Early evidence suggests that opioid duration limits had a variable association with postoperative opioid prescribing and should only be part of a larger, multifaceted effort to reduce excessive postoperative opioid prescribing.
Teachers are largely responsible for implementing social and emotional learning (SEL) programs and policies. How do teachers in Massachusetts feel about the importance of SEL? And what are their opinions on approaches to and support for SEL instruction?
This web-based tool aims to inform policymakers about the rates of neonatal abstinence syndrome by county across eight states from 2009 to 2015. This analysis is displayed via maps and interactive charts.
Massachusetts residents will soon vote on the Patient Safety Act, a mandate to increase nurse-to-patient ratios in acute care facilities. Evaluating existing data on the impact of a similar nurse staffing law implemented in California in 2004 may help inform voters as they head to the polls.
When patients are prescribed opioids in risky ways, their chance of dying increases, and their odds of death go higher as the number of risky opioid prescriptions increases.
Massachusetts veterans have unmet needs for education, employment, health care, housing, financial, and legal services. Researchers assessed these needs to help inform state investments and guide efforts to remedy barriers to access.
Massachusetts veterans have unmet needs for education, employment, health care, housing, financial, and legal services. A better understanding of these needs can inform investments in services and guide efforts to remedy barriers to access.
This interactive tool features data from a study of the education, employment, health care, housing, financial, and legal needs of Massachusetts veterans and can help inform investments in services and guide efforts to remedy barriers to access.
Part of a series highlighting innovative models and best practices for local health departments' involvement in Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act outreach and enrollment, this report describes a case study on Boston and Massachusetts.
This report summarizes seven case studies to highlight innovative models and best practices that leverage local health department efforts in outreach and health insurance enrollment activities tied to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
In a RAND study about the landscape of patient safety in Massachusetts, researchers interviewed expert observers (patients, health care leaders, and others) about progress to date and future opportunities to produce safer patient care.
By enabling access to affordable private health insurance and expanding access to subsidized public health insurance, the Affordable Care Act alters the calculus of disability claiming decisions. Research offers empirical evidence that, on net, disability applications are likely to decrease.
Orlando Sentinel editorial writer Darryl E. Owens interviewed Brian Michael Jenkins, senior adviser to the president of RAND. They discussed last year's Boston Marathon bombing and the current threat of terrorist acts in the United States.
We cannot assume, based on Boston's response to the marathon bombings, that other U.S. cities are as prepared. Emergency managers and public safety agencies remain focused on disaster preparedness, but some hospitals have lapsed into thinking that it is a costly distraction from daily business.
Three mass-casualty events occurring in three very different settings show that disaster preparedness should not be limited to large cities or “target” areas in the United States. One trait that is common to all such events is the need for coordinated, responsive trauma care for victims.
Involvement can transform members of the public from helpless bystanders into active participants in their own defense, thereby reducing fear and alarm, writes Brian Michael Jenkins.
One doesn't need a clear link to a global terror group to carry out an attack; one needs only the resources, the means and an Internet connection. But the global nature of these communities and their online links also create openings police can exploit.
Boston's health care providers reacted the way they did because they knew what they were supposed to do. Those who did not were smart enough to follow the lead of those who did. That's how a “ritualized” disaster plan works.
