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Improving Health Care in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Case Book
by Lani Rice MarquezThis open access book is a collection of 12 case studies capturing decades of experience improving health care and outcomes in low- and middle-income countries. Each case study is written by healthcare managers and providers who have implemented health improvement projects using quality improvement methodology, with analysis from global health experts on the practical application of improvement methods. The book shows how frontline providers in health and social services can identify gaps in care, propose changes to address those gaps, and test the effectiveness of their changes in order to improve health processes and outcomes. The chapters feature cases that provide real-life examples of the challenges, solutions, and benefits of improving healthcare quality and clearly demonstrate for readers what quality improvement looks like in practice:Addressing Behavior Change in Maternal, Neonatal, and Child Health with Quality Improvement and Collaborative Learning Methods in GuatemalaHaiti’s National HIV Quality Management Program and the Implementation of an Electronic Medical Record to Drive Improvement in Patient CareScaling Up a Quality Improvement Initiative: Lessons from Chamba District, IndiaPromoting Rational Use of Antibiotics in the Kyrgyz RepublicStrengthening Services for Most Vulnerable Children through Quality Improvement Approaches in a Community Setting: The Case of Bagamoyo District, TanzaniaImproving HIV Counselling and Testing in Tuberculosis Service Delivery in Ukraine: Profile of a Pilot Quality Improvement Team and Its Scale‐Up JourneyImproving Health Care in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Case Book will find an engaged audience among healthcare providers and administrators implementing and managing improvement projects at Ministries of Health in low- to middle-income countries. The book also aims to be a useful reference for government donor agencies, their implementing partners, and other high-level decision makers, and can be used as a course text in schools of public health, public policy, medicine, and development.ACKNOWLEDGMENT:This work was conducted under the USAID Applying Science to Strengthen and Improve Systems (ASSIST) Project, USAID Award No. AID-OAA-A-12-00101, which is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).DISCLAIMER:The contents of this book are the sole responsibility of the Editor(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.^
Improving Inclusivity in Higher Education: Addressing the Digital Divide in the COVID Pandemic
by Bhakti More Seena Biju Vinod PallathThis book addresses issues of access that COVID-19 brought forth in higher education, with a primary focus on Asian countries. In looking to address SDG4 to promote “inclusive and equitable quality education for all”, the volume explores the challenges relating to educational exclusion by considering how specially-abled students have been impacted by the digital divide in the context of the pandemic. It puts a spotlight on the approaches, experiences, and case analyses from various geographies in the region to study transitions in inclusivity. Universities and institutes of higher education have had to reconsider their digital offerings and services all the more since the onset of the pandemic, but have, in many instances, failed to fully account for how Internet access can be limited, unavailable, or unaffordable for many students. As a result, specially-abled learners – students without sufficient technological resources, such as those living in remote areas where there are little or no Internet facilities – have been, however unintentionally, neglected. While universities implemented their own practices, processes and policies to reach, and teach, disadvantaged learners, they had to further adapt these strategies, re-aligning them to meet the unprecedented circumstances, and concomitant needs, of specially-abled learners – and there is still much more to do. This book consolidates regional perspectives on how to work towards goals of inclusivity, and bridge the digital divide, looking into, and beyond, the conditions of the pandemic. Relevant to scholars and policymakers, this book is of interest to those focused on digitisation and the transition to the ‘new normal’ in higher education.
Improving Intelligence Analysis in Policing
by Stuart Kirby Scott KeayThis book explains how improvements in intelligence analysis can bene!t policing. Written by experts with experience in police higher education and professional practice, this accessible text provides students with both practical knowledge and a critical understanding of the subject. The book is divided into three key parts: Part One outlines how the concept of intelligence was initially embraced and implemented by the police and provides a critique of intelligence sources. It examines the strategic use of intelligence and its procedural framework. It provides a summary of the role of the intelligence analyst, establishing the characteristics of effective practitioners. Part Two describes good practice and explains the practical tools and techniques that effective analysts use in the reduction and investigation of crime. Part Three examines more recent developments in intelligence analysis and looks to the future. This includes the move to multi-agency working, the advent of big data and the role of AI and machine learning. Filled with case studies and practical examples, this book is essential reading for all undergraduates and postgraduates taking courses in Professional Policing, and Criminal Justice more widely. It will also be of interest to existing practitioners in this field.
Improving Interagency Collaboration, Innovation and Learning in Criminal Justice Systems: Supporting Offender Rehabilitation
by Sarah Hean Berit Johnsen Anu Kajamaa Laure KloetzerThis Open Access edited collection seeks to improve collaboration between criminal justice and welfare services in order to help prepare offenders for life after serving a prison sentence. It examines the potential tensions between criminal justice agencies and other organisations which are involved in the rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders, most notably those engaged in mental health care or third sector organisations. It then suggests a variety of different methods and approaches to help to overcome such tensions and promote inter-agency collaboration and co-working, drawing on emerging research and models, with a focus on the practice in European and Scandinavian countries. For academics and practitioners working in prisons and the penal system, this collection will be invaluable.
Improving Intergroup Relations Among Youth: Summary Of A Research Workshop
by Forum On AdolescenceA report on Improving Intergroup Relations Among Youth
Improving International Irrigation Management With Farmer Participation: Getting The Process Right
by Norman UphoffTraditionally, indigenous irrigation in many countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America has been managed quite well by water users, who design, build, operate, and maintain often sophisticated, but usually small-scale, systems. More recently, in connection with large-scale development programs and government-managed schemes, the planned introduct
Improving The Life Chances Of Children At Risk
by Eli Ginzberg David E. RogersThis book discusses how to identify those children who are at hazard of becoming less than they might be as adults. It explores critical policy issues in broadening access to health care services and reassessing results of major intervention efforts for improving life chances of vulnerable children.
Improving Mathematics and Science Education
by J. R. Lockwood Laura S. Hamilton Abby Robyn Brian M. Stecher Vi-Nhuan LePresents the findings of a multiyear study of the effectiveness of reform-oriented science and mathematics teaching (instructional practices for engaging students actively in their own learning and enhancing the development of complex cognitive skills)-specifically, whether such practices are associated with higher student achievement and whether that association is sensitive to the aspects of achievement that are measured. (CD-ROM enclosed.)
Improving Medication Management in Home Care: Issues and Solutions
by Dennee FreyHelp stop the widespread problem of medication errors among the elderly The problem of medication errors among the elderly is widespread. Improving Medication Management in Home Care: Issues and Solutions tackles this tough issue by closely examining the challenges faced in preventing medication errors in home and community care program settings and putting forth effective solutions to better manage medication use. Respected experts discuss the unique role of the pharmacist in improving patient safety, presenting a comprehensive collection of evidence-based studies featuring national and international viewpoints, cutting-edge interventions, and cost-effective procedures that address medication problems in older adults.Polypharmacy is the term used for patients receiving too many medications for a specific treatment. The implications for drug-drug interactions can be dangerous for the unaware patient. Improving Medication Management in Home Care: Issues and Solutions focuses on several different effective management programs and examines each in detail, completely explaining the positive-and negative-results. This hands-on practical information is useful for all professionals and field providers working with older adults and their medication concerns. The book also provides valuable lessons through the experiences of national home health leaders in various settings-hospital-based, rural, large or small, etc., as well as community-based programs for dually eligable older adults. The book is extensively referenced and includes an abundance of clear, helpful tables, figures, and Web resources.Improving Medication Management in Home Care: Issues and Solutions explores: developing computerized risk assessment screenings implementing pharmacist-centered interventions improving transitional care from hospital to home the Prescription Intervention and Lifelong Learning (PILL) program Medication Therapy Management Services a quality-improvement project to reduce falls and improve medication management outcome-based quality improvement for patient safety intern programs that can provide cost-effective consultant servicesImproving Medication Management in Home Care: Issues and Solutions is essential reading for home health care administrators, clinicians, managers, pharmacists, physicians, educators, students, those professionals involved in the field of aging, and health practitioners world-wide.
Improving Outcomes for Children and Families
by Wendy Rose Jane Aldgate Anita Lightburn Tiziano Vecchiato Cinzia Canali Edited by Anthony N. MaluccioSignificant amounts of money and resources are spent on child and family services, so successful evaluation of whether or not they are achieving the best outcomes is therefore essential. This edited collection offers an international perspective on the challenges of designing and undertaking outcome-based evaluation of child and family services. With contributions from leading international experts, it introduces the key ideas and issues currently being debated in the evaluation of these services; discusses relevant approaches to designing and using evaluation methods; and provides examples of evaluation from the real world of policy and practice. Issues covered include setting appropriate indicators for service effectiveness, cross-cultural evaluation of service interventions, service user involvement in evaluation, and evaluations of family and community-based services. This invaluable book will be essential reading for policy makers, planners, commissioners and managers across child and family welfare services, as well as researchers and other academics in the field.
Improving Personal and Organisational Performance in Social Work (Post-Qualifying Social Work Leadership and Management Handbooks)
by Jane HolroydWithin health and social care settings, high levels of sustained performance from individuals, teams, organisations and multi-agency collaborations are required. This book offers a service-oriented leadership approach for Social Work managers and looks to enhance personal effectiveness and ultimately organisational performance through human behaviour, thought and communication. It is designed to support the development of aspiring and front line managers in social work and care through the introduction of key concepts such as understanding the Self, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, self-leadership and communication.
Improving Quality of Care in Family Planning: A Research And Advocacy Agenda For India
by Jay Satia Kavita ChauhanIn this book the authors review initiatives in improving the quality of care for family planning in India and bring them to the broader forum of policy-level discussions. The global Family Planning 2020 (FP2020) framework argues for voluntary rights-based family planning programmes. The rights-based approach builds on the bedrock of quality of care, which means listening to what women want, treating individuals with dignity and respect and ensuring that everyone has access to full information and high quality care. Improving the quality of care in family planning services in a country like India is crucial from individual, national and global considerations. This book critically discusses and evaluates the various interventions undertaken so far and the reasons for success and failure. It also synthesizes current research studies in India, identifies gaps and presents a research agenda to bridge this gap and accelerate progress towards improving quality of care in family planning. It presents a comprehensive framework that underscores the importance of health systems and community environments in creating enabling, motivating and empowering roles for providers and clients. The examples and perspectives presented in this book make a strong case for adoption into policy frameworks and scaling up of quality of care efforts, and identifying research priorities for strengthening the response to family planning. This book greatly contributes towards enhancing the quality of family planning care at the grass-roots level in low resource settings and is of interest to researchers and practitioners of public health, particularly community health, maternal and child health, and social work.
Improving Road Safety in Developing Countries: Opportunities for U.S. Cooperation and Engagement
by National Research Council Institute of Medicine of the National AcademiesTRB, the Policy and Global Affairs Division (PGA), and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) have released TRB Special Report 287, Improving Road Safety in Developing Countries: Opportunities for U.S. Cooperation and Engagement. The report summarizes presentations and discussions at a workshop held on January 26-27, 2006, in Washington, D.C. The workshop focused on the sharp increases in road traffic-related deaths and injuries in developing countries with a goal of providing a view of the diversity of U.S. interests, the scope of activities of U.S. agencies addressing this problem, and prospects for further U.S. engagement. The workshop discussions were intended to help the responsible government agencies gauge whether the U.S. response is proportional to the interests at stake and to identify next steps toward a more effective response. PGA and IOM, like TRB, are part of the National Academies, which include the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council.
Improving Seed Conditioning
by Bill GreggSeed conditioning is the final process that establishes the quality of a seed lot and determines its value. It is a complex process involving a significant series of machines, each of which must be used in the proper sequence of the entire process, and each machine must be carefully and properly adjusted and set up for each lot of seed. If the conditioning plant operator does not have sufficient knowledge of how to set up and adjust each of the machines, then an excessive amount of good seed is lost during conditioning and not all undesirable materials are removed. Therefore, the performance of seed conditioning depends entirely on how effectively the operator sets up and adjusts the machines. Much effort has been spent in developing seed technology so as to produce high quality seed, but performance of seed conditioning by maximizing the operator’s knowledge of getting the best performance from each of his machines has not been carefully and completely developed. Improving Seed Conditioning focuses on teaching the conditioning plant operator details of each machine and how to get maximum performance from it in terms of operating efficiency, maximum removal of undesirable particles, and minimum loss of good seed. Organized in a manner that focuses on the specific machine models installed in each operator’s specific plant, this manual is set up to be used as text material in training classes or as a guide for operators employed by seed companies.
Improving Services for Transgender and Gender Variant Youth: Research, Policy and Practice for Health and Social Care Professionals
by Tiffany JonesThis expert guide to working with transgender and gender variant youth offers ways to make positive change to service provision for practitioners working with this group. Based on the latest research, the recommendations made by the author are backed up by statistics and data, and refer to first-hand stories and experiences.Exploring four key areas - mental health, physical health, sexual health and social health - the book sets out exactly what professionals need to know in relation to these areas and how to support trans youth in these circumstances. Providing clarity on a range of topics, this is the perfect overview for practitioners, as well as a useful text for students and researchers.
Improving Social Intervention: Changing Social Policy and Social Work Practice through Research (Routledge Library Editions: Sociology of Education #27)
by John Gandy Alex Robertson Susan SinclairThis book, first published in 1983, considers the whole problem of how social research can lead to improvement in practice in social policy and social work. In the first section, individual chapters discuss the political context within which research is commissioned and used, through consideration of the politics of comparative research and of the application of research findings to policy-making in the personal social services. The problems of putting policy into practice and using research in a systematic and predictable way for improving situation is also examined. This title will be of interest to students of the Sociology, Education and Social Policy.
Improving The Social Security Disability Decision Process
by Institute of Medicine of the National AcademiesThe National Academies Press (NAP)--publisher for the National Academies--publishes more than 200 books a year offering the most authoritative views, definitive information, and groundbreaking recommendations on a wide range of topics in science, engineering, and health. Our books are unique in that they are authored by the nation's leading experts in every scientific field.
Improving Student Achievement: What State NAEP Test Scores Tell Us
by Tom Latourrette Ann Flanagan Jennifer H. Kawata David W. Grissmer Stephanie WilliamsonWhy do students have different achievement levels across states? Is math achievement improving across states? Differences in average achievement levels across states are mainly traceable to differing family characteristics. However, students from similar families also score differently across states. These differences are related to differences in resource levels and in how resources are spent. States with high spending per pupil, lower pupil-teacher ratios, higher participation in public prekindergarten and higher reported teacher resources have higher achievement. Disadvantaged children are the most sensitive to low resource, and additional resources could substantially their scores. Between-state, rather than within-state, differences in resources appear to be the main reason for inequitable resource levels for students of lower socioeconomic status. The conclusion is that significant math gains are occurring across most states that cannot be traced to resource changes, that the rate of gain varies significantly by state, and that reform efforts are the likely cause of these gains. The results certainly challenge the traditional view of public education as unreformable.
Improving the Design of the Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System (SESTAT)
by National Research CouncilInformation on Improving the Design of the Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System
Improving the Measurement of Late-Life Disability in Population Surveys: Beyond ADLs and IADLs - Summary of a Workshop
by National Research Council of the National AcademiesImproving the Measurement of Late-Life Disability in Population Surveys summarizes a workshop organized to draw upon recent advances to improve the measurement of physical and cognitive disability in population surveys of the elderly population. The book questions whether or not the measures of activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living used in many population surveys are sufficient as the primary survey-based indicators of late-life disability. If not, should they be refined or should they be supplemented by other measures of disability in surveys? If yes, in what ways should disability measures be changed or modified to produce population estimates of late-life disability and to monitor trends? The book also discusses what further research is needed to advance this effort.
Improving the Quality of Child Custody Evaluations
by Lauren Woodward Tolle William O'DonohueThis book resolves a key problem that all evaluators need to attend to:, i.e., what constructs ought to be measured?, all the while giving them practical ways of doing this. It also presents data showing family court judges like the model, and it does this fairly briefly but in a way that is nicely embedded in the research literature.
Improving the Social Security Representative Payee Program: Serving Beneficiaries and Minimizing Misuse
by National Research Council of the National AcademiesThe National Academies Press (NAP)--publisher for the National Academies--publishes more than 200 books a year offering the most authoritative views, definitive information, and groundbreaking recommendations on a wide range of topics in science, engineering, and health. Our books are unique in that they are authored by the nation's leading experts in every scientific field.
Improving the U.S. Military's Understanding of Unstable Environments Vulnerable to Violent Extremist Groups: Insights from Social Science
by David E. Thaler Ryan Andrew Brown Gabriella C. Gonzalez Blake W. Mobley Parisa RoshanFor over a decade, operations associated with irregular warfare have placed large demands on U. S. ground forces and have led to development of new Army and Joint doctrine. This report helps analysts identify and assess twelve key factors that create and perpetuate environments susceptible to insurgency, terrorism, and other extremist violence and instability to inform military decisions on allocation of analytic and security assistance resources.
Improving Use of Medicines and Medical Tests in Primary Care
by Lynn Maria WeekesThis book is about optimizing the use of medicines and medical tests in primary care. It provides a comprehensive resource for students, researchers, health practitioners and administrators seeking information on how to design, implement, scale-up and build capability for interventions and programs that result in changes in prescribing and medical/diagnostic test ordering by health professionals. Drawing on work from Australia, Canada and the United States of America, the book begins with the evidence-base and theoretical frameworks that underpin successful behaviour change programs. It provides details on particular interventions such as clinical audit, academic detailing, choosing wisely and supports for consumers. Real world examples explore the process of designing, implementing and evaluating interventions and the factors that can help and hinder this process. This is a practical text that will be useful to the beginner and more experience program implementation professionals alike.
Improving Water Quality in the Mississippi River Basin and Northern Gulf of Mexico: Strategies and Priorities
by Committee on Clean Water Act Implementation Across the Mississippi River BasinMost water resources managers, scientists, and other experts would agree that nonpoint source pollution is a more pressing and challenging national water quality problem today than point source pollution. Nonpoint sources of pollutants include parking lots, farm fields, forests, or any source not from a discrete conveyance such as a pipe or canal. Of particular concern across the Mississippi River basin (MRB) are high levels of nutrient loadings--nitrogen and phosphorus--from both nonpoint and point sources that ultimately are discharged into the northern Gulf of Mexico (NGOM). Nutrients emanate from both point and nonpoint sources across the river basin, but the large majority of nutrient yields across the MRB are nonpoint in nature and are associated with agricultural activities, especially applications of nitrogen-based fertilizers and runoff from concentrated animal feeding operations. Improving Water Quality in the Mississippi River Basin and Northern Gulf of Mexico offers strategic advice and priorities for addressing MRB and NGOM water quality management and improvements. Although there is considerable uncertainty as to whether national water quality goals can be fully realized without some fundamental changes to the CWA, there is general agreement that significant progress can be made under existing statutory authority and budgetary processes. This book includes four sections identifying priority areas and offering recommendations to EPA and others regarding priority actions for Clean Water Act implementation across the Mississippi River basin. These sections are: USDA's Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative; Numeric Water Quality Criteria for the northern Gulf of Mexico; A Basinwide Strategy for Nutrient Management and Water Quality; and, Stronger Leadership and Collaboration.