Patient Safety Tip of the Week: Patient Elopment

Patient elopement is the patient’s departure without permission beyond the facility, which places the patient at risk of injury or death. Those at risk for elopement include patients with dementia, young patients with persistent mental illness, individuals with a family history of abuse, those exhibiting or having a history of violent behavior, and those who have been involuntarily hospitalized.

A comprehensive initial assessment by qualified professionals can identify problems that could lead to elopement due to an individual’s behavioral disorder, cognitive impairment, fear, poor judgment, or lack of insight. Because of these problems, the individual is at greater risk of harm if he or she leaves the facility’s protective environment.

Reassessments also give health care providers the opportunity to observe and note any changes in conditions that might increase the risk of elopement. Changes in mental status can be a predictor of dangerous behavior, such as elopement.

The VA National Center for Patient Safety uses the following questions to identify patients at risk for elopement:
Does the patient have a court-appointed legal guardian?
Is the patient considered a danger to him or herself or others?
Has the patient been legally committed?
Does the patient lack the cognitive ability to make relevant decisions?
Does the patient have a history of escape or elopement?
Does the patient have physical or mental impairment that increases his or her risk of harm to him or herself or to others?
Source: Joint Commission Resources (Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations

How Does Social Bookmarking Work?

Social bookmarking is an increasingly popular way to locate, classify, rank and share Internet resources. It derives from an idea similar to that which prompts you to utilize your browser’s Favorites or Bookmarks function: you have a resource of interest or value to you, and you want to save it for easy access in the future. However, instead of saving the resources just to your browser, in social bookmarking you save them to a centrally-hosted service that you can access at anytime, from anywhere. You can classify resources (or “tag” them) in any way you want, and your saved resources (or “bookmarks”) are added to both your personal list and an overall library, where others can access them. That’s the social part. Users then can utilize either your classifications or those created by other users. They also can access information about the resources, such as who saved them, how many people saved them, etc., to evaluate them and more easily locate further sources of information.
Source: SCSU Workshop on Social Bookmarking

2007 National Patient Safety Goals

On June 2, 2006, the Joint Commission’s Board of Commissioners approved the 2007 National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs). As of January 1, 2007, all Joint Commission accredited health care organizations and the Disease-Specific Care certified programs will be surveyed for implementation of applicable 2007 goals and requirements—or acceptable alternatives (see below)—as appropriate to the services the organization or program provides. Compliance with applicable requirements (or an acceptable alternative) will be scored at the associated implementation expectation(s) for that requirement in the NPSGs chapter of each standards manual.

Photo of the Day

Earth Shots is a Photo of the Day contest celebrating the beauty and diversity of our planet. Everyday they feature the best photograph submitted by visitors to the site. Earth Shots is looking for photographs that exhibit the beauty and diversity of our planet. Any subject matter goes. The most important requirement is that the image is interesting and striking. Take a look at this week's winners.

Recent Research and the Male Brain

Men are not from Mars nor women from Venus, but it is obvious their brains work somewhat differently, not only in how they think but also in how the male or female brain is affected in such conditions as mental illness, addiction, and degenerative neurological diseases.
While scientists do not know the reasons for many of these, recent research has revealed genetic, anatomical, and functional differences in the brain that could have implications for better diagnosis and treatment of a variety of conditions. [Full Text of this Article]
Source: Journal of the American Medical Association

New York Times: 10 Best Books for 2006

The New York Times has released their list of 10 best books for 2006. All comments are from the NYT article:

• Abursdistan by Gary Shetyngart--exuberant second novel that is smart, funny, and extraordinarily moving
• Collected Stories of Amy Hempel--urbane, pointillistic and wickedly funny short stories
• Emperor's Children by Claire Messud--unsparing and sympathetic novel set amid the cultural Manhattan in 2001
• Lay of the Land by Richard Ford--the third installment in the serial epic of Frank Bascombe set in Florida 2000 (The Sportswriter and Independence Day were the first two in the series.)
• Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl--buoyantly literate first novel, a murder mystery narrated by a precocious teenager
• Falling Through the Earth: A Memoir by Danielle Trussoni--searing memoir of the author's girlhood in Wisconsin with her war-damaged father
• Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright--fullest account yet of the events that led to the fateful day
• Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War by Nathaniel Philbrick--absorbing history of the Plymouth Colony
• Ominivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan--traces the origins of four measl from a fast food dinner to a hunter-gatherer feast--uncommonly good American food writing
• Places in Between by Rory Stewart--splendid travel journal of the author's walk across Afghanistan in January 2002

Best of 2006: Black Issues Book Review

The November/December issue of Black Issues Book Review lists the books, authors, and trends that they think are the best, the first, the biggest, the most unusual or the most significant among those we have seen in 2006. The issue is available in the library.

Among the most talked about, written about and honored authors of the year were the British writers Zadie Smith , author of On Beauty, and Uzodinma Iweala, author of Beasts of No Nation. Both are available in the library.

Connecticut the 5th Healthiest State

Minnesota was deemed the healthiest U.S. state for the fourth year in a row, while Louisiana slumped into last place as the least healthy in annual state-by-state rankings released by on Tuesday. Vermont placed second as it did in 2005 with New Hampshire, Hawaii and Connecticut rounding out the five healthiest states in the report by the United Health Foundation, a nonprofit group formed by health care company UnitedHealth Group.

The report weighed a series of factors in determining rankings, such as prevalence of obesity, smoking, infectious disease, cardiovascular deaths, infant mortality, child poverty, immunization rates, workplace deaths and auto deaths. Southern states performed particularly poorly while those in New England and some in the Upper Midwest fared well.

The United States as a whole experienced a slight rise in health over last year, the report stated, but lags behind many other nations in key measures such as infant mortality. "Since 1990, America is a healthier place. The bad news: since the year 2000, we've made very little progress. The health of the nation has become stagnant," Tuckson said. Tuckson cited a dramatic increase in obesity, a rising number of Americans - 46.6 million in a country of 300 million - without health insurance, and smoking by 21 percent of U.S. adults, lower than many countries but still problematic. The American Public Health Association and Partnership for Prevention also contributed to the report, posted on the Web at http://www.unitedhealthfoundation.org/ahr2006.html .

Autism Effects and Treatment

Two studies shed light on the possible effects of autism on the brain and point to potential treatments, researchers said on Monday. One reports that oxytocin, which studies have found is important in human bonding, may help reduce debilitating symptoms in autistic adults. And a second found that fear-detecting areas of the brain are shrunken in people with autism.

The term autism describes a range of symptoms that can include very severe mental and behavioral effects, an inability to interact socially, and milder symptoms such as those seen in Asperger's syndrome. Severely autistic patients may bang their heads, repeat words or movements, or become obsessed with certain actions.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a survey in May indicating that up to 1 in every 175 children born in the United States develops an autism spectrum disorder of some kind. The cause is unknown and treatments are limited.
Source: Reuters Health Information, December 5

Guide to Clinical Preventive Services

The Guide to Clinical Preventive Services (released earlier this year) is a compilation of abridged U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendations released from 2001 through 2005 and can be used as an evidence-based tool at the point of patient care.

Features include:
Recommendations for Adults
Cancer
Heart and Vascular Diseases
Infectious Diseases
Injury and Violence
Mental Health Conditions and Substance Abuse
Metabolic, Nutritional, and Endocrine Conditions
Musculoskeletal Conditions
Obstetric and Gynecologic Conditions
Vision Disorders
Recommendations for Children"
Source: Guide to Clinical Preventive Services 2006

Remembering Robert Altman

While MASH was not Robert Altman's first film, it catapulted him into the pantheon of major figures in American cinema. Five years later, Altman solidified his reputation with Nashville, a crowded spectacle of a film that featured a cast of memorable characters and improvised, overlapping dialogue — a hallmark of Altman's filmmaking style. Last month Altman died of complications from cancer at the age of 81. For a list of his films, go to imdb.com.

Colleges: Rethink Electronic Records!

New federal rules that took effect on Friday allow evidence stored in PDA's, printers, home computers, and even cellphones to be used routinely in lawsuits involving individuals and organizations, including colleges. And experts say the rules could prompt changes not only in how college lawyers approach cases but also in how long colleges store electronic information.
The new rules require that parties involved in litigation in federal courts make available to their opponents a wide array of electronically stored information, lawyers familiar with the rules said last week.

Tuition Tax Credits

Members of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee showed strong interest during a hearing on Tuesday in a witness's proposal to combine tuition tax credits, an expired income-tax deduction, and the Pell Grant into a refundable "super credit" that would simplify higher-education tax incentives and assist students from middle- and lower-income families
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education

Holiday Booklists are here!

Connecticut Library Consortium's annual booklist project, "Best Books for Children & Teens: Lists for Holiday Gift Giving" is ready and waiting for you. Enjoy!
Babies & Toddlers (ages 0-3) (PDF, 496 KB)
Young Readers & Listeners (ages 3-8) (PDF, 904 KB)
Middle Readers (ages 8-12) (PDF, 416 KB)
Teens (ages 12+) (PDF, 460 KB)

High School Reform

High school reform has moved to the top of the education policy agenda, commanding the attention of the federal government, governors, urban school superintendents, philanthropists, and the general public. All are alarmed by stubbornly high dropout rates and by the low academic achievement of many high school students. These problems disproportionately affect disadvantaged young people, especially those who are African-American and Hispanic and who attend urban schools and certain rural schools in the South and Southwest.

This is the first in a series of reports for policymakers, practitioners, and others who must make hard choices about how to change high schools. It discusses three comprehensive initiatives evaluated by MDRC — Career Academies, First Things First, and Talent Development — that have grappled with the challenges of improving low-performing urban and rural schools. Together, these three interventions are being implemented in more than 2,500 high schools across the country, and various components of these models are being used in thousands more schools.
+ Executive Summary+ Full Report (PDF; 1.65 MB)
Source: MDRC

Welcome to NationMaster

This is a dream site for statistical information. Welcome to NationMaster, a massive central data source and a handy way to graphically compare nations. NationMaster is a vast compilation of data from such sources as the CIA World Factbook, UN, and OECD. You can generate maps and graphs on all kinds of statistics with ease. NationMaster wants to be the web's one-stop resource for country statistics on everything from soldiers to wall plug voltages. You can also view profiles of individual countries including their maps and flags, use correlation reports and scatterplots to find relationships between variables, and refer to fully integrated encyclopedia with over one million articles.

But, wait--there's more! NationMaster also recently rolled out StateMaster.com, a sister site that offers similar data mining on US state statistics, using sources such as the US Census Bureau, FBI, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and a variety of non-profit organizations such as the March of Dimes.
Source: Mary Ellen Bates

homeland Security Career Guide

The library has ordered Homeland Security and Federal Law Enforcement Career Guide with CD-Rom. This guide provides a comprehensive introduction to the hiring process, career profiles, a complete directory of agencies to contact, and other useful tips and material for acquiring a position with Homeland Seucrity or federal law enforcement. The CD affords quick and easy access to this information, along with direct links to the agency websites. Delivery is expected next week.

New Markets Data Center

On January 2, the Wall Street Journal will launch a state-of-the-art online Markets Data Center, combining news, data and tools from across Dow Jones. Beyond contributions from the Journal’s markets-data group, this new Web site and associated services such as email roundups and alerts will include coverage from Dow Jones Newswires, authoritative data from Dow Jones Indexes, investment tools from the MarketWatch unit and personal-finance tips from the SmartMoney joint venture.

The Markets Data Center will be available free on the Web.
Source: WSJ.com

Robert Gates Bibliography

New, Robert M. Gates, Secretary of Defense Nominee: A Bibliography
On November 8, 2006, President George W. Bush nominated Mr. Gates to be Secretary of Defense. Confirmation hearings for that position begin today.

Mr. Gates previously served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The Senate held two confirmation proceedings for that position. The Georgetown Law Library has created this bibliography of documents authored by and related to Mr. Gates.
Source: Georgetown University Law Center Library

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Agroterrorism: Why We are not Ready

An agroterrorism attack could dramatically impact many aspects of American life, including law enforcement, which—especially in rural areas—is financially and strategically unprepared to respond. This Research for Policy looks at the impact the introduction of foot-and-mouth disease would have on the United States, including the slaughter of millions of animals and an impact of up to $60 billion tax dollars. The publication outlines why law enforcement is not currently ready for such a terrorist attack and gives procedures for preparing for and responding to agroterrorism.
Source: National Institute of Justice
Summary Full Text (8 pages; PDF)