What are the Needs of Students? An Experience from a District Based Health Promoting Schools Project in Hong Kong

A district based needs assessment as conducted over the past year to uderstand the health problems and the health education needs of the students in Tai Po district, Hong ong. 6879 primary one to primary six students from eighteen rimary schools, participating in a district based Health Promoting Schools Project in Hong Kong, were invited to complete a self-administrated questionnaire which was partly adapted from the Centre for Diseases and Control (CDC)'s Youth Risk Behaviour Surveillance Survey. The results presented a holistic picture of the health and needs of primary students with respect to their general health status, mental health, body weight and dietary behaviour, exercise, preventive health care, tobacco use, alcohol and other drug use, school environment and school health education. It provides baseline information for the project to prioritize the problems and strategically plan health promotion 'programmes with reference to the concept of Health Promoting Schools by the World Health Organization.

Data collection methods in health services research: hospital length of stay and discharge destination

BACKGROUND

Hospital length of stay and discharge destination are important outcome measures in evaluating effectiveness and efficiency of health services. Although hospital administrative data are readily used as a data collection source in health services research, no research has assessed this data collection method against other commonly used methods.

OBJECTIVE

Determine if administrative data from electronic patient management programs are an effective data collection method for key hospital outcome measures when compared with alternative hospital data collection methods.

METHOD

Prospective observational study comparing the completeness of data capture and level of agreement between three data collection methods; manual data collection from ward-based sources, administrative data from an electronic patient management program (i.PM), and inpatient medical record review (gold standard) for hospital length of stay and discharge destination.

RESULTS

Manual data collection from ward-based sources captured only 376 (69%) of the 542 inpatient episodes captured from the hospital administrative electronic patient management program. Administrative data from the electronic patient management program had the highest levels of agreement with inpatient medical record review for both length of stay (93.4%) and discharge destination (91%) data.

CONCLUSION

This is the first paper to demonstrate differences between data collection methods for hospital length of stay and discharge destination. Administrative data from an electronic patient management program showed the highest level of completeness of capture and level of agreement with the gold standard of inpatient medical record review for both length of stay and discharge destination, and therefore may be an acceptable data collection method for these measures.

Effects of exercise on swallowing and tongue strength in patients with oral and oropharyngeal cancer treated with primary radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy

Tongue strength is reduced in patients treated with chemoradiotherapy for oral/oropharyngeal cancer. Tongue strengthening protocols have resulted in improved lingual strength and swallowing in healthy individuals, as well as in patients following a neurological event. However, no studies have examined the efficacy of tongue strengthening exercises on tongue strength, swallowing, and quality of life (QOL; Head and Neck Cancer Inventory) in patients treated with chemoradiotherapy. A randomized clinical trial examined the effects of a tongue strengthening programme paired with traditional exercises vs. traditional exercises alone. Dependent variables included tongue strength, swallowing, and QOL in a group of patients with oral and oropharyngeal cancer treated with primary radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy. Differences with regard to tongue strength and oropharyngeal swallow efficiency (OPSE) were not observed within or between groups. QOL in the eating and speech domains improved following treatment in both groups. However, the experimental group demonstrated greater impairment in QOL in the social disruption domain following treatment, whereas the control group demonstrated a slight improvement in functioning. Tongue strengthening did not yield a statistically significant improvement in either tongue strength or swallowing measures in this patient cohort. Patient compliance and treatment timing may be factors underlying these outcomes.