BACKGROUND Healthcare quality improvement (QI) is a global priority, and understanding the perspectives of frontline healthcare workers can help guide sustainable and meaningful change. We report a qualitative investigation of emergency department (ED) staff priorities for QI at a tertiary care hospital in Ghana. The aims of the study were to educate staff about the World Health Organization's ...

The seriousness of the nursing shortage has been addressed by both the public and professional media. The literature documents substantial support for strategies that focus on increasing the enrollment in nursing education programs and/or sustaining practice environments that contribute to higher nurse retention rates. A nursing camp is an example of an innovative strategy to stimulate exciteme...

pre-existing condition, his application was denied by many insurance companies and he was unable to afford a high deductible of an alternative insurance. Finally, he applied to our clinic for pro bono care, was treated with modern medications (Uloric and Colcrys). His condition significantly improved, pain subsided, and he was able to continue his personal life and professional career. Since th...

unambiguous meaning of legislation, as conventionally construed. There is no reason in theory, at any rate, which would prevent the courts developing such a principle. But there are formidable obstacles which need to be addressed. First, there may well be no obvious or compelling rationale for this development, beyond the fact that Parliament abolished the HRA. Secondly, the modified principle ...

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is an antidiscrimination law that covers those persons with handicaps who are otherwise qualified to participate in and benefit from the programs or activities receiving Federal financial assistance. This article discusses the qualified handicapped applicant, especially individuals who have been identified as learning disabled, who meets the academi...

2. Offer Patient Discounts Only to Self-Pay Patients Discounts, such as prompt-pay and cash-up-front discounts, should not be given to insured patients in Wisconsin. Interestingly, the federal AKS allows legitimate discounts reflecting actual savings to the provider.5 However, such discounts would be considered a reduction or elimination of cost-sharing amounts, which are prohibited by Wis. Sta...

When is a country financially ready to implement universal health coverage (UHC), a health policy designed to ensure that all citizens receive the health services they need without financial hardship? Since no standard set of essential health services or a defined benefits package for universal coverage exists, determining financial readiness is challenging. Health priorities must be set knowin...

The taxation of corporate profits in the United States has been one of the most widely discussed issues in the area of public finance. Corporate revenues are currently subject to double taxation. Profits are taxed first at the corporate level and then, when distributed as dividends or when capital gains are realized, taxed a second time at the individual level. The share of tax revenues from co...

Biodiversity payments have become an increasingly proposed tool to promote conservation measures. An unexplored issue concerns the potential role of fiscal transfers between the state and infra-national authorities potentially as direct financial incentives for biodiversity conservation. We explore how protected areas can be taken into account in a redistributive fiscal transfer system between ...

BACKGROUND Suppressing damaging aggregate behaviors such as insurgency, terrorism, and financial panics are important tasks of the state. Each outcome of these aggregate behaviors is an emergent property of a system in which each individual's action depends on a subset of others' actions, given by each individual's network of interactions. Yet there are few explicit comparisons of strategies fo...