Research policy

Objective: To describe common components of medical amnesty (MA) policies and examine how MA policies differ across institutions. Participants: 50 U.S. colleges and universities with current MA policies. Methods: A checklist was developed to compare and assess the campus MA policies of 50 institutions. Descriptive statistics, chi-square, and regression analyses were used to examine common policy components and differences across types of institutions. Results: 40% of policies did not include a purpose statement...

PURPOSE: Shared decision making (SDM) is an approach where clinicians and patients make decisions together using the best available evidence. Although much studied, recognized to be ethically imperative, and recommended in international health policies, it remains poorly implemented. In the Philippines, there are limited studies on patient decision making preferences and SDM. Practical guidance on the implementation of SDM or use of patient decision aids (PtDAs) is often not detailed in existing national clinical practice guidelines in oncology...

Critical nursing shortages and experiences of burnout present a significant challenge in the home and community care (HCC) health sector. Determining what factors influence resiliency could inform HCC organizations in developing recruitment and retention resources and strategies. This scoping review identified factors that influence professional resilience in nurses working in the HCC sector. From 1819 documents identified from database searches, using a librarian-informed strategy, eight articles were included...

This study examines the antecedents of environmental sustainability in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) of a developing country and explores the specific internal and external factors for environmental sustainability. The study focused on SMEs in Balochistan, Pakistan, utilizing convenience and purposive sampling techniques to select a sample size of 30 SMEs. In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted using a semi-structured questionnaire. The results of the study revealed that lack of finance and education are major barriers to recognizing and addressing environmental sustainability issues, along with the lack of government support and regulations to ensure compliance with environmental safety laws, hence leading to low concern for sustainability practices among SMEs...

With the development of China's economy entering a new stage, the quality of life, which centers on the well-being of residents, provides an essential hand in promoting the transformation of the regional economy from high-speed development to high-quality development. Based on a panel threshold regression model, we examine in this paper whether quality of life helps regional economies realize developmental convergence. The research shows that: (1) The quality of life overall can promote regional economic development and passes the series test with relatively robust results...

Alalili system is one among the fewest remnant African indigenous and local knowledge systems that is traditionally practiced by Maasai pastoral communities to conserve certain portions of rangeland resources such as pastures and water for subsequent grazing during dry seasons. Despite its existence, East African rangelands face diverse threats from tenure security, unsustainable practices, climate, and land-use change that are notably endangering the biodiversity, livelihoods, and ecosystems in the landscape...

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and near-surface ozone (O3) are the main atmospheric pollutants in China. Long-term exposure to high ozone concentrations adversely affects human health. It is of great significance to systematically analyze the spatiotemporal evolution mechanism and health effects of ozone pollution. Based on the ozone data of 91 monitoring stations in the Central Plains Urban Agglomeration from 2017 to 2020, the research used Kriging method and spatial autocorrelation analysis to investigate the spatiotemporal variations of ozone concentration...

Many older adults with complex care needs live at home due to ageing-in-place policies. This study explored homecare workers' experiences and suggestions for improvements of care. Twelve semi-structured interviews were analyzed thematically, and revealed pride, capability, and satisfaction in their work, yet they feel undervalued and lack support. They advocate for integrated care models, recognition of their competence, flexible work approaches, and committed leadership. This would enhance patient care and address their own working conditions, addressing concerns from being relegated to the bottom of the hierarchy...

BACKGROUND: Telemedicine offers a multitude of potential advantages, such as enhanced health care accessibility, cost reduction, and improved patient outcomes. The significance of telemedicine has been underscored by the COVID-19 pandemic, as it plays a crucial role in maintaining uninterrupted care while minimizing the risk of viral exposure. However, the adoption and implementation of telemedicine have been relatively sluggish in certain areas. Assessing the level of interest in telemedicine can provide valuable insights into areas that require enhancement...

Prior to the 2021 American Psychologist special issue "Rendered Invisible: Are Asian Americans a Model or a Marginalized Minority?" (Yip et al., 2021), only seven articles on Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) populations were published in the journal in 3 decades. The special issue interrogated sources of invisibility and marginalization of AANHPIs not only in the field of psychology but also in the broader national landscape. The current commentary provides a deeper dive into one of the primary drivers of AANHPI invisibility, anti-Asian biases encountered during the federal grant review process, which contributes to low funding rates and insufficient research on AANHPI communities...

The highly decentralized nature of global health governance presents significant challenges to conceptualizing and systematically measuring the agenda status of diseases, injuries, risks and other conditions contributing to the collective disease burden. An arenas model for global health agenda setting was recently proposed to help address these challenges. Further developing the model, this study aims to advance more robust inquiry into how and why priority levels may vary among the array of stakeholder arenas in which global health agenda setting occurs...

BACKGROUND: Quantifying the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in indoor settings is crucial for developing effective non-vaccine prevention strategies and policies. However, summary evidence on the transmission risks in settings other than households, schools, elderly care and healthcare facilities is limited. We conducted a systematic review to estimate the secondary attack rates (SARs) of SARS-CoV-2 and the factors modifying transmission risk in community indoor settings. METHODS: We searched Medline, Scopus, Web of Science, WHO COVID-19 Research Database, MedrXiv, and BiorXiv from January 1, 2020, to February 20, 2023...

BACKGROUND: Dental caries, a common chronic disease of childhood, is associated with adverse health and economic consequences for infants and their families. Socioeconomically disadvantaged children have a higher risk of early childhood caries (ECC). This review updates one published in 2019. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effects of interventions undertaken with pregnant women, new mothers or other primary caregivers of infants in the first year of life, for preventing ECC (from birth to six years)...

An integrated approach combining water quality indices (WQIs), multivariate data mining, and geographic information system (GIS) was employed to examine the water quality of Bheemasandra Lake, located adjacent to a sewage treatment plant (STP) in Tumakuru city, India. The analysis of 22 lake water samples, examined before and after the monsoons, revealed that the physicochemical parameters namely - electrical conductivity, biochemical oxygen demand, turbidity, total dissolved solids, ammoniacal nitrogen, nitrates, phosphates, magnesium, total hardness, total alkalinity, and calcium - exceeded the acceptable limits stipulated by national and international standards...

Landscape governance challenges, particularly in peri-urban contexts like the Bannerghatta National Park (BNP) region in South India, exemplify 'wicked' problems due to their inherent complexities. These challenges arise from a mix of conflicting interests, policy ambiguities, and sociocultural dynamics, which often blur the definition of problems and hinder effective solutions. Despite apparent options for resolution, stakeholder disagreements and deep uncertainties about implementation strategies complicate governance...

The interoperability Working Group of the Medical Informatics Initiative (MII) is the platform for the coordination of overarching procedures, data structures, and interfaces between the data integration centers (DIC) of the university hospitals and national and international interoperability committees. The goal is the joint content-related and technical design of a distributed infrastructure for the secondary use of healthcare data that can be used via the Research Data Portal for Health. Important general conditions are data privacy and IT security for the use of health data in biomedical research...

The digital health progress hubs pilot the extensibility of the concepts and solutions of the Medical Informatics Initiative to improve regional healthcare and research. The six funded projects address different diseases, areas in regional healthcare, and methods of cross-institutional data linking and use. Despite the diversity of the scenarios and regional conditions, the technical, regulatory, and organizational challenges and barriers that the progress hubs encounter in the actual implementation of the solutions are often similar...

Healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs) represent an enormous burden for patients, healthcare workers, relatives and society worldwide, including Germany. The central tasks of infection prevention are recording and evaluating infections with the aim of identifying prevention potential and risk factors, taking appropriate measures and finally evaluating them. From an infection prevention perspective, it would be of great value if (i) the recording of infection cases was automated and (ii) if it were possible to identify particularly vulnerable patients and patient groups in advance, who would benefit from specific and/or additional interventions...

OBJECTIVE: The objective of our study is to explore Nepali women's beliefs about access to mammography screening, and motivations to get screened or not. This work was intended to be hypothesis generating for subsequent quantitative analysis and to inform policy and decision-making to improve access. METHODS: We conducted structured qualitative interviews among nine Nepali women in the Northeast of the United States receiving care at a local community health center and among nine white women receiving mammography care at a large academic medical center in the Northeast...

This analysis and commentary discuss Romania's landmark law, the first globally, acknowledging the right of citizens and patients to personalized medicine. Initiated following the EU Council's 2015 policy on personalized medicine, the law is a result of intersectoral collaborative efforts led by the Centre for Innovation in Medicine in Romania using a quadruple (later evolved to penta) helix model involving academia, public, private, and civil society sectors. Promulgated on May 24, 2023, the law legally entitles patients to personalized health care and in ways informed by individual genetic and phenotypic consideration...