Seniors who live alone are a large, growing population with poorer health outcomes. We examine the little-studied health care experiences and immunizations of older adults who live alone.
With kids working and playing in close contact and sharing supplies and equipment, schools can be hotbeds for infection. Each year, K-12 students miss about 60 million school days due to colds and the flu combined. But these five approaches can help reduce their chance of spreading infections and getting sick.
This paper provides a consolidated overview of public and healthcare professionals' attitudes towards vaccination in Europe by bringing together for the first time evidence across various vaccines, countries and populations.
If it doesn't seem that state laws as currently written can help increase the number of health care workers vaccinated against influenza, then what can? There is evidence that imposing consequences for vaccination refusal, including the requirement to wear a surgical mask, can help.
Rates of vaccination for seasonal influenza remain sub-optimal among several populations, but groups respond differently to reminders, including healthcare professionals, adults who have close contact with children, and young and middle-aged adults.
California's influenza immunization requirement for health care personnel was too weak to encourage hospitals with low vaccination rates to improve. Hospitals with high vaccination rates were able to comply by simply maintaining current practices.
Compared to other Medicare beneficiaries, whites have better access to care, assuming no major health conditions. Disparities in receiving timely care and immunizations are smaller among those with greater disease burden. Outreach to minorities with low utilization and few or no major health conditions could help.
Visits to retail medical clinics increased four-fold from 2007 to 2009, with the proportion of patients over age 65 growing from 8 to 19 percent of all visits during this period. More than 44 percent of visits occurred on the weekend or other hours when physician offices typically are closed.
Retail clinics—which provide health care within supermarkets, pharmacies, and stores—are a promising and popular venue for the promotion and administration of vaccinations. However, they could become more viable by reviewing patient histories and providing counsel about vaccination benefits.
Respondents in a representative sample of the US adult thought combination vaccines were safe and were willing to pay extra to avoid minor side effects and increase vaccination coverage in their communities.
The authors compare the experiences of elderly Medicare beneficiaries in Puerto Rico with their English-preferring and Spanish-preferring Medicare counterparts in the U.S. mainland.
Researchers present one of the first investigations into the impact of small and moderate disasters on morbidity, physical growth, and immunizations by combining household data on over 80,000 children from rural India.
The largest-ever assessment of high-deductible health plans finds that while such plans significantly cut health spending, they also prompt patients to cut back on preventive health care.
Seniors of Hispanic descent are far less likely to become immunized against the flu or pneumonia compared to similar White seniors. Those who prefer speaking Spanish and live in linguistically isolated communities are least likely to be immunized.
