Considerations on methodology used in the World Health Organization 2000 Report. (1/17)

The article analyzes the World Health Organization Report for 2000, with emphasis placed on the methodology used to analyze the indicators utilized to compare and classify the performance of the health systems of the 191 member countries. The Report's contribution was the compromise of monitoring the performance of the health systems of member countries, but because of the inconsistent way it was elaborated, and the utilization of questionable scientific evaluation methodologies, the Report fails to give a clear picture. A criterion-based methodology revision is imposed. The main problems in evidence are the choice of individual indicators of disparity in health that discount the population profile, the inadequate control of the impact of social disparities over the performance of the systems, the evaluation of the responsibility of systems that are only partially articulated to the right of the citizens, the lack of data for a great number of countries, consequently having inconsistent estimations, and the lack of transparency in the methodological procedures in the calculation of some indicators. The article suggests a wide methodological revision of the Report.  (+info)

The Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries Annual Statistics: an exploratory twenty-five-year trend analysis. (2/17)

This paper presents an exploratory trend analysis of the statistics published over the past twenty-four editions of the Annual Statistics of Medical School Libraries in the United States and Canada. The analysis focuses on the small subset of nineteen consistently collected data variables (out of 656 variables collected during the history of the survey) to provide a general picture of the growth and changing dimensions of services and resources provided by academic health sciences libraries over those two and one-half decades. The paper also analyzes survey response patterns for U.S. and Canadian medical school libraries, as well as osteopathic medical school libraries surveyed since 1987. The trends show steady, but not dramatic, increases in annual means for total volumes collected, expenditures for staff, collections and other operating costs, personnel numbers and salaries, interlibrary lending and borrowing, reference questions, and service hours. However, when controlled for inflation, most categories of expenditure have just managed to stay level. The exceptions have been expenditures for staff development and travel and for collections, which have both outpaced inflation. The fill rate for interlibrary lending requests has remained steady at about 75%, but the mean ratio of items lent to items borrowed has decreased by nearly 50%.  (+info)

The Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries Annual Statistics: a thematic history. (3/17)

The Annual Statistics of Medical School Libraries in the United States and Canada (Annual Statistics) is the most recognizable achievement of the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries in its history to date. This article gives a thematic history of the Annual Statistics, emphasizing the leadership role of editors and Editorial Boards, the need for cooperation and membership support to produce comparable data useful for everyday management of academic medical center libraries and the use of technology as a tool for data gathering and publication. The Annual Statistics' origin is recalled, and survey features and content are related to the overall themes. The success of the Annual Statistics is evident in the leadership skills of the first editor, Richard Lyders, executive director of the Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library. The history shows the development of a survey instrument that strives to produce reliable and valid data for a diverse group of libraries while reflecting the many complex changes in the library environment. The future of the Annual Statistics is assured by the anticipated changes facing academic health sciences libraries, namely the need to reflect the transition from a physical environment to an electronic operation.  (+info)

Annual reports of antibiotic use and resistance--for whom? (4/17)

Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands, countries with low antibiotic use and low antimicrobial resistance, issue yearly reports on antimicrobial consumption and resistance. In these countries the reports have political priority and aim to disseminate information and promote antibiotic strategies within and between countries.  (+info)

Translating words into actions: are governments acting on the advice of the World health report? (5/17)

Every year, WHO produces the World health report: the 2005 report concentrated on maternal, neonatal and child health. But what is the value of these reports? Are they ritualistic publications designed to promote WHO, or are they worthy of proper discussion and debate? One would think that given the current crises in global health, the annual report of the UN's primary agency for health would be important. However, unless there is evidence that these reports are taken seriously, discussed and debated, and shown to have an effect, a conclusion might be drawn that they are largely insignificant. And that would consign WHO to a level of insignificance that it does not warrant. In this discussion of the 2005 report, I aim to provoke a response from both WHO and the international health community to demonstrate that the annual World health reports are meaningful. Furthermore, I suggest here that WHO shows its commitment to the recommendations of the 2005 report by monitoring how well recommendations have been taken forward.  (+info)

Out-of-hours primary care. Implications of organisation on costs. (6/17)

BACKGROUND: To perform out-of-hours primary care, Dutch general practitioners (GPs) have organised themselves in large-scale GP cooperatives. Roughly, two models of out-of-hours care can be distinguished; GP cooperatives working separate from the hospital emergency department (ED) and GP cooperatives integrated with the hospital ED. Research has shown differences in care utilisation between these two models; a significant shift in the integrated model from utilisation of ED care to primary care. These differences may have implications on costs, however, until now this has not been investigated. This study was performed to provide insight in costs of these two different models of out-of-hours care. METHODS: Annual reports of two GP cooperatives (one separate from and one integrated with a hospital emergency department) in 2003 were analysed on costs and use of out-of-hours care. Costs were calculated per capita. Comparisons were made between the two cooperatives. In addition, a comparison was made between the costs of the hospital ED of the integrated model before and after the set up of the GP cooperative were analysed. RESULTS: Costs per capita of the GP cooperative in the integrated model were slightly higher than in the separate model (epsilon 11.47 and epsilon 10.54 respectively). Differences were mainly caused by personnel and other costs, including transportation, interest, cleaning, computers and overhead. Despite a significant reduction in patients utilising ED care as a result of the introduction of the GP cooperative integrated within the ED, the costs of the ED remained the same. CONCLUSION: The study results show that the costs of primary care appear to be more dependent on the size of the population the cooperative covers than on the way the GP cooperative is organised, i.e. separated versus integrated. In addition, despite the substantial reduction of patients, locating the GP cooperative at the same site as the ED was found to have little effect on costs of the ED. Sharing more facilities and personnel between the ED and the GP cooperative may improve cost-efficiency.  (+info)

The 2006 ERA-EDTA Registry annual report: a precis. (7/17)

INTRODUCTION: This paper provides a summary of the 2006 European Renal Association-European Dialysis and Transplant Association (ERA-EDTA) Registry report. METHODS: Data on renal replacement therapy (RRT) were available from 50 national and regional registries in 28 countries in Europe and bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Data sets with individual patient data were received from 35 registries, whereas 17 registries contributed data in aggregated form. For both types of registries we presented incidence, prevalence and transplant rates. Survival analysis and the calculation of expected remaining lifetimes were solely based on individual patient records. RESULTS: In 2006, among all registries reporting to the ERA-EDTA Registry, the overall annual incidence rate of RRT was 118 per million population (pmp), and the prevalence was 630 pmp. Incidence rates varied from 213 pmp in Germany to 18 pmp in Ukraine. The overall incidence rate of RRT for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) started to decrease from 2004. The highest prevalence of RRT for ESRD was reported by Cantabria, Spain (1,234 pmp) and the lowest by Ukraine (73 pmp). Overall transplant rates were highest in Spain (61 pmp), whereas the highest transplant rates with living donor kidneys were reported from Iceland (26 pmp). The unadjusted 1-, 2- and 5-year survival of patients on RRT was 82.3 (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 82.0-82.5), 70.9 (95% CI, 70.7-71.2) and 47.5 (95% CI, 47.3-47.6) for the cohort 1997-2001, respectively.  (+info)

Annual Report to the Nation on the status of cancer, 1975-2008, featuring cancers associated with excess weight and lack of sufficient physical activity. (8/17)

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