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Biomedical subjects

A Hawker

Publications and source records attributed to A Hawker.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Rehabilitation services in the health sector: the perspectives of providers and consumers: Part 2.

AIMS: To gain information from consumers of rehabilitation services about service use and availability, and priorities for future development. To compare this with area health board (AHB) priorities for future services. METHOD: A postal survey of 740 consumers of rehabilitation services used the membership list of the Disabled Persons' Assembly (DPA) of New Zealand. There was a 311 (42%) response rate of whom 84% were people with disabilities and 16% were care givers. RESULTS: Causes of disability included illness (45%), congenital (26%), accidents (22%), and multiple causes (7%). Most people had physical (66%) or multiple disabilities (22%), while few had sensory (7%), intellectual (3%), psychiatric (3%), or learning disabilities (0.4%). The main factors affecting service delivery were lack of information, restricted service, needs not assessed, difficult access to services, lack of coordination, and transport difficulties. Most respondents were aware of statutory services such as district nursing, home help, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, social work and wheelchair assessment and maintenance. One third were aware of regular review, attendant care, and similar programmes. The services that were least known were advocacy and supported accommodation. Consumer priorities were regular review and disability information services, while AHB priorities were attendant care and supported accommodation. CONCLUSIONS: Lack of information, lack of regular assessment, and lack of coordination were major barriers to consumers obtaining adequate rehabilitation services. A single agency purchaser, clear entry points, case management and assessment would provide potent mechanisms for overcoming these difficulties. Priorities for consumers reflected their need for information and support, while provider priorities showed their commitment to the policy of de-institutionalisation. We conclude that it is important that consumers are involved in the planning process so that informed decisions are made about appropriate resource allocation.

Consumer Behavior↗
PubMed1995

Rehabilitation services in the health sector: the perspectives of providers and consumers: Part 1.

AIMS: To establish the degree of implementation of the Strategic Planning Guidelines for Area Health Boards--Services for Adults with Physical Disability, published by the Department of Health in 1989, the services being provided, and the priorities for future service provision. METHODS: Two postal surveys of area health boards (AHB's) were carried out in 1991. The first asked about the terminology of rehabilitation, administrative structure, advocacy, service audit, inventory of services, regional service delivery, and consultation processes. The second asked about the rehabilitation services provided, the type of disability of the consumers of the service, the reasons why services were or were not provided, the service gaps that existed, and the priorities that existed to fill those service gaps. RESULTS: The major finding was that while all area health boards adopted the rehabilitation concepts in principle, service development was impeded in many cases by the failure to provide resources to plan and develop the service. Some were providing comprehensive services. Most AHB's provided services for people with physical or multiple disabilities. All provided statutory services such as district nursing and home help, while most provided regular medical reviews, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, etc. Only about half provided attendant care, driving assessment, and swimming for people with disabilities, while less than half supported disability information services (DIS). Attendant care was seen as high priority to fill gaps in service, but was seen as the funding responsibility of the Department of Social Welfare. CONCLUSIONS: Service provision reflected a traditional approach to the provision of rehabilitation services. The development of innovative service delivery will require crown health enterprises to reevaluate their present level of commitment to rehabilitation services and to assess the effectiveness of reallocating some funds from acute services into rehabilitation.

Guidelines as Topic↗
PubMed1995

Computerised data collection: practicability and quality in selected general practices.

The objective of the study as to assess the consistency with which a set of pre-defined data about three fictitious patients was entered into a sample group of practice computer systems, and to measure the time required for routine data capture of this kind. The study design was a prospective, piloted, postal survey, in which respondents were requested to enter a variety of general sample data onto their systems, to time the process, and record details of any difficulties. The subjects were 76 (39%) responding general practices in England and Ulster, from a random sample of members of a GP computer specialist group. These results (which in view of the highly motivated characteristics of the responding sample are likely to represent best practice) showed that differing conventions were applied in entering patient data, even among practices using the same type of computer system. Potentially significant errors and distortions were found in the data as recorded in the systems, such as the 29% of immunisation sequences which were slightly inaccurately entered. The main problems with the data entry comprised simple operator errors, inconsistency in the use of terms entered, and difficulties in recording negative data (only 20% of practices could enter patient 'not incontinent'). Practices varied widely in the way they allocated data recording responsibilities to staff, with only 6% of practices involving all staff in data entry.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Bias↗
PubMed1984

Young people, drink and the law: a descriptive study covering two London magistrates' courts.

The survey sample consisted of 104 young people between the ages 17 and 25 who appeared in court charged with simple drunkenness, drunk and disorderly and drink and driving charges. Interviewing was carried out in two London magistrates' courts every weekday using a fortnightly rota over a six-month period. The results showed that the majority reported usually drinking in pubs and clubs; lager was the preferred alcoholic beverage. More than half the sample reported drinking in excess of 10 units, often considerably more (one unit = 1/2 pint of beer = 1 single measure of spirits = 1 glass of wine), on a drinking occasion. This rate of consumption was considered moderate drinking by a considerable number who were drinking either almost every day or at least once a week. Responses to a self-administered questionnaire showed that 40% had experienced some degree of psychological or physical dependence during the three months prior to their arrest. Of the sample 67% were surprised by the charge and 70% said that a court appearance would not make them more careful of their alcohol consumption in the future.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1968

The drunk in court: survey of drunkenness offenders from two London courts.

A total of 151 men charged with drunkenness with or without aggravations were interviewed immediately after their appearance before the magistrates. The survey was conducted in two Metropolitan courts; one in an area frequented by vagrants, and the other in a mixed middle-class and working-class area.Few of the offenders were casual roisterers and the majority had a serious drinking problem. Half the offenders showed evidence of chemical dependence on alcohol as determined by morning shakes, morning relief drinking, amnesias, inability to stop drinking, and hallucinatory experiences.The majority of the offenders were suffering from gross social isolation.Existing ways of dealing with such men seem inadequate. A rehabitation service is needed, with hostel accommodation, and particular attention should be paid to first offenders.

Adolescent↗