PubMed Health⌕ Search

SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “Pilot Projects”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,081 records · Page 60Linked to original sources

Developing an evening clinical experience for baccalaureate community health nursing students.

With the ever-changing directions in health care delivery, baccalaureate nursing instructors are being challenged with the task of seeking out innovative approaches to community health nursing clinical experiences. With the focus on "community as client," an evening clinical program was designed and piloted for nontraditional nursing students who, because of daytime employment, were in need of evening courses to further their nursing education. The pilot project incorporated family nursing care, community-centered practice, and observational experiences. The evening community health nursing clinical experience was found to be mutually beneficial to clients and students and served to fill a gap in health teaching within the community.

Community Health Nursing↗

The Office of Advanced Technology: providing focus on the piloting and implementation of new technology.

Rarely does an organization have the luxury of employing full-time staff whose sole purpose is to seek out, select, pilot, and recommend new technology. If such an effort is not a dedicated activity, an organization will have a hard time keeping abreast of technological development with an eye towards successful deployment to the benefit of the business. This paper summarizes the role and activities of the Office of Advanced Technology (OAT) at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, AZ. The OAT has been in existence since 2001 and is staffed on a part-time basis by three individuals: a member of the physician consulting staff, a nurse informaticist, and a member of the allied health Information Technology staff. The office has successfully conducted pilot projects in several new technology areas, advocating the adoption of some technologies and deferring on others. Moreover, they have been instrumental serving as a spokesperson and single point of contact for all new technology initiatives of this multi-specialty practice.

Ambulatory Care Facilities↗

Flap designs for minimization of recession adjacent to maxillary anterior implant sites: a clinical study.

The purpose of this study is to present new flap designs for the prevention of postoperative gingival recession adjacent to maxillary anterior sites that received dental implants. Nine patients received 10 implants in the maxillary anterior region. Gingival morphotypes and smile lines were evaluated prior to implant placement. Gingival probing depths, clinical attachment levels, and recession were recorded at teeth adjacent to implant sites at the initial exam and 3 months after implant restoration. A minimum of 5 mm of crestal bone width was required for implant placement. The labial flaps for healed ridges and implants placed into sockets were extended to or within 1 to 3 mm beyond the alveolar crest. In two sites, transfer of the implant relationships was made to provide the patients with provisional restorations at the time of second-stage surgery. Four patients had implants placed at the time of tooth removal. In these patients, expanded polytetrafluoroethylene barrier membranes were modified, removing the outer rim of material. The inner portion of the material was placed over the implant and the flaps were sutured, leaving the center part of the material exposed. The purpose of using the barrier in this manner was to protect the clot and subsequent granulation tissue formation during the first 2 weeks of healing. The material was removed 2 weeks after surgery. Six implants were placed into edentulous sites. At second stage surgery, flaps were reflected to the alveolar crest, thereby minimizing the potential for gingival recession. Provisional restorations placed at the time of implant uncovering appeared to support the repositioned gingiva. Changes in probing depth, clinical attachment levels, and recession were not statistically or clinically significant. Results of this pilot project suggest that flap designs minimized recession at teeth next to implant sites.

Alveolar Process↗

ModelDB: an environment for running and storing computational models and their results applied to neuroscience.

Research groups within the Human Brain Project are developing technologies to help organize and make accessible the vast quantities of information being accumulated in the neurosciences. The goal of this work is to provide systems that enable this complex information from many diverse sources to be synthesized into a coherent theory of nervous system function. Our initial approach to this problem has been to create several small databases. While addressing the issues of each individual database, we are also considering how each might be incorporated into an integrated cluster of databases. In this paper, we describe a pilot project in which we construct a database of computational models of neuronal function. This database allows models to be created and run and their results reviewed through a World Wide Web interface. Because models encapsulate knowledge in a formal manner about how neuronal systems function, we also discuss how this database forms a natural center for our initial attempts at creating a cluster of related databases. General issues of database development in the context of the Web are also discussed.

Brain↗

Environmental education and socioresponsive engineering. Report of an educational initiative in Hyderabad, India.

A recent initiative at Muffakham Jah College of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad, India, has resulted in setting up a program called Centre for Environment Studies and Socioresponsive Engineering which seeks to involve undergraduate students in studying and solving environmental problems in and around the city of Hyderabad, India. Two pilot projects have been undertaken--one focusing on design and construction of an eco-friendly house, The Natural House, and another directed at improving environmental and general living conditions in a slum area. The paper describes our attempts and experience of motivating our students to take interest in such projects. In an interesting development we invited a member of a student-faculty team at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) that is doing a project in Nepal on safe drinking water. We report in our paper how the presentation by the guest from M.I.T. served as a catalyst for generating interest among civil and mechanical engineering students in our own projects. The paper includes contributions from one of our students and the M.I.T. staff member, reporting on their experiences related to the slum development project. We also discuss the Natural House project and its international and educational significance as a means of inculcating sensitivity and interest in nature among engineering students. We propose a pledge for engineers similar to the Hippocratic Oath for medical professionals.

Ecosystem↗

Facilitating large-scale transitions to quality of care: an idea whose time has come.

In the field of reproductive health, investigation of the transfer of knowledge gained from demonstration and pilot projects to large public-sector programs typically has not been considered a relevant domain for research or other investigation. This article draws on a range of research in the social sciences and presents two frameworks for understanding the critical attributes of successful expansion of small-scale innovations. Seven key lessons are developed using examples from family planning where scaling up was an explicit objective, including the early Taichung Study of Taiwan, the Chinese Experiment in Quality of Care, the Bangladesh MCH-FP Extension Project, the Navrongo Project in Ghana, and the Reprolatina Project in Brazil. Unless small, innovative projects concern themselves from the outset with determining how their innovations can be put to use on a larger scale, they risk remaining irrelevant for policy and program development.

Diffusion of Innovation↗

Developing competency in research management, entrepreneurship, and technology transfer: a workshop course.

In July 1999, the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) convened a Blue Ribbon Panel that recommended management skills, entrepreneurship, and technology transfer should be included in dental education. The panel's recommendations were implemented in an NIDCR-funded pilot project, "Workshop Course to Promote and Develop Dental Products and Technologies." The workshop consisted of lectures presented by seven faculty members recruited from academia, government, and business, along with an analysis of a professor's invention and the barriers encountered in transforming the invention into a product. Evaluation consisted of a pre- and post-workshop survey. The workshop was presented to twenty-two participants on November 8 and 9, 2003 at the University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine and, to refine the presentation further, will be tested at five additional dental schools (University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, New York University, Nova Southeastern University, and University of Southern California). The results indicated that the workshop's courses would be helpful to the commercialization of inventions. In addition, dental students with experience in basic research expressed an interest in research of projects of use in dental practice. These findings suggest that pursuing research and an academic career might be more appealing if their research was product-oriented.

Congresses as Topic↗

A community wide promotion of asthma self management: process evaluation.

AIMS: During the months February through July 1991, a community wide promotion of asthma self-management was undertaken as a pilot study for the national launch of an asthma action plan developed by the Asthma Foundation of New Zealand in conjunction with the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners. METHODS: A multidisciplinary team of hospital and community-based health workers was established, with the aim of educating and resourcing general practitioners, practice nurses and retail pharmacists to enable them to effectively promote and distribute the asthma action plan. 332 general practitioners and 148 retail pharmacists were surveyed through postal and telephone questionnaires at the completion of the promotion, to assess its impact on health professionals and to obtain feedback for the national promotion of the asthma action plan. RESULTS: 108 (73%) of pharmacists who responded and were involved with the promotion found their participation to be worthwhile, although some had difficulty allocating sufficient time to give detailed advice to patients. Of the 240 general practitioners who responded, 77% indicated that they had used the asthma action plan with their patients. They were positive about the use of the workshop format that had provided education and resources for the plan, and of those that had used the plan, 94% indicated that they would continue to promote the plan, or one similar. CONCLUSIONS: The promotion of the asthma action plan in Canterbury had a major impact on health professionals. The community-wide promotion might have had a greater impact on people with asthma had television advertising been used. The pilot project provided useful feedback for the Asthma Foundation in their preparation for the national launch.

Asthma↗

The reduction of black infant mortality: an eighteen month evaluation of three Tennessee Black Health Care Task Forces' demonstration projects.

The problem of low birth weight has emerged as the single most important cause of infant death or subsequent handicaps in infancy and childhood. Although low birth weight babies (below 5.5 pounds) represent a small percentage of all babies born, well over half of all infant deaths occur among this group. The problem is even more serious for tiny infants. The relationship between infant mortality/morbidity and low birth weight has been known for many years and despite dramatic overall changes and medical advances, the incidence of low birth weight among high-risk populations continues to be a perennial problem. Efforts have been made nationally to develop programs that identify the conditions which increase the risk of having a low birth weight infant; programs that seek to reduce the risk of low birth weight; and research on new approaches to prevent premature labor as well as promoting the normal growth and development of a fetus. Since 1987, the Black Health Care Task Force, established by the Tennessee Department of Health and Environment has funded three infant mortality reduction pilot projects (Alton Park/Dodson Avenue Health Care in Hamilton County, Memphis Health Center and, Memphis-Shelby County Health Department) that operated in the two Tennessee counties where the Black infant mortality rates were extremely high. The projects goals were (1) to improve birth weight and survival rates of black infants born to indigent and Medicaid women; (2) to reduce maternal morbidity among indigent and Medicaid women; (3) to enhance the participation of indigent and Medicaid maternity clients in the appropriate and timely prenatal intrapartum and postpartum services; (4) to reduce the incidence of unplanned pregnancies among adolescents; and (5) to increase the utilization of family planning services by indigent and Medicaid women. Data will be reported and analyzed to assess whether or not the projects had a positive effect on birth outcome and a subsequent reduction in infant mortality. The data for this analysis is based on enrollment data provided by the projects, and linked birth and infant death certificates for project and nonproject comparisons, as retrieved from the Department of Health and Environment's Vital Records.

Adolescent↗

Case reviews in the family physician's office.

The majority of patients with emotional or psychiatric disorders are treated in the primary care setting without psychiatric input. Psychiatrists need to find ways of helping family physicians manage these patients without necessarily taking over their care. One way of achieving this is for a psychiatric consultant to visit the family physician's office on a regular basis to discuss the physician's problem cases. This paper describes such a pilot project, outlines the kinds of problems family physicians discussed and recommendations that were made, and discusses the benefits of this collaborative approach.

Community Mental Health Centers↗

Upgrading rural Japanese nurses' respiratory rehabilitation skills through videoconferencing.

We examined the effect of distance learning on nurses' clinical skills in a rural Japanese hospital. The subject matter was respiratory rehabilitation. After one face-to-face session, who 30 min sessions were delivered by videoconferencing to staff nurses working in a 100-bed rural hospital 250 miles (400 km) from Sapporo Medical University. A self-rating questionnaire was distributed before and after the sessions. Responses were collected from 15 out of 32 nurses participating in the face-to-face session (47%). Before the first videoconferencing session, 'always use' and 'sometime use' the new skills were rated by 67% of nurses, but after the second videoconferencing session 'always use' and 'sometimes use' were rated by 73% and 'never use' at 0%. This implies that there was increased use of new skills after the second session, although the difference was not significant. The nurses' opinions about the effectiveness for patients increased from 8% to 27% after the second session, which was significant. The pilot project indicated the usefulness of distance learning for upgrading nurses' clinical practice in one rural Japanese hospital and suggested ways in which videoconferencing can be used in future.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

Incidence of head injury: lasting effects among college students and working adults in the general population.

224 (21%) of 1067 persons in a nonclinical population surveyed had one or more head injuries resulting in unconsciousness. They had a total of 306 head injuries with 113 (31%) of them resulting in lasting neurological effects. Both in a pilot project and in the main study, headache was the most commonly reported of an array of symptoms that are essentially a postconcussion syndrome.

Adolescent↗

"That spirit, that thing inside". Using qualitative research techniques to produce a recruitment film for Hispanic/Latino and American Indian students.

This article reports on the use of qualitative research methodology in producing a 23-minute recruitment film to attract Hispanic/Latino and American Indian students into a baccalaureate nursing program. The research question addressed in this pilot project was, "What is the meaning of the educational experience to Hispanic/Latino and American Indian nurses in the Yakima Valley of south central Washington State?" The conceptual development of the project, recruitment of interview participants, generation of interview protocol, data collection, and analysis are described and correlated to accepted qualitative research elements. Themes and patterns identified in participant interviews, the "findings" of the project, were used during the postproduction phase as guides for the story that unfolds in the film, which addresses the experience of being a nurse of color.

Career Choice↗

Implementing telemedicine technology: lessons from India.

Information and communications technologies have universally helped to bridge the digital divide. As an application of ICT, telemedicine is an efficient pathway for enabling health care delivery. Developing countries, too, have started reaping the benefits of this evolutionary technology, but realisation of such dreams has not been swift. The implementation of a pilot scheme in telemedicine in India has been confounded with challenges right from the very start. One of the prime lessons to be learnt from the implementation of a pilot project in a developing country is to keep the objectives of the project in small modules and to keep the deliverables within sight. An account of some of the challenges faced while developing telemedicine technology in India serves as a useful example for upcoming telemedicine programmes in Third World countries.

Benchmarking↗

The quest for an accurate accounting of public health expenditures.

This article describes one effort to develop management tools that will help public health administrators and policy makers implement comprehensive public health strategies. It recounts the ongoing development of a methodology through which the Essential Public Health Services can be related to public health budgets, appropriations, and expenditures. Through three pilot projects involving: (1) nine state health agencies, (2) three local health agencies, and (3) all local jurisdictions and the state health agency in one state, a workable methodology for identifying public expenditures for comprehensive public health programming has been identified.

Accounting↗

[Health care systems in Nepal].

This article is the result of some preliminary journey of two Hungarian psychiatrist (one also epileptologist, other also anthropologist) to Nepal. The main aim of the research was to elaborate a community based epilepsy health care pilot project. It is shown a brief look at the modern and traditional health care systems and the severely difficult condition of the general and health infrastructure in Nepal. Some recommendations of possible help and intervention are offered for foreign (Hungarian) doctors.

Community Health Services↗

JPEG compression of stereoscopic digital images for the diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy via teleophthalmology.

BACKGROUND: Canada's vast size and remote rural communities represent a significant hurdle for successful monitoring and evaluation of diabetic retinopathy. Teleophthalmology may provide a solution to overcome this problem. We investigated the application of Joint Photographic Experts Group (PEG) compression to digital retinal images to determine whether JPEG compression could reduce file sizes while maintaining sufficient quality and detail to accurately diagnose diabetic retinopathy. METHODS: All 20 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus assessed at a 1-day teleophthalmology clinic in northern Alberta were enrolled in the study. Following pupil dilation, seven 30 degrees fields of each fundus were digitally photographed at a resolution of 2008 x 3040 pixels and saved in uncompressed tagged image file format (TIFF). The files were compressed approximately 55x and 113x their original size using JPEG compression. A reviewer in Edmonton randomly viewed all original TIFF images along with the compressed JPEG images in a masked fashion for image quality and for specific diabetic retinal pathology in accordance with Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study standards. The level of diabetic retinopathy and recommendations for clinical follow-up were also recorded. Exact agreement and weighted kappa statistics, a measure of reproducibility, were calculated. RESULTS: Exact agreement between the compressed JPEG images and the TIFF images was high (75% to 100%) for all measured variables at both compression levels. Reproducibility was good to excellent at both compression levels for the identification of diabetic retinal abnormalities (K = 0.45-1), diagnosis of level of retinopathy (kappa = 0.73-1) and recommended follow-up (kappa = 0.64-1). INTERPRETATION: The application of JPEG compression at ratios of 55:1 and 113:1 did not significantly interfere with the identification of specific diabetic retinal pathology, diagnosis of level of retinopathy or recommended follow-up. These results indicate that JPEG compression at ratios as high as 113:1 has the potential to reduce storage requirements without interfering with the accurate and reproducible teleophthalmologic diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy. This pilot project demonstrates the potential for JPEG compression within a digital teleophthalmology viewing system.

Adult↗