Addressing Hospital Acquired Infections in NYS: Improving Patient Safety

Free live webcast - September 16, 2010
9:00 am - 10:00 am - Eastern Time

Rachel Stricof, MPH, CIC
Bureau Director
Bureau of Healthcare-Associated Infections
New York State Department of Health

Healthcare-associated infections (HAI) are a major public health problem. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were an estimated 1.7 million healthcare-associated infections and 99,000 deaths from those infections in 2002. 1 A recent CDC report estimated the annual medical costs of healthcare-associated infections to U.S. hospitals to be between $28 and $45 billion, adjusted to 2007 dollars. 2 The speaker will discuss the development of the New York State HAI reporting system, describe HAI rates in NYS in the three years since mandated reporting began; and describe activities underway in New York to support hospitals to reduce risk and enhance patient safety.

REGISTER HERE:

http://www.informz.net/ualbany-sph/event.asp?eid=3725&uid=237207396&minst=1072948

5 Worries Parents Should Drop, And 5 They Shouldn't

Shoomp shoomp shoomp. Hear that?

That’s the sound of helicopter parents hovering over their children, worrying every second of the day that terrorists could strike Johnny's school or a stranger will snatch Jane from the bus stop.

Scary stuff. But it turns out most parents are worrying about all the wrong things.

Based on surveys that Barnes collected, the top five worries that parents are, in order:

1. Kidnapping
2. School snipers
3. Terrorists
4. Dangerous strangers
5. Drugs

But how do children really get hurt or killed?

1. Car accidents
2. Homicide (usually committed by a person who knows the child, not a stranger)
3. Abuse
4. Suicide
5. Drowning

Read More:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/08/30/129531631/5-worries-parents-should-drop-and-5-they-should?sc=fb&cc=fp

Healthy Hearts vs. Unhealthy Abuse

We've all heard it many times. Healthy hearts start with healthy habits.

Although we don't always follow the good advice we hear on an almost daily basis, most of us are very familiar with what we and our families should be doing: don't smoke; eat a healthy diet based on vegetables, fruits and grains; exercise daily; and don't drink excessive amounts of alcohol.

The study, published in the journal Child Abuse and Neglect, analyzed data from 13,000 respondents in the 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey. Of those respondents, 7.4 percent indicated that they had been physically abused as a child and 4.4 percent reported they had been diagnosed with heart disease.

After accounting for most of the known risk factors for heart disease, the study found that adults who experienced physical abuse as children had a 45 percent higher chance of developing heart disease than their peers.

Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/08/30/650772/healthy-hearts-vs-unhealthy-abuse.html#ixzz0y6lJTwSX

Study links poverty to depression among mothers

More than half of babies in poverty are being raised by mothers who show symptoms of mild to severe depression, potentially creating problems in parenting and in child development, according to a new study.

In what was described as the first detailed portrait of its kind, researchers reported that one in nine infants in poverty had a mother with severe depression and that such mothers typically breastfed their children for shorter periods than other mothers who were poor.

To read the entire article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/26/AR2010082600027.html

To view the study:
http://www.urban.org/publications/412199.html

Plan to Attend Strong Roots Last a Lifetime Parenting Education Professional Development Day

A one-day conference for all professionals who work with families, whether they call themselves "parenting educators" or not, at locations around New York State.

I found this to be a wonderful learning opportunity; I will take home some pertinent info and creative ideas and will also look forward to receiving future information.

What I found most valuable was the mix of concrete ideas and theory; the mix of lecture, discussion, exercises; great modeling of facilitation skills.

Grounded in current research, Strong Roots Last a Lifetime focuses on attributes of successful parenting educators and characteristics of effective parenting education programs. It includes: an introductory plenary session, discussion groups for educators and for supervisors, and workshops on Strength-Based Communication, Parenting Styles, Group Facilitation, and Child Development. All presenters are experienced parenting educators, familiar with program design and evaluation as well as authorities on the topics of their workshops.

Upcoming dates and locations for Strong Roots include:
o Buffalo, September 10
o Rochester, September 21
o Centereach, October 13
o Suffern, October 21
o Latham, November 1
o Kerhonkson, November 8
o Chappaqua, to-be-announced

Find details and registration information at http://preventchildabuseny.org/nyspep/professional.shtml.

Child abuse declines nationally in spite of economic deterioration

Child abuse declined nationally in 2008 compared to 2007, according to a new report by the Crimes against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire. Sexual abuse declined 6 percent, physical abuse 3 percent and neglect 2 percent.

The report also found that child maltreatment fatalities stayed stable from 2007 to 2008. These trends are noteworthy, according to the report's authors, because 2008 marked the first full year of the current recession, and economic downturns are generally thought to be associated with increased family stress and child maltreatment.

To read the entire article visit:
http://www.physorg.com/news201844238.html

National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect (NDACAN) at Cornell University

Cornell University is pleased to announce the availability of the data for the study entitled:

Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) 2008
Investigators:Children's Bureau, Department of Health and Human Services
NDACAN Datasets:#149 (Foster Care Data), #148 (Adoption Data)

Please visit the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect Web site for more information and ordering instructions:
http://www.ndacan.cornell.edu/Ndacan/Datasets/Abstract/DatasetAbstract_AFCARS_General.html

There is no charge to obtain these data.