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Biomedical subjects

R Speiglman

Publications and source records attributed to R Speiglman.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1997

A health statistic for length of stay by reporting period.

Managers of long-term care organizations lack usable information about patterns of stay, because the time spent by residents typically exceeds the length of reporting and reimbursement periods. Formulas for estimating lengths of stay often yield unstable estimates of long-term stays. Consequently, little insight is gained into changes that may be occurring in stay patterns as the organization adapts its service processes to shifts in markets. An alternative length of stay statistic is proposed from which patterns of stay can be more clearly discerned. Examples utilizing both simulated and field data are presented to highlight the advantages associated with the new statistic.

Bed Occupancy↗
PubMed1997

Mandated AA attendance for recidivist drinking drivers: policy issues.

Mandates for recidivist drinking drivers to attend AA meetings raise concerns about whether AA referral practices could have an adverse impact on both alcohol problems and traffic safety, whether routine and unregulated referrals to AA may prove detrimental to AA as an organization, and over ethical issues and possible loss of civil liberties. Similar issues arise in criminal justice and other agencies' handling of a variety of situations beyond the DUI arena. As a result institutions mandating involvement in mutual aid programs such as AA, and a variety of treatment settings, should adopt cautious referral practices, support rigorous research and create and evaluate targeted programs and integrated services.

Alcohol Drinking↗
PubMed1994

Mandated AA attendance for recidivist drinking drivers: ideology, organization, and California criminal justice practices.

This paper examines 2877 municipal court drunk driving cases sampled from 1982 to 1989 in four California sites. Recidivist drinking drivers were those charged with driving under the influence and having two or more drunk driving convictions on their records. In two sites, virtually no AA referrals were made. In the others, in addition to jail terms and fines, judges ordered attendance at meetings of AA for 37-41% of cases. Referral to AA was unrelated to blood alcohol level or number of prior drinking driving convictions. In one AA-referring site, the data indicate that over 75% of drinking drivers convicted in the 1988-89 period were referred to AA by a judge or county probation or parole officer. These findings suggest that, as a whole, California sentencing policies lack a coherent framework. Instead of reflecting information on program effectiveness and offenders' needs, variation in sentencing appears to mark differences in local fiscal circumstances, levels of jail crowding and ideological orientations of judges and other officials. It is suggested that referral practices could have an adverse impact on both individuals' alcohol problems and on recovery programs.

Adult↗