Italian Journal of Public Health 

About: Italian Journal of Public Health is an academic journal. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Public health & Health care. It has an ISSN identifier of 1723-7807. Over the lifetime, 449 publications have been published receiving 7456 citations.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Abstract: The mission of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is “to improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care for all Americans”. The organization and selected major activities of the Agency are briefly described.

To err is human. Building a safer health system

Abstract: Human beings, make errors Healthcare Services is a complex industry prone to accidents.The IOM Report [1] points out that some systems are more prone to accidents than others. When a system fails there are often multiple faults. In healthcare,human errors are the greatest contributors to accidents,however when human error is to blame it often depends upon failures within the system.These failures exists in the system before the error occurs, the same as with latent errors which are difficult to identify since they may be hidden in computers or within the various managerial layers. Most of the errors can be prevented by designing systems that make it hard for people to do the wrong thing and easy for people to do the right thing. In healthcare, this means designing processes that are able to ensure that patients are safe from accidental injury. As healthcare and the system that delivers it become more complex, the opportunities for errors abound. The IOM report “To Err is Human” proposes an approach for reducing medical errors and improving patient safety.The environment within which this occurs has a critical influence on quality.This influence may contain two dimensions; the first consists of the domain of quality which includes the practice that is consistent with current medical knowledge. The second dimension consists of forces in the external environment that can drive quality improvement in the delivery system. Although the risk of dying as a result of a medical error, far surpasses the risk of dying in an airline accident, public attention has been more focused on improving safety in the airline industry than in healthcare systems. Because of the absence of standardized nomenclature, it is important to define what an error is and what is an adverse event, the IOM Report defines them in the following way: “An error is the failure of a planned action to be completed as intended or the use of a wrong plan to achieve an aim.” An adverse event is an injury caused by medical management rather than the underlying condition of the patient. An adverse event attributable to error is a “preventable adverse event”.

Health statistics - Key data on health 2002 (Data 1970-2001) Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities,2002

Abstract: Since 1990s, the European institutions have been discussing on the importance to establish a Health Indicators Monitoring System This system would: undertake a “critical review of existing health data and indicators; develop appropriate methods for the collection of the progressively comparable health data needed to establish these indicators; develop a reliable system for the transfer and sharing of health data and indicators, essentially by means of the telematic interchange of data; identify methods and tools required for conducting analyses and producing reports on state of health, trends and determinants, and the impact of health-related policies” (according to the speech made by the European Commission representative, Mr Frederic Sicard, during the former EUPHA Conference held in Rome, last November) These are the outcomes of the Health statistics — Key data on health 2002, issued on March 8th 2004 and prepared by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), United Kingdom, and the sector ‘Health and safety’, of Unit E3 (Education, health and culture) of Eurostat, on behalf of the European Commission

The “healthy immigrant” effect: does it exist in Europe today?

Abstract: Several studies, carried out mainly in the United States and Canada, have suggested that recent immigrants are generally healthier than native-born populations in spite of the fact that they frequently have a lower socioeconomic status and less access to healthcare services. This “epidemiological paradox” has been called the “healthy immigrant” effect and is usually attributed to a self-selection process prior to migration, “cultural buffering” and official health screening and employability in receiving countries. In this paper, we have evaluated the European scientific research into the existence of the “healthy immigrant” effect.

International Physical Activity Questionnaire: validation and assessment in an Italian sample

Abstract: Background: A standardized method for the assessment of physical activity, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), was developed in the late 1990s as instrument for cross-national assessment. This study aims to evaluate the reliability and validity of the IPAQ short and long version questionnaire in a Italian sample. Methods: The long and short versions of IPAQ questionnaires were administered twice, with an interval of one day between each administration, to 2 different random samples. Cronbach’s alpha was used as a measure of the internal consistency of the two versions. Results: The long version was administered to 60 subjects and the short version to 58. The Cronbach’s alpha on items about physical activity in the long version was 0.73, and 0.60 for the short version. The referred comments on short and long version were not very different both in number and content though they suggest a better understanding of the short version compared to the long one. Discussion: IPAQ short and long versions show acceptable reliability properties in the Italian adult setting. The utilization of a questionnaire seems be more influenced by time of administration and number of requested information. In terms of internal consistency and validity they appear to have similar performance.