Promoting greater understanding: pairing medical students with families of children with disabilities.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to W Hollinshead.
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Hospital discharge summary data were used to identify and study all 2,870 Rhode Island residents hospitalized in-state with head injuries during 1979 and 1980. The overall hospitalized incidence rate was 152 per 100,000 of population per year with age and sex variations similar to those found in other studies. This is consistent with the observation that fatal injury rates in Rhode Island are only 75 per cent of the United States average. Hospitalized incidence rates of head injury for the census tracts in the lowest decile of median income were twice those for census tracts in the highest decile. Smaller increases were also observed with increasing population density. Length of hospital stay increased with age. Discharge to chronic care facilities plus in-hospital deaths increased 20-fold with increasing age. In each age group, in-hospital deaths and discharge to chronic care facilities were associated with long hospital stays.
Health planners should base program decisions on the best information available. Combining information from different sources can be valuable in identifying problems--the essential first step in program planning. To facilitate this process, a workshop was conducted during the National Infant Mortality Surveillance Conference in Atlanta, GA. Maternal and child health directors explored the use of linked birth and infant death data for program planning and evaluation. Linked birth and infant death certificate files permit evaluation of infant mortality by birth weight and other infant and maternal characteristics, thus providing more detailed information than birth or death certificates alone. An assessment of the birth weight distribution of live births, birth weight specific-mortality risks, distribution of deaths by birth weight, and birth weight-specific causes of death can help identify problems in the childbearing population and with the delivery of health services. Once the infant health problems are defined clearly, the selection and delivery of services can be better targeted and evaluated for the reduction of these problems.
A survey of 93 nursing homes in and near Rhode Island in May 1982 identified all head-injured patients who were State residents. Nineteen were identified, of whom ten were injured in motor vehicle crashes. The median age was 35 years. The median time since injury was 3 years and increased with age. The prevalence of such patients was 2 per 100,000 population. Except for a recent survey by the Connecticut Department of Health, little is known about the prevalence or duration of nursing home residency after head injury. To obtain such data, nursing homes in and near Rhode Island were surveyed for State residents who were patients because of head injury.