BACKGROUND This study tested the efficacy of self-affirmation in promoting fruit and vegetable consumption in a sample of participants comprising two groups at high risk of low consumption: young adults and mothers of school-aged children with low social economic status (SES). METHODS Baseline fruit and vegetable consumption was recorded for 85 participants (n = 26 mothers with low SES). Foll...

OBJECTIVE To assess the effectiveness of exercise programmes in preventing falls (and/or lowering the risk of falls and fall related injuries) in older people. DESIGN A review of controlled clinical trials designed with the aim of lowering the risk of falling and/or fall injuries through an exercise only intervention or an intervention that included an exercise component. MAIN OUTCOME MEASU...

Unintentional perioperative hypothermia has been shown to cause serious patient complications and, thus, to increase health care costs. In 2009, an evidence-based practice improvement project produced a significant decrease in unintentional perioperative hypothermia in colorectal surgical patients through monitoring of OR ambient room temperature. Project leaders engaged all interdisciplinary s...

The preceding articles in this volume amply illustrate and critically discuss the major issues in health care costing. This concluding article has 2 purposes. First, we synthesize and evaluate the main findings. Second, we identify the elements of a research agenda for improving the scientific soundness and relevance of health cost analyses for decision making. As noted, most health cost studie...

OBJECTIVES To estimate the attributable costs of multimorbidity and assess whether the association between the level of multimorbidity and health system costs varies by socio-demographic factors in young (<65 years) and older (≥65 years) adults living in Ontario, Canada. DESIGN A population-based, retrospective cohort study SETTING: The province of Ontario, Canada PARTICIPANTS: 6 639 089 Onta...

The article reports on exploratory research into the effects and prospects of health reforms in Zambia. The research, which was qualitative, was carried out in two rural and two urban health centres and their surrounding catchment populations. The authors focus on four principles of health reform: community involvement (including cost sharing), prevention, equity and quality of care. One of the...

For more than two decades, polls have shown that Americans are dissatisfied with their current health care system. However, the public's views on how to change the current system are more conflicted than often suggested by individual poll results. At the same time, Americans are both dissatisfied with the current health care system and relatively satisfied with their own health care arrangement...

BACKGROUND Continuity of care is one of the cornerstones of primary care. Initially, the concept of continuity largely corresponded to one care provider and continuity between doctor and patient, but today, healthcare processes and organisations have grown and become more complex. A survey of patients with complex care needs found that in all of 11 countries studied care was often poorly coordi...

With the recent explosion of healthcare costs, feasibility, effectiveness, indications for use, and improved outcome with decreased cost have become the focus of our health care system. In turn, physicians are being asked to adjust their practice from that based on beliefs and anecdotal experiences to that based on evidence (i.e. evidence-based medicine). In this next lecture, we will approach ...