Lifetime Prevalence Of Self-Reported Work-Related Health Problems Among U.S. Workers
The April 3, 2020 issue of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report indicates that approximately 2.8 million nonfatal workplace illnesses and injuries were reported in the United States in 2018. Current surveillance methods might underestimate the prevalence of occupational injuries and illnesses. One way to obtain more information on occupational morbidity is to assess workers’ perceptions about whether they have ever experienced health problems related to work. Using data from the 2018 version of the SummerStyles survey, overall, 35.1% of employed respondents had ever experienced a work-related health problem. The most commonly reported work-related problem was back pain (19.4%). Among industries, construction (48.6%) had the highest prevalence of any work-related health problems. A conclusion is that workplace injury and illness prevention programs are needed to reduce the prevalence of work-related health problems, especially in higher-risk industries.
National Health Expenditure Projections, 2019-2028
According to an article in the April 2020 issue of the journal Health Affairs, national health expenditures are projected to grow at an average annual rate of 5.4% for 2019–28 and to represent 19.7% of gross domestic product by the end of the period. Meanwhile, growth in the gross domestic product during the projection period is expected to average 4.3%. Price growth for medical goods and services is projected to accelerate, averaging 2.4% per year for 2019–28, which partly reflects faster expected growth in health-sector wages. Among all major payers, Medicare is expected to experience the fastest spending growth (7.6% per year), largely as a result of having the highest projected enrollment growth, reflecting the continued shift of the baby-boom generation out of private health insurance and into Medicare. The share of health care spending financed by federal, state, and local governments is expected to increase by two percentage points during 2019–28, reaching 47% in 2028.
HEALTH TECHNOLOGY CORNER
Skin-Interfaced Biosensors For Wireless Physiological Monitoring In Neonatal And Pediatric Intensive-Care Units
Standard clinical care in neonatal and pediatric intensive-care units (NICUs and PICUs, respectively) involves continuous monitoring of vital signs with hard-wired devices that adhere to the skin and, in certain instances, can involve catheter-based pressure sensors inserted into the arteries. These systems entail risks of causing iatrogenic skin injuries, complicating clinical care and impeding skin-to-skin contact between parent and child. Described in the March 2020 issue of the journal Nature Medicine is a wireless, non-invasive technology that not only offers measurement equivalency to existing clinical standards for heart rate, respiration rate, temperature, and blood oxygenation, but also provides a range of important additional features, as supported by data from pilot clinical studies in both the NICU and PICU. These new modalities include tracking movements and body orientation, quantifying the physiological benefits of skin-to-skin care and capturing acoustic signatures of cardiac activity.
Bacterial Colonization Reprograms The Neonatal Gut Metabolome
A team of researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia has characterized how the gut microbiome develops in the first hours of infancy, providing a critical baseline for how changes in this environment can have an impact on health and disease later in life. The findings were published on April 13, 2020 online by the journal Nature Microbiology. The gut in children eventually will hold hundreds of different species of bacteria, but at birth, there might only be 10 or fewer species. The investigation aimed to understand why those particular bacteria are the first to emerge and what they are doing in those first hours of life. The researchers evaluated the gut microbiome, proteome, and metabolome in 88 African-American newborns using fecal samples collected in the first few days of life. Detailed analysis of the three most common species, Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, and Bacteroides vulgatus, did not suggest a genomic signature for neonatal gut colonization. Evidence is provided that fermentation of amino acids provides a mechanism for the initial growth of E. coli, the most common early colonizer, under anaerobic conditions.
More April 2020 TRENDS Articles
CALLING ALL CARS AND HEALTH DETECTIVES
Indicates the important role that epidemiologists play in explaining what is transpiring at key stages of COVID-19. Read more
PRESIDENT’S CORNER
ASAHP President Phyllis King discusses how with the thrust into the digitization of healthcare, the question for higher education is how fast can we understand, adapt, anticipate and project patient care needs and healthcare innovations to prepare our students and meet the needs of this new world? Read more
FAST CHANGING LEGISLATIVE ENVIRONMENT
Depicts efforts by the federal government to provide additional funding through Paycheck Program Protection legislation, along with an increasing concern that the U.S. is too dependent on other nations for supplying minerals used in the production of pharmaceuticals and medical devices. Read more
HEALTH REFORM DEVELOPMENTS
Points out how the existence of accountable care organizations (ACOs) is threatened by the current pandemic; describes COVID-19 surveillance activities in relation to the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution; and loosening by the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) of telehealth and scope of practice regulations. Read more
DEVELOPMENTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Describes a recent ASAHP webinar on clinical education; a statement of principles on academic credit; and whether regional higher education accreditation should go national. Read more
QUICK STAT (SHORT, TIMELY, AND TOPICAL)
Lifetime Prevalence Of Self-Reported Work-Related Health Problems Among U.S. Workers
National Health Expenditure Projections, 2019-2028
Skin-Interfaced Biosensors For Wireless Physiological Monitoring In Neonatal And Pediatric Intensive-Care Units
Bacterial Colonization Reprograms The Neonatal Gut Metabolome Read more
AVAILABLE RESOURCES ACCESSIBLE ELECTRONICALLY
Brain Health Across The Lifespan
Leading In A Time Of Crisis: Corporate America And COVID-19
Confronting Rural America’s Health Care Crisis Read more
RACIAL DISPARITIES IN AUTOMATED SPEECH RECOGNITION SYSTEMS
Mentions how these tools do not work equally well for all subgroups of the population, with study results showing that all five ASR systems in an investigation exhibited substantial racial disparities, with an average word error rate (WER) of 0.35 for black speakers compared with 0.19 for white speakers. Read More
ESTABLISHING HIGH PERFORMING TEAMS: HEALTH CARE LESSONS
Refers to a study that shows while both Functional Change and Cultural Change processes were individually important for enhancing team-based health care, they were most effective when mobilized in tandem. Read more