy of prenatal weight measurements and the way of expressing the maternal weight changes during and after pregnancy in order to have reliable results from research. [source] Does Political Democracy Enhance Human Development in Developing Countries?AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY, Issue 2 2006A Cross-National Analysis Despite the considerable progress of human development (HD) in developing countries (DCs) during recent decades, vast differences still remain among such countries. The question thus arises of why these divergences persist. This cross-national study uses a larger sample of DCs to offer necessary testing of the impact of democracy on HD. This study adopts new measures of democracy featuring majority rule and political contention to estimate their correlation with three physical well-being indicators as well as with three school enrollment indicators. After controlling for several macro-level political and economic characteristics (state revenue and economic growth), the regression modeling for recent data from the 1980s and 1990s showed that democracies indeed achieved higher levels on the HD indicators used here. However, democracy was not a powerful predictor of changes in HD scores during the analysis period. Neither central government health or educational spending significantly altered HD. The conclusions offer a plausible explanation of why democracy in DCs failed to sustain its momentum in improving HD. [source] Short-term variation in the ecological status of a Mediterranean coastal lagoon (NE Iberian Peninsula) after a man-made change of hydrological regimeAQUATIC CONSERVATION: MARINE AND FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS, Issue 7 2008Anna Badosa Abstract 1.The Ter Vell (NE Iberian Peninsula) is a eutrophic coastal lagoon that has been mostly flooded by excessive irrigation water during recent decades. During 2001 and 2002 the lagoon was subject to several water management actions, the main consequence of which was a change in the hydrological regime due to drastically reduced irrigation water inputs to the lagoon. 2.In order to comply with the Water Framework Directive, all the management actions in an ecosystem should be focused on protecting and, where necessary, improving its ecological status. 3.The aims of this study were (1) to analyse whether the hydrological change caused by management actions have affected the ecological status of the lagoon, and (2) to discuss the suitability of several physicochemical and biological indicators for the assessment of the ecological status in this kind of coastal ecosystem. 4.After the change in the hydrological regime, a general improvement of the ecological status was observed mainly as a result of the significant decrease in the nitrogen Trophic State Index and in the abundance of rotifer indicative of eutrophy, and in turn by the significant increase in the water quality index QAELS, based on crustaceans and insect assemblages. 5.Contradictory results emerged with regard to some of the indicators used. After the hydrological change, the increase in the phosphorus Trophic State Index was related with the fact that Mediterranean confined coastal ecosystems are typically P-enriched. In contrast with general assumptions, low diversity and richness of the zooplankton and the dominance of a few species have been related with an improvement of the ecological status after the hydrological change, when freshwater inputs were reduced and the lagoon became more confined. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Oral health disparities and food insecurity in working poor CanadiansCOMMUNITY DENTISTRY AND ORAL EPIDEMIOLOGY, Issue 4 2009Vanessa Muirhead Abstract,,, Objectives:, This study explored oral health disparities associated with food insecurity in working poor Canadians. Methods:, We used a cross-sectional stratified study design and telephone survey methodology to obtain data from 1049 working poor persons aged between 18 and 64 years. The survey instrument contained sociodemographic items, self-reported oral health measures, access to dental care indicators (dental visiting behaviour and insurance coverage) and questions about competing financial demands. Food-insecure persons gave ,often' or ,sometimes' responses to any of the three food insecurity indicators used in the Canadian Community Health Survey (2003) assessing ,worry' about not having enough food, not eating enough food and not having the desired quality of food because of insufficient finances in the previous 12 months. Results:, Food-insecure working poor persons had poor oral health compared with food-secure working poor persons indicated by a higher percentage of denture wearers (P < 0.001) and a higher prevalence of toothache, pain and functional impacts related to chewing, speaking, sleeping and work difficulties (P < 0.001). Fewer food-insecure persons rated their oral health as good or very good (P < 0.001). Logistic regression analyses showed that oral health disparities between food-insecure and food-secure persons related to denture wearing, having a toothache, reporting poor/very poor self-rated oral health or experiencing an oral health impact persisted after adjusting for sociodemographic factors and access to dental care factors (P < 0.05). Food-insecure working poor persons reported relinquishing goods or services in order to pay for necessary dental care. Conclusions:, This study identified oral health disparities within an already marginalized group not alleviated by access to professional dental care. Working poor persons regarded professional dental care as a competing financial demand. [source] | ||||||||||||||||