1,721,457 research outputs found
Practising evidence-based occupational healthin workers' groups: how to prevent sickness absence caused by influenza
No full textBackground Influenza remains a major cause of disease and death. In addition to its recognized health effects, influenza has socio-economic consequences, in particular sickness absence. Managing influenza in working populations remains a relevant topic. Methods This paper reports a case study dealing with the problem of sickness absence due to influenza-like illness epidemics in health care workers (HCWs) in a health care setting. The case was investigated and the solution was provided according to the evidence-based medicine (EBM) paradigm using the PICO model. Results The investigation was carried out by using firstly the Cochrane Library and secondly Medline. Nine papers were considered to find appropriate solutions. Two main types of interventions were suggested: (i) influenza vaccination or (ii) antiviral M2 protein inhibitors and neuraminidase inhibitors. As the latter intervention is not yet completely validated, the immunization intervention was considered. The evidence obtained was reported to the general manager and it was proposed to undertake an annual programme of vaccination for all the health care professionals. Conclusion The case study shows that, as for other clinicians, the occupational physician can use the EBM paradigm according to the PICO model as a tool for providing appropriate solutions for the group of workers
Evaluation of medical decisions’ effectiveness: a 4-year evidence-based study in a health care setting
No full textObjectives. Specific studies evaluating the effectiveness of the judgement of fitness for work formulated by occupational physicians (OP) are needed. The evaluation consists in investigating OPs’ decisions by measuring their impact on health with specific indicators. This specific study aims at assessing, through outcome indicators, the effectiveness of medical decisions in 61 cases leading to preventive interventions..Methods. A 3-step pre-post observational study was carried out in a 4 year-period. 61 clinical cases of health care workers were studied according to the following steps: (i) a medical examination resulting in an evidence-based judgement of fitness for work including prescriptions for an appropriate intervention, (ii) the application of the preventive intervention, (iii) a second medical examination and completion of a questionnaire by the workers. Two outcome measures were chosen to investigate changes occurred after the intervention: the first measured the perceived and the objective health condition, the second measured satisfaction and working capacity.Results. Results show a statistically significant increase in subjects presenting a perceived (36/61; χ2 = 44.099, p<0.001) and an objective (28/61; χ2 = 12.190, p<0.01) improvement of health conditions after the intervention, together with an increased satisfaction in working conditions. An overall improvement of health condition was shown in 44/61 workers (72%).Conclusions. Decisions made on the basis of a comprehensive process founded on scientific evidence, searched and appraised according to the paradigm of Evidence Based Occupational Health, result in effective outcomes
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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