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Archive for: November 2012
Nov 30 2012

I’m Positive—World AIDS Day Documentary

Nov 30, 2012, 10:10 AM

Otis Harris Jr. Otis Harris Jr.

On World AIDS Day, Saturday, December 1, I’m Positive, a new documentary produced by the Kaiser Family Foundation and MTV, will introduce three young adults living with HIV. The documentary is part of a project called GYT: Get Yourself Tested, a campaign to encourage testing for STDs, including HIV. GYT is a sexual health public information partnership between the Kaiser Family Foundation and MTV.

NewPublicHealth spoke with cast member Otis Harris, who is an HIV/AIDS peer advocate who lives in Chicago.

NewPublicHealth: How old are you and how old were you when you found out that you were HIV positive?

Otis Harris Jr.: I am 25 years old and I was 22 [when I found out I was HIV positive].

NPH: What do you wish you had known then that you know now?

Otis Harris Jr.: I wish that I could have been a little more educated about the virus and what to look for and how to protect myself. And if I would have known what I know now then I probably wouldn’t have been infected.

NPH: People have been working on HIV/AIDS education efforts for so many years now, but clearly they weren’t getting through. What are the ways in which they didn’t communicate well and how can they communicate better?

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Nov 29 2012

Shifting Administration of Vaccines to Nurses Improves Outcomes

Nov 29, 2012, 12:00 PM

Patients are more likely to get influenza and pneumococcal vaccinations when the responsibility for immunization administration is shifted to non-physician health care professionals, especially nurses, according to a systematic review published in the Annals of Family Medicine. Quality improvement interventions that use this “team change” strategy were associated with a 44 percent increase in influenza vaccination rates, and more than doubled the likelihood of a patient getting a pneumococcal vaccination.

The authors found that team changes were most effective when a nurse assumed responsibility for administering vaccinations. “Interventions in which nurses or pharmacists assessed patients and reminded physicians, but did not themselves administer vaccinations, were ineffective,” the study says. “…Configuring additional personnel so that they are able [to] relieve physicians of vaccinations seems important to successful team change.”

A family physician often has more immediate concerns to address when a patient comes in for a check-up, co-author Jeffrey Johnson, of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, told Reuters. “But for a nurse in the primary care setting, [vaccinations and other preventive care] might be the first thing they’re responsible for,” he said. “The evidence, we think, clearly shows that shifting the responsibility and the ability to the non-physician personnel... That works.”

The review and analysis also finds that personal outreach to patients is an effective strategy for raising immunization rates.

Read the study.

This commentary originally appeared on the RWJF Human Capital Blog. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the authors.

Nov 28 2012

Hurricane Sandy: Recovering from Environmental Dangers in New Jersey

Nov 28, 2012, 4:08 PM

New Jersey

Concerned by reports that volunteers and New Jersey residents are frequently unaware of environmental dangers when cleaning up homes and communities, the New Jersey Department of Health released an advisory earlier this week with advice on staying safe while scrubbing and rehabbing. Mold and materials containing asbestos and lead-based paint are examples of potential hazards in storm-damaged buildings and the advisory urged those tackling the heavy jobs to wear protective equipment appropriate for the work they are doing such as waterproof boots, gloves, goggles, and face masks.

"Homeowners doing cleanup work and the volunteers assisting them are critical assets in New Jersey's recovery efforts, but making sure they protect themselves is equally important," said New Jersey Health Commissioner Mary O'Dowd.

NewPublicHeatlh recently spoke about Hurricane Sandy clean-up safety with Donna Leusner, director of communications for the New Jersey Department of Health; Tina Tan, MD, state epidemiologist and assistant commissioner for epidemiology, environmental and occupational health and Joe Eldridge, director of New Jersey’s Consumer, Environmental and Occupational Health Service.

NewPublicHealth: What kind of environmental concerns specifically are there for those cleaning up the community after the storm?

Dr. Tan: There are concerns about individuals coming into contact with contaminated materials, whether contaminated with chemicals or infectious agents—residuals from flood waters as well as the general debris that might be around. We encourage individuals to take the appropriate precautions to try to avoid any sort of injuries or potential illnesses that could result from contact with these contaminated materials.

NPH: Are people aware of the critical basic information for safe cleanup, such as getting a tetanus shot if they’re injured during the cleanup in such terrible conditions? 

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Nov 28 2012

Open mHealth: Making Sense of Mobile Health Data

Nov 28, 2012, 10:10 AM, Posted by Pioneer Blog Team

By David Haddad, program manager of Open mHealth

Next week, Pioneer grantee Open mHealth will showcase its work during the 2012 mHealth Summit in Washington, D.C. at a panel with co-founder Deborah Estrin on Monday and an “Open mHealth” special session on Tuesday.

What Is an Open Architecture?

Open architecture is software with source code that is freely available to developers to promote cooperation and interoperability (as opposed to proprietary and copyrighted software). This means developers can more quickly and effectively work together to create optimized mHealth applications.

What Is Open mHealth, and Why Is It Important?

Nine out of 10 people on the planet own a cell phone—making it more common than owning a car, radio, or television. Mobile health (mHealth) apps are increasingly popular—with one in five smartphone users having a health app. We can use apps on our phones to help us stay healthy. Apps like epocrates allow us to find health information and learn about medicine; other apps can help us collect and share data about our health with our health care providers.

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Nov 28 2012

Gun Violence in Nashville

Nov 28, 2012, 9:05 AM, Posted by Manish Sethi

Manish K. Sethi, MD, is a health policy associate at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Center for Health Policy at Meharry Medical College and a Pilot Project Mini-Grant recipient and renowned orthopaedic trauma surgeon at Vanderbilt University’s Orthopaedic Institute Center for Health Policy. Sethi spoke this morning during the 2012-2013 Grand Rounds Series, sponsored by Meharry Medical College School of Medicine, on “Gun Violence in Nashville: Working Towards Community Based Solutions.”

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Human Capital Blog: What is the violence prevention program you’re directing with the RWJF Center for Health Policy at Meharry?

Sethi: We are doing a youth violence intervention program via partnership with Nashville schools funded by the RWJF Center for Health Policy at Meharry.

All of the data demonstrates that educational intervention with this age group demonstrates positive results. Currently, no such program exists in Nashville schools.

HCB: What drove your interest in this topic?

Sethi: I am a trauma surgeon and have been seeing an inordinate number of gun violence injuries in African American teenagers. I grew up in Tennessee and left for my medical training, but during childhood I never saw violence to this degree. Almost every week I see a teenager who either loses his life, or suffers major trauma secondary to a gun violence injury. I care very deeply about the future of these children and of Tennessee and I just feel that we have to do something.

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Nov 27 2012

Poor Housing Increases Burn Risks for Kids

Nov 27, 2012, 1:50 PM

Substandard housing has been linked to a variety of health problems including higher blood lead levels in children and an increased asthma risk. Now a new study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy finds kids living in poor housing may also be at an increased risk for fire and scald burns. The research was published in the journal Pediatrics.

The researchers surveyed the homes of 246 low-income families in Baltimore with at least one young child, and found homes with more housing quality code violations were less likely to have a working smoke alarm and safe hot water temperatures. "The effect of substandard housing on children’s risk of diseases such as asthma is well-known, however little was known about how it affects injury risk,” says Andrea Gielen, ScD, ScM, the study’s lead author and director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy. “The results of this study clearly demonstrate that substandard housing is also related to home injury risks, Gielen adds. "Even more disturbing is the finding that virtually all of the children in our urban sample were living in substandard housing."

Injury is the leading cause of death for young people in the U.S., and is responsible for more than180, 000 deaths annually, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Deaths from fires and burns are the third leading cause of fatal home injury. Smoke alarms and lower water temperatures reduce the risk of burns, says Gielen, but living in substandard housing appears to be a barrier to having these protective measures in place.

>>Read the study.

  • Read a NewPublicHealth National Prevention Strategy series interview with Estelle Richman, Senior Advisor to the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development on the intersection of housing and health.
  • Read a NewPublicHealth interview with Andrea Gielen on injury prevention.

 

This commentary originally appeared on the RWJF New Public Health blog.

Nov 27 2012

What the Election Means for Health and Health Care… The Country Needs More Providers, Better Mental Health and Elder Care, and an End to Poverty

Nov 27, 2012, 9:00 AM, Posted by Carolyn Montoya

Carolyn Montoya, RN, MSN, CPNP, is a fellow with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Nursing and Health Policy Collaborative at the University of New Mexico. A PhD Candidate, Montoya serves on the New Mexico Medicaid Advisory Committee, an advisory body to the Secretary of the state’s Human Services Department and the Director of the Medical Assistance Division Director. The RWJF Human Capital Blog asked scholars and fellows from a few of its programs to consider what the election results will mean for health and health care in the United States.

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Human Capital Blog: Do you think there will be fewer challenges to the Affordable Care Act and more attention to how to implement it?

Montoya:  Now that the election is over, the reality is that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will not be repealed. As we go forward with the ACA in place, a strong emphasis should be placed on evaluation. Outcome measures, such low rates of diabetes complications or increased immunization rates, will be essential in terms of being able to establish what aspects of the ACA are working and which ones need to be revised.

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Nov 26 2012

States Ask: Are We Prepared for a Storm Like Hurricane Sandy?

Nov 26, 2012, 1:28 PM

Last Friday Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey released an estimate of the economic losses caused by Superstorm Sandy— close to $30 billion. That estimate includes the devastating loss of homes and businesses for tens of thousands of individuals, damage to transportation and utilities infrastructure, and impact on local tourism. The economic consequences are critical, but the hurricane also posed a blow to the mental and physical health of many as well. Throughout the New York and New Jersey area, mobile health clinics remain in place, operated by the local and state health departments to help provide care for people displaced from their homes, neighborhoods and regular medical care.

Recovery continues. Today, for example, additional route sections of the PATH commuter rail service, which connects tens of thousands of New Jersey residents to their jobs in New York City, reopened.

And many states, even as they continue to send aid through funds and manpower to the affected areas, are trying to shore up their own communities against storms and other natural disasters yet to come. In an editorial this weekend, the Boston Globe asked whether the city of Boston will be able to respond and adapt quickly in the event of such a devastating storm. “The short answer is: Not yet, but there’s still time to get it right.”

Getting it right is the focus of the Public Health Preparedness Summit sponsored each year by key organizations including the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers, the National Association of County and City Health Officials and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to be held in Atlanta March 13 to March 15.

Follow NewPublicHealth for stories on health department recovery and resilience efforts in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

>>Read the Boston Globe editorial.

This commentary originally appeared on the RWJF New Public Health blog.

Nov 26 2012

What the Election Means for Health and Health Care… The Re-Election of President Obama Curtails the Likelihood of Major Medicaid Reductions

Nov 26, 2012, 9:13 AM, Posted by Frank Thompson

Frank J. Thompson, PhD, is a professor at the School of Public Affairs and Administrations and at the Center for State Health Policy at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.  Thompson is a 2007 recipient of a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Investigator Award in Health Policy Research, studying Medicaid: Political Durability, Democratic Process and Health Care Reform.  The RWJF Human Capital Blog asked scholars and fellows from a few of its programs to consider what the election results will mean for health and health care in the United States.

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Human Capital Blog: What do you think the election will mean for the country’s health care system?

Thompson: It means that the country can go forward with implementing the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  My research focuses on Medicaid—the federal grant program to the states that insures some 65 million low-income people. Under the ACA, Medicaid is slated to cover most people with incomes up to 133 percent of the poverty line as of 2014. In the recent election, the differences between the two parties on the ACA and Medicaid were stark. The Romney-Ryan ticket pledged not only to repeal the ACA but to convert Medicaid to a block grant and to cut funding for the program by more than 30 percent over ten years. The degree to which a Romney administration would have achieved these objectives remains an open question. But the reelection of President Obama curtails the likelihood of major Medicaid reductions over the next four years.

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Nov 21 2012

Faces of Public Health: Irene Pollin

Nov 21, 2012, 11:00 AM

file Irene Pollin, Sister to Sister

What’s the right age to be an advocate for better health? “It’s never too late but the younger you start the longer you have,” says Irene Pollin, MSW, PhD (Hon), who has done so all her life and runs Sister to Sister, the organization she founded in memory of her daughter, Linda Joy, who died at age 16 of a heart condition. Pollin, who together with her husband, Abe, owned sports teams including the Washington Wizards basketball team and the Washington Capitals hockey team, aims to increase women’s awareness of heart disease, provide free cardiac screenings, and empower women to take charge of their health. As the nation’s largest provider of free heart disease screenings for women, Sister to Sister has traveled to nearly 20 U.S. cities and screened over 100,000 women since its start in 1999.

NewPublicHealth spoke with Irene Pollin recently about her work, heart disease, the success of the foundation, and its message that although heart disease takes the lives of one in three women, it is preventable and even reversible.

NewPublicHealth: Would you tell us about Sister to Sister?

Irene Pollin: We started more than 12 years ago, and at the time, I was working in the area of chronic illness. I’m a psychiatric social worker and had been doing that for 25 years so I really was a specialist in all chronic illnesses. When I was speaking to a health PR firm, I learned that heart disease was the number one killer of women. I didn’t know that, and I couldn’t believe it. So I thought ‘If I don’t know it, who else doesn’t know it?’ The person who informed me of this fact challenged me and asked if I would be interested in doing the work with her to get the word out. So I accepted the challenge and established Sister to Sister.

NPH: How does your training as a psychiatric social worker impact your work? 

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