Adequacy of fellowship training: results of a survey of recently graduated fellows.
(9/177)
The adequacy of fellowship training in the field of infectious diseases was assessed by means of a survey of recently graduated fellows. Surveys were mailed to all individuals who had passed the American Board of Internal Medicine's board certification examination in infectious diseases since 1992. A total of 666 completed surveys were returned by the deadline (response rate, 36%). Although most recent graduates thought that training in the standard components of clinical infectious diseases was adequate, only 50% thought that training in infection control was adequate. Fewer than 1 in 3 believed that they had received adequate training in the business aspects of infectious diseases practice. The adequacy and duration of research training were linked to ultimate career choice. These results form the basis for the Infectious Diseases Society of America's new initiatives to assist with more-diversified and relevant fellowship training. (+info)
Lessons learned in a European-Latin American collaboration for developing postgraduate education in public health.
(10/177)
BACKGROUND: New funding from the European Union (EU) allowed the collaborative development of postgraduate education in public health between five countries in South America and Europe. METHODS: A planning meeting, two workshops, a final meeting and the use of e-mail and faxes for discussing curricula were employed. RESULTS: One new master of public health in Argentina has begun, plans for new masters in Chile have been developed. A new collaborative module using the Internet was started and is now in its third year, new European plans for distance learning are being developed. Possibilities for collaborative research have been identified and those involved developed a broader horizon and international contacts. The planned grant from the EU was 72,040 Euros. Staff time spent administering the project was much greater than time spent discussing curricula. This is the only publication. CONCLUSION: Although the aims were achieved, the opportunity costs were great, as methods of assessing European research do not value such work highly and the administrative burden of small EU grants is high. Once a network is established greater efforts should be put into electronic communication, but European programmes currently do not fund such 'remote' support. (+info)
Assistance to States for the Education of Children with Disabilities. Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Department of Education. Final regulations.
(11/177)
The Secretary amends the regulations for the Assistance to States for the Education of Children with Disabilities program under Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA; Part B). This amendment is needed to implement the statutory provision that for any fiscal year in which the appropriation for section 611 of the IDEA exceeds $4.1 billion, a local educational agency (LEA) may treat as local funds up to 20 percent of the amount it receives that exceeds the amount it received during the prior fiscal year. The amendment is intended to ensure effective implementation of the 20 percent rule by clarifying which funds under Part B of IDEA can be included in the 20 percent calculation, and, as a result, to reduce the potential for audit exceptions. (+info)
Use of corporate sponsorship as a tobacco marketing tool: a review of tobacco industry sponsorship in the USA, 1995-99.
(12/177)
OBJECTIVE: To describe the nature and extent of tobacco company sponsorship in the USA during the period 1995-99 and analyse this sponsorship in a marketing context. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study of tobacco company sponsorships identified through a customised research report from IEG Inc, and from internet web site searches. METHODS: First, a customised report was received from IEG Inc, which identified sponsorship activities for Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds, Brown & Williamson, Lorillard, and US Tobacco for the years 1997 and 1998. Second, the internet was systematically searched for tobacco industry sponsorships during the period 1995-99 by the same parent companies and their respective brands. RESULTS: During the period 1995-99, tobacco companies sponsored at least 2733 events, programmes, and organisations in the USA. Sponsorships involved all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and the minimum total funding amount of these sponsorships was $365.4 million. Tobacco corporate sponsorships involved numerous small, community based organisations, both through direct funding and through grants to larger umbrella organisations, and many of these organisations were part of the public health infrastructure. CONCLUSIONS: Tobacco corporate sponsorship serves as an important marketing tool for tobacco companies, serving both a sales promotion and public relations function. Public health practitioners need to develop better surveillance systems for monitoring tobacco sponsorship, to seek out alternative funding sources for tobacco company sponsored events and organisations, and to consider promoting a ban on tobacco sponsorship, possibly linking such regulation to the creation of alternative funding sources. (+info)
Philip Morris' new scientific initiative: an analysis.
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In the fall of 2000, Philip Morris re-initiated an external research grants programme ("Philip Morris External Research Program", or PMERP), the first since the dissolution of the Council for Tobacco Research (CTR) and the Center for Indoor Air Research (CIAR). The ostensible purpose of the programme is to help develop cigarette designs "that might reduce the health risk of smoking". Internal company documents also indicate that Philip Morris urgently seeks to restore its scientific "credibility", as part of a "new openness" in relation to the external community. The structure of the review panel--a cohort of external peer reviewers, a science advisory board, and an internal, anonymous review and approvals committee--is nearly identical to that of the CIAR. The majority of the named reviewers have had previous affiliation with the tobacco industry either as reviewers or grantees, but only a minority have done research directly on tobacco or smoking. The programmatic substance of the PMERP could be interpreted as soliciting exculpatory evidence with respect to smoking and exposure to smoke. We remain sceptical about the scientific integrity of PMERP. (+info)
The national financial adjustment policy and the equalisation of health levels among prefectures.
(14/177)
STUDY OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to examine (1) trends concerning financial assistance from the national government to local governments, (2) trends regarding death rates and life expectancies among prefectures, and (3) the effect of the national financial adjustment policy in equalising both the revenues of local governments and variations in the health levels among prefectures in terms of death rates and life expectancies. DESIGN: The study analysed prefectural income, the amount of national taxes collected, financial assistance from the national government to local governments, and age adjusted death rates and life expectancies of all of the prefectures in Japan during the period from 1965 through 1995. MAIN RESULTS: (1) Under the financial adjustment policy, financial assistance from the national government to the local governments, which consists of the sum of the local allocation tax and treasury disbursements, increased from 1831 billion yen in 1965 to 31 116 billion yen in 1995. (2) During the same period, the age adjusted death rate per 100 000 people decreased from 1168.9 (1965) to 545.3 (1995). The range of variation in the age adjusted death rate among prefectures diminished as the coefficient of variation of the death rate declined from 0.060 in 1965 to 0.043 in 1995. (3) There was a significant statistical correlation between higher prefectural incomes and lower mortality rates during from 1965 until 1975 (p < 0.05), whereas this correlation was indistinct in the 1980s and has not been observed since 1990. (4) The relative health level of Tokyo has declined in terms of its ranking among all the prefectures with regard to life expectancy, from being the best in 1965 to below average in 1995. CONCLUSIONS: The national financial adjustment policy to balance the revenues of local governments has increased the health levels of rural prefectures. It is probable that the policy reduced the disparity in death rates and life expectancies among prefectures throughout the country. However, the policy has precluded the nation's capital city from applying its economic resources as local government expenditures to deal with the megacity issues affecting health. (+info)
Response to Roger W. Hunt.
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A response to a critique by Roger W. Hunt of my views on the eventual likely need to use age as a standard for the allocation of expensive, high-technology, life-extending medical care for the elderly. The response encompasses three elements: 1. that while the elderly have a substantial claim to publicly-provided health care, it cannot be an unlimited claim; 2. that a health care system which provided a decent, coherent set of medical and social services for the elderly would be sufficient, even if some limits had to be set; and 3. allocation and rationing decisions should not be made by individual doctors at the bedside but by regional or national policy. (+info)