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Biomedical subjects

V J Watzlaf

Publications and source records attributed to V J Watzlaf.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

The disability assessment database model.

Collecting disability-related information in order to prevent and treat specific disabilities is important and necessary, but does it meet the major needs of individuals with disabilities? This article presents preliminary research performed to assess those needs as well as a Disability-service Assessment Database (DAD) model. This model provides local disability service data and surveys users so that their input is used to modify existing data. The content of the database and Web site are discussed and diagramed. A major goal of the DAD is to serve as a model to other communities.

Data Collection↗
PubMed1997

Development of a pilot quality assessment tool for long-term care facilities.

Recently the demand to provide exceptional health care services has become of paramount importance. Facilities are competing with each other to provide to the public data which illustrates why one facility is superior to another. One area that has become important is demonstrating the performance of quality of care. The problem with proving the quality of services provided arises from the fact that defining quality as a single entity is difficult. Realizing this factor has created the need to define and measure quality of care in concrete ways. The intent of this research was to facilitate a technique to measure quality of care in long-term care facilities (LTCFs). This research resulted in the development of a pilot quality assessment tool to measure areas of care in LTCFs.

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PubMed1997

A survey of nursing home administrators' and ombudsmen's perceptions of elderly abuse in Pennsylvania.

The topic of elder abuse has been a source of growing concern and research over the past decade. Nationally, it is believed that about four percent of our elders (people over 60 years of age) are abused, even though every state currently has laws protecting abuse of elders. Therefore, health care professionals and the general public should be educated in order to ensure detection and reporting of elder abuse so that the victims receive appropriate care and protection. To the authors' knowledge, little or no published research has been done to assess the perceptions of nursing home administrators (NHAs) and ombudsmen with respect to elder abuse. This study explored Pennsylvania NHAs' and ombudsmen's knowledge of detecting, reporting, and managing elder abuse cases. Also, data were collected regarding the perceptions of Pennsylvania NHAs and ombudsmen about the knowledge of their nursing facility personnel in the areas of detection, legislation, and regulation of elder abuse.

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PubMed1996

Responses within nonfederal hospitals in Pennsylvania to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: This study described responses within nonfederal hospitals in Pennsylvania to the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). SUBJECTS: The target population consisted of all 277 nonfederal hospitals licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Health and Department of Public Welfare. METHODS: Questionnaires were mailed to the 270 chief administrators for the 277 hospitals. RESULTS: One hundred seventeen questionnaires (43.3%) were returned. More facilities had trained their managers regarding the ADA versus their nonmanagerial employees. Overall, 80.3% of the hospitals had an ADA committee or coordinator. Fifty-four percent of the respondents reported that job accommodations cost less than $500. Approximately 45% of the participants cited that the percentage of new construction costs spent to increase accessibility in their hospitals was less than 4.9%. More complaints and legal matters were received by facilities regarding the employment provisions of the ADA rather than the accessibility provisions. CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION: The results suggest that hospitals need to monitor ADA-related expenses, more employee training is needed to ensure the ADA's success, and more representation is needed on hospital committees by rehabilitation personnel and individuals with disabilities.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1996

Obstacles encountered in the use of the medical record and cancer registry abstract in breast cancer research.

A historical-prospective study is being conducted to determine whether there is a relationship between obesity and breast cancer recurrence and survival in African-American women. The primary data sources for the study are the medical record and cancer registry abstract. It has been found that data items such as occupation, menopausal status, height, weight, estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor values, stage, tumor size, number of positive nodes, family history of cancer, and tumor status are not always documented. Suggestions for improving documentation of the primary data sources are provided.

Abstracting and Indexing↗
PubMed1996

Regional analysis of functions and demographics of health information managers.

Based on the findings of this study, HIM professionals' tasks or functions tend to vary across regions and in relation to levels of experience. As experience increased for RRAs, the task performed by them tended to be more management related. All other HIM professionals performed tasks that were more related to data collection than management. The most frequent title for the RRA (Director/manager/chief of medical records or HIM) was also more related to management activities while the title for the ART (Coder) was directly related to data collection. The majority of all HIM professionals work in acute care with approximately 3-8 percent working in long term care, ambulatory care, mental health care, and other healthcare settings such as software companies or health departments. The two most important predictors of salary across all regions were years of experience and educational level. When experience and education were controlled for, there was a slight salary advantage for males in the Midwest and West regions.

Data Collection↗
PubMed1995

The leadership role of the health information management professional in research.

Research and its role in the health information management (HIM) field are discussed in the context of the priorities and research needs of the Health Security Act of 1993 and Healthy People 2000. Research needs from Healthy People 2000 specific to the HIM field are outlined. Questions to ask when the research proposal, study designs, methodologies, and examples specific to HIM are formulated are explained and discussed so that HIM professionals can become leaders in the field of HIM research.

Health Services Research↗
PubMed1995

Education review: a computer-assisted instructional tool to assist students in developing an epidemiological research proposal.

The development of an epidemiological research proposal can be a difficult assignment for junior health information management students. The article demonstrates how a computer-assisted instructional (CAI) tool was developed to assist students in the development of an epidemiological research proposal. Surveys were conducted to determine where students were having the most problems, information about writing a research proposal was gathered and organized into an appropriate format, appropriate software (Hypercard) was chosen, the final CAI tool (the Research and Grant Writer) was developed, and positive feedback was obtained from junior health information management students using the CAI tool.

Attitude↗
PubMed1994

An examination of obesity and breast cancer survival in post-menopausal women.

A historical prospective study was conducted at the Mercy Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (USA), to study the role of post-menopausal obesity in the recurrence and survival of breast cancer. Records from 301 post-menopausal women diagnosed with breast cancer from 1977 to 1985 were followed for at least 5 years from data supplied by the Tumor Registry and medical records. Data collected included age, height, weight, race, hormone receptor status, stage and size of tumour, number of positive nodes, site of distant metastasis, first course of treatment, and 5 year recurrence and survival. Forty-five per cent of patients were obese (n = 136), while 55% were non-obese (n = 165). Obesity was defined by the Quetelet index (patients with values > 27 were considered obese). The recurrence rates for the obese and non-obese groups were 40% and 39% respectively, and were not significantly different. Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that there was no significant association between obesity in post-menopausal women and likelihood of recurrence of or death from breast cancer.

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PubMed1994

The emerging role of the health information management professional in data quality and analysis of an electronic medical record system.

The role of the health information management professional is changing with the advancement of the electronic medical record system (EMRS) and electronic financial database systems. The Medical ARchival System, a longitudinal EMRS developed at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, was used to describe the methodology that the health information management professional should use when performing data quality evaluations and data analysis of an EMRS. Specific examples of steps used to integrate databases to collect the data and generate appropriate reports and tables are also described and discussed.

Academic Medical Centers↗
PubMed1992

The use of the medical record and financial data to examine the cost of infections in the elderly.

This study demonstrates what can be accomplished when the medical record and other data sources are utilized. By using the medical record as well as financial data and input from the infectious disease department, a detailed analysis of infections in an elderly population in relation to cost and length of stay was completed. This pilot study also enabled the hospital to determine the types of studies that should be done in the future. Quality assessment and improvement studies that examine the effectiveness of infection control procedures over time, the importance of examining both community-acquired and nosocomial infections, and the differences that severity of illness may have on cost and length of stay are all areas that have been identified as needing further study. Future studies in this area and other areas will continue to utilize the medical record. However, the data obtained from the medical record should not be examined alone. It should be analyzed along with other data sources such as severity of illness data, financial data, quality assessment data, infection control data, and risk management data in order to examine epidemiological trends over time. Only when several data sources are used together to investigate a particular aspect of care will that aspect of care be thoroughly and completely examined.

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PubMed1989

Implementing the grant proposal. Part II.

Once a grant proposal is accepted and funding approved, one must carry out the proposal. In order to effectively carry out a study one must 1. determine if approval is required by the IRB and follow the guidelines to obtain the appropriate review and approval; 2. hire and train personnel so that they are able to carry out the steps of the study, understand the purpose of the study, and serve as assets to the entire research group; 3. develop appropriate questionnaires, abstracts, letters, and other forms in order to obtain the data being sought; 4. organize the collected information so that it is easily retrievable, accurate, and clear; and 5. analyze the data to obtain results.

Data Collection↗