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1 – 10 of over 100000From the symposium keynote address, this paper aims to explore how healthcare‐associated infections (HAIs) have been transformed from being only a hospital concern to a much…
Abstract
Purpose
From the symposium keynote address, this paper aims to explore how healthcare‐associated infections (HAIs) have been transformed from being only a hospital concern to a much broader public health concern.
Design/ methodology/ approach
The paper is a narrative review.
Findings
HAIs have the characteristics that define issues as public health problems. As a result, public health departments can become important partners in the evolving hospital infection control field. However, whether all state health departments can afford to add HAI experts and whether current public health department HAI activities will be effective in preventing HAIs remain important questions.
Practical implications
Public health agencies must be selective about focusing limited resources into areas where they can protect and improve the public's health; whether HAIs are such an area remains to be seen. Although HAIs have historically been the focus of hospitals and hospital‐based services, public health involvement has been mandated through state and federal legislation. In theory, the new mandate is appropriate; in practice, its impact and value need to be comprehensively assessed.
Originality/value
The interdisciplinary team required to evaluate HAI mandatory public reporting comprehensively needs to start from an understanding of the history and concepts underlying public health practice.
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An analysis of community health, its history, successes and failures, depends on an understanding of its scope, but there is little consensus as to precisely what the discipline…
Abstract
An analysis of community health, its history, successes and failures, depends on an understanding of its scope, but there is little consensus as to precisely what the discipline entails. Some view it as a strict scientific discipline, others see it as a social movement, and still others conceive of it as a conglomerate of various disciplines. It is useful initially to identify the medical components of community health, and then to approach its interdisciplinary aspects. Community health, strictly defined, includes such fields as disease control, environmental sanitation, maternal and child care, dental health, nutrition, school health, geriatrics, occupational health, and the treatment of drug and alcohol abuse. This limited definition, though accurate, does not differentiate the field from the much older area of public health. Within community health, the disease focus of traditional public health epidemiology, the total health focus of community medicine, and the outcome focus of health services research are interconnected. Community health combines the public health concern for health issues of defined populations with the preventive therapeutic approach of clinical medicine. An emphasis on personal health care is the result of this combination. Robert Kane describes the field accurately and succinctly: “We envision community medicine as a general organizational framework which draws upon a number of disciplines for its tools. In this sense, it is an applied discipline which adopts the knowledge and skills of other areas in its effort to solve community health problems. The tools described here include community diagnosis (which draws upon such diverse fields as sociology, political science, economics, biostatistics, and epidemiology), epidemiology itself, and health services research (the application of epidemiologic techniques on analyzing the effects of medical care on health).”
Three events of significance to this country took place in 1899 – the British Food Journal was launched, Australia retained the Ashes, and the Boer War hostilities commenced. If…
Abstract
Three events of significance to this country took place in 1899 – the British Food Journal was launched, Australia retained the Ashes, and the Boer War hostilities commenced. If challenged on the order of their importance, cricketers and Empire‐builders may be excused their preference. However, looking at it purely from the standpoint of pro bono publico, the dispassionate observer must surely opt for the birth of a certain publication as being ultimately the most beneficial of the three.
Why is social action politically so difficult to manage, especially in the field of health and above all when it concerns health care for immigrant populations? This article…
Abstract
Why is social action politically so difficult to manage, especially in the field of health and above all when it concerns health care for immigrant populations? This article examines this question by analysing public policies concerning the situation of migrants living with HIV/Aids in France.
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Michaela M. Bucchianeri and Dianne Neumark-Sztainer
In contrast to the attention it has received in related fields of research, body image has remained understudied within the field of public health. This is highly problematic…
Abstract
Purpose
In contrast to the attention it has received in related fields of research, body image has remained understudied within the field of public health. This is highly problematic, given a growing body of evidence implicating body dissatisfaction in a range of other public health concerns. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
This commentary is based on a review of the public health, body image, eating disorder, and mental health literatures.
Findings
Body dissatisfaction is implicated in a range of public health concerns, including impaired psychological health (e.g. depression) and eating- and weight-related problems (e.g. eating disorders, obesity).
Originality/value
Given these associations, as well as the high levels of body dissatisfaction in the population, the authors argue for a critical need to address the prevalence of body image concerns as a public health issue worthy of greater consideration within programs and policies; dedicated funding for research on antecedents, consequences, and intervention strategies; and allocated resources for training.
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David John Sheard, Gregory Clydesdale and Gillis Maclean
A key question in the provision of public health concerns how that provision is governed. The purpose of this paper is to examine the governance structure of a public health board…
Abstract
Purpose
A key question in the provision of public health concerns how that provision is governed. The purpose of this paper is to examine the governance structure of a public health board and its perceived impact on the efficacy of clinical operations.
Design/methodology/approach
Structural issues examined the level of centralisation and public participation, and whether governance should occur through elected boards or appointed managers. These issues were examined through multiple lenses. First was the intention of the structure, examining the issues identified by parliament when the new structure was created. Second, the activities of the board were examined through an analysis of board meetings. Finally, hospital clinicians were surveyed through semi-structured interviews with both quantitative and qualitative questioning.
Findings
A contradiction was revealed between intention, perception and actual activities. This raises concerns over whether the public are significantly informed to elect the best-skilled appointees to governance positions.
Practical implications
This research holds implications for selecting governance structures of public health providers.
Originality/value
Few studies have looked at the role of a publicly elected healthcare governance structure from the perspective of the clinicians. Hence, this study contributes to the literature on healthcare structure and its impact on clinical operations, by including a clinician’s perspective. However, this paper goes beyond the survey and also considers the intention of the structure as proposed by parliament, and board activities or what the board actually does. This enables a comparison of intention with outcomes and perception of those outcomes.
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The quantity and scope of the information that has materialized so far on the subject of AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) has increased significantly since the first…
Abstract
The quantity and scope of the information that has materialized so far on the subject of AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) has increased significantly since the first case of the syndrome in the United States was diagnosed in 1981. Initially, information could be found only in a few articles in the medical periodical literature or in a few newspapers. Gradually, more information appeared in health care, allied health, and other professional journals and periodicals. As the incidence of the syndrome increased, more newspapers and the mass market magazines and the electronic media began covering the syndrome, and both health care professionals and the general public found themselves presented with a steady stream of information, research, and education on the subject of AIDS.
Paul Kariuki, Lizzy Oluwatoyin Ofusori, Maria Lauda Goyayi and Prabhakar Rontala Subramaniam
The purpose of this paper was to examine health-related misinformation proliferation during COVID-19 pandemic and its implications on public governance in South Africa.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper was to examine health-related misinformation proliferation during COVID-19 pandemic and its implications on public governance in South Africa.
Design/methodology/approach
Because of COVID-19 related restrictions, this study conducted a systematic review. The researchers searched several search engines which include PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus to identify relevant studies. A total of 252 peer reviewed research papers were identified. These research papers were furthered filtered, and a total of 44 relevant papers were eventually selected
Findings
There is a relationship between the spread of health-related misinformation and public governance. Government coordination and institutional coherence across the different spheres of governance is affected when there are multiple sources of information that are unverified and uncoordinated.
Research limitations/implications
This study was limited to a systematic review because of COVID-19 restrictions, and therefore, actual data could not be collected. Moreover, this study was limited to health-related communication, and therefore, its findings can only be generalized to the health sector.
Practical implications
Future research in this subject should consider actual data collection from the departments of health and communications to gain an in-depth understanding of misinformation and its implications on public governance from their perspective as frontline departments as far as government communication is concerned.
Social implications
Misinformation is an impediment to any fight against a public health emergency. Institutions which regulate communications technology and monitor misinformation should work harder in enforcing the law to deter information peddlers from their practice. This calls for reviewing existing regulation so that online spaces are safer for communicating health-related information.
Originality/value
Effective health communication remains a priority for the South African Government during COVID-19. However, with health-related misinformation on the increase, it is imperative to mitigate the spread to ensure it does not impede effective public governance. Government departments in South Africa are yet to develop policies that mitigate the spread of misinformation, and this paper may assist them in doing so.
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The purpose of this viewpoint is to discuss and analyze three major governance tools that have been implemented in the United States to target tobacco smoking as a major public…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this viewpoint is to discuss and analyze three major governance tools that have been implemented in the United States to target tobacco smoking as a major public health concern.
Design/methodology/approach
The author highlights the negative consequences of smoking as a global and U.S public health concern and discusses three categories of governance tools implemented in the U.S. Additionally, emerging challenges in the U.S. and different sides of story in developing countries are underscored.
Findings
Although some success has been reached in controlling smoking-related mortalities and morbidities in the U.S. and most of the countries, long-term and sustainable improvement require active surveillance and constant implementation of evidence-based policies and programs.
Practical implications
This viewpoint discusses the governance tools that can be implemented to decrease smoking-related preventable mortalities and morbidities. Similar tools with some tuning can be used to target smoking in other nations. Additionally, these tools can be modified to target other public health-related wicked problems such as obesity, alcohol consumption, and traffic accidents.
Originality/value
This viewpoint highlights the magnitude of smoking as a major public health concern and underscores the necessity of using governance tools in targeting this issue. Additionally, it provides application examples from the United States implementable in other countries with some contextual justifications and tuning.
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C. Angell, H. Hartwell and A. Hemingway
The purpose of this paper is to identify key concepts in the literature relating to the release of open educational resources (OER), with specific reference to the emergence of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify key concepts in the literature relating to the release of open educational resources (OER), with specific reference to the emergence of public health OER.
Design/methodology/approach
A review of the literature relating to the development of OER was followed by an online search for OER literature relating specifically to public health. This was supplemented with evidence gathered during the Public Health Open Resources for the University Sector (PHORUS) project.
Findings
A wide array of OER literature was identified, although there was a limited number of public health‐related papers. The key concepts influencing public health OER release were identified as quality, ethics and values, rewards, risks and practical aspects, such as technological developments.
Research limitations/implications
There is a limited amount of public health‐related OER literature. Whilst it was possible to draw some conclusions using more general OER literature there is a need for more research in the specific area of public health OER.
Originality/value
The PHORUS project was the first to consider the literature relating to the release of public health OER. Understanding the enablers and barriers to OER is key to developing resources in this key area of health education.
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