The use of a common language in interprofessional collaboration is essential. The World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) has been ...identified as a unifying framework for interprofessional collaboration and the identification of client needs. Higher education institutions (HEIs) offer ICF framework education to students but is it enough to enable graduated professionals to implement the ICF in clinical work? In our experience, the ICF education provided by HEIs does not meet the requirements of clinical practice, which might be due to gaps in teaching ICF to students (education) and specific requirements for teaching ICF to professionals already working in rehabilitation (training). This paper discusses the need for the ICF training in practice and ways to address it. Although many rehabilitation center professionals had previously received ICF education provided by the HEIs, the rehabilitation centers felt the need to develop their own practical training materials that could be applied to their own environment. Overall, 18 different ICF-based materials were developed during the Erasmus+ project called INPRO to promote person-centered and interprofessional practice in the rehabilitation centers. The practical training using real cases was considered valuable. It could be further developed in cooperation with HEIs and vice versa. It could also be used to teach students, i.e., future colleagues. To deepen and broaden the integration of the different materials based on the ICF, it is important to continue the interactive discussion between HEIs and clinical practice, and between management and its staff.
The main aim of this study was to identify, catalogue and document the large number of wild medicinal plants used in the M'Sila region (northern Algeria) for the treatment of several human ...pathologies. Another more ambitious aim is to contribute to overcoming the limits of an orally transmitted pharmacopoeia, attempting to exploit the large ethnopharmacology patrimony of the region for further pharmacological purposes.
Our field study was carried out over a period of three years (2008–2010). During this period, herbalists were interviewed using semi-structured questionnaires investigating the herbalist as a holder of information (gender, age and educational level) and about wild medicinal plants (local name, uses and part used). In addition, the relative importance value of the species was determined and informant consensus factor (ICF) was calculated for the medicinal plants included in the study.
A total of 83 herbalists were interviewed; men dominate the practice of traditional medicine in the region. About 41% of them are between 31 and 40 years, and about a third (34%) are illiterate. The traditional herbal knowledge is passed from generation to generation in the verbal form, a writing tradition being almost totally absent. The interviewed herbalists identified and recorded 58 plants species and 50 genera belonging to 27 plant families. Lamiaceae and Asteraceae were the most represented plant families. The aerial parts were the most commonly used plant part, while infusion and decoction were the most common method of traditional drug preparation.
The survey provides a veritable source of information on the herbalists and wild medicinal plants. Plants which are used in different parts of the world for the treatment of similar diseases may be deemed to be effective in pharmacological terms. These medicinal plants may be incorporated into the healthcare delivery system of the country.
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To describe the disability status of non-selected hospitalized persons.
We conducted a cross-sectional survey to assess activity limitations of every persons older than 18 years old hospitalized in a ...regional university hospital covering all medical fields. Evaluators rated on a scale from 0 to 4, 22 selected items of the International Classification of Functioning, covering the 6 following domains: learning and applying knowledge, general tasks and demands, communication, mobility, self-care, interpersonal interactions and relationships. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to analyze the prevalence, severity and profile of the handicap in terms of sociodemographic characteristics and care pathways.
Among 1572 eligible persons, 1267 (81%) were surveyed (mean age 62.7±20.4 years; 655 male 51.7%). Overall, 82% showed at least one activity limitation. For 52%, disability was severe or total for at least one ICF item. Prevalence of disabilities was higher for mobility (75%) and self-care domains (63%). Disability was strongly related to age: age older than 80 years versus 18 to 44 years (OR=12.8; P<0.01). Disability was associated with hospitalization in rehabilitation units (96%; OR=4.3; P<0.01). Severe disability was associated with hospitalization in critical care units (OR=6.7; P<0.001) and psychiatry units (OR=5.3; P<0.001).
Handicap was common in hospitalized persons, involving all 6 tested ICF activity domains, particularly mobility and self-care. This study alerts care givers, hospital administrators, and in general people influencing health policies about the need to plan actions to reduce activity limitations of hospitalized persons, whatever the cause of the hospitalization.
The introduction of the ICF model as a basis for rehabilitation provides new perspectives on rehabilitation practices. According to the ICF, participation can be enhanced via different pathways, ...including interventions on environmental factors. Aim of the presented project was to systematically compile present knowledge on environmental factors that could be a target for interventions in inpatient rehabilitation to improve patient participation.
First, we have conducted a document analysis comprising icf core sets, clinical rehabilitation guidelines or standards, and health classifications on interventions to identify the array of rehabilitation interventions related to environmental factors. Second, these interventions were linked to the ICF environmental factor codes resulting in a linking table that can be used to identify commonalities and potential blind spots of possible intervention targets. Third, after the conduction of an expert workshop eight focus groups with rehabilitation professionals from different fields of inpatient medical rehabilitation were conducted. Fourth, another two expert workshops were conducted to develop a list of possible targets for the development of interventions and recommended course of action for future projects.
The project resulted in a substantial number of different recommendations. They relate to the fields of new technologies, to measures that help to sustain rehabilitation effects in daily living, to the work place, to the reference to language and cultural diversity, to the home environment of the patients, to matters of de-acceleration, to individualisation of rehabilitation, to the way patients deal with their own resources and roles, to explicit environmental strains, and to the specific use of products and technologies.
This project used a theoretical perspective on rehabilitation to inspire new approaches to rehabilitation interventions that target environmental factors with the aim to improve participation of patients. A substantial number of proposals have been developed that could be used as a starting points for further projects.
We aimed to develop a comprehensive International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) core set for systemic sclerosis (SSc) and to conceive an original ICF core set-derived ...questionnaire assessing activities and participation in patients with SSc.
The development of the ICF comprehensive core set followed 2 steps. In the first step, meaningful concepts related to SSc were collected from 3 sources: focus groups of patients (n=13), experts (n=10), and literature (200 articles selected). In the second step, concepts were linked to the relevant ICF categories by 2 independent reviewers according to prespecified linking rules. Finally, understandable questions related to activities and participation were derived from the corresponding categories of the comprehensive ICF core set by a sociologist of the French ICF Research Branch.
146 ICF categories were collected from focus groups, 22 from experts and 48 from literature. After fusion of the sources and removal of duplicates, the comprehensive ICF core set included 169 ICF categories at the second level with 43 categories on body functions, 15 on body structures, 52 on activities and participation and 48 on environmental factors. A 65-item questionnaire was derived from the categories on activities and participation.
We developed a comprehensive ICF core set that offers a relevant conceptual framework for SSc patients’ care and health policy. Using an original approach, we conceived an ICF core set-derived questionnaire assessing activities and participation. A brief version of the questionnaire is in development, and may enhance the usability of the ICF in clinical research and in patient's care.
ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01848418. First received: May 3, 2013. Last updated: June 27, 2016. Last verified: June 2016.
French Ministry of Health (Programme Hospitalier de Recherche Clinique 2010, project no. AOR-10050).
Description of the NIF Laser Spaeth, M. L.; Manes, K. R.; Kalantar, D. H. ...
Fusion science and technology,
02/2016, Letnik:
69, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The possibility of imploding small capsules to produce mini-fusion explosions was explored soon after the first thermonuclear explosions in the early 1950s. Various technologies have been pursued to ...achieve the focused power and energy required for laboratory-scale fusion. Each technology has its own challenges. For example, electron and ion beams can deliver the large amounts of energy but must contend with Coulomb repulsion forces that make focusing these beams a daunting challenge. The demonstration of the first laser in 1960 provided a new option. Energy from laser beams can be focused and deposited within a small volume; the challenge became whether a practical laser system can be constructed that delivers the power and energy required while meeting all other demands for achieving a high-density, symmetric implosion. The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is the laser designed and built to meet the challenges for study of high-energy-density physics and inertial confinement fusion (ICF) implosions. This paper describes the architecture, systems, and subsystems of NIF. It describes how they partner with each other to meet these new, complex demands and describes how laser science and technology were woven together to bring NIF into reality.
The phenomenon of incomplete fusion (ICF) using both the strongly and weakly bound projectiles below an incident energy of ≈ 10 MeV per nucleon is reviewed. Various reaction mechanisms responsible ...for ICF, such as projectile breakup followed by fusion, massive transfer or transfer of nucleon(s) to higher energy states of target leading to formation of a composite system have been described. Several theoretical models developed for the description of ICF and its contribution to non-elastic breakup modes or stripping of nucleon(s) from projectile have been summarized. The experimental techniques employed for the measurements of observables characterizing the ICF process and its distinct features have been described. Current interests in the studies of ICF with both strongly and weakly bound projectiles, e.g., the effect of projectile and target structure on ICF, its contribution to the reaction cross sections and competition with the complete fusion (CF) process have been discussed. Systematic studies of ICF, TF, α-particle production and reaction cross sections based on available data and its dependence on reaction parameters have been presented. The applications of ICF process in the population of high angular momentum states in nuclei and its utility in extracting nuclear data that are relevant for nuclear technology applications and nuclear astrophysics, especially using surrogate reaction method have been described. Perspectives of future studies with the weakly bound nuclei, especially the ICF studies in reactions using unstable radioactive ion beams have been provided.
Disability and employment - overview and highlights Vornholt, Katharina; Villotti, Patrizia; Muschalla, Beate ...
European journal of work and organizational psychology,
01/2018, Letnik:
27, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Due to the expected decline in the working-age population, especially in European countries, people with disabilities are now more often recognized as a valuable resource in the workforce and ...research into disability and employment is more important than ever. This paper outlines the state of affairs of research on disability and employment. We thereby focus on one particular group of people with disabilities, that is to say people with mental disabilities. We define disability according to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) of the World Health Organization, by that recognizing that disability results from the interaction of person and environment. Key issues, including the complexity of defining disability, the legal situation in Europe and North America concerning disability at work, and barriers and enablers to employment, are discussed. For each of the topics we show important findings in the existing literature and indicate where more in-depth research is needed. We finalize with a concrete research agenda on disability and employment and provide recommendations for practice.
The National Disability Insurance Scheme is the new consumer-controlled funding system for people with disability in Australia, and is expected to enhance participation outcomes of people with ...disability. This research explored participation opportunities for people with disability during the formative period of transition to the scheme, through stakeholder accounts of changes in allied health service contexts.
Qualitative data were generated during interviews, workshops and meetings with industry, policy, practice and education stakeholders involved in scheme services. Inductive coding explored key themes within the data. The International Classification of Functioning model was then applied as a deductive coding framework to illuminate how the scheme was perceived to be impacting participation opportunities for recipients of scheme funding.
Using the International Classification of Functioning helped us illuminate whether changes resulting from scheme transition posed participation opportunities or barriers for scheme recipients. Research participants often framed these changes negatively, even when examples suggested that changes had removed participation barriers for scheme recipients. Some participants viewed changes as obstructing equitable and quality professional practice. We explore potential opportunities to resolve tensions that also optimise the participation outcomes of individuals who receive services through individualised funding.
IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION
The introduction of individualised funding has removed barriers to participation for many National Disability Insurance Scheme recipients.
Efforts must be made to build the trust of stakeholders involved in National Disability Insurance Scheme service provision regarding how fee-for-service funding can lead to good participation outcomes for scheme recipients.
Transparency around the shared processes of clinical governance and equitable service access operating in Australia's individualized disability funding scheme are suggested to build trust.
A visible commitment to maintaining a broad range of services is also indicated to build trust for stakeholders involved in the scheme.
Introduction: The lack of integrated registration of information causes additional burden, inefficiency in health and treatment systems, and finally increases cost and decreases effectiveness. ...Correct coding requires knowledge and use of the latest editions of the International classification of functioning, disability and health (ICF). This study aimed to investigate the level of knowledge and use of ICF among professors and rehabilitation and optometry specialists at Mashhad university of medical sciences.Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from September 2022 to March 2023. First, the pre-designed questionnaire consists of ten multiple-choice questions that were distributed among professors and rehabilitation and optometry specialists at Mashhad university of medical sciences. Second, the data were analyzed. For this purpose, descriptive data was calculated. SPSS version 21 statistical software was used to analyze the data.Results: The majority of the participants 16 (59.3%) stated that they knew ICF. However, only 13 (48.1%) of them identified the name or abbreviation of ICF correctly, and only 3 of them (11.1%) recognized the ICF components correctly. Fifteen of the participants (55.6%) stated that they did not use the ICF, followed by 3 (11.1%) who stated that they used the ICF in the clinic and 3 (11.1%) in training. The relationship between participants' graduation degree and their familiarity with ICF was significant (p=0.02).Conclusion: The results of this study show that most of the participants did not have enough information about the ICF and its components. A lack of knowledge about the ICF prevents professionals from following the recommendations of the world health organization. As the medical industry is driven to use evidence in patient care, universities, and educational centers must also provide the necessary grounds and infrastructure for teaching and using international classification tools such as ICF, which will be used by healthcare professionals in the future.
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