Health informatics and analytics - building a program to integrate business analytics across clinical and administrative disciplines.

Health care organizations must develop integrated health information systems to respond to the numerous government mandates driving the movement toward reimbursement models emphasizing value-based and accountable care. Success in this transition requires integrated data analytics, supported by the combination of health informatics, interoperability, business process design, and advanced decision support tools. This case study presents the development of a master's level cross- and multidisciplinary informatics program offered through a business school. The program provides students from diverse backgrounds with the knowledge, leadership, and practical application skills of health informatics, information systems, and data analytics that bridge the interests of clinical and nonclinical professionals. This case presents the actions taken and challenges encountered in navigating intra-university politics, specifying curriculum, recruiting the requisite interdisciplinary faculty, innovating the educational format, managing students with diverse educational and professional backgrounds, and balancing multiple accreditation agencies.

[Contact with death or illness and career choice in non-medical healthprofessions and business students: a cross-sectional analysis]. / Contatto con morte, malattia e scelta della carriera nelle professioni sanitarie non mediche e negli studenti di economia: un'analisi trasversale.

UNLABELLED: . Contact with death or illness and career choice in non-medical health professions and business students: a cross-sectional analysis. PURPOSE: It is anecdotally reported that a personal severe illness or the death of a significant person might be key reasons for the choice of a career in the non-medical health professions. AIM: The aim of the questionnaire was to explore past relevant life events before starting professional studies (severe personal illness; severe illness or death of a significant person; drug addiction of a relative or friend) by comparing students of nursing or other non medical health professions with business students. METHODS: An anonymous questionnaire with standardized closed questions was distributed in 2010 to a group of bachelor students of non-medical health professions (nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and rescue care) and to a control group of business students at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland. RESULTS: Students of non-medical health professions had been, compared to business students, significantly more exposed to severe illnesses or the death of a relative (OR 3.070, CI95% 1.716-5.494), to personal severe illness (OR 3.950, CI95% 1.384-11.279) and to addiction of a relative or friend (OR 2.672, CI95% 1.316-5.422) before starting their professional studies. CONCLUSIONS: This cross-sectional analysis suggests that exposure to a severe illness or death may play an important role in the choice of career, probably by supporting intrinsic motivations. Further research should explore the role of those past life experience in professional behavior.

Taking alcohol by deception: an analysis of ethanol concentration of "paraga" an alcoholic herbal mixture in Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Alcohol related road traffic injuries are on the rise in Nigeria. A sizable proportion of the alcohol intake is disguised as herbal medicines which are commonly available at motor parks in most urban centres. This study aims to determine the ethanol concentration of the herbal preparations and the vendors' knowledge about their preparation and use. Twenty-eight samples of the paraga mixtures were obtained for analysis from 22 paraga vendors. The vendors were interviewed in the motor parks using a semi-structured questionnaire. RESULTS: All the paraga outlets were located in or near motor parks. Commercial motor drivers and motorcyclists accounted for most customers. There were no formal recipes, production involved no calibrations or weighing and thus the components and concentration of different batches varied. The alcohol by volume (ABV) of the samples ranged between 1.20% and 20.84%. Nine samples were weaker than beers (Alcohol By Volume (ABV) of 1-3.1%). Ten were equivalent to beer (ABV:3-8%) and the rest were equivalent to wine (ABV:8-12%) or stronger (ABV: 18-20%). CONCLUSIONS: Paraga should be classified as alcoholic beverages, and its sale restricted as such. The production should come under scrutiny, because the haphazard ways they are prepared may pose other health risks apart from those due to their alcoholic contents.

A new paradigm in health care curriculums: the pharmaceutical and health care business degree.

The rapid growth of the healthcare industry, and the need to operate more efficiently in this environment, has generated an unmet need for competent business professionals with knowledge of the health care sciences. Additionally, student demand for a business curriculum that would satisfy the needs of the health care industry has provided the impetus for the development of the B.S. Pharmaceutical Health Care and Business program (PHCB). The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the evolution of this innovative curriculum within a school of Pharmacy, and to assess student satisfaction with the current PHCB program. To that end, a 19-item online questionnaire was developed and a group of 56 graduates (2007-2009) were surveyed which resulted in a response rate of 80%. The findings of this study indicated there was an overall high level of student satisfaction with this curriculum with an average of 86%, and that the PHCB program may offer potential to prepare graduates for the business and managerial aspects in the pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device, hospital and other allied health care segments.

New series for agricultural prices in London, 1770­1914.

New annual series for the prices of major agricultural commodities sold in London markets between 1770 and 1914 are presented. These series are based on bimonthly observations drawn from newspaper market reports. The products covered are wheat, barley (grinding and malting), oats, potatoes, hay, butter, beef, mutton, and pork. Annual prices are calculated for both calendar and production years. The new series are compared to existing series.

Monitoring the marketing, distribution, and use of Sprinkles micronutrient powders in rural western Kenya.

BACKGROUND: In 2007, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention partnered with local Kenyan institutions to implement the Nyando Integrated Child Health and Education Project, an effectiveness study that used social marketing and a community-based distribution program to promote the sale of Sprinkles and other health products. OBJECTIVE: To describe monitoring of wholesale sales, household demand, promotional strategies, and perceived factors influencing Sprinkles sales among vendors. METHODS: Ongoing quantitative and qualitative monitoring of Sprinkles sales began in May 2007 in 30 intervention villages. Data sources included baseline and follow-up cross-sectional surveys; office records of Sprinkles sales to vendors; biweekly household monitoring of Sprinkles use; and qualitative data collection, including vendor focus groups and key informant interviews. RESULTS: A total of 550 children aged 6 to 35 months were enrolled at baseline, and 451 were available at 12-month follow-up. During this period, nearly 160,000 sachets were sold wholesale to vendors, with variability in sales influenced by the social, political, and economic context. Vendors living closer to the wholesale office purchased more Sprinkles, so a second office was opened closer to remote vendors. On average, 33% of households purchased Sprinkles during household monitoring visits. Training sessions and community launches were important for community support and raising awareness about Sprinkles. Vendor incentives motivated vendors to sell Sprinkles, and consumer incentives promoted purchases. CONCLUSIONS: Sprinkles program monitoring in Kenya was critically important for understanding sales and distribution trends and vendor perceptions. Understanding these trends led to strategic changes to the intervention over time.

Formative research exploring acceptability, utilization, and promotion in order to develop a micronutrient powder (Sprinkles) intervention among Luo families in western Kenya.

BACKGROUND: There is a lack of peer-reviewed literature describing in detail the formative research to develop Sprinkles interventions. OBJECTIVE: To describe community members' reactions to and experiences using Sprinkles, with an emphasis on acceptability, utilization, and promotion. METHODS: Fourteen initial focus group discussions on Sprinkles and a 25-family home study were conducted. For the home study, each child 6 to 59 months of age in the household received 30 sachets (1 per day). The initial 14 focus group discussions included mothers, grandmothers, vendors, women who purchased from vendors, and adults in the general population. Home study families were recruited from participants in the initial 14 focus group discussions who had at least one child 6 to 59 months of age. RESULTS: Sprinkles were highly acceptable to adults and most children; some children thought Sprinkles were sugar. Most home study families prepared and used Sprinkles correctly. All families reported positive effects, particularly increased appetite, and recommended Sprinkles; none experienced major problems. Potential barriers identified were lack of knowledge of and experience with Sprinkles, availability of Sprinkles, and cost. Promotional messages targeted to mothers, fathers, all child-care providers, and doctors focused on the positive health effects of Sprinkles. CONCLUSIONS: Issues related to Sprinkles preparation, use, and barriers required attention before implementation. Locally appropriate visual and written instructions were developed for dissemination. Intervention training sessions and promotions were tailored to answer frequently asked questions, increase knowledge of Sprinkles, and provide tangible evidence of health benefits. Information needs and perceptions changed quickly after use of Sprinkles. Existing levels of Sprinkles awareness and knowledge should be considered when designing interventions.

[A bit of business administration--no problem for physicians: Master of Business Administration as panacea?]. / Das bisschen Betriebswirtschaft - für Arzte kein Problem : Der Master of Business Administration als Wundermittel?

Medical professionals with additional economic qualifications are in high demand. For doctors who aim for leading positions at medical institutions the most popular additional qualification is a Master of Business Administration (MBA). The demands on executive managers in hospitals have without any doubt changed in recent years requiring them to be trained in basic economic understanding, human resource management etc. in addition to having excellent medical training. However, MBA programs differ from one academic institution to the next. Due to the lack of standardized schedules in MBA programs it cannot be ascertained whether a candidate received adequate training and can offer the skills necessary for a higher level medical profession. In this paper the author suggests that specific training in individually required skills would be more reasonable and effective rather than encouraging medical staff to pursue academic studies leading to an MBA.

[Protomedicato and pharmacy in Castile at the end of the sixteenth century: "Catálogo de las Cosas que los Boticarios han de tener en sus Boticas" (Catalogue of the things that apothecaries must have in their shops), by Andrés Zamudio de Alfaro, Protomédico General (1592-1599)]. / Protomedicato y farmacia en Castilla a finales del siglo XVI: edición crítica del "Catálogo de las Cosas que los Boticarios han de tener en sus Boticas," de Andrés Zamudio de Alfaro, Protomédico General (1592-1599).

In this article we present a catalogue of medicinal products preserved in a manuscript copy among the papers of a druggist who died in Madrid in 1599. This catalogue, whose title expresses its normative character, contains 423 entries and is signed by Andrés Zamudio de Alfaro, Protomédico General of Castile from 1592 until his death in 1599. It was presumably issued by the Real Tribunal del Protomedicato during the last decade of the sixteenth century for the use of the protomédicos and examiners who carried out official visits to apothecaries under the aegis of the Tribunal, in accordance with the royal decrees of 1588 and 1593, and was also distributed among the apothecaries themselves and their suppliers, such as the druggist who possessed the copy edited here. The document offers valuable evidence of the policy of normalization of medical, and specifically pharmaceutical, practice imposed during this period by the State through the Protomedicato.

Correspondence of Charles Darwin on James Torbitt's project to breed blight-resistance potatoes.

The most prolific of Darwin's correspondents from Ireland was James Torbitt, an enterprising grocer and wine merchant of 58 North Street, Belfast. Between February 1876 and March 1882, 141 letters were exchanged on the feasibility and ways of supporting one of Torbitt's commercial projects, the large-scale production and distribution of true potato seeds (Solan um tuberosum) to produce plants resistant to the late blight fungus Phytophthora infestans, the cause of repeated potato crop failures and thus the Irish famines in the nineteenth century. Ninety-three of these letters were exchanged between Torbitt and Darwin, and 48 between Darwin and third parties, seeking or offering help and advice on the project. Torbitt's project required selecting the small proportion of plants in an infested field that survived the infection, and using those as parents to produce seeds. This was a direct application of Darwin's principle of selection. Darwin cautiously lobbied high-ranking civil servants in London to obtain government funding for the project, and also provided his own personal financial support to Torbit.

Too drunk for a beer? A study of overserving in Stockholm.

AIMS: To evaluate the effects of a community alcohol prevention programme on the frequency of alcohol service to intoxicated patrons at licensed premises. DESIGN: Pretest (1996)-post-test (1999) design. SETTING: Licensed premises in Stockholm, Sweden. INTERVENTION: The community alcohol prevention programme, including server training in responsible beverage service (RBS) and policy initiatives in the community, has been conducted since 1996. PARTICIPANTS AND MEASUREMENTS: Actors were hired to enter licensed premises, enact a scene of severe intoxication and attempt to order a beer. At the baseline in 1996, actors visited 92 licensed premises, 47 from the central part of Stockholm and 45 from the southern part of Stockholm. At the follow-up in 1999, 103 licensed premises were visited, 61 from the central part of Stockholm and 42 from the southern part of Stockholm. Observers monitored each visit. FINDINGS: At follow-up the actors were denied service of alcohol at 47% of the licensed premises, a statistically significant improvement compared to 5% in the baseline study. CONCLUSIONS: Licensed premises refused service of alcohol to intoxicated patrons to a much greater extent than in the baseline study. The improved results can probably be explained by a combination of policy initiatives in the community, changes in the overall enforcement environment and RBS training.

Medicinal exploitation of inorganic substances in the Levant in the Medieval and early Ottoman periods.

Various minerals, metals, clays, and rocks were among the natural medicinal substances used by physicians and pharmacists in early times in different cultures, for example, the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia. Classical physicians such as Hippocrates and Dioscorides mention tens of inorganic medicinal substances in their writings. Many references to minerals and chemicals are also found in the Muslim medical literature of the Eastern and Western Caliphates. The historical research presented in this article focuses on the inorganic substances applied as remedies by the medieval and early Ottoman (7th-17th) inhabitants of the Levant. The article is based upon a literature review covering tens of different historical sources, from the medieval and early Ottoman periods. Relevant information was found in the works of physicians such as al-Tamimi, Benevenutus, Ibn al-Baytar, Daud al-Antaki, and Hayyim Vital. The research revealed evidences of the medicinal uses of fifteen inorganic substances: Alum, Arsenic, Sulphide, Asphalt, Jew's stone, Earth sp., Galena, Haematite, iron, Lead, Pyrite, Salt, Sulphur, Thermal water, Green Vitriol, and Zinc. Inorganic materials comprise 5.2% of the list of medicinal substances. The geographic origin of most of these substances is the Levant, in which two geo-historical centers have been recorded: the Rift Valley and the northern region of the Levant, including upper Galilee, Mount Lebanon and Mount Hermon. A notable tendency to use these substances for treating diseases of the skin, the eyes, the sexual organs, and haemorrhoids was detected.