Collaborative care: a professional practice model.

Healthcare economics has caused dramatic changes in resource assessment, utilization, and reorganization in hospitals. To address the mismatch between demand and resources and to ensure quality at the bedside, staff members at a 354-bed acute care facility designed and implemented the Collaborative Care Model (CCM). The authors describe this theory-based, collaborative, multidisciplinary professional practice model.

Marriage as bondage: the anomaly of the citizen wife.

The meaning of marriage for women was a hotly disputed issue in Australia during the first half of the twentieth century and beyond. Conscious of their status as citizens, interwar feminists became preoccupied with the anomalous condition of wives in a modern democracy. The provision of personal service in exchange for keep, the condition of wives was defined as an anachronism, a political relic, a form of feudal bondage. Feminists campaigned for the economic independence of married women, demanding legislation that would give wives legal ownership of household savings as well as a legal entitlement to a share in their husbands' wages.

Six weeks of training does not change running mechanics or improve running economy.

Running technique and economy (VO2submax) were examined before and after a 6-wk period of running training. Fifteen males were filmed and performed 10-min economy runs at 3.36 m.s-1 on a treadmill. An incremental treadmill test was used to record running performance and maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max). Subjects were randomly assigned to a training group and a control group that did not participate in any running program. There were no significant changes in kinematic variables between pre- and post-training tests for either group. Neither were there any significant physiological changes over the 6 wk in the control group. However, the training group demonstrated a significantly (P < 0.01) increased VO2max (57.7 +/- 6.2 vs 61.3 +/- 6.3 ml.kg-1.min-1) and running performance. VO2submax in the training group was significantly (P < 0.05) worse (41.0 +/- 4.5 vs 42.4 +/- 4.3 ml.kg-1.min-1) post-training, although the percent utilization of VO2max (71.6 +/- 7.9 vs 69.3 +/- 6.9%) and submaximal heart rate (169 +/- 15 vs 161 +/- 15 beats.min-1) were significantly lower (P < 0.05). The training-induced improvements in running performance could be attributed to physiological rather than biomechanical modifications. There were no changes in biomechanical descriptors of running style that signaled changes in running economy.

Survey of falls of inpatients at the Ryde Hospital in 1986.

OBJECTIVE: To outline the findings of one survey, and to raise some general issues about falls. METHOD: A retrospective survey of all recorded inpatient falls in 1986. RESULTS: There were 74 falls recorded in 1986, which gave an incidence rate of 0.184 falls per hundred bed days. Due to the lack of data on falls from other local hospitals, no meaningful comparison can be made. Not unexpectedly, the elderly were at greatest risk of falling, and the most common type of fall was from bed. Most falls caused no major injuries.