Monthly Archives: July 2011

Focusing on Human Factors Can Improve Home Health Care

“There are only four kinds of people in the world: those who have been caregivers; those who are currently caregivers; those who will be caregivers; and those who will need caregivers.” –Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter

People with temporary or chronic conditions monitor themselves or others with daily use of medical devices such as blood pressure cuffs, blood sugar test strips, or heart monitors. Others use medical devices such as nebulizers or physical therapy aids to maintain or improve their own or someone else’s health. These procedures and many others may or may not be done with a health care professional on-site. A wide range of procedures and therapies are now performed far from any medical facility. Although each situation is unique, all are dependent on the people involved—the human factors.

The study of human factors focuses on the interactions between people and the other elements of a system, generally with the goal of optimizing safety and performance. Elements of the system may include tasks, technologies, and environments, as well as other people. The success of these interactions is dependent on the degree to which the physical, sensory, cognitive, and emotional capabilities of the people match the corresponding demands imposed by elements of the system.

Health Care Comes Home: The Human Factors is a wide-ranging investigation of the role of human factors in home health care. This book examines a diverse range of behavioral and human factors issues resulting from the increasing migration of medical devices, technologies, and care practices into the home. Health Care Comes Home lays the groundwork for a thorough integration of human factors research with the design and implementation of home health care devices, technologies, and practices.

The Role of Human Factors in Home Health Care: Workshop Summary provides information on human factors aspects of home health care. This book promotes awareness of the challenges of home health care and provides practical information that can be used by providers of home health care.

In addition, the authoring committee of Health Care Comes Home oversaw preparation of a designers’ guide for the use of health information technologies in home-based health care. Consumer Health Information Technology in the Home: A Guide for Human Factors Design Considerations introduces designers and developers to the practical realities and complexities of managing health care at home. This booklet provides guidance and human factors considerations that will help designers and developers create consumer health information technology applications that are useful resources to achieve better health.

Together, these books and materials are a useful tool for organizations and people concerned with health care in the home. These publications bring attention to both the serious challenges of providing quality home health care, and to the efforts to address those challenges.

Health Care Comes Home: The Human Factors

In the United States, health care devices, technologies, and practices are rapidly moving into the home. The factors driving this migration include the costs of health care, the growing numbers of older adults, the increasing prevalence of chronic conditions…

The Role of Human Factors in Home Health Care: Workshop Summary

The rapid growth of home health care has raised many unsolved issues and will have consequences that are far too broad for any one group to analyze in their entirety. Yet a major influence on the safety, quality, and effectiveness of home health care will be…

Consumer Health Information Technology in the Home: A Guide for Human Factors Design Considerations

Every day, in households across the country, people engage in behavior to improve their current health, recover from disease and injury, or cope with chronic, debilitating conditions. Innovative computer and information systems may help these people manage…

Beyond the Space Shuttle: Future Directions for Space Exploration and Research

Atlantis blasted off for its final mission last week, marking the end of the space shuttle program. As we look back on what we have learned from the space shuttle and other space research programs, it is amazing to consider how far we can advance knowledge of our own solar system and planets beyond in just a few decades. Looking ahead, where do we go from here?

Recapturing a Future for Space Exploration: Life and Physical Sciences Research for a New Era lays out steps that NASA can take to reinvigorate its partnership with the life and physical sciences research community and develops a forward-looking portfolio of research that will provide the basis for recapturing the excitement and value of human spaceflight. The recommendations of this report can guide the U.S. space program to deliver on new exploration initiatives that serve the nation, excite the public, and place the United States again at the forefront of space exploration for the global good.

Vision and Voyages for Planetary Science in the Decade 2013-2022 reviews the status of planetary science in the United States and develops a comprehensive strategy that will continue these advances in the coming decade. Drawing on extensive interactions with the broad planetary science community, this book presents a decadal program of science and exploration with the potential to yield revolutionary new discoveries. The program will achieve long-standing scientific goals with a suite of new missions across the solar system and will provide fundamental new scientific knowledge.

In astronomy and astrophysics, recent discoveries, powerful new ways to observe the universe, and bold new ideas to understand it have created scientific opportunities without precedent. New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics proposes a broad-based, integrated plan for space- and ground-based astronomy and astrophysics for the decade 2012-2021. It also lays the foundations for advances in the decade 2022-2031. Panel Reports–New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics is a collection of reports, each of which addresses a key sub-area of the field, prepared by specialists in that subarea, and each of which plays an important role in setting overall priorities for the field.

These books and others from the Space Studies Board and the Board on Physics and Astronomy are fascinating and useful resources for the scientific community and the explorer in all of us.

	Recapturing a Future for Space Exploration: Life and Physical Sciences Research for a New Era More than four decades have passed since a human first set foot on the Moon. Great strides have been made since in our understanding of what is required to support an enduring human presence in space, as evidenced by progressively more advanced orbiting human…
	Vision and Voyages for Planetary Science in the Decade 2013-2022 In recent years, planetary science has seen a tremendous growth in new knowledge. Deposits of water ice exist at the Moon’s poles. Discoveries on the surface of Mars point to an early warm wet climate, and perhaps conditions under which life could have…
	New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics Driven by discoveries, and enabled by leaps in technology and imagination, our understanding of the universe has changed dramatically over the course of the last few decades. The fields of astronomy and astrophysics are making new connections to…
	Panel Reports–New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics Every ten years the National Research Council releases a survey of astronomy and astrophysics outlining priorities for the coming decade. The most recent survey, titled New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics, provides overall…
	Report of the Panel on Implementing Recommendations from the New Worlds, New Horizons Decadal Survey The 2010 Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey report, New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics (NWNH), outlines a scientifically exciting and programmatically integrated plan for both ground- and space-based astronomy and astrophysics in…
	Assessment of Impediments to Interagency Collaboration on Space and Earth Science Missions Through an examination of case studies, agency briefings, and existing reports, and drawing on personal knowledge and direct experience, the Committee on Assessment of Impediments to Interagency Cooperation on Space and Earth Science Missions found that…
	Defending Planet Earth: Near-Earth Object Surveys and Hazard Mitigation Strategies The United States spends approximately $4 million each year searching for near-Earth objects (NEOs). The objective is to detect those that may collide with Earth. The majority of this funding supports the operation of several observatories that scan the sky…
	Capabilities for the Future: An Assessment of NASA Laboratories for Basic Research Over the past 5 years or more, there has been a steady and significant decrease in NASA’s laboratory capabilities, including equipment, maintenance, and facility upgrades. This adversely affects the support of NASA’s scientists, who rely on these…

Take 5 for Summer Reading

So many books, so little time! Let us help you narrow down the choices with our top five picks for your summer reading list. Buy one or more of the titles below and use discount code ES2011 to save 25%.

Paperback
$29.95 $22.46

America’s Climate Choices

America’s Climate Choices makes the case that the environmental, economic, and humanitarian risks posed by climate change indicate a pressing need for substantial action now to limit the magnitude of climate change and to prepare for adapting to its impacts…Read More

Paperback
$32.00 $24.00

Ocean Acidification: A National Strategy to Meet the Challenges of a Changing Ocean

The ocean has absorbed a significant portion of all human-made carbon dioxide emissions. This benefits human society by moderating the rate of climate change, but also causes unprecedented changes to ocean chemistry. Ocean Acidification reviews the current knowledge on ocean acidification and considers the impact on ecosystems and society…Read More

Paperback
$24.95 $18.71

Surrounded by Science: Learning Science in Informal Environments

Surrounded by Science makes valuable research about informal science learning accessible to those who are interested in ensuring that people of all ages, from different backgrounds and cultures, have a positive learning experience in environments such as museums, after-school programs, science and technology centers, media enterprises, libraries, aquariums, zoos, and botanical gardens…Read More

Paperback
$71.00 $53.25

Enhancing Food Safety: The Role of the Food and Drug Administration

Recent outbreaks of illnesses traced to contaminated food illustrate the holes that exist in the system for monitoring problems and preventing foodborne diseases. Enhancing Food Safety explores the development and implementation of a stronger, more effective food safety system built on a risk-based approach to food safety management…Read More

Paperback
$29.00 $21.75

Local Government Actions to Prevent Childhood Obesity

The prevalence of childhood obesity is so high in the United States that it may reduce the life expectancy of today’s generation of children. Local Government Actions to Prevent Childhood Obesity offers healthy eating and physical activity strategies for local, state, and federal governments to consider…Read More

Understanding Life Expectancy in the U.S.: Analysis Behind the Numbers

Over the past 25 years, life expectancy has been rising in the United States at a slower pace than has been achieved in many other high-income countries. Consequently, the United States has been falling steadily in the world rankings for level of life expectancy, and the gap between the United States and countries with the highest achieved life expectancies has been widening, especially for women.

The National Resource Council has recently released a report on this subject, Explaining Divergent Levels of Longevity in High-Income Countries. We asked Barney Cohen, Director of the Committee on Population, for his comments:

“The relatively poor performance of the United States over the past 25 years is surprising given the country spends far more on health care than any other nation in the world, both absolutely and as a percentage of gross national product. Concerned about this divergence, the National Institute on Aging asked the National Research Council’s Committee on Population to examine evidence on possible causes. The panel concluded that a history of heavy smoking and elevated levels of obesity are two factors that are playing a substantial role in the relatively poor performance of the United States. The report should be of interest to both health researchers and policymakers.”

Explaining Divergent Levels of Longevity in High-Income Countries identifies some of the main factors that have been driving differences in life expectancy among wealthy countries and discusses research gaps. This book points out that factors that contribute to lower life expectancy are more common among people of lower social status and those who are less likely to have lifetime access to health care.

A related book, International Differences in Mortality at Older Ages: Dimensions and Sources, is a collection of papers written by experts in the field to provide an assessment of the plausibility of the most obvious possible explanations that have been advanced to explain the poor position of the United States in terms of life expectancy above age 50. The authors, all of whom are at the forefront of work in their fields, provide state-of-the-art assessments of the research and identify gaps in measurement, data, theory, and research design.

These books and others from the Committee on Population can inform debate and guide decision-making.

	Explaining Divergent Levels of Longevity in High-Income Countries Over the last 25 years, life expectancy at age 50 in the U.S. has been rising, but at a slower pace than in many other high-income countries, such as Japan and Australia. This difference is particularly notable given that the U.S. spends more on health care…
	International Differences in Mortality at Older Ages: Dimensions and Sources In 1950 men and women in the United States had a combined life expectancy of 68.9 years, the 12th highest life expectancy at birth in the world. Today, life expectancy is up to 79.2 years, yet the country is now 28th on the list, behind the United Kingdom,…
	Assessing the Impact of Severe Economic Recession on the Elderly: Summary of a Workshop The economic crisis that began in 2008 has had a significant impact on the well-being of certain segments of the population and its disruptive effects can be expected to last well into the future. The National Institute on Aging (NIA), which is concerned with…
	Conducting Biosocial Surveys: Collecting, Storing, Accessing, and Protecting Biospecimens and Biodata Recent years have seen a growing tendency for social scientists to collect biological specimens such as blood, urine, and saliva as part of large-scale household surveys. By combining biological and social data, scientists are opening up new fields of inquiry…
	Improving the Measurement of Late-Life Disability in Population Surveys: Beyond ADLs and IADLs: Summary of a Workshop Improving the Measurement of Late-Life Disability in Population Surveys summarizes a workshop organized to draw upon recent advances to improve the measurement of physical and cognitive disability in population surveys of the elderly population. The…
	Biosocial Surveys Biosocial Surveys analyzes the latest research on the increasing number of multipurpose household surveys that collect biological data along with the more familiar interviewerrespondent information. This book serves as a follow-up to the 2003 volume,…
	Tools and Methods for Estimating Populations at Risk from Natural Disasters and Complex Humanitarian Crises Worldwide, millions of people are displaced annually because of natural or industrial disasters or social upheaval. Reliable data on the numbers, characteristics, and locations of these populations can bolster humanitarian relief efforts and recovery programs. …