| Public Health
Weblog collected and organized by Laura Larsson Clinical Faculty, SPHCM University of Washington |
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Harry Rutter's
Public Health Today eLearning Blogs eLearningpost InternettimeMore about Blogs and Their Variations The Art of Blogging - Part 1 Overview, Definitions, Uses, and Implications by George Siemens. December 1, 2002 The Art of Blogging - Part 2 Getting Started, "How To", Tools, Resources December 6, 2002 Weblog to Moblog By Justin Hall, Nov 21 2002 |
August 2004[Note: This site uses popup
windows to display links.
Close the popped-up window to return to this page] August 31, 2004 9:05 AM State
Health Facts Online (Kaiser Family Foundation) State Health Facts Online, Kaiser Family Foundation: The online resource
has been updated to include new 2003 data on prescription
drug use and spending for all 50 states and the United States.
The data show that 3.1 billion retail prescriptions were
filled in the United States in 2003 for total sales of $163
billion. The average price per retail prescription ranged
from a low of $45 in New Mexico and Arkansas to $67 in the
District of Columbia and Alaska. The nation averaged about 11
prescriptions per capita in 2003, with individuals ages 65 and older averaging 26 prescriptions (Kaiser Family Foundation Source: HLTH: 8-31-04 Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report - Tuesday, August 31, 2004 August 28, 2004 1:28 PM Maintaining
Good Communication under HIPAA,
By Susan E. Mazer. Hospitals & Health Networks, August 27, 2004. http://www.hospitalconnect.com/hhnmag/jsp/articledisplay.jsp? "Through thoughtful planning, hospitals can adhere to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act without erecting barriers between patients and clinicians." Article describes how the hospital environment can be redesigned to protect patient confidentiality without exposing patient data either in text or verbally. August 27, 2004 9:40 AM County Typology Codes (USDA, ERS) To provide policy-relevant information about diverse county conditions to policymakers, public officials, and researchers, ERS has developed a new set of county-level typology codes that captures differences in economic and social characteristics. This release revises the preliminary codes released in May 2004. The 2004 County Typology Codes were developed for all 3,141 counties, county equivalents, and independent cities in the United States. Their primary function is to help differentiate among nonmetro counties, but metro counties are also coded to facilitate comparisons. The 2004 County Typology codes classify all U.S. counties according to six non-overlapping categories of economic dependence and seven overlapping categories of policy-relevant themes. The economic types include farming, mining, manufacturing, services, Federal/State government, and unspecialized counties. The policy types include housing stress, low-education, low-employment, persistent poverty, population loss, nonmetro recreation, and retirement destination. A preliminary version of these codes was released on the ERS website in May 2004. This is the final version and includes revised farming-dependent counties, along with five economic types that have not previously been released. More information on the revised farming-dependent counties can be found here http://www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/rurality/typology/. The policy types remain unchanged from the May 2004 release. Released Friday, August 27, 2004 August 18, 2004 9:40 AM Pandemic Influenza
Response and Preparedness Plan (HHS) HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today unveiled the department's draft Pandemic Influenza Response and Preparedness Plan, which outlines a coordinated national strategy to prepare for and respond to an influenza pandemic. The draft plan can be found online at <http://www.hhs.gov/nvpo/pandemicplan> and is available for public comment for 60 days. "This plan will serve as our roadmap on how we as a nation, and as a member of the global health community, respond to the next pandemic influenza outbreak, whenever that may be," Secretary Thompson said. "Our proposed strategy draws upon the wealth of experience and knowledge we have gained in responding to a number of recent public health threats, including SARS and avian influenza." In particular, the plan provides guidance to national, state, and local policy makers and health departments for public health preparation and response in the event of pandemic influenza outbreak. Influenza pandemics are explosive global events in which most, if not all, persons worldwide are at risk for infection and illness. While rare, the appearance of such a pandemic virus will likely be unaffected by currently available flu vaccines that are modified each year to match the strains of the virus that are known to be in circulation among humans around the world. Unlike the gradual changes that occur in the influenza viruses that appear each year during "flu season," a pandemic influenza virus is one that represents a major, sudden shift in the virus' structure that increases its ability to cause illness in a large proportion of the population. During previous influenza pandemics large numbers of people were ill, sought medical care, were hospitalized and died. Three influenza pandemics occurred during the 20th century. The most recent influenza pandemic occurred in 1968 with the Hong Kong Flu outbreak, which resulted in nearly 34,000 deaths in the United States. In 1957, the Asian flu pandemic resulted in about 70,000 deaths. The most deadly influenza pandemic outbreak was the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, which caused illness in roughly 20 to 40 percent of the world's population and more than 50 million deaths worldwide. Between September 1918 and April 1919, approximately 675,000 deaths from the Spanish flu occurred in the United States alone. Planning and implementing preparedness activities are critical to improving the effectiveness of a response and decreasing the impacts of a pandemic. HHS has increased support for pandemic influenza activities and is engaged in several efforts to enhance the nation's preparedness for such an outbreak. HHS supports pandemic influenza activities in five key areas: surveillance, vaccine development and production, antiviral stockpiling, research, and public health preparedness. This draft plan includes a core section and twelve annexes. The core plan
describes coordination and decision making at the national level; provides
an overview of key issues; and outlines action steps that should be taken
at the national, state, and local levels before and during a pandemic.
Annexes provide additional information to health departments and private Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at <http://www.hhs.gov/news>. Health
Status of American Indians Compared with Other Racial/Ethnic
Minority Populations --- Selected States, 2001--2002 Source: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, November 28, 2003 / 52(47);1148-1152. August 17, 2004 9:40 AM Environmental
justice - an emerging state issue, by Jessica Kitchin. Stateline.org "People who live in north and northeast Portland, Ore., are nestled in a perfect storm of blight, with commercial railroads and heavily-used highways scything through their neighborhoods, industrial plants scattered around and the Superfund-listed Willamette River just to the west. Like many areas burdened with environmental problems, these neighborhoods also have high rates of unemployment and poverty and include a large proportion of Portland’s minority population." Mostly poor people live where toxic waste dumps, air pollution, lead poisoning -- are sited. This article discusses the issue of environmental justice and what several states are doing to ameliorate the problem. Breastfeeding
Practices: Results from the 2003 National
Immunization Survey The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today released its first state-by-state data on the percentage of mothers who are breastfeeding their babies and for how long. The data will help states compare their breastfeeding rates to national objectives and develop targeted programs to promote breastfeeding. The data were gathered as part of CDC's 2003 National Immunization Survey. For more information visit . Key findings of the 2003 National Immunization Survey Regarding Breastfeeding Practices (from the CDC's site):
Detailed information about the National Immunization Survey is available at http://www.cdc.gov/nip/coverage/default.htm#NIS. August 05, 2004 12:15 PM Find a Hospital (National Library of Medicine) The National Library of Medicine has released a new "Find a Hospital" directory
search. From MedlinePlus, users can search for information on over
6,000 hospitals in the United States, including address, specialty, services
provided, and driving directions. The hospital data comes from the American Hospital Association and the mapping feature is provided
by The "Find a Hospital Directory" will be linked from the MedlinePlus Directories page: American Indian Health (National Library of Medicine) http://americanindianhealth.nlm.nih.gov The National Library of Medicine, a part of the National Institutes of Health, announces a new Web site to address the health concerns of the 4 million Americans who claim American Indian or Alaska Native ancestry. The site, " American Indian Health," is at <http://americanindianhealth.nlm.nih.gov>. Because special populations have different health needs, the Library has created several specialized sites, for example, for Asian Americans, those living in the Arctic and far north, senior citizens, and Spanish-speaking Americans. (These are all available from <http://www.nlm.nih.gov/databases>.) American Indian Health addresses the special needs of this population. Research shows that Native Americans are 2.6 times more likely to have diabetes as non-Hispanic whites of a similar age. American Indians also have a greater mortality risk for tuberculosis, suicide, pneumonia, alcoholism, and influenza than the average population. American Indian Health brings together pertinent health and medical resources, including consumer health information, the results of research, traditional healing resources, and links to other Web sites. Much of the information has been assembled from other National Library of Medicine resources such as PubMed and MedlinePlus. Source: NIH Press Release Biomedical Acronym Database "...the creators of this site from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dalls programmed a computer to glean acronyms and abbreviations from the MEDLINE abstracts database. ...the site's more than 200,000 entries tell you what those puzzling letter combinations stand for and link to abstracts that describe their use. Enter a term and find its short form."
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Recent Entries State Health Facts Online (Kaiser Family Foundation) Maintaining Good Communication under HIPAA County Typology Codes (USDA, ERS) Pandemic Influenza Response and Preparedness Plan (HHS) Health Status of American Indians Compared with Other Racial/Ethnic Minority Populations --- Selected States, 2001--2002 Environmental justice - an emerging state issue Breastfeeding Practices: Results from the 2003 National Immunization Survey Find a Hospital (National Library of Medicine) American Indian Health (National Library of Medicine) State Fact Sheets (USDA ERS) Evaluating the Impact of School Nutrition Programs: Final Report More Than 20 Million Consumers Using the Internet to Manage Health Benefits Guide to Effective Care in Pregnancy and Childbirth Release of CDC's School Health Index National Vaccine Program Office (NVPO), Health and Human Services Evaluation of Hospital Disaster Drills: A Module-Based Approach CDC Collaboration Yields New Test for Anthrax Number of Cancer Survivors Growing According to New Report CDC Collaboration Yields New Test for Anthrax Advancing HIV Prevention - New Strategies for a Changing Epidemic Advancing HIV Prevention - New Strategies for a Changing Epidemic Moving Public Assistance Recipients into the Labor Force, 1996-2000 The Economics of Obesity: A Report on the Workshop held at USDA's Economic Research Service Simplified Reporting and Transitional Benefits in the Food Stamp Program CDC Replaces Travel Alerts and Advisories With New System of Notices Nutrition, Learning, and Behavior in Children: A Resource List for Professionals HHS Launches Pilot Project with WebMD to Make HHS Consumer Health Information More Widely Available Online Searchable Death Indexes & Records: A Genealogy Guide NIH Clinical Alerts and Advisories: NIH Asks Participants in Women’s Health Initiative Estrogen-Alone Study to Stop Study Pills, Begin Follow-up Phase Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion Learning from SARS: Preparing for the Next Disease Outbreak -- Workshop Summary NIH Extramural Center Programs: Criteria for Initiation and Evaluation Forging a Poison Prevention and Control System Monitoring Metabolic Status: Predicting Decrements in Physiological and Cognitive Performance Bioinformatics Links Directory (UBC Bioinformatics Centre) Sexual Health Services in the UK Public Health grand rounds in sexual health Sexual health & HIV commissioning toolkit Index-Catalog of the Surgeon General online Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) Challenges and Tradeoffs in Low-Income Family Budgets: Implications for Health Coverage - Report [PDF] Water for Profit: How Multinationals Are Taking Control of a Private Resource Increases in Fluoroquinolone-Resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae Among Men Who Have Sex with Men --- United States, 2003, and Revised Recommendations for Gonorrhea Treatment, 2004 Lasalocid in Eggs: Your Questions Answered AAAS Atlas of Population and Environment (American Association for the Advancement of Science) US Census QuickFacts
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