Health Literacy And Its Importance For Emergency Room Patients

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Health Literacy and its Importance for Emergency Room Patients

by

J Cutler

Have you ever thought about how important literacy and reading skills are to your health? The capacity to read and understand medical information becomes especially important when patients visit the emergency room. Most medical information is written at a 10th grade level or higher, so patients who fall below this level can have difficulty understanding their conditions, rights, and treatment options. A recent study pointed out that 90 million adults in the United States have limited health literacy [1].

Literacy skills affect the type of care that individuals receive. Patients with limited health literacy do not have the ability to process and understand basic health information so that they can make adequate health decisions for themselves. The effects of this are far-reaching, both for patients and for emergency room departments. Limited health literacy is associated with a lower quality of life, increased complications from asthma, and reduced use of preventative health measures [2]. Children whose parents do not have adequate health literacy are more likely to visit the emergency room, more likely to be hospitalized, and more likely to miss school days. All of these effects are detrimental to the overall well-being of individuals and families. The full costs of these effects to insurance companies, hospitals, or individual patients are not yet known.

Poor health literacy in patients also puts additional stress on emergency room physicians, who are often tasked with handling several potentially severe cases, and who must work to ensure that patients understand their diagnoses and options for treatment. Some studies have claimed that limited health literacy poses a significant threat to effective patient care in the ER, and that universal precautions should be taken to address it [3]. Research on emergency room departments has shown that low health literacy is associated with greater rates of retinopathy (damage to the retina usually due to complications from diabetes), worse glycemic control among diabetics, and, among patients with HIV, less understanding of how to prevent transmission to others [4-6].

All of this suggests that patients with limited reading comprehension skills deserve extra attention. Strategies to lessen the communication difficulties between patients and emergency room physicians can include the use of plain language, multimedia communicative techniques, and teach-back methods, although ongoing research is investigating further possibilities. Patients need to be informed about their own health and about appropriate follow-up care (such as taking prescriptions correctly, etc.). Without this, physicians ability to help emergency room patients is hampered. Planned follow-up investigations between health outcomes and limited health literacy are likely to include associations between literacy, health care costs, length of stay in the hospital or emergency room, frequency of ER visits, and the nature of emergency room use.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cdfn0Wiywk4[/youtube]

References To Consult for Even More Information:

1.Parker R. Health literacy: a challenge for American patients and their health care providers. Health Promotion International 2000; 15:277-283

2.Kirsch IL. Adult Literacy Survey. Washington, DC: US Government Print Office, Superintendent of Documents; 1993. 20402 (Stock No. 065-000-00588-3).

3.Apter AJ, Cheng J, Small D, et al. Asthma numeracy skill and health literacy. Journal of Asthma 2006; 43:705-710.

4.Baker DW. The meaning and the measure of health literacy. Journal of General Internal Medicine 2006;21:878-883.

5.Shillinger D, Grumbach K, Piette J, et al. Association of health literacy with diabetes outcomes. Journal of the American Medical Association 2002;288:475-482.

6.Kalichman SC, Benotsch E, Suarez T, et al. Health literacy and health-related knowledge among persons living with HIV/AIDS. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 2000;18:325-331.

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Health Literacy and its Importance for Emergency Room Patients

Fifteen people killed in attack on Nigerian college

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Friday, September 19, 2014

Officials said at least fifteen people were killed in an attack on a teachers training college in the Northern Nigerian city of Kano by a group of armed gunmen on Wednesday. Over 30 others were wounded.

News agencies have reported while there has been no claim of responsibility, suspicion will likely fall on the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram. The group has previously targeted Western-style schools within the country, including past attacks on secondary schools.

According to official reports, police first approached the group in the area of the school, concerned about their unusual activity, and the attackers engaged police in a firefight. The attackers gained entry to the school and started throwing bombs.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan described the incident as a “dastardly attack”. He has already declared a state of emergency in three northern states, and is being criticized along with the country’s armed forces for failure to prevent extremist attacks.

A police spokesman said police killed two attackers at the scene.

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Van Canto’s Stefan Schmidt on a capella metal, Wacken, Nightwish, piracy & more

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Wednesday, February 27, 2008

“Five singers, one drummer. No guitars, no bass, no keyboards but nevertheless an unbelievable melodic metal experience.”

That’s how the official website of van Canto describes the band. Hailing from Germany, van Canto are what is called an a capella metal band, the pioneers of this new genre.

The band released their debut, A Storm to Come, in December 2006. Exactly a year later, van Canto announced a global signing to Gun Records/Sony BMG, and their debut was released worldwide on December 14.

Van Canto are now experiencing considerable success. They recently provided support for Finnish symphonic power metal band Nightwish, as well as receiving a slot at the internationally famous Wacken Open Air festival in Germany. The prestigious event sees them sharing the bill with acts such as Hatebreed, Sonata Arctica, As I Lay Dying, Soilwork, Children of Bodom, Nightwish, Lordi and headline act Iron Maiden.

Van Canto’s second album will be recorded across this month and next, with famed producer Charlie Bauerfeind, although no release date has yet been confirmed.

In light of recent events, van Canto member and founder Stefan Schmidt has given the band’s first interview in English, all previous interviews being in German or Italian. Wikinews now exclusively brings you that interview below.

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How Do You Lose Weight In Two Weeks Free Weight Loss Online Programs

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By Christian Stan

Basics

Let’s be honest about it: Most people do not even know, how weight loss really works actually. Most people think, that eating less will do the job, but as a matter of fact, it is much more complicated than this. Your weight and/or your weight loss process do not depend so much on how much you eat, but on what you eat and when you eat it. It is this simple fact, that makes the most effective weight loss diets also the ones on which you never have to starve.

Most people would think, that you have to starve for two weeks to lose weight effectively in such a short time, but if you have the right plan you won’t have to starve at all to reach you goals. As said earlier, it is not so important how much you eat, but what you eat and when you eat.

Long term diets are often based on carb reduction to lose weight. If you reduce carbs permanently, you will start losing weight eventually. The problem with those diets, is that you regain the weight, that you lost, as son as you stop the diet. This so called yoyo-effect is something, that you won’t have to care about, if you lose weight fast. The key to a successful weight loss in a time as short as two weeks is the metabolism.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr6AAxqQsWI[/youtube]

Free Weight Loss Online Programs

For many people, the most important question at the beginning is: Which diet should I try? Should I go for a paid diet, or should I just pick a free one? The answer is plain and simple: The best diets for weight loss are free. It does not mean, that there are no good paid diets out there, but as a matter of fact, for every paid diet, there’s a free diet available, that is just as effective, so if you want to lose weight, you should try a free program, before considering to pay for one.

How Do You Lose Weight In Two Weeks

As mentioned earlier, the key to a two week weight loss is the metabolism. It has to be increased significantly. This is done by special meal plans. Those meal plans usually contain normal foods, that we all know. The key is the combination of the meals and the nutrients.

An alternation of foods that are easy to digest and foods, that are hard to digest increase your metabolism significantly. The best about using such a method is, that the metabolism stays increased, even after the diet is done. This way you can not only lose weight in two weeks, you can also keep the new weight for even months after the diet, without changing your dietary habits.

Of course such plans are usually low-carb, just because it helps the process of increasing the metabolism so much. But who ever thinks, that these diets consists of low fat meals only is terribly wrong. They often contain foods like grilled chicken, and steaks. It is the combination of raw and cooked vegetables, meat and fruits, that makes the difference.

There are two week diets available, that make it possible to lose 14 pounds in just two weeks and to keep the weight for over one year!

So if you want to lose weight in just two weeks, you should definitely look for certain food combinations to accelerate the metabolism. You can get specific meal plan for you from your doctor.

About the Author: One of the most powerful two week diet plans is available for free download on my blog now. ==>

Download the free 14 day diet plan.

Source:

isnare.com

Permanent Link:

isnare.com/?aid=951222&ca=Wellness%2C+Fitness+and+Diet

Fifteen flu sufferers die in Wales in one week

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Friday, January 14, 2011

Over the course of the last week, fifteen people who have suffered from influenza have died in Wales, as reported to the Welsh Assembly Government. The total amount of flu-related deaths in Wales since October 2010 has now increased to 27.

Despite the slight increase in the clinical consultation rate for influenza this week compared to the previous week, the rate of consultations for flu-like illness in Wales still remains within the levels of normal seasonal flu activity.

On Tuesday, 49 people were being treated in critical care beds in hospitals around Wales, according to health officials. With twelve reported admissions, Aneurin Bevan Local Health Board had the highest amount of critical care patients in Wales. Betsi Cadwaladr University Local Health Board has the second highest total number of patients experiencing this critical care in the country, with eleven being cared for. Cardiff and Vale University Health Board and Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board have nine important care admissions each. Cwm Taf NHS Trust contains five of such patients, while Hywel Dda NHS Trust has three.

The age group of 25–34 years old had the largest amount of meetings with general practitioners; the rate of consultation was 147 people for every 100,000. For all age groups, 93 people out of every one hundred thousand have been consulting with a GP; on January 5, the total figure stood at 85 meetings per 100,000.

“Despite the slight increase in the clinical consultation rate for influenza this week compared to the previous week, the rate of consultations for flu-like illness in Wales still remains within the levels of normal seasonal flu activity,” said Dr. Tony Jowell, the Chief Medical Officer of Wales. “Most healthy people will recover from flu-like illnesses within five to seven days with plenty of rest and drinking non-alcoholic fluids. On the issue of vaccination against seasonal flu, whilst we have been working to make stocks of the vaccine that was developed against swine flu available to be used where supplies of seasonal flu vaccine have run low, we are now well into the flu season.”

According to Media Wales, 13 patients experiencing flu-related symptoms were getting treatment at Withybush General Hospital in Haverfordwest on Tuesday. Meanwhile, five were receiving hospital treatment at Bronglais General Hospital in Aberystwyth. Also, Carmarthenshire NHS Trust in Llanelli and West Wales General Hospital in Carmarthen both had a solitary patient.

Jowell also commented: “People in at-risk groups are at a higher risk of complications from seasonal flu, and the best protection is early vaccination. A press and publicity campaign has been running since October and has included television, radio and bus adverts to let people know if they are in an at-risk group, and that the vaccine is available free of charge to those groups from GPs. We have also encouraged health boards and GPs to ensure that their patients and front line NHS staff are vaccinated against seasonal flu.”

Throughout the United Kingdom, 62 individuals reportedly died in the last week, as the result of suffering from influenza. The majority of these victims were suffering from swine flu. In most of these cases, the sufferers were aged between 15 and 64. However, nine of the fatalities were of children aged below fourteen.

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Woman returns home with Christmas turkey, a month after setting out

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Tuesday, January 19, 2010

A Scottish woman who set out before Christmas to purchase a turkey finally made it home on Monday, after being cut off by snow for a month. Kay Ure left the Lighthouse Keeper’s cottage on Cape Wrath, at the very northwest tip of Great Britain, in December. She was heading to Inverness on a shopping trip.

However on her return journey heavy snow and ice prevented her husband, John, from travelling the last 11 miles to pick her up. She was forced to wait a month in a friend’s caravan, before the weather improved and the couple could finally be reunited.

They were separated not just for Christmas and New Year, but also for Mr Ure’s 58th birthday. With no fresh supplies, he was reduced to celebrating with a tin of baked beans. He also ran out of coal, and had to feed the couple’s six springer spaniels on emergency army rations.

“It’s the first time we’ve been separated”, said Mr Ure in December. “We’ve been snowed in here for three weeks before, so we are well used to it and it’s quite nice to get a bit of peace and quiet.”

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How Does Expert Consultation Help Achieving Iso Certification

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Whether it is about assuring quality management or environmental impact management, an ISO certification is the best tool for businesses. Being issued by a top-level international organization (ISO), each of the ISO standards defines regulatory requirements for organizations which will help them to validate their management systems. However, how to achieve ISO certification smoothly in a professional way is big pain point to organization owners. They usually know about the intricacies of certification, the rules and steps to follow, but often they stumble at certain steps and lack the expertise to proceed with document control and other formal procedures of certification.

For these reasons, businesses require professional assistance or consultancy from dedicated certification experts. Besides guiding them at every step of certification, they can also help management to take responsibility to ensure their system maintains ISO compliancy consistently.

Choosing a reliable consulting services team can be challenging! Finding the one which will provide you with tailored services as well as meet your budget needs is essential. Here is a quick explanation of how choosing a trusted, expert ISO consulting team will help you in your ISO certification.

Get Experienced Professionals

A team of ISO consultants or agency usually has experience of over a decade, so you can be sure that they have adequate knowledge of every ISO standard, and the formulating and implementing of integrated management systems in business. They have vast experiences in widespread certifications. For instance, medical device manufacturers need an ISO 13485 certification for quality management, whereas an aerospace manufacturer will need AS9100 certification. Thus, besides having a thorough knowledge of general standards like ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001 or ISO 27001, the consultants have expertise in other industry-specific standards.

Time Proficiency

Even if an organization has some officials with certification knowledge, they might be busy and not available for the job. Taking time out after completing their assigned tasks is difficult for them, so relying on them to get a certification will take more valuable time from an organization. On the other hand, hiring professionals will potentially get it certified even before a decided timeframe because of their specialization in every certification backed with in-depth knowledge, tools and resources. They will pass off certain knowledge to concerned officials in the organization so that they can maintain the certification clauses in the long run.

Customized Services

One of the essential reasons to hire an ISO consultancy agency for getting certified is to avail the services or assistance that are specifically needed for the process. For instance, an organization might have an experienced quality management team who have designed and integrated a feasible QMS (quality management system). However, they do not know how to get it ready for ISO certification, so they can hire professional auditors for readiness review or assessment to make their QMS eligible for certification. Similarly, if an organization just wants to make its existing QMS compliant with the latest ISO 9001 requirements to renew its certification, it can hire internal compliance auditors from the agency. Thus, a professional agency with customized services can cater to different certification needs of a business.

Cost Advantages

Definitely, hiring a third-party of agency for certification consultancy will cost you. But if a business compares the costs with productive hours sacrificed by its own officials to delve in certification process, the costs will be relatively lower. Besides, a business will still need some professionals’ assistance in implementation, auditing or other difficult steps. It adds to their costs of certification. In contrast to this, getting a team of professionals with some fixed hiring costs who will take full responsibility of certification process, from start to ongoing maintenance, can be highly cost-effective.

Acquiring Long-term Benefits

Hiring consultants can not only help a business to get certification faster but can also provide them with long-term advantages. A business may need a certain ISO certification like ISO 9001 as a prerequisite to grow or improve its quality objectives. With consultants at their side, they will be able to integrate other standards such as ISO 14001 for environmental management system or ISO 27001 for information security management system. A professional consulting agency will focus on every way to add value to the certifications achieved by their clients. Thus, businesses are more able to improve their management system and compliance performance over time.

If you do not know how to achieve ISO certification, then outsourcing consultants is an effective option. While the consultants will be totally take on all tasks of getting your management system certified, they will also educate or communicate to your officials about necessary practices that will further improve your system. Thus, getting services of professional consultants is always a win-win for a business that need ISO recognition.

2008 Taste of Taiwan Cuisine features three shows for food and packaging industries

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Friday, June 20, 2008

The third annual Taste of Taiwan Cuisine opened on Wednesday of June 18, 2008 and runs until June 21. Organized by Taiwan External Trade Development Council to promote the culinary culture of Taiwan, the tradeshow featured three main shows for food and food packaging industries: “Food Taipei”, “Foodtech Taipei”, and “Taipei Pack”.

Twenty-seven countries including United States, South Korea, Canada, Japan, Sri Lanka, Austria, Philippines, Chile, Malaysia, Spain, Fiji, Poland, and six nations from Africa, grouped their own national pavilions for sourcing and procurement. In addition, the Taiwan Pavilion featured sections on culture, product image, brand design, and agriculture verification in Food Taipei.

Industrial solutions including medical applications, packaging machines, food CNCs, and bar-code printers are showcased in the “Foodtech Taipei” and “Taipei Pack”. Seminars and forums from security, global marketing, and policies for food, machinery, and packaging industries are also held during show hours.

After the 3-in-1 show in Taipei, the Kaohsiung International Food Show will be scheduled for November.

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Medical Transcription: A Career For The 21st Century!

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Medical Transcription will be performed by MTs who will be employees in a hospital or the persons who work from home for the hospital. The word transcript is most generally used to refer document (electronic or physical hard copy). This report is called as a medical record. A MT needs to type correct spelling of all terms that are being dictated by the physicians. All transcription reports must meet the terms with policies and confidentiality.

The process:

When the patient visits physicians, the physicians spare time with the patient analyzing his health problems which includes past history. The doctor does his physical examination and advice different laboratory examinations. When patient goes out of the hospital, the physician records the information about the patient via digital voice recorder device. This information is recorded into a cassette recorder. This recording is now accessed by a medical transcriptionist.

Knowledge and skills needed to be an MT Knowledge of medical terminology Medical Style of writing Good verbal communication Capability to sort,count, and cross the numbers Must be able to follow the written instructions Maintenance of records

Responsibilities of an MT

The transcriber needs totranscribes accurately the patients information likename or SSN (Social Security Number. ) Should transcribe with correct punctuation, spelling, grammar Maintains references for medical course and terminology Maintain a transcription sheet log Quality check

MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION: PROVEN ACCELERATOR OF ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORD (EHR) ADOPTION Quality and Security Standards Lead to Greater Document Compliance and Improved EHR Adoption.

Ensure the Accuracy of Data Entered into Electronic Systems: One of the primary functions that medical transcriptionists serve is that of a second set of eyes and ears to ensure the accuracy of clinical documentation.

Creating Document Standards to Improve Patient Care: Medical transcriptionists serve on the front line of risk management by creating accurate, reliable, and complete transcribed documents that help prevent medical errors, improve patient safety, and facilitate the coding and billing process for insurance programs.

A Skilled and Knowledgeable Workforce That Embraces Emerging Technologies: A Growing Industry and Profession That Boost Job Creation: New job creation is an essential component of the HITECH Act. The Medical Transcription workforce will be instrumental in assisting with the transition to EHRs and play a vital function in ensuring documentation integrity within the fully interoperable electronic health environment of the future.

Irish CAO releases 2005 university offers to students

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Monday, August 22, 2005

The Central Applications Office in Ireland has released the first round of offers for places on third level courses to over 60,000 Irish Leaving Certificate students (graduating secondary school students).

The offers are given out based on a highly competitive points system whereby students receive from

  • 100 points for an A1 to 45 points for a D3 at higher level.
  • 60 points for an A1 to 5 points for a D3 on lower level.

Points from a student’s best six subjects are added up to make his or her total points. This year 145 students achieved the maximum 600 points. Students achieveing this are generally regarded as the top students academically in the country.

Points required for courses in medicine and nursing have risen again leaving many candidates disappointed. Due to the huge popularity of medicine and the low supply of courses, points for entry into medicine are in the region of 580 points. Points for arts, engineering and commerce have fallen marginally.

While the points system is often attacked for placing too much pressure on students, it has avoided the problem of grade inflation that has occurred in the UK and USA. The Leaving Certificate exam has remained largely unchanged since its inception in 1924. It is often joked that the same questions reappear on the papers every 30 or 40 years.

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