This article describes how two Baltimore teachers, Rachel Rosenblatt and Linda Andersen, provide tutorial work with hospital patients at the Kennedy Krieger Institute. Their work is part of the in-hospital educational aid offered by Baltimore school district to help students recover from serious illnesses or injuries. The Baltimore program, which…

Objectives: The underlying mechanisms of reduced pain perception in anorexia nervosa (AN) are unknown. To gain more insight into the pathology, the authors investigated pain perception, autonomic function, and endocrine parameters before and during successful treatment of adolescent AN patients. Method: Heat pain perception was assessed in 15…

This study aimed to examine the implementation, adequacy, and outcomes of discharge planning. The authors carried out a prospective study of 1,426 adult patients discharged from 11 acute care hospitals in Israel. Social workers provided detailed discharge plans on each patient. Telephone interviews were conducted two weeks post-discharge. Findings…

This article presents the authors' response to the invited commentaries on their paper (Wallace and Beange, 2008). On the point of "specialism", the authors emphasise a fundamental premise of their argument: the proposed "specialist" hospital-based service is inherently enmeshed within generic services at the hospital level,…

This commentary discusses whether a sufficient case has been made for specialism in hospital services as a viable alternative to existing generic services. The impact of developments in specialist care such as those outlined by Robyn A. Wallace and Helen Beange should be assessed as a means of reducing inequality. In particular, model services…

In this article, the author comments on the paper "On the need for a specialist service within the generic hospital setting" (Wallace & Beange, 2008), which raises critical issues regarding effective models of healthcare delivery for individuals with intellectual disability (ID), particularly within a hospital setting (but not…

Although the presence of intellectual disability (ID) per se is not usually regarded as a health problem, the biopsychosocial implications of cognitive impairment contribute to the vulnerability of adult patients with ID in any healthcare system. The adult patient with ID differs from a patient in the general population in terms of health…

A project was designed to improve communication between health professionals and patients with low literacy levels. A survey was sent to over 600 health professionals to identify their awareness of undereducated adults, determine priorities in patient communication, and collect a sample of current educational materials; 132 surveys were returned.…

A University of North Carolina study using focus groups of dentists and patients found dentist-patient interactions play an important role in treatment decision-making, and are predicated on non-clinical factors, including dentists' intuition and judgment and patient impressions of dentists' examination styles, personalities, and interpersonal…

A multistation clinical examination using standardized patients was used over 4 years to assess the interpersonal skills of 346 fourth year medical students, 51 internal medicine residents, and 71 foreign medical graduates seeking admission to graduate study. Results indicate that a reliable assessment of interpersonal skills can be achieved this…

This report summarizes the findings and recommendations of the Task Force on Cultural Competence Education and represents the distillation of the Task Force's efforts to fulfill its legislative charge. The report is intended to facilitate a statewide conversation about the health services provided to New Mexico's multicultural citizenry. It…

Introduction: The College des medecins du Quebec (CMQ) offers an individualized remedial professional development program to help physicians overcome selected clinical shortcomings. To measure the influence of the remedial professional development program, physicians who completed the program between 1993 and 2004 and who were assessed by peer…

Context: Rural hospitals face multiple financial burdens. Due to federal law, emergency departments (ED) provide a gateway for uninsured and self-pay patients to gain access to treatment. It is unknown how much uncompensated care in rural hospitals is due to ED visits. Purpose: To develop a national estimate of uncompensated care from patients…

Context and Purpose: Rural and suburban populations remain underserved in terms of psychiatric services but have not been compared directly in terms of using telepsychiatry. Methods: Patient demographics, reasons for consultation, diagnosis, and alternatives to telepsychiatric consultation were collected for 200 consecutive, first-time…

Objective: The objective of this study was to describe the prevalence and correlates of adherence to divalproex sodium (DVPX) and lithium carbonate (Li) combination treatment during the initial stabilization treatment phase. Method: Adherence to Li/DVPX combination therapy was measured by the presence or absence of minimum serum concentrations of…